I usually agree with most of Zachary's thoughts, but this time I can't. The Leupold Compact 3-9 that I used had the worst image I've ever seen through a scope. I couldn't tell if a spike buck even had spikes when I looked at it through 9x at 100 yds away. At 9x!!! I had to keep going to my binocs to verify it was a buck. I've never been so disappointed in a $300 scope. Everything else about the scope was nice, right size, right weight, right finish. Maybe it was just that scope? Who knows? I've never tried them again though. The Burris I had was much better optically, just a bit heavier.
Some other scopes you might want to consider in the size range of the Short Mag are the Nikon Monarch 1.5-4.5, Weaver Classic 2.5x and 1-3x, and the Leupold 1-4x and 1.5-5x. Honestly, the Leupold FX 4x32 is a pretty compact scope itself, so consider it as well.