Burris Fullfield 2-8x35: The Do-Anything Hunting Scope

Don Burris was a brilliant scope designer. During the 1960s and 1970s he was an engineer for Redfield Optics and developed features like the constantly centered non-magnifying reticle (which is still used by the majority of riflescopes today), the first 4-12 and 6-18x hunting optics, and Redfield’s Wideview scopes. But by 1971 Burris was ready to strike out on his own, and he founded his own namesake optic brand. In 1975 he brought his first scope to market—the Fullfield.

The Burris Fullfield was a well-built scope with quality glass and the kind of rugged reliability hunters wanted. In fact, it was so good that 50 years later it’s still in production and still one of Burris Optics’ best-selling products. Generations of hunters have harvested game behind a Burris Fullfield.

Hunting scope design has changed over the last 50 years, but Burris has managed to update their iconic Fullfield line to remain relevant even in the face of newer optics. Last year Burris launched the fifth generation of the Fullfield line and offered six new models: 2-8x35, 2.5-10x42, 3-12x42, 3-12x56, 4-16x50, and 6-24x50. Whether you pursue whitetails in the eastern hardwoods, elk in the wide-open spaces of the west, or ring steel to 1,000 yards, there’s a Burris Fullfield that’s the perfect fit for your rifle and shooting style.

Less is More: The Versatile Fullfield 2-8x35

Modern shooters love high-magnification scopes, and that trend is almost certainly driven by the popularity of long-range shooting. The rising popularity of sports like PRS and NRL Hunter have convinced hunters that they need a high-magnification scope in the field. While there are certainly good reasons to mount a 4-16 or 6-24 scope on your rifle, the Fullfield 2-8x35 is an extremely versatile hunting optic that will handle the majority of hunting tasks effectively without adding a lot of weight to your rifle, and it might be the most versatile field scope in the Fullfield family.

How much does the 2-8x35’s relatively low magnification range handicap hunters? Not as much as you may think. At a long-range shooting course in Oregon, the instructors required us to shoot at 1,000 yards with no more than 10x magnification. That seemed heresy to me since my rifle was wearing a 7-35x optic, but we were coached that it was very possible to consistently hit a 1,000-yard target at 10x magnification. And they were right.

With 8x top-end magnification, the Burris is still capable of making clean shots at game to ethical ranges. Under field conditions and with a stable rest the Burris is capable of making shots on game to a quarter mile or more, and while that may seem like a chip shot to anyone who regularly rings steel at twice that distance we must remember that conditions in the field allow for such long shots. Animals move, the terrain is often uneven or unstable, and mental stress all take a toll when you’re hunting. I regularly shoot long-range but limit my shots in the field to 400 yards under all but perfect conditions.

At that distance the 2-8x35 is suitable. At 8x the “wobble” experienced with high magnification scopes and slightly unstable shooting positions is reduced. What’s more, on 8x I have a wider field of view of the animal and the surroundings. When you’re hunting deer or elk in herd situations the animals are oftentimes moving and swapping positions. With a high magnification scope and reduced field of view it’s possible to miss—and then accidentally hit—a moving animal that walks into your line of sight at just the wrong moment. The Fullfield 2-8x35 doesn’t eliminate the possibility of a non-target animal walking into your shot, but the increased field of view offers more time to get off the trigger should that happen.

The Fullfield 2-8x35 also offers advantages on the low end of its magnification range. Though we prepare for long shots on game oftentimes the animal presents itself at close range. Such was the case last year on an elk hunt in relatively open country. I was anticipating a 300-yard shot and was quite surprised when the bull we were calling nearly burst into our laps unannounced and offered a 15-yard shot. With a scope that has a minimum magnification of 4, 5, or 6x those unexpected close shots can be problematic. Heaven help if you if your optic is dialed to 16 or 20x.

