AR10 Scope Options

[Bgingerich]

Putting together a suppressed 16" AR10 and am looking at scopes. Is the MK5 3.6-18 worth the extra $500 to $700 over the SHV F1? I don't anticipate to shoot further than 1k as I already have a MK 5 5-25 on a bolt gun for that. I love the MK5 but don't want to spend a pile of money on this rifle. The SHV seems like a great option with solid turrets and a used NXS would be a good middle of the road option cost wise. I anticipate dialing quite a bit and don't want to use the warranty on the scope no matter how good the warranty is (I think Leupold did the MK5 turrets right). Want to be mindful of weight but I realize I'll probably end up with a 30 oz +/- scope which I am fine with. Just don't want to throw a 45 oz Razor on there. Thoughts? Anything else I should consider?

Havent shot one yet myself but have you looked at the nx8?

 

[rlsmith1]

Havent shot one yet myself but have you looked at the nx8?

Yes I have and they look really attractive. I want to keep $ in check on this and not spend $2k on an optic. The wide mag range is awesome (probably even better in person, being able to dial from 2.5-20 or 4-34) but since I won't be shooting this much past 1k I don't see the need for more than 15x which the NXS 3.5-15 would do great. The 2.5-10 would do well on 80% of what I want anyway but give up precision on the outer limits of a 16" 308 AR. I say that cause I had a 3.5-15 on my 6mm and only felt limited after 1200 yds. I'm not going to shoot clay pigeons at 600 with this but I would like to hold 1-2 MOA to distance. With that said, a used NXS seems like it would be a great buy if I found someone upgrading to an NX8 or ATACR. Everyone will have a different set of goals and budget too but that's probably where I'm at.

 

[rlsmith1]

I have a gen 1 Vortex PST 6-24 and a NF Atacr 5-25, both SFP. If I needed another long range scope, I'd probably go the PST route again. Sure, the NF has better glass, but for non competitive target shooting to 1000 I think the PST is the better value.

How does it track for you? I want 100% confidence in a scope that tracks. A great warranty is nice but doesn't matter if you're in the middle of a stage, hunt or otherwise and all of a sudden you're up a creek. I had a PST 6-24 on a 243 for a while and liked it but it just didn't seem like it was as rugged as the others. I didn't run it hard or for very long but I didn't have an issue with it. Great value for sure especially now

 

[rlsmith1]

So update almost a year later.

I found a good deal on a MK5 3.6-18 and love it. I'm running offset irons and for me, it's a fantastic setup. I've found the eyebox / image to be fantastic up to 15-16x while the top end is a little more picky with regards to head position and parallax adjustment. It's light and compact and I think it goes great with a 16" 308 gas gun. I will swap it over to my 20" 556 occasionally.

If I had not found a good deal on the MK5, I was going to likely go with the Brownells MPO 3-18.