Aimpoint Mount - Standard vs. Cantilever

[Dedpoet]

Hello Everyone-

I'm new to the boards. I've been lurking for about a month, registered about a week ago or so and have been doing extensive reading to get myself educated. I have an optics mounting question that I haven't seen answered after a few searches and reading a bunch of threads on the topic.

Thanks to Grant's open box thread, I will have an Aimpoint ML3 on the way soon. I'm going to need a mount to put it on my standard flat-top M4 (with BUIS) and am wondering about the advantages of a cantilever mount vs. a standard mount. I understand that the idea of the cantilever is to get the optic further forward on the rail to allow for additional gadgets mounted behind it, such as a magnifier or NV. I have no foreseeable plans to use any NV, but it's conceivable that I may want to add a magnifier at some point down the road. My questions are:

Are there any other advantages to having the optic further forward, such as an increased field of view?

Are there any disadvantages, such as having a harder time picking up the dot?

In general, do you normally mount the optic as far forward on the rail as possible, cantilever or otherwise?

If I do go with a normal mount, is there room on a standard M4 flat-top rail for the BUIS, magnifier, and Aimpoint mounts should I choose to add a magnifier later?

Thanks for all of the great information!

[UVvis]

I like the cantilever mount. Being very one eye dominant, having the mount and aimpoint a little farther away from my face helps open up what I can see around the mount by a bit.

As for picking the dot up, it's basically the same due to the way aimpoints work. The dot image is projected back towards your eye, so it's size remains relative to the target.

And yes, behind the cantilever you have room for a BUIS and magnifier, depending on which mounts you are using.

[Dave L.]

I know you just asked a bunch of questions, but I want to keep this simple.
Buy the Cantilever mount. Should you decide to buy a magnifier (which greatly increases versatility of your AR), you will be all set. You can always back the Cantilever mount up, but you cannot move the standard one out (unless you have an MRP/VIS). Buy the LaRue Cantilever Mount, the ADM one looks cool, but the LaRue has a water-tight battery compartment for an extra Aimpoint battery built in.

[Dedpoet]

Thanks for the feedback, guys. I went ahead and ordered the LaRue LT129. I think I have goodies showing up in brown or white trucks every day this week. It's Christmas in July!

[Seagrave7]

Good choice I have an LT-129 as well.