Originally Posted by
Dagga Boy
For your reading pleasure.....Just my observations.
APPLICATIONS FOR AIMPOINT SIGHTS IN LAW ENFORCEMENT
By Darryl Bolke
Aimpoint L/E Pro Staff
Aimpoint sights provide law enforcement officers with an optic that is near perfect for police duty use. The combination of being able to be always left “on” due to huge battery life, incredible ruggedness and a system that allows for both eyes open and threat focus while allowing for surgical shooting in all lighting conditions and under adverse conditions. These sights are all essentially parallax free and allow a shooter to place accurate shots on target without a perfect cheek weld. Anywhere the shooter sees the dot, a round can be placed into that spot. This is critical for use with body armor, gas masks, and shooting from asymmetric positions common in law enforcement. There are numerous models of sights made by Aimpoint. The following models are the best fit for use by police officers. They each have particular pros and cons and these will be reviewed by model to allow for correct selection of the best sight for an individual or agency’s needs.
The COMP M4:
Without a doubt, the Comp M4 is the finest red dot sight ever manufactured to date. It was built to withstand the worst environmental conditions and to survive in the worst possible combat conditions. The sight is fully armored around critical adjustment components. Like all Aimpoint sights, it uses an LED illuminator inside the optic that is incredibly rugged and is almost indestructible. The intensity adjustment knob has extensive play in it to allow for massive impacts without failure. It is equipped from the factory with a very robust QRP 2 mount that is screwed into the sight from the bottom. This eliminates the need for a ring to mount the optic. The QRP 2 cannot be “over” or “under” torque onto a rail. Like all the sights in this overview, the Comp M4 uses all mechanical adjustments that are unaffected by temperature or impact. The Comp M4 utilizes a 2 MOA dot that is capable of being utilized with night vision devices in its initial infa-red settings, and visible with the naked eye in its higher settings, up to a high intensity visible setting for extremely bright conditions. A single AA battery will last 80,000 hours on setting 12 (of 16) and 100,000 hours with a lithium AA. The only “cons” of the Comp M4 is it is a larger and heavier sight and is more expensive than any of the other recommended L/E sights.
I look at the Comp M4 as being ideal for two types of L/E customers. For an agency looking to adopt a sight with no clear-cut timeline for future replacement, and they will be placed on issued armory guns. In this case the agency should purchase a sight that will still be a state of the art optic for many years to come, and will have the ability to remain fully functional even when subjected to long term use and abuse. The other ideal L/E user for the Comp M4 is by high round count special operations users who subject their weapons platforms to much more use and abuse than most officers and who have to depend on their optic to maintain zero and function even when subjected to extreme abuse in both training and real world applications. This would also include those who operate in extreme weather conditions or environmental conditions (e.g. maritime dive teams, lab teams, or those deploying in off-road vehicles in extreme conditions, and when deployed from aircraft). The Comp M4 will reliably function in all extreme situations.
Two variants of the Comp M4 are available. The Comp M4 has the battery compartment on the top in the 1 o’clock position while the Comp M4S has the battery compartment located at the 5 o’clock position. I have found that those who want to lower the profile of the sight when viewed by the operator that the Comp M4S is a good option. For those who run the sight in conjunction with a 3X Magnifier or other accessories, they will find it is easier to adjust the intensity of the dot to match lighting conditions is easier with the Comp M4.
The Comp M4 is the current U.S. Army Close Combat Optical sight. It is also in use with military units all around the world. With its military pedigree and because it was designed from the ground up as a military sight, it is designed to work in temperature ranges from -40 degrees to +160 degrees. It is submersible to 150 ft., and its objective lens and the sight body fully anti reflective coated.
For an example of the ruggedness of the Comp M4 is my personal demo sight. I purchased a Comp M4 right after they were released. The sight is still on with the first installed battery, and it has been thrown across asphalt and concrete during demos with no loss of zero or turning off over 989 times without fail of the sight, or any parts breakage from the sight itself.
The Micro Series:
The Aimpoint Micro sights (T1 and H1) are recent developments to the previous Aimpoint military sights that have essentially been shrunk to a very small size. They are a third of the weight of a Comp M4 and much smaller in size. The T1 is the military variant while the H1 lacks some of the military grade features of the T1 at a reduced cost. Both sights will run for 50,000 hours of continuous operation at setting 8 (of 12). The biggest differences in the T1 to H1 are that the T1 has Night vision capability (first 4 settings), is submersible to 80 ft. (15 ft. for the H1) and the lens coatings on the objective lens. For most line police officers the H1 is a more than capable sight. For those working in special operations within the L/E community the T1 is an excellent sight. The biggest benefit is size and weight. These sights can be run on handguns, carbines, rifles, shotguns and sub machine guns. They can be adapted to higher power precision optics to provide close quarter capability. They can be used in conjunction with mid range optics (ACOG) to provide a very viable system to engage both indoor and close range threats and to use the other optics for longer shots and range finding. Anytime weight is concerned or size is an issue (mounting on shotguns, sub-guns, AK 47 series, and pistols), the Micros are outstanding. They are fairly rugged and can be abused well past what most will ever subject a sight to, but they are not as armored as the Comp M4. Like the Comp M4, the do not use a ring to mount but are instead mounted via small screws in the bottom of the sight.
