Flip Sight

Choosing A Reflex Sight For A Rifle

Red dot or holographic reflex sights have risen dramatically in popularity with civilian shooters having ousted iron sights on the rifles and carbines of the West’s militaries. Three companies – two American and one Swedish – now dominate the battle optic 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. Aimpoints come in many sizes featuring dots of different sizes for different uses. The US Army having type classified the Aimpoint CompM2 as its M68 is now purchasing the improved CompM4s model. Note the small ‘s’ in the manuracturer’s designation. Aimpoints offer a somewhat narrower field of view than holographic sights when used with in-line night vision, but offer a far greater battery life – on some recent models at lower reticle brightnesses this can be years! Most Aimpoints are non magnifying, but you can add a quick detachable, flip-to-side magnifier to convert your Aimpoint into a 3X scope and back again in an instant. This makes for an extremely flexible combination. Aimpoints are compatible with ‘co-witnessing’ or iron sights for emergency use should the main unit or its battery fail. Further alternatives include canted iron sights and see-through mounts of various kinds – beware the latter as they can mount the sight too high for proper cheek weld. Some aimpoints come with mounts, but a plethora of alternatives are available from Aimpoint and aftermarket suppliers to enable the Aimpoint to be used in almost any conceivable configuration.

Eotech broke new ground by introducing laser HUD technology to individual weapon sighting. This makes for parallax free aiming at all distances and extremely fast target acquisition regardless of head position. Multi-dot reticles are available to match the trajectory of the .223 Remington (5.56x45mm NATO) and .308 Winchester (7.62X51mm NATO) rounds. The Eotechs will display the entire reticle even if all but a small part of the aiming window is obscured or even if it is entirely shattered. The Eotechs aren’t well adapted to having their optics protected from the elements. A third party set of flip up lens covers is available but it adds three ounces to the weight of the unit and doesn’t seal as well as the flip ups on the Aimpoints. Holographic Weapon Sights use up batteries far faster than Aimpoints, with battery lives limited to hundreds rather than tens of thousands of hours – an automatic cut off is provided set to eight hours and user configurable to four. 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. Eotechs have been adopted by the Royal Navy as the sighting system for Dillon 7.62mm Miniguns mounted on their warships and auxiliaries. HWS can also be boosted by flip to side adapters – you can swap Aimpoint and Eotech magnifiers as they are interchangeable. Some Eotechs include 7mm risers to aid night vision compatibility and the co-witnessing of iron sights. These models often have ‘cantilevered’ front ends to go over AR15 delta rings. The majority of Eotech’s HWS are NV compatible – the latest having side mounted NV and brightness buttons to allow very close coupling of NV and magnifiers HWS come ready to fit Weaver and Picatinny rails with a variety of mounting systems – the less expensive models using bolts or thumbscrews and the high end units ARMS type throw levers. 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 512 Mossy Oak is a good example of an Eotech Holographic Weapon Sight.

Trijicon offer their Advanced Combat Optical Gunsight in a bewildering array of magnifications, objective lens sizes and reticles. ACOGs are essentially reflex sights that magnify and bridge the gap between reflex sights and scopes. 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. The British Army went down this route with the ACOG they adopted for their new L129A1 sharpshooters’ rifle. The USMC finally made the jump to universal issue of magnifying optics with two ACOGs matched to the M4 carbine and M16A4 rifle respectively. The M4 carbine variant is the TA31RCO-M4CP or AN/PVQ-31B. A key advantage of the ACOG is its battery-free operation, relying on a tritium light source for night use and, in the models with a bright daylight aiming point, a fiber-optic light gatherer. ACOGs come either set up for the traditional M16/AR15 carrying handle or Weaver or Picatinny rails

Aimpoint, Eotech and Trijicon ACOG sights have displaced iron sights throughout the US military, increasing effectiveness and driving up qualification scores. None are inexpensive so it is important to choose the right one. 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 ACOG’s close quarter potential can be boosted by buying a model with its own back up iron sights or mounting a red dot on top. You also have the option of buying a low magnification model (magnifications down to 1.5X are offered). If you’re looking to replace a higher powered scope the higher magnification ACOGs make excellent replacements. Mounting an RMR red dot on one of these covers the whole spectrum of targets from across the room to several kilometres distant.

Battle optics have come a long way in just a couple of decades – you can be sure that any model from the three top manufacturers will be a high precision, quality instrument which will give you years of service in extreme environments.

Copyright. Chris Pieterman 2010.

Stinger missile launcher for PAINTBALL!! Flip sight assembly and firing.. AWESOME!!