Every now and again it's good to look back at your purchases. You get to take stock on what you liked and disliked. Hopefully you have learned a few things, and can avoid future mistakes. If I have learned anything since 09, it would be to not jump head first into brand new scopes. Let them get out on the market for a while. Let someone else be the beta testers. Three times I have bought into a brand new scope, and all three times I have been left wanting.

Now onto the reviews.

Lets start with the Premier 3-15 gen2 xr.

On the drawing board, this scope had it all. American made, good mag range, awesome glass, mil/mil,zero stop, tool-less adjustments, etc, etc, etc.
This is one of the scopes that I wished I had not been a beta tester on.
Honestly, the execution of this scope is where it fell short. It wasn't long after I had this scope that tracking issues started. This scope simply would not pass a tracking test. I can't remember the exact numbers, but my dope was all over the place. Say one time it took 8 mils to hit a target, and when dialing dope to other ranges and coming back to the original target, it would then take several more or less mils to hit that same target from the same position.

I knew something was wrong because I re-engaged all the targets again using only the reticle, and the dope wouldn't change. Sent this scope back to Premier for waranty, they gave it the ok and sent it right back without repairs. Looking back, it didn't take long for Premier as a company to fold up shop. I should have learned this lesson the first time.

I also had a problem with brass hitting the parallax/illumination knob, and ending up back in the ejection port. That sucked too.
I feel like Premier should have been in the spotting scope business. Great glass, awful mechanics.

I like where this is headed.

I have three scopes that I use for the same purpose, so I will review them together.

2 sightron s1 3-9 mildots, and 1 trijicon 3-9 mildot.


Both scopes are very similar. Made in Japan, SFP, 1/4 moa adjustments, plain jane mildot reticles.

The trijicon and one of the sightrons have been rock solid. But then again, I don't ask a whole lot from these scopes. I simply zero these scopes, cap the turrets, and use hold-overs as needed. 300 yards is where I set the zero. Dial to 9 power, Hold under 1 mil for 100, hold over 1 mil for 300, 1.5 mils for 500. It's not ideal, but hits can be made with regularity if practiced with.

The other sightron had an unusually stiff magnification adjustment, and the scope would loose focus at 9 power. This defeats the purpose of a 9x mildot. I haven't tested the sightron warranty yet. I just moved that scope over to a 22lr for now. It doesn't see any use. Also, since the trijicon has a fiberoptic piece in the reticle, it makes for a lopsided and uneven bottom portion of the crosshair. The dots just aren't centered. Kinda annoying, but having a tritium and fiberoptic reticle is great for low light pig hunting. No batteries necessary.

Also, the sightrons only cost a hundred bucks. Not bad in my book. Trijicon was found on sale for 400. They go for double that nowadays, but I wouldn't pay more than 500 for this scope brand new.

I'm not sure if the newer sightron's are still made in japan or not. I know they changed the style on them a couple years ago. Maybe someone could fill me in on that.

Weaver 3-15 EDMR.


Another scope that looks good on paper, and in reality isn't a terrible scope.
Japanese made, FFP, mil/mil, good mag range, locking turrets, tool-less rezeroing, illuminated.

Only a few comments on this scope. The reticle sucks. They created a 1/2 mil reticle, but decided not to include these marks between 0 and 1. This happens to be where most all my wind holds are between. Defeats the purpose, and clearly a shooter didn't design that reticle. Also the adjustments are very sloppy with the turrets having alot of wiggle to them. This may or may not be a function of pop-up locking turrets. I couldn't say because I don't have any other scopes with this style of turret.

Also had a problem with a little brass screw under the elevation turret cap. This brass screw will work it's way loose and you will loose your clicks. When this happens, you must take apart the elevation turret, re-tighten this screw, and re-zero the scope. A pain to deal with, but it's only happened to me once. Other than that, the controls are straight forward.

Gen 1 Vortex Razor EBR3 5mil


Japanese made, 5-20, mil/mil, zero stop, illuminated reticle, etc, etc.

I have a love hate relationship with this scope. Another scope I jumped on board too early on. Consumer beta testing sucks. They came out with several fixes for this scope only a few months after it was released.

