I asked a fellow shooter if he didn't mind would he look through all the optics to see what he saw. He obliged; and even brought a Zeiss 3-15X42. He ended up on the same settings I did. Also he mentioned he just could not resolve the hole with the Sightron. When we looked though his Zeiss we could not see the hole. While I was looking though his scope something changed and I could see light coming though the hole as though someone put a flashlight behind the target. I still could not see the hole, just light coming through it.
Conclusion: Mediocre potting scopes are definitely better than good rifle scopes for resolving detail.
