Optic Observations (1 - 4X Variable Scopes)

[Molon]

Optic Observations (1 - 4X Variable Scopes)



Bright light! Bright light!

The pic below shows a view looking through an Aimpoint M4S with its illumination at the highest setting. The target in the view has two very bright, white photography lights shining on it from a distance of less than 2 feet; basically the brightest ambient light that I was able to produce indoors.









Now, here is a pic using the exact same setup of lights and target, except this time the optic used is a Schmidt & Bender Short Dot LE.









Here are the two views, side by side.








Horton Sees a Hue

The pic below shows a view looking through a Short Dot LE with the magnification set at 1.1X. The chimney in the middle of the view is approximately 100 yards away. Notice the orange leaves and bricks, the green shingles and the white and yellow aluminum siding. Also notice that the only hue, in the view, that remotely resembles a shade of blue, is the small patch of sky near 3 o’clock.














Colors

There has been a lot of bandwidth devoted to the color of reticles as of late, particularly the color green. Pictured below is a view through a Trijicon TR24-G, which has the green triangle reticle. The scope is “aimed” at a target that is 25 feet away, in a pitch dark room!









Here is the same view, only this time looking through a Trijicon TR24-R, which has the red triangle reticle.









Both views, side by side.









Now, here are the same scopes, in the same set-up, with the only thing different being a switched-on SureFire X300 white light attached to the left rail of the handguard.
























Radioactive.

The major weakness of most optics that utilize tritium and fiber optics to illuminate the reticle has been the “washing out” of the reticle when aiming into a brightly lit area from a dark area. The Trijicon TR24 series of Accupoints has vastly improved this situation, although not completely eliminated it.

The view below is looking through a TR24-G that is in a darkened area of the house, looking into a brightly lit area. As you can see, the fiber optics are not being fed enough light to brightly illuminate the reticle and the tritium is having a hard time overcoming the brightness of the target area. The reticle is certainly still usable, although not ideal.









This is the type of situation in which scopes with battery powered illuminated reticles really shine (no pun intended.) The next picture shows the same set-up as above, but looking through a NightForce NXS 1-4 x 24 at 1X magnification with the illumination on.









Again the same set-up, this time looking through a Short Dot LE at 1.1X magnification with the illumination on.










The Ruler of Truth

Pictured below is a view of an Aimpoint M4S with a metal ruler running through its field of view and beyond. Notice that the lines formed by the top and bottom edges of the ruler continue uninterrupted when passing through the Aimpoint’s field of view. Notice that the numbers and graduation marks are the exact same size, both inside the Aimpoint’s field of view and out. This is “true” 1X magnification; that is to say, no magnification at all.









The next view has the ruler running through the field of view of an EOTech HoloSight. Again, the lines of the ruler continue uninterrupted and the ruler remains the exact same size inside the EOTech’s fied of view and out.









Now, let’s apply the Ruler of Truth to what many here have called a “true 1X” optic, the Trijicon Accupoint TR24-R. The magnification ring is set to 1X in the view below.










As you can clearly see, the lines formed by the edges of the ruler are shifted when running through the field of view of the TR24-R and the ruler is clearly larger inside the field of view of the TR24-R; that is to say, the ruler is MAGNIFIED.









The Ruler of Truth applied to a NightForce 1- 4 x 24 NXS with the magnification ring set to 1X reveals the same findings.














The Ruler of Truth applied to a Short Dot LE with the magnification ring set to 1.1X shows little difference from the NightForce NXS on 1X.














In truth, since the “true 1X” scopes are not truly without magnification in the truest sense of the word like an Aimpoint or EOTech, the only thing that truly matters is, can these optics be easily used with human binocular vision; that is, both eyes opened and focused on the target at the same time? The answer is a resounding yes, just as it is with the Short Dot LE at 1.1X magnification.




Focus On The Front Sight


Here's a view of the front sight when looking through an Aimpoint M4S.









This view is looking through a NightForce NXS 1-4 x 24 at 1X magnification.









12 O'Clock High








Weighing In


Trijicon TR24 with LaRue SPR-E mount:

1 pound, 6 ounces



Aimpoint M4S combined with Aimpoint 3X magnifier, both in LaRue mounts:

1 pound 6.8 ounces




NightForce 1- 4 x 24 NXS with LaRue SPR-S mount:

1 pound, 7.5 ounces



Schmidt & Bender Short Dot LE with a LaRue SPR-E mount:

1 pound, 11.1 ounces




…..

[Slippers]

Molon,

Nice write-up. Looking from a dark area into a bright with any of the trijicon optics that use a fiber optic and tritium is definitely not ideal.

The ruler test where you compare the view seen through a red dot versus a 1-4x scope is not exactly telling, though. The scope may actually be a true 1x in magnification, but the reason that the ruler appears larger is because the objective lens is closer by the length of the scope, meaning your eye is seeing the image as if it was at the objective lens. This would be basically the same thing as you looking through a red dot sight from 1 foot behind it, then moving up to just 4 inches behind it. The ruler would appear larger because you're closer to it.

When you use a 1-4x scope at slightly longer distances, the difference between what you see with your dominant eye through the scope versus what your non-dominant eye sees is virtually the same.

For example, if you're looking through a scope with both eyes open at an object 20" away, and your scope is 10" long, then one eye is 50% "closer" regardless of magnification. This is why the ruler appears so large in the scope versus outside the scope.

At 20 feet, the eye looking through the scope is only 5.2% "closer" to the target, so the two images are almost the same and your brain is able to combine the images quite easily.

[JGifford]

My issue has been diopter shift with variables. It led me to an Aimpoint t2 and g33 combo.