All posts tagged M4 Carbine sights

Eotech Sights still have an edge

Eotech SightsI personally can’t trash Eotech sights or Trijicon or Aimpoint.  There are a few other optics that I have personally worked with that are moving  up to that category, and that’s just my personl opinion about worthiness.   I haven’t spent time in the Canadian Military, Russian Military or Royal Forces to talk about what they are using, but durability means its going to last.   When I look at all of the internal technological changes that many of these optics have had, even a good design, when fielded, will have its weak points.   Just think about how much of an improvement the M14 was over the M1 Garand, but as soon as the M14 was fielded in Vietnam, the M14 stocks swelled and just didn’t hold up in that climate that changes needed to be made.   There are plenty of arguments about how bad the M16 did in Artic testing so don’t think desert warfare is the same as Artic.  Even snow speeders had trouble adapting to cold.

Remember that trying to have a perfect cheekweld in real world conditions isn’t always possible, cutting corners, climbing stairs and running full speed is something you might want to do, movement is important to survival and the Eotech Sights have a very unique holographic gun sight.   It’s not a dot that you can easily loose track of depending on it’s brightness and this was copied after the F16 fighter gun sight because they knew that with all of the ducking and weaving that a fighter pilot would be engaging in that it’s impossible to have  your head completely still.  Just moving a half inch back and forth with iron sights means not having a sight picture or losing your target.   The batteries don’t run as long as a Trijicon SRS sight or the Aimpoint Patrol Rifle Optic, but it might be the best and fastest sighting system for you.

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Eotech sights still the fastest gun sights

Not everyone has 20/20 vision and everyone’s needs for optics can vary widely.  Many people prefer red dot optics over black line reticles because they need the visibility and the contrast. Having contrast against targets is very important and part of the reason you see red dot and even green reticle optics.  Eotech optics can come in different switch configurations, there is also an Eotech Magnifier that you can use.

Eotech gun sights will give you a wide field of view with fast and accurate target acquisition.  These unique optics,  Eotech sights have variable power settings, low battery warnings and can be easily removed. There are reasons to have magnification on a Carbine and the Eotech magnifiers are a simple solution to engaging medium range targets with the flip of a switch. Gun sights are available for the 5.56 caliber firearms as well as .308 guns. The Eotech magnifiers are available in Black and Tan.

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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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Some time with the Eotech Flip to side Gen 2 magnifier

I have been using one of these on my LWRC M6A2 for several months now.  It’s taken me awhile to get to where I am at with using it, but it was a learning experience.   When I first looked at these I was trying to decide if I should get an Eotech magnifier or the Mako magnifier.   I figured I would start out with the higher end and work my way down.  The first thing that hit me was the cost of the Eotech 556 I have and the Magnifier were the same as some of the Trijicon rifle scopes that I have been looking at.

I’ve learned to keep my guns in a configuration that they are meant to be in, and M4 carbine is meant for close up fighting so why turn it into a long range shooting weapon.   Eotech gun sights are my favorite for close fighting but there are major drawbacks to using them at medium ranges and in low light environments.   The magnifier gives you that medium range visibility and  helps ID targets and become more effective at hitting targets. with the flip to side mount, it takes a second to go back to close range shooting.  Definitely worth it in my book.

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