Do the professional folks that might use a rifle on any given day trust the electronic sight options that a lot of competition shooters use, these days?

I am addressing the battery operated one's that must be turned on and off.

l.e.o.'s, military people or prison guards.

are they reliable enough now that there are no trust issues?

At least for the Aimpoint for me, I was issued one in the Army and have one on my personal rifle now, absolutely trust it.

That said, I still have back up sights.

Aimpoints red dot optics are in widespread use with military and law enforcement.

Iron sights.

I replaced my AR front sight post with one that has a glowy magic stuff in it so I can see it at night.

But, I found that shit with batteries always fails just when you need it most.

We had Aimpoints when I served in CG...same same. I never trusted it to work, or the procurement point was 1000 nautical miles away...

The rifle I carry everywhere has iron sights

Iron sights are always up. I have a personal Aimpoint PRO on my work rifle.

In the military I used an aimpoint that co-witnessed with iron sights.

I use that on my "go-to" carbine now. Other guys used ACOG's. I never was issued one or had a chance to shoot one extensively. I have one on my rifle though.

I never saw vortex (but I've been out for 4 years now, and haven't been to a combat zone in 7.), or eotech.

As far as the electronic fancy pants stuff...I was looking at an armasight zeus with flir....and I may need to start saving some pennies. I want one on my AR10

In my company we use M68s (aimpoints) for about 2/3 of the M4s and on a few of the SAWs. No issue with turning them off or on and while they very rarely do fail, it is usually due to soldier abuse rather than malfunction.

quote:

Originally posted by PossibleZombie:
In my company we use M68s (aimpoints) for about 2/3 of the M4s and on a few of the SAWs. No issue with turning them off or on and while they very rarely do fail, it is usually due to soldier abuse rather than malfunction.

I've got four combat tours and have used aimpoints, eotechs, and Acogs. Acog is my go to optic though, especially for Afghanistan.

Just about anything that's actually purchased and issued in large numbers will work just fine for you. Pick the one that makes the most sense for you.

ACOG is your choice for long-range optics in terms of glass quality and magnified optics, even though you can get a magnifier for the red dots. Bonus points, no batteries. Sadly, tiny eyebox. Slower than a red dot up close.

EOTech has a very large field of view and reticule. I don't like the push-button interface in the slightest. It's difficult to manipulate, especially with gloves, and you have to look through the optic to know whether you turned it on or not. Unlike Aimpoint, it has an auto-shutoff feature to save the battery. Before the temperature problem they had an issue with spring tension on models with longitudinal battery mounting. The optic would turn off under recoil. It was bad enough dealing with this on a qualification range; I switched to an ACOG as soon as I could get one. If you buy one, get one with lateral battery mounting.

Of the red dots, I'm a big fan of Aimpoint. The on/off switch and intensity switch is a knob. Clockwise for brighter, counter-clockwise for dimmer or off. You can adjust the red dot brightness and turn it on or off without ever looking at the sight, and you'll know it's on and at the right setting. Your field of view is slightly smaller and your reticule is a simple dot, not the MOA-bracket with dot in the center you get with an EOTech.

The big seller with the Aimpoint is the battery life. It's literally over a year of continuous use. I left mine on for damn near two before I bothered to change the battery. Now I just swap them out at Christmas. $20 on the internet will buy you a five years' supply of once-a-Christmas rotations with the optic left on your setting of choice.

I've never personally worked with ELCANs but if you can get past the weight I hear rave reviews. More than a few of my Soldiers went out of pocket to get ELCANs on their carbines.

If you're asking about how my wallet votes, I personally own a CCO and a milspec ACOG, and I'm about to take the 1-6 plunge with a Trijicon Accupoint.

The Aimpoints seemed to work good downrange in Iraq/ASTAN. Over 12 years I think I've seen 4 or 5 get coded out.

As mentioned above, the ACOG is a better optic for engagement at distance (with proper training and zeroing). But, the ones we are using are not electronic.

Both Army (Squad Common Optic AKA Fire Control, Squad) and the Marines are looking at LPVs or variations on LPVs as a go forward optic. But, It will probably be a while before we see a fielding.

As long as we are talking a quality company I think the trust is there. I used Aimpoints, EOtechs and a Leupold CQT and all worked well in the desert. Iron sights are purely relegated to backup status though they are a solid option and I wouldn't have a serious gun without them.

I have no experience with Aimpoint but the ACOG is extremely tough. Many units stopped issuing a BUIS and it's use is not even taught in boot camp anymore. Do they fail? Of course, everything does. Most common issue was failure to zero and I saw a few that had broken glass (but one kid still qualled on it). But to do that requires one hell of a beating.

I have an ACOG TA31H-G on my house Colt (switched from Comp M3) with backup irons, only because I'm old and stuck in my ways. And despite the eye doc telling me I dont have an astigmatism the dot always looked like a bunch or grapes.

Aimpoint with flip up "iron" sights.

quote:

Originally posted by RHINOWSO:
Aimpoint with flip up "iron" sights.

I have an Aimpoint PRO co-witnessed with IRONs on my .300 BO. While I only used iron sights in combat I would have no problem with this set up. Carry a spare battery or tw as they are tiny and last 1000's of hours of run time.

thanks folks, seems like they are pretty reliable, whan you have to have them

All the bros I see going into combat have Trijicon ACOGs or Aimpoint M68s. Most have no iron sights, or at least no rear iron sight.

They seem satisfied with them.

Wild. No rear sight at all, or do they keep the rear sight available but not on the rifle?

I doubt they carry it. They have a bunch of other shit to carry. And PEQs for night stuff.

But they don't seem remotely concerned about it.

quote:

Originally posted by Il Cattivo:
Wild. No rear sight at all, or do they keep the rear sight available but not on the rifle?

When the USMC first went to the RCO they still issued and taught the carry handle sights. I'm not sure if boot ever taught back ups (don't think so) but eventually they stopped teaching iron at all. All RCO now. 4-5 years ago some units still issued the KAC micro with the RCO, some did not. Last deployment I was on (end of '13) there were no issue iron sights, only the RCO (ACOG).

Iron sights are a lost art. A buddy of mine who was on the initial push in '03 stored his optic and used his carry handle. He was more comfortable with it and he was one of the best rifleman I have ever seen shoot an A4.

It is what it is. Optics are pretty much bomb proof and they have been tested. I just lament the math and concentration that went into adjusting irons. It made you think.

Thanks, gentlemen.