I'm pretty poor on vision. Can't drive without corrective lenses. Not just legally. I'm over 50 . I also have spine damage that causes plenty of pain when in prone position. But, I still want to do it. I want to stay in the 500$ or less for the scope. Does a guy sling up tight for prone target shooting? ?. I'm thinking a heavy laminated stock would flex less. I don't know big the targets are and as it will be summer, mirage is a possible problem. .
I've been following this thread as I'm thinking about a new LR stick, and I wanted to comment about scope selection. I'm in my mid 50s and my eyesight is going, so I've been forced to move towards optical sights. I've gotten back into long range shooting and spent a long while sorting out my optical options. To make a long story short, I have been impressed with the Burris MTAC 3.5 x 10 x 42 scope.
I am a long time Leupold fan, and own a few Leupold scopes, but Leupold did not offer a scope that did what I wanted at any price, so I started looking around. With some trepidation, I settled on the Burris MTAC, which performs well at distances out to 1200 yards. I have one season of fairly extensive practice and use for unknown distance matches; the clicks and adjustments are repeatable, the image clarity is excellent and I really like the mildot reticle. I have mine mounted on a Warne 20 moa base, with 30 mm Burris rings lapped in, so I can use about 60 minutes of elevation out of the 80 the scope offers. I liked the scope enough that I decided to use one on my .50 BMG. So far it has held up well on that, too, but I haven't shot it enough to recommend it for that use.
If I were going to spend more and get more performance, I probably would jump to the Nightforce rather than play around with anything less. The Burris is as good as any of the lesser priced scopes that I have used, and I have tried a lot of different ones. (Leupold, Bushnell, Nikon, SWFA, among others) It was exactly what I wanted in a medium to long range tube. I'm going to put one on my Swede and on my other long range rifles. Some folks would have you think that more magnification is better, but the real thing is having everything in focus and having a really clear image. If you've got that, you're most of the way there. I've had no trouble picking up a 4" steel plate at 500+ yards with that scope, when guys with scopes costing 3x as much had trouble seeing the target. Plus, when targets AREN'T a thousand yards away, it's nice to have the option for less magnification.