Good Morning! Our second installment to Weapons Wednesday is based on Optics for the AR15...Thanks again KrisK for a great post....I'm starting to get gun envy...
-What's up TKZ, welcome back to another Weapons Wednesday. This is KrisK back again and if you missed it last week, I've been talking AR-15's. This week I'd like to talk about optics. Three to be exact. The Aimpoint Micro, EOTech XPS2 Tactical, and the Vortex Sparc. Lets be honest, open sights are good. They're reliable and fairly easy to get on target. The optics I'm going to talk about today though I think, can help give you greater accuracy while allowing you to get on target quicker. There's one main reason why I like these red dot systems. With a conventional open sight, you have to close one eye and look down the barrel to acquire a sight picture of your target. With a red dot, you don't. You simple shoulder your rifle and look down the barrel with both eyes open. This allows for quicker rounds on target, and quicker elimination of the threat. Alright, lets dive in.
First we have the Aimpoint Micro
- Compact and lightweight ( 3.7oz )
-
It has a rail interface so it will attach straight to the rail of your
AR or to a riser
- Matte anodized finish
- 12 power settings including low
light applications
- 1X magnification with a 4M.O.A.( minute
of angle ) red dot
- battery life is OVER 5 YEARS
of CONTINUOUS use
Total price of $588.00
Second
we have the EOTech XPS2 Tactical
- weighs 8.0oz
- build in rail interface so you can mount it straight to your AR
rifle
- Matte Black finish
-20 different power
settings
-1X magnification with a 2M.O.A. red dot
-
battery life of only 600 continuous hours but, it does have a automatic
shut off option
Total price of $480.00
Last
but not least we have the Vortex Sparc
-light weight 5.2oz
- built in rail interface
- Matte black finish
-
10 different power settings w/night vision capabilities
-1X
magnification with a 2M.0.A. Red Dot
- 1300 hour battery life
Total price of $199.99!!!!
In
summary, you can't go wrong with any of these red dots. The Aimpoint
while it is pricey, has a VERY long battery life and they are almost
impossible to break. It is only 4M.O.A though so the accuracy out past
50 yards will be just a tiny bit off ( we're talking maybe an inch here
so almost nothing). The EOTech is a little cheaper but it's heavier and
it doesn't have the same kind of battery life as the Aimpoint.. The one
for me though has to be the Vortex Sparc. Everyone I talk to says they
shoot great. The price is AWESOME value at $200 (half price or more
compared to the other two) and it's accurate with the 2M.O.A. also you
can buy a 3X magnifier attachment for the Sparc for only about 139.00
dollars extra.
Until next time, Happy hunting!
Hi Dan. I have a question for you about these scopes (and scopes in general). You mention power settings, but I'm not following. Power settings for what, exactly? Coming from someone who knows basically nothing about guns, I find your posts very informative, but I'm a little lost on what a scope needs power for, let alone numerous settings. Don't you just look through, aim the red dot and shoot?
ReplyDeleteHey Stef, those are good questions. With these red dots in particular when I'm talking about the power settings, that refers to the red dot its self. These scopes use a battery to generate a red dot inside of the scope, you use that to aim instead of a conventional cross hair. Lets use the Vortex Sparc as a example, it has 10 different power settings. So, each setting adjusts how bright the red dot shows inside of the scope. In situations where it's really bright outside, your going to want to use a high setting so that you can see the red dot instead of just seeing sun light. The same thing goes for low light situations. When the light is low, you will use a lower setting so that the red dot doesn't consume your field of vision. Does that answer your question? If not, let me know.
DeleteHi Kris. Sorry for the delay, but yes, that does answer my question! Makes sense. Now I just need a gun and some zombies!!
DeleteThanks Stef for the question and thanks to Kris for a response. I personally have not used the battery powered sites, I have used a few different Nikon and Bushnell scopes that do not require batteries though. Non-battery powered scopes rely on the amount of light the lens can allow in, so in low light settings your reticle becomes less obvious and harder to see. It seems the Red Dot style sites are the industry standard for quick aiming and quick shooting, they are commonly used in military applications. Take a look a Wikipedia for a quick and easy to read "How It Works"... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_dot_sight . TKZ_out.
ReplyDelete