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The Bushnell Elite 4200 8-32x Rifle Scope
By Brad Troyer
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Bushnell is known world wide for their high quality optic products, including telescopic sites sold under both the Bushnell and Bushnell names. Like their other optical products, their line of rifle, pistol, and airgun scopes are generally well made and high quality. Most every one in the airgun community, especially in the Field Target arena, know of their many airgun scopes. I would bet that at one time or another most airgunners have topped one of their favorite airguns with a Bushnell or Bushnell scope.
The Bushnell 6-18x Trophy airgun scope had been the dominant scope in the Standard Piston class of Field Target for many years. It earned a good reputation and helped many shooters into the winners circle. Over the past several years the Bushnell Elite 4000 6-24x scope has been making it’s mark in the target scope arena on both piston guns and pcp rifles. I have used a 6-24x exclusively now for 4 years without a single problem and that is due to it’s outstanding clarity, brightness, repeatability and toughness.
Over the past couple of years I have tried to convince manufacturers like Leupold, Nightforce and Bushnell that a high power target scope for both airguns and rimfire rifles would be a good seller. However they didn’t appear to feel that the volume would be there to make such a scope profitable. Things changed this past year though when Bushnell unveiled it’s new Bushnell 4200 8-32x target at the 2000 SHOT Show.
I couldn’t attend the 2000 SHOT Show myself so I had to rely on others that were there to get what scraps of information I could about the new scope. The initial information was sketchy at best so I called Bushnell to get my name on a waiting list to get a scope. It was several months later when they finally went into production and a little bundle of joy was found on my doorstep one day after work.
I eagerly tore into the outer packing box to retrieve the prize inside, a brand new Elite 4200 8-32x scope with Raingaurd. I pulled the long 18" 22 oz. scope out from the box and was a little disappointed to find only a 40mm objective. I had hoped for at least a 50mm objective if not a 56mm. I was a bit disappointed until I took a look through the scope and it was super bright, unbelievably clear and also only on 8 power. I cranked up the power to 32x using the smooth turning power adjustment ring locate just in front of the rear objective.
Things change a bit as I sighted down on a bush about 50 yards away. After adjusting the front objective to bring the picture into focus I found the sight picture to be very bright and clear despite the smaller than expected objective. This is due to the excellent glass that Bushnell uses in their 4200 line as well as the RainGuard™ coating system that are used on their lenses. The RainGuard™ coatings increases light transmission up to 95% and improves clarity while reducing fogging. It also has a special water repellent coating which causes rain and condensation to form in much smaller droplets to improve visibility. I unfortunately had a chance to test this first hand at a recent field target match. It started raining on my third to last lane, having shot one target on the lane I decided to finish the lane. The rain didn’t fog the lense or interfere with my rangefinding at all.
The objective was a bit difficult to turn at first, giving a gritty feel as it was moved. It improved as it broke in with use but it still isn’t as smooth as it could be. The markings on the bell have distance from 10 yards (yes yards) to infinity. The markings were fairly accurate with the yards being marked in green and meters in gold. The fact that it can focus to infinity allows this scope to be used on any type of target rifle.
The 1/8 minute turret adjustments use the same low profile target knob design that is used on the 6-24x model. However unlike the 6-24x, the 8-32x scope uses 1 minute markings on the target knob which means that there are 8 marks for every numeric value printed on the turret. This isn’t a big deal though, it just takes some getting used to. The 8-32x turret adjustments are very positive.
Mounting the scope on my most accurate rifle, a Daystate CR-X, I found that the eye relief was a bit longer than expected, measuring about 3.5". The scope had to be slid forward to achieve the optimal eye relief. Other than that there were no other mounting problems encountered.
After using the scope for a few months, it was time for formal testing. The first test performed was a box test, shooting five shots at zero then moving the elevation up one full turn and shooting 5 shots. The windage is then turned right one full turn and five shots are fired. The elevation is then turned down back to zero with five more shot being fired and finally the windage is returned to zero. This process is repeated many more times to verify that the turret adjustments track properly. The scope had no problems with this test, the point of impact tracked to the same points with each movement of the turrets.
Another test that the Bushnell passed with flying colors was the adjustment extremes test. With this test, a five shot group was shot at 40 yards and then the elevation was turned up to the end of it’s travel. The windage was then turned to the right to it’s end of travel then the elevation was turned to the bottom of it’s travel and the windage was turned left to it’s extreme. The adjustments were then returned to zero and another five shot group was fired. This process was repeated many times without any movement of the point of impact.
The scopes performance up to this time had been magnificent, however the majority of the shooting was performed under test conditions and not in the field under normal use. I decided to postpone my review until I had used the scope for in several matches on my CR-X pcp and my HW97 spring gun. It has performed flawlessly. With the clear optics, discerning distances past 45 yards was fairly routine, enough so that I haven’t missed any shots that I could attribute to poor rangefinding. Meanwhile the elevation adjustments tracked right on the money shot after shot.
I have been really pleased with the Bushnell 8-32x on both my spring and pcp rifles. The only real dissapointment I had with this scope is the 40mm bell. While it is clear and bright I really feel that it could benefit immensely from a 50mm or greater front objective. Bushnell have several 50mm scopes in their line and it is too bad that they didn’t choose the bigger objective for the 8-32x. Another problem I had was the long eye relief (3.5") made it difficult to mount far enough forward on my guns to get the proper eye relief while in my chosen field target position. I had to purchase some reach ahead mounts to help solve this problem.
The Bushnell Elite 4200 8-32x rifle scope shows that listening to your customers is a good thing. I for one am glad to have one and I am going to get another one. I can highly recommend this scope to any shooter wanting a durable, clear, high magnification target scope. Judging from the many positive reports I have been hearing from other shooters and my experiences I think this scope will be very popular with target shooters of all kinds.
Model |
Elite 4200, 42-8324M |
Manufacturer |
Bushnell |
Actual Magnification |
8x-32x |
Objective Size |
40mm |
Field of View |
14@8x - 3.75@32x ft@100yds |
Weight |
22 oz. |
Length |
18" |
Eye Relief |
3.5" |
Click Value |
0.13 in@100yds |
Adjustment Range |
20 in@100yds |
Price |
$425 |
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© Copyright 2006 by Brad Troyer & American Airguns