All posts tagged Konus

Long range shooting the importance of a team

We were invited out to another spectacular training event over the weekend and we got to watch some of the best police sniper teams do their work.   When you see stuff like this go on you really feel good to know that people like this are involved in protecting the public.   Many of these guys that were spending the day in a a friendly competition may be involved in taking down a hostage taker or taking down a terrorist.   These are the men that have to remain calm and follow orders, but know that they are serving and protecting the public.

When the conditions are right, it’s real easy to see bullet vapor trails.    Your eyes have to be trained for it, but many people don’t even know to look for it.  The one thing that I find amazing is the guy pulling the trigger always seems to get the credit for the hit, but he’s really just the person following directions.   Having a good pair of binoculars that give you the clarity and field of view can help you gather information about the range, target selection and even bullet vapor trails that will increase your chances of getting a higher hit ratio.

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Mounting an optic and locking it down

Just like every other accessory or firearm, there are pros and cons of any tool.    The novice attitude towards firearms is that a certain firearm is better than another just because they spend more money on customization.    I’ve seen guys with Kimber 45acp that couldn’t hit a plate at 15yds and guys with a Mil-Spec 1911 hit a plate at 100yds.    There are always variables when it comes to accuracy and tolerances, but it’s more than likely all about the skill level of the operator.

When  you are discussing the topic of which rifle scopes are better than others, the real issue would be about the clarity and reticle type and the durability.    I have read so much BS when it comes to rifle scope durability because most of that is from improperly mounted optics.   I’d say 75% of the time I pick up a rifle that is not my own, the rifle scopes are canted or the rings are not loctited.    If you don’t have a scope that is leveled properly, your hold overs are going to be shooting to the left or right of your target instead of dead on, high or low.   You’ll have a heck of a time trying to practice your accuracy because your elevation adjustments will cause your windage to change.  Reliability with an optic has more to do with how you mount it and lock it down than the price you paid for it.

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When optics go down

rifle scopesThe Trijicon NSN has iron sights mounted on the top of the rifle scope which can come in handy in closer situations and are a less expensive alternative to mounted a red dot on your ACOG.    That is worth the money if you are in the line of work that calls for it, but for general blasting and plinky, I think that $1800 optics is a bit much.   The Eotech 512 is probable my recommended optic for an M4.  I think people can get carried away with optics on the M4 because even though the rifle is pretty accurate, it really is not very powerful or effective past 200yds.    With a growing selection of combat optics you can put on the AR15 type rifles, one other suggestion I have for shooters is to always keep your iron sights on the rifle.   I’ve seen a few people show up at classes with just an Eotech mounted and they complained the front sight blocked their FOV.   Well,  taking a 200yd shot with an Eotech that has a dead battery is like parking a mini van from the furthest back seat.

There are numerous reasons that your rock solid rifle optics will go down.   Some optics use batteries which will always go down at some point.   Your tough Trijicon ACOG will hold zero under most combat conditions, but a 30 caliber bullet can still dismount it.     Reticles can come loose, rings can fail, glass can break and numerous other things occur in a fight that don’t normally happen with occassional hunting trips.   Most rifle optics won’t handle real big drops, but having the ability to have a backup just incase the glass goes down.  Co-witnessing your sights is a simple answer for those using rifle scopes and quick detach mounts in my opinion are worth considering.   It has never happened to me in a hostile situation, but having a MOA rifle with broken glass that is solidly mounted on my rifle has got to be a nightmare sceneario.

 

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Magnification and tracking movement

binocularsRifle scopes and spotting scopes each have their intended purposes.   A good rifle scope and act as a spotting scope in some situations, but not everyone wants to have a 50mm objective lense on their rifles.  Sometimes when I’m going to be shooting an AR15 that is setup with iron sights, I use to  bring one of my rifles that had a 3-9×40 scope and just use that for spotting.    The more I’ve progressed as a shooter, the more I realized that it would be nice to be able to just setup a spotting scope on my target and after pulling the trigger on my AR, I could just roll over and see the holes on paper since the spotting optic was already sighted on it.

I thought the need for using binoculars when going target shooting was unnecessary, but after taking a long range shooting course, I realized that the guy with the binoculars, even if they did not have a lot of magnification, usually high more visibility, a better field of view, and could identify movement faster than the guy with the high magnification on his rifle scope.   The problem I still saw with some binoculars was that they were heavy and can easily reflect a lot of light.   There are tacticals that can  help you avoid portraying a lot of reflective light from your objective lenses, but the better option is to only use binoculars that get the job done, and not something that is an overkill.  I’d recommend using binoculars that are atleast 25-30 mm as a  minimum.

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rifle scopes vs binoculars

binocularsWhile many in the tactical community have been learning that magnification does not increase your effectiveness is close quarters combat, it can actually hinder you, some are finding out that using a rifle scope to monitor movement, whether it’s for hunting, military or law enforcement purposes is not really a good idea.   Field of view is very important for tracking movement because a 50mm objective on a rifle scope stands out like a sore thumb, weighs a lot and might actually be set at too high of a magnification that you will most likely miss any potential threat.    It’s really almost like watching the stars at night with only one eye open and trying to spot shooting stars.

