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Posted: 11/8/2023 12:34:44 AM EDT
[Last Edit: lazyengineer]
The Steyr AUG is one of the coolest most iconic firearms of all time.  When it was possible to get one, with the integrated optics akin to the original, I had to have one.  One thing about the weight, balance, and layout of an AUG with the integrated optic is the left side of the gun very smooth, and one can "boarderpatrol" hang the gun using a heretofore silly 3-point sling, very nicely.  With your hand able to drop down and control the gun.  A laser on that gun will allow one to take aimed shot quickly in that manner.  

I've had an interesting path with that concept - I'm not serious enough to spend serious money for such - but more importantly, I want low profile.  REALLY low profile, so that I can just mount it, leave it, and forget it.  I've tried numerous cheap lasers on the receiver mounted rail, and never really had much luck.  For whatever reason, the recoil impulse at that spot is such that I could never get a laser to hold zero when mounted there.  And stopped messing it with it for a couple years.

OLD 2018 photo of the laser tech then


Today, cheap lasers have gotten.. more interesting.  For $25 or so you can get a green laser with a way better integrated battery, and most interesting, an integrated half-decent flashlight, for pretty small and plastic, so quite light.  

I tried mounting it on the receiver again, and frankly it didn't work out so good.  While I like that spot since it's closer to the bore axis and closer to the hand for fast manipulation; the laser still didn't hold zero so good there.  And now with the flashlight, half the light is blocked by the gun, and none of it will go left.

So, instead I mounted to the the side of the scope on that rail.  This way the light will give me a broader cast, not get blocked so much (and not light up the side of my gun like a major blinding beacon).  The laser held zero a lot better up here too, FWIW.  The bore-offset is more than I'd like, and here's how the impacts were between the scope and the laser, on a target moved from 10, 15, 25, and 50 yards.

CURRENT 2023 of the $25 current tech today


The appeal of this approach is it's so cheap and so light, you can just mount and forget, and it's always there.  Though how well it holds zero and how well it holds charge remains to be seen.  The nice thing is once you realize your zero, you can home-check it.  In this case, with that laser on that scope at that spot:  Aim at a wall 10 yards away.  Adjust green dot to be at 4:00 inside the donut circle about 70% out from the center cross hair; and that's about a 20 yard laser zero.

They do make slightly better units and there are numours brands  and there's a $3 more expensive unit I actually like better, but the pic-rail nub is smaller than the rail cuts in the AUG, and so it won't be as secure as this unit.  I quite probably will upgrade to a slight better unit and might even be willing to break $40 if there's one with better features and quality.  


If decide to go down this path, maybe don't get the $25 unit, but look for one that has metal inserts for the screws, and I think that will hold up better.  They make some cheap units that do that; and still in the $40 or less range.  That said, I'll probably just keep and keep running this one.  The reason I like cheap, is I can buy a bunch of them and just dedicate mount one on each gun of interest, without a significant overlay.  If I were running anything For Duty, I'd probably go more expensive, to be sure. But, I'm not.
Link Posted: 11/8/2023 3:40:34 AM EDT
[#1]
If you look at how militaries mount lasers on AUGs mounting on the scope is pretty common. But they still typically run a remote switch down the side so they can activate it quickly.
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