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Rifle Scopes What do you run on your AR-15 SBR

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Minuteman
Jan 28, 2018
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MN (Frozen tundra)
I am curious what people have on their SBRs. Do you run a variable optic of fixed? If you run a 1x do you have a magnifier behind it. Does your SBR have a primary purpose? (Competition, hunting, LE/Mil work, etc.)
 
I have
Aimpoint Comp 3 on my 5" 9mm
vortex pst 1-4 on my 8" blackout
Older leupold red dot on my 10" 458 socom
Bushnell elite tactical 1-6.5 on my 12" 6.8spc

I will end up replacing the red dot on my 458 with some type of low power variable when ever I get around to it. The low power variable are so much more useful to me that a red dot if I plan on shooting past around 50 yards.

I have used eotechs and aimpoint micro but sold them in favor of the variables.
 
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I've got irons on my AR pistol with the thought of putting on a nice red dot at some point. I just got a Trijicon MRO so that point is now but I haven't tried it yet.

In the irons I put a sight blade in it that has a notch above the long range peep which is good when I'm not shouldering it.

I don't intend to use it for much more than 100 yard shooting so no magnifier required.

Use determined my choices so figure out how you're going to use it.
 
I run a Steiner p4xi on a piston 8.5 inch 300 Blackout, but it's also host to a Thunderbeast Ultra 9 inside the hand guard. so not quite typical SBR length.
IMG_1023.jpg
 
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Kahles K16i
Several Aimpoints
PST 2.5-10 ffp
Nightforce NX8
RMR

Are what I have right now.

The Kahles and nightforce are absolutely fantastic, and obviously Aimpoint also. The rmr is actually pretty fun on an SBR.
 
What does a red dot only get you over a lpvo?

I would assume you would get more out of muscle memory and one systems as opposed to the slight weight benefit
A red dot has no eye relief issues, so it tends to be faster, especially if you don't have a lot of training time. Smaller and lighter, too, of course. Plus, the best red dots are much less expensive then the best LPV's, so if you need a real weapon, your money will go further on an Aimpoint then on a lower quality LPV.
 
To answer the OP's question, I run T2's on my work SBR's. I use a NF 1-8 and a NF 2.5-10 on some personal guns. Those usually have a T2 offset as a BURDS as well. I have a 9" 300BLK strictly for hunting around my house, so I just mounted a SWFA 1-4 to try. Seems nice so far.
 
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Aimpoint Pros on a pinned 14.5" and a 10". Out to 100 yards, for my eyes, they work great. Fast with a large FOV. Have a Burris Mtac 1-4 on an 18" with a fast fire red dot on a 45 degree mount. With the Mtac I have no trouble with 4 to 500 yard shots. Thought about upgrading to a newer 1-6 or 1-8, but the Mtac does everything I want out of a 5.56. On 1x I really don't give up much to a red dot, the fast fire usually just goes along for a ride!
 
Iron sights on 4.5" 22lr
1x prism on 6.25" 300blk
3x prism on 12.5" 6.5 Grendel

I have a 12.5" .308 awaiting approval that'll get a 1-6 variable.
 
ksldJlMh.jpg


Top to bottom

Trijicon RMR (reflex) with DI optic flip to side 3x

Holoson Reflex with EOTECH flip to side 3x and PAQ 4c ir-laser

TEO Mk3 60mm Thermal, with RMR (reflex) on 45 degrees and cqbl ir-laser

Reflex sights do not require head to be fully aligned behind sights

Mark_III_free_gun_reflector_sight_mk_9_variant_reflex_sight_animation.gif


So they are faster. If the dot is on the target, the bullet will head in that direction (elevation and wind still need to be compensated for).

With 77gr bullet, the above rifles are good out to 450yds for the 14.5 and 300yds for the 10.5 and 10.3.

Purposes:
5.56(14.5) Backup day carbine, predator defense
5.56(10.5) day/night carbine, predator defense (add suppressor for night)
5.56(10.3) night/day carbine, predator defense and hunting
 
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Thats very clean, who’s lower is that or is in an 80%?

It was one of those $20 Anderson lowers that I did the rest on. It works fine, like any other lower. Fun build.

It was a budget build so the Holosun circle dot came in at a great price. I have a MRO and Aimpoint on non budget builds.

The Holosun is nice though....think EOTECH reticle in a T1 Micro package.
 
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ksldJlMh.jpg


Reflex sights do not require head to be fully aligned behind sights

Mark_III_free_gun_reflector_sight_mk_9_variant_reflex_sight_animation.gif

Your GIF does a pretty good job of illustrating the weakness in reflex sights. Even those that claim "zero parallax" have parallax issues. So, while you can be mis-aligned behind the gun and still see the reticle, you may or may not actually be pointed at the target. At close range, this isn't a big deal, obviously - but as you get further out, or your available target size gets smaller, the effect becomes more important. The "easy button" way to combat it is to make sure the reticle is centered in the glass when you need to be precise - that requires your eye to be centered behind the sight. If you do that when you sight the gun in, you should be good to go when you need to make a more precise shot and repeat that technique.
 
Aye, I don't expect RDS to be "precision" ... I use real scopes for that. Benefits of RDS for me are speed, size, weight. My requirement for RDS is to be able to hit 12x24 inch steel silhouette out to designated distance for each carbine. At 450yds for the top carbine in the pic, that's 2.5 MOA ... so that's my tightest constraint and 90% hits at that distance is "required" and has been do-able when I've tried it which in theory is a least once a year. I used to use the EOTECH on there and it could do it also.
For the 10.5 at 300yds that's a 3.82 MOA requirement.
For 200yds that's 5.7 MOA
For 100yds that's 11.4 MOA
 
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I am curious what people have on their SBRs. Do you run a variable optic of fixed? If you run a 1x do you have a magnifier behind it. Does your SBR have a primary purpose? (Competition, hunting, LE/Mil work, etc.)
Depending which one either a Aimpoint comp 4, or a Burris FastFire, with a IR laser on a pressure pad.
 
Aye, I don't expect RDS to be "precision" ... I use real scopes for that. Benefits of RDS for me are speed, size, weight. My requirement for RDS is to be able to hit 12x24 inch steel silhouette out to designated distance for each carbine. At 450yds for the top carbine in the pic, that's 2.5 MOA ...

I get it... you're using reflex style sights for their strengths (speed, ease of use, etc). I'm just saying, be aware of their weaknesses and how to mitigate them. The thing is, the amount of parallax all of them seem to have is more than enough to walk you off a bigger target than 2.5 MOA. I haven't ever set out to measure it exactly (and I certainly haven't handled every reflex sight on the market), but I do know that the reflex scopes that I have exhibit enough parallax to move POI over 6 MOA, if I 'm an ass about it (POI shift of more than 3" at 50y), and I've handled a good number of others that show similar effects. The GIF you posted looks to be about that amount of movement, although it's clearly a simulation.

If you have a decent cheek weld on the gun, and the reticle/dot is roughly centered, you're going to fix the majority of the parallax problem, either way - my point was that you should be aware of it, and when you need to make that 2-3 MOA shot, make sure you're centered up. "Dot on the edge of the glass" is not bueno.

When you're shooting "minute of man" at 50y, your maximum error would end up being somewhere around 3" - nothing to worry about there. Dot on target and hammer away.
 
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I run a Vortex HD 1-6 on a 10.5" 5.56. It's on the heavier side, but it's fun as hell plink steel at 500< yards. Anything further and it becomes challenge hearing the report. 1x isn't as useful for me as 3x or 6x, but it's nice to have for the random occasion.