Hey OP, I've been going through a very similar decision-making process to yours. Also have a 20" .223 gasser that is my go to for everything (no cans here). Offset Acro takes care of close range and night. It currently has a PST G2 2-10 on it as I try and figure out what it will finally get. Was deciding between 3 scopes I had on hand, those being the Razor G3 1-10, PST G2 2-10 and Razor LHT 4.5-22. I've always thought of the 1-10 as pretty much the best optic for a GP rifle but being that I really don't need the 1x mag, the eye box at 10x isn't ideal, nor is the smallish FOV. I do really like the reticle and the light weight though. The PST G2 2-10 is better at 10x, not really in glass quality but the eye box is way more forgiving, the FOV is significantly larger and the larger objective seems to make things a bit brighter in bad light. I'm not a fan of the reticle although it is usable and I wish it were lighter (it's 26oz to the 1-10's 22oz) but the real killer is the non-locking turrets. I've had the windage spin (luckily only a few tenths) when pulling it outta the case it lives in in my truck. For some reason I struggled with the idea of using the 4.5-22 on a gas gun, it just seemed, I dunno, like overkill? I've used it extensively for hunting and NRL Hunter and general field shooting and quite like the scope, minus the well-known caveats (mushy turrets and push-button illum). I've slowly been coming around to putting it on this rifle though. I was out comparing the 2-10 to the 1-10 tonight (both on gas guns) shooting out to 625 with some targets that are quite shaded or partially obscured (and I dragged it out into fading light) and really came to the conclusion that although I can make either of the 10x scopes work, I really want more mag to help spot splash on less than ideal backstops. I'm going to pull the 1-10 and drop the 4.5-22 on that rifle so I can directly compare but I'm pretty confident that more mag is the answer and the LHT gets me that with good glass, great reticle and illum as well as the ability to dial, light weight (same as the 1-10) and at only 3/4" longer than the 2-10, still plenty of place for a thermal clip-on.
