Interesting because I’m going through the same thing with spotting scopes for bird and wildlife viewing. I keep drooling over Kowa and Swarovski at the upper end, then move to mid-range vendors like Vortex and Meopta and some other upstarts like Styrka. Then I jump back to the top dogs, panic at the price, drop back to the mid tier, and eventually think “Maybe I should just get the Styrka or Celestron.” Wash, rinse, repeat ad nauseam.
I’m not sure what rifle you want scoped, but here’s the most inexpensive Nikon with bullet drop comp for 223/5.56
https://www.opticsplanet.com/nikon-p-223-3-9x40-bdc-600-rifle-scope.html
at $150. Good basic scope.