Thank you for helping out. If I understand you correctly your minimum standards areI think the starting point is scope manufacturer’s reputation. There are some I can’t afford. So they are out. That drops me into the level that I can afford. Then the question becomes, “what am I doing with it?”
There’s some talk of turrets, but not every scope needs to have a turret. If it’s a long range gun, it definitely gets a turret type scope. My shorty AR has an Eotech holographic sight. My 20” AR has a scope, but no turrets on that scope.
Clarity is something that only you can determine, but IMO is very important. When I was buying a tactical scope for a long range rifle, I went to Cabelas. They pulled 6-8 scopes out and I looked through them all.
3 had bad clarity. Out. The others had sufficient clarity. Then 2 of them had reticles I didn’t care for. Came down to two scopes: Vortex and Nikon in the $1k range. Both were equal, but I liked the reticle on the Nikon better so I bought that one.
I was later surprised to find that the Cabelas Covenant 7 line was superb. I bought a scope very close in quality to the Nikon Black 1000 in the Covenant line for $350.
Reality is you will have to spend time with a few scopes in order to find your preferred scope.
But generally brand name is a good place to start, then cull the too expensive brands out and go from there.
Reputation
Price
Clarity
Reticle
And then somewhere in there turrets sometimes get considered.
With the exception of price, which was more of a conditional criteria based on how flush with cash you happen to be, I didn’t hear any objective ways to evaluate those criteria. If I’m wrong please help me understand.
You came close with clarity saying you looked through several scopes at a retailer and eliminated some. That is just the sort of thing I’m interested in. What about the clarity was substandard or to standard for your choices? Hazy? Dark? Blurry? Distorted? Did the scopes have equal tube and objective diameters?
I’m very interested in your perspective.