I started out (back in the wagon wheel days) only buying used Gold Rings. First thing I'd do is send them off to Leupold for checking, refurbishing, and only occasionally adding a doodad.

Leupold was great about that, and I'd get them back in ~3 weeks, give or take. Of course this was before spinning turrets showed up, and mine were routinely set up for MPBR and then mostly left alone.
Only much later did I first dip my big toe into the waters of other glass offerings and discovered other glass that are GTG. But those were only bought new.

It's you and the bullet, and all the rest is secondary.