The new military gun sight

[727Sky]

[Ninurta]

Interesting, but I don't want one. What I want is to know how to defeat one. Sounds like it can hit anything it can see, so long as the batteries remain charged, so the best defense I suppose is to be unseeable... or figure out how to leach the batteries from a distance to turn it back into a plain old scope and give yourself an even chance.

Since cold drains batteries, if you know your opponent has one of these, just fight in the cold only, and keep him out in the cold until his batteries fizzle out.

2 1/2 pounds is pretty hefty for a scope. My own AR is already at nearly 10 pounds loaded with a 40 round mag, but I think most of that is down to the heavy barrel. Couldn't find one with a normal pencil barrel, and this is the only one I could find without that stupid M4 step-down in the barrel for attaching an M203 GL to it. I don't need that, don't have an M203, and I remain convinced that stupid step down has to be affecting barrel harmonics. I also wanted an intermediate barrel twist, in this case 1 twist in 9 inches, so that I could use either M193 55 gr ammo or M855 62 gr ammo. The M4 1:7 twist is too fast for the lighter bullets and they just skip the rifling, turning it into a musket, and the 1:12 M16A1 twist Doesn't stabilize the heavier 62 gr rounds, so an intermediate twist it had to be. And for all that, I had to get that heavy barrel.

Life is full of trade offs, I reckon.

I have only recently moved to a red dot optic. Before, all I used was iron sights. Even at that, I don't trust the red dot batteries to hold out in a pinch, so I have co-sighted the iron sights with the red dot so that if the battery fizzles, I'm not dead in the water - I can see the iron sights through the optics tube, so I can still continue to be obnoxious in the event of a power failure just by flipping up my rear sight. My red dot has NO magnification, but 4 different reticles - a quartered bulls-eye, a single dot, a "T", and a reticle with a series of 3 vertical dots. I used to keep it set on the single dot, but have lately taken to keeping it on the quartered bulls eye.

No fore-grip - I find them to be useless and just get in the way and snag on stuff, but I do have a flashlight with a pressure pad switch mounted on it, for special occasions. I also have an utterly and completely useless green laser - also with a momentary pressure switch - mounted to it, co-sited with the red dot and the iron sights. It serves no purpose, really, beyond intimidation (nothing like seeing that green dot pop up on your chest to let you know how close to dying you are) But it will also allow the target to track me right back to my location in the night time, because that green beam can be seen all along it's length, so no damned good for stealth mode, which is my normal mode of operation.

All of that extra crap adds weight, but the barrel is the bulk of it - the flashlight weights about 6 ounces, the red dot about 4 or 5, and the laser 3 or 4. Empty, with no magazine at all, it weights about 8 1/2 pounds. Roughly 1 pound of that is gadgetry, but my old Colt 653 was the same length, and only weighed 6 pounds - that means that heavy barrel is adding about a pound and a half to the tally.

I couldn't see replacing a 4 ounce sight with a 38 ounce sight, not even one with all the geegaws, not even if they added a Pac-Man game to it to pass time.

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[727Sky]

Interesting, but I don't want one. What I want is to know how to defeat one. Sounds like it can hit anything it can see, so long as the batteries remain charged, so the best defense I suppose is to be unseeable... or figure out how to leach the batteries from a distance to turn it back into a plain old scope and give yourself an even chance.

Since cold drains batteries, if you know your opponent has one of these, just fight in the cold only, and keep him out in the cold until his batteries fizzle out.

2 1/2 pounds is pretty hefty for a scope. My own AR is already at nearly 10 pounds loaded with a 40 round mag, but I think most of that is down to the heavy barrel. Couldn't find one with a normal pencil barrel, and this is the only one I could find without that stupid M4 step-down in the barrel for attaching an M203 GL to it. I don't need that, don't have an M203, and I remain convinced that stupid step down has to be affecting barrel harmonics. I also wanted an intermediate barrel twist, in this case 1 twist in 9 inches, so that I could use either M193 55 gr ammo or M855 62 gr ammo. The M4 1:7 twist is too fast for the lighter bullets and they just skip the rifling, turning it into a musket, and the 1:12 M16A1 twist Doesn't stabilize the heavier 62 gr rounds, so an intermediate twist it had to be. And for all that, I had to get that heavy barrel.

Life is full of trade offs, I reckon.

I have only recently moved to a red dot optic. Before, all I used was iron sights. Even at that, I don't trust the red dot batteries to hold out in a pinch, so I have co-sighted the iron sights with the red dot so that if the battery fizzles, I'm not dead in the water - I can see the iron sights through the optics tube, so I can still continue to be obnoxious in the event of a power failure just by flipping up my rear sight. My red dot has NO magnification, but 4 different reticles - a quartered bulls-eye, a single dot, a "T", and a reticle with a series of 3 vertical dots. I used to keep it set on the single dot, but have lately taken to keeping it on the quartered bulls eye.

No fore-grip - I find them to be useless and just get in the way and snag on stuff, but I do have a flashlight with a pressure pad switch mounted on it, for special occasions. I also have an utterly and completely useless green laser - also with a momentary pressure switch - mounted to it, co-sited with the red dot and the iron sights. It serves no purpose, really, beyond intimidation (nothing like seeing that green dot pop up on your chest to let you know how close to dying you are) But it will also allow the target to track me right back to my location in the night time, because that green beam can be seen all along it's length, so no damned good for stealth mode, which is my normal mode of operation.

