Put an Aimpoint PRO on the AR

[kis2]

Hey all,

JUST put an aimpoint PRO on my AR. I say 'JUST' because it really takes five minutes to get that thing out of the box and on the rifle.

I had a hard time finding reviews or pics, so I'll give some of both. Note: I have not shot it yet, but I'll make sure to post a range report when I do.

Comes well packed in a nice box. My first impression was, 'wow, this doesn't look as bulky as I thought.' It's also lighter than I thought for being such a sturdy looking piece of equipment.

The optic came already in the rings with the rings on the mount. It also has some pretty nice flip up caps, with the rear one being transparent. I also put on a killflash that threads in.

The mount itself is simple to use, simply twist the knob to loosen it, position on the rail, and tighten three 'clicks' worth (as recommended in the instructions). With the unlimited I relief, I decided to mount it near the balance point of the weapon, and far enough forward that I didn't feel like it cluttered my field of view.

The 2moa dot itself goes intensely bright all the way to 'invisible if you aren't in complete darkness'. The pics I took are three steps down from full bright.

Sorry this got so lengthy. Hope it helps out someone else shopping around. Let me know if you have specific questions or want pictures.

 

[Robert]

Looks cool, is it supposed to be that far forward?

 

[kis2]

that's just where I put it. I didn't want any black around the edges, I wanted it near the balance of the rifle and I didn't want it filling up my entire field of view, so I went pretty far forward.

thanks!

 

[txhoghunter]

Looks cool, is it supposed to be that far forward?

It can go anywhere, and I say put it wherever you are comfortable, after all it is your rifle.

Most put it further back because for most it is more comfortable.

Also putting it further back will allow the rifle to pivot a little further back and you will be on target from the low-ready a little faster. At least that is IME, YMMV

But it looks great, now shoot the heck out of it for the next 3 years and don't worry about turning it off

 

[kis2]

I'll have to play around with it at the range for sure, but just the way it handles here and now, I think I'll probably leave it where it is. My biggest thing is trying to keep it feeling light weight, and it seems pretty ergonomic as is. Both eyes open it seems less cluttery as well. Just IMO.

Some excellent points though, I'll make sure I consider them at the range.

Seems so...unnatural to leave it on. Crazy engineering. Since you told me to, I'll go shoot the heck out of it tomorrow

Thanks!

 

[blackops]

Another positive thread regarding aimpoint. They're tough to beat. Cool rig.

 

[txhoghunter]

Seems so...unnatural to leave it on. Crazy engineering. Since you told me to, I'll go shoot the heck out of it tomorrow

Don't worry, I wouldn't leave it on while not in use. But, as the box said, it will survive for 3 continuous years have fun and give us a range report!

 

[JAV8000]

For shots up to and including 300m there's nothing quicker or more reliable on the market. Enjoy your high end optic, I know I do! High end optics are a great force multiplier, but don't forget to work those BUIS!!!!

 

[kwelz]

Great optic.
Leave it on all the time. replace battery every 3 years or so if you are really paranoid.

Move it off the rail and onto the Receiver. The only thing worse than putting it on the rail is bridging the gap.

 

[TonyAngel]

An Aimpoint Pro? I'm not familiar with that model, but I got away from the Aimpoints a while ago. Astigmatism. Don't bother turning it off. You're just working your finger out for nothing.

Another wise purchase. You're on a roll. Definitely keep both eye open and keep the sight as far forward as you are comfortable with. For me, the farther forward I can get it (within reason), the faster I am.

Check your PM.

 

[TonyAngel]

Oh, when you sight it in, just in case, after you make an adjustment, tap the screw lightly with the screw driver. Not hard, just a light couple of taps. I had a couple of Aimpoints that wouldn't take to the adjustment until after I popped off a couple of rounds. It drove me crazy at first.

Actually, that may have been with the ACOGs. I don't remember. Oh well, if you adjust and it doesn't move as much as it should have after just one round, then try the tapping thing.

 

[JAV8000]

TonyAngel, you're right on, thats military SOP for M68s (Aimpoints). Can be quite frustrating if you don't remember to do it....

 

[Robert]

If it can go anywhere then I agree that placing it where it keeps the rifle balanced is a good thing. I have no experience with red dots so thank you for enlightening me.

 

[kis2]

Thanks for the compliments all! I think I read somewhere that to get to the 3 year mark with the batteries, you MUST leave it on. Amperage spike or something from powering on drains it faster?

TonyAngel, I'll make sure to give them a tap regardless so I don't have to find out if they don't take the adjustment or not, save the frustration Thanks for the heads up. I think the PRO just came out at this years SHOT show, somebody can correct me there, but that may be why I had a hard time finding info on it. I was able to get a real good deal on it, that combined with your guys' advice made it an easy call.

This both eyes open stuff is a hard habit to get into!

 

[Z-Michigan]

Looks great - I think you will like it.

Move it off the rail and onto the Receiver. The only thing worse than putting it on the rail is bridging the gap.

I agree about 99%. I would suggest you try the optic mounted entirely on your upper receiver. I can't tell what your rail is, but it doesn't appear to be monolithic with the upper and therefore has a significant chance of not being perfectly aligned with your upper, and maybe even getting a little wiggle. I think you'll find a pretty good balance point with the PRO entirely on the upper, as far forward as can be without crossing onto the rail. If that doesn't work for you, go back to how you have it now, just keep in mind the possibility of issues having it on the quadrail handguard.

