BLUF: A very competent low-power variable scope that addresses the weaknesses of older 1-4x scopes (primarily illumination). In its price range, I think it’s the best option for Recce type rifles that need red dot-like performance on 1x in all light conditions. Shooters who wear glasses need to try before they buy to ensure 1x image is acceptable.

Introduction



I’ve been interested in this scope since day 1 but only just got around to buying one thanks to Scott at Liberty Optics. I wasn’t satisfied with the scarcity of thorough reviews up until now so I intend for this review to fill the void. Props to SuperSetCA’s video review- super slick production and packed with good info.

Here is Burris’s info on it: Product page

Here is typical street price: Amazon.com $706.88 (Aug 24, 2015)

Here is Burris’s warranty: Forever Warranty

Here is Burris’s manual for the XTR II: PDF download

I own an Aimpoint PRO and a Vortex PST 2.5-10x32mm in FFP and they will serve as benchmarks for this review. The Burris sits in the middle of the two as a jack of all trades, master of none. I wanted this scope for a Recce rifle that will eat factory and surplus ammo for 500 yard steel and in with competence at close range drills on paper. My Recce sits in the middle of a CQB/HD rifle wearing the PRO and Savage 10T wearing the PST (will go on an 18-inch SPR eventually) . Let’s see what the Burris gives up in exchange for versatility.

In the box



Scope, Burris-branded scope caps, CR2032 battery, allen wrench, and instruction manual. Well-protected in the box. I snapped this picture after I mounted it in the Aero mount level and I wasn’t going to undo that work. That said, Burris does not include the Aero mount with the scope.



The scope caps are spring-loaded and will stop approximately 200 degrees. The design of the hinge allows the cap to be pushed flush against itself and lock in place. They fit well and I don’t see the need to replace them until they break or you prefer scope coats.

Pulling the scope out and holding it in hand, it’s a hefty scope in size and weight. No surprise. The bottom of the turret housing is marked with a laser-etched serial number and country of origin sticker (Philippines for anyone not aware).

Mounted



I mated it up with an Aero Precision Ultralight mount (non-QD). The combo weighs 24.8oz. In comparison, my PRO in a QRP mount (QD) weighs 11.6 oz and my PST in an ADM Recon-X mount (QD) weighs 26.8oz.



The Aero mount is slick but poses a unique challenge due to the design of the rings. The top of each ring is a hinge and the bottom has bolts. As the bolts are torqued, the scope tends to rotate slightly. It took trial and error to get the scope mounted level to the receiver and mount.

The scope has very generous eye relief, too generous for Nose-To-Charging-Handle. I estimate that I’m about 1-inch off the charging handle even using the SPR mount, which has the most offset of Aero’s mounts. Since I don’t have the charging handle as reference for my eye position, I’m not certain but I think the eye relief is consistent throughout the magnification range. Eyebox is more generous than the PST.

Ergonomics

The turrets are well knurled and easy to grasp. The clicks are very fine in feel and sound due to the physical constraints of cramming 100 teeth into the turrets. While wearing gloves of moderate thickness, I lose the feel of the clicks. I prefer the feel and sound of the 5 mils/rev turrets on the PST over the Burris because they are “authoritative” in comparison. Returning elevation to zero results in a solid stop. This is a major step up from the shim system used in the PST that tends to feel mushy and isn’t intended to stop exactly at zero.

I have not yet taken this scope to the range to zero or bore sighted it. My particular example has 9.3 mils of available elevation. I assume that the zero stop is factory set to the mechanical center of the erector, so that amounts to 18.6 mils total. This is less than Burris’s website statement of 90 MOA (26.18 mils) but is listed correctly in the manual.

The windage turret is marked in milliradians left and right. My particular example has 4.7 mils of available windage in each direction or 9.4 mils total. This is also less than Burris’s stated 90 MOA but is listed correctly in the manual.



The power ring is awesome; I can easily grasp the ring with the part of my hand where the palm and fingers meet. The power ring on the PST is narrow and requires pinching it with my thumb and index finger. The difference between the two methods of manipulation is analogous to the difference in racking the slide on a semi-auto pistol overhand versus slingshot method. The extra grip strength and leverage afforded with the Burris makes turning the ring very smooth and deliberate. While behind the rifle and looking through the scope, I found pawing the power ring to be very natural in contrast to the PST where I have to hunt for the power ring. Personally, I don’t think an aftermarket cat tail is necessary.

