All posts in Scopes

Why are smaller optics more money? Eotech Sights and Aimpoint

Eotech SightsWell, the short answer is because it take more manufacturing know how to get all of those electronic down to a durable and reliable combat optic and the benefits of having a reliable and lighterweight optic can improve performance of an operator.    Sticker shock is always something that people have when they come in here and check out the pricing on Trijicon Optics like the RMR sights because they think that a small optic would be cheaper than a hunting or sniper scope.  Although the expensive stuff like Night Force and Leupold seem to be acceptable, paying $700 for a red dot like an Aimpoint T1 seem to be frowned on except for the people that are using them.  If you just pickup a scale and put down a Trijicon TA01NSN and compare it to an Eotech EXPS2-0 or the Aimpoint T1, you’ll seem there is a considerable weight difference and knocking off a pound of weight from your firearm and carrying more food, water, or ammo is far more important considering that Military Statistics show that most engagements are under 200yds and needing larger “reach out and touch someone” optics rarely occurs and normally there is a designated marksmen in a unit for that role with a different optic.

We really don’t have an option as to what is better, Aimpoint or Eotech, but you can’t beat the pricing and reliability of the Aimpoint Patrol Rifle Optics that comes with its standard mounting system.   We have picked up Bobro Engineering mounts for quick detach capabilities for some of the Aimpoint Optics, but there are those options with the Eotech Sights.   With Aimpoint you have night vision optics, with Eotech Combat Optics for your AR15 or M4 variant, you’ll need to know ahead of time and purchase a night vision compatible version of the sight.   Think about which type of batteries you want to have around whether you decide on CR123 batteries or AA Batteries, make sure you have storage units on your person, in your go bag, or on the AR15 Accessories like the pistol grip, stock extension ect and keep a few new condition batteries there.

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The Versatility of the Trijicon RMR Sight

The interneTrijicon RMR Sightst is full of as much misinformation as it is good information and in this industry, it’s very much true, there are plenty of items that had bad releases or have some type of flaw in them but as they say, “the mission drives the gear” and if you want an answer to the question we always get asked “what is the best red dot” we aren’t going to tell you one thing.   One sight that has gained on us are the Meprolight sights but from our point of view they  haven’t been on the market long enough for us to rave about them, but if you are looking for a compact red dot, or a secondary sighting system, the Trijicon RMR Sights have a lot to offer.   I’ve always been a fan of the Trijicon TA01NSN because being able to fall back on iron sights is something anyone that plans on using an optic needs to train to do.   The Beauty of the  Trijicon RMR sights is the versatility of the mounts you can use from off-set on an AR15, thumbscrew mounts for a Remington Shotgun or take your handgun to your gunsmith and put an RM08-G on it.

Competition sports is a new and thriving industry and if you want to see a lot of Trijicon optics get used, check out the shows on the Outdoor Channel and some of the NRA Friendly shows.   There are a lot of different reticle colors, red dot sizes and battery or fiber optic variations of the RMR sighting system.  The thing you need to know about red dots is, will your eyes pickup the red dot or is it going to flare on you depending on your eyesight.  The next thing to think about is are you going to be expecting to take longer range shots with it, or are you perfectly fine with a 6-12.9 MOA dot that is going to be for close engagements but will block out most of your abilities to hit targets at longer ranges.   If you are doing the ACOG and the Trijicon RMR Sights Combo, the only negative besides burning a hole in  your pocket, would be the height of the optic and  your POI impact.

