Hudee, if there is any way possible, do yourself a favor and save your money until you can afford a Leupold VX-II or VX-III, or a Nikon Monarch. These scopes will run 2-3 times what you are wanting to spend, but I promise that you will not regret it. The extra quality and clarity are really worth the money. You can pay more (Swarovski, Zeiss, Kahles etc...) but these scopes will do everything you want except see in total darkness. Plus, they both come with lifetime guarantees that really mean something. I need a scope for one of my rifles, but I am going to wait until I can afford one of these.
Best of luck whatever you decide.

You may not want to follow the above advice however if it means you will miss years of hunting. There are many low cost scopes under 100.00 thast beat the hell out of not hunting until you can lay out big bucks for a scope. I hunted for the first forty years of my hunting life without a Luepold or any other scope that cost over 100.00 dolarrs. I did very well hunting too I might add. I have several(like eight) Bushnell and Tasco scopes here that are well over twenty years old and have never missed a shot or handi-capped me in any way. Its is great to buy a very good scope. I advise everyone who can to do so. However its just dumb to think you can't hunt and do well with a scope of lesser cost until such time as you feel you must move up to more costy equipment. I will be using my 6.5x55 mauser for rifle seasons this year. Sitting on top of it is a Tasco World Class 4X scope thats been there for twenty years. On my shelf here sits two new Luepold scopes. They will stay on the shelf until such time as this old Tasco gives out. That I am sure will not be any time soon. I bought a few Luepold scopes that went on close out. I never would have bought them had they stayed at the regular price. However when I can pick one up for in the price range of a good Bushnell then I do. In case I ever need them. I have nothing against the spendy scopes but I have been in the spot where they were beyond my price range. Lucky for me I did fine without them.

I just got an email sale notice from Natchez Shooters Supply...www.natchezss.com...

They have the Burris Fullfield 3x9 for $169.95... Regular price is $232...

That is near your price range and in my opinion is a much better value than one of the cheap scopes...

Burris, by the way, is the ONLY scope that is 100% American made... Leupold is American made all except for thier lenses, which they buy from anyone who can meet thier specs...

I consider Burris equal in quality to Leupold, and that ain't faint praise...

I personally have all Leapold scopes, going from 1.5-5, 2.5x, 4x, and 3-9x. All have done very nicely, with no fogging, no problems.

Last year, I purchased two Simmons $39 specials. 4 power scopes to be used on two of my sons rifles. Both rifles are Win model 88 in .308 caliber. We recently went to the rifle range and the pic shows the results. Not championship groups, but darn acceptable for 100 yds off sand bags.

I picked these Simmons because they are good "starter" scopes, and if they fall apart in the field, or the boys drop the rifle and break the scope, it is not a great loss.

The scopes have minimal edge bending when viewing a vertical surface at the edge of the scope field, and both scopes are nice and bright, with well defined reticles. Parallax when moving your head to and fro is noticable, but not objectionable.

Granted the recoil test on the scopes has been light, as the .308 is not like a magnum kicker.

Good luck

James, I didn't mean to imply that anybody should wait years until they can afford a better scope. If it means not hunting, get a cheaper scope and go to the woods. However, if at all possible, buy the best you can.