Collimator sights: critical eye
Thrust to the tuning of weapons is international and knows no boundaries
Naturally, gun tuning is not just toys. Most of the items have a clear, clear purpose, but this fact often disappears under a hail of arguments "so much cooler!", "I saw it with Alpha!", "And suddenly it will come in handy" and "well, I don't know, it seems to me more comfortable."
It’s impossible to describe the whole variety of tuning in one article, so today I would like to touch on just one point - collimator sights. Opinions on this issue are particularly polar. One group of experts says that without a collimator sight, modern weapons are unthinkable, and that only with it you can shoot quickly and accurately. Another group, with no less enthusiasm, asserts that the collimator-aim is the creation of the devil or, at least, of the American special services, created solely to break the combat readiness of our army in the coming confrontation with the spiritless west.
One of the leading specialists of the second group, a brilliant speaker and a gifted writer, went further in his rhetoric. In a personal conversation, he argued that “it’s impossible to get anywhere with a collimator sight,” since the collimator sight is nothing other than a front sight and a rear sight, brought together and painted red ... The logical thing in that situation was to invite the speaker to stand up to the targets and undergo fire from an automatic machine, but I restrained myself, since I was visiting and on important business.
Of course, the opinion of such recognized authorities should not be questioned.
But I still, on the basis of personal experience, will express my non-expert opinion.
First you need to understand why you need a collimator sight and what are its real advantages. Usually, the question "why do we need a collimator?" people respond "you can shoot faster with him." This is not quite true. Competitive practice of the sport "practical shooting" is an excellent measure of speed and accuracy of shooting. If we analyze the protocols of the karabiner competition, look at how the arrows of the “standard” and “open” classes go through the exercise, shoot yourself in both classes, it will become obvious that the difference in shooting speed, especially at short distances, is quite small.
Why, then, need a collimator sight? The answer to this question comes when you have to shoot away from a clean and beautiful, well-lit army shooting range, with neat trenches and slender rows of elevators stretching into the horizon.
1) Shooting under reduced visibility.
I remember my first “moment of awareness” on this topic many years ago, when I first had to shoot a machine gun at night. Seven years of bullet shooting, the Moscow team, a bunch of medals - all this ceased to matter at one moment, when I realized that I don’t see the fly, and that the target is barely visible, and only if you don’t take your eyes off it.
Of course, you can tie a fly with a whole white thread, smear aiming devices with luminous nail polish, look for the notorious radioactive nozzles or, as recommended by the instruction, look for bright spots on the battlefield, so that, as recommended by the official instruction, on a light background and take a straight fly, then, moving the machine gun, lead the aiming line to the middle of the silhouette and open fire. "
But the collimator scope solves this problem more effectively. Focusing on the target, a simple aiming mark is clearly visible in the dark. Control shots over and over again show that with a collimator sight, trainees are much more effective at hitting all types of targets in conditions of limited visibility - and you do not need to be an academic to understand why. Of course, in complete darkness, infrared laser and night vision devices will be more effective, but this is a topic for another conversation.
2) Shooting at moving targets.
All experienced instructors know how difficult it is to organize shooting classes at moving targets. There are few engines with lifts on the shooting ranges, they are far away and work poorly. Homemade designs from matches and acorns are unreliable and often fail. A radio controlled robots, as usual, they didn’t deliver, and the authorities twist their fingers at their temples to offer such a purchase. In the course are radio-controlled cars taken from sappers, caterpillar robots and the oldest mechanism - a target on a stick, which is waved by an instructor or an unfortunate employee.
Several years ago, in small competitions for regional special forces, we managed to build one moving target. And again I remember a moment of sudden realization of the scale of the problem, when both I and well-trained employees missed time after time, not believing in their own mistakes. It is clear that after a small workout, everyone began to fall, but one cannot ignore the fact that at our moving targets we are inadmissibly little fired.
But here the collimator again makes the task easier. We cling to the target, instantly let down the aiming mark - the result usually does not keep itself waiting. Of course, with mechanics you can get, the question is in the amount of time spent on training.
3) Shooting from awkward positions.
Combat shooting, as you know, is characterized by the fact that the shooter also wants to live. And therefore it is necessary to shoot from behind cover. Breaks in the walls, from under the car, between the wheels of armored personnel carriers. It is not always possible to provide the perfect tab and clearly see the mechanical sighting. A few years ago there was an opportunity to learn from American instructors. I went to a distant country on a tactical course, and now ... We work in pairs, we cover each other, we move away, the command sounds — shoot from behind the car. I smirk inwardly, thinking - “right now, I’ll show them how to, I did it a thousand times,” I fall on my side, hide behind the wheel and suddenly realize that I am aiming exactly at the threshold of the car. And again, "the moment of awareness" - every time before that in Russia, I shot from under the SUV, and here a rotten sedan with sagging shock absorbers, whose clearance is less than two times. I had to wriggle out - the machine gun on the concrete, arched, stretched its neck, I saw a point on the very edge of the sight, I was shooting.