 

[TonyAngel]

I didn't realize that the scope was on the rail. I'll join the "get it off the rail" crowd.

Once you get used to having both eyes open, it will work really well for you. I shoot my .308 with 22X scope with both eyes open.

 

[MrCleanOK]

You made a fine choice in optics. I'll offer two suggestions:
1. Get the mount on the receiver. I also prefer the optic mounted as far out as possible, but that ends on the upper receiver. Do not mount your optic on the handguard.
2. I would remove the killflash. All it's going to do for you is obstruct your vision through the optic. Every time I get issued an M68, the killflash goes into "crap I'm not going to use" storage.

 

[kis2]

Just for my knowledge, what is our concern with having it mounted on the handguard? Follow up question, what would you mount on top?

 

[Z-Michigan]

The top of a quadrail handguard is mostly useless for civilians, unless you need to mount a front BUIS at the front end, which is not the case on your rifle. For military/SWAT types it may get used for a dual visible/IR laser for use with NVG and/or gas masks. That's not part of my normal use.

The concerns with mounting on the quadrail are basically:
1) misalignment - the quadrail may not be perfectly aligned with the receiver top or the barrel, and if it isn't, your rifle may be off in both elevation AND windage at ranges other than your zero'd range, where if perfectly square only elevation should be off.
2) looseness and wandering zero - it's more likely that a quadrail is going to move relative to the barrel than that the receiver top will do so.

 

[TonyAngel]

I'd put it on the top of the receiver. With your rig, it probably isn't so much of a big deal since you're shooting a red dot and aren't talking about precision shooting.

Still, the fact of the matter is that the rail does move, whether you can see it or not, when pressure is applied to it. Kinda, sorta defeats the purpose of free floating if you're just going to attach the sight to a part that moves, however slightly.

If you do want to take a jaunt into seeing how precise you can get, having the red dot mounted to the rail could affect the consistency.

A little tip. If you want to get precise with the red dot, zero it using the tippy top of the dot rather than the center and use that as an aiming point (the tippy top that is). A two or four MOA dot makes it hard to hit golf balls at 100 when the dot covers the target. Using the top of the dot will allow you to hit smaller target without having to guestimate getting the in the center of the dot. I found that on my carbine, zeroing at 100 using the top of the dot, put me pretty much on at 50 using the center of the dot.

 

[WardenWolf]

If you do want to take a jaunt into seeing how precise you can get, having the red dot mounted to the rail could affect the consistency.

It's an AR15, not a Barrett. The light recoil isn't going to have any effect whatsoever on the rigidity of the rails.

The forward position has the drawback of not always being in front of your eyes when both you and the rifle are being around a lot. Keep in mind these dots are no-parallax, so regardless if the dot is centered, if the dot's on the target, so are you. But it's still critical that the rifle be positioned and angled as such that you can see the dot under all circumstances. Forward doesn't do that. And the dot is also much less "in your face" so it's not as obvious to the eye. It's also much more prone to glare, as your head offers no protection to over-the-shoulder light sources.

The best setup is one where you can shoulder the rifle, get your cheek weld, and the sight is right there in front of you. You're looking right down it, the rifle is held firmly, and you're ready to go. You're not hunting the sight because it's right there. You can't miss it. With practice, you can look through it with both eyes open and fire instinctively.

 

[kis2]

Thanks for the explanation guys

TonyAngel: great idea with putting the target at the tip of the dot, thanks for the tip.

I went ahead and back it up onto the receiver, still looks great (not so front heavy looking) and the balance isn't all that different. What I don't like is some of my FOV is just the black of the inside of the tube.

Heading to the range, report to follow

 

[TonyAngel]

It's an AR15, not a Barrett.

What does that mean? In my very limited experience, when you move what the sight is attached to, it affects the point of aim/impact. If you're claiming that you have or are aware of a handrail that has no movement when you apply pressure to it, I'll go out on a limb and say that you're mistaken.

The pressure that I'm talking about can come from something as simple as a front rest or cinching up with a sling.

I also don't recall addressing it as though it was anything critical and qualified my statement by pointing out that it would likely only make a difference is shooting for precision. I consider hitting a golf ball at 100 to be pretty precision.

 

[MrCleanOK]

What I don't like is some of my FOV is just the black of the inside of the tube.

Which is one of many reasons you shoot red dot optics with both eyes open, focusing on the target. You can train yourself to ignore the tube of the optic in your field of vision.

 

[kis2]

Range report

Thanks again for the advice guys

Went out and resighted my irons and then the red dot. Between the two of those procedures, I spent 30 rounds. 6 of those are admittedly poor form on my part, I started too far out.

But, once I got the irons on, I put the red dot on the front post and within 6 rounds we were good to go. The 2moa dot I felt was just right for my purpose with the rifle, a good balance of precision and speed that favors on the speed side. All three shot, 50yd groups were about .5", so I'm willing to bet it's a solid minute rifle with good ammo.

So, finishing that, I thought I'd see how it did on a coyote sized piece of steel at 375yds. Not trying any great precision aiming techniques as I was short on time, I just held on the target and it went 3/3. The dot is pretty big at that distance.

The really cool part? My wife (who never shoots anything but a .22 pistol) went 2/2 on the very same target. Awesome! Not only proud of her, but I think it also proves how intuitive and easy to use the system is.

Thanks all