well, i got a chance to look through just about all the scopes i was interested in and i'm going with the leu 1.5-5x20. right size, right magnification range and light weight. just seems to work with the rifle better than any other configuration. zeiss scopes were nice but much too heavy, and at low magnification the 1.5-5 is still transmitting plenty of light at dusk. thanks for all the suggestions!