Bushnell Elite 6500 Review

[Dave D]

Bushnell Elite 6500 2.5-16x42mm Model 652164MD (mill dot)
Technical Specification

Weight 17.3 oz
Length 13.5 inches
30mm one piece tube
Focus 10yards - infinity
¼ M.O.A
Fully multicoated lenses (multiple coatings on all air-glass surfaces)
True mill dot @ 10 mag

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o...0/DSCF1740.jpg
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o...0/DSCF1748.jpg
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o...0/DSCF1749.jpg
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o...0/DSCF1750.jpg
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o...0/DSCF1751.jpg
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o...0/DSCF1752.jpg
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o...0/DSCF1753.jpg
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o...0/DSCF1754.jpg
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o...0/DSCF1757.jpg


The Scope
After much deliberating, mental torture and a few mind wrestles, I have plunged in and bought a Bushnell Elite 6500.

I considered all the various alternatives around some more expensive, some cheaper, but I have always liked the Bushnell range of scopes.

The scope arrived as all Bushnell’s do in its glossy black box containing scope, sunshade, warranty, instructions and marketing material the is so common these days. The packaging is good, but considering how much these scopes are I feel maybe more quality and perhaps a nice bag (as MTC do) would be a good idea.

When you first remove the scope from the box you notice the feel and quality of the finish. The nice touches are the embossed logo’s on the turret caps and the quality of the gold lettering. The scope feels very robust and sturdy.

Examining the scope closely you notice the quality shine through, unscrewing the turret caps you find the are smooth in the threads and easily located for screwing back on, no fear of a cross thread with cold fingers on a early winters morn.

The turrets turn easily with enough resistance to feel positive about each click without the worry of over doing it. The fast focus eyebell turns easily allowing easy adjustment to suit any eyes.

Parallax adjustment is a saddle mounted side focus system ( thanks to Leupold on the MKIV for that ) The focus wheel is adequately marked for all ranges with the minimum focus distance being 10 yards with suitable sized gaps in between each yardage mark. As with the rest of the scope this feels well made an turn’s easily and very smoothly.

The reticule fitted is a standard mill dot, and is true at 10 mag, useful for HFT, SFT and makes life easier for working out trajectories.

Bushnell make a bold statement in there brochure about the scope, and I quote “ The world’s brightest rifle scope”, I don’t have access to all the various comparable models that are available so I can’t compare, but I have used a lot of different scopes in 25 years and I wouldn’t doubt there claim after trying it at sunset and beyond, it does appear to suck a lot of light in even in the most
murky conditions.

Actual shooting bit
I am going to use this as my all purpose scope for hunting, HFT, SFT, and maybe FT so it will need to perform in all conditions and weather, all elites have the rain guard coating so a bit of damp weather won’t bother it. I have used other elites in all weather conditions so will say it does work and help.

At only 13.5” long it’s a lot shorter than the 4200 6-24 I had ( 16.9” ) so mounting it on the HW97 was easy and gave lots of clearance and a good balance to the rifle.

I zeroed the rifle indoors at 35 yards and immediately was impressed with the clarity and sight picture, could even make out the edges of the pellet holes showing the paper fibres.

Depth of field is excellent with the parallax set at 25 yards and at 10 mag you can easily make out targets from 10-50 yards, with only the close and anything past 42 yards starting to go blurred.

Outside in the fields the scope was exceptional, even with the sun going down and facing towards it the picture was clear and with no white out.

I have not had chance to check the parallax error on the scope when used for HFT when I do I will ad the findings onto this post.

Conclusion

This new Bushnell is the best they have made so far, I am sure they will become as popular as Leupolds and others, the FT boys will be interested in the 4.5 - 30 mag that’s out if it is a good range finder it will be hard to beat.

Price’s in the UK do vary from the full retail at £699 ( J J Vickers ) to around £490 at some UK gun shops. Import prices from the states Bring it down even more to around the £350 mark (not inc import duty). So the best advice is to shop around.

The elite 6500 is as good as scopes costing £2-300 more and in my opinion has set a new high for a sub £500 scope.

Build quality, finish, sight picture are just some of the highlights if you get chance have a look through one you will be impressed.

As I use it more and do more tests and trials I will add to the post on here

Thanks, hope you enjoyed the review.


Dave

[Dave D]

Pics have now been added

When I have more findings I will add to the post on here

Thanks

Dave

[Paul.]