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There were Movies about Cops and Robbers and now, Bad guys are Chemists

Trijicon ACOGSSure thinks like Opium, Ayahuasca and Marijuana have been for a long, long time, and they are very well embedded into different cultures, for Religious experious, cultural rituals or just because it feels good and a society has accepted it.  You can always weight the tolerances on morality and different belief systems but in America, sometimes its just because people want the experience.   There is a certain point people have to make decisions for themselves and from an adult/parent point of view, I hope none of my kids are dumb enough to take something off the street that manufactured by somebody working in a lab out of their basement.  The reality of what goes on at Certain Colleges, especially the whole “Rave” thing is almost a survival of the fittest and from a Law Enforcement point of view it’s extremely disturbing to see these young beautiful women caving in to this environment and after talking to so many in Emergency Services about the growing problems.   The New Voltage Pictures  Steven Seagul Red Box Action/Crime movie,  gets into what is really going on with how drug operations are, with bad heroin, ecstasy ect.   To be a Cop these days and realize you can only get so far down the chain, most of the time, to shutdown drug operations is a sad reality and it’s more like “whack a mole” because the chain usually goes further. Steven Seagul Action Movies Street Wars Trailer

Cop movies use to be about bank robbers and the Mafias or a syndicate, but shows like “Breaking Bad” kind of shocked people because it’s rare that people understand that so many of the drugs, like Crystal Meth or even Ecstasy, are made in a Lab in someones home and the occasional “bad dope” gets a news story because of all the deaths that hospitals report, and the sick thing is sometimes, many times, it’s all part of the drug operations game plan.   Steven Seagul is back as Elijah Kane in the next part of the True Justice Series called “Street Wars”  I picked up late in the series but have been on-board and looking forward to the June 3rd release of “Street Wars” on RedBox.   Redbox is all over the place and sometimes a better “movie night” option than what you are limited to on your FIOS or Comcast Cable networks.

In “Street Wars” Elijah Kane picks up the trail of drug operation after a fatality at a Rave Club and his department is sent to investigate.   With so many that are in the drug culture,  there’s a segment that like the party life, and don’t feel involved with the violence and brutality of what drugs, money and greed brings out in people.  Elijah Kane is the Action Hero not afraid to wield a Benelli M4 Shotgun or take the bad guys down with his bare hands and the tough Female Cop Co-Stars-  Meghan Ory ( Juliet Saunders) and Sarah Lind (Sarah Montgomery)  have gun fight scenes with Glocks, H&K MP5s which looked decked out with Trijicon ACOGS  and look like TA01 models, while battling and fighting the bad guys while  Elijah Kane beguns uncovering and shutting down a far reaching opration that may lead back to dirty cop in his Cities Police Department.   I’m noticing lots of equipment changes and firearms added into the “Street Wars” action but as an action Movie Buff and Law Enforcement Industry worker I’m entertained.

 

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Identifying Threats, Law Enforcement Perspective, Military, Hunting and Self Defense

Eotech SightsThere is a saying that I learned in NRA Firearms Instructor Training that, “there is a Lawyer attached to every bullet” and this is something I bring up as soon as someone shows the slightest sign of complacency.   Lately I have been getting more calls for people to come to their home for a security evaluation and often people are saying they want a firearm in their home.   100% of the  time these people  have either never fired a gun or know nothing about ballistics and that bullets pass through walls, and, in Urban Environments, that means it’s highly likely that someone else in an in the neighborhood will have a whole in their wall too.  Situational Awareness is the first thing  you need to have an knowing how to avoid being a victim.   The Travon Martin case was the worst possible way to handle neighborhood concerns about crime.  A properly trained Police Officer goes into a low light situation with a flashlight and normally has less lethal devices available before every needing to draw a firearm.  They deal with the same or possible more, when using their firearms.

Several years ago we had some customers that served in Iraq they said that Aimpoint and Eotech Sights were preferred optics, but one of the problems with them is they had zero magnification and they had trouble identifying trip wires, IED wires running across the ground ect.   With Police Officers identifying the difference between a knife, cell phone or a firearm can mean a Civil Lawsuit if your SWAT Team doesn’t have the ability see the difference from 25-50yds.  From a hunting standpoint, accidentally shooting another hunter or taking a deer that is not legal to harvest because you thought you saw antlers and it turned out to be branches from a tree behind it.   Little things like a small set of binoculars that is on your tactical vest, inside your closet might help you know if it’s your neighborhood kid cutting through your yard to sneak back into it his parents house, or if it’s a prowler looking to break into your home.

