Leupold FX II Scope vs. Burris Scope

[tguil]

I'm considering purchasing a .44 mag Bisley Hunter and if I do so, I want to put a scope on it. What the heck -- that's what it was designed for, right?

The scopes I am considering are a Leupold FX II 2X20 and a Burris 2X20. If I get one from Midsouth, the Leupold is about $120 more than the Burris. The Leupold is a bit more compact than the Burris ... 8 inches vs. 8.9 inches in length. I want to sure the scope fits between the sights. The other big factor is eye relief. I am 6'3''and have a 34 inch sleeve length. The Leupold eye relief is 18 inches. The Burris eye relief is 10-24 inches. Is it better to have the eye relief range that listed for the Burris.

I plan to use this handgun on whitetails and/or mulies at range of no more than eighty yards and quite often in fairly heavy cover. I'll use only factory ammunition, no heavy loads. Right now I don't have the finest optics on my Model 77 and I have gotten along just fine like this for almost 30 years.

Tom

 

[coyote]

can't speak of those particular models, but comparing the usual fast repair turn-around from Leupold of a couple weeks, verses waiting over 6 months for a Burris repair (which included numerous phone calls), i'd buy from the Oregon maker if at all possible.

 

[Jaybirdjtski]

I have a Leupold EER 2x on a SRH 454. Works fine. Bought the scope on eBay for $130. This Leupold has a wider field of view than the Burris, I believe. Handguns scopes are hard enough to get used to and take some practice picking up your target. The Leupold is actually 1.7x. Have you considered a red dot type?

Leupold comes with a lifetime, no-hassle warranty regardless of who was the original owner.

 

[Rumrunner]

I have owned both and preferred the Burris of those two. However, I now have a 2x Nikon on my 44 Encore and like it better than both of the others. It is easier and faster to get on target with, and doesn't seem to "black out" like the others. It is easier for shooting freehand with, even on my Encore.

 

[45flattop]

Although now Burris is offering a lifetime warranty like Leupold has
done forever, they are late to that party, plus some Burris products
are NOT made in the USA if you're wishing to buy American, a cousin
of mine recently had an older BR36 Target Leupold die on him and
when he sent it in to be repaired, Leupold apologized that it wasn't
reparable so they gave him a brand new 30mm 35x45 model in
exchange and he wasn't even the original owner of the older Leupold
and had only paid $400 for it used; the new one equipped as his is
goes for around $1200 best price you can find online, so its Leupold
for me anytime.

 

[Kevin]

The two previous scopes I've bought have been Nikon and Leupold. Among the various brands of scopes I have, Leupold scopes are the cleanest and brightest (light gathering ability). Just my opinion, but they are great scopes. I'd say spend the extra money, after all, it only hurts once.

 

[tguil]

My biggest concern is the eye relief issue. I want the change-over from shooting iron (or HiVis) sights to be as easy as possible. I'm sort of old to learn new "stuff".

Tom

 

[rugerjunkie]

I have played around with about every brand of pistol scope out there over the last 20 years and in my opinion Burris is the better scope when compared to Leupold. Eye relief and field of view are better. Clarity is close and may go to Leupold but I will take the field of view and eye relief every time. I still have all my Burris scopes and the Leupolds have all gone down the road.

 

[mattsbox99]

Leupold is the company everyone else's service is judged against, like RCBS and Dillon.

I've never even shot a scoped handgun, my handguns have optics have red dots from JPoint and CMore. I've also never owned a Burris scope. I have owned numerous Leupolds and I've always been happy with them. I even traded for one that the previous owner said was junk and wouldn't hold zero. I put that on a rifle and its held zero for 2 years now.

 

[rkrcpa]

I've had a Burris 2x on my 41 Mag Blackhawk for 20+ years and would not hesitate to buy another one. It's still going strong. You'll get used to the eye relief but if you can try them out at a store that would be best.

 

[CraigC]

The Burris is a 'good' scope for a hard kicker but the Leupold is decidedly better. It is the gold standard in sixgun scopes.

