Rifle Scopes Which Optic for SPR style AR

E

eugevita

Sergeant of the Hide
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Minuteman
Jun 10, 2020
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#1
Which one of the below optics do you reccomend for a 18” 6mm ARC spr build? Primary use will be plinking steel out to and occasionally a bit past 1000 as well as occasional deer/pig hunting which makes weight/illumination a concern.

Here are the optics that i am currently considering in order from least to most expensive (price is definitely a concern )

Athlon helos btr gen 2 2-12x42 AHMR 2 FFP mil (great price from cameraland and awesome features but i am very worried about it being a new scope from China and have never owned an athlon before)

PA GLx 4-16 ffp mil dot ( seems like a good option wish it went down to two or 3x though)

Burris xtrii 2-10 ffp mil (seems like the best option currently, only con is no christmas tree reticle)

Vortex pst gen ii 2-10 ffp mil ( nice scope but a but heavier and not sure its worth paying more than the burris)

Trijicon Credo 2-10x42 ffp ( seems awesome but hard to justify at around 900 bucks, also no parallax adjustment seems odd)

What do you suggest? Anything else in the spr optic realm I should consider?

Merry Xmas!

My Larue lower is waiting to be turned into 6 ARC SPR in 2021 😎🇺🇸
 

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#4
None of those options are good. If you want a LPVo, you need to step up to something with daylight illum for shooting on 1x, otherwise you are defeating the entire purposed of a LPVO. The cheapest one would be a Eotech Vudu 1-6 or Razor 1-6, but neither are good for shooting at range. SMRS, CREDO and 90% of LPVO's are not daylight bright. No point in making the sacrifices for a LPVO without the benefits.

You should look for a lighter weight up to 20x compactish scope with FFP great glass and a good tree reticle for holds.

IMO the best bang for the buck scope out there is the Bushnell LRTS/LRHS in 3-12 or 4.5-18. They can be found for $600-800 and are built like tanks. In fact I have one sitting on a 6.5G AR and a 300WM hunting gun. There is nothing under $1500 that even comes close for features and quality.

The Vortex 1-10 would be another option, but 10x is a bit on the light side for shooting to 1k.

Nightforce NXS are SFP, dont have great glass and have shitty reticles. Maybe a ATACR 4-16 if you can live with their reticles. NX8 have too many issues to recomend and for that matter, NF customer service is a big question mark.

March 3-24x52 is a nice compact scope with great glass and can be had with decent reticles.

The New Burris XTR3 may be a good option, people seem to really like them.

ZCO 4-20 would be the top opition assuming you are cool with dropping $3600 on one.

I really like the Vortex AMG for a lighter weight higher end option that doesn't break the bank. They can be had for less than 2 geezies.

If weight is not an option a Vortex Razor on the higher end or Bushnell HDMR on the cheaper end will be fine. You can get an older HDMR for $600ish and a new Razor for $1300-1600.

Kahles 3-8 or Minox 3-15 are both fantastic optics if you want to spend the cash.

Leupold 3-18 if you can live with bad reticles and questionable quality. They are however very light and have good glass.

Don't buy cheap glass, you will never be happy and they lose value faster than buying a car. Buy quality glass and it will hold if not increase in value over time. Why is that? Becuase people who know, are willing to pay for good shit.
 
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#5
eugevita said:
Badass rifle! Do you feel like 8X is lacking past 700 yards?
Click to expand...
Thanks, they are really well made.

As far as not having enough magnification, it really depends on what you are trying to do. For this gun, hitting 2 MOA steel from 25 out to 1000 yards is all I need. If I was trying to shoot smaller than that then I would want something with more power.
 
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#6
CrabsandFootball said:
None of those options are good. If you want a LPVo, you need to step up to something with daylight illum for shooting on 1x, otherwise you are defeating the entire purposed of a LPVO. The cheapest one would be a Eotech Vudu 1-6 or Razor 1-6, but neither are ...
Click to expand...
I like a daylight bright reticle but it isn't super critical. I shoot 3-gun and other similar games/training, and nobody I am shooting with runs an illuminated reticle.

Definitely a plus for low light scenarios.
 
#10
I liked the Steiner p4xi 4-16x56 when I shot an AR10 with it and I've seen some positive reviews on here. Nice glass on turrets and glass. That might be a good option. I know when I was in the Brownells store the had one for 750 I think.
I also really like my Burris XTR ii 5-25 and I've heard the lower power versions are good as well.
 
