Got everything put together. Thought I would give a little review in case someone else is interested in a similar setup.
So I went with the Bushnell ERS 3.5-21x with the G2 reticle. Got it from PlainSight Solutions. I would highly recommend them. Great to deal with and very helpful.
For the mount I looked into everyone's suggestions. Thank you again for all the advice. The AE rail is somewhat unique and not standard sized so it is difficult to replace.
Near Manufacturing looked like they had great products but he is bit backed up with a government contract. The Burris XTR rings only came in 1" and 1.5", not the 1.25" height I needed. I decided to go with Spuhr. It was quite pricey but it had a built in level and it is something I will never have to worry about.
Also picked up a FAT wrench. Worked great and gave me a lot of confidence in my torque values being accurate.
To get the eye relief I needed with that rail I needed to cantilever the mount off the end of the rail. It still seems solid enough with three of the four cross bolts.
Here's a fuzzy picture:
The mount is very solid and the built in level is very low profile so it won't snag but it is partially covered by the scope while shooting. It is still usable though.
I have only shot out to 100 meters so far but I have glassed lots of distant objects and I like it. Getting the rcorrect eye relief has not been an issue. The magnification adjustment ring is very smooth and easy to use unlike some other scopes where it is very stiff.
The reticle is very clean and useful. While the illuminated reticle on my Vortex was nice I did not use it much and killed a battery or two leaving it on. It's one less thing to worry about. I still have to figure out and set the zero stop.
My only complaint about the scope is the parallax adjustment knob just has dots for markings. I realize factory distances marked are sometimes incorrect but there is no way to tell which dot you are set on.
If someone has an older HDMR I would like to know what distances the dots are supposed to work at so I can write them in with a paint marker or something.
Anyways if anyone had the patience to read through my boring review here are some pics of my new setup at my "range":
Groups are pretty good for me. Not to make excuses but the extremely dry Alberta dirt was not very solid and tended to settle after each shot and may have contributed to the larger group. In the winter I put plywood down but not when there are crops in the field.
178 Amax bullets with 43.5 grains of Varget in Federal cases. I hope to be able to complete the 0.75 MOA all day challenge this year.
Well thanks again for all the help. Everyone on here has been great.
Next accessories I am in the market for are a better hard case and a smartphone scope mount to record video of my shooting.
If anyone has a marked Bushnell 3.5-21× parallax knob the could send me a couple pictures of that would be great.
