Who has watched Aliens (you know, the movie where Ripley shows up and “brings it” to the xenomorphs with the Colonial Marines) and wondered why no one has done a round counter like the one on the pulse rifles the good guys used? Well, wonder no more. Cobalt Kinetics has “done it” again, by engineering a solution that combines both functionality and amazing aesthetics.

That block on the side is, yes, a round counter.

It was teased at Range Day, and they had some transport issues with getting it here earlier. But, really, it doesn’t matter, because it is here now. It actually is even better in person than it was as described. And we have the first pictures and coverage of it here!

It is actually a very simple concept that provides perfect accuracy that is not tied to assumptions (like the acoustic or impulse driven counters). This actually uses solid state components embedded in the magazines coupled with either a wired or wireless system (all the pics I have today are of the wired). What that means is that EACH magazine knows it’s current state. You can have a dump bag full of mags, pull one out and get a correct count.

Additionally the round count starts changing color based on the number of rounds, from green through red as you get closer to zero. When you hit last round you get a warning symbol. The system, since the tech is tied to the magazine, doesn’t know if there is a round in the chamber when the magazine is empty (so it will never display a “0”). The wireless version uses Bluetooth and has the ability to get total rounds counts (and has all kinds of applications for HUDs and management applications). The system also has a number of settings you can adjust like brightness and sleep timer.

Really this is just the tip of the iceberg with the system’s capabilities. If you are at SHOT, come by booth 2660 and see the system for your self–it is not vaporware!