One big contributor to poor group consistency is bullet concentricity in the case. Think of it this way, if you stuff a bullet into a cartridge case exactly straight, then a line from the center of the tip through the exact center of the base would continue on through the mathematical center of the case and out the center of the primer.

There are some common rules of thumb about matching rifle and scope quality, but the 1:1 ratio is close enough. Hey, it’s even OK to drop down to 50% of the rifle price if you need to. The point is this: don’t buy a nice rifle and stick a cheap gun show scope on it.

Based on sales figures and some good, old-fashioned SWAG math, there are somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 million AR-15 rifles floating around the country, give or take a couple of million. And guess where all that AR popularity started? Armalite.

So why would you want or need a very high magnification scope? There are two related reasons. You might need to see and hit a reasonably-sized target at very long range, or you might need to be able to see and hit a much smaller target at shorter ranges.

This MasterPiece Arms (MPA) rifle is impressive. When I opened the box of this puppy at my FFL, I floated into a state of rifle euphoria. And, the fact that it is from a company that made its name producing semi-automatic versions of stamped sheet steel SMGs makes it all the more impressive.

Matching the seemingly infinite number of AR rifles on the market is a multitude of suitable optics. Red dots, holographic sights, fixed-power scopes and variable-power scopes fill the shelves, so how do you choose? Let’s take a look at some factors to consider, then we’ll discuss some pros and cons of some of the common categories of AR-15 optics.

In this episode of the optics buying guide, we’re going to get a little bit geeky, but still practical, about the different types of “red dots” and how one might use them.

THE SERIES Part 1: Optics Buying Guide: Iron Sights, Red Dots, and Scopes Part 2: Optics Buying Guide: Top Must-Know Terms for Picking the Right Scope  Part 3: Optics Buying Guide: Scope Mounts  Part 4: Optics Buying Guide: How To Properly Zero Your Scope Part 5: Optics Buying Guide: Finding Your Range with a Scope Reticle Part [...]

You can figure out how far away an object is using your scope, provided its reticle has markings in mil dots or minutes of angle.