Carbines were originally produced to provide a handy means of self defence and short to medium range force protection for troops who either had to fight on horseback or had fighting with a personal firearm very much as a secondary role – for example gun crews, engineers, signallers and corpsmen. One of the best recent examples of such a weapon is the US M1 and its variants the M1A1 and M2. This served the purpose perfectly as it was small, light in weight, reliable, offered good firepower and the accuracy to engage targets out to 300 metres. Lethality and penetration were its only limitations. Like most militaries, the US Army concluded that future wars would be fought at much closer ranges and eventually ended up with a carbine as its standard weapon. Afghan operations in particular have driven up average engagement ranges renewing interest in longer barrels and the .308 cartridge, but most of the time the issue M4 still suffices. Barred from possessing the military 14.5″ barrels without onerous paperwork and tax, civilians bought up 16″ barrelled AR15s in droves.
Civilian shooters purchase AR15 carbines for a variety of reasons including defence, informal or formal action shooting, predator control, hunting or interest in military firearms. AR15s lend themselves having all sorts of accessories bolted on. It’s a crying shame to take the sleek, wonderfully ergonomic classic that is an AR15 and hang lots of ugly metal and plastic from it. You can soon end up with something that is ugly, unhandy and very, very heavy.
The ability to bolt things on IS a huge part of the appeal of the M4gery. A flashlight/foregrip can add to the ergonomics and make the carbine a day/night proposition without adding much weight or ruining the balance. A tactical sling adds very little weight for the huge improvement in ergonomics and readiness it imparts. Now you come to mount a sight on your carbine. Does a sighting system have to be bulky and cumbersome to be effective? Fortunately the answer is no.
Aimpoint offer their tiny Micro H-1 and Micro T-1 red dot sights in a package that, even with screw operated Picatinny rail mount come in at well under four ounces and take up only 2.4 inches of rail space. Aimpoints are extremely rugged. To save you cash Aimpoint deleted the night vision capability found in the T-1 to make a less expensive Micro H-1 model for hunters and sports shooters. The Micro T-1 and Micro H-1 both feature a 4 MOA red dot for rapid target acquisition. These units are barely larger than some flip up backsights. Unbelievably, Aimpoint’s ACET technology means a single CR2032 battery can last 5 years with the unit operating continuously. The sights will survive continuous immersion under 25 meters of sea water. They can be used in conjuction with an Eotech G23.FTS flip to side magnifier for those occasions when you need to be able to ID targets that much further out – some units in Afghanistan are already utilising this capability. A whole range of mounts are available from Aimpoint and third parties that add height, quick release and cantilever design to mount these ultra compact sights.
Eotech’s new XPS and EXPS ranges employ a single CR123 transverse mounted battery to cut down their length and prevent any chance of electrical connection problems caused by recoil. The battery compartment is sealed with a simple tethered cap with an O-ring that is utterly secure from unintentional opening/detachment. Cantilevered battery housings on these units clear the D-rings of AR15 style rifles. They start with the non night capable, thumb screw attached XPS2 models and gradually increase in specification, the XPS3 adding night vision compatibility and, in the EXPS3 series, a 7mm higher quick release mount to enable co-witnessing of iron sights in the lower 1:3 of the field of view and side mounted NV buttons to enable very close mounting of NV or 3X magnifiers. All XPS and EXPS sights take up 2.75″ of rail space, boasting battery lives of 600 hours – a vast increase on the old N battery units. In this series -0 models have a 1 MoA reticlered dot in a 65 MoA circle, -1 models have one 1 MoA red dot and -2 models have a 65 MoA circle with two 1 MoA red dots to enable aiming off for range. They weigh 8 to 11.2 ounces and are waterproof to 10 meters or 33 feet.
How do the sights compare? Aimpoints are more expensive and more hold sensitive (albeit parallax free from 50 yards out) but are utterly rugged and can be left on almost indefinitely. Eotech on the other hand offer completely parallax free units where head placement is all but irrelevant and a 1 MoA dot that makes longer range engagement easier. Whichever you purchase, you will know you have purchased the state of the art in units relied upon by military and law enforcement units throughout the US and worldwide.
