GDITurbo77

I'm not sure lol. I'm new to optics so I wasn't sure what I was and wasn't supposed to be able to do with them. The magnifier says that it can be mounted for Absolute and Lower 1/3 Co-Witness heights. That kinda made me believe it was supposed to work in conjunction with the BUIS if necessary. I'm okay with how I have it set up right now, I just wanted to make sure I was mounting it correctly.

If my eye is 2" or less from the magnifier optic, I can see everything great. Anything beyond that and to drop off in the FOV is massive. If I position the magnifier forward enough to clear the rear sight when it's flipped up, I can barely see anything at all through the magnifier. I can just about make out the red dot but I can't see what I'm aiming at in the FOV. I positioned the magnifier back as far as I can so that it sits over top of my rear sight so I have better FOV if I'm just using the magnifier/RDS, but then I can't co-witness with the BUIS while the magnifier is down. I need to flip it up and then I can co-witness with just the BUIS and the RDS. Is that how it's intended to work?

I had the option of mounting it either way so I mounted it so it flips to the right. It's easier for me that way. I ended up mounting it over top of my rear iron sight. That means I can co-witness with the RDS only and not with both the RDS and the magnifier. If I push the magnifier far enough down the rail to clear the rear sight when it's flipped up, the FOV is non-existent. I need to push it as far back on the rail as I can to be usable. But then I have to flip the magnifier out of the way to access the BUIS.

I'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong or not while mounting the magnifier. The optical end of the magnifier has to be like 1 inch from my eye for me to see the total field of view. I tried to mount it in front of my rear iron sight and the field of view was so tiny I could hardly see through it. Does that seem right?

I'll have to see when I get it I guess. I thought I read that this particular combo was good for eye relief.

I know the Strikefire II comes with a forward cantilever mount. Will that make it better or worse?

So I ended up going with the Vortex Strikefire II/VMX3T Magnifier combo. I got a decent price on it over the Romeo 5/Juliet combo. I guess my next question is, can I leave my MBUS flip-up sights on there as BUIS? Or will they interfere with the mounting of the Magnifier/RDS? I'm not sure how far down the rail you typically mount the optics but I assume you would want it closer to the stock.

Sorry it has a rail on the top and m-lok on the other 3 sides.

I believe the Romeo 5 has the shake to wake feature.

So I picked up some basic MBUS flip up irons when I purchased my rifle so I can shoot it. Now I'm interested in adding an optic and maybe a flashlight. I'm looking at 2 different Red Dots right now. Sig Sauer ROMEO5 1x20mm Red Dot Sight https://www.opticsplanet.com/sig-sauer-romeo5-x-compact-red-dot-sight-1x20mm-2-moa-red-dot-0-5-moa-adj-aaa-m1.html Vortex SPARC AR II 1x22mm 2 MOA Red Dot Sight https://www.opticsplanet.com/vortex-sparc-ii-1x-2-moa-red-dot-sight.html I'm also considering adding a magnifier as well so I'm covered both close and medium range. Looking at this one. Vortex VMX-3T Magnifier with Flip Mount https://www.opticsplanet.com/vortex-vmx-3t-magnifier-with-flip-mount.html For the light, I was considering a Streamlight. Maybe this... Streamlight ProTac Rail Mount HL-X Long Gun Light https://www.opticsplanet.com/streamlight-protac-railmount-hl-x-1000-lumen-fixed-mount-long-gun-light.html Looking for some constructive criticism about the choices or maybe point me in the right direction. It will be mainly for home defense and range days.

It's a quad rail m-lok handguard. I just ordered a handstop for underneath the handrail from Magpul. It will probably help out a bit.

So I went thru 40 rounds of WWB 5.56 and 20 rounds of PMC .223 and the handguard was getting pretty toasty. Not to the point where it was burning our hands but still very warm to the touch. Is this normal after just 60 rounds? Should I not be putting too many rounds through it at the range? Also, the muzzlebrake at the end of the barrel gets extremely hot. I guess this is understandable, but I was just concerned that I might actually catch my soft case on fire (or at the very least melt the nylon if I put it in the case right away after finishing up. Do I need to be worried about that? I ended up wrapping the barrel in a hand towel to absorb some of the heat when putting it in the case. Sorry for the noob questions.

Picked up a few hundred rounds and 2 extra mags.

My newest addition to the family...