RE: Looking for help w/ scope purchase
When purchasing a scope you have to know what type of hunting you’ll be doing. Will it be in heavy bush or out in the open. Under heavy cover you should be looking for lower magnification such as 1-4 or 2-7 such as previously suggested. For open country the 3-9 is very popular but 3-10, 4-12 and 4.4-14 power would also work very well.
The larger the obj. lens the more light it can gather but the quality of the lens and the coating will also play a role in how clear the scope is. Just to give you an example I have two scope with the 30 mm tube. I have a Leupold Euro 3-9 x 50 mm and the Nikon Gold 1.5-6 x 42 mm and the Nikon is allot brighter. I had friend look at both to make sure my eyes weren’t playing tricks on me and they all agreed that the Nikon were much better. So it also has to do with the quality of the scope.
One more thing you might consider when getting a scope is the weight of the scope. This might play a roll depending on if you’re sitting in one spot all day like in a tree stand or moving around and having to carry your rifle. Hopefully we can help you in understanding it a little more and good luck...