came passe’ and repeated reliance
on the red dot eventually overcame
that habit.
Handgun or rifle became the
chicken or the egg of shooting,
thanks to the red dot, and it didn’t
take long for shooters of all stripes
to acquiesce to the useful ease of red
dot scopes on any—or all—gun/
guns.
But gun techies are impatient,
and they continue dreaming up new
ideas to satisfy shooters’ needs that
are either in their infancy or have yet
to emerge. Burris’ Shotcam—yeah, a
camera on a gun: rifle, shotgun or
pistol—had its start just a blink or
two after cops found themselves at
the mercy of defense lawyers whose
clients thought they could outshoot
the shields chasing them. In truth,
the Shotcam owes its existence to
picatinny rails and red dot optics.
Burris’ view is that their reflex sight
sits atop the gun while the Shotcam
hangs from a rail below the barrel.
From creative minds. . .
•
A caveat: It seems a shame to
relegate all sight systems to the ac-
cessory category, so varied are they
in format and utility that they are
essential these days to accurate and
quick target acquisition. Red dots,
like magnifiers from 1x to powerful
and variable spotting scope char-
acteristics, are only one segment of
the optics category. And there are
so many that complete coverage is
reserved for books and manuals on
the subject.
Vortex Strikefire
Additionally, the very popular
reflex sights are red dots in wolves’
clothing but, like wolves, very
unique to themselves as a separate
species. Then there’re lasers, traditionally red but now green as well,
that are added in various configurations as part and parcel of a sighting system, especially in tactical usage. Thus, lacking sufficient space
to cover all of these sighting components in one story, we will devote
future stories over the upcoming
months, separately, to lasers.
•
For decades—after every war, in
fact—civilian shooters have lusted
for the same guns and gear used by
their military brethren. While each
such event launched a trend, no
trend has been more demanding or
controversial than the commercial
ots
sited
