I'm looking for a scope that I can use for some deer hunting, as well as for use on my Bushy Varminter at the range...

Most of my hunting is done under 200 yards with a Remington 7600 (30.06), so not much magnifation is required, it will probably be set to the lowest magnification of most of the use.

The range shooting w/ the Varminter will be at 200+ yards. They are in the process of constructing longer target lanes at my local range so I want to be able to shoot at the longer ranges when they become available. I don't see them being past 400 yards.

Right now I have decided on a Leupold VX-II 4-12x 50mm. I've had good experinces with Leupolds in the past and the warranty gives me confidence that I'm not going to need to replace the scope in a couple years. I've considered the 3-9x but for a little extra money I can get the larger magnifation and I don't think the difference between 3x and 4x is going to that big of a deal for hunting.

- What do you think about the Leupold for this use?
- Any other scopes that I should really consider in the $400-450 price range?
- Is there a different scope for a little more money that I'm going to regret not spending the extra money on?

Also, what type of rings should I be looking at for the AR?