Laser Ranging Scope

[yoderjac]

A few years ago, I got an Burris OracleX laser ranging scope for my Mission Sub-One Lite crossbow. I've really come to love it. For bowhunting, it eliminates a lot of movement and is very easy to use. It virtually eliminates my ranging error. It accounts for elevation. At the push of a button you get an aiming point.

With rifle hunting, you don't have the same movement issues when deer are at ranges that require compensation. My current system uses a hand held range finder and a CDS on my Leupold scopes. I love the optics of my Leupold scopes and I have them on most of my rifles and muzzleloaders.

This year, Burris came out with new design of their laser ranging scope. It is the Eliminator 6 4-20x52mm. I avoided their previous model because of the form factor and optical quality. It sounds like they improved both with this latest model. I'm strongly considering trying one of these. I think it will be easier in a couple areas. First, it is one less thing I need to carry in the field. Second, one of the issues I have with my Leupold is low light. It is not the optics. They are great at light transmission in low light. It is the CDS dial. I rigged up a small light for it but it is awkward to use. I think pushing a button and getting an aim point dot like the OracleX is a better bet. I just hope the light gathering and optical quality is close to Leupold. It does have some other features like terminal energy calculation but I doubt I'll use things like that.

If anyone has tried it, or even if you just have thoughts, please share them. I realize the MSRP is astronomical but I can get enough of a discount to put the price on par with the non-laser-range-finding Leupold scopes I currently use.

 

[Letmgrow]

I hope Burris has worked the bugs out. Not long after Burris came out with the rangefinder scopes my daughter bought a new Browning X-Bolt .308 and my SIL at the time picked out a Burrris Rangefinder scope for her. I helped her sight the gun in and really liked the scope and the concept so I bought one for myself. It wasn't too long and my daughters scope went dead so she returned it to Burris and got a new scope in return. Shortly afterward my scope went dead also. I sent my scope in and got another in return. Within two months the same thing happened to her scope with mine going dead shortly afterward. When we both got our scopes back we decided to put them on E-Bay, take a loss and suck it up.
We're Leupold fanciers now.

 

[yoderjac]

I hope Burris has worked the bugs out. Not long after Burris came out with the rangefinder scopes my daughter bought a new Browning X-Bolt .308 and my SIL at the time picked out a Burrris Rangefinder scope for her. I helped her sight the gun in and really liked the scope and the concept so I bought one for myself. It wasn't too long and my daughters scope went dead so she returned it to Burris and got a new scope in return. Shortly afterward my scope went dead also. I sent my scope in and got another in return. Within two months the same thing happened to her scope with mine going dead shortly afterward. When we both got our scopes back we decided to put them on E-Bay, take a loss and suck it up.
We're Leupold fanciers now.

Yes, I hope so too. I know I'm taking a chance on it. I've had the OracleX since 2021 and it has performed flawlessly. That makes me think they have worked the bugs out of the electronics and display portion. I think my biggest concern is how the shock and vibration will be tolerated. I have been leery of them. They don't have the reputation of Leupold. I kept waiting for Leupold to come out with one. They seem to be very careful and make sure their products are solid before release. They still have not come out with one, so I decided to try the new redesigned Burris Eliminator.

Time will tell. I'll report back.

 

[Letmgrow]

I hope they have the bugs worked out by now. Burris has a good following so I'd hate to see their reputation tarnished over one product. I have a couple other Burris scopes (not range finding) which have been flawless.
The concept is great.

 

[yoderjac]

I would think they have. I went back and looked at old youtube videos. The Eliminator III was debuted at the 2014 Shot show. That was 10 years ago and they are now up the the Eliminator 6. That is plenty of renditions to work out the kinks.

 

[Letmgrow]

I don't remember where I saw it but not all that long ago I ran across a listing for Burris refurbished range finding scopes. These would be repaired scopes returned for warranty.

 

[yoderjac]

I don't remember where I saw it but not all that long ago I ran across a listing for Burris refurbished range finding scopes. These would be repaired scopes returned for warranty.

That makes sense. There was no shortage of reported issues with the older models.

 

[yoderjac]

I don't remember where I saw it but not all that long ago I ran across a listing for Burris refurbished range finding scopes. These would be repaired scopes returned for warranty.

When I was googling for more info on the Eliminator 6 Burris Connect app details, I found this: Refurbished Older Model Eliminators. I figured I'd post the link in case anyone is interested in the older models. My research into the Eliminator caused me to steer away from the older models, but the calculus may be different for others.

