Red Dot Magnifiers

Magnification is the first fork, and more is not automatically better. A magnifier enlarges the reticle along with everything else, so the dot covers the same amount of target at 6x as it does at 3x but looks far coarser, and any wobble in your hold is enlarged with it. Three power suits a rifle used mostly inside a few hundred metres and keeps the eye box forgiving enough to find quickly from a shouldered position; four, five and six power buy identification at distance but narrow the field of view, demand a steadier position and reward a fine reticle — which is why they pair naturally with a 1 MOA holographic dot rather than a broad one.

Then settle the mount, which is where most magnifiers go wrong. Some listings here include a flip-to-side mount and some are body only, so check before ordering if you do not already own one. The mount has to place the magnifier centre at the same height as the optic in front of it, or you will look through the edge of the glass and lose the dot — a magnifier built for a 1.93in mount behind a sight sat at 1.54in will not line up. Check too which way it flips, since a left-swinging mount fouls a charging handle differently to a right-swinging one, and leave room on the rail behind the sight for the body plus its lever. Which one do you need? The optic mount height guide covers bore heights and co-witness.

Explore more: Holographic Sights, Red Dot Sights, Scope Mounts & Optic Risers, or the EOTech and Holosun ranges. £5 tracked UK delivery in 7–10 business days.