Tactics and gear for the DMR
I guess I’m an old man if I can remember a time before gun forums, but now that Twitter and Blogging has seemed to surpass the usefulness of those discussion forums, modern technology and accessories are sometimes hard to figure out until they’ve actually been fielded for some time. I’m just starting to realize the importance of having some of the handguards, rifle stocks, and optics that I presently have on some of my AR15 rifles because now that I’m getting more time on the range, I realize that what I am using is really the best configuration for close up fighting.
I remember all of the squabbling I got on a firearm forum for wanting to put a rifle scope on a DSA FAL rifle. Many use to think that putting “glass” on a battle rifle was a bad idea. Now that the M14 has been resurrected as the DMR rifle, putting glass on a battle rifle seems like the best purpose. Trijicon ACOGs have shown up on many of the former scopeless battle rifles and that 2 MOA rifle can be very effective out to 800 meters if the shooter is up to it. I have found that for most purposes, I really don’t need more than 3x magnification, but for longer ranges, the M14 or FAL is capable and worthy of more magnification.
One of the most common issues I have seen with new Carbine students is their lack of knowledge about where their point of impact is at close ranges. I spoke with a student who could shoot his M4 out to 600yds with his ACOG, but did not know where his POI was at 50yds. Just about every 5.56 gun is going to be capable of hitting a man size target at 600yds, but the Carbine is really meant for close quarters combat. I’ve noticed a move away from magnification on many M4s because you really undermine your speed if you are relying on pin point accuracy from 100-600yds and don’t realize that you are completely missing a moving target that is 40yds away from you because you can’t track it.
One problem that any hunter already knew was using too much magnification meant slow target acquisition, especially at close ranges. Field of view is even more important in combat than in hunting. In Combat you may be looking at a bad guys face with your reticle right on him, but 6ft to his right is a guy with his sights right on you that you can’t see. I’d have to say that I belive that 3x-4x is probable the best of both worlds. Trijicon knew that even an optic with zero magnification like the Eotech had an edge in some situations so now they have Trijicon ECOS which has a red dot optic which sits on top of the scope. This will eliminate the problem of magnification in close quarters situations.