Thank you for all your suggestions so far but it looks like I miscommunicated my intent here or I am not processing the sugestions right. I am not talking about 1000yard shooting - I am not ready for that challenge yet due to money, time and skills yet. I hope in a few years that becomes a possibility.

I want to build the foundation for those skills required to do long range precission matches. I want to learn to read wind, dial in dope, compensate for air density and temperature, ser up correctly in a shooting position. These are skills that I am fairly sure I lack.

My clubs range tops out below 600yards and has some plates at know distances. Honestly that is probably the only place I will get to shoot for the next year or two. ( I made the choice to trade my match shooting time for taking my kids to the range instead. )

Here is the tl;dr version:

Budget for scope only: $600-700
Maximum range distance: 600 yards
Reticle: mrad, prefer hashmarks to ovals
Turrets: mrad, zero stop desired
Magnification: you tell me
Misc: scope to be resold before buying a proper rig, unless cheap enough to stick on a hunting rifle.

I feel like most of the suggestions so far have been for 1000yard+ capable systems. (Please correct me if I am wrong here)
Is a $1000+ scope the minimum entry level scope needed to learn precision shooting skills?