If you are not looking to break the bank and are just a target shooter or hunter, you can get a good set of binoculars for under $100 that will give you a very wide field of view.   Check out our website for some good deals on Bushnell binoculars.    I would suggest you consider keep a pair in your shooting range bags or active shooter bag.   Bushnell has a an extra wide binocular that gives you an oustanding field of view of up to 900ft.   That’s pretty good and not something  you’re going to get from a combat optic like an ACOG or Leupold CQT.   If you are on a team, you may want to consider having a designated observer.

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Binoculars, part of your every day range gear

TA168RB-1Binoculars seem to be getting over looked today now that so many people are using rifle optics instead of iron sights.    I guess I’m old enough to remember that the vast majority of friends that owned AR15 or M16 rifles had them without optics.    If you go back to many of the 1970 and 1980s TV shows, none of the military or police that  used them had optics on them.   I’m sure that there was a basis for that in reality.    Back in some of the old WWII movies,  used see guys toting around with M1 Garands and an Army General with a pair of binoculars scouting the landscape for the enemy, well now that everyone has an ACOG rifle scope, every guy with an M4 can see very well several hundred yards out, still there is a place for having binoculars.

If you are doing taget shooting and still think  you would rather have a spotting scope, well then go ahead and get a spotting scope.    I can tell you that there have been plenty of times I’ve been to long range gun clubs where frustrated plinkers couldn’t see the holes on targets 200yds away with 60X spotting scopes that cost $700 or more.   Well, the reality is on a hot summer afternoon, a mirage is going to obscure your visibility as much as a dark rainy day.    Binoculars are being made lighter and lighter and if you get in a good position,  you can still use them for seeing great distances even without using a stand.  Some of us still like to carry around lever action guns for deer season but it’s sometimes a good idea to carry a pair of binoculars for identifying potential targets beyond what your eyesight allows.

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Use and purposes for rifle optics

Rifle ScopesOptics have multiple purposes.  They can be used for Astronomy, Scouting, birdwatching, target shooting, hunting and military purposes.   With the emergency of combat optics for close quarter combat, scopes used on rifles have gotten smaller, more compact and sometimes have zero magnification.   The point is to give you a good sight pictures and a reticle that is easy to follow.

Many combat optics like Trijicon and Eotech are 4X or less.   DMR or Designated Marksmen are using optics made from Trijicon, Zeiss and Leupold that are combat worth but higher magnification since shooting 300-600 meters is becoming the norm in places like Iraq and Afghanistan.  Rifle Scopes are no longer made with the standard crosshair reticles and may even come in range finding or illuminated reticles.

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Military rifles and hunting optics

rifle scopesAnother issue you may run into when using hunting style optics on a military style rifle is this.   What are you going to do if the optic fails or breaks?   Are you going to need to u se a screw driver to remove it or can you detach it quickly?   Quick detach optics and accessories can become very important if you have a failure of some sort.   For instance, I’ve seen plenty of incidences where soldiers in Iraq took bullets in their optics but the rifles still worked.   Always have backup irons on an M4 is a good idea.  Not only can batteries on something like a Eotech gun sight go down, but sometimes that can actually get broken from being slammed around or from fragmentation.   The Mini 14 ranch rifle is a very manueverable Carbine.   Even though the Eotech optic is primarily for military purposes, I’ve found the Eotech to work very well on a Mini 14 Ranch rifle.    The MOA dot works well with a gun that can shoot MOA as long as the rifle barrel has not heated up, which normally occurs after the 3rd shot, but from a hunting standpoint, I rarely know anyone that takes 3 shots on any hunting trip.

It is true that there is very little difference in application between a military optic and a hunting optic.   The really difference should really be in durability.   There are plenty of good quality hunting optics that will hold up to being dropped every once in awhile, but it has an awful lot to do with the mounts that are on the scope.   Many military rifle scopes attach to the rail of an A3 mount and there is very little to do other than adjust windage and elevation.   It took me a long time to be able to mount cylinder rifle scope properly because you’ll find out really fast if your scope in incorrectly mounted when making elevation or windage adjustments at long distances.   The first sign of an improperly mounted rifle scope is noticing that your point of impact is changing on a diagonal line.   The trick I learned was to make sure you are on a flat surface in the first place and then set your horizontal reticle lines to match a flat object in your home.   I’ve setup optics on firing lines and found out that even though the target looked like it was level with me, the table I was shooting from was actually slanted.

 

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Modern Optics and Reticles

Tactical Rifle ScopesAnother evolution has occured in the tactical rifle scope market.    First we saw all kinds of tactical sniper optics and now we are seeing more and more innovation as far as rifle reticles.   No longer are we peering through rifle scopes and seeing crosshairs in dot or duplex.   We aren’t just seeing illuminated reticles either.
Rifle scopes are now available in various reticle colors and the biggest thing we see in hunting and rifle scopes are diverse bullet drop compesators.    I remember back in the day that I though magnification was really what people worried about and the obvious clarity of rifle scopes, but no more.   Speed with follow up shots and hold overs for hunting and tactical purposes with fixed power scopes is now much more important.

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