The only negatives of this sight are the small exposed adjustment caps for windage and elevation and the lack of a quick access lens cover (rubber bikini covers are included). Some people concern themselves about the small tube. In actual use the tube “ghosts” out of the shooters vision and only the dot is seen over the target. This is, in actuality, a positive.
The recent release of a 2 MOA dot H1 and T1 is a positive as well. The LED emitter on the Micro sights is the same as the larger sights. Being it is shot onto a lens that is closer than the larger sights, the 2 MOA emitter ends up being a 3.4 MOA dot that Aimpoint lists as a 4 MOA. For use on pistols, sub guns, shot guns, and AK’s, the larger dot is just fine, and often preferred. The naked eye is really not able to distinguish the dot sizes between 3.4 and 2 MOA, especially when the intensity of the dot is variable via the control knob. Where the new 2 MOA dot sight is an improvement is when used in conjunction with add on optical enhancements like a 3X magnifier or night vision and thermal devices.
The Micro sight is an outstanding sight for any application. It is especially a good idea for those who want to run the same sight on all of their different firearms so they are always used to looking at the same optic.
The PRO sight.
The Patrol Rifle Optic is especially geared towards police use. It is essentially the former worldly accepted military sight that has been modified for L/E use. The biggest problem with the previous “M” series 30mm tube sights was the need to use a ring to mount them. Aimpoint had very little (or no) control over what rings were used, who was mounting the sights, and how they were mounted. The new PRO takes the proven 30mm tube sight with a 2MOA dot, NVG capability, dive able to 80ft. and anti reflex coated, and has paired that sight with the outstanding QRP2 mount from the Comp M4. A ring is used, but it is made by Aimpoint, and mounted at the factory. It is ready to be bolted onto a patrol rifle right out of the box (although I would recommend removing the two screws from the bottom of the sight and loctiting them into place with the appropriate height spacer). Aimpoint uses a clear lens cover in the rear so that the sight can be used as an occluded-eye sight if the front cover is left up when deployed in an emergency (this also is used to train new operators on shooting with both eyes open). Battery life is listed as three years to encourage battery changes at a regular bi-annual interval for guns that will likely be carried inside vehicles with the sights left on in varied temperature conditions and with batteries of unknown origin.
The best part about the PRO optic is the price. At a full retail price of under $450 (and sold to L/E for far less), the PRO is a great buy with a ton of capability and proven battlefield level reliability at a very affordable price. It offers the most bang for the buck of any optic on the market. For any customer concerned about price, or working within strict budgets, the PRO optic is the answer. While it lacks the size advantage of the Micro, and the armoring of the M4, it has the same performance capability at a greatly reduced price point.
3X magnifier:
Aimpoints 3X magnifier is a great addition to any patrol rifle. It can be used in conjunction with any of the above sights to provide better observation capability to better identify or locate targets and threats at farther distances. They can also be removed and used as a stand alone monocular for observation of objects that do not justify having a firearm pointed at it. Aimpoint uses very high quality European glass in its magnifiers and it has adjustment screws to center your red dot in the middle of the optic. You will get some parallax when using the magnifier in the field.
Other issues:
Some things that often come up during discussions of red dot sights are also easily addressed.
“The dot looks like and asterisk or a coma” –This is an issue for anyone with an astigmatism. This is an eye problem and not a sight problem. The sight is quite shootable even if the dot doesn’t look perfectly round and precise. Shooters with astigmatism’s can do two things to alleviate the problem. First is to go to their optometrist with their sight and get corrective lenses made to alleviate the problem, or to shoot the sight through a small rear aperture iron sight. I have an astigmatism and have been able to shoot my Aimpoints without issue or corrective lenses without issue.
“Turning the sight off”-DO NOT TURN THEM off on a working gun. Because of the way LED’s work, the batteries will last longer if the sight is simply left on. It takes more power to turn the sight on and off than to simply leave them on. For those really concerned about maximizing battery life, just turn the sight to its lowest setting but not off.
“You need a reticule to lead moving targets” –This is simply fantasy. In the real world, bad guys don’t move where you “will” them. Unless it is a military sniper working an ambush shot, this is not reality. The reality is that you need to drag the sight through the moving target from where the target has been and then press the trigger as the dot gets to the front of the target. This way your gun is moving with the target from a known point and is a more realistic way to “lead” a mover.