Those of you who mount regular scopes to your ARs (not acogs), what is the preferred mounting setup? High rings directly to the flattop? Mini-risers and lower rings? Or is there a different one of the mounts like the ARMS or BMAS of different numbers that you prefer.

I have a Bushmaster 20" A3. I will do one of the various flip-up rear BUIS and probably a Leupold vxII 3-9x40, unless you think that different magnification ranges are better. I really don't need to go out any farther than 500 yards. In fact I was thinking about a 2-7x33 thinking that the 2 power magnification would still make for easy up close shots. My purpose is just varminting, general plinking, and I just feel like putting a scope on this rifle.

I am open to your suggestions as my knowledge of scopes is very limited.

drew

I've got a VXII 3x9x40 on one of my flattops and I just use medium height rings mounted directly to the receiver.  It works fine and allows a good cheekweld for me.  3x is good for general plinking and the 9x is decent for 300yd work.  The scope starts running out of elevation adjustment when you get out to 400yds with the .223, though.  

Here's a Bushmaster Varminter with a Leupold 3.5-10x40 LR M3, Bushmaster Mini Risers, A.R.M.S. #19A (not ACOG) & #21 STANAG Rings.
[img]photos.ar15.com/ImageGallery/Attachments/DownloadAttach.asp?iImageUnq=553[/img]
[img]photos.ar15.com/ImageGallery/Attachments/DownloadAttach.asp?iImageUnq=554[/img]

Calvert1: Thanks for your post! That is the kind of personal experience and technical info I am looking for. Do the rifle/rifles that you have scopes mounted to have a fixed front sight post? I was wondering if the medium rings were high enough to look "over" the front sight.

GIB: Great looking setup and thanks for the pics! You have brought me to another question:


My 20" AR is not my SHTF rifle, so do I really even need to bother with a BUIS when my main sight is not dependent on batteries and the rifle is just a recreational shooter?

Hero,

How many LE's carry back-up pistols?  There's a reason their called BUIS.  As I just posted to a simular question, you don't know when you could get in a "bad" situation  - hopefully never - but if you need BUIS and don't have them, you're screwed.

I've been using an Armalite Scope Mount with great results.  It places the scope reticle at the same height as iron sights.  This mount is offered in 1" and 30mm models and provides a very solid mounting platform.  

No, Raskil, I am not disputing the importance of BUIS. I have a BUIS on my 16" with the EOTech on it, and the reason you gave for having BUIS is the reason why they are on there. It is also the reason that my 16" is my SHTF rifle.

My question was: Do I really need to have them on a totally recreational weapon? If I am using my 20" it is at the range target shooting, or at the farm varmint hunting. If my scope gets destroyed in the middle of a wild animal attack, I doubt that I will bother with unbolting my scope from the flattop to use the irons. I will just transition to my sidearm.

Don't get me wrong, I get the idea and use of BUIS and I did not mean to start a debate about them. If I didn't get it I would not have them on my carbine, but for the uses that I have described for my 20"...

Antonio: Cool! I was wanting my scope to be the same height as standard rear peep. Can you get this off of Armalite's website? I will check now. Thanks!

I like the ASA better than the Armalite mount.  The ASA is more beefy than the Armalite.  

[url]http://www.gunkits.com/mounts.html[/url]

[img]http://www.gunkits.com/supermount2.jpg[/img].

Hero, the Armalite Mount is avaliable directly from Armalite but check the Quantico Arms website for a great price.  I'm sure you'll be very happy with the quality of this mount.  

[img]http://www.armalite.com/shared/images/armalite_scope_mount200.gif[/img]

I heard tons of recommendations for the Armalite riser with integrated rings, but I wanted to use a red dot scope, a lower power hunting scope, and a higher power target scope all on the same flat top AR. I wasn't about to buy two of the 1" versions of the Armalite mount (for the conventional scopes) and 1 of the 30mm version (for the red dot). I bought the RRA flat top riser base and am using quick release rings for each scope.

I tried medium rings for the scope on my flat top and it wasn't high enough to look through or even high enough for the objective bell of the scope to clear the free float tube over the barrel. Standard high rings were just barely tall enough for the scope to clear, but still was too low to get a decent image through the scope without crushing my cheek into the stock.

