Well howdy, guys and gals! I'm Kyle Broderick. Welcome to the Social
Regressive. I built this rifle - this is what I'm calling my Scout AR - so that I
can test a lot of different things. First off I wanted to build a decent AR. This
has come out well. More than decent. It is very accurate, especially with heavy
projectiles. It is very light, easy to move around, quick to point, and this is a
rifle that I've actually been able to test in a real-world hunting scenario. I
took this out hog hunting with some friends and we were able to nab us some
hogs using this and some other rifles. It worked out really well
and now that I've tweaked a couple of things on here it's actually working out
even better. If you want to check out the full specs on this rifle and what I put
together, make sure that you go check out some of the previous videos in this
series. I show actually step-by-step how I put this rifle together, what the
various components are, why I chose them, and really in the end there's really not
anything that I would change about this. We'll talk about it in the end, but yeah,
it has come out just great. But what this is for me is really a platform for
testing different sights and scopes and different configurations to see what
might actually work in the real world. Because we do have some strange rifles out
there right now. You have the savage 110 Scout or the Savage 11 Scout that have
that kind of forward-mounted optics rail. So if you want to put a scope on it in
general you're going to be putting a handgun scope like this one out on the
front. This is a Nikon Force XR two and a half to eight power. This is an excellent
handgun scope and this is yeah that kind of thing you're going to want to put on
that. There's also that Ruger Gunsite scout rifle, so if you wanted to put a
scope on it you probably either going with something like this or a red dot
like this Bushnell TRS 25. Great little red dot; I have used this for a long time
and it's really excellent. But if you kind of have the choice of putting a
scope wherever you want it, what actually works out in the real world? Does Jeff
Cooper's idea for that forward mounted optic - you know does it actually function
out in the real world? Or do you want to stick with kind of the common thought on
ARs, especially the LPVO: the low-power variable optic
like this? This is the Falcon s8i. This is a 1-8x variable. That's a
massive zoom range right there, and this has an incredible reticle inside it. I
have tested this in various scenarios and this is actually the one that I used
out on that hunt. Love this scope. You can check out the previous review. I'll
link to it around here somewhere. But we're also going to be testing out iron
sights. Jeff Cooper wanted to make sure that the scout rifle that he put
together had good iron sights on it. these were actually the primary sights
for the scout rifle and then the scope was if you wanted to have one, apparently. But
what we have on here: these are Ultradyne sights both at the rear and at
the front, and these are very unique. These have, instead of a post up at the
front, these actually have apertures so you can just look straight through and
you can actually see your target instead of it being, you know, covered by a post.
It's just very natural. You line the two circles up, you take the attempt both eyes
open. It's a really fast and actually a pretty darn precise solution. And they're
so confident in the precision of these that these are actually adjustable from
a 200 yard position out to 600 yards. And I should mention that about all the
scopes that were going to be testing out today in the wind - and sorry it's going
to be kind of noisy in the microphone - but we're going to... all of these are
actually sighted for 200 yards. It's either going to be 25 or 200 and our targets -
I'll describe these right here - we have two cardboard targets at closer range.
There's about a 10 yard target and a 15 yard target. I'm going to put two quick
rounds into each of these then we have our clay pigeon at 25 yards. And then we
jump back to 50 yards where we have three steel plates. I'm just going to put
one round on each of those and then I have a little black steel popper down on
the ground. That's going to be a little bit trickier target. It's a little
bit larger in my field of view than the clay pigeon, but not much. That one is one
that I might have to slow down just a little bit for. So I have some quick
targets, and I have a little bit of slow-down targets, and
we're going to take a look at all of these different configurations and see
how they all work. So first off we do the iron sights. I'm going to lead off with
those. We're gonna get into the red dot, and we're going to try this in two
different positions. We're going to put it at the the rearward position like
you're used to seeing right back here, and then we're also going to mount it up
front because I've seen some people, especially with carbines, putting a red dot a
little bit further out there, and I'm kind of curious to see if it works well.
Is it better to have a large field of view through your sight or is it better
to have a large field of view around your sight and have kind of a smaller
field of view through it? Well we'll find out and finally we will be testing the
Scout scope and this LPVO to see which one might be quickest on target, which
one is going to maybe be a bit more accurate but easier to keep on target.
There might be a difference between them when we jump between targets. Which one is
easier to move? So let's go find out. Make sure you check out the description box. I
listed the scopes and sights down there.
Yeah we couldn't tell if I was hitting that. I'll to go check the replay and see
which ones I knocked around. It's just easy to work with.
I like these sights, too. Really cool. I'm just gonna take a couple extra rounds. I'm
gonna hit that clay pigeon again. Sweet! All right next time do the red dot. Okay.
Red dot is fast. Next up this one's gonna look kind of weird. I have the red dot
mounted way out front. I've seen people do this with rifles before and I really
wondered. Putting extra weight at the front of the gun just like scout scopes. You
can see around it so you're not so concerned you know you get a little bit
of a smaller view through the actual scope. We'll see how it goes. this is my
first time trying this.
I think in a way it's kind of an annoyance, because this, the whole scope is actually in the same focal plane. I'm just gonna do one more quick run
Actually that worked out really well! I was kind of digging it that second time
around, and that was the last round by the way, so lucky me. That's actually not
too bad. And here's the one that we're all interested in: scout scope, scout
configuration. You can see it's mounted really far up on the handguard.
I can't do thumb over bore just because, well, it's there. So I'll just kind of
ride my thumb along this side and we'll see how this goes.
