CLOCKS AND WATCHES

Red Dot Sights For Rifles

Red dot or ‘reflex’ sighting systems now dominate civilian action shooting and are standard issue in the West’s armed forces. Three companies – two American and one Swedish – now dominate the combat sight market with their offerings reflecting their differing perspectives on rapid and accurate target engagement in the most demanding of environments

Aimpoint of Sweden went for an extremely rugged ‘tube’ design, creating a range of optics that are parallax free beyond 50 meters – thus head position can be ignored in all but close range bullseye shooting for which these sights were not intended. Aimpoint have a wide variety of sizes and dot minute of angle diameters to suit different shooting applications. The US Army having standardized the Aimpoint CompM2 as its M68 is now purchasing the improved Model CompM4s. Note the lower case ‘s’ in the model name. Aimpoints have a narrower field of view with rear mounted night vision, but much greater battery lives than the holographic sights – in the case of the new CompM4 up to eight years! Aimpoints red dot sights are mostly 1X in magnification, but a flip-to-side magnifier can boost this to 3X with the flip of a hand. This gives the operator the flexibility to engage long range targets should these appear in an otherwise CQB scenario. You can easily ‘co-witness’ back up iron sights on a rifle in the lower third of the sight picture, so you can still shoot accurately even if your Aimpoint is broken or its aiming window obscured. An alternative is to use canted back up iron sights or a see thru mount, though the latter can position the sight too high for proper cheek weld. Aimpoints either have integral Weaver/Picatinny mounts or use Aimpoint’s own or third party mounts which are available to suit an amazing array of applications. Military Aimpoints are all night vision compatible.

Eotech broke new ground by introducing laser HUD technology to individual weapon sighting. This ensures parallax free aiming regardless of range and gets rounds on target faster. Multi-dot reticles are available to match the trajectory of the .223 Remington (5.56x45mm NATO) and .308 Winchester (7.62X51mm NATO) rounds. Holographic Weapon Sights (HWS) will still display the full aiming pattern if the screen is partially covered in mud or snow or even if it is completely shattered. The Eotechs are more difficult to protect from the elements than Aimpoints with optics that are awkward to cover. GG&G make a set of flip up covers for some Eotechs, but they don’t really seal like the Butler Creek style ones typically used on Aimpoints The lasers in Eotechs exhaust batteries far faster than their Aimpoint competitors, but battery lives are still in the hundreds of hours and are protected by a user configurable auto power-off feature. Eotechs do not boast the bomb-proof tubular construction of the Aimpoint, but are exteremely rugged. USSOCOM was impressed enough to commission its own Eotech HWS model and the sights have seen extensive service with the the 1st Stryker Brigade and 3rd Infantry and 10th Mountain Divisions. Eotech boosted the water proofing depth from 33 to 66 feet for USSOCOM with sights tested to that depth for days without losing function. That Eotechs are reliable in salt-water environments can be seen from their adoption by the Royal Navy for use on defensive Miniguns. Eotech HWS can also take flip to side magnifiers – those for Eotech and Aimpoint sights are interchangeable. Some Eotechs include 7mm risers to aid night vision compatibility and the co-witnessing of iron sights. These models typically feature ‘cantilevered’ front ends to clear the delta rings of AR15/M16 type rifles. Most Eotechs are night vision compatible – the most modern featuring brightness and NV buttons on the side of the unit to allow the magnifier or NV to be mounted right up to the back of the sight. Eotechs come ready to fit Weaver and Picatinny rails – you can opt for bolt, thumb screw or ARMS type quick release levers from ARMS. Eotech cater for a choice of CR123 or AA batteries with alternative models in most ranges to cater for the preference of the user. The 552.XR308 is a good example of an Eotech Holographic Weapon Sight.

Trijicon offer a huge range of sights to cater for applications from close combat up to long range sniping and crew-served weapon sighting. ACOGs magnify and thus, like telescopic sights, can suffer from parralax, although this is of little or no consequence at the ranges at which these sights are actually used. Magnification opens up far greater target identification and engagement ranges than would be possible with an unmagnified sight. The magnification of the higher mag ACOGs may make both eyes open CQB shooting problematic, but Trijicon solved this problem by offering back-up iron sights and small red dot units to mount on the ACOG’s body. Such a combination has recently been adopted by the British Army for their new L129A1 7.62mm sharpshooter rifle. ACOGs have also been adopted as the US Marine Corps new standard combat optic – fitted with an anti reflection device and ballistically matched for M855 ball ammunition from either the flat-top M4 carbine or M16A4 rifle depending on the model. The M4 carbine variant is the TA31RCO-M4CP or AN/PVQ-31B. ACOGs do not require batteries (apart from some of the RMR top mounted back-up red dot sights), being fitted with a tritium light source with an additional fiberoptic light gathering device in the dual illuminated models. Trijicon make the basic sight suitable for M16 carrying handles, then add an adapter for either Picatinny or Weaver rails. This is available in screw or lever operated quick release versions.

Aimpoint, Eotech and Trijicon ACOG sights have replaced iron sights throughout the US military, increasing effectiveness and driving up qualification scores. They are all excellent but expensive, so deciding which one to purchase is a non-trivial decision. A flip up magnifier will add immensely to its versatility. How detachable you want the sight to be and whether you want it to work with iron sights or a specific magnifier or NV set up can influence the model and mounting system you choose. ACOGs offer magnification in a rugged compact package at the cost of some loss of close range capability in the higher magnification models. The close combat potential of the ACOG can be dramatically increased by opting for a model with back up iron sights built in or mounting a red dot on top. Another approach is to go for a lower magnification ACOG (models down to 1.5X are offered). If you’re looking to replace a higher powered scope the higher magnification ACOGs make excellent replacements. These higher magnification models really benefit from an RMR back up red dot sight for closer engagements.

Whichever option you go for you can be assured you have chosen one of the best battle sights available today.

Copyright. Chris Pieterman 2010.

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