Corey,

I'm probably not the most knowledgable person here, but I am 47 and have been hunting and shooting since early childhood. My experience with rifles adn scopes is 25+ years, so take my opinion it for what it's worth.

I would not buy a cheap scope, regardless of the price of the rifle,period. Use open sights until you can afford something decent.

You can't shoot what you can't see. Cheap glass will eventually fail you. The scope will either fog, lack sufficient resolution in dim light, or fail to hold zero. I've seen it happen over, and over, and over again on my buddies and relatives guns when they try to go cheap. All those cheap Chinese-made scopes and binos look great in the store but fail to deliver in the field.

I don't think that you have to spend a great deal of money to buy a perfectly servicable, reliable riflescope. My rifles wear mid-priced scopes from top manufacturers and and I absolutely satisfied with them. Lately I have bought used scopes off ebay and they have turned out great.

The following are scopes mounted on my rifles that I can strongly endorse. They are all moderately priced:

1. $140.00 for a lightly used Nikon Buckmaster 3X9X40 on my Omega Muzzleloader. Super scope, very bright, lifetime warrenty thought I hear that Nikon's customer service is not very good.

2. $138.00 for a "used" (the scope was virtually new, no marks) Burris Fullfield II 3X9X40 with Ballistic plex reticle mounted ona Ruger M77 .270. Great scope, very clear. made in America, lifetime warrenty

3. $234.00 for a new Bushnell Elite 3200 in 4X12X40 with AO and ballistic plex reticle mounted on a Browning A-bolt in .270. Very nice scope with the rainguard coatings and ballistic reticle (retail list price $399.00). Lifetime warrenty, made in Japan, former B&L 3000 scope.

Scopes I would not buy: Nikon Prostaff, Tasco, BSA, Barska, Leupold Rifleman or VX-1, Bushnell other than theElite series, any of the "new" Redfields

Scopes in the "moderate" price range that I have read good things about and am interested in owning: Sightron SII, used Bushnell 4200 (saw a 3X9X40 the other day on ebay for less than $250.00), Nikon Monarch, another Burris.