Smiting Distant Heathens
July 6th, 2010Scope Advice
One of the Armorbearers at my church is very gung-ho about shooting and other AB stuff. In fact, if he were any more gung-ho, I would suggest he change his radio call sign to “Francis.”
See the movie Stripes if you don’t get the joke.
He wants advice on scoping an AR-15 rifle. I don’t know what to tell him. I assume he will want something useful for self-defense, not varminting.
Help a bruhhh out.
July 6th, 2010 at 10:48 AM
What does he want it for?
For short range, there are several decent reddots out there. The Eotech and are the standards. For something inferior but still good the Vertex and the Primary Arms units are much cheaper.
For general purpose low magnification variable scopes are popular. 1x is fast and 4x gives you some range. The weaver v3 is cheap and popular for 3gun but only 1-3x. Leupold makes 1-4x that seems to be very nice but it’s almost twice as much as the Weaver. The Millett 1-4x is also very popular and fairly inexpensive, but it weighs a ton.
July 6th, 2010 at 10:50 AM
Oops the other standard is the Aimpoint. The Vertex and Primary arms units are essentially Aimpoint clones created after the patent lapsed.
July 6th, 2010 at 11:26 AM
Trying to get his needs clarified. Right now he is looking at this: http://swfa.com/Simmons-3-9×50-8-Point-Rifle-Scope-P3446.aspx
July 7th, 2010 at 1:06 PM
ACOG or Elcan or Aimpoint.
July 8th, 2010 at 12:08 AM
Well, that’ll be great if he’s using his AR for just shooting paper, or Bambi from a blind or such.
Not the right juice for a fighting scope though, for a myriad of reasons.
* It’s a “tunnel-vision” scope that one has to look through to the exclusion of all else, rather than a heads-up, both eyes open fighting optic which keeps your peripheral vision in play.
* It’s too big and clumsy, unless he expects to do all his fighting from a deer blind or such.
* Not nearly rugged enough, not even in the same space-time continuoum as Mil-Spec scopes and red dots & holograhic sights.
If he has an AR for a fighting rifle, he should study what is carried and used in the sandbox. That still leaves options for magnified vs. unmagnified optics, red dots, holographic sights or combinations or variations thereof. He shoud use nothing less than that standard, unless money is the absolute limitation.
Even then, diligence is required to find what’s considered “nearly as good” in the non-Mil Spec menus.
It is far wiser to buy a lesser specification in terms of magnification or “features”, in trade for a much higher rating in ruggedness and reliablility.
Do please pass my rambling along to him, before he mis-spends his money?
Jim
Sunk New Dawn
Galveston, TX
July 8th, 2010 at 10:19 PM
More to add.
If the guy has the money, a popular self defense set up is a Trijicon ACOG of 3x to 4x power and an additional Trijicon RMR dot optic on an offset mount for close range applications.
July 9th, 2010 at 1:11 PM
I should have pointed this out: money is a big concern. Right now, he just wants something to get him started.
July 9th, 2010 at 6:34 PM
I would look at one of the lower cost dots. Some of the lower cost ones hold up well at least that’s what my three gun comp buddies tell me. They break the good ones as well as the cheaper ones.
July 9th, 2010 at 10:48 PM
If he can’t afford a $400 Aimpoint or Eotech, then he should stick with the iron sights and learn them well. Cheap scopes are a false economy, and magnified optics on a rifle intended for self defense are a bad idea.
July 10th, 2010 at 8:46 AM
I agree with pdb… budget permitting, I’d go with the Eotech or Aimpoint. Set it up with a good co-witness and let ‘er rip!
July 10th, 2010 at 1:41 PM
I installed a Nikon Monarch red dot on my Bushmaster. It has several brightness levels and four dot sizes. Cost me about $250. I am not sure if they still make them. Nice red dot scope. I agree that the Aimpoint or Eotech’s are the best, but one must pay the bucks for the super quality.
July 11th, 2010 at 11:28 AM
Yeah… what they said above. If he needs a scope, it’s not a self defense scenario anymore.
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That Simmons is a POS (Poor Optical Scope). If he’s short on cash, he’s going to be better off saving the $50 and using irons for now.
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For SD situations, a red dot is hard to beat. As said above, the Aimpoints and Eotechs are the paradigms. But they aren’t cheap.
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This Burris red dot gets good reviews and it’s about 1/2 the cost of an Eotech: http://www.opticsplanet.net/burris-fastfire-w-picatinny-mount-4-moa-dot-mat-fastfire-sight.html
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The SPOT Mk III red dot also gets decent reviews and they cost even less: http://www.amazon.com/S-p-o-t-Sporting-Sight-Mark-III/dp/B003I6QA8E
July 13th, 2010 at 2:07 AM
Something to consider – Vortex Strikefire seems to have a decent rep, although they’re not in the Aimpoint/Eotech category. Significantly cheaper though(about $150). Got good reviews on Optics planet. Also comes with a 2X doubler(a 3x doubler is available as an accessory). Has a limited lifetime warranty.
July 13th, 2010 at 4:55 PM
WAY off subject: two or three weeks ago, I lost the capability of playing many videos, of which the one here is included, and I haven;t been able to find out why. Can you help?
THANKS!
Dale