Remember going to a restaurant and they had a bad drink or some portion of the food platter that was limp or not all that tasty? Did you ever go back? Maybe if it was the only restaurant in town.
I was looking at all kinds of scopes for a 24" AR and Mueller was in the consideration. I won't say I will never buy one but do to the cloud hanging over their name I think I will elect to spend my money on something else.
Got this from another thread.
1st Place: Vortex Diamondback 3-9x40
This is the best overall scope here and not by a small margin. It is mechanically good and optically excellent for the money. The eyepiece is a little fatter than on other scopes here, but I doubt it is sufficiently large to cause bolt handle clearance issues on most rifles. The reticle remains fairly visible even in rather nasty lighting conditions (I still think that #4 reticle in this scope would be better) and low light image artifacts are well controlled.
2nd Place: Burris Fullfield II 3-9x40
FFII is in a firm second place. It is not quite as good as the Diamondback, but it is appreciably better than the other scopes I looked at. This model has been around for some time, so perhaps it is overshadowed by the Diamondback simply because it is an older design. On the other hand FFII has an excellent record for durability and performance in the field. Optically, its center field performance is very good, but Diamondback offer a more contrasty image and wider field of view.
3rd Place: Bushnell Elite 3200 3-9x40
While I was pretty sure of where this scope fits in this comparison, I was not entirely sure of how to summarize my impressions on it. For example, Burris that ranked above it was pretty good in everything, but I can't say there is one feature that stands out. It is just a good allround scope. Elite 3200 is a different story altogether. Mechanically, it is the most solid-feeling scope here. Also, it has Rainguard outer coatings which are helpful in wet weather. On the other hand, it has a little bit of tunnel vision (not much) and it needs better coatings since there were some fairly strong internal reflections off of the glass. Another positive is that Elite 3200 line up is very extensive and offers several reticle choices including the FireFly reticle that works very well in low light. Like the Fullfield II, Elite 3200 3-9x40 has been around for some time now. Perhaps, I would have been better served by one of the more recently designed Elite 3200 scopes, but 3-9x40 was the configuration I wanted.
4th Place: Redfield Revolution 3-9x40
This is the new kid on the block, and it is getting a pretty good start. It has a few things going for it:
◦assembled in USA by Leupold (i.e. built in customer base of Leupold fans)
◦slim eyepiece and nice styling: the scope looks right
◦good allround performance
This scope, to me, was kinda like Burris FFII only fifty bucks cheaper and not quite as good. I wish it had a little better contrast, and I wish the knobs were less flimsy feeling. Aside from that, I liked the scope and I can't think of another scope that costs $150 and performs better. I think I have a Sightron S1 3-9x40 sitting in my safe somewhere. I think I'll dig it out and quickly compare it to the Redfield. I suspect that these two are your best bets in this price range (assuming it holds up long term, but only time can determine that).
5th Place: Nikon ProStaff 3-9x40
I might get some flak for what I am about to say, but here it is anyway: I do not get the reason behind this scope. I just can't figure out who I would recommend it to. That is my litmus test: "will this scope be my recommendation for any sort of situation?" With the ProStaff, the answer is an emphatic "no". Optically, is pretty close to Elite 3200, except it does not have Rainguard, knobs are not finger adjustable and available reticles do not work well in low light. Redfield is cheaper and sleeker styled. Plus it has the support of Leupold customer service behind it. Now, here is the kicker: ProStaf is most certainly not a bad scope; however, the competition is awfully good and numerous.
