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A challenger appears!
There's been a gap in the sub-$100 AR15 one-piece mount market for some time, and it looks like Burris has decided to fill it as part of their foray into medium-priced AR optics (the Prism optic, their 3x magnifier and mount, etc).
Most of the mounts in this price range have a major flaw of some sort - mediocre quality, not enough forward offset for eye relief, not enough or too much height, no room on the rail behind the mount for a BUIS, or some combination of the above. The Armalite's been popular, but is too low by a good bit, and no BUIS will fit under it. RRA nearly hit the mark with their new version, but they forgot to leave room on the rail for a BUIS, and whiffed this one.
Enter the Burris AR-PEPR (Proper Eye Position Ready):
Somebody did their homework on this one. The height is good, it appears to have better forward offset than any in this price range, there's room on the rail for a BUIS, and it should be typical Burris quality. As a bonus, they supply it with their railed ring tops (normally a $20 option), which can be switched out for the standard ring tops on the Burris XTR rings if desired.
Listed for $70 at SWFA (http://www.swfa.com/c-2735-burris-ar...al-mounts.aspx), it looks pretty compelling. Burris has also published a nearly complete set of specs on their web page (something every mount manufacturer should do), lacking only the dimensions of the rail portion.
There are a few potential trade-offs. Like the classic Burris XTR rings it's based on, the rings are wide, which gives lots of surface area for a good grip, but can limit how much front to back adjustment a scope has, particularly compact scopes. Not everyone will like the Picatinny ring tops, and swapping with the standard ones will require buying a standard set (or finding someone who wants to swap, which may not be hard). There's no quick or semi-quick release, and the rail nuts are Burris' standard big hex nuts, which stick out a good bit. This mount won't appeal to the LaRue fans, but this isn't their market segment.
Still, to get extended eye relief before this, it took going to expensive mounts in the $200 range, like LaRue or ADM, or using an extended rail with rings, which has more connections to loosen up. Depending on the fit and forward offset, this may be the perfect mount for the popular Millett DMS-1, which needs more forward offset than any of the current sub-$100 mounts provide. The height of the 30mm mount will leave enough room for a folded BUIS up to 0.7" tall under a DMS-1.
The mounts are scheduled to start shipping in February 2009, and many people, including me, have preordered them. As always, the proof is in the pudding, but many value-oriented AR shooters are waiting anxiously for this mount to show up. If it gives the DMS-1 the space it needs to perform, I predict it'll be a huge seller.
For reference, here's the Big List of AR15 one-piece mounts, including sections on rings and extended rails:
There's been a gap in the sub-$100 AR15 one-piece mount market for some time, and it looks like Burris has decided to fill it as part of their foray into medium-priced AR optics (the Prism optic, their 3x magnifier and mount, etc).
Most of the mounts in this price range have a major flaw of some sort - mediocre quality, not enough forward offset for eye relief, not enough or too much height, no room on the rail behind the mount for a BUIS, or some combination of the above. The Armalite's been popular, but is too low by a good bit, and no BUIS will fit under it. RRA nearly hit the mark with their new version, but they forgot to leave room on the rail for a BUIS, and whiffed this one.
Enter the Burris AR-PEPR (Proper Eye Position Ready):
Somebody did their homework on this one. The height is good, it appears to have better forward offset than any in this price range, there's room on the rail for a BUIS, and it should be typical Burris quality. As a bonus, they supply it with their railed ring tops (normally a $20 option), which can be switched out for the standard ring tops on the Burris XTR rings if desired.
Listed for $70 at SWFA (http://www.swfa.com/c-2735-burris-ar...al-mounts.aspx), it looks pretty compelling. Burris has also published a nearly complete set of specs on their web page (something every mount manufacturer should do), lacking only the dimensions of the rail portion.
There are a few potential trade-offs. Like the classic Burris XTR rings it's based on, the rings are wide, which gives lots of surface area for a good grip, but can limit how much front to back adjustment a scope has, particularly compact scopes. Not everyone will like the Picatinny ring tops, and swapping with the standard ones will require buying a standard set (or finding someone who wants to swap, which may not be hard). There's no quick or semi-quick release, and the rail nuts are Burris' standard big hex nuts, which stick out a good bit. This mount won't appeal to the LaRue fans, but this isn't their market segment.
Still, to get extended eye relief before this, it took going to expensive mounts in the $200 range, like LaRue or ADM, or using an extended rail with rings, which has more connections to loosen up. Depending on the fit and forward offset, this may be the perfect mount for the popular Millett DMS-1, which needs more forward offset than any of the current sub-$100 mounts provide. The height of the 30mm mount will leave enough room for a folded BUIS up to 0.7" tall under a DMS-1.
The mounts are scheduled to start shipping in February 2009, and many people, including me, have preordered them. As always, the proof is in the pudding, but many value-oriented AR shooters are waiting anxiously for this mount to show up. If it gives the DMS-1 the space it needs to perform, I predict it'll be a huge seller.
For reference, here's the Big List of AR15 one-piece mounts, including sections on rings and extended rails:
But I will have to look into this for my bench gun. thanks for the quick overview. I will preorder mines with my next paycheck!
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