Help me pick some optics

[DT556]

I'm looking for two different optics, one for my LMT MWS the other a Noveske Infidel. Optics aren't my expertise so all the help and advise from the scope, reticle and to the rings/mount will be greatly appreciated. I've been putting off buying optics because I've been buying as many guns as I can right now, but the time has come to look into getting something for the rifles. My budget for the glass for the MWS is $1500-2000ish and then $1000-1200ish for the Noveske, not including a mount.

These are the few scopes I've been looking at for the MWS.
Bushnell Elite Tactical ERS Rifle Scope 34mm Tube 3.5-21x 50mm http://www.midwayusa.com/product/132...-g2dmr-reticle
Leupold Mark 6 M5B2 Rifle Scope 34mm Tube 3-18x 44mm (Don't know which reticle to go with) http://www.midwayusa.com/product/136...st-focal-matte
Nightforce NXS Rifle Scope 30mm Tube 3.5-15x 50mm http://www.midwayusa.com/product/935...-reticle-matte

Then here's the few I've been looking at for the Noveske.
U.S. Optics SR-6 Rifle Scope 30mm Tube 1.5-6x 28mm https://www.midwayusa.com/product/81...-reticle-matte
SWFA SS HD 1-6x24 Tactical 30mm http://swfa.com/SWFA-SS-HD-1-6x24-Ta...pe-P53845.aspx
Burris Xtreme Tactical II Rifle Scope 34mm Tube 1.5-8x 28mm https://www.midwayusa.com/product/15...uminated-matte

If you recommend something else, go for it, I'm all ears. I'm not going to be hunting or going for precision shooting. My primary purpose is just shooting paper and steel targets at the range. Thanks!

[FMJBT]

Take a look at the Burris XTRII 3-15X50 for the MWS. If weight is a concern, the 2-10X42 version is also really nice. IMHO, to get a better scope than the XTRII series, you need to spend about double what they typically go for. Throw one of those into a high quality mount and you'll have no problem banging steel out to the ragged edge of your cartridges effective range.

For the lighter Infidel I'd be looking at low power variable scopes that have a true 1X on the bottom end and a fairly light weight. IIRC you stated in another post that you have the 13.7", right? If so, I would also skip anything with a dedicated 5.56 BDC reticle, as the velocity out of a 13.7" barrel won't match the trajectory of the reticles holdover marks. You'll want something with an evenly graduated MIL or MOA scale that you can use in conjunction with a ballistic calculator to get the proper holds. The SWFA 1-4X24IR would be an option worth looking into, with an overall weight of just over 14 ounces and an illuminated MIL scale reticle.

[krnrspd]

What range are you planning to shoot out to?

How long are your barrels?

What kind of rounds do you feed it?

Are you looking to drill clover leafs or combat accuracy?

How is your math?

How old are your eyes?

On the infidel; I'd probably stick an eotech or aimpoint or RMR with a 4 moa dot on their. If it's got a 13.7" barrel it's not going to stabilize many rounds well

[FMJBT]

On the infidel; I'd probably stick an eotech or aimpoint or RMR with a 4 moa dot on their. If it's got a 13.7" barrel it's not going to stabilize many rounds well

The 13.7" Infidels are 1:7 twist, so even with that shorter length they will still stabilize anything you can load to mag length. They'll just be a bit on the slow side compared to the 16" or 20" barrel lengths/velocities that most BDC scopes are set up for. With 75 or 77 grain bullets, the 13.7" will still be a mean little b*tch out to around 400-500 yards.

[NYT]

for those price points, i would go with vortex.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vortex-Razor-HD-Gen-II-4-5-27X56-w-Seekins-34mm-/282145228669?hash=item41b12a877d:g:RH8AAOSwV0RXulxe

and

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vortex-Razor-HD-Gen-II-1-6x24-Riflescope-RZR-16003-/161614501050?hash=item25a0f994ba:g:6~kAAOSwo6lWOC-M

[DT556]

What range are you planning to shoot out to? Couple hundred yards with the Noveske, then 500+ with the MWS

How long are your barrels? 13.7" Noveske CHF barrel in the Infidel, and MWS has the 16" CL barrel

What kind of rounds do you feed it? Average brass case ammo, may get some better match rounds for the MWS though

Are you looking to drill clover leafs or combat accuracy? Most shooting will be done offhand, all I'm wanting to do is hit steel targets at a couple hundred yards.

