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 New G&P 25mm ring scope rail mount M062 US $12.99 
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Scope Mount
US Army And Marine Corps Optical Sights
When the US Army decided to adopt an optical sight it decided upon a red dot reflex sight as its preferred solution. The unitary power sight offers the best possible situational awareness in CQB situations. Long range precision rifle fire went out of vogue in the US Army after the Korean war and the subsequent SALVO and SPIW projects focused on getting kills by saturating areas with multiple projectiles at relatively close ranges. From 1973 to 1993, US Army doctrine was designed to face an enemy that would dismount from armoured vehicles at 300 meters from its objectives. The 300/500 meter flip backsight served this doctrine well enough and the US Army was reluctant to adopt the improved USMC M16A2 variant with its windage adjustable 800 meter backsight. It opted for the M4 carbine, sacrificing some long range lethality for handiness in CQB situations and ease of carriage in vehicles.
Operations in Somalia, the Balkans and the GWOT emphasised the need for fire superiority at small unit level and the need to correctly identify targets before engagement. This lead to renewed interest in longer range rifles and the sights that would be needed to get the best from them. The US Marines went to a flat topped M16A4 rifle as its standard weapon, replacing most of its pistols with M4 carbines. The Army brought back M14 rifles with a variety of scope rails and mounts, some of them equipped with a chassis system as the Enhanced Battle Rifle. The Army endorsed this by adopting the M16A4 to replace some M4 carbines.
The Army first went to the Aimpoint CompM2 as its M68 close combat optic. Aimpoint's CompM2 is a very rugged 2 MoA red dot unit with no range compensation. The M68 attaches to the rifle via a single ring 30 mm scope mount. The CompM2 served the US Army well for the best part of a decade, but, in 2009, the Army were looking to replace their inventory which had seen a lot of combat with an improved sight. This time they went for the Aimpoint CompM4S, a CompM4 with its battery housing and brightness adjuster moved to a more protected lower position. The Comp M4S has a more rugged adjuster knob and has an integral mount with no possibility of accidental canting inherent in a tubular design. The increase in battery life was amazing - a CompM4 or M4s can run continuously for up to 80,000 hours on a day setting and theoretically up to 250,000 set for night vision use! One battery could well last the lifetime of the sight. Operations in Afghanistan put the emphasis on light weight. To try to get its soldiers burden reduced the US Army has issued a quanitity of the tiny (3.7 ounce with mount!) Aimpoint T-1 4 MoA red dot sight with the 3XMag detachable magnifier in Afghanistan. Although a vast number of CompM4S have been purchased it looks increasingly likely that they will be replaced with Micro T-1s. The Army adopted an ELCAN sight, the M145 for its SAW and GPMG.
The Marines had never lost their religious fervour for accurate rifle fire and longer ranged engagements, despite being forced to adopt the earlier slow twist, light barrel M16. The traditionalists in the USMC establishment pushed hard for the adoption of a heavy barrelled M16 with a tight twist and backsight theoretically capable of 800 meter engagements. It hardly mattered that it would be next to impossible to engage a real world target at anything like 800 meters with iron sights. To this day, the USMC has not adopted a close combat optic. After combat evaluating the TA31 ACOG, the USMC type classified two TA31 4X32 variants ballistically matched to the M16A4 and M4 carbine as their RCO or Rifle Combat Optic. These are type classified as the AN/PVQ-31A and AN/PVQ-31B. The M150 is the US Army version of the TA31RCO, also ballistically matched to the 20" barrelled M16A4. To give short range performance, this 4X32 sight is being topped with an L3 Miniature Reflex Sight in an arrangement that mirrors that already used for Docter and Trijicon RMR sights on some ACOGs. The US Marines went with TA-11 3.5X35 ACOGs in lieu of the ELCAN for its squad and platoon MGs.
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