 

[mike7mm08]

I love Burris scopes. However there customer service absolutely sucks. After my last two incidents of sending a scope in for repair I will never again buy a Burris product. Both times it took nearly 6 months to get the problem fixed. I was told multiple times that the scope would ship the nest day or had shipped. Once I called after a promised delivery date was missed by three weeks I asked for the head of customer service. I had been dealing with him directly. The guy I got on the phone told me he was not there. He had no clue as to what was going on. The head of customer service did not tell anyone about the scope. I then got a story about how he had been real busy getting ready for his elk hunt and how he had to leave six hours late for his hunt. Well thanks to him I did not hunt with my firearm of choice that season. Scope arrived three days into season. This was November I sent the scope to them in April.

 

[seeemmiss]

I have a Leupold FXII 2x on my Redhawk 41 Magnum. I can NOT stand it. I too am over six foot with a long reach and I swear to you that the target is smaller through the scope than it is with the naked eye. The eye relief is a big issue for me and I am currently looking for a Burris Posi-Lock to trade on. I have not even used the Leupold in the field. Don't get me wrong, I love Leupold scopes and have a M8 4x on a Super Blackhawk hunter and it is mounted on the barrel. It works fine and does not have the issue the other one has. The 41 has been drilled and tapped so the scope sits further back and it will still not adjust to fit me. I will change to a Burris as soo as I can.

 

[Jayhawkhuntclub]

Hunters are tricky to scope, especially if you have long arms. This is because they set farther out on the barrel (compared to a SRH). Many scopes don't have sufficient eye relief. This is particularly true of variable scopes when you go past about 4 power. I have long arms and have found two scopes that have worked well: 1) Leupold EER 4x 2) Bushnell Trophy 2-6x. Both are nice, but I prefer the Trophy due to the flexibility of being variable. The advantage of any fixed power is that the scope will be smaller and more likely to fit between the sights. You can also buy (or trade for) higher rings from Ruger so the scope will mount above them.

 

[StonewallRuger]

I'm about to receive my Bushnell 2-6x32 Elite Series scope for my 9.5" SRH. I'll let you know how it does.

 

[Seancass]

I have the Leupold. I'm not sure i love it. I'm am sure glad i didn't pay much for it! It came mounted on the SBH Bisley Hunter and only cost about 1/4 of it's value.

In my opinion, it doesn't gather light in dim settings as well as some other handgun scopes I've shot, but not owned. When i have it set for eye relief shooting 2 handed, the image is almost impossible to see when shooting one handed, do to the change in length. Lastly, and most irritating, i SWEAR the cross hairs are not square to eachother! It's so hard to prove because it's only slightly off, but i think I'm going to take pictures and try to prove it, then see what Leupold has to say about it.

 

[Axehandle]

Love those old Burris scopes. My experience dates back to shooting bullseye with slide mounted Burris scopes from the late 70s to the mid 90s. Never had one fail... Run the clock up 20 years and you will still see many, leftover from bullseye, Burris scopes on my handguns. However I perfer Leupold. I look for and buy every decently priced used Leupold pistol scope I see... I hear that Burris is making a lot of stuff in china these days.. Leupolds are still made here. What ever you buy watch that eye relief.. How you mount the scope needs to be part of the calculation. Note that on the variables as power increases, eye relief decreases. IMHO my 10X and 3-12X Burris scopes are worthless on heavy kickers at the higher power settings. The 2.5-8 Leupold looses some relief at 8X too...

 

[Cholo]

I have a Leupod 2x20 EER scope on a .44 S&W and it's a nice scope. (What's the difference between my 2x20 EER and the FX II 2X20? It looks about the same to me) I can't say if it was mounted out further like on a Hunter. Absolutely the clearest handgun scope I've ever seen was a 2x Burris, but this was around '95 and don't know how old it was at the time. IMHO it was butt ugly like most Burris scopes, but the optics were clearer than clear :shock: Don't know about now.

I can confirm that Leupold takes care of you after the sale. I damaged the scope when my rifle decided to go south while I was 20' north. The rifle didn't have one in the chamber, but don't ask how this happened It bent the objective bell pretty good. It didn't change the POI one bit. Now that's tough! Returned fixed at no charge.

I have a Bushnell Trophy 2x6. It seems like a well made scope, but it's not the clearest (for my eyes) when the power's turned up. I no longer have it mounted on my Markll Competition, which was hardly a torture test. I need to check out their Elite line, maybe Nikons as well.