All of that extra crap adds weight, but the barrel is the bulk of it - the flashlight weights about 6 ounces, the red dot about 4 or 5, and the laser 3 or 4. Empty, with no magazine at all, it weights about 8 1/2 pounds. Roughly 1 pound of that is gadgetry, but my old Colt 653 was the same length, and only weighed 6 pounds - that means that heavy barrel is adding about a pound and a half to the tally.

I couldn't see replacing a 4 ounce sight with a 38 ounce sight, not even one with all the geegaws, not even if they added a Pac-Man game to it to pass time.

.

Weight !! Anyone who had had to hump a heavy rifle for any distance appreciates just about anything lighter. Good news is there should be some ACOG scopes for sale military surplus in the not to distant future. Red dots work until you get astigmatism then the dot turns into a daisy !! I carried a 14' AR chambered in 5.56 with a Russian 2.5 pound night scope for pig killing... that got heavy before morning but it was a killing machine so back then it was worth it..

[Ninurta]

Weight !! Anyone who had had to hump a heavy rifle for any distance appreciates just about anything lighter. Good news is there should be some ACOG scopes for sale military surplus in the not to distant future. Red dots work until you get astigmatism then the dot turns into a daisy !! I carried a 14' AR chambered in 5.56 with a Russian 2.5 pound night scope for pig killing... that got heavy before morning but it was a killing machine so back then it was worth it..

Yeah, those Russian scopes were the bomb. I had a Russian PSO-1 off of a Dragunov that I mounted on an AK-74 - Yeah, the mounts are the same. It had a rangefinder reticle calibrated for a 1.8 meter tall man, but you still had to use Kentucky elevation on it, because the round ballistics were different. It was calibrated for Russian 7.62x54R, and I was shooting 5.45x39.

So far, astigmatism hasn't been a problem with the red dot, and I like the lack of magnification, as the sight picture doesn't go all wonky when I leave both eyes open. It just superimposes the reticle on the spot the bullet is going to be in about a second, and keeping both eyes open helps with target acquisition.

Not only should there be a flood of ACOGs, but if they are switching rifles and rounds to 6.8mm, then there ought to be a flood of surplus 5.56 coming to the market, which should drop ammo prices a bit! I've only got about 1000 rounds of M855 green tip, so I could stand a few more, but pricing has not been cooperative with that goal.

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[727Sky]

[Ninurta]

Sweet Jesus.

I'm am inordinately happy that I am closer to dying than I am to being born. They're getting flat out stupid with infantry weaponry. If this trend continues, I see a future where no one wins wars, everyone loses. Everyone. Folks will eventually upgrade their weapons to pointy sticks and sharp rocks for the win.

Polymer ammo? seriously? Nothing like gumming up the works of your plastic rifle with more melted plastic to instill confidence in your weapon. Hell, I won't even use pure polymer magazines, because of the feed lip meltdown potential. Imagine what I think of using plastic in the parts that actually generate the heat...

And bullpup designs? Seriously? When are they going to give that crazy notion up? I've never been a big fan of having ammo explode right under my cheekbone. Additionally, I know of exactly ZERO bullpup designs that have ever been useful in warfare. They have all, so far, proven to be absolutely unreliable, or, in the more entertaining cases, downright dangerous to the operator. There is a reason that nation after nation flirts with a bullpup, and then moves on to a real rifle. Beyond that, there are infantrymen who get "promoted" to desk duty through the wonder of having their trigger fingers detached via too short a weapon. That's if they survive the cheekbone explosions. No desk duty for them when that happens.

What the hell is the purpose of that sweet potato looking blob blocking the muzzle of that alleged weapon?

So, yeah, I'm a has-been that thinks nations ought to gear up to win wars rather than plan on losing them. But what the hell do I know? I've got a 19th century mind in the 21st century. I fight bears with pointy sticks, so I really ought not to have any opinion on infantry weapons in the modern world.

So do what you wish. I'll advise my grandkids to avoid military service until the military provides proper equipment to proper warriors. if they never do, then just stay at home and sharpen pointy sticks. You'll still be technologically ahead. 

You ain't killin' jack shit at the claimed 800 meters with a melted, gummed up rifle. Guys with crossbows and atlatls will eat your lunch up close and personal.

It does give me hope that the allegedly most powerful military on the planet is leaning towards gearing up with marginally rifle-shaped paperweights. That means that guerrillas that may find occasion to oppose them, and who are not restricted by official dumbassery, have a chance.

[ABNARTY]

Ah yes..... gun talk. 

It seems cool as heck but I am thinking about all the Snuffy's who just won't get it no matter how much training you give them. They will just end up pointing in the general direction and shooting a few token rounds off like they do now. Big helpers and noise makers. 

I totally feel you on old eyes and gun sights. It's not fair. It's an unjust and cruel world where I finally get the point in my life when I might just be able to afford some cool bullet launchers and then my eyes go to s***.