It’s finally happened. In the bright southwestern sun my eyes just fatigue too quickly or don’t see adequately for irons and red dots. Even my beloved Trijicon MRO was an exercise in eye pain focusing on the dot, target, and brightly illuminated desert. I borrowed a Nikon AR scope from my girlfriend and I liked the easy contrast between cross hairs and target, and the fact that the light transmission cut down on the brightness of the sun while conveying enough light to the eye to allow me to easily acquire each target. After returning the scope to her, I went shopping.
I went to the local LGS and bought a Leupold stock #115388 Mark AR MOD 1 Rifle and a quick detachable Burris mount to “get me by” while I shop for something better.
Note that I did not buy it from Amazon, I’m just posting the link so you can follow along as to which scope I got:
Never used that scope before, but after shooting some with 1.5x instead of 1x, I’d stick to 1x (especially for up close drills and shooting on the move). Just personal preference.
Edited to add: P4Xi user here - I really like that scope.
The Burris mount is headed to the trash. After messing with it for a couple of days, it’s obviously “range toy” quality. To tighten the mount, you have to move a couple of nuts against retaining pegs so they don’t loosen up. It’s Mickey Mouse because the pegs are too tall to tighten the nuts down by hand without encountering a point where they won’t go down any further. I had to use a multitool and force the nuts past the retaining pegs. At that point I noticed the rear locking lever wasn’t even straight. Reading some reviews online these mounts often don’t even allow the scope to be truly parallel to the bore.
I’ve already ordered the American Defense version.
For the scope, do you want illumination? BDC or a mil/moa scale? Or just something for 0-200, so speed and simplicity trumps multiple aiming points? What’s the budget and how much are you going to abuse it?
Here’s the bottom line: I like Leupolds because of their superior light transmission. I think they’re adequately rugged–maybe not ACOG grade but then again what is at an affordable price?
I probably will purchase a firedot scope at some point. Other than that a simple duplex reticle is probably the order of the day. I want speed and 0-200 accuracy. I also appreciate variable power because…variable power. I also appreciate a minimum of 1.5x because that helps barely visible targets stand out.
Even if I use the Nikon P-series rings and both are mounted to the receiver? What’s wrong with that combination (other than the fact that it’s not QD)?
+1 for P4Xi. I haven’t had a chance to put a lot of use on mine yet, but it feels high quality and strong. The red dot is very bright. The reticle reminds me of an ACOG: the hashmarks are 18in wide at their stated range, so when shooting e-types, you just apply the hashmark that fits the perceived target size and squeeze the trigger. No thinking. Also, the holdovers aren’t based on some optimistic velocity. And I prefer second focal plane scopes.
I don’t think that you’ll be able to get the proper scope position and eye relief on an AR with that set up.
To get both rings on the receiver the scope will be mounted too far back.
I have a non-QD aero precision mount for my P4Xi.
They’re under $100 on the AP website. I got mine from optics planet for less. Everything has been counterfeited, including leupold scopes, so buy from a reputable place.