Can't help you on commercial ammo, been 20 years since I shot any, but I have strong opinions on scopes. Most folks use too much scope and they use variables. A variable scope is one more thing to go wrong, like an automatic transmission, and it will do so at the worst possible time. Even when the scope is working, if it happens to be on 9x or 12x, when a buck goes bouncing through the brush, that's a buck you ain't gonna get.
Back when I could get them cheap, my hunting rifles wore Weaver 2.5s, and I have shot many a sub 1" group off the bench with those. These days, my rifles mostly get Swift 4x and those intended for varmint or strictly playing at accuracy get Swift 6x.