Today’s lightweight mountain rifles and carbines aren’t always compatible with large, heavy scopes. A heavy optic that weighs well over a pound doesn’t make much sense on a lightweight mountain rifle with a carbon fiber stock. In fact, some such rigs are downright unwieldy. The Burris 2-8x35 is a light and handy optic, though, measuring just 9.75 inches long and weighing between 13.5 and 14.1 ounces. That makes it one of the lightest and most compact scopes on the market, and with its 35mm objective and one-inch diameter main tube, the scope can be seated low atop the rifle, eliminating the need to raise your head or elevate the comb for perfect eye alignment. This is particularly beneficial on rifles like lever-actions that have steep drops at the comb for alignment with iron sights. A tall scope that sits high above the bore is not ideal for such a gun, but the Burris fits snugly against the receiver for fast shots at game.

According to Burris’ Director of Marketing Jordan Egli, Fullfield scopes have an exceedingly low rate of return for repairs. That’s not surprising since I’ve had second-, third-, and fourth-generation Burris Fullfield scopes and never had any issues.

Compared to some modern optics with features like side parallax adjustment, large tactical dials, oversized main tubes and onboard ballistic calculators/laser rangefinders the Fullfield 2-8x35 may seem rather spartan, and indeed if you’re searching for a dedicated long-range riflescope it may not be the ideal option. For hunting, however, it works well. Parallax is set at 100 yards which is suitable for most hunting situations. The one-inch main tube doesn’t offer as much travel as some larger scopes, but the Fullfield provides 81 MOA of windage and elevation adjustment with ¼ MOA clicks.

The Fullfield’s turrets are capped, but for many hunting applications this works just fine. Many shooters still prefer to use holdover, zeroing their optic at a specific distance (usually 200 yards) and compensating for the bullet hitting a couple inches high at 100 yards and—depending on the ballistics of your load—around 4 inches low at 250 yards and nine or ten inches low at 300 yards. An even more effective holdover method is maximum point blank range, or MPBR. By using MSBR (there are calculators available online) you can zero your rifle so that the bullet is for a specific kill zone, usually six or eight inches. When you set up your rifle for MPBR you simply hold zero if the target is within the limits of your maximum point-blank range based on ballistics.

If you opt for the Fullfield 2-8x35 with the company’s Ballistic E3 reticle you have even more options. The Ballistic E3 features a ballistic drop compensated reticle system with stadia lines that represent roughly 200, 300, and 400 yards with a 100-yard zero. The exact point of impact for your particular load may differ slightly, but by plugging your ballistic data into the Burris Connect app in a few short minutes you will have accurate point of impact data for each stadia line. For example, the second stadia line below the center of the reticle is designated as 300 yards, but if you’re shooting a very flat-shooting rifle the actual POI value of that line may be 325 yards. Conversely, with straight-wall cartridges with arching trajectories the “300” yard line may actually be closer to 250. Having this data provides instant holdover data when firing your rifle and because there are no knobs or dials to turn there’s less margin for error. Because the Fullfield 2-8x35 is a rear focal plane scope, though, the holdover points will only be accurate at a specific magnification setting—usually the highest magnification. But the system allows you to set the scope to full magnification and use your stadia lines as aiming points to make fast, accurate shots. The Ballistic E3 also offers cascading wind dots that offer solutions when shooting in crosswinds in 10-mile-per-hour increments. Again, the exact values for your load can be determined using the Burris Connect app. The Ballistic E3 reticle also offers an illuminated reticle which is not available with the standard duplex.

If you like the Fullfield 2-8x35’s compact size but would prefer more advanced ballistic knobs that allow you to dial for distance that’s no problem. The new Fullfields offer an innovative Knob Synergy feature that allows shooters to swap out the standard capped elevation and windage turrets for exposed dials. You can even purchase knobs that are cut to distance and match the ballistics of your rifle. Swapping out knobs is simple and straightforward and this versatile design allows you to customize your Fullfield 2-8x35 as you like.

The Fullfield 2-8x35 is not only compact but rugged. These scopes are built from a single piece of aluminum and metal-on-metal construction and a double spring turret system ensure reliable adjustments and the high level of durability that has become a hallmark of Burris optics. Of course, a good scope requires quality glass and coatings, and the Fullfield 2-8x35 comes with both. The high-performance glass lenses offer superb clarity and the multi-coated lenses ensure excellent light transmission and good color fidelity even in low light. Fullfield scopes have always offered excellent glass at a modest price point, and the lenses and coatings on the fifth-gen scopes are exceptional considering the price of these scopes.