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#15
CrabsandFootball said:
None of those options are good. If you want a LPVo, you need to step up to something with daylight illum for shooting on 1x, otherwise you are defeating the entire purposed of a LPVO. The cheapest one would be a Eotech Vudu 1-6 or Razor 1-6, but neither are good for shooting at range. SMRS, CREDO and 90% of LPVO's are not daylight bright. No point in making the sacrifices for a LPVO without the benefits.

You should look for a lighter weight up to 20x compactish scope with FFP great glass and a good tree reticle for holds.

IMO the best bang for the buck scope out there is the Bushnell LRTS/LRHS in 3-12 or 4.5-18. They can be found for $600-800 and are built like tanks. In fact I have one sitting on a 6.5G AR and a 300WM hunting gun. There is nothing under $1500 that even comes close for features and quality.

The Vortex 1-10 would be another option, but 10x is a bit on the light side for shooting to 1k.

Nightforce NXS are SFP, dont have great glass and have shitty reticles. Maybe a ATACR 4-16 if you can live with their reticles. NX8 have too many issues to recomend and for that matter, NF customer service is a big question mark.

March 3-24x52 is a nice compact scope with great glass and can be had with decent reticles.

The New Burris XTR3 may be a good option, people seem to really like them.

ZCO 4-20 would be the top opition assuming you are cool with dropping $3600 on one.

I really like the Vortex AMG for a lighter weight higher end option that doesn't break the bank. They can be had for less than 2 geezies.

If weight is not an option a Vortex Razor on the higher end or Bushnell HDMR on the cheaper end will be fine. You can get an older HDMR for $600ish and a new Razor for $1300-1600.

Kahles 3-8 or Minox 3-15 are both fantastic optics if you want to spend the cash.

Leupold 3-18 if you can live with bad reticles and questionable quality. They are however very light and have good glass.

Don't buy cheap glass, you will never be happy and they lose value faster than buying a car. Buy quality glass and it will hold if not increase in value over time. Why is that? Becuase people who know, are willing to pay for good shit.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the solid info. The 3-12 LRTS seems like an awesome optic that would be a good fit for the right price, looks like they are no longer made though? I messaged Doug to see if he can still source them.
 
#17
Skg_Mre_Lght said:
lol

To be fair, getting into a gunfight is fantasy land for almost everyone, including most military and LEO.

OP, another cheaper option is to buy a decent lpvo and piggyback an rds. If you have the scratch, spend it, but if not I think you will be served well with a non daylight bright lpvo.
Click to expand...

i am also thinking along these lines!
 
#18
TheHorta said:
I can’t recommend this highly enough. You probably lack the skillset to take full advantage of its capabilities, but it’ll never leave you wanting.


View attachment 7512191
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Does anyone else look at the Amazon reviews just to laugh at people with scopes like this?

Let’s pretend for a moment it actually was a quality setup. Do we mount a mirror on it to read the turret or do we straddle the stock like a cheap whore to dial the desired elevation?

Honestly I was seconds from buying one but I don’t see a anti can’t level....so I’m out
 
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#19
hafejd30 said:
Does anyone else look at the Amazon reviews just to laugh at people with scopes like this?

Let’s pretend for a moment it actually was a quality setup. Do we mount a mirror on it to read the turret or do we straddle the stock like a cheap whore to dial the desired elevation?

Honestly I was seconds from buying one but I don’t see a anti can’t level....so I’m out
Click to expand...

Funny you say that because I really read reviews now just for laughs and it all started because of a thread that started here. Some guy was asking about some crappy scope I hadn’t really heard of called a Monstrum and claiming all this stuff about it despite the advice from everyone here. I decided to look it up and couldn’t find anything about it except on Amazon. So I read the reviews on it. Instantly started laughing as claims were insane, from putting it on their .50 BMG to how it was better than the 3k plus scopes that they had. It literally hit me that I would get these same kind of claims from other junk so I just continued to read page after page of ridiculous reviews and claims on other crap they sell on Amazon. Now every time I go onto Amazon I go and scroll through the crap they suggest and read what people say and it’s insane. Always a good laugh. God it’s sad how stupid people are.
 
