Compromised sight picture w/ TLR-1

[twadsw01]

I'm experimenting with mounting a TLR-1 at the 12 o'clock position in front of the front sight on a rifle I recently purchased but haven't been able to get out to a range to shoot yet. Troy BUIS and an Eotech (dot and circle) are mounted on top.

Below are photos of the sight pictures when using the Eotech and the iron sights. As can be seen, there is just a tiny bit of the front sight post visible when using the iron sights, and the eotech's circle is partially obscured but the dot is pretty near the top of the light when the reticle is centered in the window.

My question is this: do people who mount this light (TLR-1 as opposed to X300) simply make-do with a compromised sight picture like this one? OR, does having the bezel of the light protrude so much into the sight picture really not make that big of a difference in practical usage? It seems like for slow-fire, precision shooting, it wouldn't make that much of a difference, but might have a negative effect on the speed of close-up target acquisition (I'm just guessing, as I've not gotten out to try it yet).

[jsummers]

I've used both an X300 and a TLR-1S mounted in front of a front sight while using an EOTech (with a Larue mount mind you) and I never noticed the light causing me any problems in my field of view. When I'm looking at either the target or reticle/dot, I don't notice the light or FSB in my sight picture. Same thing happens when I'm using an ACOG. It blurs out and isn't a factor to me.

Try a Larue or other EOTech mount out if you can and see if that helps. They raise the optic enought to get the irons into the lower 3rd of your FOV and will probably drop the light even further into your sight picture.

[RD62]

I too agree to try a riser (I like the ADM one).

I think the lower 1/3 co-witness will definitely help with this issue and in addition to a cleaner sight picture will also make it faster.

[twadsw01]

Hmm okay. I have a GG&G QD mount on there right now, which sits about as low as you can go with the optic, I believe.

When adding a riser to the Eotech, do you find that cheek weld is worse off than it is without the riser?

[kartoffel]

In my experience, the X300 is pretty much the only light that doesn't block the front sight post at all.

Streamlight and Insight lights DO work at 12'oclock if you're OK with the bottom of the front sight post being blocked. I wouldn't call it a "compromised" sight picture, though it is annoying. Here's the view over an Insight Procyon/WX-150 for reference.



Compare with the "un-compromised" view:


For what it's worth, I have since replaced the Procyon with an X300 and it sits noticeably lower. It's a pretty nice light, too.

[kmrtnsn]

If you are running that Eotech correctly, you are running it with both eyes open, it is not a scope. The eye relief is unlimited and the reticle pattern need not be centered to make your hits. With both eyes open you shouldn't really "see" the front sight or the TLR at all.

[RD62]

No problems with cheeck weld and a riser.

[jsummers]

Your cheek weld won't change at all. I'd ditch the GG&G mount for a riser.

[kest_01]

I also run a tlr at the 12 o'clock , I have an eotech 553 without a riser and I can't say that I've noticed any issues while actually shooting. Seems that my eye wants to pick up the circle and kinda blocks out the light.

[twadsw01]

Hmm, thanks alot for the feedback, guys. I think my first line of action (aka, the cheapest option) will be to leave the Eotech on there as mounted and see what simply moving the reticle higher in the window does, in terms of creating shifts in POI vs. POA. I've never really verified for myself that an Eotech is "parallax free", as the party-line goes, or - in the case that it's not (what I expect) - looked at what the actual shifts are for various distances and reticle positions.

That would be a really educational experiment in its own right: shoot a couple shots from various distances (5, 10, 25, 50yds) with the reticle in various positions around the window (maybe center, top left, bottom right, etc.) and see which direction and by what magnitude the POI moves in response.

If that is not an acceptable solution (assuming there's a problem; maybe the TLR obscuring part of the reticle won't slow me down in rapid fire, CQB drills once I'm able to actually get out to a range and experiment some), I will grab a riser for the Eotech. Wish there was a small riser instead of the long ones I'm seeing that have the small raised portion on the back to mount a magnifier. The riser that comes built onto the EXPS holosights look perfect for what I'm wanting, but I don't see that you can get those separately to retrofit to an XPS.