Two and a half X.
Okay it works. It's a little bit weird. It's uh, you definitely have to fire two
eyes open. I'm gonna do another run with both eyes open. At first I started
out with with one eye closed so I could just get a better picture through here,
but it doesn't like that. It definitely wants both, otherwise it's kind of hard
to track with whatever you're trying to hit out here. Like getting down to that
popper was a little bit tricky. We'll give it another try. We got some heat
coming off the barrel. It works. It works. And now what I'm really curious to find
out is how it works compared to two and a half power dialed in on a regular rear
mounted low power variable optic. Here's the standard. This is the one
most of you guys are probably going to have on your ARs some kind of low power
variable. This is a one to eight. This is the Falcon S8i. Love this little scope.
I've been testing this in various situations, including that hog hunt, and
we're gonna see how this compares. I've gotta dial to two and a half power.
Let's check it out. I should put a magazine in.
Hold on a sec. Let's try that again.
Overall just kind of feeling it that time, I think my transitions were
actually pretty slow compared to everything else that I've tried. This was
the slowest except on the far ones it seemed really easy to bounce from target
to target back there. Up close it wasn't quite so easy. I'm gonna give it one last
try.
Oh, empty mag. I still want to try that one more time because that was feeling
good. I was a little further out on the forearm. Got the thumb a little over the
top. It felt a lot better. Let's try it again.
It feels darn good this time. The transitions were a bit better between
the various pops. Yeah I was holding pretty far out, front thumb over the bore.
Felt pretty solid. I'm gonna give the scout scope one more run.
Before we get down to our final discussion conclusions - what I thought
about firing this today while the memory is still fresh - I just wanted to
thank various folks that made this possible. Thanks to all the manufacturers
that contributed goodies to this rifle. Thank you to Patrons of the
Destructive Arts that keep this project going. Thanks a lot to Sportman's Guide at
the 338 Lapua Magnum level, and Peter at the 300 Win Mag level. And thanks to just
all you guys that are chipping in a buck or two a month. If anybody else wants to
jump in, I'll put a link to Patreon here. Let's talk about some of the things
that I thought; just some of the configurations and how they worked. First
off I really thought that there would be a clearer delineation between all of
these; that I would come away with a clearer view of "do this not this" and it really
didn't come out that way. I'd say overall that the clearest one that you know came
to mind is that the iron sights - even though these are excellent - the Ultradyne
sights - they really are fantastic - these are probably the best iron sights
that I've ever tried. You get those two nice apertures and you know two eyes
open firing. you're just kind of bouncing around between targets and you
don't really have to think about a post or anything like that anymore. It's just
much more intuitive to use. But these were overall slower. I'll go back and
check the footage to see which one was quickest at what. You know, sometimes it's
mental energy, sometimes it's just me, but I think overall the iron sights would be
the slowest. If it came to a backup situation, I would definitely rely on
these though these are just wonderful. As far as the red dots go, I definitely would
prefer putting a red dot further back than further forward. I want one in that
you know just forward of the the rear iron sight. To me it just works. You get
that wider field of view inside the sight up here. You would get more of a
wide field of view around it, But I did find that that distracting out there. You
can just kind of see the whole machinery. It doesn't disappear quite like it does
here at the back. That's just me. When it came to these, though, these two scopes, I
was really expecting there to be a bigger
difference. That I would love one, hate the other or something, or really find
that they function very differently. And really they didn't. This one just worked
just fine for this this little challenge. I was able to bounce around between the
targets pretty well. I'd say that sometimes, maybe just at first, it was a
bit of a distraction, where you know it's a smaller field of view, kind of like
you're looking through a larger pin hole or a knothole or something, whereas back
here you can see more targets. You can see more field of view through the scope
and on this one you can see more stuff around it. I think really they both
work. if you have one of the Scout rifles like the Ruger Gunsite Scout or the
savage 110 Scout or 11 Scout or something, yeah I can see how they work.
I've done some of that testing myself. I did quite like it and I was
expecting to see, you know, maybe one of these coming out better, but no, it did
work. I think it's gonna come down to you, your use. Maybe folks that are a little
bit more farsighted than nearsighted are gonna prefer a forward-mounted scope
like this. It's an option. I think overall though I would stick with the low-power
variable optic mounted on the back. For me, I like the wide field of view inside
the scope, and I like the extreme variability here the 1-8x on this
Falcon S8i is really just amazing. I can go from extreme close range kinds
of firing and I can, you know, really narrow in to that 8x for a longer
attempt. I've actually fired both of these scopes at 400 yards out here. Just
a few days ago I fired this one at 400 and yeah it works just fine. I'm able to
use that BDC reticle in here, put it on the second dot, crank this up to 8x and
then yeah it does sail 'em right in there. This one, you do get that wider field of
view so it's a little bit easier to see your misses or your impacts. So yeah I
would say that overall I prefer this, but this actually works out quite well. And
if you do have one of those Scout rifles, yeah, definitely look at the Force XR.
Maybe one of the fixed power models. There is that
issue where as you go through the variable zoom that you're also going to
change your eye relief which is a little bit of a problem there. It's not quite so
useful to be able to you know crank up to 8x if you have to physically move the
scope as well. You could definitely do that if, you know,
your targets are at different distances, but then if you are dealing with a range
of targets, you don't know what distance your targets are gonna be, I think
that this would work out a little bit better. Thanks a lot, you guys! Make sure
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