Well finally bought a scope,vortex spitfire 3x,never owned a scope before,and after reading many articles about eye relief and still don't get it.Thought I'd ask for help,probably be shooting at no more than 100 yds,and I have no idea how far or close to my eye to set the scope,and is it critical,oh yeah it's going on a Sport II if that makes a difference,thanks

Eye relief on that scope is going to generally around 3 inches.

Mount it loosely on an empty gun and look through it like you are shooting. Your eye should be about 3 inches from the rear of the lens.

If your sight picture is clear, clamp it down and test it at a know distance. I like to sight my AR's at 50 yards and two inches high.

If your sight picture is not clear adjust it froward or backwards until you are happy.

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USAF, Ret.

Ok,by clear sight picture,do you mean what I see thru the scope,and if it's not clear,what will it look like,and at what point does the focus adjustment come into play,Forgive the noobie questions,as I said I have absolutely no experience with a scope.Things that are obvious to you,are a foreign language to me

Hope this helps.

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Peace was my Profession

I have the exact same scope on my M&P Sport 2 and had to mount it all the way back, in order to get proper eye relief. If you are too close or too far away, the ocular will start to close up on you. Move your head in and out and you will see it happen. Also, to be comfortable in acquiring proper eye relief, I have to set the adjustable stock in the third notch back from the shortest position.

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NRA R.S.O. & Life Member

This is exactly why I will buy the Strike Eagle as my next scope. I have a friend with one on his DPMS. When I pull up it on target, it almost doesn't matter where the scope is mounted or where you position your head in relation, you will still get good sight picture.
The relief on my current scope is also about 3". I have to mount it with the occular almost over the charge handle and set the stock to about middle position to get proper eye relief for me.

I would suggest that you set the scope so that it overhangs the charging handle, even by an inch or two. Because setting the stock "short" leads to a poor cheek weld and impaired accuracy. If you find it inconvenient to charge the rifle you can replace the charging handle with one that has more extension to the side.

Note, you could also purchase a Gibbz Side Charging Upper but those cost more than 1/2 of what you paid for your Sport. BTW, my precision AR features a Gibbz side charging upper specifically due to the issue with scopes and the rear charging handle on an AR.

I also cannot agree with that advice about sighting 2 inches high at 50 yards, doing this will put you 4 inches high at 100 and probably won't return to zero until somewhere around 280 yards. Set the zero dead on at 50 and you'll be 2 inches high at 100 and dead on again at 200 yards.

According to the Vortex web site the eye relief on this model is just a touch under 4".

Thanks guys

It's when your eye is the correct distance from the scope (eye relief) the sight picture will be full with no darkness or shadows around the perimeter.

Example of eye not being the correct distance.


Example of eye not being centered.


Correct distance and centered.


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The precise location to mount the scope will depend on you.

Mount the scope. With the stock adjusted to your liking, shoulder the rifle and put your cheek on the stock in a comfortable position as you normally would. Look through the scope. If you're not getting a full sight picture adjust the position of the scope. Repeat as necessary for proper eye relief. The idea here is that the scope position is accommodating your natural hold rather than you accommodating the scope position. When mounting a magnified optic for the first time I shoulder the rifle with my eyes closed then look through the optic.

Of course to get your eye centered will rely on your noggin adjusted properly. Sometimes a cheek pad can help depending on the need. Oh... be sure to use the riser that come with the Spitfire mounting hardware.

The Spitfire III has a reticle focus. See the instructions that came with the scope.

Happy scope mounting.

Geezer;

A cautionary warning (from painful experience 50 years ago).

Correct eye relief on scopes is extremely important. I do not have a AR platform, but I can tell you as a young teenager one of my friends had a sporterized Enfield (a "factory" job...not home job) and the rifle came with a cheap Tasco scope pre mounted by someone wherever they sold these as an option for $10.00 more.

I got the honors of assisting him with sighting in those first few shots. One shot...wham....blood dripping from just over right eye. Turns out the scope was a 3/4" tube that was only meant for 22 LR rifles, and never should have been mounted on a .303 caliber rifle.

A mistake I know, but all scoped rifles I've owned since then get a proper match of quality scope/rings to rifle, proper gunsmith mounting, basic bore sighting, and a super check of eye relief!

With the modern rifles in .223 maybe it doesn't make as much difference especially with adjustable stocks, and rails that accommodate all sorts of accessories so I can't say about your setup, but I know what I learned one day long time ago.

Just sayin.

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Charlie B
SWCA#3083, SWHF#570

Set the scope in the rings, tightening them only to the point where you can still slide the scope back and forth. Shoulder the rifle and look through the scope. Move the scope back and forth so that whenever you shoulder the rifle naturally you get a full field of view through the scope. You don't want to have to hold your head too erect, or to crowd the scope, to get a full field of view.

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Pisgah

Thanks again guys,the picture through the scope helps to know what I'm looking for

According to the Vortex website the Spitfire 3x eye relief is 2.8in. May or may not be able to leave the rear sight in place to obtain proper eye relieve. No big deal cuz ya can't use the irons anyway but a lot of guys prefer the rear sight to remain on the rifle. At 3x I'm guessing the front sight will still be viewable though pretty much ghosted out.

Here is my M&P Sport 2, optics ready version, with a Vortex Spitfire 3X on it. Once I got used to the stock positioned so I could get proper eye relief, it feels more natural.

Attached Images

M&P AR.jpg (51.3 KB, 36 views)

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NRA R.S.O. & Life Member