Looking to spend around $700. Need some suggestions.  Looking at Leupold and Nikon Tactical. Any other suggestion greatly appreciated. Please Help

would like to be able to make shots out to 500 yds. mostly shooting at paper and a minimal amount of varmint hunting

luepold with their fancy premier reticles----- i think they are mil dots out to 700 yards, and leupold makes these to your specific rifle, barrel length, bullet weight, normal shooting temp, and a whole bunch of other stuff. check em out on their website, i correct me if i am wrong with any of my info here.

I have a Leupold 6.5 x 20 - 50mm LRT side focus on a .308 bolt gun and it has worked well at every range I have shot it   25-500 yds.. The big obj takes in alot of light and even with a long  shade it takes in more light than any other scope I own. The large target turrents have 72 " of windage and elevation @ 100 yds. The turrents have good solid clicks and return to zero if you dial in distance. no hold over. It has great glass I got mine for around 700 or so. I also have a BSA 6x24-40 that works very well, but its not as good as my leupold. Hope it helps

                            Invisiblesoul