Quilly, the difference between your Vari XII and VXII is the coating which creates light transmission enhancments from the previous version. The new VXII in a 40 will gather more light than the 33(albeit it marginal in the 1.5% range) and thus will be brighter under low light conditions. I know mole out of ant hills, but just so he doesn' t expect brighter scopes with smaller objective in the compare scope models...it don' t work that way. The loopy is a solid choice for scope and should leave you extremely happy(I have always been happy with my Vari x III' s). The bushnell elite of which I own 3 currently have also been great and are very clear, IMHO best bang for your buck right now.

I mentioned I had an abolt which I have really liked it is chambered in a 270win and is a SS Stalker, great rifle that shoots very nicely. I very good option to look at, if you want to add more food for thought. If I was buying from scratch I would buy SS and Synthetic stocks, they are so much less to care for and you don' t have to worry about bush scares. Don' t get me wrong here I love the look of nice wood stock and the scrolling but the dings come with hunting and it really isn' t as practical in the real hunting world. Top it off with a nice matte scope and it looks purdy too!

Good Luck in your choices and lets us know how you make out.