The Secret History of Offset Sights

By John Paul

When I first went into business, it took me a long time to stop thinking only as a shooter and only about the gun in my hands. If I cracked a problem, odds are there were other shooters out there looking for that same solution, even if they didn’t realize it.

It’s probably still that mindset that’s kept us from claiming credit for a lot of the popular ideas that started with us. The 45° offset sight concept was a long time in the making. It too started with that customer and his Browning but still needed another nudge.

Fast forward a several years.

I was shooting 3-Gun at the Soldier of Fortune match in Las Vegas, NV and ran across Todd Salmon. Whenever Todd engaged close-range targets, I noticed him tilting his rifle off axis to get the scope out of the way. Whatever he was doing was paying off because he was flying through the stages.

When I asked him, he said that it was like shooting a broom stick. He happened to be using one of our first generation hand guards on his rifle. With just a coarse alignment between the muzzle and the flutes on the hand guard tube, he had no problem with making A zone hits out to 10 yards.

Thank you, Todd!

“What could we do if we had a real set of sights at 45° from the main optic?” I asked myself. We just needed to maintain the stacked relationship of the sight being on bore axis to ensure a precise zero and shot placement.

We lucked out with our original hand guard design. Originally, the signature fluted look was purely cosmetic. As it turned out, those slots were the perfect basis for a modular rail system, which could mount right at the 45s.

This completely changed the compromise between speed and accuracy for secondary sight system. We ran with the concept and developed mounting solutions for use with several sighting options. Among these were:

• Our red dot sight, the JPoint
• The Short Range Tactical Sight (SRTS)
• Rail Offset Adapters (JPROS)

Our offset adapter especially opened up possibilities for any rifle with a 12:00 rail. Backup iron like the various flip-up sights allowed shooters to take advantage of a longer sight radius to maximize accuracy.

In the years to come, the options exploded. Choice was limited only by the rules of a given match and where the shooter wanted to push the accuracy/speed/reliability compromise of his equipment.

I’ve even seen the whole concept reversed by one shooter who felt that the short-range engagement was more important for the event we shot together. He actually had the magnified optic mounted at 45° for the few long-range shots he had to make and the short-range system at 12:00.

The offset sight concept truly optimized the capability of the carbine and expanded its effectiveness. Now, it could take over the role of a pistol when necessary while still maintaining true long-range precision.