[Street_erc]

Hello all.
Just picked up my first ACR this morning at the FFL.
First off let me say I love this gun.
I had never seen one in real life and was a little worried I just dropped$2000+ on something I would not like when I got it. I ordered it based basically off You-tube videos, generally not a good idea, but I had loved the idea of this gun since I first seen it on "Future Weapons" back when it was the Masada. The I heard Bushmasters was making the gun for public purchased, I was thrilled, until I saw the price tag. Being a modest blue collar worker I never thought I would never be able to afford the price tag.
The stars must have been in my favor, because over the next few months I had a few really lucky things happen. First off I got lucky at the casino a couple times, now by no means should anyone plan on financing a gun based on the casino. Well about March I had enough to start thinking about getting one. The I started seeing all the "Bushmaster Closes it's doors" posts and thought I was gonna be too late. Lucky for me they were just changing locations. Originally I wanted to wait and get it in 6.8 but after the closing scare, I started cruising Gunbrooker for good deals. I found one I was comfortable with, NIB, A+ seller, ect and placed a bid. Now two weeks later I am a proud owner of an Enhanced ACR Black. Sorry for the long post, I just needed to tell my story, and no matter how far out of reach something is, if you plan right and watch your money, in time it can happen. Thanks

P.S. Any ideas on good optics for the ACR?

 

[DSM]

Good to hear another ACR owner is happy with their rifle!

As for optics, a little spendy but Aimpoint T1 or H1 red dots are my preferred poison. Stack it on a LaRue HK height mount with some Troy micros for irons sights and you'll be good to go.

 

[oif0709]

Im looking into an aimpoint myself. I ordered one but it never came in. I loved the eotech. Congrats on the new rifle. Im happy with mine. Its really growing on me. I originally wanted the scar and now beretta released their own modular type but I shy away from beretta since I can do more damage throwing my m9 at a threat rather than try to hit it. If you do good at the casino again go for an acog!

 

[cjt50]

Optics, the eternal question.................

If you can, I would suggest trying to look thru any optic you are thinking about purchasing. Red dot / holo sites go from $50-$1000 depending on what you buy. I'm one of those indiots that has a shelf full of optics. I have an aimpont and an eotecg and depending on what day it is which one I like better. Part of my problem is my eyes are not what they used to be and sometimes the red dot / holo sites are fuzzy even with glasses on. WAIT,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,I have a 1x-4x to cover that.

Have fun with the search, it can be very frustrating but rewarding in the end.

BTW, enjoy the new rifle, it's fun to shot....

 

[oif0709]

Exactly. Optics options are endless. The aimpoint and eotech allow for a flip to side magnifier while the acog is fixed. I have only looked through an acog but its clarity was unreal when compared to my eotech magnifier. Since this is a new rifle system and other companies are developing similar platforms we can only anxiously await aftermarket products. From what I have seen in my short time as a member on this forum more and more is on the way. I.e. barrels trigger units and so on.

And back to the vision issue. I had to train deploy and be proficient using my weapon as a left handed shooter due to eye dominance. And optic easy on the eyes is what I go for. Its a little getting used to for me and my acr. Because its meant to be fired either way.

 

[Btpd142]

I put the Eotech 557 with 3x mag on mine and the weight becomes and issue. I like that the flip to side mount magnifier is quickly moved to the side for CQC situations. Plus when the magnifier is to the side the backup sights can be used if the Eotech is down. The Trijicon Acog will save you on the weight but you may not always be in a situation where magnification is needed. Eye relief and time to acuire your target will become an issue. If you are going to just play with it at the range go with Trijicon. If you want a good all around set up, Eotech for the Zombie war. Aimpoint by far is the best out there but very pricey. If you use it for your job and your life is on the line Aimpoint is the way to go. It Has a similar set up like Eotech but with longer battery life. Hope this helps

 

[oif0709]

+1 that is the eotech I had. I did not need the ballistic reticle and where I had it mounted on my ar had my spent brass ejecting right into the magnifier when it was flipped to the right. It was an excellent setup. I sold it to put towards my acr and hope to get an eotech or another acr. My ar wouldn't allow me to fit a backup sight magnified and eotech on my reciever due to the ring between that and my handguard. Another benefit of the full length upper rail on the acr. I do believe trijicon came out with 2 red dot reflex sights. I saw the larger one which I think was a tijicon and it was nice. Had a field of view larger than eotech I thought. Seemed heavy though. Im trying to stay light with the acr since my ar is fitted with all the stout accessories and parts.

