aah,,,you touched on a very good point,,swim,,your first rifle,,if it was like my first,,I killed more game with it,,than every rifle since.tasco scope on it too.
Thats my point,,when about every hunter that reads on this site,,,,the youngest to the oldest,,had one or 2 rifles they killed everything with when they had unlimited hunting time as a kid.
Most of em had el cheapo optics on em,,and we didnt care,,cause they got the job done,,,,and hence did alotta killing with em.
Its fine as we get older,,to want better stuff,,its human nature,,,,and the reality of it is nearly every product made now isnt the same quality as 1980...everybody is building cheaper,,and selling for more.....Time invested,,,shooting skill and hunting prowess gets lost in the shuffle to get the best new whizzbang scope,rifle combo that does everything ,shoots a mile ect.,this is us trying to even out the lack of hunting time we had as a kid...quality vs quantity.
now back to the question at hand ,,ill quit ranting now.Most simmons i have now,,Mule test on the 10/22 turd just fine,,they are all phillipines models [beeep].........X