1000 yard scope
That is a loaded question...
You may want to post this question in the rifle section.
I will take a crack at it though.
You will hear a lot of the competition shooters talk about shooting Schmitt and Bender, US Optics and Nightforce (they are probably all out of your price range).
You can probably get a Leupold Mark 4. for that price range which would work well. You can get custom turrets for this so you can calculate how many clicks you will have to make for each distance and then just "dial in" the distance. I don't think it matters if it is First or second focal plane as you will simply use a regular crosshair and make yardage adjustments with the turrets. Only downfall is for hunting you will have to count clicks which takes time.
You can get a SWFA fixed power scope for a lot cheaper with a high quality but it is a FIXED POWER (most likely a 10 power) try this link... This would be fine for target shooting from a bench but for hunting you may want something variable so you can put the power as low as you can when hunting in thicker cover or where shots will be less than 100 yards (you pick up the target faster on lower power as you have a larger Field of View). You would use turrets with these as well).
http://swfa.com/SWFA-SS-Scopes-C1719.aspx
If you buy a "turret scope" you want a scope that is accurate in its click adjustments. i have heard good things about SWFA and Leupold.
I plan on buying a Horus Vision Raptor for around $850 (only negative is that they only carry a 1 year limited warranty). I am going to try it though
www.horusvision.com (click on one of the scopes and check out the demo). Their ballistic software is really top of the line technology.
Before buying, do some research on what type of scope and reticle you want. For example if you get one of the "Bullet Drop compensator's" they are all Second Focal plan scopes meaning that the bullet drop hash marks will only work on one specific power (usually the highest power). They will not work correctly on all other powers as the reticle size doesn't change when you zoom in and out.
First Focal Plane scopes are a lot harder to come by and usually a lot more expensive. When you "zoom in" the reticle "zooms in" as well so they can be shot on any magnification.
However if you are just shooting from a bench rest at targets you will probably be fine with the SWFA. A lot of people shoot at 1000 yards on 10 power as they say anything too high can distort the target.
Again I am no expert but have been "doing my homework" a little to buy my own. I recommend you do the same.
Zak Smith is, you can check out some of his articles at...
http://demigodllc.com/~zak/
you may have to try
http://demigodllc.com/
I don't know if you can get the article from his site, but here is a link directly to the article and discussion on another forum.
http://www.thehighroad.org/archive/index.php/t-154213.html
If you ask me in a few months I will let you know how the Horus Raptor is...
Good luck!
