All posts tagged Trijicon rifle scopes

Not sure what combat optic to put on your M4?

If you know you want a fighting optic on your gun but you don’t know which one to get, well put your thinking cap on and do the Think Think Think that Winnie the Poo does.  Do you want a close up fighting gun for home defense, house clearing or do you want to shoot your reloads through it and do some long range shooting.   There is no such thing as a do it all optic yet, but there are multi-use combat optics.   The real problem you will have if you don’t figure out what you really want is a heavy or bulkier than necessary firearm.

Some combat optics like the TA01NSN-RMR can be very bulky but they are worth their weight in gold if you need something like that.   The Trijicon TA01NSN is a dressed down version of that but can eliminate the need for adding on backup iron sights.  It’s our call if you want that extra backup, but this particular ACOG already gives you a backup option.  I have friends that get MOA with the iron sights on this optic so you’ll have to realize that the gun is as good as you are.

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Red vs Green reticles

Last fall i picked up my first crossbow which was a Horton Vision Crossbow.  I got it at Cabelas for about $850 as a Combo with a nice optic with an illuminated reticle and bolt compensator.   This was a very unique crossbow and definitely the most quiet.    At first the illuminated reticle seemed to be secondary to me, but it had an option to be green or red.   I didn’t understand the level of thought put into the optic until I started using it in the woods.   The green reticle was probable the best one in the brown and yellow woods I was in and I stuck with that for the entire day.

The newest and probable best selling optic we have right now is the Trijicon 1.5×16 ACOG.  This is a Mini ACOG and will can be used with traditional ACOG mounts, but there is a smaller more appropriate mount for it.   Trijicon ACOGS tend to be a medium range optic, but these 1.5×16 give you a minimal amount of magnification, but zero battery use.  There are other reticles available besides the red ring and the green ring, but the green ring reticles are now the most popular selling although many of our LEO are still using the red reticles.

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Something to consider for AK optics that’s new

I’ve gone through many trends with firearms and optics.   Most people start out with iron sights and a bolt action but there is nothing wrong with starting someone out with an AR15A2 style gun.    In my opinion all combat firearms should have backup iron sights on them and every AR15 style carbine has that option.   Some firearms do not handle optics very well, especially many of the battle rifles that came out of the NATO Countries in the last century.   Optics have gotten stronger, but some mounts just don’t hold up in the real world.   The AK style of firearms were very limited with the types of optics that  you could mount on them.  If you have a side rail you would have to worry about some serious cheek weld issues due to the heights of various optics.

I recently watched a video on the Personal Defense Network where Rob Pincus goes over some improvements that you can make to the AK rifles to improve the ergonomics.   One optic that I have fallen in love with recently is the Trijicon ACOG 1.5×16 ring and dot.  You can get them in red or green ring and in my humble opinion, these optics give you a real reason to not get an Eotech gun sight.   The Eotech will give you a larger field of view, but the 1.5 magnification gives you a little help in identifying something just a little further out.  The red ring has more clarity than the Eotech gun sight and didn’t have the haze that some optics give you.

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One of my favorites from Trijicon

There are a great many combat optics you can float on your boat, but much of what I like is the dressed down versions.   I still have pretty good eye sight for my age and I find many of these red dot and reticles to blur or obscure  targets and that just pisses me off at times.   I’ve done enough steel plate shooting to know that you can’t see steel plates at 200yds unless they are in broad sunlight and or have a strong contrasting background.   I learned this while looking forward to a day of shooting with my primary firearms instructor when he took me to his Class III friendly range.

I get bored shooting handguns and moved over to the steel Carbine range and starget plinking.   I couldn’t ID a 6″ plate at 100yds with an Eotech and the Red Dot I had on a 10/22 was just as difficult.   I recently picked up a few Trijicon ACOGS and have various Carbines with the Trijicon TA01-NSN.  These optics give you 4×32 visibility and also have backup iron sights mounted on the top.  I believe Trijicon is re-thinking the way they mount sights for CQB on the top of the Trijicons, but the NSN works well.  The drawback to the ACOG is that it isn’t as good in close up fighting, but you can’t beat iron sights for short ranges.

