It appears that Aimpoint is gearing up to introduce a new addition to of their line of red dot sights. A leaked document found on Facebook revealed that the new optic will be known as the Aimpoint Carbine Optic (ACO). The optics suggested retail price of $393.00 is very competitive offering. The document indicates the ACO will be available to dealers in mid to late October.  

The introduction of another affordable addition of Aimpoint optics will be beneficial for two main reasons.  1) Those who are already sold on the Aimpoint optics quality and reliability will now have access to an even more affordable red dot optic.  2) This price point will have all of Aimpoints competitors rethinking their Minimum Advertised Pricing (MAP) for dealers.  As well they might work at introducing their own line of affordable optics to be in direct competition to the ACO. 

H/T: SSD

What happens when you shoot a 62 grain bullet at approximately 2700 feet per second against a certified ballistic steel plate? You get one BIG SPLASH, not the fun type of splash either. You get the type of splash often referred to as spall.  The once whole bullet breaking up upon impacting a hard surface causing the round to turn into many - much smaller high velocity projectiles. 

We've written several articles describing Night Vision components and accessories.  Looking back at the articles I noticed I didn't even cover one of the most over looked accessories for your $3000.00 plus-dollar Night Vision Device (NVD), that would be the Sacrificial Window.

While doing some training I inadvertently smacked the lens of my night vision against a hard object, totally my fault and totally damn near ruined my NVD.  Luckily I had in place a Sacrificial Window over the objective lens of the NVD.  Sacrificial windows aren't cheap, the run between $25.00 and $35.00 bucks depending on where you find them.  That being said, $25 to $35 is nothing in comparison to a decent set of NVDs.  When I purchased mine they went right at $4000.00. 

When you are training and training correctly, equipment will get damaged, your physical body will get beat up, mentally you will be challenged.  This is what we want, we want to push ourselves in training, we want to learn our limitation, limitations on our equipment as well as better understand what our mental and physical capabilities are as we begin to move up and to the "over The Hill" points in our life.  

Just because we train hard doesn't mean we are abusing our equipment for the sake of abuse.  Using appropriate and often times included equipment designed to help safeguard equipment and your body- should be used.  I see a lot of people running equipment sans the protective equipment.  This sometimes is because they observed someone else doing it and believe they should in-turn emulate that person or they are not using the protective equipment out of ignorance.  Ignorance in both forms of uniformed ignorance and  tacticool, "i'm doing this because it looks cool" ignorance.  

Use protective equipment when it's available, if you feel it will hinder you yet you haven't actually attempted to try it, you are just speaking from a position of ignorance. 

Here are some pictures of a $30 dollar protective lens saving my $4000 set of NVDs from severe damage. 

Building an AR is Lego's for adults, unfortunately quality aftermarket AR parts are known for their high price tag.  In a previous article we talked about the J-Comp Type 89 muzzle device from Strike Industries, the device performed great and the price of around $29.00 made it very affordable for those on a budget or for the builder with multiple fighting rifles that need reliable parts. 

We recently picked up a few new aftermarket AR part from Hogue,  an AR collapsible buttstock and overmolded AR pistol grip.  I'm also trying out one of their new PowerSpeed Automatic Retention System holsters for a Glock 23.....

Night Vision Devices or NVDs are a much  more common piece of support gear as compared to just a few years ago.  Today quality NVDs can be purchased at a reasonable price, the utility of owning a set of NVDs is not lost on the average person who fully understands how much an NVD can enhance their low light / no light defensive capabilities .  When purchasing NVDs keep in mind certain considerations....

I recently picked up a Burris AR-F3 3MOA sight bundle.  This bundle includes the Burris FastFire III and the Burris AR-F3 picatinny style sight mount.  A quick description then we will dive into the review. 

The Burris FastFire III is a member of the Miniature Red Dot (MRD) family of red dot reflex sights.  The sight is very similar in size, weight and function as the Trijicon RMR, EOTech MRD, Docter Sight II & III, Leupold DeltaPoint, JP Enterprises JPoint4, and PFI Rapid Reticle Micro Red-dot…

Sierra12 was out at Ben Avery Shooting Facility today with TACCON USA http://tacconusa.com/ .  We test fired the drop-in ready fire-control system. The device is one of the best fire-control systems I have ever used in an AR platform. The assisted trigger reset gives....

J-Comp Type 89 muzzle device
During this weekends familiarization fire we used a new muzzle device from Strike Industries. The muzzle device is based off the type 89 Japanese assault rifle. I was a little skeptical at first. ....

We reviewed the SHIELDSAK by LOKSAK a month or so ago.  We picked up another product from LOKSAK, this is call the OPSAK...that s a lot of SAKs.  This SAK is all about keeping things sealed in or sealed out.  I've been using it lately to seal out the water while listening to pod casts in the shower.....  

Our next class will have the benefit of using quality weapons cleaner and lubricant.  We had so many problems with our previous class that we decided to address weapons maintenance and weapons prep very first thing....

We just purchased a .22 Cal SENTRY ALARM MINE trip wire alarm.  This device will hold a single .22 blank       ( Home Depot Ramset type blank).  This device will not hold a live round.

We will be using these in select training events.  Keep your head on swivel.  

Think Sustainability- got S4 (logistics) covered? Might want to think long term usability. Short article to follow. 

A closer look at the AR500 Armor plates and a link to the video https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=688637431177393

• 5 Shooters, 4 volleys of fire 0 penetrations.
• M855
• XM193
• Federal (independence) XM193iFederal 
• American Eagle 223 Rem 55 grain

We have been testing a set of Exoskel Guards for a few weeks now.  I found this piece of gear really finds it stride when being used in urban or urban-lite environments.  Man-made structures that have nice sharp corners and other protruding objects which you normally try to avoid when navigating through an environment are now used to your advantage when wearing the Exoskel Guards....

Don’t you just love the name?

This is a must have for your SERE / E&E kit.  This is the smallest hideout handcuff key I have ever seen.  You can clip or tuck it just about anywhere.  I have tried this key on a set of ASP handcuffs and a set of peerless, the key work fine on both.....

Water treatment in the field-
At our last class we tried a new water treatment product. I have normally just used Potable Aqua tablets. The main listed ingredient in Potable Aqua is Tetraglycine Hydroperiodide. I did a little research and found that..

Eberlestock 12 x 12 map case seems darn near bulletproof. Jim has his stuffed full of of grid squares, 50 yards of flight line and even the keys to the humvee, I've been looking all over for those keys...Did anyone ever ask Gunny where to find the Prick-E7 ???

High Speed Gear
HSGI -sure grip padded belt with interior Cobra Belt
HSGI -high speed low drag suspenders
HSGI -Ramp Right Angle Modular Platform -These little ramps do just what you want them too; kick your sub-load out just enough at an angle so your PC or chest rig doesn't interfere with your draw stroke....

 Vigilant Gear - "Tinder Quik Fire Tabs" and kershaw 1019 firestarter. First strike the tinder took the spark and we had fire. I keep one of these tabs in my E&E pocket and several others mixed in with my ruck and other gear.