My ability to assemble scopes to test and compare largely depends on maintaining good relationships with various scope retailers.  I have had some interaction at one time or another with most companies out there who sell sporting optics. However, there are some with whom I have had reasonably close relationships over the years.

 While I know and regularly communicate with several scope makers, I can't rely on that too much.  The reason for that is quite simple.  I have to have the freedom to give bad reviews to bad scopes.  If I depend on scope makers, my journalistic freedom (for lack of a better word) ends up being compromised.  That is why (despite a few requests), I have not allowed any direct advertisement from optics makers on this website.  

Retailers who sell all sorts of different optics, on the other hand, largely do not care which scope or binocular I recommend.  They are equally happy selling you anything that they carry.  Naturally, I have to keep my relationships with different retailers clearly separated; they are competitors after all.  Ultimately, I want all of them to succeed.  I am on the side of the consumer, and for the consumer it is good to have competition between retailers.

Retailers

First and foremost, I have maintained a very cordial relationship with SWFA.  They have loaned a number of scopes to me for evaluation over the years and without them I would not have had a chance to really get started with this.  Aside from all that, they are a bunch of nice people who are enthusiastic about the products they sell.

Another retailer I know well is Liberty Optics.  The proprietor is a good friend of mine, and I have know him for years.  

Lately, I have been collaborating with another retailer: WebyShops.  They are new to the market, and I have been writing some content for them.  They have also set up an affiliate program for me, where if you go to their website from here and buy a product (that I hopefully recommended), I will get a small referral fee.

I will be placing links to these retailers in my reviews where convenient, or at the at the end of the review right by my conclusion.

Ultimately, I do not care all that much who you buy the scope from, but if you buy something I recommended from any of these retailers, please let them know I sent you.  That helps me out.

Discussion Sights

There are many excellent discussion sites on the internet.  Some are proprietary to the retailers who own them and others are independent. I routinely participate in a few of them:

www.snipershide.com

www.24hourcampfire.com

www.calguns.org

However, I spend most of my time over on SWFA's OpticsTalk so If you are looking to ask me a question (and tap into expertise of many knowledgeable hunters and shooters) that's the place to go.

I will also be routinely visiting and answering questions on the WebyShops forum, in case you are trying to get a hold of me.