Optics setup advice: front iron sight, red dot and magnifier

Don't be afraid to dump gear and go back to the basics. It can be a tough concept when you think you have things figured out, but in the end, you'll look back and realize it was a great decision. Like Surf said, some of us can give tough love when we talk about defending lives and such, for a lot of us it's our job. For others, it may not be a day to day thing, but they still need that mindset and training to do so even on a home defense situation.

There are a lot of guys that will take time to go back to the basics and shoot with irons and such. I did it for a year and took training with just irons. I have to say it has helped me work on more fundamentals. I have changed things on my rifle plenty of times when I took a step back and analyzed things based off my needs. Through training and talking with guys that put boot to ass on a level I will never know, I've reevaluated my gear and I've come out better in the end.

Here's a very fun, wet, and extremely muddy class I had that I used just irons on during my little "back to the basics" time frame.
http://i557.photobucket.com/albums/s...ps96a46249.jpg

Here's what I run today, going through numerous houses and such. It can be done with rifles.
http://i557.photobucket.com/albums/s...psc187c9e5.jpg

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Originally Posted by jonconsiglio

Absolute cowitness often forces people to use their optic through their irons, lining up the front, rear and dot. This defeats the purpose of the optic and just slows you down.

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This absolutely should appear at the beginning of very co-witness-related thread. I've also noticed that even a 1/3 co-witness tempts you to line everything up. I've conceded that I like the rear BUIS folded down so that none of the RDS view is obstructed. Too much "visual clutter" with any kind of co-witness, IMHO. I know people will say that in a firefight you may not have time to deploy a folded rear sight, but IMHO if you've hampered your speed of acquiring the target with a co-witness the entire rest of the time, then what have you gained by being faster with a co-witnessed sight when the optic goes down? It seems like you're putting the cart before the horse.

I say it's better to have a near-failsafe optic like an Aimpoint with no obstructing rear sight so you can pick up the target faster and more reliably.

But then again that's just a layman's view... :D

DC,

I think this

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It would be a CQB setup for sure and for extreme emergencies.

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from your OP is what may have led folks here to think that this was more than just a "hobby gun" for you. Good luck on your venture.

Keith

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Originally Posted by Keith E.

DC,

I think this from your OP is what may have led folks here to think that this was more than just a "hobby gun" for you. Good luck on your venture.

Keith

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My bad. I guess I meant running out of batteries on my red dot at the start of a range session. That would constitute an emergency in my book lol.


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Some good advice here. Some rough, but very enlightening.

My advice, and this is also from some of the things I've learned from this forum:

- Save your $$ to get a reliable optic. Seeing you have a least 2 AR's, one being a "hobby" gun, so you have some funds available. Aimpoint and Trijicon are your top 2 options.
I suggest getting an Aimpoint H1 or T1 on your primary HD rifle, and run a set of backup sights. MBUS should suffice if you have a reliable optic. If the H1/T1 is too much, look at the Aimpoint PRO.

- Get rid of the magnifier. Its "CQB" for a reason. Keep it on your carbine or longer rifles. Get a set of reliable backup irons instead.

- More of a rifle suggestion than anything, but get a reliable carbine instead of an AR Pistol, and learn how to use it properly. A Colt6920 or DDM4 would be great options here. Take a few classes and learn as much as you can running that rifle in CQB and longer ranges. This will probably be the best investment you can buy instead of buying all the tactical stuff you can put on a rifle.

No offense, you have cool AR's there. But get back to the basics and you will be much more effective in any situation.