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Aimpoint – Occluded Aiming

Did you know you can shoot with the lens caps closed on an Aimpoint sight? It’s called occluded aiming.

In fact, the earliest dot sights didn’t have front lenses. The Singlepoint Occluded Eye Gunsight used by US Special Forces on the Son Tay Raid 50 years ago uses this same concept.

By looking at the target with both eyes open and one looking into the Singlepoint, a 16 MOA dot is superimposed on the target.

Unpowered, a cover at the objective end of the optic protects the fiber optics filament that gathers light to form the dot.

13 Responses to “Aimpoint – Occluded Aiming”

  1. Jimbo says:

    We used this technique in Panama a lot back in the 90s. Our M68s fogged over a lot. Closing the front cover and using this technique was very useful.

  2. Iggy says:

    Cool sling set up.

  3. MikeTM says:

    I don’t think I’d credit that to Aimpoint. It was the Armson OEG that we used long ago. Armson did that before it was interesting.

  4. Chris says:

    Isn’t this also known as the Bindon Aiming concept?

    • mike says:

      yep!

    • Luke says:

      No expert, but I’ve heard the BAC applies specifically to magnified optics that are not occluded, but merely by being magnified your brain can selectively ignore everything but the magnified reticle.

      • mike says:

        true, but the practical application is the same…

        keep both eyes open and the images from both eyes combine.

        Occluded aiming joins the dot with your image of the surroundings. Bindon Aiming Concept joins the dot with your image of the surroundings.

  5. Milkor USA says:

    Fun fact. Our 40mm ballistic sights use this same method after the sight is set passed 300m, the barrel starts block the front lens at that elevation. But still very accurate with LV or MV ammo.

  6. Rob C says:

    Really bothers me that first photo with such terrible trigger discipline. Should be illegal to post that

    • Joe_K says:

      Because his finger is in the trigger guard? Maybe he’s getting ready to fire? Maybe it’s a freaking picture and no one was harmed except for Internet people?

    • Terry Baldwin says:

      Rob C,

      Post Vietnam, and well into the 80s, we (soldiers and marines) were ALL still being trained to carry our M16s just that way. Finger on the trigger, thumb over the selector. If you look at soldier pictures from that timeframe you will see that it was the standard.

      As I recall, the actors in Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers generally kept their fingers alongside their trigger guards – as they were trained by Dale Dye to do. That is common safe practice since the late 80s – early 90s, but is historically incorrect for the period. Accepted TTPs can change a lot over time.

      TLB