https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMrFc2yDhcU
Fate recently decided that I’d get the chance to shoot the gun that makes experienced shooters obsolete. Allegedly. I was at The Best of the West Range during off-hours helping lay the groundwork for the 2014 Texas International Firearms Festival. The TrackingPoint technical team rolled-up in their blacked-out SUV. RF made contact. The next thing I knew I was behind the trigger of the TrackingPoint’s Precision Guided Firearm, the .300 Win Mag XS-2. [Click here to read Nick Leghorn’s review.] Well it works as well as they say it works . . .
You adjust for wind, locate the target and “tag” it. Once the target’s tagged, the crosshairs dip down automatically. You hold down the trigger and bring the crosshairs back up to the tagged point. Once the crosshairs and the tag point intersect the gun fires itself. It truly is a surprise break. But there’s a trick to it . . .
Once you tag the target and the crosshairs drop, you have to move the rifle up smoothly. You’re trying to get the reticle to the tag point within a specified time—before the reticle settles for too long in the bottom of your sight picture. If you don’t “dance” with the system smoothly and quickly, it “de-tags.” You have to start the process all over again. If you adjust the rifle—for example to get a better shoulder position—you may move the reticle too far out of the kill zone (their words not mine). Again, you have to start over.
The TrackingPoint system feels awkward for the experienced marksman; with a standard rifle, you never fully squeeze the trigger before the reticle’s exactly where you want it to be. Also, when you line up the reticle with the tag point, you expect the TrackingPoint gun to fire. It doesn’t. It fires when it’s ready. You kind of have to jiggle it around and let it go off when it darn well pleases. That’s completely counter to traditional rifle skills where you want to be as still as humanly possible.
This is not a gun for a newbie looking to learn how to fire a rifle without a TrackingPoint system. By the same token, a more experienced marksman could pick-up bad habits from using the XS-2. That said, a mission-critical human element remains: judging the wind. If you input the wrong wind speed or direction into the system the bullet isn’t going to go where you want it to. As they used to say back in the day, garbage in, garbage out.
The TrackingPoint system is excellent for people who can’t stand ballistic calculations, prefer to play videogames and aren’t that interested in mastering traditional rifle skills. I’m impressed with the technological achievement but there’s no substitute for the fun, challenge and joy of old school marksmanship.
Kirsten Joy Weiss was the 2012 National Rifle Association Women’s National Champion.
Click here to visit her website.
Back in the day? I still say GIGO. Of course, I’m a coder, so I have to deal with it often enough…
It seems like it takes an experienced shooter to judge the wind anyway, so what real advantage does this offer?
William Gibson had a lot to say about “smart-guns”. In his books properly equipped folks had guns where you just held the trigger and when the muzzle was pointed at a designated target the gun would fire. I guess we’ve moved a large step towards making “Cyberpunk” technology a reality.
I liked this post. I like that it’s not just another post telling me the same stuff. The “losing the tag” thing is interesting to note; that’s the first I’ve heard about how that works. I agree with the last sentence. This is a niche item, and it’s not the niche I live in.
The lesson is simple: Don’t start any SH, there won’t be any IT. Point to the good guys. If Scummy McLowlife lives, maybe he will have learned something he can share with his prison hubby when they cuddle post coitus.
People also liked the interaction between horse and carriage-driver, the ritual of filling the fountain pen, the trick involved in making an elevator stop at precisely the right height and the skill of the blacksmith who could eyeball a heptagonal joint.
All of these have joined the realm of Things That Were
I look at this technology and can’t help but think of the sentry guns in Aliens. The tracking point “sights” on swivel mounted machine guns could be very useful in fixed emplacements with constant windage updates. As a marksmanship enhancement not so much.
“nuclear-tipped semi-automatics”
Much like the 5.56 caliber AR and Glock 40mm…
1. WTF?
2. I want one and where can I find it?
With an Accuracy International .300 Win. Magnum at 275 yards, I doubt that Ms. Weiss needs any help at all putting rounds on target. If that rifle will give me a sub-1″ group at that range from a bench, she can probably do it offhand.
Using a computer to decide when to fire a gun just, well, makes me nervous. Shoot/no shoot decisions are *mine* to make, because I, and only I, am responsible for where that bullet ends up.
With all due respect for the effort and intellect that went into its development, this is not a rifleman’s rifle, nor a sportsman’s.
Only a deconstructionist finds the 2A ambiguous. We the people get to have weapons, maintain them, and train w/ them individually and corporately (that is the militia part). What part of “Bill of Rights” don’t you understand?
nothing like posting the entire review on the aggregator page.
Good Review. I got to shoot a compact .40 F-type version about a year ago. The ergonomics are fantastic. It was by far the most comfortable polymer .40 that I have ever fired, and I have fired almost all of them. The compact version wouldn’t be that bad of a concealed carry option in .40 or 9mm, though you will probably have to go the custom holster route as last time I checked, there weren’t many mass produced holster options available. Still, Crossbreed is pretty good about making holsters for all the new guns that hit the market. I think the subcompact version is just awkward looking. Its shape looks for like a hand-held carronade. I will stick with my Glock 26 for now.
