Yeah, I went the cheap way. I bought a Marlin 981T. I had a Marlin 336C that I really liked, plus this 981T will feed 22 short ammunition for squirrel hunting. I looked at several of the scopes suggested here. What I learned is that ALL of the 3-9's had a common problem of the crosshairs getting out of focus as I increased the power setting. I tried a BSA sweet 17 with the AO and this problem was easily corrected by adjusting the objective. This is going to be primarily a squirrel hunting rifle, I do not intend to use it for 300 yard silhouette matches. I ordered a 3-12X40 Sweet 17 scope, and a Rifle-Basix trigger for it also. I will report here next week when I get to the range for some testing. I have killed Hundreds of squirrels with a ruger 10/22 and a Simmons 22 Mag scope, so I'm sure this new rig will be acceptable for my intended use.