How is your math? I hope it's good, I'm a mechanical engineer. Haha.

How old are your eyes? 20/20 vision

[krnrspd]

Not sure how involved OP wants to be involved in the setup of his optics.

As fmjbt stated, Calculated BDC reticles for scopes are pretty much thrown out the window unless you want to waste the time to setup your own custom holdovers (ewww)

Since BDC reticles are out of the picture, you have to go with a Horus style reticle or mil moa hash/dot markings - but then that requires math input.

If drilling clover leafs were the objective then I would take a scope with a Horus reticle mounted on a ADM recon mount so you don't have to deal with Improperly aligned scope rings.

Also I have no clue what kind of stock op has so I wouldn't want a giant objective lens scope because then that wouldn't be comfortable to shoot with.

If man sized accuracy is the goal then I would go with a red dot.


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[Horrendo Revolver]

Most of the scopes being considered for the LMT have too much magnification for me. If I were the OP I would look the some different brands of scopes first to see which one(s) I saw best through, then narrow the magnification range down.

[krnrspd]

What range are you planning to shoot out to? Couple hundred yards with the Noveske, then 500+ with the MWS

How long are your barrels? 13.7" Noveske CHF barrel in the Infidel, and MWS has the 16" CL barrel

What kind of rounds do you feed it? Average brass case ammo, may get some better match rounds for the MWS though

Are you looking to drill clover leafs or combat accuracy? Most shooting will be done offhand, all I'm wanting to do is hit steel targets at a couple hundred yards.

How is your math? I hope it's good, I'm a mechanical engineer. Haha.

How old are your eyes? 20/20 vision

Ahhh that makes all the difference

The infidel is easy:
I would put an Eotech EXPS on it and call it a day; I just personally don't see the point of putting magnified optics on essentially something that's got a relatively short barrel as that will probably be your weak link.

for the MWS:
The MWS is easy, as long as your are using m855 or m193 a turnkey solution would be a 4x32 TA31F Trijicon Acog, glass is very very good, BDC tree makes things easy and you can grow into better optics with more features.

If you are more involved and you are wiling to invest the time into calculating bullet drop and wind, I would go with Bushnell Scope with a G2DMR reticle (Horus Style) mounted on a ADM recon. I would probably go with the 44mm (about that size objective) FFP (first focal plane) version, so that I don't have to mess with cheek well, length of pull/comb.

My two recommendations would be:
Bushnell LRS 3-12x44 (first choice with the G2 reticle)
SWFA SS HD 3-9x42

When shooting 5.56, especially at paper, impact strikes will be pretty hard to see even with a scope so you'll also want to allocate funds for a good spotting scope.

My take on things is that, stellar optics can be ruined or squandered on bad setup or bad form.

Also, on the top brand scopes everything is customizable, so you can get into trouble and end up having to do things twice if you get it wrong the first time. So try with an affordable but capable setup that will get you out to the range and then you will know what you will want later.

[FMJBT]

The MWS is a large frame AR, typically a 308. The 5.56 BDC ACOG would only match the 308 trajectory out to around 400 yards or so depending on bullet weight.

The Bushnell 3-12X44 FFP with G2DMR would be a good fit for the MWS. Reasonably light at around 22 ounces IIRC. Decent glass, and the reticle design is pretty intuitive to use even though most would consider it busy at first. Once you figure it out, you'll probably hardly ever touch the turrets to make adjustments. I've run one of them on an 18" SPR for several years now and it has been an extremely rugged and dependable setup. I'd actually pick that version over the larger 3.5-21X50 ERS for most applications. Figure with that reticle in an FFP design, most of your holdover points will be outside your field of view when zoomed in to 21X. In order to make the most use of that reticle for holdovers you'll be at about 14X max, so the 3-12X44 version that weighs about 13 ounces less than the 3.5-21X50 starts to make a lot of sense.....

I'd still suggest looking into the Burris XTRII scopes as well. Their reticle designs are not quite as well suited for holdover shooting like the G2DMR in the Bushnell, but they have very large, easy to dial turrets with a very solid and easy to set zero stop mechanism that makes dialing for corrections really, really easy. I typically shoot using holdovers rather than dialing, but transitioning to using the turrets on the XTRII scopes was pretty much a non-event for me. The glass quality and overall build construction are also far better than anything else in their price range, including the Bushnell 3-12X44.