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Reliance on optics, battery life and secondary sighting devices

TherTrijicon RMR sightsRM08Ge is always a very diverse crowd we have that buy from us, from competition shooters, Military Personnel, Law Enforcement and persons just looking for a better optic for the gun range.   There are always price levels and depending on the features you are looking for, you are going to pay for what you get.  There are plenty of less expensive optics on the market than the Trijicon ACOGS, RMRs,  Accupoints ect, but what do you really want?  Battery life is something you need to know ahead of time and if you don’t want to have to worry about turning  your optic on and off it’s most likely going to be Aimpoint optics even though the very expensive Trijicon SRS01 and SRS02 are optics that can compete with Aimpoint on a durability and battery life expectancy.

One option to consider is if so many people are raving about the Aimpoint Micro optics there is an even smaller option called the Trijicon RMR sight.   There are many dot sizes and normally the small the dot the more precise you can be, but now with red, green and amber dots, you should think ahead and decide what your eyes pickup better and whether or not you may end up using some form of night vision in the future.   The Trijicon RMR sights with the Amber dots seem to work better with night vision and according to many statistics, the human eye picks up the green color in low light and at longer distances.   There are several non battery operated options that fiber optics and will eliminate any need for spare batteries, normal battery life for the RMR sights is about 2yrs.

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Looking for an optic for your AR? We’ll point you in the right direction

Aimpoint Patrol Rifle OpticsAimpoint MagnifiersAimpoint Comp M4AImpoint Red DotsThere are always going to be price points and some optics are either an overkill as far as features or they are junk.  We’ve pruned a lot of our inventory in recent years to try and have standards on what kind of optics we should stock because we can personally direct customers to them knowing it’s a quality product.    If you have good eyesight you may notice parallax in certain optics but that is something you don’t really have to worry about in close ranges.  It makes a huge difference if you are trying precision shooting at longer ranges and there are scopes that have zero parallax or have a level of adjustment to compensate.   Just because you are choosing a red dot sight don’t think you can’t shoot targets at longer ranges because the Aimpoint Magnifiers will give you a much better range.

It’s always a good idea to know the direction you “may” go when modifying or accessorizing your rifle so you leave room to attach Magpul Accessories, Lasers, or Surefire flashlights because depending on the location of your optic,  rail sizes matter.  If it’s not an Eotech sight, it’s probable going to be an Aimpoint Red Dot and most likely the Patrol Rifle Optic that you might want to eyeball.   Spike’s Tactical has some really cool rail systems and if you want all that gear on your gun and not an Magpul MOE stock.   If you don’t want to deal with AA batteries or CR123 being in your go bag, then Aimpoint is the optic for you.

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Reflex sights, red dots and clarity and precision

Red Dot sightsTrijicon RMR mountsTrijicon RMR sightsSounds like a wordy subject line but so many people find out the hard way that certain levels of eyesight mean you can’t see so well with some of the modern optics.  Eye relief is a big one for those that don’t like some of the Trijicon ACOGS because you do have to put your eye pretty close to get a sight picture while optics like the TA11H-G give you a little more eye relief but its a much larger platform to mount.   The Aimpoint Micro T1 got some negative responses recently because according to our customer that the red dot sight looked broken Fiber Optic Rifle OpticsRMR SightRM08G sights in stockor flared, we informed them that this isn’t a defect in the optic, it actually has to do with how the operator’s eyes view the red dot.   Sometimes it pays to walk in a store and look through and optic before dropping $600 bucks on one.

Recently I learned a lot about the differences between the Aimpoint, Bushnell, Eotech and Trijicon RMR sights and have pretty good knowledge on helping customers narrow down what they really should consider.   Knowing the dot size you want to go with is a good way to narrow your product options and knowing what type of battery life you are asking for.   The Trijicon RMR sights have been constantly expanding and are used on handguns as much as Remington 870 and Mossberg 500 shotguns as well as secondary sights on AR15s.  Sure they are expensive but giving the clarity, battery life, and far more precise red dots than many other manufacturers, you may find it actually useable when the other product you were looking for is not compatible.

