I have a 16" 5.56 currently using a red dot/3x magnifier. I'm going to move those optics to a shorter gun and want something a little more precise for this one.
Basically looking for most bang for the buck.
Thinking 1x-6x, there is a Sig on sale at PSA. But I don't know. Do I need 1st focal plane? 2nd? Will it work like a red dot at 1x? I have a cheap one on an airsoft, but have never used a "real" one.
Just looking for experience + opinions, thanks!
Vortex Venom 1-6 all day for under $300.
Fuck Sig.
Came here to say exactly this, I just put one on a new build and it's awesome, for the price and what it offers, you'd be hard pressed to find something better IMO
And indeed, fuck sig, now christmas is over I'm replacing my Romeo and Juliet I have. I've been eyeing the Holosun HS510C and HM3X magnifier combo optics planet has for under $500, it's looking mighty nice.
Funny that you say fuck sig and then go holosun. A lot of sig optics if not all are made by Holosun.
And? Buying Holosun doesn't put money in Sig's pocket.
That’s true. Just thought it was funny because they use Holosun.
Why are we mad at sig again? Been out of the loop due to the holidays.
People are pissy about the p320 (fair) and they did a kirk tribute gun (as if you can't find some stupid shit engraved on every manufacturers stuff)
Yea the P320 stuff was wild. Oh that’s right the engraved Charlie gun. I have to agree the political engraving stuff is very off putting. I recall seeing those Trump Glocks wondering who would actually buy one. If I recall Grabagun had a sale on those I figured they had to reduce the price because they weren’t selling. Regular Glocks were still regular price.
Yeah with me, it started with how they were handling the P320 debacle. The TP USA thing was just the icing on the cake.
But yeah selling a faulty firearm, then "fixing it" and calling it good only to have the same problem tells me they really dont care about owners just profit.
The way they have handled the P320 is far worse than the issue itself.
Most manufacturers aren't doing those kind of stupid engraved guns on their own, it's some aftermarket 3rd party doing it.
Right thank you.
I was between getting a red dot, and an LPVO. The LPVO i was looking at was the Vortex Venom. Im.pretty sure they were on sale at sportsmans warehouse last I checked.
Have had both, don’t get the sig LPVO’s they’re not great.
What's your budget? The Vortex Razor 1-6x are fantastic. Gen II-E hits the sweet spot for me unless you really need FFP. Pricey to move up to the Gen III 1-10x.
Trying to stay under $300
Recently PSA and a couple other retailers advertised the Vortex Strike Eagle 1-6 for less than $300.
I compared the Vortex Venom and Strike Eagle and didn't see enough difference to matter. I bought a used Strike Eagle with Burris PEPR cantilever mount (with shorty Pic rails on the rings) for about $100. It's fine for my 300 BLK.
I already had a Primary Arms SLx 1x microprism, which is fine for the money (although I should have bought the GLx instead). But the 300 BLK barrel turned out to be so accurate with basic FMJ supersonic rounds I changed my plans and decided to use to skip the suppressor mess and expense and just use it as a medium range, medium power rifle.
FWIW, I find it easy to use the LPVO at 1x-2x with both eyes open, pretty comparable to the 1x microprisms I've tried this year. A little less eye relief but I've used scoped rifles for years for offhand shooting (silhouette, hunting, etc), so I'm comfortable with that combo even for rapid fire at reasonable distances. It probably helps that my shooting eye is very nearsighted with severe astigmatism, while my left is farsighted and clear. So unless I'm fatigued I don't have much difficulty picking up and tracking a target through a low power scope.
If I hadn't run across the Strike Eagle and mount for so cheap I'd have considered the SIG LPVO 1-6, mostly for the price and warranty compared with Primary Arms.
Look at primary arms.
Nice stuff, too $$$ for me
This is gonna be the thing; good glass costs good money, and this scope's gonna see a lot more rounds fired than a typical hunting/precision rifle, so spending less now may mean you'll have to spend more later.
