aside from reliability, there are optical and user characteristic differences in scopes. Some of the higher $ scopes aren't as view friendly as some of the plain jane low $ scopes.
What’s become paramount for me are accurate, repeatable adjustments. It’s been a regular optical Chinese firedrill around here of late, and those good mechanics make swapping optics in and out much easier, saving time and ammo. Ditto for mounts, and like scopes, there are good ones at various levels, from the mid-level Warn Mountain Tech to the very inexpensive SWFAs that I discovered as part of a Black Friday package deal.
Pouring over specs helps, but there’s no real substitute for actually mounting and using an optic on your gun. Plenty of good ideas have gone up in smoke after putting them in practice. Sometimes you have to kiss a few frogs to find what works.
The frogs end up in the classifieds……
A lot of wisdom in this post.
