Games and Ammo: Combat Optics Part 2

[Marine Mike]

<font color=808000>Logo created by: Frequen-Z






Welcome back Escapists, Games and Ammo as well as myself are finally starting to settle in to the new Florida lodgings. For the newcomers, Games and Ammo is the review series where I take my knowledge of modern warfighting and compare it to the world of video games. Since there was still things like sniper scopes and thermal sights left to talk about when I brought my last review to a close, today I will once again set my sights on the world of:



COMBAT OPTICS
...PART 2!








There are many, many, many, many different rifle scopes although games seem to only use one.
And it usually feels like the cheap Daisy scopes you get for free with a BB gun. Games will lead you to believe that your scopes only have one or two zoom settings that you just instantly switch between. Most rifle scopes have adjustable zoom and will smoothly zoom in and out, just like the Barrett M82 scene in Call of Duty 4. The thing that makes sniping in games feel fundamentally wrong to me is what we like to call "eye relief". That is the comfortable distance between the scope and your eyeball where you can get proper sight picture. Sniper scopes in games to me feel like your eyeball is pressed up against the lens of the scope, which would be decidedly unhealthy when a 30 pound gun firing a .50 BMG recoils back straight into your eye socket and end up worse than this poor sap who was firing a 7mm Magnum. Lets take a look at my personal scope I use, shall we? Its a Leupold 3-9x with a 40mm objective, so if you remember correctly from Part 1 you will know that it has both a larger field of view than the ACOG and is also capable of a smaller magnification. That means the rifle I mount my scope on isn't only effective at long ranges (although only a 3+1 capacity and absurdly large .300 WinMag cartridge definitely makes it more long-distance oriented). Elevation and Windage adjustments don't even come into play in games for simplicity's sake, but for those looking to buy a scope out there I prefer my Leupold because it has smooth turning adjustments instead of "clicks".


Thermal scopes were big and bulky 3 years ago, apparently they have come a long ways since I got out.
The AN/PAS-13 was its name, and thermal imagery was its game. Most thermal sights work by cooling down a sensor, which eats power and takes time. The thermal I am familiar with weighed in at about 5 pounds and took about 2 minutes to cool the sensor before it was ready to use. We never used it as a rifle sight (mounted it on a M240 a couple times though) because it was so bulky, damn thing took a radio battery and only lasted a couple hours. I can say I was amazingly impressed by the thermal imaging in CoD4 on the mission with the AC-130, but seeing the thermal scope in MW2 in multiplayer was just disappointing. Thermal sights will negate a lot of visibility reducing factors, but it bring along some disadvantages as well. At night in Iraq we used our thermals to scan for activity, unfortunately for us at night the air temperature dropped to around 90 degrees Fahrenheit... which meant that the air, buildings, roads, plants, and people we all similar temperatures. You could still identify a person moving around, but a stationary target with partial concealment you would be better off with night vision and an IR spotlight. You are also able to switch between "black hot" and "white hot" to make it easier to spot details according to your preferences. Again, temperature plays a part in that as well, if you're in the arctic on "white hot" a human being will show up white... but in the desert summer on the same setting humans will show up black since they are cooler than the surroundings. It takes quite a bit to get used to observing things through thermals, and definitely not so simple as "shoot the bright white blur". Also, even the thermal scope I used had adjustable zoom levels!


So us gamers are left with eye wounds and black people we were expecting to be white.
Unfortunately that was the best racial joke I could come up with to tie into the thermal sights, just fill in that line with the best one you can come up with. What have we learned today kids? Don't put your eye too close to the scope, and shooter games seem to ignore that pesky peripheral vision while you use your scope. As much as I want to rant and rave about the non-adjustable zoom on sniper rifles, I know that if it were more realistic everyone would be choosing them over assault rifles. Probably best to keep them specialized for long-range only in multiplayer, but gods its so annoying to miss at point blank range because you didn't use the super-zoom scope. Thermals in games annoy me, unless its beautifully done like the AC-130 level (probably my favorite level of the game, I want a whole game like that). Sure the weather effects in MW2 make it hard to see clearly, and the thermal scope is good in theory. I think a tad more realism would actually add balance, but might tip the thermals into the "not worth it" category.