In such conditions, the presence or absence of a collimator sight determines whether, in principle, you will be able to make an aimed shot or not.
In the photo - the author of the article before the meeting with the rotten sedan. The weapon is too high for shooting from a normal car, even if you change the shoulder.
4) Training beginner shooters.
The analogy here is very simple. Collimator - like an automatic transmission, facilitates the process of initial training at times. Instead of pulling gears, squeezing the clutch, you simply turn on the “drive” and turn the steering wheel. The same with shooting. Instead of the mysterious pillar and fly, the recruit generation call of duty sees a red dot and can safely learn to work with the descent and other aspects of the initial shooting training. Then, of course, it is imperative to teach a person to work with mechanics, without this he simply will not be a shooter, but the collimator simplifies the initial training.
The same in work. I remember that during the first business trip as part of the PMC we were given four machine guns, only one of which was with a collimator. After deliberation, the most fashionable machine gun was given to the least experienced employee, because the others will cope with this, and the collimator will obviously help to compensate for the lack of skill.
The same machine
It is because of the many "moments of awareness" that I had the impression that the collimator sight is a necessary and important thing to use. “What kind of crap is that?”, An attentive reader will ask. Why then is the article called “Collimator sights - a critical eye?” After all, this is just another traitor who podpoddosnik advertises enemy toys that will be disconnected from the satellite, but will not be switched off by electromagnetic radiation !!! ”“ Wait a minute, wait a minute ”- can I respond to an attentive reader. We have not yet reached the most important point, namely, the moment when dreams of collimators often tragically break about reality. And here is why.
In order for the collimator sight to be effective, three factors must be observed.
a) The sight must be of high quality.
b) Attachment of the sight must ensure the preservation of the STP (midpoint of hit) in any conditions.
c) The shooter must know the ballistics of the ammunition and understand where he needs to aim at each of the distances.
And the sight is the best, and the mount seems to be reliable. One problem - the collimator is backwards
Let us examine each item in more detail.
a) The sight must be of high quality.
By the will of fate, I had to use a lot of different sights. In my understanding, a high-quality sight works on a single battery for several years, it endures all the same tests for survivability as a weapon (throws from a height, + 50, -50, shooting a full weapon resource in extreme modes and much more). Therefore, my rating of quality sights looks like this:
1) Aimpoint
2) ...
3) ...
It so happened that for eight months I watched the passage of Aimpoint sights through full, qualified tests with a weapon. Deserts, mountains, snow, mud, frost, shooting for a resource and much more. There was an opportunity to talk with representatives of the company, work together and learn more deeply how sights are created, manufactured and tested. The approach to each of the stages is impressive. For example, Aimpoint will soon launch a new sight. But they do not carry it on exhibitions. They carry it through trials all over the world, test it in an atmosphere of complete secrecy to see to the end that the thing turned out without flaws.
But there are drawbacks with Aimpoint. More than once, my batteries died much earlier than the promised five years. In the case of the Micro T-1, the STP takes seriously depending on the position of the point of the sight relative to the edge. This effect is beautifully described by M. Degtyarev in the Kalashnikov magazine 11 / 2015 of the year. The following model, T-2, does not already have this effect.
Trijicon MRO has appeared recently and while statistics are not enough. RMR on the machines I have not tried.
EOtech I do not like for a long time. Especially strongly after the new EXPS2 with a fresh battery just picked up and was cut off from me on AK 103 when firing a queue. It was fun. Athletes have always complained that the brand will fade with time. For a few people, it just broke down: http://karden.livejournal.com/38405.html#comments
And then for EOtech, the hour of reckoning came: http://soldiersystems.net/2015/09/30/ussocom-issues-safety-use-message-eotech-enhanced-combat-optical-sights-plus-goings/
On the Russian Internet, this miraculous phenomenon was not particularly noticed, so I’ll tell you about the details. First, the US Special Operations Command issued an official warning about the problems of these scopes. With a serious change in temperature, the STP went to 5-6 MOA. The company manufacturer struggled with this very interesting way - they removed from the instruction manual information about what temperatures the sight was designed for. As a result, the manufacturer paid 25,6 millions of fines to the state, and ordinary civilian people send their sights to the manufacturer in cars for a refund.
All details here: http://www.eotechlawsuit.com/
And even if this did not happen, the Eotech itself is relatively heavy, while working on one battery is insufficient, it is extremely difficult to ensure alignment with the mechanical sights.
