Hmmm I think you just demonstrated how much you have to learn....
Question: Have you spent much time with a ballistics calculator ? Do you know how many minutes your bullet drops at different distances ? A typical scope has 12 minutes per rotation. Once you need more than 12 min, you are into multiple rotations of the turret knob. How is that zero position working for you now ?
I don't know why i don't recall anyone mentioning a Vortex scope in this thread ? I have 2 Vortex scopes and they are the best scopes I have ever owned. Now I have never had a Nightforce or a Zeiss and possibly never will. But, I am not wanting with my Vortex scopes.
You have a few things to think about in a long range scope.
1) How do you want the reticle ? Do you want just an aiming point, or do you want tic marks on the elevation axis or on the windage axis or both ? Without tic marks, any correction you do not dial is "kentucky windage" and success rate tends to be a bit low.
2) How much internal movement do you need ? This factors greatly into the cost of a scope. A scope with 40 min of internal travel will be a lot cheaper and a lot less useful than a scope with 100 min of internal travel. A 40 min scope might only have 10-15 useable adjustment by the time you get it zeroed. You may not be able to mount it on popular 20 minute inclined scope rails because there is a good chance you might not be able to get it zeroed at a reasonable distance.
3) If you want to dial, the mechanism needs to be of high quality, backlash free and repeatable. The cheapest scope that I felt had acceptable turrets was the gen 2 Nikon Monarchs with the low profile turrets. They are capped, but you can take the caps off when you leave your camp or vehicle and at least it works. When Nikon went to the Gen 3 Monarch, they changed to the idiotic M223 style turret caps which you pull up on to release the mechanism, then rotate it to zero. The problem is that there is now NO WAY to lock the turret knob and the process described can happen in the middle of the hunt (or while the rifle is in its case) and ruin a hunt since it takes just a second to loose your zero.
So I can no longer recommend any of the current Monarch scopes from Nikon. These would come in the mid $400 range and were very good value for what they are. In my opinion vastly superior to their buckmaster and other series of scopes.
Anyhow, I have gone to Vortex and in my case both scopes are first focal plane. If your hunting style allows time to take the shot, you will probably prefer a second focal plane scope and they are cheaper if everything else if comparanble. I am primarily shooting coyotes and tend to have only seconds for the shot and in many cases no time to dial a turret or even change the magnification. So FFP works for me, since I know that a 2 min tic mark is always 2min at any magnification, so long as I can see it. With a SFP to use the reticle you either need to be at max magnification (where it is calibrated) or at a full fraction of that magnification. So a 1 min tic at 16x is 2 min at 8x and 4 min at 4x. Your style of hunting will dictate which is the right choice for you.
If you are on a budget, look at the Vortex Viper 4-16 HS LR
Vortex Optics Viper HS 4-16x50 30mm Long Range Scope FREE S&H VHS-4313-LR, VHS-4307-LR. Vortex Viper Rifle Scopes, Vortex Rifle Scopes. Currently $600.
It is the highest rated scope in its price class at opticsplanet. The only slight downside is that in order to accomplish 24 min per rotation of the elevation turret you only get adjustment of 1/2MOA in elevation. Windage is 1/4moa per click like normal and the scope has 75MOA of elevation and 50Min of windage movement which is not shabby. This model has an uncapped elevation turret and a capped windage turret and a pretty decent SFP reticle.