There, that just about wraps up everything on Combat Optics, if you can think of anything else I could go into more detail with please feel free to let me know. Like I said before I'm finally getting settled into the living situation in Florida, so you can expect the series to appear on a relatively regular basis (I'm thinking weekends or Mondays).
<youtube=0J2WJ1_hHLg>
<youtube=wwLQewe4TrY>
Now just so some don't get the wrong idea, I don't think women are even close to the majority share of firearms stupidity... this guy is.
<youtube=0enAbdek7Zg>


Thank you to all of you who enjoy reading my reviews, I strongly encourage you to open this next spoiler box and read my other reviews if you liked this one. Either way, I'm always open to answer questions and feel free to leave a comment with suggestions or ideas.


Combat Optics Part 1
RPGs, Rockets, and Backblast [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.191392-Marine-Mike-Reviews-RPGs-Rockets-and-Backblast]
Grenades [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.190907-Marine-Mike-Reviews-Grenades]
Magazines and Reloading [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.191343-Marine-Mike-Reviews-Magazines-and-Reloading]
Bullet Penetration [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.192012-Marine-Mike-Reviews-Bullet-Penetration]
Things to know about me: I served in the US Marine Corps for four years from 2003-2007 as an Infantry Anti-Tank Assaultman. I've had two deployments to Iraq and one to Haiti, and love to talk about my experiences to anyone willing to listen.

COMING SOON:
-M4A1 Carbine (and probably a rant on US Army stupidity)
-M18 Claymore

 

[Rolling Thunder]

Anyone firing a Desert Eagle deserves to get their nose broken. It's possibly one of the most pointlessly macho firearms I can think of. I'd take a Makarov over it, any day, and that's saying something.

Query: What is an infantry anti-tank assaultman? Is it basically the guy carrying the giant rocket?

 

[Marine Mike]

Anyone firing a Desert Eagle deserves to get their nose broken. It's possibly one of the most pointlessly macho firearms I can think of. I'd take a Makarov over it, any day, and that's saying something.

Query: What is an infantry anti-tank assaultman? Is it basically the guy carrying the giant rocket?

I dislike Desert Eagles as well, if you want an excessive pistol caliber you should just use a revolver.

As for what the Anti-tank Assaultman is, we're the squad-level anti-tank crew-served weapon team. To clarify we carry a reloadable rocket launcher to supplement the one-shot AT-4 carried by the squad, useful when the bigger guns are not available. Of course since the current opposition has no operational armored vehicles, we also have rockets designed to make enemies inside buildings and bunkers go squish. If that wasn't enough we're trained to identify over 50 of the world's modern armored vehicles from just about any angle. To extend our anti-armor range we also train in the Javelin missile system. My favorite part of the job, and what makes us so badass is the extensive demolitions training; everything from satchel charges to improvised claymores and grenades... I could go on about the job for a looong time, so I'll stop myself now.

 

[Rolling Thunder]

Anyone firing a Desert Eagle deserves to get their nose broken. It's possibly one of the most pointlessly macho firearms I can think of. I'd take a Makarov over it, any day, and that's saying something.

Query: What is an infantry anti-tank assaultman? Is it basically the guy carrying the giant rocket?

I dislike Desert Eagles as well, if you want an excessive pistol caliber you should just use a revolver.

As for what the Anti-tank Assaultman is, we're the squad-level anti-tank crew-served weapon team. To clarify we carry a reloadable rocket launcher to supplement the one-shot AT-4 carried by the squad, useful when the bigger guns are not available. Of course since the current opposition has no operational armored vehicles, we also have rockets designed to make enemies inside buildings and bunkers go squish. If that wasn't enough we're trained to identify over 50 of the world's modern armored vehicles from just about any angle. To extend our anti-armor range we also train in the Javelin missile system. My favorite part of the job, and what makes us so badass is the extensive demolitions training; everything from satchel charges to improvised claymores and grenades... I could go on about the job for a looong time, so I'll stop myself now.

.....

The only thing consoling me about my future job being far less cool than your current job is that mine will be far better paid.

 

[xHipaboo420x]

Get this man an official Escapist slot.

 

[Marine Mike]

.....

The only thing consoling me about my future job being far less cool than your current job is that mine will be far better paid.