Athlon's Argos BTR 1x is not bad, and it's $474 MSRP which is beyond your budget but not unattainable. The biggest issue is that it's second focal plane, which means the reticle doesn't zoom with the objective. For a basic two-wire that's fine, but AR reticles commonly have subtensions for bullet drop, windage etc, and those tick marks are calibrated for max zoom so they won't be accurate at any lower magnification. Mitigating factor: it's only a 1-4x, so you'll probably be "toggling" between those two extremes anyway.
You may also consider a prism scope; these provide a low fixed-power magnification like 3-4x with a holographic reticle similar to a red dot, so you get the best of both worlds. They're commonly available under $300 (the ACOG is pricey b/c it's what the Marines put on their rifles, so everyone else has to have one too), check out the Primary Arms CLx and the Vortex Spitfire.
The SLX ones are around $350 at the moment but you could probably find them on sale occasionally for a bit less. You'd also need a mount. I have one. It works. I'm not a scope snob by any means though. The one I have is SFP. I was recently setting it up for using on 1x for close up use. The disadvantage there with SFP is you have to do slightly more math to work out what the reticle markings actually are at anything other than full magnification. I made myself a spreadsheet to do the calculations, verified them at the range, then made a card to go in the rear scope cap with all my holds at different magnifications / distances.
They’re right in line with what you’re describing. If I was going to buy another LPVO on a budget right now it would be the SLX
Vortex Venom 1-6X24 Rifle Scope with Sport Cantilever Mount Bundle
$199.97 free shipping
Sign up for email and SMS for $10 off each which brings it to $179.97 before sales tax.
You're welcome
Hell ya, good find. Vortex all the way, especially with their superb lifetime warranty.
Heck yeah!!!
To answer your other question, an LPVO is not going to be exactly the same as a red dot at 1x. There is an eye box and eye relief unlike a red dot which works at any distance from your eye.
My advice would be, if you want to work on distances > 100yds and have the versatility to go shorter as well, the LPVO is a great option. Use it for a while until you get proficient with it. If you ultimately decide to go back to a red dot after a year or something that's a perfectly valid choice but at that point you've made an informed decision. And at any point if you go back to the LPVO you have that skill developed already.
Good luck
This is the one. Have fun.
Just ordered. Thanks again.
I have the Sig Tango MSR 1-6 (probably the one you're looking at). It is nice and definitely worth the bang for the buck. I paid $300 for it at OpticsPlanet a couple years ago. Only problem is the weight.
With the rotary brightness knob, I can leave it between two levels to turn it off but have it at a good brightness immediately if I need it, and the reticle is etched/painted so very usable unpowered. Due to the eye relief of a scope, you have much less wiggle room behind the optic than you do with a red dot. Even at 1x, it behaves more like the magnified dot here than a plain dot. And of course, the higher you zoom it in, the tighter that lateral positioning matters.
But now, fuck Sig.
Came here to pretty much say this. I have the Sig MSR 1-6 on my 16" AR. Excellent bang for the buck. Especially with the included mount.
That being said. Fuck Sig. Get the Vortex
I really like my Primary Arms Slx 1-6.
Second focal plane had better glass for the price usually. 1-6 is a great range for an AR. If you have to ask which to get, then second focal plane will be great. FFP is for people dialing drops/windage or holdovers when not at full magnification. It seems awesome, but most of us turn it all the way wherever we are trying shooting at a range that we need to figure out drops. When looking for higher end stuff in the 1-8/10 range FFP becomes more useful.
As far as recommendations, the delta Stryker always punches above its weight. It’s what I would buy looking for a 1-6.
How fare are you planning to shoot? While an AR15 “can go out to 500 yards,” unleas you’re a very good shot and have good ammo, 100-200 yards ia about the best most folks can do, 300 on a good day. You probably don’t need an LPVO for those ranges and are better off with a 2 or 3x with a backup red dot. Can likely get lout around the same price and be better off
I usually shoot ~100yds, but am going to set up a 200yd range soon. Since I already have the red dot/mag that I'm going to move to a 10" .300, want to try a scope on my 5.56, but still would like to go to 1x sometimes.
