Bushnell Sportsman 3-9 x 40 Reviews

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Good Points: Very good optics for the price; well built.

Bad Points: Parallax fixed by factory at 50 yards.

General comments: This was the scope I originally had with my Weihrauch HW95 Steve Pope-tuned spring rifle, before moving on to a Simmons Whitetail 1.5-5 x 20 mini scope. The latter, while a great bit of kit, has proved to be less versatile at the ranges I usually shoot at and my eyes need about x 6 with better light-gathering capabilities.

COMPARISONS

I had been thinking of getting the Sportsman again for the reasons mentioned. I took some time to compare it against other scopes and in particular a Hawke scope similarly priced around the £90 mark. The Hawke was a 4-12 and optically very similar to the Sportsman and was perfectly clear and acceptable. The only downside with the Hawke was the field of view was less good, the image was surrounded by a larger area of black compared to the Bushnell.

USE

Anyway, got the scope home and was relieved to find that my Sportsmatch one-piece mounts I used with the Simmons scope fitted the Bushnell fine, with a few millimetres of clearance from the body of the barrel at the objective end. I fitted the scope easily taking care -- as always -- not to over tighten the screws.

Went out into the garden and within three shots the scope was zero-ed at ~ 22 yards, which is the perfect range for incoming squirrels. H&N FTT in .22 is the staple diet of the Weihrauch and accuracy is pellet on pellet, certainly for this range.

PARALLAX ISSUE

The Bushnell has a fixed parallax of 50 yards. At 20 yards and low magnification this is not really a problem. But at high magnification of x9, the picture is blurred at this range and it is a strain on the eye because the scope has its parallax set by the factory to 50 yards. Also, at that magnification, the picture become somewhat milky and prone to reflection of light bouncing off the cornea into the scope, and then back into the eye. I have fixed the parallax issue myself by unscrewing the locking ring at the far end of the scope and turning the objective lens several turns 'outwards.' This moved the parallax to around 25 yards and now at high magnification there is no blurred image for normal airgun ranges. This afternoon the new set up claimed a rabbit.

SUMMARY

To conclude, the optics are very good indeed, and I would say exceptional for the price of a budget scope. Drawbacks include the fixed parallax and the slightly milky image at high magnification, but I am comparing this scope with my other Bushnells.