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Posted: 6/15/2013 6:09:26 PM EDT
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Pardon my questions ladies and gentlemen, I'm a neophyte in the AR world.
I'm looking at scopes to replace my aimpoint (see my sale in ee if you're interested). The overwhelming favorite mag is 1-4x. One question. Why don't I need more? Why wouldn't more be better? could someone school me on magnification best practices? Application: plinking, hunting. thank you |
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because AR's in carbine form are not considered 1000 yard guns. a 1-4 scope on 1x is almost red dot fast at hosing paper up close. on 4x magnification you can still reach out pretty far (and given that the commonly accepted "effective max range" of the m4 is 500m for a point target, why do you need a ton of magnification at the sacrifice of close up speed?). most 1-4 scopes have BDC reticles out to 600~ yards (mine does 100-600 yards). having a 3-9 scope or something along those lines may give you more magnification but it's less pleasant to use 3x magnification up close. 1-4 scopes give you the most versitility, and can be found anywhere from 100 bucks to over a grand.
that said if your goal is to sit on a bench and shoot the tightest groups you can out to x hundred yards, more magnification is something you probably want. |
| All things of this nature are a ballencing act. If you use a reflex sight, you get a light weight, fast to accuire, easy to use, small profile, short range optic. If you up the power, you also up the weight, target accuisition time, difficulty of use and profile size. The more power, the more you increase these variables. A 4x optic is good out to about 4-500 yards at man-sized targets. Anything smaller than that or farther away and you start to need more power. A good 8x is the next big jump that goes on most AR type platforms. At that power profile you have a really good medium range (2-700 yard) coyote gun. This is my overall favorite power range for 556 AR platforms. I have found that 10x works really well too, but I prefer the 1.1x that my 8x drops down to. There are a number of good options in the 1-8x and 1-6x range that are really good. Read the reviews if you decide to go that way and if you can afford it, don't skimp on the glass. It will outlast the gun if you buy quality. Just my .02. |
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Yeah, a 1-4 compliments the practical AR pretty well. 4x is enough to let most shooters put down a small group at 200y, and enough to see and hit a man-sized target at 4-500, while keeping the speed and intuative ease of 1x for CQ. The mid-range 2-2.5x can be very fast for knocking down small steel plates at 75-100y.
On a bench gun that doesnt need to shoot <50y, a heavier and bulkier 3-9, 2.5-10, or 4-12 is a bit nicer to use for small groups on paper, shooting off a bipod. More magnification isnt going to make the gun more accurate, but it does help to see smaller targets at longer ranges. A good shooter can put down sub-moa groups with 4x or less if the target is an appropriate size and the glass is clear. With 9-12x magnification, you dont need a spotting scope or spotter buddy when shooting at 100y, which is another reason people like lots of magnification for accuracy work. With 16-20x and clear glass, you can usually make out 223 holes at 200y. |
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