Magnifiers For Red Dots
Red dot sights offer a whole new dimension of rapid target acquisition and engagement. The lack of magnification gives excellent situational awareness. The US Army standardized the Aimpoint CompM2 as its M68CCO only to replace it a few years later with the CompM4s. It is now trialling the Micro T-1 in Afghanistan. SOCOM adopted the Eotech 553 as their SU-231 (Mod 553) and many Army units and individual soldiers have purchased thousands of other Eotech models. The disadvantage of the red dot and holographic weapon sight is that they are accurate way beyond the range at which you can detect or identify targets.
A solution to this problem is to fit a magnifier that can be readily taken off or swung out of alignment. Most of these units are 3X magnification as this offers a good compromise between engagement range and situational awareness. It can help if you move the red dot forward and cantilever mounts, full length rails and battle rails can be used to achieve this. This can be overcome by using one of the much smaller sights currently coming onto the market such as the Micro T-1 and Insight MRDS. The high quality magnifiers cope with different heights of sight by utilizing spacers. This can really help with co-witnessing at either absolute or lower 1:3 configurations.
Vortex make a 3X magnifier that is affordable and available with the option of screw tensioned or quick release mountings. The 30mm parallel objective means you can use any 30mm mount with this magnifier. Both of these mounts swing over to reveal the unmagnified sight. The Vortex 3X magnifier is rubber armored to protect it from bumps and knocks. This unit is not up to the quality of the Eotech or Aimpoint, but is good enough for use in non combat applications or to evaluate the concept.
The Aimpoint 3XMag magnifier is a much more expensive unit. Unfortunately the configuration of the rubber armor means you have to use split rings. With Aimpoint’s ‘Twistmount’ you simply twist the 3XMag on and off the base. You can buy additional twistmounts to enable the use of the magnifier on several weapons. Two heights of spacer are available to provide three mounting heights for optimum versatility.
The Eotech magnifier is bolted to its mounting system rather than utilizing rings. The Eotech G23.FTS 3X magnifier is their 2nd generation unit and gives an extra half an inch of eye relief and moves the adjustments into the scope rather than having them on the mount, making for a less complex more rigid and reliable mount. This unit has ‘flip to side’ capability, literally flipping over under spring tension when you touch the operating lever. The base is quick detachable using the popular A.R.M.S. throw lever system. As with the Aimpoint this unit uses top quality optics and is rubber armored. Eotech thoughtfully offer a tan version for those users taking their units to operational theatres.
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