Innholdsfortegnelse for Volume 74, Issue 18 i Firearms News

CHEYTAC’S M200 INTERVENTION RIFLE This truly nostalgic rifle is considered the most unique long-range rifle system today. It comes as no surprise this system is ranked the #1 sniper rifle in the world by The Military Channel’s top ten sniper rifles, with its sub-minute of angle accuracy and ability to easily engage targets that are 2500 yards and beyond! Combined with CheyTac’s USA Patented Balance Flight Projectiles®, you have a rifle that delivers greater range and accuracy with less bullet drop and drift than any other cartridge in the World. Specs: Action Type: CheyTac Long Action w/40 MOA Base Effective Range: 2500+ Yards Caliber: .408 1:10T or .375 CheyTac® 1:9.5 Magazine: Seven-round-detachable-box mag (five-round mag. also available) Overall Length: 56 inches Weight: 31 lbs. Stock: Five (5) position fully adjustable…

Let’s talk about two things: 1. First (or front) focal plane scopes versus second (or rear) focal plane scopes (FFP vs. SFP). The difference is very simple. With a front focal plane scope, when you increase the magnification the reticle stays the same size/covers the same area of the target, which means as you up your magnification you zoom into the reticle. With an FFP scope, a small center circle reticle at 1X becomes a giant circle at 6X. If an FFP reticle has range estimation or bullet drop hashmarks, they will work at all magnification levels. With a second focal plane scope, the reticle stays the same relative size to your eye regardless of magnification, which means it changes size against the backdrop. As a result, those range estimation/…

As much as I respect the PVS-14 and passive night vision devices in general, there are some applications where a different technology, namely Thermal imaging, would be a better option. While passive night vision devices allow you to see in the dark, things can still hide from you. With Thermal imaging though, the body heat of an animal makes it jump right out from the background. The downside to Thermal sights though has always been their size and cost. Let’s face it, Thermal sights are much too expensive for anyone but government agencies, right? Well, while this used to be true, prices have dropped dramatically in recent years. Just as the units themselves have gotten smaller, they have also come down in cost. While certainly not cheap, certain Thermal sights…

There was a time before red dots (AKA RDS; red-dot sights). Oh, there were magnifying optics, but they were seen as fragile, they had parallax, eye position problems, and they cost. Some cost a lot. My gun club was doing 3-Gun matches in the early 1980s, and anyone who used optics, used a low-powered variable optic (LPVO). 1-4X and 1-5.5X were popular. Because, at the 1 or 1.5X, you could shoot with both eyes open if you could find one with a bold-enough reticle. It wasn’t until Jerry Barnhart showed up at the 1990 USPSA Nationals (pistols nationals) with a red-dot on his handgun, that we suddenly had to get with technology. From there, technological advancements happened as if someone had their foot stomped on the gas pedal. Within a…

Which way to crank the adjustments? They are usually marked, on any RDS. When you go to make a change, don’t go sneaking up on it. If the adjustments are (just to pick a number) two clicks per inch at 100 yards, and you need to adjust four inches, dial in eight clicks. Don’t be bashful. Also, make one directional change at a time. If your initial group (again, just picking numbers) is four inches low and four inches right, pick one. Dial in the clicks to change vertical or horizontal correction, and shoot another group. Then dial in the second change. I’ve seen sights that “wandered” when changed. You may find (as happened in one class) that dialing in the four inches of vertical also caused another two inches…

The whole world comes down to math. On May 2, 2011, about two dozen U.S. Navy SEALs breached Osama bin Laden’s fortified compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Their operation was the culmination of a decade of intensive intelligence work to find bin Laden and then verify his identity. The CIA had cut the power to the building, so the operation was conducted in complete darkness. The SEALs from the elite U.S. Navy Special Warfare Development Group, or DEVGRU, had trained their entire adult lives for this mission. They ascended the three stories of the building, killing or neutralizing those they encountered along the way. As they did so, they peeled off to secure rooms and stairwells just as they had practiced countless hundreds of times. When the remnants of the assault…

It doesn’t seem like that long ago that when someone asked me about an optic for personal protection long gun, truck gun or prep rifle, I just told them to stay with the tried and true iron sights. Simple iron sights are robust mechanical parts which do not require a power source to operate. Times change though and the reality is red dot and holographic sights offer very real advantages, especially in low light, over iron sights. Optical sight design and technology has improved a great deal in the past 15 years. Modern red dot and holographic sights have proven themselves on the battlefields of Afghanistan, Iraq and many other places. Plus, the new microprocessor controlled illumination systems increased the typical battery life of modern red dot sights from hours…

What makes a good doorstop? A serviceable doorstop needs a little mass, so that rules out hydrogen gas or feathers. It should also have minimal intrinsic value. The lot of the humble doorstop is a violent, thankless thing. It shouldn’t break your heart if a doorstop gets damaged or destroyed and must then be replaced. I once ordered what I thought to be a cheap optical gun sight online only later to receive the thing and discover it was actually just a doorstop. I might deign to say this was an airsoft-grade piece of kit, but I wouldn’t trust a twelve-year-old to hit the local air-soft field sporting this steaming piece of optical feces. They say you typically get what you pay for. I can attest to the innate validity…

