Red dot sight with magnifier questions

[Bam Bam]

My son has a red dot sight on his AR and wants to add a magnifier. I've seen people who run them in front of the sight, some who run it behind it. Can you run them in front or switch to behind it? Do some models have to be in front and some behind? For those who use them what are the pros and cons to each position? Any info on this type of setup would be appreciated.


Bam Bam

 

[DAVE_M]

You never run a magnifier in front of a RDS.

Magnifiers are independent of the red dot sight. They must be zeroed independently of the optic as well.

 

[southerncanuck]

I've experimented with a few of them. You always mount them before the dot, never after, for one simple reason: eye relief.

Most of these flip-to-side magnifiers have brutally short eye relief... Vortex and Eotech 2.2", Sig Juliet 2.55", Holosun 2.75", etc. The longest eye relief on the market is the Bushnell one at 3.35". You're basically shooting nose-to-charging-handle with these things as is; they'd be inoperable on the other side of the dot.

Probably the best entry-level bang for buck would be the Primary Arms Gen IV (2.64") or the Bushnell 3x, both of which will run you about $125 with the mount and have forgiving eye relief.

 

[noob]

I have a aimpoint red dot (comp C3) with aimpoint magnifiers with ARMS cantilever mount and aimpoint magnifier with ARMS flip to side mount. Would I do it again? Absolutely not. It's heavy, and though eye relief isn't great, you can adjust it to work for you. But for the weight of the two mounts, and two optics, you might as well go LPVO. I haven't weighed it, but I would imagine my trijicon TR24 weighs less than my aimpoint combo. SOME lpvo's have a "true zero" magnification. vs many are slightly magnified.

 

[AndyG]

Had a SIG Romeo 7 paired with a Juliet 4 magnifier for awhile. SIG Optics aren't yet on par w/ EoTech or Aimpoint, but the combo worked well enough for my paper punching needs. Only complaint was the weight, which was substantial. Wouldn't do it again.

 

[Bam Bam]

Thanks for all the info! This helps alot with my research. My son is wanting to try out this setup but hasn't got a magnifier yet. He has the AT3 red dot which seems nice for the money. In bright sunlight we only had brightness set around 3 I think. It has a nice clear 2 MOA dot and worked fine so far.