Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Vari X II vs Burris

Thanks guys. I will be selling the Leupold and keeping the Burris. Just for giggles I took the 2 scopes in question out one eve at dusk. Spent probably 20-30 minutes comparing brightness, clarity etc. I made sure both were always on the same power level. Honestly I went with an expectation that the Leupold would do better, it is a Leupold after all. Well I had to admit that the Burris was clearer and brighter, especially when picking apart thick brushy areas. I asked myself, which scope would make it easier to spot a deer in that brush pile, and then looked through both scopes side by side. Like I said, the Burris was clearly better. In more fields/open areas, I didn't think of the difference quite as much.

I have switched a majority of my hunting rifles over to FF2’s in the last year or two and picked up 9 of them at good prices the last few months since they discontinued them.

Most of my hunting rifles are set and forget and don’t get dialed since I never really shoot over 300 yards here in PA.

Perhaps Leupold has a better weight, and longer eye relief.

But I ain’t sure.

Angus,

The difference in eye relief is measurable, and Leupold "wins" there. But whether that matters enough for specific uses (including most) is another question.

Great post selmer. I think a lot of us feel the same way. However, I have an appreciation for the gloss Burris FFII 3-9x40 with ballistic plex. They look at home on older rifles like pre 64 model 70's or my old sporter m1917's. I don't think a lot of guys here have the gloss version of the FFII with ballistic plex. They did not make many of them. Here's a rifle I bought last year that had to have a gloss Burris after the Leupold that was on it did not pass the test:


Then one I bought right at the beginning of last year, also got a gloss Burris FFII with ballistic plex:


The aesthetics of those scopes are just as good as the older Vari-x IIc Leupolds. The old Vari-x IIc is a good scope that really holds it's value though. When I run across them at a good deal, I snag them:


I actually paid $150 for this one less than a month ago. I can turn around and sell it for $300+ on ebay. You'd be surprised what they are going for over there. The silver Leupolds are going for over $400!!


Guys buy these older Leupolds for a few different reasons. 1. Nostalgia 2. They don't make them anymore 3. Aesthetics and they look great on old rifles.

However, the Burris just plain works. I got my first FFII 3-9x40 with ballistic plex in 1998. Somewhere around the time they came out. I still have that American made FFII. It's been on more than 10 different rifles now and has really proven itself. It resides on my 1956 model 70 30-06 fwt.

In a recent test, where I had a "new to me" (bought it less than a month ago) rifle set up with a FFII 3-9x40


and a rifle set up with a brand spanking new Zeiss V4 4-16x44:


I could actually see the 1/4" black diamond inside the 1" orange dot I aim at, better with the Burris FFII 3-9x40 with ballistic plex reticle. Even when the Zeiss was cranked up to 16x. To me, that is unacceptable. But that was real world testing. You will often see differences like that when comparing 2 different scopes. I kept saying my Nightforce scopes focused much better than the Zeiss, and that may actually be a better comparison because the retail pricing of the V4 is closer to the SHV 5-20x56 I was comparing it to. But it seemed really unfair. Then when I compared the much more expensive Zeiss to the cheap Burris and the Burris blew it out of the water, I was very disappointed. I actually had to wait 6 months for that Zeiss scope to arrive, so there's that as well. I've only had to send 2 Burris rifle scopes in for warranty repair. One of my older American made scopes and a recent purchase that I made on Ebay for a $100 on an older American made Burris FFII. I sent it in to Burris and had the same scope back in 2 weeks time. I told them I wanted that scope back, if at all possible because it is an American made FFII and it was worth more than the phillipine made FFII's. They were cool and sent my American made one back with a note of what they fixed. I tested it and it worked fine after I got it back. I threw it on a rifle my buddy wanted for yote hunting and sold him the package at a very good deal. So, in my experience both companies treat you very well. But having to wait 6 months to get a scope from Zeiss was an eye opener!!!! This thread really needed some pics... Just sayin.

the 4.5-14 Burris FF2 is tough to beat

Weird deal on my Burris fullfield 2-7:

Scouting for winter caribou, my dog sled must've been too close to the dog food cooker.

Snow around the scabbard, froze my power-ring solid. Mustve happened when winds changed and steam off the dog food cooker went near the dog sled.

A 338 rcm brass is also seized solid against the scope.

Guess it's time for a thaw near the woodstove.

^^^^This^^^^

It's a lot of scope for the money.

For new it'll be E1 or Droptines now unless you can find FF2's NOS. Still Phillipines instead of China built like the FFIV.

The E1s are very good scopes as well. Have used several. (No experience with Droptines.)

Just seeing Burris E1 for sale, does it have all the goodness of the FF2 ?

Thanks

Drifless,
I used the E1 for two seasons and two bull moose. A very tough scope but a coupla issues:

The reticle was very "busy" and not as bold and legible as the ballistic plex.

The excessively large tactical turret caps bit into my wrist when I carried at the balance point.

Still a great scope.

But for these reasons, I prefer the fullfield 2.

2-7 E1:

Yep bsa, that's the one. Its the kinda sht that literally disappears in an early morning moose.

I can't even make out a moose 20 yds in front of my car at night as I swerve and almost have a heart attack.

Folks complain that they can't shoot Itty bitty groups due to the thicker crosshairs, but I like them. Had one bull show up so early, an $8000 camera could barely pick him up. Let alone my cheapy $200 Burris scope. This was a Burris scout, which is basically a fixed fullfield 2, far as I can tell.

Aimng at that brute was a challenge. I followed the light color antlers in the scope, and "guessed" where I settled the crosshairs. That shot rang true. Would've been impossible with the E1 reticle.

Amazon - Fullfield ll @ $130 with free shipping

https://www.amazon.com/Burris-Fullfield-Ballistic-Rifle-Scope/dp/B000MM2QSK/ref=sr_1_7?crid=1651B3NPGJ6X2&keywords=burris%2Be1%2B3x9x40&qid=1677453299&sprefix=burris%2Be1%2Caps%2C1221&sr=8-7&th=1

drover

Honest to goodness, the optics world is out of touch. Apparently manufacturers assume anyone using a riflescope is either a thousand yard sniper or seriously believes they’re one. That E1 reticle is an abomination. I have an E1 3-9x40 with standard duplex. I bought it several years ago ON CLOSEOUT when Burris discontinued them. That is the most useful reticle man ever invented for a scoped game rifle so Burris stopped putting them in the E1. And now it appears the crystal ball marketing geniuses even prefer the BS Extreme reticle over the Ballistic Plex. Clown World gets more real every day.

Yeah, I can't stand the E1 reticle. It is a pizz poor excuse for a reticle. I don't know what Burris was thinking. The good ol Ballistic plex reticle is by far my favorite. Cool pictures on your moose. Thanks for sharing.

For those who are apparently unaware of the reason Burris created the E1, it was designed as a version of the FFII that could be dialed up and down more easily, and with a reticle more suitable for longer-range shooting of smaller game, especially varmints.

Which is what some hunters wanted. And it works very well for that purpose--which I know due to having been using E1s for those purposes (mostly varmints) since they were introduced.

For general big game use, yes, the Ballistic Plex is a great reticle, the reason around 85% of my Burris scopes have BP reticles.

But always good to know how many Campfire members know more than optics companies about what will sell--and E1s have apparently been selling well enough for around 15 years to keep them in the line-up.

And case anybody really misses the point, the E1 was NOT designed as the perfect moose scope....

I sure like the paralax and the magnification adjustment. Much improved.



Anyway.....just thought I would add that. Continue with your scolding.