Gunny,

Your best bet would be to read back a few months worth of posts in the Optics forum, but to save you time, the optics that are generally recommended for any type of serious use are:

[b]Magnified[/b]
- Trijicon ACOG or Compact ACOG, with BAC feature
- Leupold VX-II or Vari-X III-series conventional scope

[b]Non-Magnified[/b]
- AimPoint CompM2
- EOTech 550-series

Of these, the Leupold offerings won't work well at all with an A2 upper, so you're really limited to 3, and there are some mounting issues with the EOTech and fixed handles as well, though this can be worked around.

All of these systems will cost money, with the AimPoint and EOtechs costing around $500 for everything you need.  Compact ACOGs will cost around $700, and a TA31 will cost $900 or so, total.

Now, I know this isn't what you asked for, but there are serious reasons for this.

Almost every gun owner has fallen prey to the lure of "cheap optics" that will be "good enough" for a while, "until I can replace it with something better."  In almost every single case, those optics are now piled in a landfill somewhere, because they AREN'T "good enough", and most of them outright failed.  Most of us learn our lesson and buy quality from then on.  If only we had learned the lesson FIRST, we'd have saved all the money we spend on cheap optics, cheap mounts, and cheap rings, and we'd be WAY ahead.

Cheap optics are poorly engineered, use cheap components, and are assembled with little care.  They ofen will hold up for a few years on a hunting rifle that is shot 20 rounds a year, and otherwise sits on a rack or in a safe.  They certainly won't hold up on a rifle that's used and abused the way a Marine will need to do.  That'd be like trying to tow a 5th-wheel trailer behind a Yugo.  Seriously.

I know 2 weeks pay is a lot of money, but a quality optic will last you a lifetime, and if you are deployed, many LIVES may depend on the quality, durability, and repeatability of that optic.  Unlike most people, you can EXPECT to have to make the decision to terminate someone's life or not, and whether or not you CAN do that may determine if you or your buddies LIVE.  You MUST be MORE demanding than the average person when it comes to your equipment, not less.

For close-in work, the military has been using AimPoints for a number of years, and have found them to be both tough and dependable.  Folks like Pat Rogers (former 1st Force, current Gunsite instructor) find it to be their top choice.

EOTechs haven't been in use as long, but they've been generally well-received, and are the choice of several operational units that regularly see action.  Due to size and issues with a gooseneck mount (necessary for either optic on an A2), I'd pick the AimPoint over the EOtech, but either would serve you well.

The BEST, as made abundantly clear by Marines and others over in the big Sandbox of the East, is the BAC-equipped ACOG line.  ACOGs allow much better target recognition and more precision accuracy at longer ranges, while giving up very little to the above optics at close ranges.  If you stand a chance of being deployed to the Sandbox, this is really what you should be looking to get, even if it costs you a whole month's pay.

Really, what I'd strongly advise you to do is sell your M6 (the laser will be worthless to you in the military, as it isn't NV compatible and you almost certainly won't be able to use it, nor will you want to), buy an M3 instead, and spend the rest of your money on a QUALITY optic.

NOTE: While as a civilian, you are allowed to throw your life away and I won't care, you're a Marine, and my taxes pay your salary and training costs.  Therefore, I expect you to LIVE, so I can get my money's worth outta you!  [:D]

-Troy

P.S., Thank you for your service to our country!

The only way to mount a conventional scope on a carryhandle (A1 or A2) upper is with something like this:

[img]www.calssportingarmory.com/ARMS%20Images/ARMSmount2Ext.jpg[/img]
ARMS #2EXT

This places the scope very high from the boreline, causing a number of problems.  First and formost, there's absolutely no way to get any kind of cheek weld on the stock and see through the scope, unless you get a cheekpad riser like this:

[img]www.bushmaster.com/shopping/magazines/Images/6200.gif[/img]
"Delta" cheekpiece

Once this is installed, you can use the scope, but not the iron sights.  This is acceptable at a gun range, but NOT where people are shooting back at you!

The other big problem is that with the scope so far away from the bore, you've significantly narrowed the range of distance that your scope will be zeroed for, and significantly exaggerated the amount of correction needed to be made to adjust for other distances.  This means you either spend a lot of time with a range-finder and cranking on an elevation knob (assuming your scope model has one), or use a lot of "Kentucky Windage" and guess.  Again, this is not an enjoyable passtime when people are shooting at you.

In a hostile environment, what you need is a SIMPLE, RELIABLE setup that works WITH you, not AGAINST you.  We know what those are, and how to get there, but to do so costs some $$$.  So the question becomes, how much in "savings" (over spending what these systems cost) is your life worth?

Obviously, many of these cheapie systems are adequate for range use, where if they go out of adjustment or break, the worst thing that happens is that your range day is blown, or you have to switch to another gun.

In COMBAT, the stakes are MUCH higher, and so are the minimum requirements for your gear, because failed equipment, for WHATEVER the reason, means injury, maiming, and death.  Ask Jessica Lynch how this works.

It isn't my place to tell you what you MUST buy, but I *do* feel that you should buy whatever you buy with the full knowledge of what you're buying, and what you should expect to get from it.  You will almost never get $500 performance from a $100 item; it doesn't work that way, at least not in a free market.  Generally, if you're paying less (and not buying the identical item), you're GETTING less.  How this can be a surprise [thinking] to anyone I just don't know, but it seems like most folks I meet haven't yet grasped this concept, or somehow believe that it is an elitest idea.  It isn't.  It's reality, plain and simple.

-Troy