Tell me about this vintage Bushnell Banner 3-9X32 BDC

I bought this scope new about 1984. Story was, I wasn't really into rifles, but I was shooting a lot of dove and quail and had come to love Belgium Browning shotguns. An acquaintance who knew I was into Belgium Brownings sold me a used Belgium Browning 7mm Rem Mag, Grade 2. It was more rifle than I ever needed. It had a honking big scope mounted on a rail that interfered with the ejection of spent cases. First time I shot it, it gave me a nasty cut over my right eye.

So, off to the local gun shop I frequented, and the owner suggested this Bushnell Banner scope with raised, see through rings (Kwik-Site) mounted directly to the receiver. He correctly suggested 3-9X was plenty for deer hunting (then in Missouri), and it was in my price range, telling him i didn't want to spend more than $100 - 200 (as I vaguely recall) for the scope, rings and mounting.

The Bushnell is Japanese glass, perfectly clear. It has a fine plex reticle (no lighted reticles in those days). The focus and zoom very smooth and it has a BDC (bullet drop calculator?) feature on the elevation turret that can be set, after zeroing, to quickly adjust for settings of 100-500, infinity.



In the not too distant past, I re-scoped the rifle with a Weaver Nitrex 6-20X 50 mm with a fine reticle and have done just a bit of target shooting with it, but it was never that pleasant to shoot as a target rifle, the rifle was never super accurate (in my hands) and the 6-24X is too much for my current intent, which is to kill some SC hogs with it.

Also finally worked up the gumption to go on line, study up on disassembly/thorough cleaning/reassembly of the BAR and have done so. Replacement parts on order: action spring, recoil buffer (the nylon buffer had long since broken and was gone (perhaps a clue to its accuracy and recoil?) and a new hex-headed gas regulator plug, that can be more easily tightened and removed with a wrench than the original slotted on that came on the rifle, which was kind of a PITA to remove.

Anyhow, the rifle is clean as a whistle. All coper fouling is now gone, since I could get a bit more aggressive with the bore working from the chamber end of the barrel, and I have remounted the Bushnell. As soon as the new buffer, etc. come, she will be ready to sight in and slay some hogs.

So. . . what about this scope? It is marked Waterproof 3-9 x 32 - BL - Japan and serial number. Its original box and any instructions are long since gone.





Can anyone tell me what the BDC is likely to be calibrated for? (150 grain bullets, I suppose). Should I zero at 100 yards or some other distance, as it would seem to me that at 100 yards, the bullet will still be on the rise?

Have never really used this scope much, but I am going to give it a try. Thanks for any helpful comments, suggestions.

Ocular weirdness on my part, I guess, but the center of the tube is maybe 1 5/8" off the bore, vs. 1 1/2 inch for my scoped 308 and 1022, with almost exactly the same eye relief.



In truth, I still haven't put the recoil pad back on the BAR, and I just threw the scope on. I will tweak it once the new parts are in and the recoil pad is back on the rifle.

And versus other lower see through mounts I have tied, I can get a cheek weld and actually still use the Browning's open sights with no problems, shooting off hand. Also, being left eye dominant, I can shoot either RH or LH. If I shoot RH, I can get a good cheek weld on the right and get the proper sight picture with my left eye.

But short of putting a riser cheek piece or an inch of padding on a sporter stock, I have never been able to get a proper cheek weld with any scope/mounts I've tried. Most of my hog shooting is done from a blind, off a rest, though, so it's much less of an issue than if shooting off hand.




If the scope tube is 1.5 inches above the bore, and I zero at 200, then I am 1.5" in low at the muzzle, typically about 2" high at 100 yards, zeroed at 200 yards, and 2" low at 230 yards with, for example my 308 shooting 165 or 168 grain bullets around 2650 fps. Put the cross hairs on the kill zone and I will be within 2 inches of zero anywhere from muzzle to 230 yards. Much less to think about if a quick shot is needed.

PS:

. . . and now that I think about it, I turned the see-through rings bassackwards to accommodate the bigger glass, and I haven't flipped them back around for the small scope. When I do, it will look much more centered in the rings.

PPS

. . . and now that I think about it even more, the zero for the BDC has to be at the shortest range marked (100 yards) and the at the highest point of the arc of the bullet, since turning the turret to in the same direction, to 200 - 300 - 400 yards will always have to move the reticle in one direction, raising the point of aim to compensate for a lower point of impact of a dropping bullet, relative to 100 yards. I will just have to look at the ballistics info for any given round and compare the inches of rise of the reticle's point of aim compared to the inches of drop of the bullet, relative to zero at 100 yards, to "dope" the settings on the little Bushnell. An inch of higher point of aim at 100 yards = 2 inches higher point of aim at 200 yards. The scale on the BDC has to be logarithmic (parabolic), since an increasingly greater height of the POA will be required for each equal increment of 100 yards of range POI, for a bullet dropping at 32 ft/sec*sec.

CPE:
Curious if anyone had any personal experience with this scope. The questions are:

Is a 1980's vintage Bushnell Banner 3-9X 32 BDC scope with Japanese glass a reasonable scope to use on a 7 Rem Mag?

Having never really *used* the BDC feature of this or any scope, can anyone offer helpful pointers on set up and use, rather than the "zero and forget" approach?

RainDodger said:

This is unrelated to your scope issue... in your first post you say "... and a new hex-headed gas regulator plug, that can be more easily tightened and removed with a wrench than the original slotted on that came on the rifle".

If you're referring to the normally red colored screw that adjusts the gas flow, I don't recommend removing or adjusting it. You'll likely run into problems getting it adjusted correctly to handle a wide variety of loads. The manual specifically warns against removing it if I recall correctly.

A buddy of mine has a 7mm Mag BAR that he loaned to his kid... a Marine at the time. You know how Marines like to clean stuff... well, he removed that "hard to remove red colored screw" to really clean it out well, and it took multiple trips to the gunsmith to get the rifle to function correctly. Not sure it does, to this day.

Just a word of caution to be sure you know what you're getting into. If you already know all this, please excuse.

Click to expand...

RainDodger:
No. The plug I refer to has a fixed aperture size calibrated for each rifle caliber. It covers the front of the piston tube and bleeds off gas (into the foreshock, interestingly) to control the force of the operating rods. the old one was functioning properly, but, to disassemble the BAR for access to polish the piston and piston tube, the plug has to be removed. Therein is the problem. Heat and time can seize up the threads and make this cleaning chore difficult or impossible without taking the rifle to a gunsmith. The new plug is exactly the same aperture, but instead of a smooth, round outer edge, the new plug has no slot and you can get a wrench on the plug to remove it. While it was disassembled, I also replaced the action spring. Bought some LocTite anti-seize thread lubricant good to 1800°F and applied that sparingly to the threads of the new plug before re-assembly.



The Bushnell Banner went bye-bye (but not in the garbage), in favor of a Weaver Nitrex 3-15X 42mm AO side wheel. Call it being cheap, or false economy, or even just dumb, but every time I seriously consider Leopold glass and the price, I shop carefully and always seem to find something more reasonably priced (Weaver, Sightron, Vortex most recently) that meet my less demanding needs. Certainly not to criticize Leopold glass, but my option seems to leaves more money for other toys and causes less angst when the wife sees next month's credit card bill.



Will check with Bushnell and see if I can even still get the various caliber specific rings, just out of curiosity. Maybe one day, it will be reincarnate on another firearm.

Snyder's reminder and common sense tell me that zero at 200 yards for point blank range on the 7 mm Rem Mag will reach out and touch whatever my hunting needs might be, even more so than my 308 bolt gun.