Look on this page to see a picture of the RRA flat top riser base. I like the looks of those Bushmaster mini-risers, too, but since I had different ring spacing on each of the three scopes, I went with the full rail instead.

http://www.rockriverarms.com/scope_mounts_slings_&_bipod.htm

I use Leapers rings with it. I was pretty skeptical of using such cheap rings, but they are working great for me and return to within 1.2MOA of zero (~1.2in @ 100yds) or less on two tries of each set of rings. Testing the 30mm rings used with the red dot scope might have just been luck, since it's pretty dang hard to put that 4MOA dot exactly in the center of the target compared to the 36X target scope. :)

Question for those who have used the Armalite or ASA mount. I have a fixed front sight. Is this mount high enough that I will not have a shadow in my sight picture?

Thanks for all the help guys!

drew

The ASA mount is 1/4 inch higher than the Armalite.

[img]http://www.gunkits.com/supermount2.jpg[/img]

Be sure to get the High Rise model.  See the High Rise in thier PDF catalog.

[url]http://www.gunkits.com/catalog.pdf[/url]

See page 7 of the pdf catalog.  Part number
1 Inch - #P-SM0215

Thank you G35, you are on top of it!

I have a DPMS Panther Bull Sixteen (flattop, free-float heavy brl) fitted with an inexpensive one piece riser base/rings somewhat like the ASA mount pictured in the above posts.  It locates the scope crosshairs at the same level as the peep sight would be above the bore so that (for me anyway) I get a good cheek weld.  If I use regular height rings I cannot get my head down to see through the scope properly without raising the rifle up off my shoulder.  Get something that fits YOU!  I normally don't 'go cheap' on scope mounts, but this one looked good at the gun show, fit well without lapping, and has proven solid.  I have a Leupold 4.5-14 mounted in it.  And yes it shoots very well, thank you.

For what it's worth, I've been checking out this thread seeing I had one of the Armalite one-piece scope mounts on it's way.  It arrived today, and I have to say that it is one SOLID mount.  It weights more than the upper reciever (complete w/ ejection door and forward assist).  I cannot say wether it is better or worse than the ASA mount, but I like the fact that it locates the scope at the same height as the std. iron sights. With 4-12X magnification I plan to leave the standard sight base intact, seeing that cannot see it in the view, due to it's long focal distance (w/ 16" barrel).  I also like the ammount of forward offset that the front ring provides.  I'll finish by giving it a 2-thumbs up rating.

HarryD,

So you say that you have left your fixed front sight on, and you cannot see any blur at all from it in the scope? I am glad to hear it. I was worried about that after reading the thread showing the views through different ACOGs and seeing the blur of the front sight in that one picture. You have the 1" ringed Armalite mount, right? Do you think that my upper having a 20" barrel and therefore having the front sight further away would make for any difference in seeing the sight in the scope?

Thanks for the reply HarryD!

drew

Troy,

I have seen you mention the recoil-lug several times in variuos threads.  Why is this importants on an AR ?  There is enough grip  via just the attachment contact area to prevent sliding with the AR's small recoil.  I have been using the ASA mount, and I have seen no indication on the reciever rail that indicates that it is sliding around.  

Also, the ASA returns to zero with no problem.  I feel the recoil-lug is not that important to assure a return to zero.  At the range, I mounted/dismounted the scope several times while firing a 5-round group in between each mount/dismount.  No problem with return to zero.  It was dead-on.  This was at 100-yards with a Leupold 6-20x50 scope and handloads doing 3/4" groups.

Why do you feel that the Armalite is "vastly superior" to the ASA ?  

Troy,

Yes, I always push the mount forward, and try to be consistent in my nut tightening procedure.

I agree that the Armalite does allow mounting further forward.

Thanks.

My question is: does the Armalite mount come up short on elevation adjustment?  I'm looking at putting together a tack-driver that can shoot heavier bullets out past 500 yards, and want to mount my Leupold Vari-X III on this rifle.  I'm concerned that the mount won't allow the scope to crank out the elevation I need to shoot at this distance.  Anyone have any experience with this?

Hero,
I cannot comment on the scope "view" with the Armalite mount and a 20" barrel w/ std. front sight base, as I have no experience with this combo.  I also don't know about said view with a 2X magnification scope.  If I had a problem w/ the view w/ this combo, I would replace the front sight base w/ Armalite's excellent M1913 top railed gas block (~$50.00).  It clamps around the barrel allowing slight windage adjustment and also clamps tight around the barrel sealing off the gas port better than any "slip on and pin" gas block.  Then you can mount any applicable front sight (Rock River Arms has a good one for ~$35.00 - where the Armalite one is ~$50,00).

HarryD