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The Optical Sight Special Edition

KNWGM NEWS

Gary Sneed

Optic Height
Is Lower 1/3 a Meaningless Term?

Last edition of this publication, you read about zeroing a rifle. And one of the factors of zeroing a rifle, one of the most important really, is optic height. This can also be expressed as “Height over bore”. These two terms mean different things, but are directly mated together. Optic height (Especially in reference to the AR-15) is a measure of the distance between the optic centerline and the rail it is mounted on. Standard height is 1.41 inches. This does not mean that the optical centerline is 1.41 inches over the bore of the rifle. Specifically on the AR-15, the rail sits over the bore 1.215 inches. Therefore an optic with a height of 1.41 inches will have a height over bore of 2.625 inches. Height over bore is the important factor, but this is not the measurement given when purchasing optics or mounts. Changing your height over bore will affect your point blank range and how you must zero to accommodate it. Moving on, why would you want a taller optic mount and therefore an increase in height over bore? Would you not want the lowest height possible? Like all things, yes and no. Lower height over bore helps when making legitimately long range shots, like beyond 400 or 500 yards, where a tall mount would cause significant drop after hitting its apex at 200ish yards. Scopes like the Leupold VXL specifically seek to reduce height over bore by any means necessary. However height can be a big benefit to you, especially on unmagnified optics where long range isn't a factor, at least not a significant one.

Since the AR-15 has existed, height over bore has been its thing. Even the iron sights sit at a height that most other rifles (At least in the 1950s) would consider completely excessive. If you look at an AK or G3 or M1 Garand, the sights sit as close to the barrel as possible, barely popping up more than an inch. In the case of the M1 and M14 this height is further reduced by the gas tube or whatever the fuck it is sitting under the barrel instead of on top. The sights sticking up almost an inch and a half above the receiver and 2.6 inches above the bore is already a radical height. Mounting scopes to the top of these sights further compounded this height over bore putting the optic all the way up into the 4 inch range, equivalent to a 2.5 inch riser. This may seem archaic and unnecessary today, but even after flat top rifles became available in the 1990s guys who were already comfortable with this height continued to seek it by adding risers onto their flat tops, or by affixing a detachable carry handle and moving along like nothing ever changed. Why? Well as I stated previously this height can actually make hitting mid range targets easier by extending your point blank range. Beyond this there are benefits such as a more upright shooting position, without having to crane your neck down and forward to get behind the sights. This same benefit also makes the sights easier to use when wearing equipment like night vision goggles, gas masks, helmets, and hearing protection. In short, it makes the rifle more comfortable and natural to sight.

So what are my options? And what is the best option? Well the optic heights in order of shortest to tallest are as follows: Absolute Cowitness (1.41 inch height). This is the height where the iron sights sit, therefore when you have an optic with this same height installed, they cowitness, the dot sits right on top of the front sight. Lower 1/3 Cowitness (Sources don’t always agree with each other but generally around 1.57 inches). This height became popular when the U.S. Army adopted the M68 CCO Aimpoint Comp M2 optic for the M4 Carbine, Lower 1/3 means that the iron sights will align on the lower 1/3 line in the optic. This only applies to the Aimpoint CCO and other 30mm red dots, which are pretty archaic nowadays. 1.93 “NV Height”. This is the first height where they start to get pretty tall. The most common 1.93 height optic mounts come from Scalarworks who popularized it. They strike a good balance between comfort and compatibility with gear while not being excessively tall. Above this heights get somewhat non standardized. Unity FAST Height (2.26 inches). As the name implies these come from Unity Tactical. These are so tall they allow a magnifier to actually flip down into the center of your rifle rather than flipping outboard to the side. These mounts also have built in iron sights at the 1.41 height. KAC Skyscraper (2.33 inches). This mount is a one piece affair where you affix your red dot to the integrated mount, then affix your magnifier with its own mount to the rear picatinny rail included on the skyscraper, so they both sit at the same height.

