Anybody have a clue as to whether these 2 scope lines have any real differences between them? I looks like Leupold advertises them as nearly identical except for the fact that Leupold's own brochures state/claim...."standard multi-coat lens system..." for the VX-I and ..."Fully coated lens system..." for the Rifleman...I noticed the term "multi" was absent from the description of the Rileman's coating description.
Any insights would be appreciated.

get the vari x 1 you can have them change the reticals in it however you can;t for the rifleman if i remeber correct....

I have one of each. Both 3x9x40. The VX-l is a little better quality scope. Both are well worth the money. Where I live they both sell for close to 200.00. I have not used the rifleman much yet. I have used the VX-l for two seasons so far. I have seven rifles that I use a lot. Three have Luepolds two have Simmons One has an old Redfield One has a Tasco Mag four and One a Swift. Most of the rest of my rifles have Bushnells on them. I have had no problems at all with the scopes listed here. They have all served me well. I believe in trying them all.

The rifleman I looked at did not have "click" adjustments like the others.
The salesman said they had several returned for that reason.

Neither of those two have clicks. The VX-I is marked for 1/4 inch adjustments, while the rifleman is 1/2 inch. Though, not being clicks it does not matter. The rifleman has a different power ring adjustment, and the VX-I has slightly better coatings. Optically, they are both good, having generous amounts of eye relief, and superiour quality optics when compared to an Elite or Grand Slam, in my opinion that is.

I have a Rifleman on my H&R .223. They only have the 1/2 minute adjustments, but they are not click adjustments. I have not compared it to any other Leupolds, as this is my first one. For what I plan to use it for (jack rabbits and coyotes), the 2-7 scope is working fine so far. I can see clearer through it than any Bushnell, Simmons or Tasco that I have looked through, and the Eye relief is much better than either of those. Plus the cost was about equal to what I payed for the rifle, so I didn't want to spend too much more on the scope than what I bought the gun for.

pharaoh2, All Leupold scope have great eye relief without a doubt but I have to disagree about the optics with the VX-I and the Rifleman being superior over the Weaver Grand Slam. The Grand Slam is comparable to the Leupold VX-II as for optics. I have bot h and made comparison between the two and they are both about equal. In my opinion the Weaver Grand Slam is a better quality scope then the VX-II.

I had the 4-12 Rifleman scope and had problems focusing the Rifleman at high magnification so I ended trading it for the 3-9 VX-II. Now it’s time to go hunting.]

I was aware of the Rifleman and the VX-I having the "friction" type adjustments. I'm quite used to these as my favorite rifle has always sported a very old fixed power Leupold M-7 4X that has friction adjustments of...believe it or not 1 inch per mark on the adjustment. I've just learned over the years to subdivide the marks when making adjustments at the range.
Thanks for the responses so far...and am looking forward to any other testimonials regarding these 2 different scopes.

Trailer, that's why there are so many choices. Some will prefer the quality and optics of one scope over another. I have no doubt the Weaver is a great scope, but to my eyes, I prefer the Leupolds. Good hunting. (29 days to go for me!)

i guess for a high quality basic scope they should be fine, but personally i dont like them because it has a 1/2" per click adjustment. But i suppose for a hunting rifle its perfectly fine but deffinately not a bench rest scope