The Modernization Of Dottie Continues Apace

Swapped the Vortex SPARC AR red-dot for a Vortex Spitfire AR.  Ditched the fixed A2 rear sight for a Magpul MBUS3; it's interesting that I'm OK with how this looks with the Magpul handguards where it was unacceptable with the A2 and A1 handguards.

The Spitfire AR is a 1x prism optic with an etched reticle which is much better for my astigmatic eyes than the Star Trek photon torpedo effect of a conventional red-dot.

It's a dot inside two concentric circles.

Disappointingly, it does not have a quick-detach and the base cannot be removed to install one.  Hopefully I will be able to use the irons through it.  Eyes crossed.

The etched glass protects me somewhat against battery failure and modern optics are getting ever tougher.  Vortex has an outstanding warranty too.

History of Dottie

Dottie has seen almost as many changes as Kaylee.

Dottie's name derives from a line in the movie, "Armageddon". The amateur astronomer who discovers the planet killing asteroid wants to be able to name it after his wife, Dottie, because she's a life sucking bitch from which there is no escape.

Dottie is a "franken AR", her parts are from everywhere. The lower is Spike's Tactical, the lower parts kit is CMMG. The upper is a mid-length Dissipator upper from Palmetto State Armory.  Handguards are Brownell's Retro.  Optic is a Vortex SPARC AR.

Gaming The Optics

The Aimpoint M4 aka M68 Close Combat Optic is a Collimating Sight (HT p. 156).  It gives a +1 to Guns/TL skill out to 300 yards and cancels up to -3 in darkness penalties.  $1,100; 0.8 lb.

The Trijicon TA31RCO is a 4 power Telescopic Sight (HT p. 155) with an Illuminated Reticule (HT p. 155).  It gives, up to, +2 to Accuracy and cancels up to -3 in darkness penalties.  $1,300; 0.9 lb.

The Elcan M145 is a fixed 3.4 power Telescopic Sight (HT p. 155) with an Illuminated Reticule (HT p. 155).  It gives +1 to Accuracy and cancels up to -3 in darkness penalties.  $1,450; 1.5 lb.

The Vortex Optics M157 is a TL8 Computer Sight (HT p. 157) giving a +1 to Guns/TL skill and a +3 to hit with an aimed attack out to 4,000 yards using the laser rangefinder, but without the Night Vision or Infravision in the description; however it has both a visible and IR Integral Targeting Laser (Shoulder Arm) (HT p. 156-157). It is also a 1 to 8 power Telescopic Sight (High Tech, p. 155) that gives up to +3 to Accuracy with an Illuminated Reticle, which cancels up to -3 in darkness penalties (High Tech, p. 155).  $5,400; 1.9 lb.

"Whoopty doo, Basil, what does it all mean?"  A Powers IMMoM

The M4 is simplest.  If you're inside 300 yards, you get a +1 to your skill.  In the real world, we'd call it "aiming" but GURPS doesn't think of using the sights as "aiming."

Telescopic sights require a turn of the aiming action per point of bonus.  So to get your +2 bonus with the ACOG, you have to spend 2 actions aiming.  The variable power of the M157 means you take a second to dial it to the bonus you want then spend the requisite number of actions aiming, zero to three.

If you spend an action using the laser rangefinder, it gives a +3 to the built-in +1 for a total of +4...  Spending an additional three second aiming gets a total of +7 with it dialed to 8x!

This is Kaylee.

Kaylee is my first AR-15.  She started life as an attempt to make a clone of an XM177E2.  Unfortunately, I didn't know much about XM177E2's when I started; in fact I thought CAR-15 was the proper designation.  I later made a much more faithful clone of an XM177E2, and then I decided to make Kayee more of an Israeli  carbine.

This Israeli carbine, in fact.

But as time passes, plans change.  Kaylee was entirely too similar to The Lovely Harvey's Cheyenne.  Cheyenne is a clone of an R653-P because Harvey loves the carbine carried by SSG Barnes in the film Platoon.

Because she felt I was stepping on her toes, I changed Kaylee's furniture.  Then did some swapping with some Arfcommers and ditched the carry handle.

What we have here is a Del-Ton carbine kit that I have modified.  The 16" HBAR barrel that came with the kit was replaced with a 14.5" 1:7 nitrided Palmetto State Armory barrel with an A2 flash-hider (not shown is the $200 piece of paper that lets that be legal).  The C7 upper has been replaced with an Aero Precision flat-top and Matech BUIS.  The lower receiver came from Anvil Arms, who are no longer in business.  Surplus Colt M4 pistol grip, Damage Ind. M4 stock with QD and Colt M4 handguards.  Bravo Company mil-spec receiver extension and H Buffer.

