Here's A Free Rifle......

Damn, I was just in their AO the other week. Should have stopped by and plead my case on getting one to fight the terrorists our .goob are currently bringing into this country.

 

"Both rifles incorporate the company’s “RapidLok Target Acquisition.” As a warfighter pulls the trigger, the target is automatically acquired and tracked. The range is also calculated and measured for velocity. Accuracy is enhanced because all this work is accomplished by the time the trigger squeeze is completely."

Sure this isn't from the Onion? I'm skeptical that a rifle and optics can automagically turn a non-shooter into a shooter.

 

I'm a felon but I'd go paint some dot heads given the opportunity.

 

That is great, a company putting their money (rifles) where their mouth is! A good corporate example.
Perhaps the administration can to a clue about tactics & strategy. Hint: do not hold your breath awaiting anything effective from DC except destructive anti-American activities!
GB

 

Still not buying it According to this article, the operator still has to pull the trigger and all this stuff automagically happens as he does. I call BS. (FYI I spent just a wee bit of time at Quantico testing prosepective new whiz-bang small arms). Smart bullets, I get, this doesn't seem to be smart bullet tech here.

 

Have had to sit more than two hours waiting for a "go", no batteries no down time.

 

It is not BS. Remington offers a Tracking Point product for about 5 grand without the auto fire capability and without a few other features. Plus I am confident, though I can't prove it, some even fancier systems exist with the military. 4 years ago the small company I work for was asked by a contractor to the Navy to bid on an electronic system for ranging and calibration of the computers on this or maybe a more sophisticated product. There was a lot we could not be told as it was classified, but when another engineer and I started hypothesizing about how the thing all worked, the faces on the other side of the table changed to a more concerned expression (like they were worried they divulged something which they didn't) and we got the "can neither confirm nor deny" that is how the rifle system worked. Bingo. It's really not that complicated.

The auto trigger system isn't tricky. The trigger can be pulled and the gun fired at any time and it can not fire without the shooter pulling the trigger. To "autofire", the shooter has to first enter the cross wind into the scope computer, then acquire the target and put the cross hairs at the desired point of impact and hit a button (I think that can now be done via the trigger). The computer has an imaging capture and recognition system and captures the image and the impact point relative to target image. It then laser ranges automatically to the target and continues doing that multiple times per second. A very sensitive rate gyro in the scope can sense if the rifle is being slowly swung to follow the target and can consequently compute the target speed and direction. The scope measures how much the rifle is pointing uphill or down hill and even if the shooter has the gun leaning right or left. It also measures air temperature. And this info goes into the ballistic computer along with previously programmed bullet ballistic coefficients and initial velocity. This all cranks through what I think would be a fourth order differential equation and the firing solution is generated and updated at something like 10-15 times per second. The image the shooter sees in the scope is a video image and cross arrows guide the shooter how to move the gun to be on target. The trigger pull is super heavy and the shooter pulls on it halfway but not near enough to fire. When the computer sees the target is in correct position for the bullet to hit the desired impact point, the trigger pul is suddenly reduced to just a couple pounds and the shooter actually pulls the trigger by surprise and fires.

It's all real cool stuff and very straight forward engineering. Give it a couple years and there will be videos and discussion groups about people cranking out their own DIY version using a Rasberry Pi or Arduino microcontoller, hacked range finder, small camera on a scope and mini TV.

AT

 

Any battery setup can be run with a larger capacity external battery and jumpers. You could even use a solar charger to keep the battery topped off. (Just like what is currently done with game cameras and feeders.

 

Here's what I believe the fancier military systems do and those will burn thru even more batteries.