I don't like the 5x bottom end, and would much rather have a 3x. I don't like the 20x top end because it's rare that I ever use it. Mirage and field of view dictates that I keep it under 15x most of the time. Only ever use 20x when sighting in a 100. I don't like the weight of this scope. This scope is huge, and not fun to hike with. I don't like the turrets on this scope. The windage knob should have been tiny and covered. The elevation knob is entirely too big. I would rather have a low profile elevation turret. I don't like how the zero stop screws can back out and you will loose all clicks. This only happened once, but required a re-zero. 35mm tubes aren't a first choice of mine.

I love the parallax knob on this scope. It cured the problem my Premier had of brass bouncing back into the ejection port. Clicks are good. Glass is good enough, but not great. Tons of elevation travel. Easy controls. EBR3 is a great simple reticle. I put alot of miles on this scope.

I had to send this scope back three times to Vortex. One time the reticle came loose. Any adjustment to the magnification ring would send the reticle into rotation. The other two times were over tracking issues. Vortex ended up replacing this scope with a 10mil turret model ebr 3. The jury is still out on the replacement. I don't like the 10 mil turrets nearly as much as the 5 mil. The clicks are too close together, and just don't have the same feel. Time will tell.

SS 3-9, nikon buckmaster, and bushnell 10x40 tomorrow.

SS 3-9


Japanese made, ffp, mildot, mil adjusted.

Another scope I jumped on board too early on.

On paper, this scope has almost everything going for it. A nice simple scope with a good set of features. I liked the turret feel on this scope, and this scope never failed to track. I also liked that the turrets don't have set screws to rezero. I much prefer the one bolt to the top turret.

Things I didn't like about this scope from a design standpoint. The eyepiece and the magnification ring are the exact same size on this scope. All my other scopes, even the dirt cheap sightron's have a small ridge or some other way of making the mag ring stand out. I ended up buying a switchview to help with this, but it just stuck out to far and ruined the low profile of this scope. I also wish this scope were offered with the capped turrets from the ss 1-6. That would have been sweet. The revolution/click indicator on my elevation and windage turret came loose. I removed the turrets to inspect. What I found was the revolution/click indicator is just a small sleeve that had been superglued into place. Seemed cheesy to me, but was an easy fix. I simply re-glued the indicator into place. One last design feature that is annoying but certainly note terrible. This simple 3-9 is 13.1 inches long. Surely they could have fit this package around 11 inches. It would have made this scope much more friendly in a dmr type role.

The scope was eventually replaced under warranty for two reasons. The aforementioned mag ring completely froze up. Even with the bulky switchview in place, it took a two hands to turn. And finally, the glass was not good. This glass, while bright, showed a very large amount of CA. At the time, I just thought I couldn't get the image to focus. Bright objects, like steel at different ranges, looked like I was seeing double.

The replacement scope was sold right away.

Nikon Buckmasters 4.5-14 mildot

Made in the Philippines, SFP, side focus, moa adjustments.....

I don't have any pictures with this scope, but it has been riding on my 243 tc icon for a while now.

This is an odd scope that I picked up new for around 150, I think.

Bad points about this scope are many. The mildot is only accurate at 12 power. You simply can't turn the magnification all the way up like most scopes. So, you have to turn the mag ring to exactly 12 power, or your wind holds will be all kinds of screwed up. Also, the image through the scope is very small. It's like looking down a long tube. Limited scope adjustment range. The glass is not good. What can I expect for a sub 300 dollar scope.

Tracking as been rock solid. I have twisted the elevation up and down the entire range, and the scope just simply tracts like it is supposed to. Side focus is nice as well. Love the covered turrets on this scope.

The combination of dialing moa and holding Mils for wind on a sfp scope is just not efficient. I am looking to replace this scope as soon as possible. Or maybe just keep it as a backup.

Bushnell 10x40 mildot

I believe this one was Japanese made as well, but don't quote me on that. fixed 10 power, 1 inch tube, fixed parallax, and moa adjustments.

I don't have much to say about this one. It's a bare bones basic scope. It tracked great with solid but not audible clicks. Easy to reset the turrets to zero with only one top screw holding the turret on. The glass was below average, but good enough. I bought this scope before bushnell came out with the mil/mil version of this scope. I paid 200 for it. In the end, I sold this scope because of the 10 moa per turn adjustments and mil reticle.

Don't bother buying this scope. Get the mil/mil version from midway.