How low can you go? AR15 scope question.

[FirstFreedom]

The question is,

-for a flattop AR, with no triangle front sight (flattop gas block),
-with the lowest comfortable cheek weld possible, without pressing ones cheek down unduly/uncomfortably hard, or slipping the eye bone bottom (orbital bone?) below the top 'corner' of the buttstock,
-with a 1" tube scope of some kind (the magnif really is irrelevant for the question),
-what HEIGHT of STANDARD scope rings made for weaver/p-rail (like Burris Zee for example), is the lowest one can go and still maintain normal (but lowest possible) cheek weld - low, medium, high, or extra-high??? I'm thinking and hoping medium, but it's possible the answer is high.

It's a question of alignment, and I want to go as low as possible, yet still maintain normalcy and an accurate line-up with the center of the reticle for quick snap-shooting, you see. And I'd really like to get it right the first time, and not have to send back rings to the internet order company to get a different size. For what it's worth, the present scope of choice is a Burris Fullfield II, 1.75-5x20mm.

P.S. The answer will of course in truth depend upon the BRAND of scope ring, because 'medium' to one company may be off a few hundredths of an inch compared to medium of another company. So if you do have an answer for me, please tell what brand/model of rings we're talking. Thanks.

P.P.S. I'd like to stay under $50 for the cost of these rings, so stuff like Badger is out.

[The British Soldier]

Hi,

The concern is the diameter of the objective lens of the scope that you install; 1" ring scopes seem to average out around 40mm OG diameter, thus one would want the optical axis of the sight to be above 20mm from the rail.

Try Brownells for low profile scope rings [www.brownells.com]; their range for the AR15 is good and they offer bases and rings that interface with the existing picatinny rail.

The current scope of choice must be a 20mm tube as you specify it was a Burris 1.75-5x20mm - usually the last dimension refers to the OG diameter.

Whichever sight you select, I trust Brownells to sort you out a suitable mount.

[FirstFreedom]

The concern is the diameter of the objective lens of the scope that you install

Well, no it's not. Not for this question. This question ASSUMES that the objective and ocular bell sizes are not issues. I will make it work with SOME scope if not the little 20mm burris. Don't worry about that. I'm concerned ONLY with cheek weld. I'm fairly confident the 20mm scope would work fine with LOW rings, but I'm also fairly certain this would be an un-naturally low line of sight. So the cheek weld/line of sight is the limiting factor, not the scope bell sizes, it seems to me. Thank you for your help - you obviously know an awful lot about this rifle.

[MeekAndMild]

FF do you have a round face or a narrow face and are you fat or skinny? For instance I have 'native american' style cheekbones so I'm not comfortable with the Leupold high rings. When I get around to it I'm going to try see-through rings to see if I can get a little bit higher.

This may help: http://www.midwayusa.com/midwayusa/staticpages/charts/ring_height_comparisons.htm

[FirstFreedom]

That does help Meek; thanks. I'm skinny and also somewhat with native american (semi-prominent) cheek bones (I think). The vast majority of scope rings that are made/marketed specifically for AR15-types, are quite a bit higher of course than even regular "very high" rings, because they need to not be occluded by the triangle front sight which most ARs have on them. But I'm gonna dremel mine off (and later replace it with a weaver rail flattop gas block part), because I want to get the scope as low as possible. Because of the design of the AR, with the recoil spring tube going into the stock, the stock cannot be made to be any lower. This fact is what rules out my otherwise first choice; that being LOW rings, which would work with the current scope, it looks to me. So, the question becomes, medium, high, or very high? It looks like I could lower the current setup (which uses 'regular' AR rings) by about 3/4ths of an inch, or a tad less, and still have a comfortable sight picture without unnaturally lowering my head. Thanks.

[MeekAndMild]

Too bad they have all that recoil buffer/spring/tube stuff in the stock. It would be nice to have a narrower comb instead of a higher scope. :(

[Lycanthrope]

I run the Simmons Pro Diamond with 20mm objective on my RRA/CLark Gator setup. I use med rings which are too low for everyone but myself it seems. When I slam my cheekbone down to the A2 butt stock the scope is in focus for me and that's why I chose those rings.

http://members.bellatlantic.net/~jefwolfe/gator.JPG