At the Range.



Bushnell 1-4x24mm Throw Down
PCL mounted on a Rock River AR with a Burris PEPR 30mm mount. All torqued down
to specification and ready to go.

This was a fun shoot in that I was trying
out not only a new scope but a new build as well. So there is always that
excitement in the very first round down the pipe. Complete virgin build, every
spring, detent, and screw. Needless to say, first shot went off perfectly. As
always, I stick to Winchester Ammunition. Never have had an issue and it’s
always my go to. Had 62 gr., 55 gr. and for some other testing I was doing, 45
gr Winchester varmint loads at 3600 fps. Now to the scope…



I will usually
do a traditional bore sight with an AR, pop the upper off, and set it in a rest
and adjust the scope to my sight picture through the bore and barrel. After that
I’ll usually throw on a laser bore sighter, Sightmark Triple duty boresighter in
green works amazing, then line it up at around 50 yards. This will generally get
you on paper and pretty darn close. Did something a little different this time,
no bore sighting, just took the first shot at 50 yards and wanted to see it I
would hit paper. If not, easily throw the laser on. I used the Champion
Visicolor targets with 4 extra bulls, absolutely love them and they are great.
Easy to see shot placement through your optic alone. 1st shot at 1x, about 6’’
low and 2’’ right. More so luck to hit paper without bore sighting, but it
almost felt like an omen to start to the day.



Now to the turrets. My
initial impression was nice and solid but that was just a firsthand observation.
Truth lies in the repeatability and precision of them. The PCL has .1 Mil
turrets, so at 50 yards 10 clicks should give me 1.8’’. Instead of going right
away with 33 clicks to get me up 6’’ in elevation, I wanted to check for that
repeatability. Sub $300 scope, makes you wonder how that erector housing really
functions. I went 10 clicks, 1.8’’ is what it should shoot…and it did. Second
shot, third, fourth, all touching. 10 more clicks up in elevation, 1.8’’ higher
and 3 shots touching again. Finished it off and at 14 more clicks it was hitting
center with 5 shot groups, all touching. Going to windage, I clicked 10 left and
shot out the center. Both elevation and windage turrets were repeatable and had
solid audible clicks, but there seems to be a slight amount of play in them, but
that doesn’t effect, or at least didn’t affect my sighting in.



Next to
confirm the turrets, I like to shoot a box. Dialed up to 4x, still at 50 yards
for this. If you’re not familiar with shooting a box, it’s shooting one round,
then using your elevation turret to adjust up a set amount that you will stay
constant to, in my case, I stuck with 10 clicks. Shooting once more, then
proceeding to adjust your windage turret to the right 10 clicks (or whatever
amount you choose) shot, 10 more clicks back down, shot, then 10 clicks to the
left, which should bring you back to center and your original shot. If you make
a near perfect box by solely using your elevation and windage, it’s one more
test to show repeatability. The PCL shot the box. It wasn’t quite perfect, but I
attribute that to human error. Off bipod, not bags. This confirmed to me that
the Bushnell PCL has a well-made and designed erector housing that you can count
on.



The reticle. Looking through it in hand, nice, on rifle, nice, and
shooting it, very nice. At 1x it is similar to that of a horseshoe Trijicon
reticle and the BDC is a non-factor for my style. You are going for close
quarter and center dot is easy to acquire. Reticle did not obscure any the
target and there was well enough sight picture around the center dot to easily
pick up the bullseye. Being a FFP scope, as I dialed up the magnification, it
became clear to me that the BDC features I could only pick out at 3x and 4x. At
2x magnification they can be seen, but not utilized as efficiently for holdover.
At 4x, the holdovers were easily acquired and used. Glass wise, pretty bright
image and clear. Remember, its not a Zeiss, but it certainly is quality glass
for the price. I also noticed very minor spherical aberration, nothing that will
pop up unless you’re looking for it.



Walking out to 100 yards stopping at
every 10 yard increment and shooting groups became boring. Sub MOA all day with
consistent .6’’-.75’’ groups at 100 yards. 5 shot groups. My barrel has a 1:8
twist and I stuck with 62 gr.’rs for the rest of the shoot. After I knew the
scope was staying true, I felt the need to try to induce a slight failure. Easy
way to test the scope, drop the rifle. My rifles are tools, they are not safe
queens. They have scratches and get used. Unloaded and cleared, dropped on the
butt from about handguard at chest height. Then dropped on the side from about 3
feet, somewhat simulate falling off a bench or rack…and repeat that 3 times.
Once more back at 100 yards, still holding zero. Me trying to elicit a failure
had no effect…and I was thankful because I am really liking this scope.



I
must say that I really do like the throw lever having used it more. It’s a
smooth transition and the PCL is by no means stiff in the magnification ring but
not loose either. Muscle memory began setting in near the end of the shoot which
made for an even quicker transition. Also, switching back and forth from
illuminated to non-illuminated to give that a test. Good and bad. Good being
that the reticle did not bleed out at all. Number one thing that drives me crazy
about illuminated reticles is how they are overly bright and hard to find a good
setting and bleeding out. Not the case here. 11 positions which allow for a nice
choice per your light conditions. Now the bad, really prefer the detents between
each setting. I know it’s a luxury, but it’s still a nice feature. Also, I can’t
tell you what the battery life is, but I can say it’s less than a week. I’ve
drained it once already because I thought I had flipped the rheostat back to
zero from the 8 setting but I guess I was off. Having the detents to keep me
near my setting of choice and ease of on and off it’s a nice feature that I
would like to see, if possible, but hey, for sub $300, I’ll live without it.




One regret I have and is that I live in Illinois, land of corruption and
lack of long ranges and was not able to really stretch out the distance and give
the holdovers a workout. I’ll have a chance for that soon and will update.




You know it’s always something cool when other shooters come up to see
what you have, and that day was no different. They look and test it out and I
always enjoy asking them what they think something like that runs. All guessed
$500 or higher and all were shocked when I said what the retail is. This scope
is a well built and designed and above all it reliable. It’s repeatable, tough,
and has quality glass and coatings. Bushnell answered with a scope that put many
features that shooters are asking for in a package that can be an impulse buy
with any buyer’s remorse. Great for an entry shooter trying out .1 mil turrets
or an FFP, or even an advanced shooter. Plenty of features that you want and
need in a scope that won’t break the bank.



Feel free to send any
questions!



Trevor B.
Entire review and pictures are here:



https://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/showthread.php?t=736670