 

[yoderjac]

Well, it looks like it will be a while. I got an email from Burris today saying they were backordered and should be available mid-June.

 

[Letmgrow]

While I liked the concept of the range finder scope I have found my small Bushnell rangefinder is just as or more useful I'm not limited to one rifle or shotgun. Most of my hunting is out of a blind now so the rangefinder is right there handy to scope anything out.
I have used my rangefinder for measuring target distance on my shooting range and setting up the test tracks for our drag race sleds

 

[yoderjac]

Yes, I think the OracleX on my crossbow has a lot more value than one on a rifle scope. With a rifle, if I need to range a deer, I'm far enough away that movement is not an issue. That is not the case with a crossbow. I think the value for me will be low light. I currently use a CDS on my leupold scopes. When the light is low, especially in a blind where it is dark, it is hard to read the dial.

While I would not move it from gun to gun, you can load multiple sets of ballistic data into it for different loads.

 

[Drycreek]

When I bowhunted, I used to tie surveyor ribbon on trees after I ranged them at my bow sets. No ranging necessary after that. If you hunt in the open you can always drive a stake up at 10 yard increments. Most times though, I was either in a popup or one of my bow blinds with netting over the windows so I wasn’t visible. No problem using a rangefinder. If you use mechanical broadheads, netting might be a problem.

 

[yoderjac]

When I bowhunted, I used to tie surveyor ribbon on trees after I ranged them at my bow sets. No ranging necessary after that. If you hunt in the open you can always drive a stake up at 10 yard increments. Most times though, I was either in a popup or one of my bow blinds with netting over the windows so I wasn’t visible. No problem using a rangefinder. If you use mechanical broadheads, netting might be a problem.

Yes, I've done that for many years as well. My problem is that deer never seem to want to approach from the direction I want. I've really enjoyed the OracleX. I no longer have to range trees or put in flags and my accuracy has increased significantly.

 

[yoderjac]

Well, it is the middle of June, so I sent Burris an email. The responded quickly saying the new estimated date is late Aug. That is not going to give me much time to play with it. September is a a busy month and archery starts in Oct.

 

[yoderjac]

Well, it is the middle of June, so I sent Burris an email. The responded quickly saying the new estimated date is late Aug. That is not going to give me much time to play with it. September is a a busy month and archery starts in Oct.

This is promising...It was less than a week ago when they responded to my email with late Aug as the new estimate. Today, I received an email saying that they have assigned an item number to my order number and asked for the CVV on the credit card so they could charge it. I presume this means that they are getting ready to ship it.

 

[yoderjac]

It finally arrived!

I've only had a chance to open the box. Hopefully I can install it in the next couple weeks...More to come

 

[yoderjac]

I found some time to do the basic installation today. I used a set of Hankins 1" high rings. They are super heavy duty. They have 3 torx screws per attachment point. I tried to follow the instructions that came with them. I first compared the scope to the Leupold for size and eye relief before removing it. It was easy to remove with the QR rings. I set it aside and installed the bases of the Hankins rings. I torqued them to the recommended 45-50 inch lbs.

Next, I placed a level on the Picatinny rail to make sure it was level in the gun vise. I also place and top of the lower half of the rings to make sure that was level. I used an old chalk line as a plumb bob and hung it next to the white overhead door background. I adjusted the scope for eye relief and then rotated it to make sure the vertical crosshair was aligned with the chalk line string. My Leupold had automatic leveling when I mounted it. I'm not sure if this Burris has this or not, but I did not want to mess with batteries or connecting apps or anything yet.

Once the scope was positioned properly, I applied the ring tops. The instructions said to torque them to 18 inch lbs, but my cheap torque wrench only goes down to 20 lbs. I figured 2 lbs would not be enough difference to cause a problem so I torqued them to 20 lbs in a crisscross pattern.

Once the scope was physically mounted, the next thing I did was bore site it. It was easy with an Encore. I simply removed the breach plug, looked through the barrel, and pointed it at a transformer on top of a pole about 1/4 mile away. I tried to center the transformer in the bore. The elevation was very close but the windage was off a bit. I adjusted both using the elevation and windage nobs. There is a small hole that allows you to insert a pen and re-zero the labels.

With the basics done, I opened up and laid out all the accessories:

It comes with lens caps, a sun shade, a remote and batteries. I inserted the battery which went well. I then hit the range button to turn it on. I opened the app and was able to see it and connect to it.