The Holosun products have been showing themselves very well lately, but they have not yet gained the necessary credit of trust. So far, the tests show excellent work time, excellent reliability, but it is psychologically difficult to gain confidence in the Chinese sight.
b) Mount the sight.
Welcome to the unique and wonderful world of hundreds of ingenious devices designed to mount optics on AK. By itself, this topic pulls into a separate dissertation, so we consider only the most general points. The issue of mounting optics is not really unique. The same problems are experienced by the owners of Czech VZ 58, old G-3, FN FAL, and in general, all weapons of the Cold War era.
The realistic options for rifled weapons are as follows:
1) To gas tube (stem pad)
2) Instead of the aiming bar
3) On the receiver cover
4) On the side bracket
1) To gas tube (stem pad)
The most deserved option here, of course, is a gas tube from the company "Ultimak". A small company with an awkward site, from barely visible on the map of Moscow in Idaho, has created one of the most effective ways of attaching collimators to a Kalashnikov assault rifle.
The advantages are known to all - the STF does not go away, the weight of the weapon practically does not increase. When the collimator fails, in its lower part, the mechanical sights remain visible, which makes it possible to continue aimed shooting.
The cons are also obvious. Not every sight can be comfortably mounted on a gas tube, it will have to be cleaned without removing it. "Scout" mount sight far from the eye, it is convenient not for everyone. And most importantly - the gas tube inevitably heats up, heating the collimator. Depending on various factors, this can lead to the failure of the sight.
Various handguards - thousands of them, have the same set of problems. Not all have sufficient rigidity, and almost all of them are a bit higher than the "ultimak" and its copies, so the sight with the front sight through the installed collimator is no longer visible.
2) Instead of the aiming bar
We are talking about slats such as "Nomad". Very interesting and logical solution. Mounting the sight on the block of the aiming bar makes sense - this part is not removed when disassembling and fixed on the trunk and front insert of the receiver. Sights are fastened securely, STP does not go away.
The problem of such an attachment is obvious - the shooter deprives himself of the opportunity to use regular aiming devices. For sport, this is not a problem, for other situations - at least a very serious reason to think.
3) On the receiver cover
The most logical installation of the sight looks somewhere around the receiver cover. But, as we remember, AK has a removable cover, and often has a backlash. I met a group of specialists at one VPK enterprise, who claimed that this was not a problem at all, and just welded the picatini bar onto a regular cover. This is an interesting concept, but in general, most people want something more reliable.
So far, there is no universal, uniquely proven solution in this area. The lid of the “Zenith” shows itself well, but for its installation it is necessary to put the handguard, which I, for example, absolutely do not need. The cover from FAB Defense looks interesting, but no one has yet seen the results of full-fledged long-term trial operation. New variants of kits from CAA look promising, but the price stops many.
Polar opinions are expressed about the Texan Dog Leg. In some, it doesn’t hold a shooting at all, others swear that the human mind has not yet created anything better. But if you look at things objectively - by installing this cover, we again completely lose our staff pillar. Is it not easier then to install one of the variants of the "Nomad", which costs six times cheaper?
4) On the side bracket
Actually, the only option provided by the manufacturer. This is his main plus. No modifications, file hours, or boss frowns trying to understand what you did with the standard weapon.
The drawbacks of the side bracket are obvious - the weight of the weapon increases, the butt cannot be folded, the side slats on the machines often play, and not all machines have them. Now there are many manufacturers of brackets on the market, there is no point in listing all.
In general, the meaning is very simple - if you do not have a reliable and proven attachment of a sight to a weapon, the best collimator will not only be useless, but harmful. The sudden withdrawal of STP is a very unpleasant event, akin to unexpected sexual impotence.
c) The shooter should know the ballistics of the ammunition perfectly and clearly understand where he needs to aim at each of the distances.
Suppose that the stars were formed so that you got a high-quality sight in your hands, you reliably installed it on a weapon, shot it, tested it according to your program and were completely satisfied. Fine. The last thing left is to shoot the sight at all distances and understand where you need to aim at each of the possible distances.
Ballistics and zeroing - the topic of at least a separate article. Just remember that until all your colleagues have figured out where they need to aim at 25, 50, 100, 150, 200, 250, 300, 350, 400, 450 and 500 meters, the set of arrows-weapons with a collimator will be less effective than shooter with a conventional machine.
Only if all three factors are observed, namely: a high-quality sight, reliable mounting and full knowledge of the ballistics of ammunition, you will achieve an increase in the effectiveness of the fire. And if you ignore any of these points, the collimator on your weapon will not even be a useless, but simply a dangerous toy.
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