 

[ThunderDan19]

Just chiming in with another vote for ACOG. If you decide to go that route, I got mine for a good price and can direct you to the site where I got it.

 

[BoovarBjarki]

I myself would normally run Aimpoint T1(Awesome!) but for some reason the other day in my pursuit to order optics for my ACR I ended up ordering EOTech EXPS3-0 in tan coupled with their G23.FTS in tan. Thought I would try something different for a change.

 

[kungfuandy]

If I had to put my life on it I would go with an ACOG, I just wish I could afford one. If you ever have to carry a rifle for extended periods of times its small size, weight, and magnification are pretty handy. I've never been a huge fan of red dots/holo sights, although my preferences are highly biased by personal experiences with ACOGs. I've never liked the idea of adding more electronics/batteries and the added weight and bulk of a magnifier. Not to mention ACOGs are built rock solid, a guy on my team took a dragonuv round to his ACOG and it saved his face. The round was actually lodged in the ACOG and you could see that it didn't make it through the rear lenses. He still got parts of the jacket in his face but it kept him alive.

 

[fun_gary]

Aimpoint, ACOG and EOTech. They're all awesome. But man they are pricey. You get what you pay for but in the meantime while you save up you might want to check out the vortex strikefire. I got one used for 80 bucks. It's NO Aimpoint, but its the best 80 bucks I have ever spent on an optic! It has a really terrible screw in magnifier but it does what it is supposed to do i guess. Check one out if you get the chance.

BTW, there is a red/green and a red only model. Apparently the red only one gets MUCH brighter than the red/green. Never really seed the need for a green dot.

good luck to you!
DWS

 

[Ancient]

If you've got the green, you might consider the new Schmidt & Bender 1-8x Short Dot scope. I think this is what I will get if/when I purchase a rifle of this type. The new 1-8 model is not on their website yet, but it's in this year's S&B Police Marksman catalogue. The basics of it are this:

You have a 1-8x24mm scope, meaning variable 1-8 power, 24mm objective lens, from arguably the best maker of hard-use rifle scopes in the world.

It has a CQB reticle in the first focal plane, meaning: The "thick" sections of the cross-hair posts are outlined rather than filled, so they obscure less visual information while still providing fast centering. The fine inner cross is so fine that at 1x, it is essentially invisible. This needs to be specified because the reticle is in the first focal plane, meaning it zooms with the image in the European style. You may not be accustomed to this if you're an American shooter, but again, the inner hairs are so fine they're almost invisible at 1x. As you zoom in, they become visible for precision aiming at longer ranges. Additionally, they are marked with angle tics (like a mil-dot scope), and because the reticle expands with the image, the relationship (and thus the mil-dot ranging calculations) work at any magnification. Also additionally, you can zoom freely across the entire magnification range without point-of-aim drift, or the additional complexity required to minimize point of aim drift in second-focal-plane (American-style) reticles. This means the full range of magnification is fully functional without making the device more complex or delicate. Also also additionally, the inner fine cross illuminates red on demand for low-light shooting. Also also additionally additionally, it will cover the entire magnification range in one half-turn of the wheel. In Zoom Mode (magnifications above 1.0x), the optics are tuned to be parallax free at 100m in the manner of a traditional high-end rifle scope.

On the other side of the tactical coin, it has an available red dot in the second focal plane, meaning the dot remains a fixed apparent size as the image zooms (rather than "growing with the image"), allowing you to use the dot in the manner of an Aimpoint at the lesser zoom settings. In CC Mode (when the magnification wheel is dropped to 1.0x, unmagnified), the optics lock into a separate parallax-free configuration such that the dot is parallax free at 25m and simulates the behavior of an Aimpoint or other "red dot" reflex sight (not requiring eye alignment).

