Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics How are the older Burris Fullfield scopes?

I just bought a gun off of GB and it comes with an older Burris Fullfield 3-9x40 scope.
This is the older, larger Fullfield and not the newer FFII.
Does anyone have any experience with these scopes?
Should I be thinking of replacing it right away with a 3-9x40 4200.
I already have a 4200 on another gun and for the money they are GREAT but is the FF a decent scope.

I like my 1.75-5x20 FFII so I'm not opposed to Burris at all.

Thanks folks.

I quite disliked Burris scopes until I bought a Fullfield 4X just before they were discontinued. Had they not done that I would own quite a few more Burris scopes. It's one I really like for full-sized rifles.

Thanks Klikitarik.

Burris also discontinued the nice little 1.75-5x20 FF2 which is a good low power scope.

The older USA made Fullfields are an excellent scope. The view however provide a somewhat yellowish tent

Thanks, it's nice to know a new scope isn't needed immediately.

I wouldn't mind having that scope you have at all.

Yep Shameless, that little 1.75-5x20 scope is a pretty sweet item. One of my favorites.

Sometimes I wonder what the heck a company is thinking when they discontinue a product I happen to like.

Darn it, they should just keep making what I like!

If you like that one look through the 1.75x5-32 sig safari. Its a gem, Nicer eye box and the glass is big step up.

I'd test in for leaks and put 60 rds. through it to see if it held zero. If it passes that, it should be OK for at least casual use.
There was a time when Burris made very heavy scopes of that class which were known to be occassionally troublesome. Without knowing when it was made and if it really fits the description of those scopes, I can't say. Maybe I shouldn't even mention this as Burris scopes of this type haven't been made for the last 15-20 yrs. from what I've learned.
Around here, Burris is one of the top picks of the serious hunters I know. E

I had a Burris a while back, not the one you're talking about, but a US made scope. It was nice. I sold it around ten years ago (well, sold the rifle it was on). I relatively recently bought a new Burris (Phillipines I think) and it's supposedly the same "model" scope (if my memory serves) but it's not as nice a scope as the ~15 year old Burris I had. So, I'd figure it's probably a good scope, and as state above, I'd put it through it's paces and if it holds zero I'd keep it.

Optically and Mechanically, the older Fullfeild Burris scopes are pretty good.

They were tough but heavy, kind of long as well, but that tube length helped mount them on gun which needed it like Ruger no1s etc.

One thing that really used to annoy me with their scopes was the actual shape of their Duplex reticles. It was not the overall design ( although the thick section could have been thicker). Really it was the way in which they actually made it. The darn things were always lopsided in the transistion zone from the thick section to the thin section. They looked litterally hand made and and it was just plain annoying.

Yes, it's picking a nit, BUT really except for some of the very last El Paso Weavers whose reticles where formed the same way- NO other scope of that era- even a TASCO or Simmons had Duplex reticles shaped unevenly.

I will never forget being at some hotel cocktail party thrown by Burris st the SHOT show in Dallas in the late 1980s. Their sales manager asked me what I thought of their scopes and I told him everything warts and all. He was mistified about the Duplex comment, until I drew it out out a diagram of the issue on a napkin..

His response was they had heard that complaint before, but that they were using older forming dies/jigs to twist the reicle wire to make the thin /thick section. He said while thay may be a problem ,they would not change reticles until those dies wore out.

Well, I told him shooting a scope with a lopsided reticle is like driving a car with an egg shaped steering wheel.. Yes, it is useable, but is is annoying as hell and does not exactly give one a warm and fuzzy feel about the competency of the maker...

I know up until the late 1990s, they were still using those same lopsided duplex reticles..

I got a practically new in the box Burris Fullfield 2.5x,sitting on top off the safe.A friend gave it to me a while back.I might try it on this .444,but I have a Lyman 66 receiver sight on it that I like.