8lbs. Man, I was hoping to be less. Oh well. Where is the best places to cut weight on one of these?

How come AR scopes are all mounted so high?

It looks like in the picture above that you could have got away with just a set of high, or extra high standard rings and they could have both been mounted on the upper receiver. But I guess you want extra height?

Magazines. Yes, I need a few. Any brand better than another? Metal or polymer? Best place to pick me up at a reasonable price?