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Updating a battle rifle with optics

I have on numerous occasions watched people try and turn their AR15 rifles into sniper rifles and long range shooting rifles.   The AR15 has become so modified that it’s really hard to say what it’s limitations are because their are many things that it can do if modified.    I remember when the M1A ruled competitions, but now it’s really hard to find them anymore.   There have been many long range shooting modifications that have made the AR15 a 1000yd rifle.  One thing the AR15 is really known for doing well is being accurate.  I jumped on that bandwagon a few years ago and enjoy the ones that I have.  One thing that the AR15 in .223 is also known for is lack of penetration on hard targets.   With the invasion of Iraq, there have been numerous stories of guys not  being able to shoot through concrete walls to get a BG that was just about a foot on the other side.   The AR15 with M855 or SS109 can penetrate steel at reasonable ranges, but when it comes to taking 300yd shots at hard walls, it is out of gas.

Considering what the M855 round can do as far as penetration, it’s no weakling when it comes to punching through targets, but that energy gets to be useless on anything other than flak jacket type armor.    The M1A or the .308 for that matter is an over kill at close ranges under 200yds and it’s going to do much more than what an AR15 or M16 can do, but when  you get out to 300yds + good rifles scopes, accurate rifles and a .308 are going to hit targets harder, punch through targets harder and save the guys carrying the M4 rifles a lot of ammo and get the job done.    Mounting optics and finding really good and fast bullet compensator on the glass shouldn’t slow you down and will help you get fast target acquisition at medium ranges.

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Magnification and sending long distance phone calls

Ok, that was a dumb thing to say, but I still chuckle at one of my buddies comments whenever we’re on the long range.   Reaching out and touching someone at 600yds is precisely what a sniper does.  I have learned to notice that clarity of rifle optics but one thing that is becoming more and more of an experience is looking through all of the optics out there and their reticles.   A long time ago, people were more concerned with the durability of the optic and making sure it wasn’t going to fog up on them when they took the scope caps off in the early morning when they went out chasing whitetails.  Now some of your least expensive rifle optics don’t fog up.

I have a few Zeiss Conquest scopes that I’m quiet happy with, but I think I could go with less magnification on some of them.   When  you are trying to hit a 6ft target at 600yds, it’s really not that hard to see it.   When people try and see an X on a 2ft piece of paper in their rifle scopes, that’s a whole other thing and in my opinion something not worth pursuing.   I have walked off shooting ranges in the summer time because the mirage given off from the  heat was so bad that it was completely impossible for me to even see a target at 100yds and testing my hand loaded ammunition would have been a waste.

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The AR15, they don’t work for everything

After I see the enormous amount of stuff that people are mounting on AR15s, I enjoy watching the shit to skill ratio that many M4 owners deploy.   I don’t want to come off as an elitist, but I still hold a grudge against many in the AR15 crowd from all of the years I didn’t own one and listed to all of the prima donna’s boasting in the late 1990’s.    It seems that some think the the .223 or 556 round is more leathal if it is fired out of an AR15 than it is in any other similarly chamber rifle.   I’ve seen so many times at gun ranges where a guy shows up with atleast $3000 on his M4 and is spending  his entire day shooting at 25yds-50yds.   I have no problem training in those ranges, but that is fighting territory which the M4 does a good job in.

While this may sound like I’m being overzealous, I have also kept tabs on the number of guys that refuse to shoot those same guns at the 600yd ranges that are right next to them.  I like to ask them if they have shot over there, and the answer is the same, nah, I don’t need to.   Well, what’s the point in having a 600 meter reticle on rifle scopes like the ACOG and never knowing how to  hit targets at those ranges?   It’s not all about point and click, you will miss targets with enough wind, and engaging threats and distances means more travel time for the bullet and just because you see it in the crosshairs at 600 meters, doesn’t mean your bullet is going to hit it 2 seconds later.  I read about a gun fight that took place in the early days of the Afghanistan invasion where a couple guys in a downed helicopter couldn’t take out a bunker at 600yds and almost ran out of ammunition.   The enemy kept ducking under cover and kept shooting and ducking back in.   A good 7.62 that penetrated cover or had more range could have meant the difference.

