I’m in the process of building my next AR…my two current ARs are 16" carbines but this new one Im building Im hoping to set up for reaching a little further out.
It’s going to have an 18" SS barrel from BCM with rifle length gas. I got a Troy 15" rail, and a basic A2 stock for now.
Anyway…ideally I’d like to shoot from 100-300 yards regularly, and out maybe even a tad further from time to time. My original plan was to track down a good quality scope, but Im wondering how a 3x magnifier behind a red-dot would do? Is that enough magnification to shoot to 300 yards, or will I wish I had a higher powered optic for that range?
Keep in mind that he 3x magnifier des what it says… meaning it actually magnifies the size of your red dot too, which will affect your long range accuracy…
A 1-4x would be good but for the distance you are talking, a 3x magnifier will be fine. I don’t use a magnifier and I shoot out to 300 with my micro all the time. I use a fixed 4 power for 500 yards
Yes but it also magnifies the target too, maintaining the proportional relationship between the dot and target. Looking thru the magnifier the dot covers the same amount of target as it did without the magnifier.
I tried an Aimpoint 3X magnifier behind my T-1 and didn’t care much for it. The dot on the micro’s gets blurry through the magnifier. They work much better with the full size Aimpoints, but that gets heavier. At 300 yds and further, you’re to the point of needing to dial or hold some elevation if you have a 100 or 200yd zero.
I dumped the setup and am running the Leupold 1.5-5 MR/T now. I like it a LOT better. As others have recommended, the 1-4 is really probably the way to go. Maybe even more magnification since you’re going to throw down the scratch for the SS barrel. Look at it this way, the smallest Aimpoint you can get has a 2moa dot. That SS BCM barrel should be way more accurate than 2 MOA, but you’re wasting it’s accuracy with your optic choice.
This is true… however, when you get out to distances of 400m or so, your main issue is going to be identifying the target. Most people are able to identify the center of a dot. This is why there is not really much of an increase in precision between 2moa and 4moa dots (I do prefer the 2moa but it doesn’t make that much difference). I have used Acogs, EOTechs, Aimpoints, EOTech and Aimpoint magnifiers… optics are really my favorite part of the AR system so I use everything I have the money and time to look into.
At 150 yards, the EOTech magnifier brought my groups (10 round - prone ** not bench rested **) in from about 4.5" with just the EOTech to about 3" with the EOTech and magnifier. This is just because on a 6" target, it allowed me to find the the center of the target more easily. I think they are decent pieces of equipment but don’t think they are necessary.
If I were going to Afghanistan I would want one… I traded my friend one of my EOTech + EOTech magnifier for his ACOG after his 1st two deployments. As good as ACOGs work, he was kicking in doors and did not feel comfortable with the fixed 4x but he still wanted to have magnification for when he was back on the FOB or whatever he was on (field artillery was his MOS but they had them doing raids in Iraq and Afghanistan ?? ). He found that this combination allowed him to perform the dual role that the RDS / magnifier combo was designed to allow you to do. When in Afghanistan he said you would go from village to middle of nowhere in the mountains very quickly and it was important to have gear that worked for both scenarios.
The magnification of the reticle isn’t important in aimpoints but with EOTechs, it is important to keep the same dimensions for range finding purposes. When the reticle isn’t magnified it can cause a weird phenomenon where you can get disoriented… I talked about it with a psychologist for a little while but I can’t remember specifics. Its not disoriented as in dizzy and confused it is more along the lines of you can lose track of what the battle space actually looks like.
I will do some more research on 1-4x optics…that would probably be a better route for me.
What do you guys think of a slightly magnified ACOG for my purposes? Are they generally sufficient for the distances Im looking for, and accurate enough out to those distances that I won’t be “wasting” the accuracy of my setup?
Well, that’s the rub, you’ve still not told us what your purposes are. Shoot WHAT out to 300 yds? Steel silhouette plates? An ACOG will work fine and you don’t need a match barrel to do it. Itty bitty tiny groups? Get an optic with more magnification.
Why do you seem stuck on going with a small low-power optic on a match grade barrel?
I don’t know about 300 yards+, but it makes hitting center mass easier for me at 100. It’s not difficult without , but I perfer to magnify if its beyond 75.