The power markings are not visible from behind the scope. The only power settings that are 100% certain without looking are 1x and 5x when the ring hits the end of its travel.

The diopter ring is fast focus. It comes from the factory set to the middle of the adjustment with approximately one full revolution in and out, which I assume corresponds to +1 and -1. It turns smoothly with just enough resistance. The eye piece is not rubber coated so it is less likely to rub against something and throw the adjustment. The eye relief is so generous that a rubber eye piece is not necessary though the PST has it. There are no reference marks and I strongly recommend you add one with a paint pen or nail polish to track it once you have set to your liking. The included scope caps slide over the diopter and grips the eye piece so it further protects the adjustment if you choose to use the caps.

Illumination



By far, this is the best feature of this scope. It truly is daylight bright. The picture above is setting 11 against a house directly lit by the 5pm sun over my shoulder. The garage door is a light tan/green and the car is silver. The underexposed half of the picture illustrates relative brightness by reducing overall light levels and leaving additional color space for the reticle. So far, I haven’t found a lighting condition, indoor or outdoor, that didn’t correspond to an illumination setting that made the circle dot useable as a red dot sight.

Video of illumination settings 11 through 1 within the scope picture
Video of illumination settings 1 through 11 in closer detail

Burris divided the illumination knob into 3 groups: NV, low-light, and daylight settings. The jumps within one group are linear while the jump from one group to the next is very pronounced. I don’t own NV, so I can’t comment on the first few settings. The low-light settings are suitable for night-time to daytime indoors. The daylight settings are comparable to Aimpoint PRO levels and tops out bright enough to bloom.

Video of the illumination at the extremes of the eyebox

The illumination varies depending on eye position. Illumination is full or close to full intensity within about 75% of the eyebox and fades out outside of that region. Put another way, you lose the illumination around the same time the scope image becomes unusable. I want to add that the illumination does not flicker as alleged of the Leupold Mk6 scopes.

Between settings, there is an “off” setting that Burris describes as a battery saver. I’ve read in other discussions that this is not a true off position and somehow still draws power. Messing with this particular scope in hand, this position turns off the illumination the same as the marked OFF position at the two ends of the illumination settings. I’m not sure how the scope can be drawing power if the illumination is off. Honestly, I can’t make heads or tails of it. Perhaps Burris’s 2015 refresh of the XTR II line included a change to the illumination design.

In the instructions, there is a mention of a time-out function with a reference to Burris’s website for instructions to disable it. The manual does not specify for how long the illumination will go until it times out. For my uses, I will leave the time-out function turned on as set from the factory.

Reticle



The reticle I chose was the CQ Mil. A concern of mine was how fine/useable the 0.5 mil spacing between hashes would appear at 5x for ranging and holdovers. It turns out that the ranging elements are very useable with just the right amount of thickness. Furthermore, I can confidently read subtensions to within 0.25 mil. For others with better experience or eyesight will likely be able to read finer than that.

For the surplus ammo I shoot (Radway Green SS109) For my 75gr handloads at my velocity and altitude, Shooter’s ballistic calculator puts the projectile on the reticle’s holdovers every 50 yards to within 0.1 mil out to 500 yards starting with a 200 yard zero- plenty good for steel plates. Be warned, however, that I haven’t shot at distance to verify this- this is just based on a ballistic calculator. Nonetheless, Superset’s video review mentioned exactly this and he verified it at distance.

With the illumination off, the circle dot is still useable at 1x for close drills but it’s just black along with the ranging elements. When bringing the scope up from a low ready, the lack of illumination makes it slower to find than with illumination. It is also harder to track when transitioning between targets or aiming at a moving target. It is merely adequate compared to the speed and ease when illuminated.



The other option is a ballistic drop compensated reticle similar to an ACOG with 20-inch ranging stadia from 300 to 1000 yards for a M855 projectile at 2900fps at 2000ft above sea level.

Optical quality

This is something that I am not well qualified to judge. I have mild astigmatism and I wear glasses. I have never used top shelf scopes like the Razor Gen II or premium Euro examples. I have never reviewed optics prior to this so I don’t have a lot of experience in scope testing. That said, I can’t judge this scope as good or bad in absolute terms compared to the best and worst the market offers. However, I can speak to whether it is good or bad compared to the PRO and PST that I own.

