RE: Rifle Scopes
IMO cheap rifles are often OK but put your money in the scopes if you can. If you cant... Well I can only tell you that I´ve spent alot of money on cheap ones before I could buy my Zeiss. Without the cheap ones however I could not have afforded to shoot. Spent a lot ofammo money rezeroing and often felt insecure with some of the scopes.
I had a Weaver onceand of all the cheap ones this one really stood out. Always held its zero, and there was never any problems. I still have it even if I dont use it anymore.
One thing I think I learned is that a used scope of a good brand is better than a new cheap one. Another thing I feel quite confident in is that a fixed power scope is less prone to fail than variable ones. Third is that if you buy cheap, try not toadjust it more timesthan absolutely necessary and dont ask for ruggedness from it.