The illumination circuit toggles between the dot and reticle illumination, and can be set to a number of intensities suitable to daylight, night, and NVD operation on an intensity knob similar to an Aimpoint's. One small difference from the Aimpoint is that there is a power-off detent between any two illumination setting detents, so you do turn it on and off, but you're always one click away from off (and when off, you're one click away from your favorite intensity setting). The circuitry is durable in the way Aimpoint and ACOG electronics are durable (requiring less power-draw and complexity than laser-based systems). If illumination fails, you still have a CQB-purposed cross hair which is quick and transparent at low power and very precise at high power. All other functions are purely mechanical.

The basic optics and mechanics of the scope come from the Schmidt & Bender lineage, which includes any number of renowned hunting, police, and scout-sniper scopes. Clarity, light transmission, ruggedness, waterproofing (submersion resistance) and absurd precision are all there. Also, it's a 30mm straight tube scope, so you can put it on anything you can get 30mm rings for.

One must consider the length of the thing, as at 11 inches it is very short for a precision scope but far longer than most close-quarters optics. That said, it takes the place of both your reflex sight and your magnifier, and negates the need for fold-over mounts on one component or the other, and also negates the need to switch from red-dot setup to scope setup if you want a fine long-range reticle. All of that in a 1.25 lb unit, so I think I can spare it the space it requires on the top rail. What you do lose is space for a co-witnessed rear back-up iron sight, as the scope in Zoom Mode presumes an eye relief of a little over three inches. Right now, I'm thinking tall quick-release scope mounts so that the scope clears over the top of a folded rear sight. Remember, with a power failure, you still have a reticle. If enough of the scope fails so catastrophically that I can't even use the physical crosshairs, it's probably time to remove the thing anyway because its optics are compromised, and a co-witnessed sight would be moot. For a competition gun, you could also opt for the Surefire 45-degree-mounted iron sights.

*deep breath* So yeah, this device is currently at the top of my optics wishlist for a tactical rifle. Again, not yet on their website, but you can see the first version, the 1.1-4x20 Short Dot, there for comparison.

 

[cjt50]

Well, I don't need to go to their web site after that write up. That sir was very informative...

Wish I could afford one, but it's a weeeeee bit (read alot) outta my price range for an optic

 

[Ancient]

Ah, it's just money! What's a few grand here and there?

That said, awesome as the scope sounds, it is still a scope. A lot of traditionalists (that is to say, modern traditionalists for whom a tactical rifle should have short little lumps on top of it) are going to balk at mounting a ten inch tube on a carbine, but I'm an iconoclast, and I have a particular fondness for anything that does everything and still does everything well. Plus, my dad's family are all riflemen, and they all swear that they'd buy nothing but S&B glass if they could afford it.

So I'm sure it's not for everybody, but it's worth putting into the optics discussion.

 

[cjt50]

Amen, but unfortunatly my wife and kids need a house to live in.

But you are right, S&B makes and puts together some of the finest scopes available.

 

[Tommys229]

the wife and kids can sleep in the grass with a poncho liner.

 

[cjt50]

the wife and kids can sleep in the grass with a poncho liner.

Tried that with my 1st wife, it cost me alot of money during the settlement

 

[Tommys229]

HA! you should have hazed her into submission

 

[Street_erc]

Just a quick update....I went with the best option I could afford at this time, I couldn't wait any longer, the gun just looked naked without one. So I ended up getting the EOTech 512. I loved the look at the price wasn't a back breaker. Got it on Friday and took it out today to try. I never knew it was so easy to blow $40 of ammo so fast...lol..anyways there is a side note to this story now, my father grew up loving the big bores, he's one of those guys that would say anything below .30 was useless. Well he is getting a little older and a little more open minded now. He actually agreed to shoot my ACR today with the new EOTech, and 50 rounds later, he can't stop talking about how much he loves that gun. I showed it to my friend who is a deputy, and a member of the National Guard, and the first thing he said was....we need to get these in the squad cars...lol.....so all in all I could not be happy with my purchase of an ACR. Thanks for all the advice.

 

[cjt50]

Nice, grabbing other folks to the dark side. I have actually sold 2 to other people that have tried mine. Darn thing is addicting