Figure
2
: Absolute, Lower 1/3, and 1.93 Scalarworks mounts with an Aimpoint T2 (20mm red dot)

So yes, Lower 1/3 is a meaningless term, the lower 1/3 line and therefore your height will differ depending on the size of the optic window. But anyways, your preferred height will change based on your physiology and what equipment you have on, and your shooting stance. Sitting in your bedroom and shouldering your rifle you may think that absolute cowitness is the shit. But as soon as you get outside with your headset and your chest rig and your shooting glasses and whatever else, it may be literally impossible to get behind the optic. You may also pick your height based on what mounts look goofy to you. But most likely based on what type of optic it actually is. Red dots do better up high than scopes do.

For me practically anything under 1/3 is uncomfortable to use, and generally speaking the higher the better. I like the carry handle mount height, and will generally continue to seek it out even on rifles without the carry handle. When testing and comparing Absolute, Lower 1/3 and carry handle height with a night vision device, the carry handle was by far the easiest to use and most natural to raise into a firing position. It also interferes the least with my helmet and headset.

This is compounded by the fact that when they comment on a post, it’s usually because they just remembered something related to that person and they need to get it out fast before the dementia gets it. Here is an example I came up with. On a post of a person graduating from high school, their grandm

may comment “

Congrats. Oh honey, I need to tell you that Aunt Rita passed away! LOL”

. This also brings up that they don’t get acronyms correct but I don’t run into that much.

The last thing that pisses me off about internet boomers is the slew of posts about them inquiring about something on Marketplace and then when the person responds, it is either along the lines of “

Quit contacting me or I will report you we are sleeping leave us alone now”

or the other response of

“I don’t want this dish rack”

. Then why did you send

“Interested!”

to my DM’s? If you can’t handle the frueth, stay off the pavement.


The Optical Sight Special Edition	KNWGM NEWS The Optical Sight Special Edition						Issue #2


Gary Sneed Old News launches The latest updates We have made enough money to continue publication of this publication, to the detriment of everybody. We will keep poasting this shit until we run out of money or are assassinated by the local or state government. The topics will stay the same. The Federal government doesn’t give a fuck about what we do. Figure 1 : Your PT Cruiser will go to good use. Gary Sneed We Will Buy Your PT Cruiser We buy the worst cars. Your PT Cruiser, HHR, or SSR we will buy for a princely sum. We aren’t selling these to ISIS or anything like that, we just want them for our own personal ventures. Call 1-800-352-7348
			Surefire Silencers are a waste of money.
			Gary Sneed ATF Announces 1 week wait times Eform 4 Wait Times cut to 5%
			The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (and Explosives?) has made an official statement that wait times for Form 4s are going to be better measured in days than months or years. This news comes shortly after Redditor panic over ATF shutting down Eform 4s entirely and literally demolishing the second amendment. ATF Deputy Assistant Director James Vann explained, “Now we see this in Reddit, people are saying ‘I got mine in a matter of hours or I got it the next day, is this normal?’ Yes, this is the new normal.” Very cool! Thank you ATF!			I plagiarized part of this article from SilencerShop’s website because they had the quote from the ATF representative I needed. Otherwise, this is cool, many years ago, just before the Coof, people were excited about Eform 1s clearing in under a month (Form 1s clear faster than Form 4s in the first place). So this is by far the fastest that ATF wait times have ever been, and according to them this is here to stay. They haven’t done something this cool since the pistol brace SBR amnesty which Redditors bitched about.


Optic Height Informative Editorial		Which Type of Optic is Right for 16 Inches? Red Dot vs. The World			Are Backup Iron Sights Important? The Short Answer is No
Gary Sneed		Gary Sneed			Gary Sneed
What the fuck does “Lower 1/3” Mean? Page 2		The red dot was a fine invention. But is it the best optic for the AR-15? If it isn't, then what is? Its not the Eotech. Page 3			Now that you have selected an optic, is it a good idea to equip your rifle with backup sights? Page 3
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The Optical Sight Special Edition	KNWGM NEWS					Issue #2

