"nchawkeye" hit the nail on the head.

I am almost 60 years old. I have been hunting deer since age 14. I started with center fire in 1965 with a Remingtom 660 in 6.5 Rem . Mag. Cost me nearly a whole summer's savings. I am still pi$$ed at Remington for giving up on that cartridge. My replacement was a Winchester Model 88. It to went out of production !!! Might be a trend here ??

If I have learned anything at all it is to spend the $$$ on optics. Admittedly I have become somewhat obsessive about this point. I have good reason. I have had one and only one chance at a truly monster scoring buck. It is impossible to tell but if it was not 180+ I am not bald. And believe me I am an onion head. It was 126 yards. I had a perfect rest. I got 3 clean , steady shots at this buck before he decided enough was enough and bounded off. The scope was a Tasco "World Class". It was the first scope I ever bought ... because my eyesight no longer would let me use iron sights out to 200 yards. The guts in that scope were gone. When I checked it back at the camp, it would walk 15"-20" without me ever touching it.

You spend $300-$500 on a rifle ??? You need to spend as much above that as you can to get a good scope. Is a $2000 Zeiss or Swarovski, etc. necessary? Nope? My personal choice ... yep.

Can't go there ? Not a problem, Get into the $350-$600 range and you can fined several makes that will do just fine. My personal recommendation in that price range are the Leupold Vari-X II and Vari-X III line and the the Zeiss Conquest.