What power spotting scope is needed to clearly see bullet holes at one hundred yards?

What is a decent quality scope for not too much money?

I like my Nikon. It has good optics and is light enough to pack for hunting. As for power it depends if you are shooting a 223 or a 505!!! :D

Good point, lets say 22 caliber holes at 100 yards. Whether it is in the black or white.

My eyes ain't too sporty either.

I would never have need to use it for hunting. I'm really not looking for a great (expensive) piece of glass, I just want to see the bullet holes.

I recently bought a Redfield fixed 25 power scope (60mm lens) on eBay for $130. It's ldesigned ike the Nikon XL spotter. I can clearly see .243 diameter bullet holes at 150 yards to the degree that adjoining holes are distinguishable (I like adjoining holes :) ).

When I frequented the range in Florida they supplied inexpensive Winchester spotting scopes (don't know who made them but they came under the Winchester name). They gave marginal performance at best, even under high magnification, they had a 16-40X magnification range with a 50mm lens.

The 60mm diameter lens size is an advantage and the coatings make all the difference in the world. I feel mine is a good compromise between price and performance (FWIW my wife tells me I'm cheap).

Here's my experience. When I was hunting Dahl Sheep in Alaska you needed at least 50 power to distinguish between a full curl ram and a 3/4 curl ram.

If your going to buy, spend as much as you can afford and get a variable from 20 to 50 power at least and it doesn't hurt to have a 60 power top end.

It's the dickens once you've spent the money and find you don't have enough power. Buy it only once. I'm really looking closely at some of the Meade folded optics. Being a photographer I've found the folded optics scopes bring a lot of power from a small package.

In my book, a good quality 20 to 45 power variable with at least a 60 mm objective will be suitable for all your needs. I regularally shoot .223 Rem at 100 yds and can see the holes quite clearly in my Minolta scope configured as above.

The greater the power setting, the bigger the objective should be. They tend to get sorta dark with anything less than 60mm when cranked up to 45x or so. To me, a 80mm would be great!