Gary Sneed What Type of Optic is Right for a 16 Inch Rifle? Depends on You, Retard.		So if you have a 16 inch rifle (you do), then you may want to consider outfitting it with a little more glass than the typical Redditor 1-6x. M4s with 14.5inch barrels in the later cycle of the GWOT have even been equipped with scopes of up to 18x. There are penalties to this. High mag scopes are significantly heavier than a red dot and magnifier combo, but are of roughly equivalent weight to most LPVOs. Getting behind the optic itself can also be a challenge depending on its quality and how it is mounted, which will slow you down when raising the rifle to shoot. It is also obviously harder to use a 3x or 2x minimum zoom scope at close range than it is to use a red dot. But there are various ways around that handicap. The most simple and most versatile option is by simply adding a red dot to your scope. If you have your scope mounted at the 1.41 optic height that you probably do, then a stacked red dot will sit at basically carry handle mount height. Which creates two benefits, one is that your fast acquisition optic is in a more natural position, and the point blank range will cover the entire zone the red dot should be used in. Most red dots are also negligible in the weight department. Another option is the Bindon Aiming Concept. This was patented by the guy who invented the ACOG and it was used by soldiers and marines until they started stacking dots on their ACOGs in the late 2000s. The idea is that with your magnified optic, simply open both eyes and rely on your non dominant eye to seek the target and collimate the reticle onto it. Turning your magnified optic almost into an OEG.			For most shooters, 16 inches is probably an excessive length. But legally its basically required. You can make the most of this situation by backing up your length with the magnification it deserves. But this isn't mandatory. If weight is still a significant consideration then a red dot and magnifier combo will offer much more usability per ounce. The classic ACOG is also not an outdated piece of tech, but it may not offer much more than a simple magnifier combo, while being much more expensive. The red dot magnifier setup is also the best when working with night vision goggles. When Mk 12 Mod 0s were setup for use with NV the NVD was actually attached to the rifle. Not a typically seen setup in the civilian world. You can still hack NV compatibility onto a scoped rifle by aiming exclusively with laser. At the end of the day (Not literally, we aren't talking about NV any more) it is hard to even spot a guy at more than 100 yards. So any amount of magnification helps, and the more the better. Playing video games like Call of Duty will give you a perception that a red dot is all that is necessary, when in reality those engagement ranges are exaggeratedly close. Most CoD maps take place entirely within pistol range. Consider bringing some magnification to the party. And if you think that isn't for you, then consider filing for a stamp and getting a shorter rifle. This is really a mountain out of a molehill, I don’t think 16 inches or even 20 inches is too long to handle, but they are excessive if you are min-maxing the best, most efficient setup possible when using a typical optics package.
Now that you have spent the last 10 minutes reading about optic height, lets put the cart before the horse. What type of optic? The typical Reddit setup will include either a red dot/magnifier combo or an LPVO (Low Power Variable Optic, or any variable zoom scope that starts at 1x). Both of these setups are fine but I think they are misguided by the Reddit hivemind. First lets start with the rifle itself. MOST people will have a 16 inch AR, again totally serviceable. But is a “Low power” optic what is called for on this setup? Lets ask the experts. Standard military M16s are and always were 20 inches. But as you read in the last paper this is excessive for a standard shoulder rifle. So hihg speed dudes would almost never rock with one. The M4 or even shorter rifles were the common arm for SF for as long as the AR-15 has been in use. Early on in the GWOT the Mark 12 Mod 0 was issued, an 18 inch rifle with a 2.5-10x scope used as a marksman’s rifle. But Navy SEALs and other forces were using even more custom weapons. These were known as SEAL Recce rifles. The most common length for them was 15.1 inches. Later on the Mark 12 Mod 0 was retrofit with a 16 inch barrel. For the men that used them, these 16 (ish) inch barreled rifles were marksman’s rifles.

