Seems I'll try any brand under $50 3- or 4-12 or ?? x32, 40 or 50mm scope from China.
Reason,
A while back I read an article that told of the ever improving Chinese optic grinding procedures and how there will be a point where their quality will be close to if not equal to Japanese yet China priced.
I don't think it's happened yet but over the past year I think I've seen some improvements.
Present case, an FM Optics 3-12x40 ao Scope recently purchased from Sportsman's Guide for Believe it or not, $39.97.
A plain jane looking mildot reticle scope with target turrets and end bell thats a little stiff yet the zoom ring is smooth.
The optics are crystal clear at any range from 10 yards to infinity. This is a huge improvement in my opinion since in the past I've found cheap scopes are limited to about 75-80% of their capacity That is, for instance , I bought an Discontinued BSA 8-32x50 Huntsman that makes for an excellent 8-20 maybe 25 scope from there things get foggy. So in the past this 3-12x40 scope would have been an excellent 3-9x40 but 9-12 power would have blacked out or just impossible to focus clearly.
I'm not saying this scope is perfect to it's full power but I can see a definite improvement.
http://www.sportsmansguide.com/net/cb/cb.aspx?a=420148