12 Aug 03

On Sighting Systems for Serious Rifles, from a Friend and Student:

"I am just back from a three-day tactics course with Louis Awerbuck. There were nine other students in attendance, and all were competent operators, wi th both rifle and pistol. All students brought ARs. All rifles, except mine, had coaxial flashlights mounted on the forend. All rifles, except mine, had some sort of trendy, high-tech optical sight. Optics included three Aimpoin t M2s, three AGOG Compacts, two Trijicon Reflex, and one Tasco Dot. During th e course, every one of them developed significant problems, significant enough to be life-threatening in a real fight.

As soon as it got dark, ACOGs and Reflexs washed out to the point of impotence with white light usage. The stark background light (created by the rifle's own white light illumination) washed out the amber pyramids (several optics were thereupon immediately and unceremoniously jettisoned). One rifle (a fancy/custom AR with a tubular, aluminum forend) did not have back-up irons, so the shooter contemptuously discarded it, relying solely on his handgun from that point forward.

One Aimpoint M2 went dead (battery) at the start of the night session, even though the battery was okay when checked earlier in the day. Another studen t was mystified when his optic didn't work. He realized (too late) that he forgot to remove the lens cap and turn on the switch to the 'on' pos ition!

In contrast, I had no disadvantage with my iron sights under any environmental condition or distance, out to our maximum of one hundred meter s. I won the man-on-man challenge and was one of the few to hit consistently at all range s. I used the small aperture at fifty meters and greater, and the large one at twenty-five meters and in. Between twenty-five and fifty meters, either one worked."

Lesson: Serious, fighting rifles need iron sights, and serious riflemen need to know how to use them. The only optical sight I recommend for a serious rifle is a plain-vanilla scout scope (no batteries). Any optic that require s batteries is a nonstarter, as is any optic that is high profile, fragile, an d/or temperamental. These "operators" need to do no-nonsense testing before placing this competition/kiddy trash into serious service.

/John