Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Brunton scopes / quality?

O.K. --- I did it. I bought a Chinese scope. I bought one of the N.R.A. scopes made by Brunton. I bought it thru Sportsmans' Guide internet sales.It was quite a bit cheaper thru them than buying it from the N.R.A. It is 3>9 power with quick focus eyepiece
I've had three Tascos and they all took a crap , as did one that my buddy had.
I have one Bushnell that still works. A 1.75>5 power Trophy
I have a Burris Posi Loc Handgun scope 1>4 power. Seems like a good scope. It does what it is supposed to.
I have one Weaver 22 scope 3>9 power with adjustable parallax
I have five Leupolds , and all are giving very good service with no problems.
Has anyone on the 24hourcampfire had a Brunton scope or heard anything good or bad about them? They are supposed to be waterproof , shockproof , and fogproof, as stamped on the turret body. It looks clear and sharp , but I have not shot with it yet. I've got it mounted on my Savage 210 3 inch rifled slug gun. Guess I'll find out if it holds up to recoil , won't I.

TTT

Well now you done it!
The last time I heard of Brunton, they were making drafting machines. That was thirty five years ago. The name was long ago associated with surveying and drafting, the old way. I'm sure it's a different company.

The only way to tell about that scope is to use it.

Then Report back on the results. Have a good time while you're at it.

How much did you pay for the scope?

264bore --- It was $80(member price, which I am) plus a rather high $12.95 for shipping.
I saw it later in , I believe it was a Natchez flyer for $79.95 plus shipping. But I don't know what they charged for shipping.

I'll report if it looks like there is enough interest (more replies)

I have totally zero experience with this scope............but as with most items....IMHO...you get what you pay for.

BIGFOOT,

I am interested in your testing of this scope, as I was looking at one myself. It appears to be the cheapest scope with a "Ballistic Plex" reticle, alongside the Pentax Gameseeker. What did you conclude about the Brunton?

Sorry about waiting so long to reply. Haven't had a lot of time this past week to do forums. Actually , I've only put 23 slugs through the gun I have this scope mounted on. All I can tell you at this point is that it has not fallen apart yet , and it seems to be holding zero so far. Clear image to the edges. The eye relief is OK , in that even with a heavy recoiling slug rifle , if I hold the gun properly it ( the scope ) doesn't bite me. The eye relief is however , critical, meaning that there is a narrow range of movement of distance from the eyepiece ( forward and back , not sideways ) and still have the full diameter of the view showing. Will be using this slug rifle as my primary deer gun this year for Michigans deer season , even though I live and hunt in our centerfire rifle deer hunting zone. A lot of times the first week of our gun deer season has a lot of rain , so that will be a good test of water and fog-proofing . I have several rifles of different calibers and this slug gun , plus a 44 Mag revolver that I use for deer hunting and I use a different one every year. Oh , and last year I used my first ever black-powder rifle to take a nice 7 point buck. T/C Omega 50 cal. Our season doesn't start until Nov 15 , but will be shooting this combo more soon and will try to up date to you. Had to edit to add this. I do not use the Ballistic reticle , as #1 , shooting slugs I would never be able to shoot far enough to put it to use and #2 , I had to turn the scope 90 degrees counter-clockwise be cause with my gun ( Savage Model 210 ) the ejecting shells hit the windage turret and would not eject properly. Like what they used to do to the old Model 94 Winchester lever actions. Rotating the scope like this makes the elevation tics appear on the right side instead of underneath. Oh well.

I now have 74 rounds of the Winchester Partition Gold Hollow-points through this rig with no problems yet. On Nov. 16 I killed a nice fat 2x3 whitetail. Have hunted in the rain for three days and no internal fogging. So far , so good.

I have a pair of Brunton Epoch binoculars and they are IMO clearer and brighter than Swarovski and Zeiss that I've looked through. Can you tell us how they compare to Leupold, Zeiss, Burris, etc...

It's kind of hard to compare quality at this point , as all the other scopes I have now are anywhere from 25 down to 5 years old. All I can say now is that I wish it had a little more eyerelief and that the relief it has wasn't so critical. As far as image quality , its as good as my Leupolds' or Burris scopes and the brightness and contrast compare favorably too. All the adjustments ( elev., wind., eyepiece reticle focus, and power adjustments) appear to work as they are supposed to. I've only had this scope for about 5 or 6 months and only have 74 rounds on it so can't say anything about durability yet. I guess I bought it to see why so many people brag up chinese scopes . I buy American whenever I can. It's almost like people in America nowadays take some perverse pleasure in bashing American products anymore. Had to see for myself I guess.

That's funny!

Awhile back....like maybe two years ago I read about different spotting scopes and the Brunton was rated the best buy. I went to Cabellas and with a little talking I got an 18x36 with some extra 'goodies' thrown in. I think I paid about 450 guidas and I've used it alot.....with satisfaction.

The clarity around the perimeter which IMO, tells me what quality lens is inside. The Brunton is pretty good, not perfect but more than suits my needs. I like the relative compactness of it, the soft case it comes with and its weight.

Now have 75 rounds of Partition Gold on this scope. Killed a really big doe on Nov. 27