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Pros - Dual-color (red/green) illuminated reticle - Crisp, clear images out to 16X - Range aiming points out to 500 yards Cons - Short eye relief - No auto-off for illumination Helpful Resources: Guides: mounting, sighting-in, maintenance

Welcome to our review of the Bushnell Banner Illuminated Crossfire 500 Reticle Riflescope. This riflescope is designed for center-fire rifles, and provides aiming points out to 500 yards. How well it performs, though, is what we’re trying to find out.

What Are the Scope’s Dimensions?

The Bushnell Banner Illuminated Crossfire 500 Reticle Riflescope is 14 inches long, and weighs a pound. It features a 40mm objective lens, which means you might find it a bit of a tight fit in your riflecase while mounted on your rifle, if you’ve got a small case. Medium- to large-size rifle cases, though, will fit the Bushnell Banner without any problems.

How Much Magnification Do I Get From the Bushnell Banner Illuminated Crossfire 500 Reticle Riflescope?

The Bushnell Banner Illuminated Crossfire 500 Reticle Riflescope’s 40mm objective lens provides magnification from 4X to 16X. This riflescope provides excellent clarity and contrast across all magnifications, providing you with an excellent, detailed view of your target for that pinpoint precision shot.

How is the Optics Quality on the Riflescope?

The optics on the Bushnell Banner Illuminated Crossfire 500 Reticle Riflescope are multicoated, adding clarity and brightness in low-light conditions and helping prevent water from obscuring your view when it’s raining. The tube is dry-nitrogen filled, so you don’t have to worry about fogging during damp or cold weather conditions. Detail, contrast, and clarity are top-notch across all magnification levels, allowing you to get an excellent view of your target before you take that kill shot. I’ve used this for deer hunting several times, and the scope almost lets me count the hairs on the buck I’m about to shoot from a hundred yards away. My only complaint about the optics on the Bushnell Banner Illuminated Crossfire 500 Reticle scope is the very short eye relief. The eye relief is a mere 3.3 inches, which is fairly tiny for many center-fire rifles. I’ve cracked myself in the eye a couple of times with my .30-06; it would be nice if Bushnell had designed this scope with more of a mind towards recoil!

What’s the Light Gathering Capability Like on the Scope?

Bushnell advertises this scope as using their “Dusk & Dawn Brightness” multi-coated lenses, which means the lenses provide better light transmission than other Bushnell lenses. I couldn’t find any exact percentages about light transmission, but comparing the scope with other scopes, I have ballparked the light transmission at around 93%. It’s a good scope for early-morning or late-evening hunting, and I’ve bagged several large bucks in the first few minutes of legal hunting with this scope. The crosshair reticle is illuminated with red or green reticles, and the brightness settings are perfectly matched to real-world light conditions. Unfortunately, the scope does not have an auto-off feature for the illumination, so it is easy to accidentally drain the battery by forgetting to turn off the illumination. To make matters worse, the battery cover is very difficult to remove.

How Wide is the Field of View?

The field of view of the Bushnell Banner Illuminated Crossfire 500 Reticle Riflescope at 100 yards is 22 feet with 4X magnification, and 6 feet with 16X magnification. This might sound like a narrow field of view, but it is actually a pretty healthy size view for those magnifications. I wouldn’t try using this to lead a fast-moving target from more than 150 yards, but it is certainly good for making that 500-yard shot at a stationary target. Remember, this is a budget scope, and you can’t expect to hit moving targets at 500 yards with a budget scope!

How Easy is the Scope to Mount?

Bushnell does not include rings with this scope, so you will need to have a set of 1″ rings on hand. Note that with the 40mm objective lens, you may find yourself needing medium-height rings to make sure the objective lens does not come into contact with your gun barrel. I didn’t need them on mine, but some rifles have a lower rail than others. Once you have the right rings for your scope, the scope mounts in seconds and is ready to sight in.

Any Tricks or Tips About Mounting the Scope?

Just make sure you have rings that will allow the 40mm objective lens to clear your barrel. I’ve had a couple of friends who needed medium-height rings with this scope, so you might need them, as well. The scope requires 5.8″ of mounting length on the rail.

How Easy is the Bushnell Banner Illuminated Crossfire 500 Reticle Riflescope to Sight In?

This riflescope is very easy to sight in, with excellent 1/4 MOA fingertip resettable windage and elevation adjustments. I used my laser bore sighting tool first, to get the scope on paper, which saves quite a bit of ammunition for the initial stages of sighting in. Once that was done, it took less than 50 rounds to be sighted in out to 500 yards. Adjustment range for this riflescope is 70 inches for both windage and elevation at 100 yards, so the scope provides a healthy range of adjustment to calibrate the scope to your particular rifle’s ballistics. The scope holds zero quite well. Even after thousands of rounds through the rifle with this scope, I have not had to make any adjustments to the windage or elevation.

How Durable is the Riflescope?

The Bushnell Banner Illuminated Crossfire 500 Reticle Riflescope is constructed from aircraft-grade aluminum, and is very sturdy and rugged. I’ve dropped my rifle from my tree stand a couple of times, and the scope has not suffered any damage as a result.