All posts tagged Gun Sights

Put some thought into high bright you want your sights to be

We’vemeprolight sights sold a lot of rifle and handgun sights and we could narrow it down to top sellers, but it really boils down to a shooters personal preference.   Several sighting systems are meant for long range shooting, close range engagements or for low light.  The statistics are that most shooters occur in low light and that’s why many of our Local Police Departments have the Meprolight sights already installed on their duty guns.  The most popular gun in our neck of the woods right now is the Glock 21 45acp handgun.  For most CCW purposes this gun is a bit of an overkill because it’s so heavy, but depending on the environment is that you are in, we leave it up to you to decide what works for you.  Some shooters are color blind while others are just looking for a quicker and easier to pick sighting system.

It looks like the old tritium night sights of the past are long gone and since we’ve had a very impressive year with sales on Meprolight sights we have to give them some generous words.   You may want to see which colors you pick up the best but there are multip meprolight sights that you can check out that can give you a 2 dot green picture and a yellow, orange or green front sight.   These light up handgun sights so well it is worth considering using them on an AR15 rifle if you choose to do so.  Some of the Trijicon ACOGS that we sell have the night sights built into the iron front sights that you can fall back on if need be.

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Reviews on the Trijicon reflex and Mini ACOGS

Trijicon Reflex Sights I have always run Eotech sights on my LWRC AR15 carbines but the optics that have turned me on recently are the TA44 Mini ACOGS.  These 1.5×24 ACOGS have low magnification but the circle/dot reticle kind of reminds of the Eotech gun sight.  I have never been a huge fan of the Red dot because they seem to be too blurry for my eyes and I don’t like all of that haze.  For clearing houses I understand why people like them but the Trijicon Reflex sights like the RX30 are much clearer with their dot recticles than any red dot I’ve used.   There is now a very small 1.75 red dot called the Trijicon SRS sight which is a sealed reflex sight.  There is almost zero “tube effect” when looking through these and they take up very little space on your rail.  I still run a quad rail and have not jumped on the Magpul MOE yet but this is important to me.

There is so much to accessorize about the AR15 now but that is a good thing since all of us have different arm lengths and different tolerances of weight.  Several of the new Trijicon Reflex sights like the Trijicon SRS01 and SRS02 are ground breaking optics with their solar/battery powered red dots.   I would like to see something more along the lines of a solar/battery powered Eotech sight but maybe Trijicon will come out with a circle/dot solar powered optic like the TA44.   I would love to see something like that in maybe a 30mm optic.

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Eotech sights, Aimpoints, and the Trijicon SRS sights and rail space

eotech sightsThere was a good add on a Trijicon facebook page promoting the Trijicon SRS sight and it was mostly about rail space.  That is an issue that I personally have run into because I put several things on my LWRC M6A1 rifle that I started to run out of room when i tried to put a pressure switch on it.  I started out with a vertical foregrip and it worked well with the my Streamlight Scorpion flashlight but after I fell in love with the Magpul angled foregrip I ran into issues trying to activate the flashlight.   I’m still not sure what I’m going to do but once I get the new XPS sights in from Eotech i’m going to retire my Eotech 512 just based on rail space.

Run time is important but there are differences between military applications and Law Enforcement applications.  There have been big changes in the industry and now that solar/battery optics are are on the market we’ll see what the next generation of Eotech sights are going to produce.   The Eotech magnifier is a very good idea for someone that already has an Eotech device and wants to make it a medium range optic.  The side battery switch is something I also really like because it makes it easier to get to if you already have a magnifier and rear sight.

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Moving away from battery reliant optics?

I remember when Eotech sights and red dots were showing up on gun ranges about 15yrs ago and how high tech they were.  They were because you were basically getting an F16 gun sight on a Carbine and it was so easy to see targets and engage them quickly.   I have good eye sight for my age but there have been many times I have taken friends and family members as well as students to the range and people had trouble looking through optics.  The best thing about low magnification optics is that is less of a problem for them.  Aimpoint is still probable the king of the red dots but Trijicon has the SRS red dot out now and we have a few of them inbound.

Having AA batteries around for your firearm optic is easy and it’s a very common battery to find.  There have been design changes to Eotech sights because it was common for the gun sight to have issues with the battery contacts when the batteries were put in forward in relation to the firearm.  I assume it had something to do with barrel harmonics but I have witnessed this first hand.  The smaller CR123 batter is being used more than the AA batteries and you’ll get a shorter smaller optic.  There are always trade offs with firearm optics and even trijicon is moving towards battery powered optics.

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Rear sights, front sights and all of the other issues with iron sights

I never thought picking out sights for my AR15 would be so hard until I put optics on it.  I started out with a Bushmaster XM15E2 a few decades ago and that was the simplest design.  You had two aperture sights for close up or long distance shots.   The carry hand design would allow you to put an ACOG or other optic on it but this was not a popular way to do this.  Flat tops became more and more popular in the industry because optics became rugged  and durable and even though shooting with iron sights takes great skill, using them as  primary sights, especially in the military makes you limit your firearms abilities.

