Newbie here

[Sdakotadoug]

I will soon turn 74, I have built my first and maybe last AR15 and chose 6mm ARC. I'm 95% a reloader and bench shooter. I have access to a 100-200 yard range, but also access to a BPCR silhouette range out to 1000 yards. I would like to set up my new build to shoot mostly at 100-200 yards but occasionally go out to 200-1000yards. What do your recommend for an inexpensive scope and bases/rings for the above. Thanks in advance, Doug

[riggeek]

What is your budget?

[grayfox]

Welcome to the forum! I too am "advanced" into the 70's, and my scope journey might be of interest to you. I started out with some more or less "economical" value-style scopes, I'd call them mid-range, nikon's and vortex, nothing beyond about $250 retail. But as my eyes aged they became harder and harder to use, so I've migrated to I guess the next tier, more like 400-800 scopes, street-price. And pretty much Vortex b/c I have less and less time to evaluate and migrate, I want to shoot as much as possible without continually swapping gear. Bottom line, I've pretty much settled on nothing below about the Vortex PST line. Now to some that maybe lower cost or etc, but in general put as much into the scope as you can afford. There are better scopes out there than PST's, but they are pretty good and range well out to 1000 yds. Euro-optics has sales on them from time to time.
Magnification: I have a different rule than most who speak on this: get what your eyes need, what someone else's eyes need will be different than yours. For me, 15-16X is what I like to have. For 100 yds I don't need that much but I'm in situations where you need to know how many spikes a deer's antlers have on each side, so I want to be able to count them and that means you need to see them. So I can zoom in to 15 or 16X and tell. To get to 1000 I personally like to have 18x or a bit more.
Hope that gives you some ideas to think about.
I don't use 1 in ch tubes much any more. It's more weight but like I said, clear is better than light-wt.

[StoneHendge]

Welcome aboard Doug. I've been meaning to do a write-up, but for $450 the FFP Bushnell Match Pro 6-24x50 can't be beat. I have one on a 6x45 I use for positional practice and rotate it in sessions with my 6.5CM with an Elite Tactical XRS3 and my Grendel with an Elite Tactical DMR3. Is the glass on the Match Pro as good as those? No, but I can see everything I need to and my shooting doesn't fall off. They only sell it direct and cut out the middle mEn.

Disclaimer: I'm an Elite Tactical fanboi and my Match Pro was basically free. I had a Gen 1 XRS crap out on me and the new Gen 3s were stuck with supply chain issues, so they gave me a credit which enabled me to get an XRS3 when they arrived, plus the Match Pro as well as some other goodies. Speaks volumes for their warranty too.

[r.tenorio671]

....you might want to look into the offerings from Arken >>> https://www.arkenopticsusa.com/

...I have the SH4 Gen2 in 4-16x50 and it has exceeded my expectations so far in my limited time & usage. With the codes available, you can basically get the rings or mount for free in addition to a bubble level and mag ring lever. It basically allows you to get the complete package to utilize the scope right away.

...they have a new version of their next level scope available, the EP5 series and I suspect user reviews will be coming out soon as folks are already reporting having received shipping notices on their orders.

...IMHO, the features and attributes of the scopes for the very fair and competitive pricing make them attractive. As for performance, my personal experience has been positive and mine meets my needs...actually, they exceed it.

YMMV