Magnifier not perfectly lined up, is this okay?

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  • Anangrypasta

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    Hey guys. Been trying to figure out the optics setup on my new rifle, so I threw a Sig magnifier on I had sitting around for now. I noticed that it doesn't line up perfectly with my red dot, and that the magnifier is slightly lower than the red dot by a few MM, but in looking through the sights it makes a pretty good picture. Is it detrimental to sighting accuracy if the magnifier is not perfectly square in hight with the red dot? Will the point of impact be affected between magnifier and unmagnified due to the difference in heights?
     

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    M118LR

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    Eye relief may be of greater concern than misalignment to the red dot. But theoretically your supposed to align them center to center. If you can see through it is that Okay enough for you?
     
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    DAS HUGH!

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    Yes it can affect it alot in fact. I say this because many optics, even some plain red dots can have a little parallax. To see how bad it affects things strap the rifle down on a table or whatever the case may be to hold it straight up and down long enough to test it. Flip the magnifier up out of the way then look thru your optic. Then begin to move your head up and down, and side to side. Most times you'll notice that the red dot will slightly walk around a tiny bit. It's usually small and not noticeable until rather extreme angles. But it's a thing none the less.
    So. Couple ways to test to see if it's doing anything hokey. The easiest it to simply look thru the red dot alone and make sure it Co-witnesses with the red dot. Then flop your magnifier down. Then check closely to see if any changes happened. That's likely the easiest, and quickest. But, it still can have a small angle distortion at longer ranges tho.
    So, second. Use a borelaser. If all you have is a red color laser you may want to do this indoors or at night. Night is best as you can stretch out the test distance alot more usually for better results. Then get a sharpie and a sheet of white paper. Put an x on it and set it up as usual. Then use a lead sled, or tripod, or sandbags etc and carefully secure your rifle down. Then line up the red dot, and irons etc to the x while at the distance you plan to have it zeroed at. Then yeah do the parallax test again if you like. At longer ranges it becomes alot easier to see what I'm talking about. Even Eotechs have a smidgen. Then very gently lower you magnifier. If everything stays the same. You're golden! No problems.
    While you have it lowered tho and all set up it wouldn't hurt to test the parallax on the magnifier also to see how much there is. That way later if you're in a bad situation you know the minimal and maximum limits of just how much you can cheat the "eyebox" (the term for this area your head must be in to get the right proper true aim and or focus on scopes and or optics) in case you need to do a quick snapshot. Never hurts to know the limits of you gear.
    If it don't work out and it's giving you issues. Hit me up and I have a cheap sightmark I can loan you, and or sell that I never use. It may have the correct height over bore and or height over rail. I prefer to go by height over rail as the bore is harder to measure, not even sure how to tbh. Not without looking at what the manufacturer claims it is anyways. But yeah you may want to try other optics to see if they sit better also. A Romeo 5 is cheap and works great. That may be the best route for a quick fix just so it's less likely to be an issue and less trouble that all the testing.
    Lemme know how it turns out. I'd like to get a juliet, vortex or a eotech magnifier soon. I'm already set up in so much sig gear I may as well get the juliet. If you decide to chunk the juliet let me know and I'll buy it lol
    Good luck
     

    DAS HUGH!

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    For reasons above is why I need to hurry up and buy a green sighting laser. Been putting it off forever. But those can be used easy during the day. While I though my red one would be as easy to see as my handgun red lasers, they're usually made really cheap with low powered lasers. So my red I can never see during the day without help.
     

    Rebel_Rider1969

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    There's adjustments on the magnifier to correct it. If it's a good one.

    ***Awhile back I did some fooling around putting a 3x in front of a 2.5x prism PA. It worked BUT the adjustment on the 3x was reversed. Don't know why.
    Decided I did not like the flip 3x on the rifle and just went with a 3x prism sight. That would be my suggestion. Ymmv.
     
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