AR15 scope and mount reviews (add yours)

[luckyned7]

S! All
I'm slowly but surely wasting lots of money setting up my AR and thought it might be nice to post for others..trials and tribulations.

I bought a Japanese made Hakko 4X21 to mount on my carry handle. I wasn't sure I wanted a non-magnified Echotech and was sure I wasn't ready to lay out a grand for an Trijicon. My Hakko sucks on my Bushmaster. Bottomed-out the adjustment and still 12" high at 100yards and worse than that..the optics are screwed right in the middle..looks like heat waves on a cool day.(daulp) ps: Never tried it til it didn't sell on here.
Next purchase..a Bushnell 1x32 red dot.(Trijicon lookalike) One review on Midway said it lined right up over his front sight on his Bushmaster. Not on mine! (lol) Think he left out a riser. Just ordered a few risers so I can review the Bushnell and any other scope I buy.

[Lycanthrope]

Bushnell Holosight. The Eotech lite. Holds zero great, never comes loose. Very clear and no washout, but eats N batteries.

Simmons Pro Diamond 1.5x5x20. The poor man's ACOG. At 1.5x you can aquire targets with both eyes open and using the diamond. At 5x you can shoot to 300 yards easily. The bottom of the diamond is dead on at 400........Good all purpose outdoor optic.

Any cheapo scope with a lit reticle (BSA and Bushnells). You can put the front scope cover on and shoot with both eyes on the lit reticle on tight targets.....just like it was a red dot. Take off the cover and you're back to long range capability. The .223 won't chew up a scope so you don't need to spend 1K.

ACOGs. The most versatile AR optic...if you have the cash. I prefer the full sized models with BAC over the smaller versions. The small ones have a lot less eye relief as well.

Lasers....never as fast as a good optic.

[JIMMYC308]

Originally Posted by Lycanthrope

Bushnell Holosight. The Eotech lite. Holds zero great, never comes loose. Very clear and no washout, but eats N batteries.

Simmons Pro Diamond 1.5x5x20. The poor man's ACOG. At 1.5x you can aquire targets with both eyes open and using the diamond. At 5x you can shoot to 300 yards easily. The bottom of the diamond is dead on at 400........Good all purpose outdoor optic.

Any cheapo scope with a lit reticle (BSA and Bushnells). You can put the front scope cover on and shoot with both eyes on the lit reticle on tight targets.....just like it was a red dot. Take off the cover and you're back to long range capability. The .223 won't chew up a scope so you don't need to spend 1K.

ACOGs. The most versatile AR optic...if you have the cash. I prefer the full sized models with BAC over the smaller versions. The small ones have a lot less eye relief as well.

Lasers....never as fast as a good optic.

You forgot the Lycan thingy at the end of this post! Are you slipping

[Lycanthrope]

Originally Posted by JIMMYC308

You forgot the Lycan thingy at the end of this post! Are you slipping

Leopold permanent rings are all steel and very nice for the AR.


Leopold STD rings are probably ok for the .223, but truly the spawn of the devil for anything heavier. RUN AWAY.

Lycannamesplitisamoodthingandiwaslazysorrythrope

[Holleta]

Armalite one piece scope mount- Rock solid flat top mount, very tough and even holds a resonable re-zero if un-mounted.

ATN Digital Red dot sight- Works great, holds zero, the MOA of the dot is a little big but it's great for most rangework within 150 yds or so. VERY fast aquistion.

Bushnell Elite 3200 10x40- Best scope in the price range...hands down...nothing comes close. Very bright and clear. Shooting side by side with a 10x Super Sniper and switching back and forth resulted in both of us rating them equal. (The SS is twice the price)

AR handle scope mounts- Iffy at best, they just move to much to hold zero in real world use.

Non digital heads up style red dots- Horrible, they look good and have clear optics/LEDS but the "mechanical" switching of reticles results in a constantly changing zero. They are "ok" as long as you stick to one reticle and very close ranges.

ATN 5x Scope with 223 BDC- Nice scope, very compact. nice glass. BDC makes your zero go crazy and will not return, 4 scopes were all the same but company says there is not a known problem...yeah right. Still a very nice scope and well worth the money as long as you leave the BDC knob alone. Mounts are thick but easily broken if overtightened.

[TonyF]

I'm an unabashed aimpoint / larue snob.

[crlovel]

I mounted a Bushnell 6-18 x 40 on my AR-15. Works very nicely!

[arrrrgh15]

Larue convert here. I priced out a seperate rail extension and rings to mount a scope to get proper eye relief and ring height. In the end, it made more sense to spend a little extra and go with the Larue SPR quick release mount. I love it. Rock solid and I get the correct eye relief and ring height on a detachable, return to zero mount. Probably the best component choice I've made for my ARs.

I like my Leupold Mk4, M3, 3.5x10 scope.

I like my aimpoint a lot, but not a big fan of the mount. I'll probably switch that over to a larue mount as well.

I still use iron sights as well for the old standby.

My $0.02.

[73cj5]

Spend the money now, or you will end up with a box of scopes equalling or surpassing what you should have spent in the first place. You can always use a quality scope on another firearm down the line. What good is a $1000+ rifle with a 200 scope??

You wouldnt buy a sportscar and put $30 dollar tires on it, would you.

I can speak from experience. I have gone the el cheapo route. Now I buy all top end. Leupold, Nightforce, aimpoint, eotech, etc. If your scoping a 10/22 the cheaper scopes may be ok, but I still spend the extra 100 or so to get some quality.

I would rather save for a month or so and buy it once.

YMMV,

Good luck,

Aaron

[Tactical556]

I had a EoTech 552 mounted to my flat top and had the front end over the D ring hugging the rear edge of my YHM four rail forend.

I have just recently traded the 552 for a Trijicon Tri-power and will have that mounted in a La-Rue cantilever mount.

My Long range scope is a Nc-Star 4x50 and its mounted on the flatop far forward in standard 1 peice scope base.

I have a flip up rear BUIS and co-witness the EoTech and Tri-power with them.

But I agree with the statement above, get a good mount the 1st time and stay away from AirSoft cheap stuff as they are attractive in price but won't hold up against rigors of true rifle calibers.