Let’s take a quick look at Passive night vision and Thermal imaging technology for those who might be unfamiliar with them. Modern passive image enhancement night vision operates by taking the small amount of available light (such as from moonlight or starlight) and converting the light energy (protons) into electrical energy (electrons). These electrons then go through a thin plate containing millions of channels. As the electrons travel through they strike the walls of the channels releasing thousands of more electrons. These multiplied electrons then bounce off of a phosphor screen which converts the electrons back into photons. This provides an image to the ocular allowing you to see in the dark. Simple, right? Well, the important thing to understand is that all modern passive Night Vision Devices (or Starlight…

Pretending that he’s helping keep students safe, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper has vetoed a bill that would allow guns in facilities that operate both churches and schools. But, here’s the kicker: The bill, which had passed the N.C. legislature with strong bipartisan support, would only have allowed guns when school wasn’t being conducted! Called the Second Amendment Preservation Act, House Bill 652 would have allowed law-abiding concealed carry permit holders to carry a handgun to defend themselves and their loved ones when worshipping on private property that is both a school and place of worship if it does not prohibit firearms. Such a measure would have empowered private property owners to set their own security policy instead of the state imposing a single policy for all such situations. The…

Despite politicians from Missouri Gov. Mike Parson to President Donald Trump voicing support for the couple who recently held firearms in their front yard to turn away a large group of protesters, prosecutors in St. Louis have charged Mark and Patricia McCloskey with felony unlawful use of a weapon. The charges make little sense, given Missouri’s strong Castle Doctrine and Stand Your Ground laws. However, overzealous, anti-gun St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly M. Gardner, who in 2016 received campaign contributions from a George Soros PAC, has been targeting the McCloskey’s since the incident occurred, even while letting violent rioters throughout the city remain free. Soon after news of the charges became public, Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt began working to rectify the situation. Schmitt quickly filed a brief seeking to…

If you haven’t heard it, there’s a new(ish) acronym in town, LPVO. LPVO stands for low power variable optic, and they are the rage both with the tactical set and the competition/3 Gun crowd. LPVO scopes have a low end magnification at or near 1X and go up from there. At their lowest magnification they can be used at extremely close range like red dots, but they also have the capability of being flipped to a higher magnification, seeing and engaging targets at range much more effectively than with a standard non magnified red dot optic. Fifteen years ago, almost every LPVO on the market was a 1 4X, and there weren’t that many of them. These days not only is every scope manufac turer making at least one LPVO,…

Recently, I had a chance to interview Sergeant First Class Dillard Johnson (Ret.) and ask him his thoughts on Thermal sights and Passive night vision. Johnson has extensive combat experience with both types of devices during eight years spent in Iraq. He is a recipient of the Silver Star, Bronze Star with ‘V’ Device, Bronze Star and four Purple Hearts. Here are his thoughts on the two: Fortier: Would you mind sharing your thoughts on Thermal sights and Passive night vision? Johnson: Sure, as you know both work off different light spectrums. Passive simply amplifies whatever light is available. Thermals work off heat. It doesn’t amplify it; it just identifies it, what you would not normally see. Fortier: Your thoughts on Passive night vision? Johnson: I would prefer Passive for…

The location of your iron sights, in the view of your red dot screen, is what determines this. If your iron sights, as you’d use them for aiming, are right in the middle of the field of view of your RDS, then you have true co-witness. If your red-dot sits higher on the receiver, and your irons, when aligned properly sit down at the 1/3rd level, that is 1/3 co-witness. Why do this? One reason is that you find the RDS height that happens to be 1/3 co-witness to be more comfortable. People with round faces can find the 1/3 height more comfortable and easier to use. Others find that having the iron sights up in the screen or tube to the middle to be distracting. You pick what works…

Your basic 1X RDS means you are using a red dot in your field of view, with your Eyeball, Mk 1, as an aiming system. Sometimes you need more. To that end, many optics makers offer a 2X or 3X magnifier that you mount behind the RDS, and it offers a magnified field of view. The late science fiction author Robert Heinlein coined the acronym TANSTAAFL: There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free Lunch. Adding magnification behind an RDS brings problems, some of which optics makers who offer paired magnifiers can handle. One is, your 2 MOA dot now suddenly becomes a 2 MOA dot on a 2X image. You “see” a bigger dot. Another is image quality. Any image distortions in the RDS, that you couldn’t see at…

Do you really live in a free country if you can be murdered for stating an opinion that is different from what some others believe? That’s the question many are asking after an Indianapolis woman was recently killed by a Black Lives Matter (BLM) supporter for making the statement, “All lives matter.” According to multiple reports, 24-year-old Jessica Doty Whitaker, her fiancé, and two friends were walking along an Indianapolis canal following an Independence Day fireworks celebration when they got into a confrontation with a group of BLM supporters. The group began shouting, “Black lives matter,” prompting Whitaker to respond, “All lives matter.” Both groups reportedly brandished guns at one another, but eventually talked through the issue, fist-bumped, and walked away. However, a short time later, one of the BLM…