That's all for now. I'll try to enter ballistic data for my setup later. Here is the finished installation with the accessories installed except the remote. I'll have to do some thinking about how and where it install it.

Next Step... The Range!

 

[yoderjac]

This Burris scope has an integrated ballistic calculator. One of the parameters is, of course, height above bore. I'm going to share my measurements and calculations. If you think I'm dong something wrong, let me know.

I measured the objective with calipers and it came out to 2.35 and the spec has 2.36. I measured the barrel with calipers and came out to 1". Next, I tried to measure the distance between the bottom of the objective and the top of the barrel, but my calipers were too short to reach in for an accurate measurement.

So, I decided to measure the tube instead. It came out to 1.32 inches which is close to the 34 mm spec. I then measured the distance between the bottom of the tube and top of the barrel and got .68 inches.

So, I calculated the height above bore as (Tube OD/2)+(Barrel OD/2)+Tube-to-barrel distance. I ended up with 1.85 inches. Does this sound right?

I started playing around with defining custom loads in the app. It has all kinds of parameters to enter, but I can't find caliber anywhere. I would think that would matter, but maybe it is embedded in the G1 coefficient somehow.

 

[yoderjac]

First day at the range. My objective for today was to at least get close. If my boresight was pretty close, my hope was to completely sight in.

When I first started, I pressed the range button on the scope. The battery light lit up on the HUD, but nothing else. I then lost the HUD completely. I thought I'd try to connect to it with my cell phone to see if maybe I had a bad battery or something. The battery in the scope was new, the one that came with the scope, but sometime you do get a bad battery right out of the package. The cell phone (Burris Connect app) connected to the scope just fine. That eliminated the battery as the issue. Next, I decided to see if I could upload a ballistic profile. I was able to do that just fine.

It was hot and muggy out, so I figured I could mess with the electronics later, so I decided to try sighting in. I had four 8 1/2 x 11 targets up with white butcher paper behind them, 2 upper targets and 2 lower targets. I aimed at the top left target and took my first shot. The shot was not on paper. I decided to take my second shot on the top right target. That shot hit a few inches low, but was barely on paper on the left target.

I'm not sure why I did this, but for some reason, I pressed the range button on the scope again. I had done this several times before with no luck, but for some reason it worked. The HUD came on and nailed the distance to target. That made me feel better. Maybe I did not wait long enough to hit the range button originally and it was still booting or something. At any rate, it seemed to be working as advertised. Before each subsequent shot I pressed the range button and the HUD came up just fine.

Next is a Bozo error. I made the left right adjustment backwards, so my third shot was not on paper. I scratched my head for a bit. For my next shot I aimed a foot to the right of my top right target and way barely on paper on the left target. I then realized that I had made the adjustment backwards. Fortunately, I had zeroed the turret labels after bore-sighting, so I could easily go back to zero to verify this. That meant another shot.

The next couple shots got me within 2" of the bullseye. I was not waiting 15 minutes between shots, so I decided my barrel was likely too hot to fine tune it.

Next, I tried using the remote, but it did not work. The range button on the scope worked fine. My guess is that it is the battery. I followed the instructions to do the installation. The included installing the battery in the scope but didn't say to install the battery in the remote. It did come with one. Since they did not say to install it before using it, I thought it might be an extra battery. I'm now thinking it needs to be installed. I'll try to do that later today to see if I can get the remote to work.

Comparing the glass between this scope and the Leupold VX6, I'd rate the VX6 slightly clearer, at least in the middle of the afternoon. The are very close.

Next time I go to the range, I hope to fine tune the sight-in, and then head out to where we have some long range targets and see how well the ballistic calculator works.

 

[yoderjac]

I got some time today to play with the remote. As I suspected, there was no battery in it and they step by step instructions just skipped over that part. After installing the battery, it works great. The next step was to find a way to install it on the firearm. My Mission Sub-one lite had a great spot to install the remote for my Oracle X, but there was not enough room on the Encore to install it the same horizontal way. After playing with it a bit, I figured I could install it vertically.

I put a cable tie around the rear Hankins scope base and then put a second cable tie through the remote and the first cable tie. I tightened them down. It sticks out slightly from the gun but is generally in a convenient location for my trigger finger.

You can see in the next picture how it stick out from the frame slightly. I thought about using sticky Velcro on the frame and back of the remote, but I think the bottom needs more freedom of movement when I open the break action. I'm sure it will work OK as is, but I'm going to ponder options.