First up, 1x performance is worse than the PRO. I can’t adjust the diopter to get a perfect 1x image with zero edge distortion and clear reticle (I can achieve any 2 of those but not all 3). I think it is my astigmatism and glasses because the images and videos I recorded through the scope look better than my Mk1 Mod 0 eyeball. If I had 20/20 vision or contact lenses, I might have had a better experience but I just don’t know for sure. I eventually settled for a clear reticle with minimal edge distortion. Within the distances of my suburban house and backyard, I find the picture to be slightly less than 1x. Shooting with both eyes open is still doable but not as easy and fast as the PRO. The Burris can function as an occluded gun sight with the front scope cap closed. Peripheral vision around the eyepiece is good even with the supplied scope caps. I attribute this to the very long eye relief.

Prospective buyers really concerned about 1x image quality ought to look for a gunshop that carries a demo model and spend some time fiddling with the diopter to see if the image is acceptable. In my AO, I found Cabelas carried the 1-5x and most of the other XTR II scopes.

At 5x, the image quality is comparable to the PST at the same setting during the day. Color bias is slightly warm, flat, plenty of detail and clarity, no milkiness or haze. There is chromatic aberration if the eye is not in the sweet spot, though the presence of CA doesn’t detract from the usability of the scope. The CA appears as a purple or yellow fringe along high contrast edges such as shadows. There is edge distortion but it’s so minimal that I have to look for it and ignore the other 95% of the image such as the reticle and target. I haven’t tried the XTR II and PST at dawn/dusk to compare low light performance.

Video of scope picture throughout the mag range

While adjusting the power while looking through the scope, I did not see any tunneling. To repeat what I mentioned earlier, I think optimal eye relief is consistent throughout the power range although I can’t be certain because I can’t put my nose to charging handle as a reference point. The above video demonstrates constant eye relief with my camera.

Final thoughts



To me, my Recce rifle is a fighting carbine first, precision platform second. I prioritized my scope requirements pursuant to those needs: 1x, bright illumination, capped or locked turrets, weight, than mil-hash reticle, turrets, optical quality, and top-end power. This list should read as the comparative strengths of the Aimpoint PRO followed by the PST.

At its pricepoint (and my budget of ~$900 including mount), the Burris XTR II 1-5 offers the best illumination of any low power variable scope at the time of this review. The weight is higher than I would’ve liked but it is still manageable. Weight with mount becomes a wash by giving up QD compared to a PST 1-4 with a Larue, ADM, or Bobro QD mount. It lacks the capped or locking turrets to make it a bomb proof 1x sight. The CQ Mil reticle is a winner after learning Vortex’s EBR-1 and the holdovers match my ammo out to 500 yards in 50 yard increments. The turrets are ok for dialing. The zero stop is a great feature and sorta makes up for the lack of capped or locking turrets (for elevation at least). The optical quality is a toss-up: 1x isn’t as good as I hoped due to what I suspect is my astigmatism and glasses but 1.5x and higher is good. Lastly, top-end of 5x is a plus over the 1-4x standard bearers prior to 2014.

Overall, I am pleased with the XTR II. Certainly, it has its weaknesses but I think Burris did a great job focusing its R&D money and engineers on the features that matter the most and accepting compromises that minimally affect usability, which is to put bullets onto a target close up and at distance. If I were a professional photographer, my criteria for an optic would be different and I think Burris understands this distinction as well.

I agree with SuperSetCA that the next step up from the XTR II is the Vortex Razor 1-6. The $600 bump in price buys capped turrets, better optical quality (I’m fairly certain), better turrets (bigger turret diameter+100 clicks/rev=better clicks I surmise), extra top-end power, and an amazing warranty. The Razor loses on weight and the VMR mil reticle has 1.0 mil hashes.

Looking ahead, the next crop of mid-priced 1x low power variable scopes will incorporated dual focal plane reticles, 7x or 8x top ends, and 34mm tubes (and weight to go with it). Extant examples are Weaver’s 1-7 and Primary Arms’ 1-8.

Range Report

I spent the morning at the range with the Burris and PST. This portion of the review will be more concise because I’m aimed for a quick turnaround time to post the second half of the review.



In this picture, I’m facing southwest ~0900 with clear blue skies. Very bright even this early in the morning.



