#Magnifier

Last year when I was ramping up to compete in the Tactical Games, I only owned an Eotech and thought that would be enough for the competition. I asked around to a few of our fellow writers who had already competed in the games and they quickly told me that only having an optic with no magnification was going to make things much more difficult for me at the competition.

Premium optic mount and accessory manufacturer, Unity Tactical, is introducing their own magnifier and swing mount combo in 2024! While Unity Tactical is known for making top-tier mounts, this is their first foray into the optic magnifier game, so it should be exciting. And while we don’t have firm pricing and availability, Unity Tactical assures us that this magnifier/mount combo is going to be reasonably priced and available this year. See this vid for more details.

This story of Juliet and her Romeo is not a one of woe at all. The Romeo and Juliet of today’s Photo Of The Day bring joy to people behind them and their union allows them to do things that neither could do separately – a perfect relationship, isn’t it?

Red dots have become a dominant optic option for use on firearms. Vortex has made their name known with their wide selection of red dots. A couple of years ago, Vortex came out with their Micro3X magnifier. It was a short magnifier with a large eye box. Well, now they are coming out with a Micro6X for more magnification. Let’s take a closer look at this super magnifier.

A timeless love affair continues. At this year’s somewhat unconventional virtual SHOT Show, SIG Sauer announced the new models of their popular ROMEO red dot sights and JULIET magnifiers. SIG Sauer say the ROMEO7S compact sight and the JULIET3-MICRO Magnifier will be ‘coming soon’.

Last year, TFB reported on Holosun’s entry into the flip-to-side magnifier game with the release of their HM3X Red Dot Magnifier. This unit featured built-in quick-detach and flip-to-side mechanisms, an adjustable diopter, included a spacer for compatibility with lower 1/3 or absolute cowitness setups, and was constructed with a lightweight aluminum body. At SHOT Show 2020 in January, Holosun showed off a new version, the HM3XT. The “T” tacked on to the end denoted that this magnifier would eschew the aluminum body for a beefier titanium one. Now with a July 17th press release, Holosun has announced that the HM3XT is nearly ready for market and will be available for purchase soon. The release reads:

The SLx MD-25 has a full 25mm clear aperture. And it actually offers a wider field of view compared to older 30mm red dots while being smaller and lighter weight. The MD-25 shares some similarities with other micro red dots. However, the power/brightness knob is on the left-hand side. It features a high efficiency LED that offers a run time of 50,000 hours at a medium setting. There are 11 brightness settings with two of them for night vision use.

I swung by Holosun’s Industry Range Day and SHOT Show Floor booths to take a look at and try out their newest products. Much of their pistol red dot optic line has undergone small revamps and the flagship products are their new HE509 and HE508 V2. Most of their revamped models now have a convenient side accessible battery tray.

American Defense Manufacturing has just announced that their Flik3 and Flik5 fixed power add-on magnifiers announced back in March of this year and the Spek Micro Red Dot are both being delivered to dealers and wholesalers now. Here is a bit about the Magnifier and Red Dot system offered by ADM:

Red Dots are a fantastic tool when shooting close to medium range.  There are a ton of people in the gun community who can reach out to 400+ yards consistently with a red dot; I am not one of those people and wanted the ability to reach out to further distances without having to break the bank or invest thousands of hours in improving a very specific skill. A real marksman would get to the range, hone his craft, and hit 400+ yards without so much as missing a beat humming the A-Team theme song.

Unity Tactical continues to innovate and brought many of their new offerings to NRA 2019. Talking to Chip, he said people often ask for a Unity version of products already made well by other companies. Instead of making more of the same, Unity’s goal is to provide new, innovative solutions that are not currently available elsewhere.

I attended Practical Urban Carbine (PUC) with Sentinel Concepts in Alliance, Ohio. Steve Fisher, the owner of Sentinel Concepts, brought an incredible depth of knowledge to the course. After realizing many in his carbine courses had minimal understanding of their carbines past 50-100 yards, Steve developed PUC. The US Census Bureau showed 80% of the US population lived in Urban Areas. An urban area was defined as a densely populated environment within an area encompassing 200-300 yards. As carbines are commonly used as a defensive tool, focusing on 50 yards and in makes little sense when the weapon is far more capable and urban areas expand past those distances. Local buildings were discussed that provided shots up to 300 yards, along with parking lots and outside venues we frequent on a regular basis.

Meprolight, manufacturers of various sighting systems including the innovative Bullseye handgun sighting system, have announced the release of their own flip-to-side magnifier for red-dot and similar 1x optics. The new MX3-F includes a flip to side mount with the magnifier that includes a Q/D rail interface for quick donning and doffing of the magnifier when not in use.

Aimpoint, a maker of red-dot sights for the US military, updated their magnifier lineup during Shot Show 2016. Aimpoint was the first optic company that developed a magnifier to use with their red-dot sight. The original Aimpoint 3XMag, a 3x magnifier, was released almost a decade ago and it’s still the best on the market today in term of optical performance.