Speaking of price, the Fullfield 2-8x35 with duplex reticle carries an MSRP of just $192, which is exceptional considering all that this scope offers. Stepping up to the illuminated Ballistic E3 reticle raises the price to just $228.

Field Testing

With its light weight and compact size the Burris Fullfield 2-8x35 is ideal for sporter rifles. I mounted the scope on a Weatherby Vanguard Obsidian chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor. That rifle carries an MSRP of $540, so with the Fullfield 2-8x35 with Ballistic E3 reticle the total cost of the rifle and scope would total $768 at full retail.

Some inexpensive scopes are, well, cheap. Not the Fullfield. It offers a clear field of view and surprisingly good color fidelity considering its cost of ownership. Clarity is good at the edges and the eye box is forgiving.

One of my favorite features of the new 2-8x35 is the Ballistic E3 reticle. Unlike some ballistic reticles which crowd the scope’s field of view the E3 doesn’t take up much space. This leaves your field of view open, and that’s a worthwhile feature on a variable power scope designed for a broad range of hunting applications. Even if you’re a lifelong duplex fan transitioning to the Ballistic E3 is quite simple. The holdover points are easy to locate and use, and the wind hold dots allow for easy corrections. That’s a major benefit while hunting wide-open country.

Using the Burris Connect App I input data for my 6.5 Creedmoor load to my rifle/scope profile and the app provided me with ballistic data. At the time of testing the new Fullfield had not yet been added to the app so I used the existing Fullfield data which showed that at 7x holding on the first stadia line in the E3 reticle impact would be dead-on at 177 yards, the second stadia line would be dead-on at 278 yards, and the third would be set at 359 yards. Even if the target is not at that exact range I have holdover data that allows me to make an accurate shot.

I managed MOA groups with the scope/rifle setup at 100 yards with factory ammunition. Perhaps more importantly, the dials on the Fullfield offer accurate corrections at that range. When the first bullet struck three-quarters of an inch low I made the three-click correction which adjusted point of impact. The next shot was in the center ring of the target. Windage adjustments work equally well. I also like that the Fullfield provides crisp, clear clicks. Scopes with mushy adjustment turrets result in headaches because it’s difficult to determine how much you adjusted the point of impact. That leads to questioning whether the next missed shot is a result of improper adjustment, poor tracking, or simply bad marksmanship. The result is an endless loop of adjusting the optic, questioning whether it adjusted properly, and trying to get the gun properly centered. I’m past middle age and on the downhill side of life so I have neither the time nor patience for such goings on. I want a scope like the Fullfield that tracks properly and clearly so I can zero my rifle with two or three shots, not two or three boxes of ammo.

I like the little 2-8x35 Burris, and I would happily carry the 6.5 Creedmoor test rifle out in search of game so long as I was hunting at moderate distances. I used the included capped turrets and they worked perfectly, but if I wanted to extend my shooting range I’d take advantage of Burris Knob Synergy technology and purchase an exposed dial for this scope. Even with the capped turrets this optic worked very well, though.

When Don Burris designed the Fullfield back in the 1970s he wanted to manufacture a scope that was affordably priced and reliable, and I think Don (who passed away in 1987) would be very pleased to see how well the fifth generation of his premier scope performs even against newer competition. Can you spend more money on larger, heavier scopes? Certainly, but in many cases your hunt will be just as successful with a $200 Burris atop your gun. 

Burris Fullfield 2-8x35 w/ Ballistic E3 Reticle

• Magnification Range: 4x
• Focal Plane: Rear
• Main Tube Diameter: 1-inch
• Objective Diameter: 35mm
• Eye Relief: 3 to 3.4 inches
• Length: 9.75 inches
• Weight: 14.1 ounces
• Reticle: Ballistic E3, Illuminated
• Power Source: CR2032 battery
• Adjustment Value Per Click: ¼ MOA
• Elevation Adjustment: 81 MOA
• Windage Adjustment: 81 MOA
• Turrets: Capped
• Lenses: Precision Multi-Coated
• Parallax: 100 yards (fixed)
• Warranty: Burris Forever Warranty
• MSRP: $228 (as tested)
• Manufacturer: burrisoptics.com