by crbutler on Thu Feb 19, 2015 11:52 pm
It really is not that much of an issue, seriously.
The "Bindon concept" is how trijicon sold their stuff to the US Army originally. It really didn't originate with him, but he named it after himself and used it as a selling point.
I use low magnification with illuminated reticle scopes hunting dangerous animals with some regularity, and you want to keep both eyes open there. The Swarovski 1-6X ones are pretty much 1X at 1, but most of the less expensive stuff is actually 1.1-1.25X. The older 1-5 or 1-4 stuff is all 1.1 or 1.25 at lower magnification.
A long eye relief 4X scope is what Jeff Cooper thought the ultimate for the scout rifle concept, and this is without an illuminated reticle. I have a Steyr set up like this, and its a straight 4X and works like advertised, although when you first use it, it is a little disconcerting to have a magnified sight picture drifting around out there.
With a long arm its not much of an issue- with a handgun, minor issues with positioning get magnified and it can be hard to pick up, but you can learn that also, as long as your eye dominance isn't too strong on the nondominant hand side (again only an issue with pistols IME).
Really, get an ACOG mounted on a AR at your local gun store (they probably will be willing to do this to get a sale with a new one- but if you are a perennial tire kicker, taking the time just to show you might not compute with how busy they are now... but if they have a used one on the shelf, just ask to look at it) and you will be surprised how natural it is.
I suppose there is a small fraction of people who are not wired such that it works, but a bunch of folks in the business have told me that pretty much anyone with binocular vision can work it.
