All posts tagged Tasco

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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LWRC Range Trip

rifle scopesToday I took my newest LWRC rifle to the range to break it in.   This is a combat rifle and I expect that it eventually get pretty beat up, but it’s always a  good idea to run through some firing drills before you rely on it.   Some of the biggest malfuntion problems I have seen on the firing line were with supposedely brand new out of the box rifles.   Sometimes there are bugs or issues that are easy to fix, but you really need to put some lead down range with your rifle or pistol before you rely on it.   I’ve mentioned before about a time when I saw a guy show up with a Beretta 92FS inox pistol and it jammed after every round.   The shooter was very frustrated because this was it’s first range trip.   Well, turns out that the pistol was bone dry and had absolutely zero lubrication on it and with one wipe down, the gun ran flawlessly.    The same should go for any firearm.   I strongly suggest cleaning guns every once in awhile, even if you haven’t shot them.    Lubrication can run off of guns or drain off, and I also highly recommend using a small level of grease on even pistols, especially if they may sit in a gun safe for long periods of time.

My LWRC defanitely runs on less lubrication that any direct impingement rifle, but I am going to use small amounts of Break Free CLP on it just to help reduce the amount of wear on the parts.   I have tested previous LWRC rifles out and they have all lived up to my expectations.   The product has been modified over the last 3yrs, but I’d have to say that they were big improvements, mostly on the bolt carrier and short stroke piston designs.   My favorite configuration is the shorter version that is close the militaries version of the M4 Carbine.   The M4 Carbine is the fastest CQB rifle, but it is possible to inhibit the speed of the rifle by putting too much optic on the rifle.   The rifle is meant for close range fighting and anything more than 4X is too much.   The lethality and ballistics of the M4 make it a very good close range fighting rifle, but even though the rifle is accurate out to 600yds, it is a very week round at those distances.   You may be better off with a longer barrel AR15 variant and mounting 4-10X rifle scopes if you aren’t looking for a close range fighting rifle.   I am starting to see a trend away from magnification on the M4 and even many of the Trijicon ACOGS are now mounting red dots because we know that even 3-4x magnifications will slow you down at pistol range distances.

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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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How much further can you really see?

Spotting ScopesI’ve seen so many people on firing lines with spotting scopes complain about the optics they have and what they should have gotten or what they wish they knew before getting a scope.   Sometimes people have this idea that having an optics magnify 45x will make things easier to see at great distances and any experienced observer know that isn’t true.  Magnification can become void due to heat and mirage and even zero magnification can cause you to have trouble hitting an object at certain distances.
Expecting to see 22 Caliber holds at 600yds is a hard feat

One thing you may want to consider if you are expecting to use a spotting scope for long ranges is a different type of target other than paper.  Shoot N C targets can help improve your visibility and avoid any frustrations in trying to pin point your point of impact on paper.  They aren’t re-useable so you’ll have to expect to spend more money on them, but they work.  Spottings scopes are as good as the money you pay for them, but make sure you know what you can realistically do with them before you select one.

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