Joining the 1-4 Variable Club

[Doc Safari]

It's finally happened. In the bright southwestern sun my eyes just fatigue too quickly or don't see adequately for irons and red dots. Even my beloved Trijicon MRO was an exercise in eye pain focusing on the dot, target, and brightly illuminated desert. I borrowed a Nikon AR scope from my girlfriend and I liked the easy contrast between cross hairs and target, and the fact that the light transmission cut down on the brightness of the sun while conveying enough light to the eye to allow me to easily acquire each target. After returning the scope to her, I went shopping.

I went to the local LGS and bought a Leupold stock #115388 Mark AR MOD 1 Rifle and a quick detachable Burris mount to "get me by" while I shop for something better.

Note that I did not buy it from Amazon, I'm just posting the link so you can follow along as to which scope I got:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...A2M0YF99V6731C


The quick detach Burris mount I got seems considerably less than combat grade, but should work until I decide if I like this optic or not.

https://www.amazon.com/Burris-410344...is+scope+mount

Once again I'm only posting Amazon's link so you can see which one it is.

I'm a newbie to low power variables.

If it were you, and you wanted to upgrade your scope and QD mount options from what I got, what would you choose and why?

Please post a link to both the scope and mount, and tell us why you chose what you did.

Thanks!

[militarymoron]

Never used that scope before, but after shooting some with 1.5x instead of 1x, I'd stick to 1x (especially for up close drills and shooting on the move). Just personal preference.

Edited to add: P4Xi user here - I really like that scope.

[mack7.62]

What's your budget? I like the Steiner P4Xi which is a lot of scope for the money and I like the ADM AD-Recon H.

[WickedWillis]

What's your budget? I like the Steiner P4Xi which is a lot of scope for the money and I like the ADM AD-Recon H.

I second that. It's been a fantastic optic for me.

[Doc Safari]

The Burris mount is headed to the trash. After messing with it for a couple of days, it's obviously "range toy" quality. To tighten the mount, you have to move a couple of nuts against retaining pegs so they don't loosen up. It's Mickey Mouse because the pegs are too tall to tighten the nuts down by hand without encountering a point where they won't go down any further. I had to use a multitool and force the nuts past the retaining pegs. At that point I noticed the rear locking lever wasn't even straight. Reading some reviews online these mounts often don't even allow the scope to be truly parallel to the bore.

I've already ordered the American Defense version.

https://www.opticsplanet.com/america...ope-mount.html

I'm also considering just ordering some high rings for the weight savings.

[SomeOtherGuy]

I've been very happy with the ADM mounts.

For the scope, do you want illumination? BDC or a mil/moa scale? Or just something for 0-200, so speed and simplicity trumps multiple aiming points? What's the budget and how much are you going to abuse it?

[militarymoron]

I'm also considering just ordering some high rings for the weight savings.

Rings alone won't work; you need a cantilever mount. You don't want to mount the rear ring to the receiver and front ring on the handguard rail.

[Biggy]

What's your budget? I like the Steiner P4Xi which is a lot of scope for the money and I like the ADM AD-Recon H.

Sport Optics has or can have the Steiner P4xi dropped shipped to you for only $439.99

[1168]

+1 for P4Xi. I haven’t had a chance to put a lot of use on mine yet, but it feels high quality and strong. The red dot is very bright. The reticle reminds me of an ACOG: the hashmarks are 18in wide at their stated range, so when shooting e-types, you just apply the hashmark that fits the perceived target size and squeeze the trigger. No thinking. Also, the holdovers aren’t based on some optimistic velocity. And I prefer second focal plane scopes.

Pretty much checks all the boxes for me.

[Coal Dragger]

I’m running a Nightforce NXS 1-4X24 with the FC-3G reticle. Nice and bold reticle at 1X needs no illumination under daylight shooting. Does have a BDC and wind holds out to 600 that are valid at 4X. Otherwise the BDC is totally unobtrusive and barely noticed when just running off the the center segmented circle and dot. Made to zero at 200 yards, which is what I prefer, also end up with a perfect coincidence zero at 50 yards.

Eye relief is generous, and optical quality is in my opinion pretty good. A very slight amount of distortion around the edge of the field of view common to 1-x variables. I don’t really notice it while shooting. Light transmission seems very good. Color rendition is very neutral.

Scope is very short, fairly light, and reportedly very robust. My other Nightforce has proven to be extremely robust.

Mounted in a Nightforce Uni-Mount, which gives enough cantilever forward to shoot nose to charging handle if you insist. I have it set so the ocular housing is about 1” or so forward of the charging handle because I do creep a stock particularly in prone position or sitting cross legged. Mount is bombproof strong, returns to zero like a champ if removed and replaced, but is still reasonably light. Uses titanium cross bolts and nuts, probably unnecessary but saves a bit of weight and certainly strong. Lots of clamping force when torqued down to 65in-lbs, rock solid on the upper. The whole combination zeros easily and has never lost zero.

I run offset Magpul MBUS Pro sights on the DD V11 Pro this optic lives on, so a QD mount is not needed. In fact I hate QD mounts, but that is personal.