Having a discussion with a buddy, he wants to mount dual optics on a rifle, as follows:
Simple red dot on top, in main position on the upper, and a 5x magnified Vortex on the side, at a 45 degree angle.
I seek opinions on this setup from the cognoscenti in this regard.
I highly doubt anyone here is going to consider this worth trying.
Pretty much backwards as to how I would do it…if I did it…are you sure he didn’t see this on Call of Duty?
I’m not even sure how you mount a scope like that and accurately zero it though, so what do I know.
Why not just get a 5x Eotech magnifier?
I will be experimenting with it in a few weeks. Just to try it as an experiment. It’s a why not, type exercise. I have a theory and might as well test it. If it doesn’t work all I did was waste some ammo.
What’s the theory?
I assume that they’ve seen this video:
I personally have reservations, as my line of thinking is that you want to be as stable as possible when using magnification, which an offset magnified optic does not provide. That being said, I could see niche applications where the offset magnification is useful, though they would tend toward gaming rather than duty scenarios. That being said, since I never have used a rifle in a duty/warfighting situation, maybe I don’t know what I don’t know.
I don’t like offset optics, they just get in the way IMO, especially of peripheral vision.
They suck to use too. But I suppose if you commit to anything lacking, you can make it work for you.
Why not use a flip to side magnifier? Have they gone out of style?
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Magnifiers take longer to deploy than just canting the rifle. They also typically have poorer optical performance, especially since the sight picture is now going through more than one optic.
Is it not typical the magnified optic is in the primary position and the RDS, iron sites, etc in the side or “back up” position? I have also seen RDS on top of a primary magnified optic.
Yeah that’s the norm.
To be clear, Getnlwr isn’t doing this for a primary defensive rifle, this is just going to be done experimentally, see how it works. Academic curiosity.
He knows his shit. We’ve shot together plenty.
I have not seen this video.
I was talking with someone locally that does a lot of competitive shooting and it sparked the idea. In his case it was a NOX18 mounted at a 45degree offset. I want to try it with a 5x vortex prism.
Someone asked about standard equipment most commonly seen:
I do have standard magnifiers. The rifle it’s being tried on currently has a Aimpoint M4S with a twist mount 6x magnifier. Have another magnifier in 3x as well. There are plenty of other optics in general in my spares and try out box. Trying something new or abnormal is something I enjoy doing. I’ve challenged Vini to a shoot off as well in this configuration. It’ll be a few months before we can meet up again but it will be fun to try. I know he’s an experienced shooter too. I respect his skill and want to see how this setup does. I’ll probably bring multiple optics setup to this as well to play with.
Eyebox is going to be your limiting factor, have at. I’ve dumped everything offset except a 45 on a Badger COMM because the 12 o clock is in the mail.
Everything ( PCC, game rifle, 308 etc) is either Unity FTC or 12 o clock RDS on magnified optic.
No matter how much dry fire my body mechanics/eyes always seem to have me off enough at 50Y when I roll the rifle back from 45 that I spend too much time on the clock hunting for the target.
Tagged for interest.
I suspect an offset magnified optic will be very very difficult to level mechanically to track correctly when making sight adjustments. Similarly if the optic has a BDC or other reticle features they will be rendered essentially useless due to not being level with the bore.
Then there’s the issue of obstructing the ejection port if you’re setting up for a right handed shooter with the offset magnified optic on the right side. Where the magnified optic will give correct eye relief, it will most likely be directly in the way of exiting brass, may cause malfunctions, and will damn sure get in the way of clearing them.
Just find a used Leupold D-EVO, it does this whole concept better.
I don’t see how this is true. Seems pretty trivial to make sure to get an offset mount that places it properly over the bore once you cant the gun.
If you run a slick side receiver to clear the forward assist, should be fine, a lot of the modern prisms seem to have excellent eye relief and can be mounted as far back as possible and still be perfectly useable, assuming you don’t shoot NTCH but instead have a stock mostly extended. You can see how far back Gurwitch has his optic on his rifle, it would be behind the shell deflector if it was on the right side.
I recall those allegedly having dog shit eye relief and eye box, which is a shame, since it was a pretty neat concept.
Just being Devil’s advocate here, I personally don’t really see any advantage to this for my use case.
If I could find a D-evo for cheap I’d totally try one. Neat concept. It just failed. Maybe it was too early. Or it was just a bad idea.
This optic is small enough that it would end up mounted behind the brass deflector and ejection port, as DefaultMP3 states. I hadn’t thought of that aspect, but in my mind’s eye it seems to be a nonissue.
Might get crud on the objective lense over time though…my brass catcher is black inside, where it nestles up against the port.
I just want to say I got here first. 
https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread.php?241347-Thoughts-on-an-odd-configuration-offset-prism
ViniVidivici you even replied to my post. :ph34r: