Help with red dot on AR15

[FullEffect1911]

Hello,

I am interested in getting into the world of red dot sights and I have a few questions. The sights I'm considering are either an EOtech 1 x 2 moa dot or an Aimpoint 1x2 moa or 2x2 moa dot. I have a bushmaster xm-15 A2 with a 20 in barrel.

Since I have a fixed carry handle What would be the better sight to mount onto the handle itself?

Would I be better off using a goose neck mount and co witnessing the sights through the red dot?

If I co witness the irons would the 2x magnification be unusable?

Is there anyway to co witness the sights with the dot above the front sight post? Basically so I could look over the rear aperture use the dot without interference from the front post, but still use the iron sights if the sight goes down.

What is the effective range of using one of the 1x2moa dots? how bout the 2x2moa dots? This rifle is used for target shooting and plinking. I will likely go no futher out then 200 yards and would like to pop clay birds.


Any other advice one could give would be great, I'm a newbie when it comes to dot optics.

 

[Chindo18Z]

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=262734&highlight=Chindo18Z

FullEffect1911: Some useful info in the above thread.

In answer to some of your questions...

"Since I have a fixed carry handle What would be the better sight to mount onto the handle itself?
Would I be better off using a goose neck mount and co witnessing the sights through the red dot?"

You can go either way, but I'd recommend the gooseneck as opposed to mounting directly on top of the carrying handle.

Mounting on top of the handle will raise the sight plane of your optic fairly high, making a cheek/stock weld very difficult to assume; this will make consistent long shots difficult. Most top carry handle mounts will also visually block your view of the front iron sight post.

You CAN purchase a see through carry handle mount which will allow you to still see your iron sights by looking through a "tunnel" under the Aimpoint/Eotech mount, but it's far from ideal.

"Is there anyway to co witness the sights with the dot above the front sight post? Basically so I could look over the rear aperture use the dot without interference from the front post, but still use the iron sights if the sight goes down."

Use the Gooseneck Mount; it does precisely that.

"What is the effective range of using one of the 1x2moa dots? how bout the 2x2moa dots? This rifle is used for target shooting and plinking. I will likely go no futher out then 200 yards and would like to pop clay birds."

Either will work for your purposes out to at least 300 meters (further if you do your part).

If you do go with the forward (gooseneck) mount, I'd go with the standard 1X magnification on the Aimpoint as I'm not sure that you'd get proper eye-relief to best utilize the 2X version. It won't be unusable, just not optimal...works better on a flattop where you can bring the scope closer to your eye AND keep it lower to bore-line.

The Eotech will also work nicely and provides a wider field of view. Ford vs Chevy thing in my experience. They are both good.

Hope this helps...

 

[FullEffect1911]

Hope this helps...

It helped immensely, thank you for taking the time to answer my questions.

 

[GunTech]

If possible, I'd pick the optics that use the AA batteries if possible. It makes logistics much easier. Unfortunately, in the case of the Aimpoint, that means the CompM4. But the good news is that the less expensive CompML3 has a battery life of 50,000 hours, even though it uses hearing aid batteries.