Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire A 3x9 Bushnell 3200 elite on a shotgun?

I currently own a Bushnell 3-9x 3200 elite.

Does anybody see a problem with putting it on a shotgun? It's a good scope and just sitting on my shelf so I figured I could maybe use it for my upcoming deer slug gun. Will it do the trick or am better with something else?

Roach

No problem. I have used one on a .375 H&H and they are just fine to handle the recoil. Tough scopes.

John

I never found a need for a scope on a short range shotgun, but as long as the parallax being off does not bother you, go for it.

Seems like a waste of a good scope mounting it on a shotgun. If you have no use for the scope why not sell it here and use the money to buy a scope more suited for your shotgun. You can use what's left of the money to buy shells to practice with.

I have one on my encore slug gun and would like to have longer eye releaf.I shoot 6-8 deer pr year with it and if I am not paying strict attention to how I am holding my gun I get scope eye.

Well not a problem with a 3X9 on a shotgun but I gots to ask, what in the world for?

If you are using shot you certainly don't need a scope for an area type gun.

While they may exist I have never seen a slug gun that was accurate enough to get any good out of a high magnification scope or had the range to require far seeing.

Any scope on a shotgun plays hob with the balance. They just ain't made for a scope I say this not being all that familiar with dedicated slug guns but real familiar with shotguns used for what they are intended to be.

IMO you'd be a lot better off trying to figure a way to get a rifle to fit that good scope to instead of fitting a scope to something it ain't intended for.

BCR

I have a 2x7 Elite 3200 with the firefly reticle on a 18.5" barreled 12 ga. pump I use for Black Bear and Deer. Works GREAT!

Put it on there, it'll work well...

I used high rings as it keeps my head up and I don't "stock crawl" that way. Haven't been smacked by the scope yet.

I use it on low magnification and it does tighten up groups.

The extra weight helps with the recoil and the light gathering ability of a scope is a good thing early and late in the day. As far as balance it makes no difference on a slug gun and the benefits outweigh any drawbacks one can come up with.

With the scope I can keep 3 slugs right at 1" at 50 yards and about 3" at 100 yards all day and that's with a monopod not from a bench... Not bad for a smoothbore shooting Brenneke 550 grain slugs.

I shoot better with the magnification turned down but it does shoot better than with the Red Dot I had on it and much better than iron sights or just using the bead. Try it I think you'll like it!

Seems like some are missing the fact it's for a slug gun, not a scattergun. Anyway, I'd see no issue, maybe a little lacking in eye relief and IMO, a little too much magnification. I have an Elite 3200 1.5-6 on my 22LR that I like a lot. Thinking 2x7 is perfect for a slug gun.

At this time, if money is "tight" and you don't have a rifle on which to mount the 3-9x 3200 Bushnell scope, I would go ahead and use the 3200 on the shotgun even tho' it's a lot more "scope" than you need or can use given the relatively short range of the shotgun. You can leave the magnification adjustment on 3x while the scope is mounted on the shotgun... and that should work fairly well for you.

Eventually, I'd consider buying a 1-4x or similar variable shotgun scope with possibly a lighted reticle for the shotgun... especially if you get another centerfire rifle on which you can mount the 3200 Bushnell scope.

I've got a relatively inexpensive Bushnell 1.5-4.5x scope on my old style, semi-automatic Ruger .44 magnum Carbine that is, in fact, a shotgun scope.

It has VERY heavy crosshair wires that stand out well in low-light conditions that go down to a heavy wire "circle" in the scope's center inside of which the crosshairs thin down to "very thin" for more precision aiming... not that an old/style Ruger semi-auto Carbine is capble of "precision" shooting.

The heavy "circle" not only tends to helps one to QUICKLY "center" the circle ON a moving target, but acts as a range-measuring device as well since the "circle" represents a 6-inch diameter circle at 40 yards and is parallax-free at 50 yards.

The scope has very thin crosshairs inside the heavy circle in the scope's center to help the shooter to place the bullet with greater accuracy than might be possible with the very thick crosshairs. It is a great reticle for taking running shots on deer in the deep woods with the variable scope on 1.5x or for taking more precision shots at longer ranges with the scope on 4.5x out to 100 yards or so... perfect for a shotgun having a rifled barrel shooting sabotted slugs.

Such "combinations" have been known to consistently shoot 2-inch, 3 shot groups at 100 yards... quite a feat for a shotgun which stretches the range of such a shotgun/scope combination to as much as 125 yards... more than enough for 95% of the shots most of us get on whitetails.

You have a wide variety of "possibilities" at your disposal... think about it, then do whatever you wish since there is no "wrong way" to handle this situation. Some solutions are just a little better than others.


Strength & Honor...

Ron T.

I do currently have an Wilson Combat UT AR-15 that the Elite 3200 might be better suited for but right now it has a Bushnell Halo sight on it which is better suited for an urban tactical type set up vs long range open shooting. Since I'm really more of a fan of long range stuff I figure I might just use the Bushnell Elite 3200 scope for capitalizing on the long range abilities of the AR-15. After giving it a little thought I decided that the AR wouldn't be my best choice for home defense due to over penetration and me living in a crowded neighborhood. I now have a shotgun that I think will better serve the HD role.

Roach