Before I give my opinion on these two I need to preface this by saying I am not an optics expert. I do not have years of experience behind high end scopes, in fact just the opposite. Just a few years back I had Leupold VXII 3x9x50s on most rifles and have been slowly upgrading. First I got a few Burris XTRs. A 3x12x50 and a 4x16x50 but those were SFP scopes so I started upgrading again for my main bolt guns which are a 308 and a 223 Savage FLCP-k that I use as my range/bench rifles. A while back I got a Bushnell 3.5x21x50 DMR with the standard G2 reticle. I put it on one of the Savages and continued to shoot the Burris XTR on the other one. Then not too long ago I purchased a SS 5x20x50 from someone here with an extra one from the group buy and put it on the other Savage. Even though I had tried to compare them by specs etc nothing replaces a day at the range behind each one.
First the 34mm tube of course causes ring selection issues so I bought some American Rifle rings for the Bushy. A bit pricey for my budget but after getting them they are top notch. The SS with a 30mm tube makes rings a lot easier to buy.
After handling the two scopes a few things come to mind even before hitting the range. Both are well built but the 34mm shorter tube Bushy is a nice looking and very sturdy piece so it takes the nod in terms of heft etc. Maybe it will fall apart but it doesnt feel like it will.
I like the pop up turrets of the Bushy better because you can lock them down and not worry about them twisting. Click is good on both and for parallax adjustment I think the Bushy seems to have a little more range but that is really minor.
As for the reticle the SS has the quad reticle which is cleaver and fairly easy to navigate and keep up through the glass BUT the hash marks are not numbered like the Bushy so again I give the nod here to the Bushy.
Everyone loves to talk about glass and though I am not a scope expert I am a photo journalist with tens of thousands of images shot behind upper end Nikon Glass and without a doubt the SS has sharper glass. Its not huge as in the Bushnell is bad but side by side especially at higher magnification you can see that the SSWA scope is brighter and sharper. BUT for some reason even though they have roughly the same exit pupil I found the SS a lot harder to sit behind on the range. The eye box was more difficult for me to find every time I took position behind it. I tried different cheek welds, moving forward, backward etc and even though these two rifles are nearly identical with the scopes mounted nearly in the same exact position it was harder on the SS. I could easily throw the Bushy up on the bench and get a good full pupil full of image time after time. And I guess the 34mm tube has some effect on the view because it seems less "tubey" when looking through it. Field of view on max is the same for both but something I can't quite put my finger on yet had me liking the Bushy better despite the glass of the SSWA.
I did not run tracking tests on either of them as I didn't have a set up for that but I assume both track well enough for me and I had no trouble doping out to range and then back again on both.
So its hard for me to declare a winner here because they are just different. But with that said I guess it would come down to which ever I could get at the best deal as they are both pretty nice to me anyway.
This is not expected to answer everyones needs for a review but a lot of people come down to these two scopes as they are priced close to each other and offer similar magnification. I would not hesitate to buy one of either of them again based on my using them side by side. I actually have two of the Bushys now and will be buying one more of something in the same 15-20X upper end magnification and am still trying to decide which of these or something else to get this time. If anyone has any specific questions on them I will be happy to try and reply.
First the 34mm tube of course causes ring selection issues so I bought some American Rifle rings for the Bushy. A bit pricey for my budget but after getting them they are top notch. The SS with a 30mm tube makes rings a lot easier to buy.
After handling the two scopes a few things come to mind even before hitting the range. Both are well built but the 34mm shorter tube Bushy is a nice looking and very sturdy piece so it takes the nod in terms of heft etc. Maybe it will fall apart but it doesnt feel like it will.
I like the pop up turrets of the Bushy better because you can lock them down and not worry about them twisting. Click is good on both and for parallax adjustment I think the Bushy seems to have a little more range but that is really minor.
As for the reticle the SS has the quad reticle which is cleaver and fairly easy to navigate and keep up through the glass BUT the hash marks are not numbered like the Bushy so again I give the nod here to the Bushy.
Everyone loves to talk about glass and though I am not a scope expert I am a photo journalist with tens of thousands of images shot behind upper end Nikon Glass and without a doubt the SS has sharper glass. Its not huge as in the Bushnell is bad but side by side especially at higher magnification you can see that the SSWA scope is brighter and sharper. BUT for some reason even though they have roughly the same exit pupil I found the SS a lot harder to sit behind on the range. The eye box was more difficult for me to find every time I took position behind it. I tried different cheek welds, moving forward, backward etc and even though these two rifles are nearly identical with the scopes mounted nearly in the same exact position it was harder on the SS. I could easily throw the Bushy up on the bench and get a good full pupil full of image time after time. And I guess the 34mm tube has some effect on the view because it seems less "tubey" when looking through it. Field of view on max is the same for both but something I can't quite put my finger on yet had me liking the Bushy better despite the glass of the SSWA.
I did not run tracking tests on either of them as I didn't have a set up for that but I assume both track well enough for me and I had no trouble doping out to range and then back again on both.
So its hard for me to declare a winner here because they are just different. But with that said I guess it would come down to which ever I could get at the best deal as they are both pretty nice to me anyway.
This is not expected to answer everyones needs for a review but a lot of people come down to these two scopes as they are priced close to each other and offer similar magnification. I would not hesitate to buy one of either of them again based on my using them side by side. I actually have two of the Bushys now and will be buying one more of something in the same 15-20X upper end magnification and am still trying to decide which of these or something else to get this time. If anyone has any specific questions on them I will be happy to try and reply.
