One of the popular sayings amongst video professionals is “Sound is 50% of video”. The point is- many folks focus almost entirely on the picture quality in their videos, and neglect to pay enough attention to getting proper sound in their videos. Why do I mention this here? Well, 50% of a good precision rifle is the scope! It won’t help you to neck turn your brass and hand trickle the powder charge while loading if your scope won’t hold zero! Like many things in life the old adage “you get what you pay for” holds true. That’s not to say that sometimes you pay more for what you get (designer eyewear comes to mind) – but generally you get what you pay for.
When it came time to select optics for the AR-MPR project- I was looking for a few things:
- Dependable quality
- Value
- Capabilities
Time and again I’ve learned the importance of quality tools. Buy it once, and it’ll serve you for a lifetime. You don’t have to pay a fortune for quality, but at the same time, you won’t (but rarely) find quality at “Harbor Freight” prices. The happy medium is often not the highest end, but somewhere in the middle. Finally, I was looking for an optics package that would satisfy the requirements for the types of shooting that I expect to do with the AR-MPR AR-15 rifle (ranging from benchrest style shooting to long-range varminting).
Based on the criteria listed above, and the helpful folks at Nikon (namely Jon LaCorte – a winning competitive shooter) I landed on the Nikon Monarch 6-24 x 50mm riflescope, and the new M-223 scope mount which is purpose built for the AR-15 platform, and the type of shooting (long-range) that I’m going to be performing.
Optics used for AR-MPR - Nikon Monarch 6-24 x 50mm - Click for larger view - Image Copyright 2011 Ultimate Reloader
In the picture above you can see what comes with the Monarch scope package and the M-223 mount:
Nikon Monarch 6-24 x 50mm Riflescope: (1″ tube)
- Scope assembly
- Thee turret pairs – Small (installed by default), Tall (with tall covers), Large, extra mounting screws
- Front and rear caps
- Cleaning/Storage cloth (black)
- Fog eliminator
- Sun shade (tube)
- Instructions
Nikon M-223 AR-15 Scope Mount (for 1″ tube)
- Mount (with clamp for picatinny rail)
- Allen keys for scope clamp and picatinny rail clamp
- Instructions
I really like the way that you can replace the turrets quickly, while you maintain your zero (more on that to come). It is evident that this is a quality unit, and it comes with a great standard list of accessories!
Next we’ll mount this scope, level the reticles, and get it zeroed (roughed in – on paper) before we take this rifle to the range to function test and sight in.
Thanks,
Gavin
