I know what it's like to not have enough money to get good equipment all at once. When I bought my 917V I put a $30 walmart Tasco 3-9 scope on it for a year. The Tasco will do you just as good as the $80 Simmons. Save your money though so that you can get a better scope down the road. On the Mueller I can focus on the target and the focus ring tells me the distance to it. You'll really start loving your .17 when you start hitting squirrels at 150 yards.

I've got a center-point 3x8x32 that was on my 10-22(stripped threads in reciever,so cant put a scope on it,shoots real good with iron sights),it would shoot 3/4 in groups at 50 yards.

A decent machinists or gunsmith can tap the holes out on the reciever of your 10/22 to the next size, drill out the mount and you are good to go.

I've used two of those $30 Tasco's from Wal-Mart and to my surprise they were both decent. It seems to be a decent scope. I used one as a spare and while I had my Leupold sent in for repair. It worked fine and I sold it after I got the Leupold back. Honestly, I like this scope better than the Leupold. The other one I've used on a black powder gun.

The Simmons I've had I for some reason liked a little more. Not really sure why. I think it was just because I had it for 5 years or so and it held up great. The Tasco may hold up that long too who knows.

I've got some friends who love Tasco and others who hate it and love Simmons. I know a few people who like higher end scopes but honestly 99% of the people I know have a Tasco or Simmons and prefer them. Most of them don't seem to have problems with them either. Some also like Bushnell I forgot about that but they are all basically the same company now aren't they?

I know a few that have had problems but there are quite a few of them and most of them own more than 1 scope so a few bad ones are to be expected. I only know 3 people that have had Leupolds myself included and 2 of us have had issues with them. So the ratio of bad Leupolds to bad Simmons, Tascos, and Bushnells leaves more guys I know having bad luck with the Leupolds.

Jon, Check out this tutorial on how to fix your stripped out receiver.

http://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums...ad.php?t=84497