Just FYI there is nothing wrong with polymer guide Rods. We even have some M9’s that have them. Most new 92FS and M9 have been coming with polymer guide Rods.
Polymer guide Rods have not been shown to have any weakness, so to say it’s an engineering disaster is just uninformed.
Well done. Street price or price ranges would be a plus. As for me a CZ P07 is more aesthetically pleasing.
I would miss the whole zen thing that attracted me to rifle shooting in the first place. When robotics, electronics or whatever replaces the human element, it’s time for us to switch to archery.
}}} FACT: There are 59,000 licensed gun dealers in the U.S., almost 5x the number of McDonalds franchises. #votegunsense
FACT: How many BEER distributors are there? Since you need a special license to transport BEER across state lines, it’s no surprise that anyone who wants to do so has a license, even if they’re just a microbrewery doing sales at beer festivals.
Last time I checked, you didn’t need to be a McDonalds owner in order to transport hamburgers across state lines for commercial purposes… Now I grant, this may have changed while I wasn’t paying attention, but I’ll presume otherwise until someone corrects that presumption.
Q.E.D., this is comparing apples to oranges. You might as well compare the number of licensed skydiving instructors to the number of FFL holders. Or the number of orange farms in Florida and California to the number of FFL holders… at least then you’d have the “oranges” connection.
So where does one get one of these nuclear tipped semi-automatic people killers? My collection seems strangely lacking now that I’ve realized I don’t have one.
Obama’s Liars Club.
Heh, heh, I think these same comments were made about the first computers.
I think these comment were made about the first vibrators.
Meh… I’m trying to figure out what problem this solves, exactly. Maybe I’m missing something?
I just know that my laser-engraved Magpul trigger guard works just fine and looks damn classy.
Three funerals an a wedding. Such is live in the Sandbox.
While I own multiple handguns that are amenable to concealed carry, I only carry one…. 100% of the time. I’ve got my system down. Regardless of how I dress (from casual shorts or jeans and t-shirt to business dress slacks and tucked in shirt), I carry my Glock 27. It’s never been spotted by anyone in any situation, including very close quarters.
I also carry a spare G27 mag, a 2.5-oz Fox Labs PS, a SAK, and a single-cell (CR123) light… completely concealed. I also clip one of my Spydercos in my pocket. The clip is not “concealed,” though. I’m an “average” sized guy. No additional cover garments, as I live in sunny Florida.
Had a cop. Fun to shoot. I’d give it a try.
Lord, thank you making me born in the USA, where I can shoot guns and I’m not limited to slingshots and rubber band powered devices.
Not in NJ, slingshots are illegal
Not gonna lie- a little bit jealous here.
It was -40F night before last where I live. Today was a heat wave~ we got up to -12F.
By middle of next week we are expected to be at the seasonal normal temp of -20F during the five hours of daylight and dropping to -35F to -55F at night.
No hunting for me right now. Also not a whole heck of a lot of shooting.
That was clearly George Bush’s fault.
Yes, it’s this combination of arrogance and intransigence that has a tendency to get me to loose my cool. I’ve realized the utter futility of reasoning with folks like this. I’m better off keeping my mouth shut and going my own way.
I find the culture of Manhattan’s upper west side to be wholly irrational. Therefor, it must be banned.
“This should come as a surprise to absolutely no one. The radical Marxist-progressives (communists) took control of the democrat party some time ago. They’ve only become more emboldened with the election of Barack Obama, who was raised as a communist from birth.
With their new found leader, Barack Obama, the Socialist Party of America felt secure enough to announce the names of 70 democrats in Congress that belong to their caucus.”
MA Members of the Socialist Party of America Caucus are as follows:
Hon. John Olver (MA-01)
Hon. James McGovern (MA-03)
Hon. Barney Frank (MA-04
Hon. John Tierney (MA-06)
Hon. Ed Markey (MA-07)
Hon. Michael Capuano (MA-08
For the complete 70 Congressman list:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/35733956/D…merica-10-1-09
Dan’s scenario is all too real. Every day it seems, the constitution is dismissively brushed aside in favor of unconstitutional executive decrees.
Having tried and failed on the legislative front, the next step is to promulgate unconstitutional rules and regulations, which are then rubber stamped by administration appointed judicial drones.
Three years is a long time. What Dan has envisioned, can happen without a single new law passing Congress.
Get out and vote. Take back the Senate and House with super majorities. 2014 is only weeks away, and our participation in the electoral process is critical.
Why are there so many B.S. statistics about guns floating around? The reason is simple. It’s the same reason there are so many cars on our roads: because there’s an entire industry dedicated to manufacturing them.
Kalashnikov may have had some hand in getting the AK-47 to the selection board, but the facts indicate that the design was inspired, influenced, and implemented more by Hugo Schmeisser than by MK. And before you get your butt rage flowing, think about this; who is more likely to design a new rifle? A German weapons designer who already designed a rifle that incorporated many of the AK’s features? Or a Russian tank mechanic?