TrackingPoint is best known for their precision rifles, which use a scope and trigger system that turns long range shooting into a point-and-click video game. They said when they started making the guns that the goal was to have a semi-automatic version as well, and it looks like that time has arrived. TP has just released a video showing off the features of their brand new AR-15 and AR-10 rifle platforms, chambered in 5.56 NATO, 7.62 NATO, and 300 BLK, and it looks pretty good.
The features seem to fall into three categories.
The first “mode” is the gun working like a standard carbine, with the trigger set like a normal AR-15 trigger and the sights fixed in place. I’m not sure how well that will work, with an LCD screen for a rifle scope and all. There has to be some lag in the system, a little bit of time between when the camera sees the image and when the final processed sight picture is displayed on the scope’s monitor, and that is bound to cause missed shots especially on moving targets. We’ll have to get our hands on it to see if it actually is a functional firing mode.
Mode number two is basically identical to the Burris Eliminator: the crosshairs adjust for the given distance and the shooter takes the shot whenever they feel like it. It’s a nice feature, but like I said there’s already a product on the market that performs that function and for a whole heck of a lot less money. As in, I could buy a car with the money I saved running an Eliminator instead.
The final mode is the one that TrackingPoint is famous for, specifically the computer controlled trigger. Tag a target, squeeze the trigger, and when everything is right the gun will touch off the round for you. We’ve seen it work to great effect in a bolt action rifle, but I’m really interested to see how well it works after multiple rounds fired in quick succession heats up the barrel and starts it moving around.
As usual, there’s no price tag on the rifles. But if the bolt action variety is already the price of a Toyota Corolla, then I wouldn’t expect these custom Daniel Defense rifles to be any different.
Nein!
Showing video of your rifle killing people doesn’t help us in teaching people that AR’s aren’t weapons of mass murder.
Yes, it’s big, heavy and expensive, but so were computers at similar stages in their development.
Bingo….this is the future, no doubt about it.
This! My first computer had 640kb of RAM (about the size of a small jpeg image) and 10MB of disk space. That is 0.00000953674316406TB and most disks now are at least 1TB! And it also cost $7,000…..
That said, when the boots hit the ground and batteries run out you better know how to work with Mils or Moas.
Pffft…mine was 64KB, expandable to 256KB with double floppy…think it was $4000 employee priced.
Boy do I ever wish I would have socked that into a growth account instead. Probably had a poweron time of 100 hours.
Heck, my first computer had 4k of ram and a 16k hard drive. It needed 240v power, 5 tons of AC, and cost $500k.
Hewlett Packard PDP-8e, 1969.
No comparison whatsoever. Technical advancements have curves and arcs, trackingpoint is riding the biggest technical arc of them all as most new tech has done the last 20+ years. Early computers truly had nothing to compare them to, the closest thing would be a calculator, trackingpoint uses tech that has been used and researched and tested by many other companies for different products both weapon and non-weapon related. Saying trackingpoint is starting from scratch is like saying Apple invented the telephone. They are using existing tech therefore are not starting from a true beginning to where more time will make the their tech smaller, lighter and cheaper although that is the natural progressive of most tech, but just like computers their tech will remain expensive for a very long time. Tracking point will maybe sell to 5% of the total firearm buying population in the next decade or more, the tech is too expensive and it really isn’t that impressive or has actual benefits to their users they market to. The military might buy a bunch but the circumstances where this tech would benefit them in a combat situation is nil, not many hunter would or legally could use such a system and there are no competition leagues where your gun and scope does the shooting for you. This tech is and will remain mostly useless to small arms applications.
Meh. Trackpoint is what a bunch of DIY types have been working on, without a pile-o-cash.
There’s absolutely nothing new or novel here, save for the fact that they spent the time and money to drill it down.
God help us all when the military and police have these.
It’s mainly electronics; so Moore’s law ought to ensure we’ll have a better functioning open source version within a few years of the military. And so will the guys the military is shooting at….
No kidding!
Bought for with our tax dollars to be used to shoot us…
This video game looks like It sucks.
The only difference between men and boys, is the price of their toys!
Well, I do like the MFR 12 it’s wearing…
oh yeah, that’s right… already have one.
Think I’ll buy a new car instead then.
Let’s see, Darpa’s version actually can tell the wind and is smaller so going to say that tracking point isn’t going to have long to win military contracts. Second as a military trained sniper, these things are about useless. If anybody thinks tagging a target who is at a distance past 200 yards and is bobbing and weaving while shooting at you , while you are popping up and down, has never been in a tic. The only thing tracking point does is get rid of the need for a dope card and range finder. It’s not going to allow shooters who don’t know how to call wind hit hard shots. It’s why you always see a trained spotter telling the inexperienced shooters there wind call. If you know the wind and range, long distance shooting becomes pretty easy with a good BC round.
Active wind tracking is the next step. Hardly technologically prohibitive….
How does it lock onto a moving target?
I was skeptical about this product until I handled it at the Dallas Safari Club convention. That experience convinced me that these are the way of the future. When they become miniaturized, reliable, cheaper, and have a longer battery life, I’ll be adding these to my hunting and long range rigs for sure.
The only way these guys will stay in business long term is on the taxpayer dollar. The private market will never support them in the long run and I personally think there are many better ways to spend my tax dollars than on this crap. The only way to truly make this thing work the way they say is to have transponders in the bullet. Too many variable that this thing cant know and take into account.
You have less than two seconds to hit and enemy running between buildings, how fast can you get to the tag button and get the sights back on him again. Unless they program it to tag anything that moves, which would cause a host of other problems.
The only useful thing is bullet drop compensation, which there are many other much cheaper options. Wind compensation is only a best guess, there is no way to know what the wind is doing 800 yards downrange. It is just the newest and coolest so everyone thinks they need it until they get it.
Aimbot!
coupla SWAT agencies will get them, get a tax break or something…
dust, smoke, rain (occasionally fog and dead batteries) will make it a paperweight, I hope it has a quick release, can’t see left side..