Unfortunately that is no longer my job, I was unleashed upon the civilian population back in 2007...

Anyone firing a Desert Eagle deserves to get their nose broken. It's possibly one of the most pointlessly macho firearms I can think of. I'd take a Makarov over it, any day, and that's saying something.

Hear hear. For rappers with compensation issues only.

OP: I remember when I first got a rifle, I pressed my eye up to the scope. I should have twigged something was up when I could barely see a thing, but I fired anyway. FUCKING OW.

I'm really enjoying these reviews. Forgive me if I sound like I'm generalizing, but a lot of these military style reviews and articles written by ex military personal tend to be somewhat condescending towards the civilian readers, assuming all are idiots. Not these ones though, these are helpful, informative, and enlightening. Keep it up, and I really hope you get taken on by the Escapist as a regular feature.

I was lucky enough to learn eye relief with my M16 and ACOG, it would have really sucked to learn that lesson with my .300 WinMag... the kind of suck that finds yourself at the hospital needing stitches.

I try to assume that everyone has a basic knowledge of things like weapon names and purposes since we're all gamers, that might be what keeps the condescending tone down a bit. Glad I could provide helpful reviews.

 

[Rolling Thunder]

.....

The only thing consoling me about my future job being far less cool than your current job is that mine will be far better paid.

Unfortunately that is no longer my job, I was unleashed upon the civilian population back in 2007...

Anyone firing a Desert Eagle deserves to get their nose broken. It's possibly one of the most pointlessly macho firearms I can think of. I'd take a Makarov over it, any day, and that's saying something.

Hear hear. For rappers with compensation issues only.

OP: I remember when I first got a rifle, I pressed my eye up to the scope. I should have twigged something was up when I could barely see a thing, but I fired anyway. FUCKING OW.

I'm really enjoying these reviews. Forgive me if I sound like I'm generalizing, but a lot of these military style reviews and articles written by ex military personal tend to be somewhat condescending towards the civilian readers, assuming all are idiots. Not these ones though, these are helpful, informative, and enlightening. Keep it up, and I really hope you get taken on by the Escapist as a regular feature.

I was lucky enough to learn eye relief with my M16 and ACOG, it would have really sucked to learn that lesson with my .300 WinMag... the kind of suck that finds yourself at the hospital needing stitches.

Funniest thing I ever saw was a Afrikaaner teaching his youngest son how to use a his old Lee Enfield. His son asked to use the scope on it. The father looked at him. The son promptly shouldered the rifle, put his eye right to the scope and managed to give himself a perfectly circular laceration all around his eye. And then his father clipped him around the head for failing, took the scope away and told him to use the damn iron sights.


Good iron sights to.

 

[Doctor VonSexMachine]

Glad to hear you are settled in! Excellent post, as usual.

 

[fanklok]

Bout damn time, wasn't as long as expected though. My younger cousin bought an airsoft gun modeled after the M14 I think (that single shot one that people modded controllers for in CoD4) and it came with that mounty thing and a scope. That you can't see anything through without having your eye an inch away, which proved to be very difficult while holding it in a not awkward/uncomfortable way. Where was I going with this? Fuck if I remember but keep it up Mikey
I do hope one day you get money for doing this, and then I as your manager get 10 percent.

cool_face.jpg

 

[Marine Mike]

Bout damn time, wasn't as long as expected though. My younger cousin bought an airsoft gun modeled after the M14 I think (that single shot one that people modded controllers for in CoD4) and it came with that mounty thing and a scope. That you can't see anything through without having your eye an inch away, which proved to be very difficult while holding it in a not awkward/uncomfortable way. Where was I going with this? Fuck if I remember but keep it up Mikey
I do hope one day you get money for doing this, and then I as your manager get 10 percent.

cool_face.jpg

Tell you what, I'll give you 100% of the proceeds earned to date from this series and call ourselves even... also I had a really nice SR-25 airsoft gun, which is very similar to the M16. I already knew exactly how to handle it and immediately owned my buddy who had the same model gun, but he had put on a bipod and scope.