Complete history after the fold.  There have been a lot of starts and stops along the way while I figured out what I wanted to do with her.  And yes, I give my rifle's girl's names.  And yes, you've seen this post before, it gets bumped and updated as I make changes.

Click Me For The Full Post

SPARCly

It would appear that Vortex is either discontinuing the SPARC AR or is getting ready to replace it in the lineup.

Either way Palmetto State had them marked down from $270 to $70.

I already had an American Defense mount that's compatible with it laying around, so...

Dottie gets a red dot!

That, of course, means the fixed rear sight needed replaced with a Magpul MBUS3.

Still quite handy at 9 lb. with the optic.

Idle Hands, Pawn Shops And Good Light

Got good afternoon light to take the official picture of Dissipator Dottie:

 

One of the local pawn shops had a Primary Arms 5x36 SLx Gen III Prism scope marked down about $130 from new.  Harvey said, "we need it!"

So I put it on the M1956A2:

 

As far as I can tell, it's unused.  It had the kill-flash in it, a $30 value, and I think those don't come with the scopes any more.

Though it's a fixed 5-power instead of a variable 3-9, I like the reticle and I think it just looks better.

I should probably get a QD mount for it...  Or carry the tools in the buttstock. 

To Rail Or Not To Rail

Twilight:2000 happens as some long held paradigms in infantry weapons changed.

The Austrians and British had changed over to bullpup rifles which used magnified optics instead of iron sights.  The Germans were working on a caseless bullpup rifle that used a scope instead of irons.

The US and Canada were slicing the carry handles off their M16 derivatives and replacing them with a rail which wasn't specific to a particular optic.  The US with the, now, ubiquitous Picatinny rail, Canada going with a modification of the ancient Weaver system.  Picatinny is also a modification of the Weaver system, but different from the Canadian version.

It's the slots.  Weaver and Canada use narrower slots (0.180" vs 0.206").  Weaver doesn't specify spacing of the slots, Canada and Picatinny do.

Canada and Picatinny use different spacing (0.394" center to center for Picatinny) with the Canadian system getting 14 slots in the same space as Picatinny getting 13.

This creates some incompatibilities.  Don't get too down on Canada here, they simply licensed an existing Weaver modification from A.R.M.S. mere months before the Picatinny rail was developed and NATO adopted it.

Anything designed for a Weaver base will fit both.

Anything designed for a Canadian rail will fit a Picatinny rail.

Some things designed for a Picatinny rail will fit on a Weaver or Canadian rail.  Trial and error here.

And then there's the Soviets and Warsaw Pact...

Nominally there are two standard side-rails for their weapons.  The AK pattern and the SVD pattern.

The same scope can be found with either mounting style.  Except for the mounting, they are identical.

Later scopes, outside the scope (pun) of T2K have a mounting system that can used with both style of rails.

Is This A Problem?

My 10 year old Primary Arms PAC5X has developed a flaw in the reticle.

It's at the bottom of the ranging scale on the right.  That blob is supposed to be a line that you put at the feet of a man-tall target to figure out the range.

It doesn't intrude on the aiming point, but it's there.

Primary Arms has gone to a lifetime warranty, like their nearest competitor Vortex; but this scope pre-dates that.

I'm not even sure I should bother them. 

I Wonder

I noticed that Vortex is discontinuing the Strike Eagle in the 1-6x power.

It's been replaced in the lineup with a 1-8 power.

In GURPS you get a +1 for each doubling of the power from 2x.

So you get the same +2 for 6x as you do for 4x.

But 8x is a +3...

Think one of their designers is a GURPS player and wants the extra +1 on their character sheet of themselves? 

Idle Hands

I decided to clean off the top of my gun safe.

I bumped into a never mounted Leupold Rifleman 3-9x40mm still in its box.

I have an AR-10 here that needs a scope...  I have a mount for a 1" tube leftover from the Olga build.

This story starts writing itself, don't it?

Pretty fetching, ain't she?

11.6 lb. as shown.

Maintenance

I tend to buy flip-up caps for my optics to prevent this from happening.

They're not available for my Primary Arms SLx 1x Microprism.

A couple of spurts of canned air and a lens cloth later and it's clean and clear again.

Just like pocket lint, you have to check on this stuff from time to time.