Gary Sneed I Have my Optic, What About my Irons? Should I Buy Backup Sights
Since the invention of the rifle scope, their users have doubted their reliability and their durability. After all, you don’t typically trust glass not to shatter when you drop it on the ground. Even unmagnified optics like red dots and holographics (may Allah forgive me for speaking their name) are just as fragile, based on glass lenses and reflectors. The only exception to this issue is the aforementioned ACOG, which is an exceptionally sturdy prism. What if I bust my shit? What if my battery dies? What if the optic loses zero? What if the mount comes loose? Will I be killed in da streetz? Maybe! The answer that most choose is back up iron sights, or BUIS. Iron may be a bit of an overstatement here, as most you will find on rifles today are plastic. Are these a good solution? Or a solution at all? Lets take it piece by piece. Breaking your optic is honestly somewhat far fetched if you don’t jump out of airplanes and slide down ropes for a living. Any optic that costs North of $90 will survive being dropped on the dirt or taking a tumble into the gravel. The top tier of optics like Aimpoint, Nightforce and higher end Sigs will hold up to even the roughest of abuse. If you manage to break an Aimpoint you probably also broke your plastic sights.				A dead battery is also a pipe dream unless you are really really stupid, or an Eotech customer, but that is one in the same. The Aimpoint T2 has a 50,000 hour battery life (Roughly 5 years). The Sig Romeo 8T is 100,000 hours, plus an automatic off function that practically doubles the battery life in field conditions. If you manage to have one of these die on you then I don’t know what to tell you. Again any drop that will cause your optic to lose zero will also fuck up your iron sights, unless you frequent the Amazon deals section for red dots. Ditto for loosening the mount. So the back up sights don’t really back up much of anything (Unless they are forged into your receiver and pinned onto your barrel IYKYK). I often see people sacrificing their optic placement by demanding a rear backup sight, or placing it in some asinine spot and planning on moving it if the optic goes down. The same can be said for the front sight. Many Reddit rifles have backup front sights sitting behind their laser box or worse, in front of the laser which puts it in a more precarious location. If you can fit them and you want them then by all means. But don’t sacrifice the primary sight for the secondary sight.
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The Optical Sight Special Edition	KNWGM NEWS			Issue #2

If it isn't “Point Three-Oh” then why should I want it?
Gary Sneed
What the Fuck is up With 6mm? 6.5mm Sneedmoor
Well to talk about now we first have to talk about then. .30-06 was a popular cartridge to say the least. It was very powerful and was capable of not only killing men like what the Army wanted, but it was also capable of killing elk, or even buffalo. Prepare for nerd stats and you are welcome to skip to the part where you see me standing next to the chart with all the numbers on it. .30-06s standard load is a 150gr bullet at about 2,800 fps. Shed dwellers immediately got to work on variations of .30-06, most of them using 6mm or 6.5mm bullets, rather than the standard 7.62mm. The first of which was .270 Winchester, or simply .270. This instead pushes a 6.5mm bullet with a 130gr mass at 3,060fps, with a superior ballistic coefficient. This was (and is) popular for the purposes of splitting deer open at ranges of up to 500 yards, with minimal drop (a long point blank range). For even smaller game the .243 Winchester was invented. This 6mm bullet offered weights of 80 to 105 grains for anything from coyote and woodchuck at 3,400fps up to white tailed deer and pronghorn at 2,900. This once again offered greater velocity and less drop and recoil. These cartridges saw limited service with Army and Marine snipers during the Vietnam War, when private purchasing sniper rifles was still common. These slimmer bullets sailed through the air more smoothly than the large diameter .30-06 from which they were derived, and were therefore better suited to longer range shooting. But this is all ancient pre-boomer history at this point. There isn't a durr hunter on Earth that hasn't heard the name of .270 or .243. Although ironically neither one is legal for deer in Ohio. You will often hear boomers compare the effectiveness of newer cartridges to that of .270 and .243. They are the standard from which all other durr rounds are derived. But eventually .30-06 fell out of favor with the U.S. military. 7.62x51mm NATO (Or .308 Winchester) had entered the equation. This cartridge was 12mm (One half inch) shorter overall than the .30-06 cartridge, but was ballistically identical*. This allowed the rifles to be shorter, and the throw of the action to be shorter. So with the introduction of a replacement for .30-06, there had to be a replacement for .243 and .270.			Enter 6.5mm Creedmoor, and 6mm Creedmoor. I'm sure you are smart enough to figure out whats up at this point. 6.5mm Sneedmoor is the current year equivalent to the previous .270. But from the parent case of .308 rather than that of .30-06. It packs a 120gr bullet at 3,000 FPS. The bullet maintains supersonic flight past 1,200 yards. This is important as hitting the transonic line destabilizes the bullet somewhat, and will open groupings when it is met. .308 hits the transonic line at 1,000 yards. The 6mm Creedmoor is almost a perfect ballistic match for .243, but in a short action format. In SOCOM testing, 6.5mm Creedmoor doubled hit probability over .308 at 1,000 yards, increased effective range by 50%, and reduced wind drift by 30%. The same way that rifles designed for .30-06 could be easily adapted to .243 or .270, rifles meant for .308 can be easily adapted to 6.5 or 6mm Sneedmoor, often requiring only a barrel change. So that makes sense, but what about all of those other 6mm cartridges like 6.5mm Grendel? Well 6.5 Grendel is supposed to be a long range AR-15 cartridge, meant for use out to 800 yards. However it isn't a drop in replacement like .300 Blackout is in an AR-15 or 6.5 Creedmoor is in an AR-10. It requires the use of a proprietary bolt, and magazines, and neither are particularly reliable. The bolt is too thin and will crack easily. The same is to be said of the 6mm ARC cartridge. Which is basically the .243 to the Grendel’s .270. 6.8mm Remington SPC is a different story. It was meant as an alternative to 5.56mm but with greater bullet mass for both close and long range effectiveness. It also required a new bolt barrel and magazines. So it died on the vine much like the rest of them. However it is notable because of its development by the U.S. military and some exotic rifles like the ACR (That really dates the project). The new Army rifle the XM7 is chambered in a proprietary .277 cartridge. This is outside of the purview of this discussion, but it is extremely high pressure, and will produce magnum cartridge velocities out of a short action and a short barrel. So not every 6mm cartridge is a meme. But the ones for the AR-15 are. Only .300 seems to stick around in the alternative AR-15 cartridge marketplace of ideas.
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The Optical Sight Special Edition	KNWGM NEWS			Issue #2

