What is the fascination with a LPVO on an AR?

[C-grunt]

Ive had my Steiner P4Xi on my patrol rifle now for 2+ years. Rifle is a standard Colt 6920 with a KAC RAS and a Streamlight HLX. I havent had any problems with it since Ive had it on. Roughly 50 hours of on the range training including barricade work, vehicle work, shoot house, etc.... Decent training, not just standard square range up drills.

Last summer I was involved in a shooting with the rifle. Call came out of a guy running around a neighborhood whacked out on meth and pointing a handgun at people. We show up, he jumps in a car, short pursuit happens, and he bails out in a cul de sac. I was riding passenger in the third vehicle in the pursuit with my rifle. As we pull up and I jump out of the truck the guy is standing in the middle of the street about 60-70 yards from me pointing a S&W Sigma at us and screaming nonsense. I raise my rifle, set at 2.5x, and as Im settling my reticle on his chest I see movement behind him. The road curves slightly further down and about 100 yards directly behind the suspect is a mom and dad loading their 3 kids into their car. Literally in the line of fire. I flanked to the right side of the road where I had a couple HD trucks to use as cover and ended up shooting the guy from there. First shot was at a distance of 40 yards, second shot was at a distance of 36 yards.

I did not see that family until I aimed at the guy with the Steiner. The magnification made all the difference. I am slightly slower at close range with a red dot. Past 30 yards or so Im faster and more accurate with the LPVO. Past about 50-75 yards Im faster and significantly more accurate with the LPVO.

As far as patrol officers and longer shots... You cant make a blanket statement about LE training because it varies so much. Phoenix trains out to 300 yards for our patrol rifle program and sometimes even farther. I know AZ DPS has a 300 yards rifle range that they utilize a lot. Phoenix has a 325 yard shot on the books by a patrolman using iron sights.

[Firefly]

That was a bit more aggro than intended.

I really don’t care what other people use.

You can still miss me with aimpoint though

[RHINOWSO]

One size doesn't fit all.

Assess your needs, assess your equipment, make decisions.

Do you.

[Slater]

Heck, for a few of us, an old 4x20 carry handle scope on a 20-inch A1 rifle is good enough

[Firefly]

Heck, for a few of us, an old 4x20 carry handle scope on a 20-inch A1 rifle is good enough

Part of me thinks this is equally antiquated yet awesome.

Bonus points if its a factory US made Colt scope

[Wake27]

Etched reticle never gonna die. Stadia can be used up close and at distance. P4Xi or Viper PST Gen II plus mount are both at the same price or cheaper than most ACOGs, have much better eye relief, and aren’t a stupid fixed power like we’re stuck in the 1990s. I had 2/5 hits at 425 yards the other day. First time shooting that rifle and that ammo, much less together. Also my first time shooting the optic at that distance. Didn’t screw around with iStrelok or anything, just picked a stadia and went for it. It took two rounds to figure out that I was a little high but considering that I could barely see the impact because of the recoil, that’s pretty good IMO seeing as how I can keep up with red dots on the seven yard line.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[tim808]

Op,
First off, I don’t carry a gun for a living. I don’t carry 80lbs of gear and walk around all day with it. I’m too old and would die in 1/2 an hour.

For my uses and current cash flow, a lpvo is versatile - hunting, range and home.

I’m trying lpvo’s on the two PSA hobby guns I use for both pig hunting and at the range for introducing new people to firearms. 5% hunting vs 95% at range for introducing new people to firearms.

Lpvo chosen over rds since majority of use for the rifle is the range with new shooters

Hunting:
Yes, lpvo’s make the gun feel heavy for hunting during the walk in/out. Handling is not the greatest.

However, relative to the total weight of everything I’m carrying, the extra weight isn’t that much more. And once im sitting in my spot I don’t think the added weight or poorer handling will bother me that much.

For the area I hunt in a rds should be fine since shots should be short but I use the lpvo's. I’m too lazy to swap/re-zero between the rds when I hunt and the lpvo’s when I bring new people to the range.

