For the last few years, rifles and handguns have had all the optics development love. With a veritable plethora of magnified options for rifles and the explosion of small red-dots on handguns, shotguns have seen little movement – if only because of institutional inertia against optics on scatterguns. From personal experience, even having a semi-auto shotgun at the local range gets demeaning looks from the OWG’s.

Add a 3-gun tube and optic? They recoil in horror and call your shots “cheating.”

Whatever.

Seeing this as a status quo that has long lost its status is Aimpoint, who is shipping the previously announced Micro S-1 optic. Designed to get as low profile as absolutely possible, the S-1 interfaces with common mounting ribs getting the dot in a comfortable place for most shooters – with just a hair of chin weld for those who like getting low on the guns. Various adapter plates are included for the popular range of rib sizes.

Forgoing a bit of precision, the S-1 ships with a 6 MOA dot. The larger dot is a bit easier to see and with targets rarely past 100 meters (in case of slugs) the larger dot will mean faster sight acquisition and therefore more hits. The LED power is boosted as well to compensate for being aimed up at light sources.

No pricing has been announced, but expect the optic to run in the same area as the T-1 and similar Aimpoint Micros.

Features (Courtesy of Aimpoint):

• Versatile optic for all shotgun applications
• Available in 6 MOA dot size
• Higher maximum light intensity settings for bright sky conditions
• Low integrated and carbon fiber reinforced rib mount
• Low optical axis
• Interchangeable base plates to accommodate most rib sizes (6-12mm)
• Lightweight, compact and fully enclosed protective housing
• Possibility of full zeroing to customize the point of impact