I hate to be the one to beat a dead horse about scopes but I am going to anyway. I did a search and came up with some good info on Vortex scopes but most of them are out of my price range. I have a Rem 700 .243 and I am looking for a Vortex scope between $280 and $320. I mostly punch paper at about 100 yards but am wanting a scope that will allow me to be at the 300 to 500 yards. Also one that I can do a little predator hunting with.
It looks like something in the Diamondback series would serve your purposes. Particularly the 3x - 9x by 40mm, or maybe the same in the Viper series, if you could find one used and in good shape. Good luck-----
At that price point, I’d say your best bet is SWFA SS-10 power fixed.
I am a big fan of the whole Vortex line. I have two Crossfire scopes, a 4x16x50 and a 6x24x50 on my rimfires. I have a Viper 6.5x20x50 on my .243 and a 4x16x50 Viper PST on my .308.
For the money the Crossfire line is very hard to beat, they are very clear and I have had no tracking problems. I must say that I use the adjustments on the two Crossfires more than the other, higher priced scopes, since we shoot long ranges with the rimfire rifles.
Customer service is also great. I thought that I had a problem with my SPARC, red dot, but after I sent it in they determined it was a weak battery and they replaced it, no charge.
I found all of these as used scopes on a couple of different forums. I actually found the 6.5x20 Viper for $300.00 and it has a mil-dot reticle.
Tim
I can also vouch for the Crossfire II line. I bought the 4-16x50 for my 700 but it will eventually work its way down to my 10/22. Been great thus far
i have that one on my 308. It is a great scope if you want a fixed power. Bright, clear, if you want a better one you will definitely have to pay a lot more for it.
I started out with the same questions for my rem (but in 308). After many hours I decided on a SS10x42 from swfa b/c it had a mildot ret. and enough elevation to get me to 1000yds (because I thought I could shoot that far no problem, turns out I was wrong 
).
Great scope tho, pretty damn durable and nice glass.
Got a vortex viper hs with a little more mag now and put the SS10x on the ar for the hell of it. If I was to do it over again I would have saved a little longer and got a vortex PST 24x and been done with it. That said if I couldnt wait for the PST I would have gotten a mil dot 24x vortex viper.
Not sure if that helps at all just my 2¢