Thread resurection time....
And a u-turn.
Some fun stuff has happened since this thread popped up, and a lot of my opinions have changed.
First of all, I have gotten some pretty cool carbine instruction. The folks who know a lot more about this stuff than I do and have been coaching me up gave me their seal of approval with my skill level with irons, and even sang some of the virtues (speed mostly) of the red dot. The man that I trust most on the subject (a SEAL Master Chief) is solidly an EO Tech fan, so I took his advice and went that route:
That is the 516 mounted on my Rock River. I did a shit-ton of research to decide which model to go with. I actually had a 553 on order, but the gun shop that I was getting it from went out of business before it came off back order. After taking a look at my budget, I decided that I did not really need the quick release levers (you can co-witness the sights, so when am I really going to need to take the thing off in a hurry?), and I could get the same unit for about $100 less by getting the 556. Then I decided that I did not really need NVG compatibility and saved another $100 by stepping (down?) to the 516. Same electronics as the other models, but much cheaper. I don't own my own NVGs, so if I ever need to employ that gear it will be issued to me.
So I made the purchase last week from These guys. Can't say enough about Midway. Fast shipping, real people on the line when you call the number, good prices. I will do business with them again.
I got the sight mounted this past weekend, and got a rough zero in. I was shooting with both my dad and my brother (with his new rifle) at a friends house here in Tennessee. Most of the focus was on getting their gear sighted in so I did not get mine quite down to a gnat's ass. My dad did though...
Quick tangent here..My dad is in his early 60's and has been having some trouble at the rage lately with his eyesight. Dad has always been one hell of a shot, and it sucked to see him struggle picking up the front sight and shoot groups that he was not really proud of. The fat front sight post of the AR-15 was not helping him much, and he was not enjoying our trips to the range as much as he used to. After about 20 rounds this weekend, he shot a 9 round group at 30 yards that he could cover with a quarter. The smile on his face was great, and his endorsement of the EO Tech was "This thing is the cat's ass." Those of you from the south know that is a good thing.
Today I went back to get my unit fine tuned. Here are the results.
You can see from the dime that the 2 rounds on the paper are pretty close together. You have to take my word for it that I only fired 3 rounds at the dime to get the 3 hits. This shooting was done at 25 yards. This EO Tech thing is the cat's ass.
A few notes:
-One of the influences for me to get the EO Tech was making a decision on what I wanted the rifle set up to be. Getting an M1A (a long range rifle with more power) made the CQB setup more logical. Now I have to save up to get some glass on that rifle...hopefully before deer season, or I am going to hunt open sights.
-I started out by sighting in with a target with a 1 inch round bull. That was good for a rough zero, but the dot was 1/4 the size of the target at 25 yards. I had to get a target with a smaller center to get as good as I want it.
-The main aspect where the EO Tech is superior to open sights is with the precision of the sight picture. No matter how good you are with iron sights, one thing that is ALWAYS going to limit you is the front sight post. The thing is just plain fat. Having shot steel targets beyond 200 yards where the target is 1/3 the size of the sight post, or paper targets at 25 yards where the bull is 3x the sight post, there is just some slop that is going to come into play. The "doughnut of death" is going to come into play for speed later on, but the precision of the 1 MOA center dot has cut my group size from about 2 inches with iron sights to 1/2 inch.
-I am normally a stubborn bastard, but I have found that having a lot of flexibility with it comes my opinions on firearms is a good thing. Getting good advice and instruction from smart/experienced folks that I respect has been really helpful. Don't be afraid to change your opinions about this stuff. I did, and I am glad to admit that I really love this "toy" that I scoffed at not to long ago.
And a u-turn.
Some fun stuff has happened since this thread popped up, and a lot of my opinions have changed.
First of all, I have gotten some pretty cool carbine instruction. The folks who know a lot more about this stuff than I do and have been coaching me up gave me their seal of approval with my skill level with irons, and even sang some of the virtues (speed mostly) of the red dot. The man that I trust most on the subject (a SEAL Master Chief) is solidly an EO Tech fan, so I took his advice and went that route:
That is the 516 mounted on my Rock River. I did a shit-ton of research to decide which model to go with. I actually had a 553 on order, but the gun shop that I was getting it from went out of business before it came off back order. After taking a look at my budget, I decided that I did not really need the quick release levers (you can co-witness the sights, so when am I really going to need to take the thing off in a hurry?), and I could get the same unit for about $100 less by getting the 556. Then I decided that I did not really need NVG compatibility and saved another $100 by stepping (down?) to the 516. Same electronics as the other models, but much cheaper. I don't own my own NVGs, so if I ever need to employ that gear it will be issued to me.
So I made the purchase last week from These guys. Can't say enough about Midway. Fast shipping, real people on the line when you call the number, good prices. I will do business with them again.
I got the sight mounted this past weekend, and got a rough zero in. I was shooting with both my dad and my brother (with his new rifle) at a friends house here in Tennessee. Most of the focus was on getting their gear sighted in so I did not get mine quite down to a gnat's ass. My dad did though...
Quick tangent here..My dad is in his early 60's and has been having some trouble at the rage lately with his eyesight. Dad has always been one hell of a shot, and it sucked to see him struggle picking up the front sight and shoot groups that he was not really proud of. The fat front sight post of the AR-15 was not helping him much, and he was not enjoying our trips to the range as much as he used to. After about 20 rounds this weekend, he shot a 9 round group at 30 yards that he could cover with a quarter. The smile on his face was great, and his endorsement of the EO Tech was "This thing is the cat's ass." Those of you from the south know that is a good thing.
Today I went back to get my unit fine tuned. Here are the results.
You can see from the dime that the 2 rounds on the paper are pretty close together. You have to take my word for it that I only fired 3 rounds at the dime to get the 3 hits. This shooting was done at 25 yards. This EO Tech thing is the cat's ass.
A few notes:
-One of the influences for me to get the EO Tech was making a decision on what I wanted the rifle set up to be. Getting an M1A (a long range rifle with more power) made the CQB setup more logical. Now I have to save up to get some glass on that rifle...hopefully before deer season, or I am going to hunt open sights.
-I started out by sighting in with a target with a 1 inch round bull. That was good for a rough zero, but the dot was 1/4 the size of the target at 25 yards. I had to get a target with a smaller center to get as good as I want it.
-The main aspect where the EO Tech is superior to open sights is with the precision of the sight picture. No matter how good you are with iron sights, one thing that is ALWAYS going to limit you is the front sight post. The thing is just plain fat. Having shot steel targets beyond 200 yards where the target is 1/3 the size of the sight post, or paper targets at 25 yards where the bull is 3x the sight post, there is just some slop that is going to come into play. The "doughnut of death" is going to come into play for speed later on, but the precision of the 1 MOA center dot has cut my group size from about 2 inches with iron sights to 1/2 inch.
-I am normally a stubborn bastard, but I have found that having a lot of flexibility with it comes my opinions on firearms is a good thing. Getting good advice and instruction from smart/experienced folks that I respect has been really helpful. Don't be afraid to change your opinions about this stuff. I did, and I am glad to admit that I really love this "toy" that I scoffed at not to long ago.