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Bringing an old gun to the range

I have some funny experiences to share when it comes to choosing guns and calibers for long range shooting.  I use to be a member of a gun club that went out to 600yds, but it has long been closed down.   When I was working on zeroing a DSA STG58 rifle at a 500yd target, I wasn’t getting any better than 10 inch groups at 500yds, but that wasn’t too bad considering I was shooting military ammo.   That is just roughly 2 MOA at that range and for a gun that was a standar barrel and not match grade, I was pretty happy with it.   I have had some issues with the DSA FAL mount I have, but since I have loctited the mount, it hasn’t come loose on me.

While I was shooting there,  an old guy showed up with a 45/70 and a 12 inch box that he was going to shoot.   He fired at 200yds to check his iron sight zero and it was dead on, he moved the box out to 500yds and asked me to spot his bullets for him.   He took one shot and hit just in front of the box and then made an adjustment.  I had one of several Leupold 3-9×40 tactical rifle scopes A few seconds later he fired a second round and nailed the box.   He said I could shot at the box if I wanted to so I did.   My gun could hit it, but I had about a 50% hit rate when shooting off of the bench while this 70yr old guy hit the box every time with iron sights.   I’d like to know where that guy is these days because it made me realize that just because you have a modern firearm, doesn’t mean you are going to be a better shot them some old guy with his 45/70.

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Ruger 10/22 range day and scope options

I’m brainstorming with this blog post so give me some of your advice if you have any on what to put on my Ruger 10/22 rifle.   This is a standard 10/22 and not a tricked out barrel or trigger.   I purchased all of my 22lr for new shooters to learn on and didn’t want to get too fancy with optics in the beginning.   After picking up a Marlin Model 980 bolt action and having the rear sight replaced with an adjustable elevation like the standard 10/22,  I haven’t had the urge to buy another optic for this gun.   Many bolt actions are capable of shooting quarter size groups at 100yds with the right kind of ammo, but even though my bolt action has that capability, I still wanted it for novice introduction to firearms.

My ruger 10/22 was a training gun, but after recently doing some aggressive testing between the two, there was no comparison in accuracy.   The bolt action was shooting dime size groups at 50ft and the Ruger was shooting 2 inch groups with the same ammo.   I’m thinking about picking up a rifle scope for this gun that is either a fixed power or a red dot.   I have a Butler Creek 25 round magazine that I have yet to test out, but it could be a good close quarters combat training tool for wiping out soda cans and other carbonated reactive targets.   I had an Eotech 552 on a Ruger Mini 14 and had fun with it, but went back to a 3-9x40mm scope because it just seemed more practical.

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Gun holsters, concealed carry, accessories and Carbine upgrades

We carry a  lot of gun accessories and gun holsters and we are always eager to hear back from our customers about which products they like the most.   We have trimmed our inventory several times after getting feedback and reviews from our customers and we are very happy with the products we are selling.   Firearms are much better made than even just 20yrs ago due to superior technological changes in the production and manufacturing of synthetic materials and product consistancy.   Many rifle scopes and tactical optics are being made with etched glass and not mounted.  This has a huge impace on the life and durability of an optic.  I remember the tactical scopes I saw at gun shows in the 1990’s that cost $40.   I have since broken every optic that ever was mounted on a firearm that cost under $150.   I guess I do more shooting that the average gun guy, but why waste the money inexpensive tactical gear or rifle optics.

A good hunting scope can be had in the $200 price range and there isn’t always a need to have to spend a grand or more.   Get good Leupold rifle scope mounts and use loctite to on the screws for added reliability.   If you are looking for tactical gear or a tactical rifle scope, then you’re really going to  have to cough up the money and spend the cash.   There are many applications for tactical rifle optics, zero magnification like the Eotech combat optic, or low magnification with a added magnifier on your Eotech or go with low magnification medium range optics like the Trijicon ACOG.   Long range shooting means finding the right reticle that applies to the type of shooting you want to do.

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