Thread: Scope Recommendation

So my brother just hit me up about recommending him a new scope for his .270. Current scope is a Leupold VX1 3-9x40 - nothing wrong with it except that he invariably carries it set on 9x and would like a bit more magnification at the top end. Here's what he's looking for:

• 12x or greater magnification at the top end,
• Doesn't need to go below 4x on the lower end - he'll never use it anyway,
• 1" tube if possible - he's got a nice set of steel rings and bridge mount he'd like to reuse
• Probably not parallax adjustable. He doesn't target shoot other than sighting in, and maximum range he'll shoot to would be ~350m. Having a side-focus scope is going to cost him depth of focus compared to a fixed parallax option and the amount of parallax at those ranges is not going to be an issue.
• Objective up to 50mm
• Budget up to $2k (if required).

The above is a bit different from my preferences, I'm a fan of light scopes mounted low for that kind of work (I find the Leupold VX3i 2.5-8x36 on my rifle about perfect and I generally carry it at 4x). But that's neither here nor there.

Off the top of my head I've recommended he have a look at a Meopta Meopro 4-12x50, and a Swarovski Z5 2.4-12x50. I'm steering him away from Swaro Z3's due to the reports of erector durability issues, and from the VX3i 4.5-14 because although I have one and like it, I don't see that he needs to put up with the somewhat variable eye relief when changing magnification if he's happy to carry more weight and size than the Leupold option.

So, what other choices haven't I thought of yet?