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Pawpaw wrote: with everything Skiprr posted, if you include my little edit.

(And I didn't even need a babel fish! )

Oops. How'd I make that mistake (now corrected)? As penance, I promise not to use any obscure or archaic words for at least 48 hours...

Legionnaire wrote:You said this is for a deer rifle. What range and terrain do you expect to hunt? My go-to deer rifle for the past 20 years wears a 2-7X, which is perfect for hunting the woods of PA and NY, and it's quite capable out to 300 yards on deer-sized game. Even for a beanfield rifle, I'd probably opt for a 3.5-10X40. I've bought a couple of used Leupold Vari-X III 3.5-10X40s in the low $300s. I'd rather an excellent used Leupold than most of the others out there. But that's just me.

And sometimes overlooked are quality rings and quality mounting. If you want consistent, repeatable accuracy, cheap rings can ruin otherwise good glass. Likewise poor mounting. Don't scrimp on either.

If you don't have all the proper tools, I'd recommend finding a gunsmith to properly mount the scope. At a minimum, I consider those tools to be:

• A proper gun vise; you gotta be able to secure the rifle in an absolutely still and secure position, or most of the rest of the operation will fail.
• Ring alignment and lapping rods; and do always lap any set of rings once aligned...never mount a scope without doing so: makes sure the ring surfaces themselves are in correct positioning after your alignment; evens out the surface for better, more consistent (and thus more stable) contact; prevents scaring/scratching of your scope; and, if you aren't using top-of-the-line rings with ultra-precise machining specifications, shaves a tiny bit of material away to ensure a completely round ring and (presumably) enough gap to grip as it should when you torque it down.
• A crosshair alignment tool like Wheeler's "professional" kit; "eyeballing" crosshair vertical alignment will inevitably result in imprecise elevation and windage adjustments and estimations. Not good. The reticle needs to be perfectly aligned with the gun itself, not your eye.
• A good torque driver; I prefer Felo (http://www.german-hand-tools.com/Felo-torque.html). Wheeler makes a decent torque wrench, but it doesn't provide the number of incremental tension steps that Felo does. Granted, most scope manufacturers are going to tell you something around 20 inch-pounds, but it's worth a bit more to be able to take the pressure to a finer final setting. If you're shooting a .338 Lapua Magnum, you may want to risk a couple of extra inch-pounds.
• A laser boresighter; you don't want to go to the range for the first time with the new setup and sling lead three feet over the target at 25 yards. Even if you do nothing but some preliminary adjustments in your house at 15 yards--in the aforementioned gun vise--that should at least get your first live round on paper.

Even with a decent budget scope, better than bottom-shelf rings and attention to detail in the mounting can make a world of difference.