The majority of shots will be up to 100 yards with the occasional target shot out to 300 yards. I definitely do not want to be overpowered for close shots.

1-4X sounds about right then.

Leupold, Bushnell, Burris, Vortex, Weaver, Redfield among others all would be good choices.

Don't restrict yourself to just "AR specific" scopes !

Take a look around here to get some ideas of what your money can buy.

http://www.opticsplanet.com/riflescopes.html

Use the filters on this site to assist you in weeding through the scopes you don't want.

I've had great luck with the Banners, but I will admit that I haven't (and probably won't ever) put them on anything with significant recoil. I have one on an AR, one on a 22-250, and one on a .243, but none of those have any real kick to them. On those rifles, they've held zero really well and adjust properly when you turn the knobs. That, and a relatively clear picture is all I ask from a cheap scope. The Dusk & Dawn brightness coating is just mumbo jumbo, though. They don't work any better than any other scope in low light.

I know a guy who swears by the Nikon M-223 scope, because they have the .223 trajectory marked out to 600 yards. To me, that's gotta be one of the worst products ever conceived. I've always wondered what the heck you do, if you try getting it dialed in, only to find out that your rifle doesn't like 55 grain bullets, or that the load you use doesn't match the velocity that they projected the trajectory for. If you're too lazy to figure out how to use the actual mil dot system, you probably shouldn't be shooting more than a couple hundred yards, anyway. I tried to explain it all to him, but he's decided that he can pop coyotes out to 600 now, because his scope has all the circles that show him where to aim. Oh well...he'll find out soon enough.

Okay, you and I are gonna have to get a direct line to Ripley's again CJ!!! I've always had the same issues with "ballistically pre-matched" optics myself. Most real shooters load their own ammo to match their own personal rifles. How can someone make a scope that will "supposedly" have correct elevation out to 600 yards for pretty much ANY rifle other than the tested rifle? You can't. Plain and simple. Each and every rifle made will shoot each and every factory ammo differently. You can get SOME degree of accuracy but not to what I or any other ethical hunter out there would consider good enough to hunt with at longer ranges.

I'm a huge fan of Nikon but that M-223 scope for me is about as useless as one can get. All my optics wearing firearms wear Nikon. I've used others in the past but it is hard to beat the quality to price that you get with them. The Nikon Prostaff 2-7x32 with the Nikoplex reticle is what I put on my .458 SOCOM fairly recently. If that sucker doesn't blast a scope apart then there aren't any other AR 15 platform based rifle going to! Nice bright scope and holds settings even under a belter like the .458

Still haven't got an optic but have browsed opticsplanet.....still undecided and out of hunting funds for the moment. I took the Del-Ton out last night to rid myself of a nuisance skunk. A mounted green flashlight and iron sights worked, but I need to put some distance between myself and those critters next time.

I was spectical about having no foward assist but those feelings are fading quickly.

LMAO, try taking a skunk out with a bow d80. Had a friend several years ago call me saying there was a rabid skunk in her back yard. Suburb so no .22 or Mr. Policeman wouldn't be happy. Took the bow over there and saw a dank skunk in the back yard literally fighting with itself! Biting itself and all! She had called a cop friend as well. He got there right when I was getting ready to shoot. He said "Have at it, you can certainly hit it further away than I could". Right when I released the arrow the dang wind direction changed!

Needless to say, me wern't to thrilled!

Yep super_hunt, the thought of that odor still makes my stomach turn. People say skunks can't spray very far, but the wind sure will carry that smell!

hehe, I let her cop buddy get the shovel and bury it. I went and got a few cans of mater juice and had a bath. Burned my clothes. Dealt with a wife laughing so hard she could barely breathe. You know, normal day to day stuff :s2:

I bet that cop loved his job that day for that is not any easy task. I am opting for headshots on skunks for now on to prevent a mess.

The last pesky skunk I exterminated was quite a mess. He expired next to my pond on a Febuary morning 7 years ago. My neighbor, who was present, used a stick and flipped it into the water because of the smell, before I could dispose of it properly. I was quite done with the task and called it good. The frigid weather hid the reality of what was to come.

When spring crept up the skunk smell came back with a vengeance. And I was the unlucky fool who dealt with that carcass. Luckily this stuff only happens rarely or I would move.

The problem I have with the drop compensation reticles is they can only be accurate in one set of conditions for a given load.

I do quite a bit of traveling for work, and do as much hunting as I can while on the road - or at least do as much networking as I can so I can come back and hunt later. I have a pet load for one of my coyote rifles that I hunted in 3 different states in under a month last season. I was about 5000ft higher than home in Colorado but at the same temp as I zeroed at home 0*. The impact moved about 6" at 400yrds. Then I was at the same elevation as home, but drier air and mid 60's to low 70's instead of zero; impact changed again on me.

So even shooting the same rifle and same load, if I were using a compensating reticle and tuned my load to fit it at home, it would have made me miss coyotes in Colorado and Arizona.

So I don't have any use for them. I own a few because they were cheap, but I never use them as designed.