A customer posed an interesting question yesterday:

"My sons both have VX-III scopes on their rifles (7mm Mag Remington Sendero 3x10; 270 Remington XCR 2.5x8) and they seem to be fine scopes for our purposes. I am getting a new $3,000 custom rifle for Elk, and would like advice about whether the 2x price for the VX-7 is justified.
I have also read comments that for the price a Swarovski or other high end European scope might be better."

My answer was:

"Good question. The VX-7s have been chosen as best picks in several magazines. I have only seen them at SHOT show last February and in our warehouse. I haven't used them in the field. As you may know, when you get to this price range the increases in price offer minimal improvements in performance. There haven't been enough sold to give you real world reports from customers rather than gun writers. The old Leupold Premier line was excellent, and these should prove to be better. That being said, there's nothing wrong with the excellent VX-IIIs, and they are my choice for most of my deer type guns.
Scopes certainly do get brighter than VX-IIIs though, and most European scopes are, such as all Swarovski and Zeiss scopes. How much more you want to pay for slight increases are up to you.
I would recommend the VX-7 if you made me say yes or no, but here's a couple others to look at. Keep size and weight a factor. I just used a http://www.opticsplanet.net/swarovski-av-4-12x50mm-rifle-scope-tds-plex-52037.html on last month's antelope hunt and it was great, although I generally don't use scopes with that much magnification. It also has a one inch tube and it's a bit lighter than the following classy recommendations that would be appropriate fits on your custom gun:
http://www.opticsplanet.net/swarovski-z6-2-12x50-riflescope-4a-7a-tds-plex-reticle.html
http://www.opticsplanet.net/schmidt-bender-klassic-3-12-50-large-objective-lens-illum-reticle-var-power-riflescopes.html
http://www.opticsplanet.net/nightforce-nxs-35-15x-tactical-riflescope.html
http://www.opticsplanet.net/zeiss-victory-2-10x50-riflescopes-30mm.html
Take a look at one of my all time favorites if weight and size are a factor:
http://www.opticsplanet.net/swarovski-av-3-10x42-rifle-scope-tds-plex-reticle-52027.html
Good luck with your new gun and scope. Use great mounting hardware."

I wish we all could afford a custom gun. Good for him.