A Good General Purpose Optic For The AR15

Glenfilthie

Glenfilthie

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Last night I ripped off every friggin scope of its rifle trying to get something onto my AR15. My hunting scopes just don't cut the mustard, the lens bells are too big and all my mounts are too low for my regular hunting scopes to fit!

Even my Leupold VXlll 1x5 is a no-go...that post up front seems to bugger up the sight picture.

I see you guys putting on heads up displays and red dot sights and all kinds of funky sighting systems on yours...but what I want is a good general purpose sight that either goes on the flat top or the carrying handle and will let me take advantage of the inherent accuracy of the gun - mine has a 20" barrel and is not one of those combat shorties.

I want to be able to shoot out to 200 yards with 'minute of coyote' precision or better...what works for you guys? Any recommendations?
 
X2 for the FM. Or a Millett 1-4.
I don't know why your Leupold wouldn't work. Sounds as if it was mounted too low. If your rings are going directly onto the flat top, they have to be quite high, otherwise use a riser.
 
I agree with tiriaq.

You probably need a proper AR-15 scope mount. Such as a LaRue, Armalite, ARMS, or American Defense. Most of the reviewers for gun magazines use ultra high rings also when mounting scopes to AR-15s.

I had the same probably and bought the Armalite scope mount but found it still too low so I got got one made by Dlask that is pretty similar to the LaRue SPR except without throw levers.

Link for American Defense:
http://armseast.com/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=31_41
 
Most extra high rings are 'only' 1.25 or 1.35" high at the centerline of the scope. I say only as the stock iron sights are 1.5" above the stock. The ADM recon mount isone of the best bets to work with scopes with tradional tubes.
If you can afford it, I really like the Nightforce NXS 2.5x10 series of scopes.
 
If you want a magnified optic a decent choice is the IOR 1.1-4

The CCQ recticle is nice ( its also illuminated )

iorccqrecticl.jpg


Here it is mounted on an AR to give you an idea of the size

MRP2.jpg


Pretty well all magnified optics will require a mount that cantilevers the scope forward for the proper eye relief. Also the proper ring height is at least 1.4 to 1.5". A unitized mount such as the ADM , Larue, Armalite etc is the way to go
 
I pull my Mark 4 4.5-14 x 50 off of my Remington 700 and put it on my 20" Stag for load development use. I use medium rings and a Yankee Hill Machine riser. Cheap but it works.
 
Nightforce 1-4x24 or if more magnification is needed, try a 2.5-10x24. Both are compact, both have illuminated reticles, both are easy to mount using any of a number of quality mounts, both have small (read non-existant) front bells, lots of different reticle options...
 
s&b short dot or Night Force 1-4. NF is the ONLY true NON Magnifying optic on one power so if you need it to act like an aimpoint it will and cost's 1000 less than a s&b short dot, which is a superior optic 'maybe' but not $1000 better. I've used them all, NF is my go to optic. With the NF you can still shoot with both eyes open with the lit reticle up to almost 4 power and the field of view is huge, much better than the 2.5-10x24 or 32. Leupold glass is not the same calibre as the s&b or NF. in both optics your eyes focus instantly with Leupolds yours eyes are making ever so slight adjustments that slow you down, simply due to slightly inferior glass, hence the price difference.
 
Cost no object:
-S&B Short Dot
-Nightforce 1-4

Less expensive alternatives:
-Leupold VX-III 1.5-5
-Leupold VX-II 1-4
-Falcon Menace 1.5-5
-Millett 1-4 DMS
 
With regard to the mount, even the Armalite mount is on the low side - if it was a quarter to a half inch taller it would be perfect. If you're on a budget, the Millet is a nice clear sight, and is one of the better buys on the market for a dedicated AR sight.
DSC00825.jpg


Incidently, now that the front end is railed, I've moved the mount further forward for better eye relief and it has improved the balance markedly.
 
don't worry now about optics just set the gun up right ...first what do you want to do with it ??? what length is your barrel.??? consider putting a low profile gas block on then you will have no front sight and you can buy flip up sights.... Also take a look at la rue mounts very good... Don't put a riser then optics just by it once and by it right if it were my gun I would put a el can specter DR ALSO A TRUE 1x with a flip switch to go to 4 power illuminated Cross hairs or just 1 illuminated dot like a aim point... hell just get a aimpoint so you have cqb covered and then get a 3 or 4x magnifier with a flip to side mount for your midrange.... But for me I like 1 piece optics on battle rifles like acogs or el cans no rings or anything just 1 piece of equipment
 
Your existing Leupold should be just fine. I have an IOR 1-4x mounted on an ADM mount and I don't even notice the front sight base. Like others have mentioned it's how it's being mounted that is probably giving you problems. A cheap mount would be the burris PEPR.
 
I have a Leupold 1.5-5 MK4 SPR ( I hate Leupold's model name) - it is fine. The key point is to get a cantilever mount - the most readily available in Canada is ADM.

To make things simple, go buy a proper mount designed for AR, like the ADM stuff from Armseast and save those hunting rings for hunting rigs. These mouts cantilever the scope ahead of the receiver and that is how they give the proper eye relief.
 
if you really want a cool combo put a 1-4 true optic like an S&B short dot or NF 1-4 and use the burris tactical rings, you can get them in several different heights and picatini rails on top of the mount on which you can mount a tiny red dot eotech or mini aimpoint. pretty cool but it starts to get tall.

Glenfilthie said:
Last night I ripped off every friggin scope of its rifle trying to get something onto my AR15. My hunting scopes just don't cut the mustard, the lens bells are too big and all my mounts are too low for my regular hunting scopes to fit!

Even my Leupold VXlll 1x5 is a no-go...that post up front seems to bugger up the sight picture.

I see you guys putting on heads up displays and red dot sights and all kinds of funky sighting systems on yours...but what I want is a good general purpose sight that either goes on the flat top or the carrying handle and will let me take advantage of the inherent accuracy of the gun - mine has a 20" barrel and is not one of those combat shorties.

I want to be able to shoot out to 200 yards with 'minute of coyote' precision or better...what works for you guys? Any recommendations?
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