[DT556]

Ahhh that makes all the difference

The infidel is easy:
I would put an Eotech EXPS on it and call it a day; I just personally don't see the point of putting magnified optics on essentially something that's got a relatively short barrel as that will probably be your weak link.

for the MWS:
The MWS is easy, as long as your are using m855 or m193 a turnkey solution would be a 4x32 TA31F Trijicon Acog, glass is very very good, BDC tree makes things easy and you can grow into better optics with more features.

If you are more involved and you are wiling to invest the time into calculating bullet drop and wind, I would go with Bushnell Scope with a G2DMR reticle (Horus Style) mounted on a ADM recon. I would probably go with the 44mm (about that size objective) FFP (first focal plane) version, so that I don't have to mess with cheek well, length of pull/comb.

My two recommendations would be:
Bushnell LRS 3-12x44 (first choice with the G2 reticle)
SWFA SS HD 3-9x42

When shooting 5.56, especially at paper, impact strikes will be pretty hard to see even with a scope so you'll also want to allocate funds for a good spotting scope.

My take on things is that, stellar optics can be ruined or squandered on bad setup or bad form.

Also, on the top brand scopes everything is customizable, so you can get into trouble and end up having to do things twice if you get it wrong the first time. So try with an affordable but capable setup that will get you out to the range and then you will know what you will want later.

I was originally thinking of an Aimpoint T-1, but since I already run those and the Comp M4's on several other rifles I wanted to switch it up from a red dot and go to a low power scope. The barrels in the Noveske rifles are regarded as some of the best in the industry, pricey too, at $500 for just a barrel. I've seen dozen of people get sub MOA groupings with the 13.7" barrel.

The MWS is a .308, you probably have it mistaken for the MRP which is the 5.56 model from LMT. I'm leaning towards the Bushnell too as I've read a lot of great things about it too.

[OpticsPlanet]

I think the Leupold Mark 6 is an excellent choice for the LMT, but pricey.

The Bushnell is probably the best value in terms of quality/features for the price.

For the Infidel, I would go with the Primary Arms 1-8x instead of the Burris.

-Matt S.

[DT556]

I think the Leupold Mark 6 is an excellent choice for the LMT, but pricey.

The Bushnell is probably the best value in terms of quality/features for the price.

For the Infidel, I would go with the Primary Arms 1-8x instead of the Burris.

-Matt S.

I'd be willing to spend the extra money on the Mark 6 if you think it's noticeably worth the ~$700 increase. If so, what reticle would you go with?

Someone previously mentioned I shouldn't go with a dedicated 5.56 reticle because of the 13.7" barrel of the Infidel. Is that true?

[Tract Optics]

Are you wanting to shoot that LMT off hand at 500 yard + ranges? If that's the case, the lighter weight of the Mark 6 is worth the price difference alone.

If you're shooting that off a bench or supported, the ERS would work perfectly for you. I have one on a JP in 6.5...its a brute, but I'm not hauling it around too much. Never had an issue hearing a ding out to 1k. Good scope for the money....but the XTRII has my attention for that price range now. I wouldn't toss it to the side...and in fact, I would opt for my 4-20 over that ERS for plate plinking.

For your Noveske...may want to give some more thought to a magnifier/RDS combo. If you're wanting to hit targets quick and not as worried about precision shot after shot, its a great way to go. But if you like dialing up magnification, the razor gen II 1-6 can be had with the savings from your LMT depending on what you decide on.

[DT556]

Are you wanting to shoot that LMT off hand at 500 yard + ranges? If that's the case, the lighter weight of the Mark 6 is worth the price difference alone.

If you're shooting that off a bench or supported, the ERS would work perfectly for you. I have one on a JP in 6.5...its a brute, but I'm not hauling it around too much. Never had an issue hearing a ding out to 1k. Good scope for the money....but the XTRII has my attention for that price range now. I wouldn't toss it to the side...and in fact, I would opt for my 4-20 over that ERS for plate plinking.

For your Noveske...may want to give some more thought to a magnifier/RDS combo. If you're wanting to hit targets quick and not as worried about precision shot after shot, its a great way to go. But if you like dialing up magnification, the razor gen II 1-6 can be had with the savings from your LMT depending on what you decide on.

I'm okay with the price on the Razor Gen II 1-6x, if you highly recommend it. I just wish it came in black instead of that dark bronze color or whatever it is. What reticle would you recommend?