I’m a tad jealous of Aaron Cowan here. I’ve been trying to get a DVO out of Sig for a couple of months, most notably because I’d like it in hand for when the new Army quals start rolling through this year I want to give my spiel.
As we’ve reported, and you may already know, there are 3 variants of the Tango6T the Army has adopted into service. The DMR 1-6 for the M110A1’s, the S-VPS that SOCOM adopted, and the “Big Army’s” DVO which is the largest volume contract.
However the DVO is still technically in prototype. Aaron here in the video is shooting the most probable variant that will become the DVO, but the Army could still pull an Army and request an alteration. Stranger things have happened. But Aaron has the most up-to-date prototype it looks like and the first look I have seen at the reticle.
According to my Sig contact the prototype to production sign off is all about the reticle, which makes sense. It is also something the Army needs to get done, which is a surefire sign that it will at some point, in the future, at a to be determined but hardly speculated on date, be done.
The Army has been looking at continuing with a BDC for the DVO. A drop compensator specifically tuned for M855A1. However the Marines recently went a different direction with their SDO, and picked a universal Milliradian reticle. The Army may be considering something along those lines too, in order to keep the scopes relevant longer term if further changes come in ammunition and if the optics are retained for use in the NGSW platform rifles or any other equipment change.
BDC’s are excellent tools, but they are locked into one specific information set (one round through one rifle) because they are based off of specific ammunition data. Everything else is simply a close or far fit to one degree or another. So at that point, why not pick a Mil/Mil or MOA/MOA reticle? Those can fit too, but for any system with any ammunition and any velocities. All you need is a quick and dirty data card for the ammo and weapon combination and boom, new “BDC”. The trade off is it won’t be round number likes 100, 300, or 600m.
The crux of it, of course, is training.
Which system will be easier for the soldier to pick up, train on, and understand the quickest. Conventional wisdom seems to lean toward the BDC, but looking at how rapidly equipment has changed in the last two decades, and the fact that troops are failing to understand the BDC system due to under training as it is, a Milliradian reticle like that the Marines chose may have merit.
However, whichever reticle is ultimately chosen the 1-6 will give a substantive upgrade in the flexibility offered on the M4 from fixed power optics like the ACOG. They may institute a hybrid reticle that uses both a fixed scale like MOA or Milliradian and a basic BDC for M855A1 out of the M4.
I am looking forward to the final product and am happy we finally got a look at the proposed 3rd system. My favorite is still the S-VPS though, and that honestly surprised me. That review is coming soon.
