Magnification

02 Oct 07 More on rifle optics: A student at an Urban Rifle Course last weekend in NV brought an RA/XCR in 223. On the top rail, he had a close-eye-relief, 4X ACOG. It was rear-mounted, and eye relief was less than two centimeters. The XCR, of course, ran fine for the duration. The ACOG surely functioned also, but the student had great difficulty finding targets quickly, particularly when he was swinging the muzzle laterally. He invariably overshot the target and then had to reverse direction and come back in an attempt to find it in his scope. When I used his rifle, I experienced the same problem! When engaging multiple targets, I would swing laterally, but, by the time I saw the target in the scope, I had already swung past it. In addition, the scope was so close to my face, that nearly all of the downrange area was blocked out. By contrast, my Aimpoint-Micro-equipped DSA/FAL, with the optic mounted far forward, allowed me to continuously monitor my flanks and rear, and I was consistently able to swing laterally on targets and not swing past them. I know many like 4X, and even greater, magnification, because they can make out detail not observable otherwise. One gets to see "a lot of a little." However, when so doing, you better have someone else watching your back! My conclusion is that 4X magnification on a serious rifle may be arguable w hen one is functioning as a member of a military unit, and there is thus always someone watching your back. However, for independent Operators, any optic with magnification in excess of 2.5X is contra-indicated, in my opinion. Zero-magnification optics, like Aimpoint and EOTech, are probably best. /John