The Gun Counter

Okay, I've seen this in a couple places, but apparently everyone but me understands it.
Can someone please explain this to me:


It appears to be two optical sites in line on a rail. What are they and how do they work together. I'm a professional photographer and I understand optics, but I just can't figure this out.

The first one in line is a magnifier: http://www.botachtactical.com/aimpoint3xmag.html

I believe the one closer to the trigger is a magnifier as mentioned and the other is a acog or red dot of some type. So you get the benefit of the holographic sight... for in close and can slap on the magnifier for distance work.

and it has the benefit of the same site profile regardless of how you use the gun

La Rue makes a tip off mount for the magnifier so it can just be flipped into position as needed.

I can confirm the optic in the forward position closest to the barrel is a 1x (unmagnified) reflex/red dot optic, like an Acog, Aimpoint, or one of its lesser-known follow-ons. It's kind of like a tubed Eotech. Acog fans will hate that characterization, but that's a close description based on what you may already be familiar with.

The rear optic over the receiver closest to the shooter is a 3x magnifier designed designed to be used in conjunction with an unmagnified red dot optic. That optics combination is designed for immediate transition from CQB distances up to short-range aimed fire with an FTS (flip-to-side) mount, or at the very least a quick-detach mount. You want to be using that unmagnified optic with the rear magnifier out of the way, and when you need a li'l magnification, you slap it with your palm from it's flipped-to-side state into its in-line state.

In both of those products, I could probably narrow it down to a specific brand, but it would be time-consuming because there's very little difference between them at first glance. It looks like the red dot optic is mounted in a quick-detach mount with a throw-lever. If I were to guess, it looks like an ARMS mount. You can tell from the small "donut" shape under the very center of scope, underneath the scope ring, which would be the hinge, and the slightly upturned "foot" would be the throw handle.

I do have some questions for the shooter, though. The rear magnifier is hard-mounted on the rail. That's backwards from what you'd want, in that if ANYTHING is going to be hard-mounted, it ought to be the forward 1x. The rear should either be a quick-detach, or - in the best configuration - an FTS (flip-to-side) mount. The way those optics are configured, this shooter completely lacks the flexibility that combination is supposed to give. He appears to have turned a relatively expensive combo into a dedicated 3x scope.

Is he a shooter, or a model? I'd wager shooter, because those look like custom ears, and the hat's worn brims folded to cover his neck and face seem to show he's used to shooting in the desert. I guess what I'm saying is, it's an odd little conundrum: a guy who looks like a dedicated rifleman, with scopes in a configuration that to me make no sense at all. Who am I? Hey, I've neither been there nor done that, so maybe he has a good reason. I just can't think of one.

workinwifdakids wrote:I do have some questions for the shooter, though. The rear magnifier is hard-mounted on the rail. That's backwards from what you'd want, in that if ANYTHING is going to be hard-mounted, it ought to be the forward 1x. The rear should either be a quick-detach, or - in the best configuration - an FTS (flip-to-side) mount. The way those optics are configured, this shooter completely lacks the flexibility that combination is supposed to give. He appears to have turned a relatively expensive combo into a dedicated 3x scope.

Is he a shooter, or a model? I'd wager shooter, because those look like custom ears, and the hat's worn brims folded to cover his neck and face seem to show he's used to shooting in the desert. I guess what I'm saying is, it's an odd little conundrum: a guy who looks like a dedicated rifleman, with scopes in a configuration that to me make no sense at all. Who am I? Hey, I've neither been there nor done that, so maybe he has a good reason. I just can't think of one.

Easy. It's not his rifle.

The rear magnifier is hard-mounted on the rail.

It magnifier looks like the Aimpoint I linked. According to the ad it has:

the ability to switch in a split second from CQB (Close Quarters Battle) to semi-sniping and vice versa.

Rear magnifier looks exactly like the one I had behind my Eotech in Iraq. There's a latch you press just aft of the hex nut on the hard-mounted portion that allows the sight to be rotated 90-degrees CCW and removed from a post on the front right corner of the lower mount. You then have a clear line of sight to the unobstructed 1x red-dot and can work up close.