Jimbo, MOTT is spot on. Either are great scopes and you will have a quality piece of glass no matter which you choose. But the Leupold VXII is IMHO a lil better piece of equipment than the Buckmaster. I personally have 2 Leupolds (Vari X II 3x9x40 on my Knight and a Vari X III 4.5X14x50 on a custom 280) and a 15 year old 4x12x40 Nikon atop a 7mag (the scope would be equal to a Monarch now).

I sell both scopes and right now I will recommend the Nikon but ONLY because they have a sales spiff program to dealers thru 11/15/03, lol. Day in day out I will recommend the Leupold because of Customer Service and while the components are no longer exclusively American made (one of their lense suppliers is in the Phillipenes and is the same supplier for many oriental scope makers), the company IS domestic however and their warranty service is matched/exceeded only by the expensive European makers!!!

Good luck and at least you are thinking " quality" ,
RA