 

[fanklok]

Bout damn time, wasn't as long as expected though. My younger cousin bought an airsoft gun modeled after the M14 I think (that single shot one that people modded controllers for in CoD4) and it came with that mounty thing and a scope. That you can't see anything through without having your eye an inch away, which proved to be very difficult while holding it in a not awkward/uncomfortable way. Where was I going with this? Fuck if I remember but keep it up Mikey
I do hope one day you get money for doing this, and then I as your manager get 10 percent.

cool_face.jpg

Tell you what, I'll give you 100% of the proceeds earned to date from this series and call ourselves even... also I had a really nice SR-25 airsoft gun, which is very similar to the M16. I already knew exactly how to handle it and immediately owned my buddy who had the same model gun, but he had put on a bipod and scope.

Well alri... wait a minute this series hasn't earned a damn penny. You swindler I ought ta bash in ye skull, but you know with the combat training and all that I'd just end up on the ground crying locked in some very uncomfortable submission hold.

 

[Marine Mike]

Photo Caption-
Spotter: 'Jeez you're shooting like a girl today Bluey.'

Who're the Diggers? Mates of yours or a random pic from the interwebz?

On the topic of scope related injuries, I have a nice chipped tooth from 'biting' the rear aperature of a F88 Austeyr during a particularly spirited obs course run.

Off Topic - I reckon you should do a review on "Lefties vs Righties", and how all evidence points to the natural dominance of lefties like myself.

Spoiler: I rest my case... XP

Almost all of them are random pics and videos. When I have to have a person in the picture I try to find good ones of US Marines, like the amazing photo on my bullet penetration review.

I'm right handed myself, so I'm sorry for your disability

 

[HuntrRose]

Anyone firing a Desert Eagle deserves to get their nose broken. It's possibly one of the most pointlessly macho firearms I can think of. I'd take a Makarov over it, any day, and that's saying something.

Query: What is an infantry anti-tank assaultman? Is it basically the guy carrying the giant rocket?

I dislike Desert Eagles as well, if you want an excessive pistol caliber you should just use a revolver.

As for what the Anti-tank Assaultman is, we're the squad-level anti-tank crew-served weapon team. To clarify we carry a reloadable rocket launcher to supplement the one-shot AT-4 carried by the squad, useful when the bigger guns are not available. Of course since the current opposition has no operational armored vehicles, we also have rockets designed to make enemies inside buildings and bunkers go squish. If that wasn't enough we're trained to identify over 50 of the world's modern armored vehicles from just about any angle. To extend our anti-armor range we also train in the Javelin missile system. My favorite part of the job, and what makes us so badass is the extensive demolitions training; everything from satchel charges to improvised claymores and grenades... I could go on about the job for a looong time, so I'll stop myself now.

Desert Eagle for the intimidation factor. But for actual shooting, a 9mm of some kind. Then again, I'd prefer having the other person piss his pants and not me having to shot. I don't really want the psychological problems asociated with shooting people.

 

[CrazyGeneral]

I have always wondered what do the branches of services think of each other I would imagine marines would call the navy pussies for staying on a boat all the time and I think everyone except the air force would call the air force sissies and I think spec ops would just about look down on everyone except for delta force, is this true or am I just imagining it.

 

[swolf]

I have always wondered what do the branches of services think of each other I would imagine marines would call the navy pussies for staying on a boat all the time and I think everyone except the air force would call the air force sissies and I think spec ops would just about look down on everyone except for delta force, is this true or am I just imagining it.

From my experience, it's kinda like siblings. You may joke around about which one is the "toughest" but there is very little actual disrespect. Also, once the bullets start flying, no one cares about which branch of the military you're in. You just watch each others back and try to neutralize the situation.

 

[Marine Mike]

I have always wondered what do the branches of services think of each other I would imagine marines would call the navy pussies for staying on a boat all the time and I think everyone except the air force would call the air force sissies and I think spec ops would just about look down on everyone except for delta force, is this true or am I just imagining it.

From my experience, it's kinda like siblings. You may joke around about which one is the "toughest" but there is very little actual disrespect. Also, once the bullets start flying, no one cares about which branch of the military you're in. You just watch each others back and try to neutralize the situation.

Thats pretty much what it comes down to, I'll make fun of the "Chair Force" all day long... but when it comes down to it I respect the hell outta them when they drop those JDAMs.

 

[Pimppeter2]

Another great review, and that first picture is hilarious.