Ultimak Mini 14 Scout Rail + Vortex Crossfire 2 Scout Scope

In a bit of a dual experiment, I wanted to see how the Ultimak Mini 14 rail would hold up under use and how the scout scope concept worked without having to buy yet another rifle that uses the scout scope concept mounting system.

There is a not a huge selection of scout scopes available and thus I went with Vortex because of its price, availability, and decent glass clarity. I wasn't interested in spending hundreds of dollars on a concept I may not even like. The Crossfire is simply "good enough" for my testing purposes.

The Ultimak rail I was expecting to be quite good given Ultimak's reputation and also one of my friends had recommended it to me, using it on his own rifle. I initially had my doubts about how it mounted to the gun but seeing no loss of zero or wandering zeros, I think it holds up just fine. That being said, the lack of the hand shield from the factory handguard was very noticeable and I had to be careful not to have my fingers on the op rod. Additionally, this rail heats up like crazy and can become unbearably hot in field conditions. Thankfully however it also acts as a heat sink in a way for the barrel, just be careful with rapid fire especially in hot environments like deserts.

During my testing I had a particularly stubborn roadrunner on the range as well. Thankfully no one shot him.