When I can justify the cost I’ll build a dedicated hunting upper and try just a rds or a lightweight fixed 3x scope

Range with new people:
When shooting paper. I feel the lpvo is better than a rds for a new shooters ego. They can shoot tighter and feel good about themselves and want to come back

Home:
We can use the hobby guns if needed. Lpvo is not as light/handy/easy to acquire target as a rds for home use but way better than my dedicated range gun with a 4-12 x 42 scope

Before anyone jumps on me about the hobby guns, I have kiss bcms for home use

[maximus83]

^Mostly this, similar uses here. Don't kick doors for a living. Only have two personal rifles: one setup with an Aimpoint for defensive use, one with a Leupold Mk IV 1.5-5x20, which I guess qualifies as an "LPVO" but has been on this rifle since before I had ever HEARD of LPVO. The Leupold is discontinued and isn't perfect (1.5x, illum is not daylight bright--though the etched glass reticle is good enough for me), but it is rock solid durable, I love the SPR/TMR reticle I can use for ranging and can get consistent hits to 400y and beyond, and it has awesome glass. It lets me make shots that I can't do with my Aimpoint and my aging eyes.

It's great to have 2 or more rifles, set them up for certain kinds of use, and use the best tool for the job. If I had to only have one rifle, there's no doubt I'd setup with an LPVO, simply because like a multitool, it's not the best at any one thing, but it gives me more capabilities than a specialized optic.

I'm setting a new lighter rifle with a BCM ELW barrel, and will run a new LPVO on it. Very interested in the Leupold VXR Patrol that some said they are running. Also--though I realize it's outdated with the cool kids--I'm kind of interested in the ACOG + red dot idea. The light weight, ruggedness, mechanical simplicity, and appeal of having two optimized sighting solutions on one rifle, is kind of appealing. But I've never run an ACOG, so not familiar with all the limitations. The very limited eye relief sounds like a pain, for instance. Right now the VXR Patrol is the one I'm checking out.

[C-grunt]

^Mostly this, similar uses here. Don't kick doors for a living. Only have two personal rifles: one setup with an Aimpoint for defensive use, one with a Leupold Mk IV 1.5-5x20, which I guess qualifies as an "LPVO" but has been on this rifle since before I had ever HEARD of LPVO. The Leupold is discontinued and isn't perfect (1.5x, illum is not daylight bright--though the etched glass reticle is good enough for me), but it is rock solid durable, I love the SPR/TMR reticle I can use for ranging and can get consistent hits to 400y and beyond, and it has awesome glass. It lets me make shots that I can't do with my Aimpoint and my aging eyes.

It's great to have 2 or more rifles, set them up for certain kinds of use, and use the best tool for the job. If I had to only have one rifle, there's no doubt I'd setup with an LPVO, simply because like a multitool, it's not the best at any one thing, but it gives me more capabilities than a specialized optic.

I'm setting a new lighter rifle with a BCM ELW barrel, and will run a new LPVO on it. Very interested in the Leupold VXR Patrol that some said they are running. Also--though I realize it's outdated with the cool kids--I'm kind of interested in the ACOG + red dot idea. The light weight, ruggedness, mechanical simplicity, and appeal of having two optimized sighting solutions on one rifle, is kind of appealing. But I've never run an ACOG, so not familiar with all the limitations. The very limited eye relief sounds like a pain, for instance. Right now the VXR Patrol is the one I'm checking out.

Im still a big ACOG fan. If you go with a 3 or 3.5 power ACOG the eye relief is much better than the 4 power models.

[Circle_10]

It's great to have 2 or more rifles, set them up for certain kinds of use, and use the best tool for the job. If I had to only have one rifle, there's no doubt I'd setup with an LPVO, simply because like a multitool, it's not the best at any one thing, but it gives me more capabilities than a specialized optic.

Despite my somewhat mixed opinion following my own LPVO experience, I do actually feel like *if* I were limited to only one rifle, I would probably put an LPVO on it and make myself learn to like them more.

That's basically me recognizing the very real advantages they give the user, despite my own personal feelings on the matter.

I'm sure I'll end up giving mine another try.