I'm taking a rifle to Namibia and leaving it there as a gift. I'd like to put a variable power scope on it. Here's the catch. I don't want to spend a lot of money. What scope is the best bang for the buck? I will be using the rifle when I hunt there.

Define "a lot of money".

Without mnowing more I'd recommend a Leupold VX3 2.5-8x36.

What you are planning may be a crime, both in the USA and Namibia. Please do some research on leaving a firearm from the USA in a foreign country. This is no joke!

$250 would be the amount. As far as I know, I can gift a weapon in Namibia. As far as the U.S, I will have to check. Don't see it as a issue.

Dear Chuck -

IT IS AN ISSUE!

Since you have admitted on a public forum that you intend to commit a crime, I encourage you to do a search here on AR and then contact the U.S. Dept. of State.

Do not count on the recipient in Namibia to advise you as to the legal requirements on that end either.

Exporting a firearm, even a .22, is similar to exporting an Abrams M1 tank in many regards.

Looks like I'll have to make a new plan. Don't want the hassle.

Cash is always welcome as a gift/tip.

However, you might consider taking an extra scope and leaving both scopes. I don't think you can go wrong with the above Leupie 2-8 or a good Leupie 3-9.

Leaving behind just a scope might be a technical violation of exporting "firearms parts" in excess of $100 value, but I doubt that anyone would bother to give you any difficulties about it.

I was shooting two precision rifles at targets just yesterday. One was mounted with a Leupold VX-3 LR 4.5-14X with side-adjusted focus. The other was mounted with a plain old VX-I 4-12X. My eyes have always been above average and my visual discrimination pretty good. The sight picture of the VX-I was essentially the same as the much costlier VX-3 -- and I was shooting at paper up to 425 yards away.

If I were taking a scope to a foreign friend to use as a hunting scope I'd take a Leupold VX-I 3-9X -- versatile, dependable, trouble-free, and well within a "gift" budget.

By the way, I once lost a rifle overboard a boat in a foreign country in which I was hunting. Rumor has it that my lucky guide was able to find it and dry it out, unharmed, immediately after my departure and still has it to this day. Too bad that it is not credible that you would lose a rifle that way in Namibia.

"Losing" the rifle is roughly akin to "totalling" a late model American car in Argentina just before you leave... those nasty mountain roads you know... but somehow it will be "salvaged"... true story from the 70s...

The US government actively enforces both the EAR and ITAR regulations. I wouldn't do anything until I had a pretty fair understanding of those.