Primary Arms puts some SKUs of their PLXC line (which is the duty-rated line) on sale several times per year for $1k. MSRP is $1500. I snagged one earlier in the month but haven't installed it yet.
Vortex Viper PST Gen 2 1-6. Great mix of price for quality
I’m gonna echo others in here and say the Vortex Venom 1 - 6 or the Primary Arms Slx should fit your budget and be nice LPVOs to use.
I have 4 Vortex pieces in my gun locker right now. I'm almost choosing the Sig to mix it up, but my Vortex stuff has always done me right.
There’s a reason why the Vortex Venom/Viper/Razor is slate recommended. It’s funny you mentioned airsoft because my friend has a Viper dupe for airsoft and it’s what convinced me to get an actual Vioer for one of my builds.
Though I’ve recently swung back to RDS/4x magnifier from Sig so you’ll just end up with everything anyhow haha
PA has probably your best glass per money. Should be maybe 300-400 for a decent LPVO from them, might be less with sales after Christmas but I don’t know, not in the LPVO market right now. The other option, which would’ve been easier had Reddit not shut GAFS down, is haunting the used market for a used Razor 1-6 SFP or a Steiner 1-6. But yeah, when it comes to magnified optics, the price point matters for sure when it comes to glass clarity, eyebox, and reticle sharpness
On my 20in upper I rock a strike eagle 1-8, perfectly happy with it, and it suits my needs.
Vortex strike eagle 1-8 is great on my 16” Mcx. I don’t think you need the expensive focal plane unless you really plan on pushing your AR out past 200 yards on a regular basis
I have a 1-8 strike eagle 2 and got it from PSA with a cantilever mount for $290
I tried the Venom 1-6, but am happy that I moved up to the Vector Continental 1-8. It's got daylight bright illumination, a nice reticle, and significantly better glass than the Venom for $350 (they also have it in 1-6 for $250).
Bass pro has the venom 1-6 with sport mount for $200 right now!!
Yeah! Someone else tipped me off and I ordered that last night!
I'm going to come in with the unpopular choice, but I have been extremely pleased with my Monstrum LPVO, it punches way above its price point. If you want to dip your toe into the pool and save up for something more expensive, you can't go wrong with Monstrum.
I own a Monstrum. They’re honestly decent for the price
Well, I've been using their mounts for years, so maybe?
Acog?
https://preview.redd.it/1tjqatwk1n9g1.png?width=2242&format=png&auto=webp&s=f2634571df0ad235a025e9d725578bda5626c699
Expertvoice has some deals on Vortex and other vendors if you are an American Suppressor Association member.
You can get a FFP Strike Eagle 1-8x for ~ 420 or a BDC for a little less.
What is your use case? What distance do you think you're going to "reach out" to? 1-6x is a good mid range/ mid performance that can do most everything out to 500-600 yds depending on your skill. Do you want MIL or MOA? FFP will be hard to find under $500. The Griffin Armament 1-8x is a good one, the 1-10x is just under $600 and really nice for a FFP.
Check this one out if you want to ball on a budget: https://www.cvlife.com/products/cvlife-1-6x24-lpvo-scope-with-cantilever-mount
It’s actually really fucking good and you can find these cheap on Amazon
I like my Arken ep8
I got the sig on sale as well. I love it. Works great for my purpose. Easy to acquire at 1x up close and the 6x is super nice at range
I think I'm talking myself into that one. Wanted to hear some more people who like it. I have a friend who has a lot of high-end stuff, but he has a different Sig for his G3. Asked if he would recommend it, said "sure, it's 'fine'".
Also got the Sig Tango on sale. My first lpvo and it's been great. The reticle illuminates red, but I typically use it without it turned on.