Idle Hands

The M1956A2 is now modeling a Primary Arms SLx 5x36 Prism Scope and a Magpul MBUS Gen3 rear sight.

The scope usually rides on Olive, but I wanted to see how it'd look on the AR-10.

The MBUS I got for the occasion, since I'm always short one when I want one.

It's a lot slimmer than the original MBUS and the aperture flip is very cool.  It's also a full three ounces lighter than the aluminum A2 stub!

Small aperture:

Big aperture:

Pretty cunning and easier to flip than the older model.

I know the Kewl Kids eschew the presence of back up irons, given the massive improvement in reliability and durability of optics; I'm just paranoid enough to want them.

That's Handy

Marv has added a SIG Romeo-1 Pro to his P320.

 

The weight of the optic is almost identical to the mass of the plate he had to remove from the top of the slide to uncover the mounting screws.

That means that adding an optic doesn't change the weight of the gun!

Excellent!

He's yet to get it to the range to see if it helps his shooting.

Garbage Tier

Facebook keeps showing me this link.

It's a ACOG clone for the princely sum of $140.

It's got one thing going for it that the real deal doesn't: Adjustable diopter.

That means you don't need to have 20/15 vision to use it.

Who wants to get me one for testing?

Prescient Jack O'Connor

FuzzyGeff remembered a reference to a book where someone predicted that, someday, hunting rifles wouldn't even have iron sights in preference to telescopic sights.

Turns out that prescient motherfucker was none other than Jack O'Connor, also known on this blog as the chief advocate for the .270 Winchester round.

Who knew?

Some More Elegant Than Others

The Killflash® on the Aimpoint and the Anti-Reflection Devices on the Primary Arms scopes all screw into the body of the scope in front of the objective lens.

This is not true for an ACOG.

That's a genuine Tenebraex Killflash®, milspec and everything.  It does not screw into the body.  It slips into the overhang around the objective lens and is retained by that large o-ring under the scope tube.

It's not a confidence inspiring design, but I guess that it works.

I have read that the o-ring breaking has been a recurring problem for the USMC.

I wonder if it's something they have to sign for...

Killflash All The Things

I don't know why I love these things, but I do.

PAC5X on Dottie.

PAC3X on Kevina.

SLx 5x36 on Valentine.

SLx 1x MicroPrism.

M4S on Kaylee.

It amuses me to no end that only the Aimpoint is wearing an actual Killflash® anti-reflection device.

The hex-mesh is noticeably smaller, and that does help with the angle at which the objective will reflect.

I am still not sure if they're just delightfully silly or brutally functional.

Considering that I've bought different colored furniture just for the looks before...  It can be delightfully silly.

The Murder Of Barry Allen

Got an "anti-reflection device" for the MicroPrism.

It's NOT a Killflash™, because that belongs to Tenebraex.

Before:

After:

I like them quite a bit, even though I'm not sure of the actual utility in my world.

They definitely provide a bit of protection from things landing on the objective, so there's that.

Battery Day!

 

Today is battery day for the optics on all the guns!

While not strictly necessary to do every year... and I don't remember every year, it should be done periodically.

The Aimpoint 1000 for the first time in its life gets proper DL 1/3N instead of two 357 size.  More amps and lithium instead of alkaline.

Some of the batteries came with the scopes in question and have been mounted for years.

The PAC5X has had the factory batt in it since 2015 when I got the scope.  So did Harvey's 2016 PAC3X!

It was time.

The AimPoint M4S got its third battery ever, replacing one from 2015.

The BelOMO PK-01VS is also getting it's third battery, it was last changed in 2017.

All of these optics lit up when I checked them before removing the old battery, so no battery had actually failed or leaked... yet.

Preventatives are to prevent failures, not repair them.

I am happy that I am down to just three battery types, two are bog standard.  AA and CR2032 for most with the DL1/3N being the outlier.  FuzzyGeff has another outlier with the AAA, but that's bog standard as well.

Got to get some 123 batts to do the weapon lights too.

Without The Internet

Reflector gunsights for rifles and shotguns were commercially available from just after WW2.

The first powered one was the Giese electric gunsight.  I have found several mentions, but not a single picture.

An ambient light illuminated sight was available from about the same time, The Nydar shotgun sight.

I had a hard enough time convincing GM's to let me slide with a ZH29 rifle...  A red-dot might have pushed my luck.

If you can read Russian, or can work Google Translate...  http://vault8.pro/kollimatornye-pritsely-chast-2-istoriya-razvitiya/