US Military Eotech Sights
Eotech have dominated the world of holographic weapon sights since their inception. The head up display used by these sights offers great flexibility in head positioning when shooting and excellent situational awareness. Their holographic weapon sights, whilst only formally adopted by SOCOM, have become very popular with individual soldiers and units. You will often see Eotechs in any picture of groups of US soldiers in Afghanistan.
Only one Eotech has been formally adopted by the US military, the Eotech 553.A65 which was adopted by SOCOM for their SOPMOD kit as the SU-231/PEQ (Model 553). Whilst an Elcan Specter has now replaced it on the SOPMOD, these excellent sights remain in military service. The 553.A65 had to pass rigorous testing to enter service and its water resistance was increased to 66ft from the normal 33 for underwater delivery. Other tests included recoil simulation to 3,500 Gs acceleration in under 0.5 milliseconds (the equivalent of mounting on a .454 Casull revolver) as well as environmental chamber testing to extremes. This model makes use of the sometimes criticized A.R.M.S. throw lever quick detach and re-attach. The 7mm raised base allows for co-witnessing in the bottom third of the sight picture.
The 553 was an instant commercial success, largely thanks to its Special Forces endorsement, but not everyone wanted the CR123 battery. To deal with this the Eotech 555.A65 was produced to employ the more readily available and cheaper AA battery (both alkaline and lithium). The 555 is also depth rated to 66ft and is equivalent to the 553 in all other respects.
The most popular model in US military service is the Eotech 552. This model uses AA batteries and the older, more precise and reliable thumbscrew mounting. The 552.A65 uses the cheaper and more widely available AA battery, earning it greater popularity. As with other Eotechs, the aiming pattern is parallax free and can be seen through any part of the aiming window even if the rest is obscured by mud or snow. The 552 takes up quite a lot of rail space and lacks the cantilevered battery housing that enable later Eotech models to clear the D ring on AR-15 type weapons. It gets around 1000 hours out of a pair of lithiums which is comparable to the 1100 that the 553 gets from two CR123s. Both models offer NV compatibility required for military operations. These sights have 30 brightness settings (20 day and 10 night). The popularity of the 552 in military applications lead to a dedicated .7.62 NATO reticle model, the 552.XR308 entering production. Any Eotech model can be used with the G23.FTS 3X magnifier which is particularly useful on the 552.XR308 as it enables the user to detect and identify targets out to the full range of the reticle.
Lego Colt CAR-15 SOPMOD