#20
ACW39 said:
Funny you say that because I really read reviews now just for laughs and it all started because of a thread that started here. Some guy was asking about some crappy scope I hadn’t really heard of called a Monstrum and claiming all this stuff about it despite the advice from everyone here. I decided to look it up and couldn’t find anything about it except on Amazon. So I read the reviews on it. Instantly started laughing as claims were insane, from putting it on their .50 BMG to how it was better than the 3k plus scopes that they had. It literally hit me that I would get these same kind of claims from other junk so I just continued to read page after page of ridiculous reviews and claims on other crap they sell on Amazon. Now every time I go onto Amazon I go and scroll through the crap they suggest and read what people say and it’s insane. Always a good laugh. God it’s sad how stupid people are.
Click to expand...

What's funny is they get super pissy defending their crap purchase. I made the mistake of commenting on one of the "Sniper Scope" ads that popped up on my FB. At some point I must've called one of their mothers a whore, because that's the only rational explanation for their response.
 
#26
eugevita said:
Ive been eyeing that one as well! Do you have any experience with it?
Click to expand...
Well I just bought one for my 18” .223 wylde rifle if it’s any indication. Hasn’t arrived tho so I don’t have any real world experience. But people seem to be generally positive about it, especially the gen 2 model with the upgraded turrets. I know cameraland has them on sale currently for an extremely competitive price. Give Doug a PM and he always takes care of people from the hide
 
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#27
BoulderE89 said:
Well I just bought one for my 18” .223 wylde rifle if it’s any indication. Hasn’t arrived tho so I don’t have any real world experience. But people seem to be generally positive about it, especially the gen 2 model with the upgraded turrets. I know cameraland has them on sale currently for an extremely competitive price. Give Doug a PM and he always takes care of people from the hide
Click to expand...

Awesome! Will be curious to see how you like it upon receipt! Earliest i plan to buy is February so i have some time to keep gathering info
 
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#28
BoulderE89 said:
Based on the prices you were listing earlier and with a little better glass and mag range than the helos you brought up, the Athlon ares btr 2.5-15 seems like it’s up your alley
Click to expand...

Have you compared it to a Helos Gen 1 or Gen 2?
I'm yet to hear how the glassbin this scope will compare to the Ares glass.

If I were in your shoes I'd be willing to take a chance on that Helos 2-12, on paper it sounds perfect for your usage and Doug from Cameraman will look after you if there are any issues.

The 3-12 Bushnell LRTS/LRHS would also be worth considering, there should be a Gen 2 version of this scope coming in the new year.

There are a real lack of good options in the 2-10ish market that will suit your purpose (mostly due to dumb reticles) with the Helos and Bushnell being the only exceptions. If Vortex put their EBR-9 reticle in the 2-10 PST then that would be perfect

I don't think you would be well served with an LVPO as most in your price bracket will be better suited to short range usage, whilst not unusable at 600yard+, if thats what you anticipate doing the most then a good $600 LVPO is likely going to be SFP and a 1-6 so really what you want
 
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#29
beetroot said:
Have you compared it to a Helos Gen 1 or Gen 2?
I'm yet to hear how the glassbin this scope will compare to the Ares glass.

If I were in your shoes I'd be willing to take a chance on that Helos 2-12, on paper it sounds perfect for your usage and Doug from Cameraman will look after you if there are any issues.

The 3-12 Bushnell LRTS/LRHS would also be worth considering, there should be a Gen 2 version of this scope coming in the new year.

There are a real lack of good options in the 2-10ish market that will suit your purpose (mostly due to dumb reticles) with the Helos and Bushnell being the only exceptions. If Vortex put their EBR-9 reticle in the 2-10 PST then that would be perfect

I don't think you would be well served with an LVPO as most in your price bracket will be better suited to short range usage, whilst not unusable at 600yard+, if thats what you anticipate doing the most then a good $600 LVPO is likely going to be SFP and a 1-6 so really what you want
Click to expand...

Thank you, everything you are saying makes sense, guess I just need to ponder it more. Wish the Bushnell 3-12 LRTS was still available on cameraland, seems like Doug had some badass deals on them a year ago.
 
#30
He did! I picked up the 3-12 LRTSi and put it on my 65 Grendel. It’s been awesome! I’ll bet you wouldn’t have to wait too long after the gen 2 is released to find a deal on the gen 1’s.
 