Good review Dave. I am liking the sound of the high mag 6500

[Dave D]

Good review Dave. I am liking the sound of the high mag 6500

Thanks Paul, as it get's used more I will post onto this thread. Will be interesting to see what the powder burners think on this range of scopes as in the states they have had rave reviews when used on centerfire and rimfire rifles

Dave

[Paul.]

Thanks Paul, as it get's used more I will post onto this thread. Will be interesting to see what the powder burners think on this range of scopes as in the states they have had rave reviews when used on centerfire and rimfire rifles

Dave

You have certainly wetted my appetite for one Dave, please keep your thoughts coming.

[blue]

Dave.
Have you noticed any zero shift from the lowest to the highest mag on the scope?
Only reason I ask is that it was something I started to find on the 4200 series scopes.

[Dave D]

Will let you know later as I am going to do some long range shooting indoors tonight.

The mill-dots are in the second focal plane, so as the mag increases the aim points do alter ( but you knew that anyway)

I will check zero at 35 yds and turn the mag right up to check to see if it moves. When I first zeroed it i did turn the mag right up and didn't notice it then.

When I had a 4200 never noticed a zero shift, except for the adjustment on the aiming points for using a higher or lower mag.

Thanks

Dave

[jamie g]

sounds like a nice scope dave. i really liked the 4200 i had but just wasnt a fan of the mildot.

but for glass i found it one of the best scopes i have seen. very clear the 4.5x30x50 6500 has some cracking reports so i have been looking on the net. im sure there have a good amount of fans over here when they hit our shores

[Si B]

Always bought Bush elite's and quite interested in the 6200. do you know if they offer a variant with the same turretts as the 3200 10x40, I think they are call target/sniper

Thanks,

Si

[Dave D]

Did some indoor shooting tonight up to 100 yds, scope performed very very well, no loss of zero from cross hair when moving through the mag range.

Si, I don't think bushnell offer the target turret option you want on the 6500 but I am sure that there are plenty of people on here that could make some or maybe stoney point make some I will investigate further

Thanks

Dave

[Oddbob08]

That's a good zoom range it has too, 2.5x mag will be very handy for rough shooting where you never know where the next target will appear yet you can zoom right up to 16x for longer ranges off a bipod or rest.
I think I'm going to sell the kids and maybe get the 50mm one

[mildot]

HI

i hope you dont mind me adding this

When i was at the cla last month i had a good look through the 6500 and numerous other scope and i have to say that i was extremely disapointed with the bushnell. The picture clarity was appauling for a £600 scope. The Leupold vx111 imho is far better than the 6500. It just didnt look right. i would say it was between the mtc vipers and the leupold vx111. I have owned about 4 vx111, burris black diamonds, leupy mk4, zeiss diavari and conquests etc etc

For the money the zeiss conquest is a far far better scope!


Although i wish you all the best with the bushnell. You seen happy with it which at the end of the day is all that matters

[Dave D]

I also looked through the 6500 at the CLA, almost put me off.

If you get chance to look through one at a shop, there seems to be a world of differnce between that and the ones at the vickers stand.

The leupold is a good scope but i found the eye relief difficult and the field of view narrow in comparison the actual clarity of the optics in normal day light is about the same but in murky conditions the bushnell seems better than the leup or the ziess.

At £699 retail I would not have bought one, but for sub £490 UK supllied its a very very good buy.

The MTC is a very good scope with a nice reticule for the money its the best scope by far in that price bracket but does not compare with the bushnell or the others mentioned.

Thanks

Dave

[Oddbob08]

I also looked through the 6500 at the CLA, almost put me off.

If you get chance to look through one at a shop, there seems to be a world of differnce between that and the ones at the vickers stand.

The leupold is a good scope but i found the eye relief difficult and the field of view narrow in comparison the actual clarity of the optics in normal day light is about the same but in murky conditions the bushnell seems better than the leup or the ziess.

At £699 retail I would not have bought one, but for sub £490 UK supllied its a very very good buy.

The MTC is a very good scope with a nice reticule for the money its the best scope by far in that price bracket but does not compare with the bushnell or the others mentioned.

Thanks

Dave

It's these differences that worry me about buying from the US, you can't look at the product or compare it with similar products to see which is better suited. It's a shame prices are so high in the UK and many of us have to settle for a Chinese special

[Dave D]

I brought mine from a shop in the UK off the shelf for £490, give the buisness to UK gun shops where you can, thats what I try and do.

Dave