This invention relates to a weapon sighting device that is not aligned with the barrel, but mounted off to one side of the weapon barrel and more particularly to a weapon sighting device for use by soldiers wearing chemical protective mask and clothing.
Soldiers armed with the M16 series rifles while wearing their chemical protective mask and clothing, must engage in a series of contortion-like manipulations in order to attempt to sight a target with the standard M16 rifle sights. Current familiarization exercises now require soldiers to be able to engage a target at 25 meters while wearing the chemical protective mask and equipment. The current practice includes cocking the head to one side, tilting the rifle, estimating the impact point of the bullet, and other difficult exercises in order to permit sighting of the rifle while wearing the bulky chemical-protective mask and clothing. Many soldiers completing these exercises are confident in the ability of their chemical-protective equipment to keep them alive, but they develop sincere concerns over their abilities to defend themselves in such an environment.
The present invention involves an offset sighting device that allows one to aim the M16 weapon in a virtually normal position and effectively engage and properly sight targets in excess of 100 meters away. This greatly increases the effective range of the M16 series rifles under chemical protective mask and gear utilization conditions.