Blue laser weapon sight? (noob questions)

[Chicxulub]

If you look at a violet laser dot and focus your eyes behind it, you'll find the dot goes into perfect focus. It is the bending of the light, you just have to know how to trick your eye to focus on it.

 

[kerberos]

I'm not a fan of lasers on guns, in fact my USP.45 has only a flashlight on it and in 10 years I've never seen anyone at the range using one...
That said, for novelty purposes, I've mounted a Spartan 1W on my airsoft G36K for a costuming event

 

[HIMNL9]

Would be nice to use it on a automatic heavy calliber shotgun @ night :

ROTFL !! ..... with an AA12 loaded with explosive frag ammos, who need a pointer ? ..... just shoot in the enemy direction and keep shooting til th ammo ends, something you still hit good :crackup:

 

[Nanolaser]

Would still be impressive before pulling the trigger but i reckon that the stealth element would be completely compromised.

 

[Ash]

I know, it is not real 578nm but I hope the color appears te be yellow. I just want a yellow pointer

Okay. So you don't have a yellow pointer? Why is it in your sig?
Also, what about this in your sig: "445nm NewWish 20mW"
What exactly does that mean? Do you have a 20mW 445nm in a newwish host? WTF?

 

[jakeGT]

let me ask a kind of off topic on topic quesdtion.
if you were really using a laser sight in war/gun fight .would someone have to turn it on and off every once in a while to let it cool down? or could you just leave it on the whole time?

 

[HIMNL9]

^ that is not the main problem, using it in a war context .....

Remember that, same as tracking bullets, laser sights works in both the directions ..... and when you're in a place when other peoples are searching you for kill you, it's not a good idea, to have a bright beam coming out from where you're hiding

 

[jakeGT]

well i know/understand that, but my reasoning is laser sights had to have been made for some purpose or reason? my buddy is 21 and i graduated with him, my best friend. he is in afghanistan as we speak fighting for our country. and i would never want somebody to know his position becasue i was like hey man attach my 100mW green laser to ur gun and see how awesome it is! haha.
but there are laser sights that do exist. do they have duty cycles?

 

[Benm]

Laser sights on guns have a number of applications.

One of them is on sniper rifles, where the laser beam will give away your position to the target, but the target does not have a weapon with enough range to return fire with any accuracy, if at all. I'd imagine something like a sniper hundreds of meters away shooting at a target that only has a handgun and can at best empty a clip in the general direction.

One other situation would be close proximity confrontation, where it is important that a shot take quickly is actually deadly. In such a situation a laser aiming aid would allow you to 'shoot from the hip' very quickly and accurately, bypassing the time to use the normal sight on the weapon.

 

[Cyparagon]

I'd imagine something like a sniper hundreds of meters away...

The dot would be rather large by then.

 

[HIMNL9]

Very long range laser sights are not a good choice, there is nothing more accurate than a good rifle scope well calibrated (but, in this case, an IR laser sight can help you illuminating the target for your nightscope ..... assuming that the enemy don't have one too, ofcourse ) ..... also, try to shoot someone 1000 or 1500 meters away using a laser sight .....

At close range, instead, it's very helpful, it permit you to see where the bullet go immediately, keeping the weapon in any possible position and shooting also from situations that don't permit you at all to aim correctly, for this reason they was invented, mainly.

And for the duty cycle, it's ininfluent, cause a lasersight on a weapon is turned on at the moment from a press switch, don't need to remain turned on (and usually is NEVER left turned on)

EDIT: also, it's helpful in some particular situations as "deterrent" (just as example, you're a terrorist with an hostage ..... if you're not a suicidal one, seeing some red dots that point your forehead can help convincing you to surrend ..... :crackup

 

[millirad]

^ Yes, and a 445 dot between the eyes is a deterrent as well. They can't see who's shooting at them with all that glare. Especially if it is de-focused slightly......ouch. :eg:

 

[Benm]

Very long range laser sights are not a good choice, there is nothing more accurate than a good rifle scope well calibrated (but, in this case, an IR laser sight can help you illuminating the target for your nightscope ..... assuming that the enemy don't have one too, ofcourse ) ..... also, try to shoot someone 1000 or 1500 meters away using a laser sight .....

I've always wondered about the divergence issue. Even if its a good laser with 1 mrad divergence the dot would be a blob two meters in diameter by the time it is 1 kilometer from the laser. Perhaps additional optics (beam expanders) can help this to some degree, but i will never be a 'dot between the eyes' as you seen in the movies.

They could be good on an assault weapon like a AK47 or M16 though: At a range of about half a kilomter it gives a 'dot' about 1 meter in diameter. Firing 10 bullets a second somewhere within that dot is probably enough precision to kill someone, and only problematic if someone else is standing around that is not to be shot

 

[AJ_Dual]

Lasers are strictly a CQB option, they're just not practical or needed for rifle-distance engagements. Aside from the divergence issues of the perfectly straight beam, vs. the parabolic trajectory of the bullet, you'll spend as much time looking for the dot as you would just lining up the target with iron or optical sights.

While they're capable of killing at that range, nobody engages with AK's or M-16 type weapons at 500+ meters. That would be for a dedicated sniper, or maybe a Designated Marksman. Or even more likely just a radio call for air support or artillery etc. That's not to say it does not happen, but it's not the preferred way to engage an enemy at over 300 Meters.

The enemy over there would also likely avoid their AK's for such shots unless they had nothing better, and use either left-over British SMLE rifles, or maybe a Soviet/Eastern Bloc Mosin Nagant. Perhaps a Dragunov type rifle should they have one.

The one exception to our forces not using lasers at "rifle ranges" is for soldiers wearing night vision devices. An IR laser is extremely handy because it's not possible to get a traditional cheek weld with the rifle, and and line up the sights. Even if you could, the sights won't be in the focal plane of the goggles. There, the advantages of at least having some way to aim greatly outweigh the disadvantages of lasers at longer ranges.

That's the one instance you'll see the military using lasers on rifles at a distance greater than urban "MOUT" operations, or door-kicking CQB.

If a sinper or Designated Marksman (sort of halfway between sniper and infantry) is working with NVD's they'll be right on the rifle and you'll be looking through the scope with them, which also leaves no need for a laser.

The lasers on a weapon can also be used as designators to people watching with NVD's from other weapon systems, in aircraft, armored vehicles, or for someone else operating crew-served/belt-fead heavier weaponry.

 

[LazyBeam]

It could be possible. Keep in mind that people have gotten fast axis divergences of ~1.35mrad. Even with a simple 5x beam expander (which could be compact) you're looking at an ideal divergence of mrad on the fast axis. At 1000 yards your dot/bar would only be ~10 inches long.

This is very usable as a weapon sight and an extremely high power would allow a telescopic sight to see what the dot is aimed at far away.

 

[Cyparagon]

^But telescopic sights usually have cross-hairs.