If you have $1,000 to spend on a scope that you will be using to consistantly shoot 200+ yards what are you buying? Ready? GO!

Without comparison that is tough.

But after comparison, I would choose Swaro's Z3 4-12X50.
It's a very good all around optic. Mag range is good for anything you would hunt in North America. The glass doesn't get any better.

A little more info: I am shooting whitetail with this gun consistantly and would like to take it Mule deer hunting and possibly more. It's going on a 7mag...

I want to be able to drill nails at 200!

Leupold VX6 2-12 without a doubt.

Z3, ballastic turret, 4w ret

This may sound or come across brutal, but you will not find anything that will drive nails out to 200. Marginally, there are several parameters that will be tight, but rarely is that dependent on the scope you are wanting to use.

If that is the case, I would focus on components like a barrel and load development.

Exactly right.

My vote on the scope is a Vortex Viper PST 4-16X Mil/Mil FFP

That is another great suggestion from FiremanJG.

I toyed with also listing it, but for all hunting purposes there are some, I should say most who are apprehensive with using a (tactical) scope for hunting applications.

Concerns are mostly with the exposed turrets and the zero accidently changing. Luckily the zero stop feature for the PST in this case is a fail safe. But not knowing what the OP uses currently is why I suggested the Z3 from Swarovski.

Come on Skylar. I'm doing all I can to educate and remove fear.

Based on input from this forum, I bought what Fireman just recommended. Haven't used it a whole lot for hunting yet, but I already know I like it. And the illuminated reticle makes it that much better.

No, I don't doubt that. Although I think it fair to put out or share other's concerns.

Jason, you and I are a lot alike. I have the same PST on my .300 WM and it is typically my go to for all hunting applications, because I have an intimate knowledge of how the scope works and I will exploit it to dispatch my harvest.

Although, these are concerns that some share. Although I agree with 99% of everything that you post and teach.

That was tongue and cheek. I realize some guys are goibg to stay within 200 yards and have no need for advanced optics and that's fine. Pretty much what you recommend is gospel as far as I'm concerned. I was just ribbing you a bit.

I'm not a competition shooter or even what you might call a long distance shooter. But...I do often have long range shots on coyotes and pigs. I won't shoot at a deer past about 300, but any varmint is in danger out to about 400 with the scopes I had. All of those scopes were second focal plane and had various BDC lines or dots. They worked fine, but I always had to crank the scope up to the highest magnification to make those long shots with the BDC lines/dots. And my max distance (far edge of the hay field) is 500 yards. I listened carefully to the forum chatter on FFP scopes and decided to buy one. It's the Viper Vortex PST 4-16x50 FFP, and it's a darn nice scope, and can be shot at any magnification with the reticle being valid (mil/mil). And, I can dial it to what I need for that long shot and not ever have to worry about BDC lines. About the same time as I got that scope, I sent my trusty Leupold 6.5-20x50 30mm tube scope off to Leupold and had the Tactical Milling Reticle put in it. And I sure do like that, though it's SFP. Time will tell which one I want to use more often, but right now I think that Vortex FFP scope is probably going to be the one I hunt with most.

If you are going to shoot targets at long range, go with the FFP type scope with turrets that return to zero. For that, and for less than $1000, you need the scope that Fireman recommended. If you are just going to hunt out to a range of 300 or so, you don't need that level of complexity and don't need to spend $1k if you don't want to. That's my thinking on the subject.

I picked up one of these but to be honest have not done anything but glance at it and then took it to Derrick at Horizons Firearms and told him to put a .22 Creedmore under it. I think it's going to work well for a long range coyote gitter.

http://www.bushnell.com/all-products/rifle-scopes/elite-tactical-hunter/lrhs-3-12x-44mm

Made by light optical in Japan. ..same factory making vortez razor, and nightforce.

Reviews have been great on it. I'm still torn between that and swaro with 4w ret

I like he Bushnell Elite series especially the 6500 and Tactical lines. One from the same factory that might be worth a look is the Nightforce SHV

http://nightforceoptics.com/shv/

The only one I have with turrets is a Swaro V6 works good with zero stop and is dead on repeatable. Just wish the crosshairs were a little heavier, for seeing them in dim light.

I have two of the Vortex Razors and had a couple of Nightforce's (sold one) and if it will offer the same performance as they do I will be happy.

I have the Swarovski Z3 4-12x50 w/BT and the Vortex Viper HS. The Z3 has the better glass hands down. I also have a Leupold FX3 6x42 and with the fixed power the glass is better than the Vortex as well. Not knocking the Vortex at all, I have the Vortex Razor Spotting scope and it is awesome. Maybe one of these days I will check out the Razor line of scopes, but not until I get the Leupold VX6 w/illuminated reticle (Firedot).

So, this is for my dads gun who passed recently. I don't really want to change components of the gun like the barrel but what would be some solid ammo to increase accuracy.
? Again it's a 7mag, 200+ yard shot that I want to be confident that I'll humanely dispatch whatever graces my crosshairs

200 yards is not even a chip shot for a 7 Rem Mag, it's a putt. It'll kill anything you want, short of elephant (probably them too) inside 200 yards. It's a bit trickier to get the big magnums to shoot bug holes but it can be done with enough research and time spent on load development.

I have a couple that I really like Bushnell 6500 4.5x30x50 and Trijicon 2.5x10x56