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Reviews
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Date of last review
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1
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8958
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2/1/10
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Recommended By
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Average Price
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Average Rating
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100% of reviewers
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£17.00
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8.0
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Pissin' people off one post at a time
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Ranger_Captain
Pissin' people off one post at a time
Registered: July 2005
Location: West Point, New York
Posts: 1,229
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Review Date: 2/1/10
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: £17.00
| Rating: 8
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Positive aspects of the product (pros):
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Great Feel, Fair Price, Holds Zero, No self activation, Long Battery Life, Rugged feel, Perfect Reproduction of the Real steel.
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Cons:
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Weak attachment point, Brightness setting doesn’t really work
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G&P M68 Red Dot Sight
Introduction
There was a time, be it too long ago for new players to remember, where most guns did not have some optic, laser, vert grip, and/or super advanced stock attached to them. We made do with what the gun came from the factory with and for sighting that meant irons.
Well that time has passed and now you can choose from red dots, holo sights, telescopic illuminated night optics…. It can get rather extreme at times and sometimes it’s nice to get back to basics and use one of the red dot sights that started it all, the M68 M2 Aimcomp.
Unfortunately the real M68, while common in the military, is very expensive. Luckily there are a multitude of replica’s on the market, the most outstanding and widely accept one though is made by G&P.
Realsteel Specs
The sight is water-tight down to 25 meters and runs on one 3-volt Lithium battery type 2L76 or DL1/3N. The aiming dot's brightness is adjustable for better visibility and increased battery life.
The M68 is effectively parallax-free outside of 50m, meaning that while the red dot moves around the inside of sight based on eye position, it always represents the point of aim. Inside of 50m the red dot has to be kept in the center of the reticle.
The CompM2 is used across branches of the U.S. Armed Forces, Sweden, and various NATO countries, among them Norway. A variant known as the ECOS-N (NSN: 1240-01-495-1385) is also issued as part of the U.S. SOPMOD kit. The sight is also available on the civilian market and is employed by various law enforcement organizations (especially for SWAT type situations that involve close quarters work) and by recreational shooters.
The CompM2 is often faulted for its short battery life when the dot visibility is set too high, which is necessary for bright environments. The On/Off/Visibility knob is also prone to turning unintentionally when the weapon is stowed or retrieved, such as when mounting and dismounting vehicles. Batteries often burn out due to unintentional engagement of the sight's power. Large rubber bands are sometimes used on the sight to keep the knob from turning accidentally. Aimpoint's successor to the M68 (the CompM3) claims a single battery will provide 50,000 hours of operation on brightness level 7 out of 10. Aimpoint's newest military sight, the CompM4, has a claimed ability to operate continuously for 8 years or 80,000 hours on a single AA battery.
Some users of the M203 grenade launcher prefer not to use the M68, even when available, because it restricts visibility of the M203's leaf sight. However, with the introduction of the KAC Quadrant Optical Sight for the M203/PI, and the replacing of the M203 with the M320 grenade launcher, this is becoming less of a problem, as the KAC QOS and M320 leaf sight are mounted normally on the left-hand side of the weapon, allowing the further use of optical sights on the flattop receiver of the rifle.
Dimensions
• Length: 130 mm (5.1 in)
• Width: 55 mm (2.2 in)
• Height: 55 mm (2.2 in)
• Mounting ring width: 30 mm (1.2 in)
• Weight: 200 g (7.1 oz)
*Courtesy of Wikipedia
My ideal weapon *drools*
First Impressions
I’ve owned three of these sights so far (bought one, lost one, bought another one) and each time I’ve been happily surprised by the quality of these scopes. I’ve also used the real M68 during shoots while in the Army so I have a fair background to compare this too.
When you buy the G&P M68 it comes in a simple cartboard box with G&P’s various logos stuck on it. The package comes with the red dot and a hex wrench to remove the scope from the included L-mount.
Appearance
The G&P version of the M68 is dead on to the real version. Short of having real Aimcomp aimpoint trademarks, most users of both real and airsoft guns would be hard pressed to tell the difference (and it’s almost exactly the same the real military ones since ours have no trades). The outside of the G&P has the same smooth anodized exterior of the aimcomp and feels rouged enough to take a half decent beating.
The black finish on the outside of the G&P seems to stand up pretty well and survives the nail test without a single scratch.
Look Grade: 10/10
I find that the G&P perfectly reconstructs the look of the real steel M68 right down to the anodized paint.
