Harley,
If the best is desired you'd do well to look at Zeiss, Nightforce, or U.S. Optics. Nothing compares to these brands, and they are well worth the price.
The Tasco tactical mil dot scope is alright, but mine doesn't come near the optical perfection of the three mentioned above. Leupold is fair, and I own many of them, but I have another brand which seems to give better performance. That brand happens to be Nikon. You don't hear much about Nikon scopes, but I assure you that they are indeed very good! My particular nikon I have is noticiably brighter and clearer than any of my Leupold VXIII's. I'm quite suprised and impressed by Nikon's products and personally favor them over most anything Leupold makes. Bottom line is that optics have improved much in the last twenty years, and even the low end stuff is fairly good. If you can afford the exotic stuff like Nightforce, Zeiss, or US Optics by all means spring for it. You won't regret it! But if you are looking at something less costly, compare Baush and Lomb, Leupold, and Nikon. Their performance and price is very competitive.