The major weakness in the Tracking Point system is the shooter's estimation of wind speed and direction. Plus, if he is shooting over a ridge or valley, he can't easily estimate the vertical component of the wind and worse, when looking at shots well beyond 800 meters, the wind can be quite different at various points along the bullet's flight path. The real high end systems I believe use a Lidar directed horizontally towards the target that assesses the laser backscatter info to compute a profile of wind spreed and direction in three dimensions along the entire trajectory. This removes the biggest variable and unknown that influences the bullet in flight. The system we were ask to bid on was a series of little weather stations every couple hundred yards that would assess wind direction in three dimensions and network that data wirelessly back to a computer by the shooter and the information we were told would be used to calibrate their shooting computers, that's it. This only makes sense if it is calibrating a Lidar and when we started mentioning shooting Lidars as we were trying to understand the system requirements, we got the "look." I have doubts the Lidar will be rifle mounted, at least with first or second generation systems as the technology isn't super small for backscatter reception, yet. But I am sure they are working on that and initially I believe a spotter will have that unit and train it in the direction of the target and the Lidar will talk to the rifle scope system wirelessly.

Now we are talking sophisticated stuff and heavy processing.

Tracking Point has advertised they are working on a super rifle that can make first shot kills at something like 2 kilos. I suspect they may need better wind info than the shooter just guessing and entering a single value in one dimension into the computation.

AT

 

Tech can't turn a non-shooter into a shooter. Tech fails...and when it does...and it will...the non-shooters who depend on it are gonna die and the shooters who use it will have to revert to the old-fashioned way. Do these things revert to standard firearm operation on demand? Iron sights, firing pin engaging primer when trigger pressed...etc? If not they are worthless to me. In a firefight, Murphy rules...and the best weapon to minimize Murphy is a KISS.

Call me a Luddite, call me Ray, call me Jay, just don't call me late for dinner.

 

When the target is moving; the weapon must move also.

This is a rough approximation of a shooting a rifle at a moving target:
Assuming a 168gr bullet with a ballistic coefficient of .4 and a muzzle velocity of 2700 FPS firing at a target moving at 4 MPH with a wind speed of 6 MPH will require an adjustment of 15.7" at 500 yards.

Either the weapon must move or the shooter must move the weapon. My question is how is that accomplished?

 

I am NOT military but I did read about this weapon more than a year ago, on a tech forum and I'm looking for the article now.
The shooter moves the rifle.
The scope is used to tag an individual, or multiple targets in order, you can take your time and take multiple attempts until you get that little aiming point EXACTLY where you want it. From that point on the computer tracks your targets. It reads the movement of the rifle it reads the movement of the target, and configures a fire solution from those movements. Other than wind, only a sudden change of direction would save you. The computer releases the trigger pressure at the critical instant that these movements will put a bullet through that moving target.
And yes, the scope is quick release for iron sights, or a different scope. (At least the one discussed was)
It is a a very expensive scope, but deadly accurate.

 

Kellory,
Thanks, I am ex-military 11B4, a former bench rest shooter and that was seriously bothering me. Therefore, if due to target speed or movements one cannot keep the scope on target; one cannot hit the target. I am familiar with the Picatinny rails ability to mount/dismount an optic and not lose its zero.

That is without doubt a major cool device. That being said, where I live is heavily forested so not much chance of making a shot past 50 yards or so.
Weapons are tools and that tool would be a better match for someone who can actually see a target at a great distance that folks in my situation. That is IF it was affordable and it's not.

Again, thanks!

 

Oh, it is a little cooler than that.....you can tag a half dozen targets in a group, and ease that rifle back and forth over the group as they dive for cover, and hit each and ever one as the rifle hits just the right spot for another bullet to fire. Those that are too slow to find cover, are just as dead as the first shot.

 

Without any doubt it is cool.
I do agree with Airtime's assessment "The major weakness in the Tracking Point system is the shooter's estimation of wind speed and direction."
With an accurate rifle that is zeroed for the range; anyone with good shooting mechanics and control can (usually) hit the target.
Add wind, near or far wind, headwind, crosswind or quartering wind and it becomes a lot more difficult. Doping the wind, is one of the most difficult skills for the shooter to master.
My guess is the shooter would compensate by aiming to the left or right of the target? However, without a doubt, that scope is an enhancement.

What would serve your needs better; that scope or the ability to engage targets at night?

 

It would not surprise me, if there were a NV version or mode by now.