#Sight

Olight is known for its line of flashlights, but it is getting into the optics game. The new Osight is a miniature red dot sight with a few unique features. Let’s see what the new sight has to offer.

Silencer manufacturer Griffin Armament is getting into the optics game. Their first two products are a 1-8x LPVO and an enclosed micro red dot. 

The Henry Big Boy Carbine series of rifles is one of the best options for those who like to shoot or hunt with these popular lever action rifles. However, the standard sights that come on the Henry Big Boy Carbines can leave a shooter with a sub-optimal sighting solution and that’s why XS Sights is proud to introduce their new Henry Big Boy Carbine Ghost Ring Sights for the .357 Magnum and .44 Magnum variants of the rifle. These ghost ring sights will feature fully adjustable windage and elevation, adding much-needed flexibility to the platform.

Holosun came on the scene in 2013 with the intent to bring some new product options into the optics and laser/infrared market. Over the course of the last eight years, they have advanced their operations substantially and committed to seek significant improvements in their offerings. As a result of this dedication and growth, today they produce and sell a number of popular optics models, primarily in the red dot/reflex sight space. Their efforts were enough for industry titan Trijicon to take note, as a patent infringement lawsuit between the two optics companies was filed and subsequently settled out of court last year.

To most shooters, Aimpoint is best known for optics like their rifle-mounted red dots such as the PRO (Patrol Rifle Optic) or the Micro series, and their increasingly popular ACRO P-1 pistol sight. In March 2019, TFB reported that the US Department of Defense would be purchasing $24 million worth of Aimpoint FCS13RE sights for the 84mm “Carl Gustaf” recoilless rifle system. According to the Aimpoint product page, these Dynamic Universal Reflex Sights can also be used on additional heavy weapons like the Mk19 40mm grenade launcher. Now with a June 22, 2020 press release, Aimpoint has announced the award of an additional DoD contract for even more of their FCS13RE sights. The release reads:

US SOCOM has released a Request for Information (RFI) for a new night sight for their grenade launchers. Crane Division, Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC Crane) released a requirement specification for a Low to Medium Velocity Grenade Launcher Day-Night Sight on the 10th June. US SOCOM run a number of grenade launching platforms ranging from the M203, MK 13 Mod 0 and M320 to the M32 multi-shot launcher to the M19 and M47 automatic grenade launchers.

In today’s episode, we follow Miles to Shot Show 2018 Media Day at the Range and visit Caracal USA.

It’s almost 3 in the morning, and I’m lying awake in bed thinking about small arms. I’m trying to put everything out of my mind so I can go to sleep and wake up in the morning, go to the range, and bring you some raw ballistic data. So of course what pops into my head is an almost complete article about just why the Army’s latest whizzbang rifle program is doomed to collapse in a heap. All I have to do is write it.

Sightmark announced the company was now bundling two of its popular sight systems together into a single kit. The two sights, the Wolfhound 6×44 and the Mini Shot M-Spec, compliment each other. If you like these sights, buying them together could make a lot of sense.

With Level IV armor rising in availability, calls for “overmatch”, and the increased presence of urban warfare, will designers be able to meet the requirements for future small arms? Forumgoer Poliorcetes raised this question in a discussion at the Military Guns & Ammunition forum:

At the 2017 Association of the United States Army annual meeting (AUSA 2017), US Army Research, Development, and Engineering Command (RDECOM) presented a concept for the US Army’s future soldier of the 2030 timeframe, which promised everything from powered exoskeletons, to futuristic optics, to individual network capability. I captured the Command’s two future soldier concept demo videos that were running at the conference, embedded below:

The United States Marine Corps is looking for new advanced optics for rifles and IARs that are capable of switching between a low magnification mode and a high (6-8x) magnification mode, according to a recent request for information (RFI) released through FedBizOpps at the end of last month. The RFI, which solicits proposals from the industry but does not kick off bids for a contract, lists stringent requirements for the proposals, dubbed the “Squad Combat Optic”. SCO’s requirements include a 1-6 (or greater) power, ability to identify targets at 600m or more, a field of view of at least 18 degrees, and reticles designed for M4, M4A1, and M27 rifles firing M855A1 ammunition. Each requirement is painstakingly outlined in great detail, as shown in the excerpt below:

Strike Industries has introduced a rather unusual handgun sight called CAT (Center Axis Targeting) Sight. It is an auxiliary aiming device designed to aid faster sight picture acquisition in dark or low light conditions. This sight is supposed to be a rough but quick aiming measure.

Are your eyes having a hard time picking up that small factory bead sight? Installing a larger front sight from XS Sights is easy and painless with the right tools. Now you will be able to quickly find that front sight day or night with the new tritium Big Dot.

Turkish defense technological company Aselsan will demonstrate a product originally introduced in January of this year (not covered on TFB yet) at IDEF 2017 in Turkey (late May). The Van Kedisi dual thermal/IR sight is similar in size to products that FLIR usually puts out. What is interesting about this optic is that it has that duality of both thermal heat imaging and infared capabilities by utilizing two objective lenses and a single ocular lens. There appear to be two versions, a handheld variant, and a dedicated picatinny mounted version. As of yet it looks like Aselsan hasn’t received a contract for it but certainly will be pushing for one. A division of the company that produces scopes in Kazakhstan was previously released and was adopted by the Turkish Armed Forces in the Python. It might have been mentioned in the Turkish accounts of the sight but I can’t fully translate it, that the sight might be made in Kazakhstan as well. If this is the case then that could drive the price of the sight down, much more than if it had been made in Turkey. It looks like it also has a connection port to it that can be connected to a heads up display or this might just be a data download link.