Optics for 200-300 yards range?

[CPtheWightKnight]

I second Gunzilla's recomendation. The Burris XTR is a great option.

[Alaskapopo]

I'm going to politely say you don't need magnification to shoot a steel gong out to 300 yards, and to do so fairly easily. A 1x red dot will serve you just fine.

You certainly need no magnification to shoot accurately at 100-200 yards.

That highly depends on what your target is. I saw a lot of shooters at the last three gun match I shot stuggling to hit 14 inch tall by 4 inch wide MGM auto poppers at 100 yards with red dot and iron sights. Those of us with scopes had a much easier time. If your shooting larget targets sure you can shoot with a red dot out to 300 yards and with irons out further than that. However if your shooting smaller targets then magnification is definately a plus.
Pat

[shootist~]

For 300 meters and in, give me good glass and a Plain Jane cross hair over poor glass and a fancy reticle or turrets. 300 meter targets are easy if a) you can see them and b) you know your holdovers. Which is a piece of cake with a 200M zero.

Having said that, good glass along with a usable reticle (Mil, MOA or even BDC hash marks) is well worth the extra money, especially when you break 400 yds. Our longer range 3-Gun targets - 10" flashers - are often not even visible without some magnification.

[Magic_Salad0892]

You very well may need magnification to actually find threats from 100 to 300 meters.

Typos brought to you via Tapatalk and autocorrect.

I would think that finding them, and getting the repeatable hits on them with a 1X isn't the problem. It's identifying them that would be the problem.

Am I right?

I have no problem engaging a steel target at 500m with iron sights even on an SBR (I eventually wanna try it with a mover), but I know for a fact, that if my target were not shooting back at me, I'd have no clue if it was a legit threat.

I'm asking you because I'm pretty sure that you've actually done that.

[Magic_Salad0892]

Eh, I run a TA01 ACOG (4x) on one of my rifles and have no difficulty whatsoever "hunting" through the optic as close as 20 meters or thereabouts; significantly inside that range, it's point shooting time. I should probably get that set of Surefire offset BUS that's been teasing me, but in any case, a 3x ACOG surely is a useful optic inside 100m.

I didn't say it was useless. I know for sure it isn't. With a TA31-ECOS G I had, I did well in CQB drills. And I took off the Doctor optic. Specifically Hackathorn's 1-2-3-4-5 drill at 5, 10, 15, and 25 meters. But inside of 100m. I'm rollin' an Aimpoint. I'm way faster, and have better peripheral vision.

I've owned ACOGs in the past. Now I'm runnin' a T-1 with 3X magnifier.

And btw; take a look at KAC's micro 45* offsets. They fold, and KAC micros are great. I love 'em.

[opdsgt]

That highly depends on what your target is. I saw a lot of shooters at the last three gun match I shot stuggling to hit 14 inch tall by 4 inch wide MGM auto poppers at 100 yards with red dot and iron sights. Those of us with scopes had a much easier time. If your shooting larget targets sure you can shoot with a red dot out to 300 yards and with irons out further than that. However if your shooting smaller targets then magnification is definately a plus.
Pat

Point taken, Pat.

Perhaps I should have expressed that I'm speaking from the perspective of a 23-year LEO who uses his patrol rifle for everything from high risk traffic stops to responding to active shooters inside malls and schools (we've experienced one of each here).

It's important to note that a suspect usually doesn't fully present himself at the moment of engagement, so some level of precision over, say, the ability to hit a 19" wide piece of steel at 100 yards is needed (19" is the shoulder width of the average male).

In any case, good discussion.

[opdsgt]

I didn't say it was useless. I know for sure it isn't. With a TA31-ECOS G I had, I did well in CQB drills. And I took off the Doctor optic. Specifically Hackathorn's 1-2-3-4-5 drill at 5, 10, 15, and 25 meters. But inside of 100m. I'm rollin' an Aimpoint. I'm way faster, and have better peripheral vision.

I've owned ACOGs in the past. Now I'm runnin' a T-1 with 3X magnifier.

And btw; take a look at KAC's micro 45* offsets. They fold, and KAC micros are great. I love 'em.

I see. Well, we're probably more in agreement than I first believed.

I too run a Micro, a 2MOA H-1 on my Colt, a work gun. No magnifier, however, as I keep my configuration as lightweight as practically possible.

I'll have to take another look at the KAC's for my DD. I don't know why $250 BUS irk me (I don't bat an eye at spending money on my kit), but it's probably a worthwhile investment; while I don't think I can break my ACOG, it's conceivable a guy could fall in the mud or have humidity fog the optic under the right set of circumstances.

[tomalibrando]

Great discussion. Just had this one at work as a matter of fact. The 1 to 4 optic was derived from the need to identify and engage a target with a small target profile yet still have good use in close quarters. Hitting a plate in the open at 300 is a different animal. (Not moving, theoretically easy to identify) The optic choice is usually based on the potential need of the user. When I was an officer, I had an Aimpoint red dot. But I had the magnifier as well. I worked in AZ where there could be a potential for longer shots or barricaded subjects where the window for determining a threat was narrow/ small. It was very handy.
By the way, we had 4 TA 47s at work go down. I like the ACOG, but anything can potentially fail. Trijicon was awesome though. We had them repaired and returned within 2 weeks.
What broke? will be the next question. The amber triangle turned into a black and yellow kaleidoscope looking reticle and the windage and elevation failed to track. They were older and used pretty hard. Considering how many we have, the failure rate was pretty small.

[Tex21]

Great advice guys.

[El Cid]

OP, will you ever need to shoot inside 100? If so I recommend a good variable power optic that drops to 1x. At Kyle Defoor's advanced carbine class the EOTech and Aimpoint crowd had no trouble out to 200yds. But when we shot at 300 and 400 they had trouble even seeing the steel - much less hitting it. Those of us with variable scopes and ACOGs were whacking the plates with ease.

If I could only have one optic for everything it would be my Swarovski Z6i with the BRT reticle. It really does do everything inside of 500.