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#31
Monstershot said:
He did! I picked up the 3-12 LRTSi and put it on my 65 Grendel. It’s been awesome! I’ll bet you wouldn’t have to wait too long after the gen 2 is released to find a deal on the gen 1’s.
Click to expand...
So far all we know is there will be an LRHS2 4.5-18x44, no confirmation yet on illumination or a 3-12 offering, if both those come through it will definitely shake things up a bit at the rumored sub $1k price... if it's only non-illuminated then I think the LRHSi/LRTSi scopes will hold their value and place very well.

I think Crab's first post and recommendations are a lot of what I would say.

OP, I have an LRHSi 4.5-18x44 on my SPR right now, but have pondered going with something lighter. Just ordered the Vortex Gen III 1-10 for something "quick" but not sure how much I'll like it compared to a MPVO with offset RDS, the Athlon 2-12 checks a lot of boxes, but the fact it's made in China and part of their cheap line will keep me away, but hopefully it will inspire other mfr's to do something similar.

If there is a new LRHS2 3-12 that has an illuminated G3H reticle, I think that will be the ticket for me with what's available right now. If not it's either going to be the Gen III 1-10 or just keep the LRHSi 4.5-18 with offset RDS, but would get a low mount and offset the RDS at 12 o'clock above the scope

I have also given this scope serious consideration, but at only 4oz lighter than my LRHSi I'm not sure it's worth the weight savings
www.primaryarms.com

Primary Arms GLx 2.5-10x44 FFP Rifle Scope - Illuminated ACSS RAPTOR M2 Reticle - 5.56 / 5.45 / .308

DetailsAfter rigorous field testing, this optic has been given a Silver-tier rating by the National Tactical Officers Association.This rifle scope is part of the mid-tier optics line called GLx. GLx brings premium technology and materials into an approachable price range.The GLx 2.5-10x24 has a...
www.primaryarms.com
 
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#33
beetroot said:
There are a real lack of good options in the 2-10ish market that will suit your purpose (mostly due to dumb reticles) with the Helos and Bushnell being the only exceptions. If Vortex put their EBR-9 reticle in the 2-10 PST then that would be perfect
Click to expand...

I've been shopping around for a 2-10ish optic in the $500-700 that isn't a pig and found there is surprisingly few of them. I think I may gamble on Helos 2-12 and give it a shot. I would already have bought that PA that @wjm308 posted if they didn't put their damn BDC reticles in everything. Also OP, you seem to think the Burris XTR is lighter than the Vortex. It turns out that it weighs 28oz contrary to what alot of websites advertise and it seems Burris mixed up the Veracity and XTR weights when giving out the specifications to dealers,
 
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#34
taboopineapple said:
I've been shopping around for a 2-10ish optic in the $500-700 that isn't a pig and found there is surprisingly few of them. I think I may gamble on Helos 2-12 and give it a shot. I would already have bought that PA that @wjm308 posted if they didn't put their damn BDC reticles in everything. Also OP, you seem to think the Burris XTR is lighter than the Vortex. It turns out that it weighs 28oz contrary to what alot of websites advertise and it seems Burris mixed up the Veracity and XTR weights when giving out the specifications to dealers,
Click to expand...

I share your same feelings on the PA scope reticle lol

And yes the weight of the xtr is confusing, thank you for clarifying! I emailed burris several days ago about correct weight info but have yet to hear back.
 
#35
What are folks thoughts on the Athlon ares BTR GEN II 2.5-15x50 ffp with apl3 reticle?

My research seems to point in a positive direction and camerlands deal on them is legit!
 
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#41
Fwiw I got the Athlon 2.5-15 ares btr and I have been pleasantly surprised by it, turrets are better than expected, illumination is good and glass is clear! but I’m not exactly a scope snob either and manage my expectations based off what I pay. Happy with it for my 18” spr tho
 
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#42
BoulderE89 said:
Fwiw I got the Athlon 2.5-15 ares btr and I have been pleasantly surprised by it, turrets are better than expected, illumination is good and glass is clear! but I’m not exactly a scope snob either and manage my expectations based off what I pay. Happy with it for my 18” spr tho
Click to expand...
If it wasn't "made in China" I'd be very interested. It's my own personal preference. Send a pic on your SPR when you get a chance
 
#43
I have a SPR that I hunt with and shoot comps with. It has a Bushnell LRHSI 4-18. I really like it for the price, illuminated, and FFP. Just like as others have mentioned. I have used it to shoot deer at 15yds and targets at 800yds. It works. If there is a Gen 2 and George Gardner is involved again, watch out.
 

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