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Fast target acquisition and indoor and outdoor lighting situations

We always do a lot of listing to our customers because considering how technical this industry is, and considering that nobody that works here has been in the Military for 25yrs or been a firearms instructor for that long, we don’t have the experience to witness all of the gear being used and all of the situations that things have occurred.   The best way to learn is to listen and ask questions so you can comprehend what is going on.   One of those things is learning about the situations that many of our local Police Departments go through.   The statistics are that even if you are carrying an AR15 Carbine, you are still most likely to be in situations that are well within handgun ranges.HHSII-2

Moving form indoor sunlight to low light or total darkness, and then turning on a flashlight could be a total of 4 different lighting settings and depending on what optic you are using, it can become a total mess trying to see through you’re optic.   Optics that cut it tend to be Eotech Sights and Aimpoint sights and sometimes you are just better off sticking with Iron sights.   The next issue is finding power setting with your optic that gives you a comfort zone.   Try doing it with your Eotech and see how annoying high power settings are in low light even though it might be good in bright sunlight. If you are thinking about a night vision compatible optic, if you like Eotech’s you’ll have to think ahead for the NV compatible versions, if you want something simple, go with the Aimpoint Patrol Rifle Optics.

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Aimpoint Patrol Rifle Optic

Aimpoint Patrol Rifle OpticWe sold a boat load of Eotech sights last year and probable because I, personally, am a big fan of that zero magnification optic.   The MOA circle and the 65MOA circle really gets picked up by my eyes and I never feel inhibited when engaging multiple targets.   I’ve done quite a few optic tests at my gun range and really learned a lot in this last year pertaining to the Trijicon, Eotech and Aimpoint optics.   Being that I am a firearm instructor it’s actually more fun for me to bring new shooters or less experienced shooters to the range and see how they learn.   I’ve done tests with AK variants and AR15’s and time and time again ended up with shooters choosing an M4 Carbine over the AK.   Usually a 50yd iron sight test and differences in hit counts between each.

I won’t let this turn into an AR15 vs AK debate, but I find it hard to argue that a less trained operator will be better with an AK than an AR15.   Recently we started stocking the Aimpoint Patrol Rifle Optic has a staple optic for those looking for a red dot optic under $400 that comes with a mount.  Mounts can complicated decisions on optics especially when people see that it might start at a $140-$400 decision, just for a mount.   Aimpoint has had the red dot market for a long time because their optics have been field tested for a long time with military coming back from War and buying the same optic for their personal firearms.   The Aimpoint Patrol Rifle optic has several night vision settings as well as other variable power settings.  I highly recommend looking into getting a magnifier because you will increase your ability to identify targets as well as engage more accurately at 300yds + if need be.

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Aimpoint vs Eotech’s

Eotech sightsThis is a question that is often asked in our store primarily because there are similarly priced products with zero magnification.   Both optics can be co-witnessed and also magnifiers can be used with both product lines.    Even though there is a considerable difference between the battery life times, the real debate is about whether you want a 2 MOA red dot, 4 MOA red dot or a 65MOA circle with a MOA dot in the middle. One reason we have a plastic rifle in our store that is in spec for optics and flashlights is for potential customers to be able to mount the optics and see how well their eye picks up the reticle or dot.   There are some Eotech sights with different configurations for less lethal and for taking longer range shots but they are not is popular as the standard 65MOA/1MOA circle dot.

We stocked the Trijicon SRS sights and although there were initially some issues with the design it does offer a different approach but a very expensive option.   The majority of our customers have a price range and it usually comes down to the Eotech Sights (there are several in the $390-$500 price range) and the Aimpoint Patrol Rifle Optic.   The Patrol rifle optic has a thumb screw mount which, for about $400 you got the whole Aimpoint package without trying to figure out what type of mount to get, usually Larue Tactical but we have recently become a Bobro Mount dealer so there is another  quick detach option with a very good reputation.   The one thing to watch out for with Eotech sights is you really need to make sure you know whether or not you will be putting a magnifier on your AR15 at some point in the future.  If you “might” get an Eotech with a side button configuration.

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