The new rig.

If you aren't into rifles, you might as well skip this post as you will find it extremely boring.

For those of your who are either into rifles, or just decided to ignore my disclaimer... I bought a holographic rifle sight to put on my rifle - an Eotech 512 to be exact. Chances are if you are into rifles then you already know about these sights. If not, I'll break it down for you:

A holographic weapon sight projects a reticle into an optical window that you use instead of lining up a front and rear iron sight - this concept has been used for Heads Up Displays in fighter aircraft since the 80's. The Eotech reticle has a circle with a dot in the middle of it - shown in the picture on the right. The idea is that since you aren't lining up iron sights, or trying to find the correct eye relief and focal point behind a traditional magnified scope, you save time when trying to acquire a target. Also, when you are engaging targets at close quarters , you simply put the large circle (which is easier to find) on your target. For targets beyond close quarters (think the 300 meter popup target on the BRM range), the small dot in the center allows the rifleman to make more precise shots.

Here is a peek through mine:

These sights have been out for a few years, and L3 communications (the company who makes the Eotech series of Holographic Weapons Sights), pretty much has a corner on the market. They make a pretty rugged and reliable product with excellent battery life.

I'm pretty excited about this purchase, since I had to save my "fun money" for some time to make the purchase and even sell my SKS (so sad...). Part of my excuse for making this purchase is that I will probably use a similar sighting device in the Army if I get assigned to a "high speed" unit, seeing as how most of the line companies are using Aimpoint CCO's, Trijicon ACOG's, or Eotech HWS's. But the real reason is because gun gear is fun! You can bet that most of my "training" with my new rifle setup will involve killing bunnies and coyotes, as well as making small groups of holes in paper at the range.