AAR: Range Trip & BLEG

The skies are grey today, and it's 56, humid, without a breeze.

We went to the range as scheduled, and I should add that I hadn't had my .270 out of its case since last September, so I wasn't expecting great accuracy.

Each girl fired a shot through the .270, "just to see what it's like". One was holding it like a .22, so it bounced a bit; the other held it much more firmly, but was still surprised by recoil. (I should point out that Younger Daughter had never fired anything larger than a .22 until today; Older Daughter had, but it was several years ago.)

I've been fussing for some time about my scope; I could see the target well enough to shoot, but needed a spotting scope to see shot placement. Today I tried the fluted rim around the eyepiece one last time, in hopes that it might be a focus ring.

To my utter surprise, it let go with a soft 'pop' and allowed me - for the first time with this setup - to see the target clearly. Didn't need the spotting scope at all (yet, but that's later in the story). Hooray.

After the first few shots went all over, but mostly low, I decided that the scope must have been bumped during the winter. I cranked it up pretty high & started over.

After a gross adjustment to the scope, I was shooting high and to the right. I started walking it back toward center; these are the five rounds between 12 and 1:00 on the target. Then, just as I was hitting above the bull's eye and ready to dial it down ...

... the reticle separated. First, the left bar let go of the cross-hair in the center, and then - a shot later - the bottom post also separated.

Sorry it's not clear - I was holding the rifle in my left hand & cell phone in my right, trying to overcome parallax and get the shot.

Since I could no longer be sure where my shots were going, I packed up and moved to the rimfire range.

I've written previously about the Tech Sights "peep sights" I put on the .22. Those also needed adjustment. I got it to the point where I was getting four shots out of five into the 250-yard target on the Appleseed rifleman's target, and decided to call it a day.

It seemed the girls were having issues with their sights, too, so they decided to leave when they saw me taking down.

There's always next time.

So, Gentle Reader, I have a question: the scope which self-destructed is a Bushnell 3x-9x model. What's a good, moderately-priced adjustable scope in the 9x to 12x range?  Advice?