It's all personal preference. I have a Vortex Strikefire RDS on my AK that's in a mount, up off the pic rail. Traditional thinking was to keep your optic as close to the barrel as possible. I've been seeing with RDS' guys recommending mounting them up off the rail for a more "heads-up"...
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Enter code "HS407" at checkout, it lowers the price to $179.99