The goal for the Match Pro ED 5-30x56 was to make it the best scope for long-range and recreational target practice and shooting under $1000. How it became a reality is a story worth telling. To most clearly see where we are requires us to look back at where we've been.

In 2018 Bushnell had a wide variety of riflescopes for a variety of purposes and price points – and it still does. There was also this thing called NRL22, a competition using a rifle chambered in 22LR, that was really getting popular. A few of us at Bushnell were curious about it and found that nobody seemed to be using Bushnell optics for it in their Base Class, which at the time capped the rifle and optic’s MSRP total price at $1050. How do we fix this?

We setup a call with Travis Ishida over at NRL22 to inquire more about the sport and find out what it was that folks were looking for in a riflescope for it, and what Bushnell was missing. While the Forge scopes at the time fit the bill in many regards with exposed turrets, a throw lever, good glass, and a zero stop – The price put it way out of contention for Base Class. Elite Tactical had some great scopes but the parallax focus distance didn't go short enough and the price would put them way outside NRL22 Base class. The Nitro scopes at the time were less money, but lacked exposed turrets or zero stops and were really more of a hunt riflescope. The Prime and AR Optics scopes also lacked the features the NRL22 Base Class shooter wanted. We needed something we didn’t have. 

It just so happens that sometimes we develop things for the European market that the U.S. doesn’t get, and sometimes we make projects that don’t end up making it all the way to the market. At the time of doing our NRL22 research the Product Manager for the Engage scopes happened to have something he’d been working on that could work with a few changes. It was a first focal plane Engage similar to the 4-16x44 in the image above, but a 6-24x50. That project became the 6-24x50 Match Pro riflescope.

To make the 6-24x50 Match Pro have a low enough price to work for Base Class rules we had to run it through our new direct-to-consumer site, as well as strip out the accessories and even make the packaging as simple as possible. A sunshade is a must for many, so we offered it as a secondary option. Another thing that helped was that Bushnell runs prices that are not inflated on the site. Many products offered by other companies have an MSRP that’s much higher than the actual street price. While this gives an illusion of savings for the consumer, it also prices scopes out of a potential market. On Bushnell’s site, the price you saw was the price it was. We still do it this way today. 

The 6-24x50 Match Pro riflescopes, offered in illuminated and non-illuminated, were a huge hit from day one. However, inability to get one caused by massive demand and lagging inventory was the biggest complaint. There were other objections though.

The lack of a zero stop on the original Match Pro scope was something we heard a lot about. The low amount of overall travel was an issue for many. We also saw much of the market moving towards 5x scopes in that price segment and the Match pro was only a 4x. So, while the 6-24x50 Match Pro was received extremely well, many wanted more. 

It didn’t take long for us to see that we needed something to bridge the gap between the original Match Pro scope and the Elite Tactical offerings. So, I came up with a list of what people were asking for and tried to concept a new Match Pro not really knowing where it’d end up. A few meetings later the idea was approved to move forward through Product Manager and Engineer Travis Overfelt.

Travis took the list and ran with it and added to it through the lens of a Precision Rifle Series (PRS) shooter, as he’s an active participant. We’d be messaging and talking through the development of what should or shouldn’t be in this new scope. ED Prime he’d ask? Yes, that’d be awesome if we could. Can we have a screw-in throw lever? Should be something we can do he’d say. For months it went like that talking about specs and features and pricing.

In the end we ended up with a long list of features and performance:

• Rev Indicator – Flush for the first revolution (10 MRAD), pops up exposing a red anodized aluminum cap on 2nd revolution, and after that it pops up further exposing the stainless steel base of the indicator. Why not all one color or material? Red anodized makes it so you can see it obviously, but also gives it better ability to resist wear. The main part being stainless steel was also for wear but also for corrosion resistance. It’s a small thing but shows the attention to detail.
• Zero Stop – It has one. Not only that but it doesn’t limit the upward elevation like some on the market do. When I first evaluated it I admittedly over-thought it. It’s extremely easy to set and requires no tools. After trying it we decided to call it the ‘Easy Set’ zero stop since that’s what it is.
• 5-30x Magnification – With all those 5x scopes out there seeming to be 5-25x magnification, we thought we’d go one better and up to 6x to give it 5-30x. It seems much of the trends we’re seeing in magnification are going higher and higher, we got ahead of the ball there.
• 56mm ED Prime Objective Lens – We wanted the eyebox to be big and forgiving and not limit the FOV too much at higher magnification. That’s done through the use of a larger objective lens. We also wanted to limit chromatic aberrations to go higher on the resolution. We knew this was going to have ED Prime, and we knew the Match Pro ED Bino was also coming along, so we thought we’d put it right out there in the name that when a Match Pro product has ED Prime it gets the ED designation.
• Deploy Mil 2 Reticle – This was really a project that Travis nailed mostly on his own. He solicited input from me and ambassadors and others in the company as he designed it, but it’s really his reticle design and he deserves a lot of credit. My main input was that it needed the 2/10ths in there since it seems to be what people are asking for these days. I also had the personal preference of liking simplicity. I think he really got this reticle right.
• Illumination – The original Match Pro had an illuminated and non-illuminated version. Due to illuminated sales, we just went illuminated on the new model. The latter won. We wanted to keep it simple. It seems like most want the option of illumination whether they use it regularly or not. However, Travis worked on giving it a timer. I think everybody’s had a time when they’ve went to use something that uses a battery to find it dead. To avoid that he gave the thing a 6-hour timer. No more uncasing for the match and finding a dead battery waiting for you.
• Turrets – A lot of thought went into these to try and keep them a lower profile yet easier to apply torque to for greater precision during dialing. Feedback on the bright and easy-to-read font from Elite Tactical turrets made it easy to replicate on the Match Pro ED.
• Sunshade – We knew the Match Pro ED wasn’t likely going to make NRL22 Base Class pricing so we included the sunshade not worrying about saving every penny we could.
• 15-Yard Parallax – We wanted this scope to work for the folks shooting NRL22 and Precision Rimfire matches. To make that possible we had to keep the parallax a short distance and it was prioritized to obtain it.
• 30 MRAD Elevation Travel – One of the complaints we heard often was the limitation of the of the original Match Pro’s 18 MRAD of elevation. We knew we wanted to go to the next level and that required going up to a 34mm main tube.
• Throw Lever – From lessons learned with Elite Tactical on the throw levers, we replicated the design on the Match Pro ED so the user has the choice to run it left, right, neutral – or not at all. 

When the scope was in its final form I was able to get one of the samples and start running it around the farm to test it out. I was really impressed with what I saw, and that’s coming from using mostly Elite Tactical scopes on my rifles. A few days before we let the cat out of the bag, I made a post about it on Reddit to test the waters on interest. It was encouraging.

When it came to unveiling it for the first time the reception really made those of us involved in it feel like we got it right. Since then, we’ve got more Match Pro ED 5-30x56 riflescopes in the hands of users than I could have hoped for by now. We also have the Match Pro ED 15x56 binocular out now, and that’s another source of pride with it being in a league all its own due to its fully adjustable reticle.

What’s the future for Match Pro? Well, you tell us. We are listening and watching and reading. Without the input of all of you out there on the firing line we couldn’t have made the Match Pro ED what it is today. I’d suggest keeping an eye out though – You never know when the next Match Pro product could drop. It may be sooner than you realize.

Bushnell Social Guy