Well actually I have never bought a rifle. My dad gave me a Marlin 30-30 when I was a late teen ager and my father in law gave me a Steyr 6-7 years ago ! I had got into bowhunting and really haven't shot a rifle much in 10 years !!

I am wanting to get back intorifle hunting..........bowhunting has been awesome and rewarding(I have close to 40 kills and 5 P&Y animals) !!

So if I can shed some light..........my buddy has the good stuff and I by all means like it and want it !! But I have a practical side that creeps in !! I bought the Diavari that I have on my .6mm (3x9x42 1") and I heard it was the best.......heard it was just as good as the big ones.........heard that a 1" vs 30 mm was no different !! But another one of my buddy's bought a Kahles 3x12x56-30mm........and his scope is better in low light than mine(not leaps and bounds.......but better) !! My Dad has a 3x9x40 Monarch UCC that really is not that much worse !!

I really just think after a week of this............the average guy can get all he needs out ofa Tikka T3 and a Meopta..........I have not tried this out but seems like that could be just as good of a gun as a Kimber/Ziess VMV if you can get over the looks part of the equation and you are not a complete gun fanatic!

Two of my best friends and serious rifle hunters have told me to get the Swarovski.........and said if I don't like it........sell it and get a Meopta and pocket some change !! It sounds good to me.........the guns I am getting rid of are nice but just about completely useless to me and would be useless to anyone who just hunts and doesn't collect guns !! Kinda nice to have but for what IMO ..........I'd rather have something I like using !!

My heavy weight friend that is a big time rifle hunter and optics nut has not called me back yet............he's the one I really want to talk to about it !!

But pretty sure right now I am going to pick up the A-bolt tomorrow and get the Swarovski...........how can I really go wrong with that for $1600-
$1700 bucks ????