![]() I mounted the StrikeFire first, finger-tightening the mount before using a flathead (slotted) screwdriver to crank the nut down an extra quarter-turn to make sure it wouldn't shake loose. My Templar Custom MCWS was the test-bed for the StrikeFire/VMX3/FTS combo. I tested the red/green version with the 30 mm ultra-high mounts, which has an MSRP of $229. The low mount works well for carry-handle ARs and most other rifles with a Picatinny rail, while the ultra-high mount provides an absolute co-witness with iron sights on flattop ARs. ![]() Each comes in your choice of low rings or an ultra-high mount. The StrikeFire comes in two flavors: a 4-MOA red-dot and a 4-MOA red/green-dot. It wouldn't be my first choice in day-after-day 120-degree heat, nor in months of Arctic cold, but if I'm at either of these temperature extremes, my first thought will be to fire my travel agent. Like the StrikeFire, the VMX3/FTS mount combo is visually appealing and entirely functional within the range of normal everyday use and abuse a civilian could expect to heap on an AR-15. They've created an optic that can rattle around in a truck's toolbox as it goes down a rutted farm road without danger of losing zero or failing, even if it may not necessarily work if dropped 300 feet out of a helicopter (I'm sorry, I couldn't test this exact scenario because my Blackhawk was getting detailed). What Vortex does with the StrikeFire is give shooters a solid and dependable 30 mm tube-style red-dot sight that is weatherproof, not SCUBA-capable. They aren't made to fit the same roles, and Vortex Marketing Manager Mark Boardman never made any claim about Aimpoint or EOTech being direct competitors in the high-end combat-optics market. A complementary piece of equipment meant the extend the range of the unmagnified red-dot, Vortex created the VMX3, a 3X magnifier equipped with a nifty and dead-simple flip-to-side (FTS) mount.ĭon't expect me to claim that the StrikeFire/VMX3 combination is close to being on par with the visually similar Aimpoint with its magnifier, or the EOTech Holographic Weapons Sight and its 3X magnifier. Instead, I wanted glass that can handle rattling around in the back of a truck, shrug off the occasional drop or come out of the safe after months unattended to work intuitively, without my having to think about them at a moment's notice.įortunately for me, Vortex Optics makes the StrikeFire, a solid and dependable tube-based red-dot sight aesthetically similar to the vaunted Aimpoint Comp and 9000 families, at somewhere between 2/3 to 1/2 the cost. Without Uncle Sam's deep pockets or the constant threat of combat, I could never justify spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on high-end optics and nearly as expensive mounting systems. I will never emerge from still tannic waters like the Swamp Thing, nor from the howling storm in the dead of night to bring rough men to rougher justice in a foreign land. ![]() I'm not an elite operator with hundreds of hours of combat experience or thousands of hours of training under my belt. Nine days out of 10, my daily routine starts with the percussive abuse of an alarm clock before I shower, make coffee and head into the world to deal with the terrors of suburbia.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |