I shoot mainly at 200-300 yards at a public range with a Bushy Varminter .223 with a Leupold VariX III 4.5-14x scope (usually at 14x).  The targets are white pieces of paper with a pale red 3" circle (so the holes show up).  But I cannot see the holes at 200 or 300 yards with my scope or with the available spotting scopes at the range (which are somewhat beat up).  I also have a cheap BSA 45x spotting scope with no luck seeing the holes.

I have tried 12" Shoot N See targets at 300 yards but I still can't see where the bullets are hitting.  So I end up taking a few shots and then waiting what seems like forever for a cease fire to be called (public range).

My question is:
1)  Can any spotting scope under $1200 resolve a .223 hole at 300 yards?
2)  Does anyone have FIRST HAND experience with such a spotting scope?

Thanks!

Sounds like you have a POS spotting scope.

For now I'm use one of the inexpensive 60MM spotting scopes from Champion's Choice.  At 200 yards at 50x it picks out .30 holes in the black and .22 holes on a Shoot n' See.  It gets harder when it's overcast, but the Shoot n' See targets still show up easily.

During matches we use standard targets but position angled white panels behind the target stands.  .22 holes show up with no problems at all.

Don't get me wrong, an 80MM Kowa would be very cool and I might get one if we were not able to use enhanced targets, but since we do I can get by without one.

ETA:  Sorry this is 200 yards not 300...

Quoted: My question is: 1)  Can any spotting scope under $1200 resolve a .223 hole at 300 yards? 2)  Does anyone have FIRST HAND experience with such a spotting scope? Thanks!

That's going to be difficult without the aid of something like a reflector behind the target or something like the Shoot-N-See targets.

The only thing that comes close is the Kowa TSN-771 with a 25X or 30X eyepiece, and that combo will run you about $1500.