Ok, Bushnell makes a blue illuminator. Who else?

Here is another options

FireFly™ Glowing Reticle Technology
Developed by Bushnell® engineers for the lowest-light hunting situations, the patented FireFly™ reticle illuminates the crosshairs after only a quick 10-second flashlight charge. Unlike battery-powered reticles, which often fail at the absolute worst times, the FireFly will glow green and you’ll see your crosshairs against your quarry. Featured on select Elite 3200 riflescopes.

I've got some of the Firefly scopes and the idea works OK. You can give it a quick 10 second "charge" with a flashlight and the cross-hairs will glow for a few minutes. I haven't played with them to see what the "charge time" to "glow time" ratio is, maybe when I get real bored some time I can try that. So far I haven't actually shot them in low light. I've got these on hunting guns and when it was dark enough to need them it was too late to shoot legally here.

I bought the first Firefly to go on an AR so I wouldn't have to worry about batteries in it. However the delay needed to charge the cross-hairs seemed counterproductive in a defensive situation. I've got back to battery powered stuff but want to try one of the fiber optic and tritium sights when I scrounge the cash.

The original optional low light solution was the "Command Post" system. The thicker post replaced the lower vertical crosshair and was easier to pick out in low light conditions. The other option if you want a variable is to go with a 1-5 or 2-7. Burris makes a reasonably priced 2-7 that supposedly gives 95% light transmission.

I have a bushnell firefly 3200 on my .243 and it holds a 5 minute charge for about 45 minutes but it fades out. the good thing about it is if it is light enough you see the reticle and it does not burn your eye.

OV1, those ACOGs are very nice. Maybe I'll spring the funds to get one of those some days.

Seems like there are two aspects to getting a scope that works well in low light.

1) a large exit pupil
2) ability to see the reticle.

Aloysius wrote:

I put a chinese Bushnell 10-40x50 with sidewheel AO, blue light, milldots and an internal water-level

Aloys, I can't find where Bushnell sells these in the US. The ones I did see were configured with your favorite half-red/half-green illuminator.

It's not always true that when a Chinese put "Bushnell" on a scope it's also a Bushnell thing... it depends on the example they are using to copy. I've seen other scopes with "Leupold" and "Tasco" mentioned. Don't treath them according their brandname, just use it because it's cheap and hope it was made in the better factory by a chinese with proud in his job...