Putting Trends in Context

Recently, I was speaking with LTAC’s friend, Officer 29, about the AR15 and optic heights. We were discussing the proliferation of high-rise optics and their pros and cons. Specifically, we were discussing if you should even bother adding back up iron sights (BUIS) with a high-mounted optic, given the difficulties presented. Officer 29 is a very well-informed end user, but he’s a bit younger than I am and a little newer on the scene, so he was a little taken aback when I made an off-hand remark about “not having BUIS will get you killed in the streets”. I had to explain that at one time, the attitude was that you were a dead man walking if you didn’t have BUIS on your AR15, because it was expected that your battery-powered optic could die AT ANY MOMENT. Obviously, we laugh at this now, but in the world of firearms, non-iron sights are still new, and didn’t see true, widespread acceptance until relatively recently. Besides overcoming the prejudice against anything new, there was some truth to the hesitancy. Early Aimpoint brightness settings didn’t go high enough and were washed out by sunlight or weapon lights. For different reasons, Trijicon Reflex sights often suffered from the washout issue, and the original EOTechs were plagued by battery life issues. These shortcomings reinforced the need to keep a BUIS as an integral part of the weapons system.

The fears of these issues stuck around long after they were resolved. In part, this is because there is (quite rightly) a conservative attitude surrounding the tools used to resolve deadly force incidents – be it military, police or armed citizen. “New” is regarded suspiciously because it could cost you or an innocent person their life. However, at the same time it is important to understand that people often cling to and discard trends without understanding the why. If you’ve trained with LTAC, or listened to our podcast, you’re familiar with the concept of principles over tactics/equipment, and the importance we place on the “why” – understanding why you’re doing something is often more important than the practice itself. Today, we’ll view optics set-ups through that lens.

Even before my professional career of carrying a rifle began, I was around firearms and was exposed to various attitudes. I’ve watched the trend go from irons only, to red dots being useful but gimmicky, to grudging acceptance of red dots but an insistence on fixed back up irons, to fixed fronts and flip up rears, to flip up fronts and rears, to the point where BUIS are no longer considered mandatory. The growing experience with and reliability of red dot sights drove this shift, as well as a better understanding of the use of deadly force. Fixed irons can take away a portion of your worldview when you need to read the entire person to see weapons and establish their intent. So, too, does the recent explosion of night vision use and support equipment. You run out of “rail estate” quickly when you start adding lights, IR lasers, and tape switches (sorry Chris!), and there is no sense to degrade the placement of your primary & secondary sighting systems (red dot sight & IR lasers) for something that is only possible to use with white light. Low Power Variable Optics are another factor - why am I adding a back up to something that I can only use if I remove the primary sighting system?

So, too, with optic height – early red dot mounts brought the sight as low to the bore as possible, to maximize cheek weld and consistent head positioning. Something that is critical with iron sights and telescopic sights, which was where those making the decisions had previous experience – and as I like to say we are all victims of our experiences. It was quickly discovered that this was not the case with red dot sights, as they are mostly parallax-free, it meant the end user was free to assume a more natural “heads up” shooting stance. And so, optics heights went from absolute co-witnessed with the BUIS to ensure a seamless transition (because your red dot sight would fail at any second) to lower 1/3 co-witness, which brought the optic up to a more natural position but kept the BUIS lower in the optic, but just out of sight – so that when your red dot sight did fail, you could slightly drop your head and have your irons. Now of course, we see students with 1.93” and even higher set-ups. Because we know a more heads-up shooting position is beneficial, and especially so when using night vision passively or wearing a gas mask.

Attitudes change though - I remember when LaRue Tactical released a scope mount to bring a scope up to 1.93” to clear a PEQ2. “Why would anyone need to do that?!” the internet cried! I also recall the furor on internet message boards when a video leaked of the US military conducting a hostage rescue in 2004 with – gasp – their EOTechs mounted on CARRY HANDLES! The general consensus among internet experts was that these guys (a Tier 1 Special Missions Unit) had no clue – you can’t mount an optic that high, what about mechanical offset, it’s cheekweld, not chinweld, etc. These attitudes are by no means limited to optics height or the use of BUIS, or the internet - ask an older defensive shooter about attitudes in gun shops towards weapon-mounted lights or loading magazines to capacity.

It is no secret that we at LTAC are fans of the science fiction writer Robert Heinlein, and he often references TANSTAAFL – There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free Lunch. And this is obvious when selecting equipment. Using iron sights as your primary sighting system is a valid choice and you’ll never run out of batteries – however you may give up speed, have difficulties in low light, and you lack the ability to be threat- and sight-focused. Using a red dot sight with fixed BUIS gives you a good fallback in case of an optic failure but it can leave you with a cluttered sight picture that can interfere with your ability to see the whole picture in a deadly force confrontation. Using an absolute co-witness height mount for your optic minimizes your holdover but can be problematic if you are wearing a gas mask or attempting to shoot passively with night vision.  LPVOs offer some impressive capabilities, but they are hard to use passively with night vision and due to eye relief, can be difficult in unconventional shooting positions compared to red dot optics. And the current darling child of the gun world, a high (1.93” or higher) optic is awesome for a natural shooting position, or if using a gas mask, or if shooting passively with night vision. But it’s difficult to integrate BUIS and can be a challenge if you’re in the prone, especially if you’re using a magnifier and wearing armor. That being said – my current work set-up is a red dot in a high-rise mount with a magnifier, because I’m willing to work around the downsides to get the upsides. That is what this article is about - not to discourage or encourage one way or the other but rather to ask the reader to always place their choices in context. Stay safe and I hope to see you on the range.

—“Flynn”