My AR-platform rifle came with an A2 "carry handle." I have a Holosun RDS (not sure what model--it isn't in front of me at the moment) on it currently, after experiencing a RDS on my wife's SigSauer P365XL with the Romeo Zero affixed. Her AR-platform rifle still has pop-up sights, and has kind-of become a safe queen, no more often than she shoots it.

Since the subdivision where I live is a cul-de-sac (twenty or twenty-one houses), and traffic on the busy road at the entrance to the cul-de-sac mostly ignores that we're even here, I'm mostly living in a low-threat condition. I have no real expectation of having to shoot at anything more than a hundred meters away with my AR.

But I'm curious about an optic with some magnification, as my age-related Presbyopia is an actual thing.

As you might imagine, I don't want to spend a thousand shekels on an optic for a sub-thousand-shekels rifle that, frankly, only sees time at a range so far, and an indoor range at that (there's an outdoor range an hour's drive south of me, but it's DEEP RED HAT TERRITORY).

If I get something with magnification, I'll probably move the RDS to my wife's AR. Her vision is far better than mine.

Thoughts? Suggestions?

Variable power 1x4 is great. I also have a 2x7 but that's quite a bit for 100 yards. I hear the Primary Arms 3x prism is also great and is on my list when it goes on sale.

Is the Carry Handle removable? If so, use the rail underneath to mount your Holosun. You may need to purchase an additional riser if you also have the fixed front site.

FlyGuy wrote: Thu Jan 26, 2023 6:34 am Is the Carry Handle removable? If so, use the rail underneath to mount your Holosun. You may need to purchase an additional riser if you also have the fixed front site.

When I bought the Holosun, I mounted it to the rail after removing the carry handle.

I like the Holosun reasonably well, but I'm pondering something with a touch of magnification that it doesn't offer.

For about $230, you can get a Holosun 3X magnifier. HM3X or the HM3XT. I've heard great things. These will flip out of the way for normal 1X sight.

I have this on my AR-10:

Burris M-TAC 1-4X optic, which I find perfectly adequate for ranges up to 100 yrds. It’s a good value; and is pretty rugged.


It has a reticle that can or doesn’t have to be illuminated.
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Actually, a 2-7x33 seems to work very well on AR's. I would suggest keeping the magnification between 2 and 4 for most situations, especially given your max distance probably will be 100 meters. Specifically, a Redfield Revolution or Leupold VX-1 or similar with the Duplex reticle, to keep it simple. A 1.5-4 magnification or similar would also work well for this application.

A good, solid mount would be Leupold's Picatinny mount with the five mounting screws. Overkill? Yeah, a bit, sure. But it's A.) affordable, B.) as solid as they come, and C.) made in USA.

I'm a more "whites of their eyes" type hunter myself. So I can take scopes or leave them. I have a red dot on one of my AR's thats as far as thats gonna go. Better scope on my 25-06 and a 30-06 for obvious reasons. I'm old and sneaking up on a deer for open sight just ain't gonna happen. Ain't much field hunting out here with a camo tent to sit and wait for one to walk by. Thats not hunting anyways, it's boring. Out west ya gots to do some walking and stalking.

A local-ish-owned place had a Burris RT-6 1-6X 24mm scope at a reasonable price, and an Aero Precision mount at an also-reasonable price. I'll see how it does next range trip (my membership is at a 25-yard range, but there's a 100-yard indoor range an hour or so away).

It's a Stag Arms eight hundred beans rifle, not a $2000 rifle. I don't need a thousand-dollar scope.

The reticle in this scope seems like it will work well for me:

Primary Arms microprisms are very nice and have a good warranty. Currently available in 1x and 3x with red or green reticles, and their 5x version is coming out soon.

After a couple months, and a couple of trips to the 25-yard range to familiarize myself with the thing, I have some results.

I have not decided what the results mean, but I have results.

While I haven't done side-by-side same-trip comparison yet, I've done the next best thing, which is same target, same lane, albeit on different days.

With the scope on my wife's Ruger AR556, I'm getting results like this:
With the red dot on my Stag Arms AR, I'm getting this:
Oh, and another difference between the trips was that I fired ~87 rounds using the scope, and ~58 rounds using the red dot sight. By the end of the second magazine, I figured that my results were telling me enough. These pictures are each one of four target fields per sheet--the other target fields had similar groupings.

In short, I don't think I'm appreciably more accurate with the scope than with the red dot sight. The magnification (I tried a group or two at 6X) is nice, but also frustrating in that it apparently amplifies any small movements I make as I try to acquire the target. On the other hand, it's easier to see where I'm hitting my target with the scope at 6X (well, duh!). I think I acquire my target more easily with the scope, even at 1X, and I'm not sure why--emotionally trying to justify the money?

Because my wife hadn't fired the Ruger for months, I had put the scope on it to test it more-or-less side-by-side with the red dot sight. At some point, she wants to reacquaint herself with that rifle, so I've removed it to keep her from commandeering it (the way she did the SigSauer P365XL right after I installed the Romeo Zero RDS on IT...). I might offer her the Holosun RDS I now have on my Stag Arms rifle and mount the scope on the Stag...

None of this leads me to thinking in terms of one of the ACOG sights--WAY too much money for my capabilities and anticipated uses.

Like with any new equipment, it can take more than one range day to really use it to its potential and unlock the improvements. Like you said, when using the scope, your small movements appeared to be large. Keep in mind that the movement is happening when you use the red dot at that distance too, you just don’t necessarily see it. With time you can use the awareness to train your movements to be smaller.

Many people report similar experiences when the shoot a pistol with a red dot for the first time, but it’s apparent that after some applied practice, most people experience improvements in accuracy when using red dots on pistols. I think the scope will bring similar improvements for you. Keep working it, maybe go to 25 yards until you get a very small group, then increase the range. Tl; Dr Don’t give up on the scope yet, keep practicing and it should lead to improved accuracy.