Here is a picture through the scope with max illumination against my 50 yard zeroing target on 1x. The illumination holds up great in the sun. Although the circle dot appears blown out in the picture due to the automatic white balance, it is easy to pick up against a variety of backgrounds (grass, dirt, paper targets, etc) and thus very quick on target. Later on, I found that aiming with both eyes open like my PRO was easier on the range than inside my home. I think the typical distances within a house prove to be fundamentally challenging to any magnified optic (red dot sights are collimating optics which use a different principle of operation).



50 yard near zero was easy and uneventful with matching mil/mil reticle and turrets. Slipping the turrets to match my zero was as simple as loosening two set screws in each turret.



I confirmed my far zero at 200 yards. When shooting for small, precise groups such as this, I found the circle dot reticle to be a hindrance. The EBR-1 reticle in my PST is a 0.06 mils thick crosshair which makes achieving a consistent sight picture shot-to-shot easy. Conversely, the center dot in the Burris is 0.25 mils.



This is my test target intended to help measure resolution, elevation accuracy, reticle calibration, and box test. I used this same setup to test my PST when I first purchased it, which passed with flying colors.

Side by side, the PST on 5x was able to resolve slightly better than the Burris. The exact resolutions will differ person to person depending on visual acuity but the comparison should be the same with the PST edging out the Burris. I also found the image to be flatter on the PST while the Burris showed slight pincushion/fisheye effect. I couldn’t catch this in a picture, so I think the PST is more tolerant of my glasses than the Burris. The chromatic aberration was present in the Burris as noted in my impressions before but the PST showed no noticeable CA at 5x or 10x on the resolution graph.

Reticle calibration of the vertical and horizontal ranging elements is good so the holdovers and wind holds will be accurate. The tall target has 7, 5, and 2.5 mils marked and the gray and white boxes are 2.0 and 1.0 mils, respectively.

My attempts at testing elevation tracking and the box test were pretty sad. I had too many uncontrolled variables adding uncertainty to adequately test the mechanical accuracy of the turrets. 1) I was using surplus ammo 2) I didn’t have a level attached to the gun or scope 3) I didn’t square the tall target to ensure it was plumb 4) the circle dot reticle is very hard to aim consistently and 5) I was shooting at 100 yards with a 50/200 yard zero.

Since I couldn’t draw a useful conclusion from the tall target and box test (other than piss poor planning leads to poor performance), I used holdovers to test the Burris at long distance. There is a steel coyote at 417 yards on this range. I confirmed the velocity of the ammo with a chronometer and plugged in the parameters into a ballistic calculator app on my phone. Holding 1.4 mils high and no wind, I made a first round hit. Although the circle dot was a hindrance for shooting tiny groups on paper, it was no problem for shooting steel and silhouettes.

Key points from the range

• Range performance confirms that the Burris makes for a better red dot sight than a precision scope. This must be considered in light of the intended use of the rifle.


• Shooting life-sized silhouettes and steel plates is easy, tiny groups on paper is not with this reticle.


• Calibration of the reticle ranging elements is good.


• Until I find a way to aim the circle dot precisely and consistently to verify turret tracking, I will use holdovers and wind holds instead of dialing.


• The Burris is less tolerant of corrective glasses (I think) compared to the PST. I get the impression that edge distortion, pincushion/fisheye, and difficulty adjusting the diopter  are partly due to this because my camera has no issues with these.


• Chromatic aberration is really apparent using the resolution graph (black stripes on white paper) but much less noticeable on typical backgrounds and targets.

Excellent review and enjoy your scope!

Thank you for taking the time to do this.  Awesome review!

thanks for the review

The PA 1-8 is FFP, not DFP. The Burris XTR II 1.5-8 is DFP, though. (And cheap, at $850.)

Very nice review, though. Reminds me quite a lot of the Bushnell 1-4x Throw Down PCL, albeit I'm sure this one has better glass.

Quality post OP. Stuff like this is why arfcom is awesome.

Thanks for the correction. You're right that the PA is FFP after reading their product page. The pictures of the lit reticle from their industry thread is pretty darn bright, too bright for what I thought possible in FFP.

Thanks, all, for the kind words. It was my pleasure to contribute to the hive mind and fix what I thought was a lack of in-depth reviews for this particular scope.