SIGHTS FOR AR 15

[madarcher427]

MY BUDDY IS BUYING AN AR 15 ,HE WANTS SOMETHING THAT HE COULD USE AT CLOSE RANGE & OUT 200YDS ,HE WAS THINKING ABOUT THE EVOTECH (I THINK ITS CALLED )

HES BLIND AS A BAT ITS PRIAMARLIL FOR HUTNING & TARGET BUT JUST IN CASE  YOU EVER NEED WHAT DOES EVERYONE RECOMEND WHAT ABOUT THAT t1

[Big Frank]

I think a variable power scope is better for hunting than an Eotech.

[kendric98]

I think aimpoint might be a good idea, i think there better. Also i think you shouldnt yell.

[USSA-1]

If your friend wants to use the AR primarily for hunting than I agree that a variable power scope would probably be a better choice.

If the AR is primarily for home defense, I would look at either an Aimpoint or an EOTech scope.  Make sure he checks out the scopes before he purchases one.  Some people with vision issues find the EOTech's difficult to use.

USSA-1

[dnittler]

I would skip the EOTech, and get an aimpoint.

I would be comfortable out to 120 yards or so with that and a 14.5" bbl for deer assuming you are using 5.56 - 75 grain hornady TAP or similar ammo with meplats (sorta like a hollow point), which is the load and length I use. Probably the longest hunting shot your buddy is likely to make anyway. That round is very effective on big hogs, too.

This would allow a superb home defense optic as well as a decent hunting optic. The scope option is a superb hunting optic, but is worthless at home defense range so your buddy is going to be stuck wtih his irons at home.

With an 18"+ bbl I would be comfortable that a humane kill could be made out a little further.

My personal floor is around 1,000 ft/lbs energy for a small So. Texas white taiil. At 100 yards and an 18" bbl, the 75 gr, .223 load is producing 2561 FPS and 1092 Ft/Lbs of energy. That drops to 2344 FPS and 915 Ft/Lbs of energy, so if it was a very very clean shot, I might go out to 200 yards with the 18" bbl with 3x magnifications if the rifle grouped well. I think 175 is a little more realistic max range for this load/bbl length.

120-150 yards is about my limit of good grouping with zero magnification red dot. I can get minute of terrorist groups out to 300 yards, but it's not enough for me to be comfortable with a humane white tail kill in heavy brush. I don't like rattle snakes, and a long walk through the deep brush is not fun.

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[Badgersmilk]

Your buddies got bad eyes.  Keep in mind scopes that magnify optical images also help "brighten up" the sight picture in low light situations.  Maybe look at some of the "shotgun" scopes with variable power like 2X-6X.

[m25operator]

I wear glasses, without them the Eotech looks  like a hoop of fire, the Aimpoint is also sparkly, but usable, with the glasses on, the both work fine. I have a Leupold 1.5x5 vx 3 on 1 of my AR's and it works very well, usable even in the house, but not perfect. A scope you can adjust the ocular lens to fit your eyesight in most cases and leave it there.

[dnittler]

I have a Leupold 1.5x5 vx 3 on 1 of my AR's and it works very well, usable even in the house, but not perfect.

That is a really good compromise.

You get the magnification for long range work, and you are still faster up close than you would be with irons.

Just a tad bit slower than a true 1x red dot optic because of the 1.5x magnification, but not much slower. Any optic that is variable, short of a Schmidt and Bender 1x3, is going to be slower than a 1x red rot. 

Another random thought: I just picked up a used Colt one-piece mount for a 1” scope on ebay for like $26 (they are on their regularly). You can slap an inexpensive 3-9 x crosshair scope in there for hunting, and put the red dot back on for up-close work.

[m25operator]

That is the same mount I've got the 1.5x5 on, and it returns to zero pretty well. It came with my Colt Hbar upper many moons ago.

[MikeBjerum]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm reading some key items:

1.  Hunting;
2.  100 to 200 yards;
3.  Blind as a bat

Magnification comes to mind.

Variable due to wide range of distances and eye sight limitations.

I am looking in the Midway USA catalog and see several 3 - 10, 3-12, 4 - 12 (wide range of magnification and more than average eyes would need).

In the catalog I also see that most of these are large objectives which would give excellent light transmission (more help for poor eyes).

I would also suggest a mount on the AR that allows to use the iron sights through the scope mounts.  I have one of these that has three rails on it - 2-7 on top, a red dot on one side, and I can use iron through the handle mount.

I suggest going to a good dealer that will snap the scopes on a mount and let you test.  I do a lot of experimenting at Cabellas, because they have a good selection, different stock configurations, and the inside of the store is large enough to view several ranges (I get them to take out a range finder and mark different mounts around the building).