Well, huntngolf, welcome to the forums. You can get lots of advice and comments here.
As far as a scope for your rifle, most people on here know I'm pretty much a hard-core Leupold fan. I usually equip my rifles with Vari-X II's, and have no desire to change. I do own one 4X12 Rifleman, and find no fault with it. I'm sure you are going to get other choices advocated to you here, and that's fine. The best thing you can do is to actually look thru as many scopes as you can in order to satisfy yourself. What one person loves, someone else wouldn't own.
I would say to you, spend as much money as you possibly can on the optics for your gun. It is money well spent. Those $49 "Specials" are definitely real "special". Stay away from the junk. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.......... Also, be sure to get a good, solid mounting system also. They pay dividends in the end.
I feel the 3X9 good quality scope (40mm) should satisfy your needs.