Aesthetic
Given that this is a red dot sight, there aren’t a whole lot of features to speak of other than the dot itself. Well that’s half true. The quality of the casing is top notch and feels very strong. Additionally the L mount is worthy of note. It is of equally high quality and it feels much better than the ACM cousins. One M68 replica I had that came with a cantilever mount actually sheered off all the screw tips, an obvious rage moment. That won’t be the case with this scope. The L-mount should last and outlast all ACM mounts easily. About the only bad point is that the actually attachment point from the L-Mount to whatever rail you put it on is held in place with a single retention screw that if you don’t make a real effort to ensure it’s attached, can easily work itself off and cost you a scope (assuming you don’t notice or you’re really booking it).
Something else worth of mention is something that G&P actually managed to do better than the original. The switch that actually turns on and off the scope is much sturdier and will never turn on itself or accidentally if you brush up against it or look at it like the real M68 does. Between the strong thread on the switch and the rubber retention ring the batteries won’t die on the G&P unless your want to.
That brings me to the batteries. It runs on two cylinder batteries (it comes with two extras) and to be honest, I haven’t had batteries die on me yet. My oldest G&P red dot is about two years old, using it at most matches, I haven’t had to change the batteries yet. I don’t know how long these are rated to last, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it is indeed around the time of the real M68, only it doesn’t burn out as fast due to unintentional activation.
Next is the is the red dot itself. This is one thing about the G&P they didn’t recreate as well. The brightness of the dot doesn’t vary too much in all the settings on the nob and can pretty much be described as bright, a little less bright, and off. This does effect night and dusk shooting a little bit as the brightness of the red dot can block your view and ability to acquire a target.
Aesthetics: 8/10
Other than the lack of brightness control and touchy attachment point, I love this sight. It’s strong, easy to use, and feels better in some ways to the real M68.
Use
I love using the M68, both the real steel and G&P’s rendition. What’s nice about the G&P is that it really defeats the purpose, in my opinion, of buying a real M68. I’ve used the G&P on airsoft and realsteel gun alike and gotten great performance out of both. It can be sighted down to well bellow a military grade MOA at 400 and 600 yards and easily can sight in exactly where you’re bb’s are going to go at 100 to 200 feet.
Keeping it’s zero, a very important quality, is a non-issue with the G&P as well. I used this on my M1A (M14 w/o auto to those who don’t use realsteel) for hundreds of rounds and have only really had to change the zero in response to the both the barrel breaking in and the mount settling into the dovetail. The 7.62 doesn’t seem to cause enough jarring to change the settings on this scope which means baring a few nutcases out there, *and you know who you are* no airsofter should have to worry about changing settings.
On the adjustments, you do need to remove the caps on the two adjustment points to actually gain access to them and this is not something that can be done to easily. I would advice sighting these in at home rather than waiting for the match as sighting in a weapon is hard enough, taking the caps on and off can be a bit of a bother to do while signing in and all the other tasks that need to be done at a match.
Use Grade: 9/10
Really only the aforementioned brightness setting effects the rating but other than that I’d use these sights in lieu of irons any day of the week.
Conclusion
Pros:
Great Feel
Fair Price
Holds Zero
No self activation
Long Battery Life
Rugged feel
Perfect Reproduction of the Real steel.
Cons:
Weak attachment point
Brightness setting doesn’t really work
Overall Grade: 8/10
I give this scope an eight out of ten for a few reasons. One the aforementioned attachment point coming lose at times (responsible for why I lost one of these scopes). Another reason is the brightness setting. To me this is something that’s quite important, as I usually would change the brightness setting throughout a match, as if you start at 0800, you need a different setting than at 1300, and likewise if the games running down at 1900, you need a completely different setting and not having the ability to change is a bit annoying.
But don’t let those steer you clear of the G&P M68. It’s by far one of the best replicas of the M68 on the market and in a poll I took on Arnies forums it would appear to be one of the most popular (http://www.arniesairsoft.co.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=176713&hl= )
So I would say it’s a safe bet that if you want a good reddot, both for your real guns or the airsoft gun, look no further than the G&P Aimpoint M68.
Credits:
http://www.gp-web.com/en/index.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aimpoint_CompM2
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Never argue with a gun, it may argue back...
United States Corps of Cadets, USMA
Cadet, United States Army
2012 "For More Than Ourselves"
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Registered: July 2005
Location: West Point, New York