Are you shooting toward the South?

A few years ago, after much frustration trying to spot bullet holes under less than optimal conditions, I splurged and bought a Zeiss 85mm spotter.  Although a quality scope helps, a great deal depends on lighting conditions.   No scope can see though mirage.

I've come to believe that reports about ability to resolve bullet holes are a bit like reports of group size.  Perhaps under optimal conditions....

For most of my longer range shooting I still use Shoot-N-C targets.  Although they are expensive, the trick is stick them on poster board, which is much more durable than ordinary target paper.  By patching bullet holes with the Shoot-N-C pasters, you can make a target last a long time.

Paul

Henpecked, the goal you expressed was what I was looking for when I went on a search for a better scope a few years back.  From my experience I'd say that there isn't a scope that will let you see .45 holes in the black at 300 yards reliably, meaning under all conditions.  Our home range has a lot of trees and shadows, which make viewing difficult.

I'm not sorry I made the investment in the big Zeiss, but it hasn't been a cure-all, do-all.  I also shoot BPCR silhouette and long range gong shoots, and it has worked very well for those games, notwithstanding what I said about mirage.

Paul

Much depends on what's behind the target. I've shot at Camp Perry where there's nothing directly behind the target and seeing bullet holes was much easier than what I consider usual conditions. Most ranges have a dirt bunker behind the target frames and that gives a dark background. I remember once a fellow brought a Unertl 100 mm team spotting scope to Friendship and we couldn't see bullet holes at 300 yards with it. There again piled up dirt makes for a dark background and no contrast
                                             Rich