i had a used pair of Leica small binos years ago, someone stole them like alot of things i owned... i didnt pay much for them but they were pretty nice... i have an old pair of US Navy Bausch and Lomb binos here somewhere, bit and heavy tho, but see pretty well...

im actually really looking forward to driftin's suggestion of the SWFA scope, and yes RvW, they are basically the old Tasco SS scopes, i have seen those before, but never used them... i had an old Tasco a long time ago that could possibly have been one, but i broke the crosshairs on it, and it was my fault entirely... never even used it as i had nicer ones, but i still regret breaking them....

ive owned Weavers, i had a few Simmons nearly 20 years ago that were very good scopes, now, they are not built as well, ive had 2 Redfields, fairly nice scopes, some others mixed in but never any Leupolds or higher up the food chain...

ill use the sh!t out of the SWFA then save up to get something different if i choose to, Kahles, Zeiss, Swaro, Leupold, Nightforce, Leica, S&B, US Optics, all on my radar, but i want one that will work for me, not a 3k dollar spotting scope....

i started thinking about what driftin said about "letting it sit", and he is right... i watch sh!t on TV or whatever and say, "i can do that", which i can if i wanted to, but is it practical? how many places in WA can you shoot 3k yards? not many, but there are several that you can shoot 600-1k....

bascially i started telling myself that if i go crazy and put some telescope sized scope on this thing, and dont use it, it would be like dumping a bunch of money on a blown small block setting it up for drag racing, then doing burnouts in the front yard on 85 octane gas and never going to the track....

so with that said, driftin, thanks for bringing me back down to practical, i can use the money on other things that will help me become a better shooter, rather than being a better spotter....