Many optics are used for identify targets as much as they are for hitting then.  You do have to be careful about what type of sights  you want to put on your firearm because Troy Battle sights are very popular but there are big differences in clearance for fold down front and rear sights.  Gas block mounted sights are lower and if you get fixed sights, you won’t be able to mount magnifiers behind something like and Eotech.  I’ve got iron sights sitting in my house that got about a year of range use and then I picked up a new  optic and the configuration just didn’t work.  The best thing to do is think ahead or just plan on having more than one upper for your AR15 and configure them differently.

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You need to know what you want and here’s the best place to find it

Rifle optics are probable one of the hardest things to ship for online because so much of the product is spelled out in words and sometimes you will know if you want something just by picking it up.  I’ve seen several combat optics from outside a glass display case but didn’t get a chance to look through them.  The way that glass technology has improved, so much about optics these days are etched in the glass.  I still  have one of my first optics I got off of my  Uncle that actually  has a wire hanging over the glass for crosshairs, it fogs up but still is accurate.

The differences in application for Eotech, Aimpoint and Trijicon are pretty fast and the optics really are not that all alike.  I remember the first time I saw  Trijicon ACOGs these looked all fancy but the TA01 that I shot through back then is no where near what Trijicon optics are now.   I have Trijicon night sights on several of my handguns but never really made use of them, I guess that’s a good thing, but now that they are making high visibility sights for shotguns that have dramatically changed as far as sighting systems.  The optics we’ve sold the most lately were the green reticle acogs and that was mostly because we had them in stock and people could stop in our showroom and hold them before buying.

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Another thing people find hard to shop for online

The thing that made us decide on moving our business from just being an e- commerce business was the demand for something local.  So many people think that Amazon and Ebay have done away with the brick and mortar stores, but this is actually not true.  We’re very much in the understanding that many people prefer to get something from a local business but most people go where they get something for the best price.  There is a battle brewing over internet sales taxes and while many companies have escaped sales tax, the chickens have come home to roost on this one.

We probable have about a 5% return or exchange rate on our clothing but we probable have a considerable percentage of people that never buy from us because they are afraid of getting their sizes wrong.  Recently we had guys order insight flashlights online and only found out after we shipped the product that we were less than 30 minutes from them.   After he realized the light was not what he wanted  he drove back and wanted the Streamlight flashlights instead.  Just being able to hold something in their hands, whether it’s a light or a pair of boots, being able to try it out first is a big deal.

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Should you skip steps when teaching people about defensive shooting ?

Ok, yeah, from a scenario stand point there are always variables which can change things, but there are some steps that you should put all of your efforts into transmitting to a new student before  you can take a step back and have confidence they can stand on their own.   First, safe gun handling skills are important, but there are some things that should be taught immediately after that.   I have in several situations had people call me up and ask me where to get a firearm because they were under serious security risks and they had almost zero firearm handing experience.

There is always a balance that needs to be met with each new shooter.  Some people progress faster than others but you really have to watch you don’t skip steps.  Mounting high optics like the Trijicon rifle scopes, namely the ACOGS on a gun may make a novice shooter more proficient but what about close up engagements? Do they know that those crosshairs are going to be several inches above the point of impact if someone was 10ft in front of them?  What would the ramifications of missing by 2 inches ? I can think of scenarios where they could end badly.

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Eotech feedback

There are always pros and cons of using optics but Eotech gun sights are the number one selling optic for Law Enforcement.   The Eotech sights are designed for close range engagements but there are limitations due to the reticle and lack of magnification once engaging a target.  The Eotech Magnifiers can give you more range at the flip of a switch and can always be flipped back to their original position in no time.There has been a understanding in the Law Enforcement and Military world that putting a scope or glass on a firearm doesn’t mean it’s a fragile thing.

Sure we know that Eotech gun sights and accessories can break and come loose, but much about mounting optics and reliability is about the manufacturer and the operator that mounted it. From what our customers tell us,  Eotech sights are the fastest close quarters fighting optics and the Eotech magnifiers gives you medium range capabilities. When you are looking for speed and not for target shooting or hunting, and you want a fast close quarters gun fighting weapon without compromising your ability to engage targets at medium ranges, the Eotech magnifier is the way to go. The Eotech gun sights are the fast target acquisition optics and the 3x magnifier will give you a clearer view of targets in low light and medium ranges that normally would be obscured by red dots or illuminated reticles. For medium range engagements the Eotech Magnifier helps id targets at longer ranges.

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Research your guns before accessorizing

Nowadays many companies will hit you with restocking fees on gun accessories and in all fairness, the real reason is to deter people from being lazy asses and ordering wrong parts and acting like it was the companies fault something didn’t fit.   Many stock accessories tend to not be drop in changes and some fittings may occur, this is very common for non-AR15 style rifles.   People make mistakes but 85% of time we get a call about a return on a gun accessory its because somebody didn’t know that the gun had to go to a gunsmith or that they need to buy another mount or accessory to fit it.

Many companies also give Free Shipping on an item and if you’ve been a lazy bum and purchased a C-more optic and didn’t know that you needed a $75 mount for it to work on your gun and now you want your money back on the scope, we’ll you’re the person I’m talking about.   If you have a question ask it, if you aren’t sure about Magpul Accessories, the manufacturer of your firearm probable knows best.  Everyone and there dog is putting the MOE stocks on their guns and if you have a question about it, call them up.

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