Lightweight
Mentioned the Aimpoint Micro a bit back. And a reader suggested that the Bushnell TRS was the same, made by the same folks in China, and comes in a 1/6th the cost. Color me skeptical. But I’m pondering a lightweight AR build as trunk gun and looking at a tiny optic. Thoughts?
April 11th, 2012 at 9:25 am
Trunk guns get beat up so to stand any chance at all of the gun being on, make sure you get a good mount for the optics.
April 11th, 2012 at 9:31 am
It may be made in the same factory, but I’ve also heard craftsman tools and dewalt tools are the same… It just one manufacturer pays for better materials or better internals.
That will come down to battery life and clarity of the optic.
April 11th, 2012 at 9:37 am
I think you should get a nice made in the USA Eotech.
April 11th, 2012 at 9:42 am
I have a few of those.
April 11th, 2012 at 9:49 am
I have the EOTech forward-mounted (read: on the quad-rail handguard/forend) on a flattop AR with collapsible stock; it all fits nicely in a tennis racquet bag and has withstood the bumps and bruises associated with being a truck gun. Also have the EOTech similarly mounted on a FN-FAL (para) which actually is my favorite rifle. Of course BUIS are essential. I am eyeing the Aimpoint micro though because I know a lot of guys who are using it for the same application.
April 11th, 2012 at 9:51 am
I have a Bushnell TRS-25 mounted on my Ruger MK II using a Weigand rail.
I like it quite a bit, and for the money it is fantastic.
I don’t know if it is tough enough to survive rough use, but it has held zero through many trips to the range and the meager recoil of couple thousand rounds of .22LR.
My one warning with the TRS-25 is that the mounting screw that it ships with is a piece of crap that breaks when you approach anything like reasonable torque on it. I wound up buying a 20 pack of alloy steel screws in the appropriate oddball metric size (M3.5 x .6 x 30mm), turned the head diameter down a bit to fit into the sight, and that made it all better.
Heck, I have 19 of the screws left, maybe I should offer to sell ’em to other TRS-25 owners.
April 11th, 2012 at 10:00 am
In looking at photos of the two optics, I can see similarities but they are clearly not identical. Having had a cheap red dot before, I would NOT trust one on anything for SHTF. If you’re looking for an inexpensive red dot a la the aimpoint, have a look at the Primary Arms Micro Dots. Very good inexpensive optics but not on the same playing field as aimpoint.
April 11th, 2012 at 10:48 am
I’m with ChrisJ – Primary Arms microdot. I have three – one on an AR, one on a Ruger 22/45 and one on a Socom 16. No issues, good battery life, decent price. I’ve paid particular attention to the one on the Socom, and it hasn’t shifted zero or had any issues through maybe 200 rounds.
Not really tough testing, but my experience with other inexpensive red dots has not been nearly as good.
April 11th, 2012 at 11:00 am
another vote for Primary Arms micro dot. I have 3. one on my 3 gun ARs. its held zero thru 1000s of rounds. held up to running stages, bumping into stuff and even falling on the ground. its good enough to hit 8″ steel plates @ 150 yards with no magnification.
April 11th, 2012 at 12:28 pm
“…made by the same folks in China…”
Huh. Sweden’s in China now. Who knew?
(Whoever told you that was full of shit.)
April 11th, 2012 at 12:30 pm
I managed to kill a Primary Arms red dot on Friday. And it didn’t come back to life on Sunday either.
April 11th, 2012 at 1:29 pm
The Aimpoint Micro and the Bushnell TRS are nothing alike
April 11th, 2012 at 2:02 pm
I’ve got both Bushnell TRS-25 and a Primary arms micro dot. The Bushnell rides on my 10/22 and is awesome, Ive heard many good things on that sight. Im sure it would be fine on an AR. The Primary arms is on my AK-47. Its been through 500+ rounds of 7.62×39 on a Ultimak gas tube rail and has done exceptionally well. The only gripe that I have is the torx screw that stripped a little bit when torquing it down. I may in the future go get a better screw. for now it is great. Im sure either would work well on your trunk gun. If I had 600 to put down on a sight I would buy the aimpoint. But I would rather buy another gun and ammo and then put a cheaper red dot on the gun.
April 11th, 2012 at 2:09 pm
I would get an Aimpoint T-1 or H-1 (if you don’t care about being able to use night vision with it) from Larue Tactical on their tall quick detach mount. The factory aimpoint mount kind of sucks.
If you want a cheaper optic the Aimpoint PRO (Patrol Rifle Optic) is a good deal. I would upgrade to a Larue mount but the factory mount isn’t that bad.
April 11th, 2012 at 4:00 pm
I’m pretty sure that the Nikon Red Dot for $120 is the exact same one sold by BSA for under $40.
http://www.copsplus.com/prodnum5620.php
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B000HAM524/ref=asc_df_B000HAM5241972961?ie=UTF8&condition=new&tag=dealtmp698609-20&creative=395165&creativeASIN=B000HAM524&linkCode=asm
April 11th, 2012 at 4:44 pm
Another vote for Primary Arms Aimpoint micro clone. I’ve got 3 and they’ve worked great. Just so you know, they will not hold zero against the recoil of a 45-70. 🙂
If you’re looking for a rough service piece with ridiculous battery life then get the real thing.
April 11th, 2012 at 6:20 pm
It’s too bad you can’t find Aimpoint Micro R-1’s around for (relatively) cheap, anymore. I wish I’d bought more than one for the low three hundred dollar range they were being cleared out at. The silver color doesn’t exactly “match” any of my guns, but, if I cared that much, I’d DuraCoat it.
Oh, and +1 for the Micro (of any variety) on a Larue tall mount.
April 12th, 2012 at 1:59 pm
“trunk gun” == iron sights.
Unless you live in Wyoming or Oklahoma or some of Land of Wide-Open Spaces… but even then the question remains, if it’s that far away why do you need to shoot it?
April 12th, 2012 at 2:00 pm
Oops, “some of” should read “some other”.