Gamer Obama
The Weekly Soap Box Bludgeon Old People with a Rock
You’d think the massive amount of money boomers have in combination with their age would equate to them having any form of critical thinking or learning capabilities. You’d be wrong! This past week on Facebook, where boomers love to show off how competent they are, I found a comment from an old lady on a post I forget the context of. That’s not important. This woman said “some older people don’t have the technology to use atm’s/computers. Kindness goes a long way”. What could she mean by this? Does she not have a bank account? Is it harder to swipe a card and wait 15 seconds than it is to pull a few dollars from your wallet in your purse that I buried under your Werther’s Originals and 50 year old lip gloss and then count the money with your failing eyes and then rummage around for that last nickel you need just so you can wait for the teenage cashier that your old as doesn’t trust to recount it for you? Is that simpler? But at least you can write in cursive and use a rotary phone! That probably saved your life once! Too bad these youngins can’t do it! How does kindness go a long way to help you create a bank account? Another world-famous boomer textpost on Facebook is the one in which, signing no real documents or anything binding, they post a normal status that says that Facebook is coming to take their photos as their own, meaning they can use it for their devious acts! Well guess what? This boomer (and 25 million others) does NOT consent, Mr. Zuckerberg. Ok rumors get spread. It happens. This is an acceptable thing for those who aren’t as technologically with it to post. The issue is that this gag has been spread multiple times a year for multiple years. How do you keep falling for it? I know Alzheimer’s affects you more as you age but most of you boomers don’t have it. So why do this? Does your lack of consent stack? All that cursive practice and you still can’t use correct grammar or even spell? It’s a shame! The number of boomers online that cannot spell or fat finger and only fat finger the keys is insane.			This is compounded by the fact that when they comment on a post, it’s usually because they just remembered something related to that person and they need to get it out fast before the dementia gets it. Here is an example I came up with. On a post of a person graduating from high school, their grandm a may comment “ Congrats. Oh honey, I need to tell you that Aunt Rita passed away! LOL” . This also brings up that they don’t get acronyms correct but I don’t run into that much. The last thing that pisses me off about internet boomers is the slew of posts about them inquiring about something on Marketplace and then when the person responds, it is either along the lines of “ Quit contacting me or I will report you we are sleeping leave us alone now” or the other response of “I don’t want this dish rack” . Then why did you send “Interested!” to my DM’s? If you can’t handle the frueth, stay off the pavement.
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