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Title: New gun goes on sale that turns ANYONE into a sharpshooter able to hit a target almost one mile away
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URL Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art ... able-hit-target-mile-away.html
Published: Jan 13, 2013
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Post Date: 2013-01-13 19:33:06 by James Deffenbach
Keywords: None
Views: 233
Comments: 4
A controversial new Wi-Fi-enabled 'smart-gun' equipped with a computerized scope that enables anyone to become a master marksman goes on sale at the beginning of next week. Boasting three on-board processors and a precision guided firing system, the TrackingPoint rifle evaluates environmental factors such as wind speed and calculates the positions of moving targets with a claimed accuracy of almost a mile for novices. Compensating for human error, looking through the futuristic laser rangefinder sight resembles the view a pilot has in a jet fighter cockpit and turns conventional bolt action rifles into deadly snipers - albeit at a cost of $17,000. The $17,000 TrackingPoint system takes into account environmental factors such as wind speed and calculates the positions of moving targets when firing rounds with a claimed accuracy of 1200 yards for novices The timing of the advanced rifle has been questioned, especially coming just one month after the massacre of 20 children and six staff members by a crazed gunman at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. However, Trackingpoint noted that the available models of their new weapon which instantly make any shooter able to pick off targets up to 3,600-feet away are only for bolt action rifles and are not designed for semi-automatic weapons similar to that which Adam Lanza the Sandy Hook gunman used. Fully enveiled in the first week of January in Las Vegas at the Consumer Electronics Show, the TrackingPoint rifle boasts unique features. The laser rangefinder is used by the shooter looking through the scope to identify the target that he or she wants to hit. The Linux-powered scope produces a display that looks something like the heads-up display you'd see sitting in the cockpit of a fighter jet, showing the weapon's compass orientation, cant, and incline The high-tech sight then takes into account humidity, wind and the typical ballistic drop you'd expect from a bullet fired over such a distance. Once the target has been selected, the scope provides cross-hairs which have to be lined up with the pin that is dropped on the target. To ensure accuracy, the shooter can not even squeeze the trigger unless the cross-hairs and pin are alined. On their website TrackingPoint say they build 'Precision Guided Firearms, or 'PGFs, 'Which are a series of three heavily customized hunting rifles, ranging from a .300 Winchester Magnum with a 22-inch barrel up to a .338 Lapua Magnum with 27-inch barrel, all fitted with advanced computerized scopes. " src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/01/11/article-2260586-16DE8A5A000005DC-469_634x352.jpg" />To shoot at something, you first 'mark' it using a button near the trigger. Marking a target illuminates it with the tracking scope's built-in laser, and the target gains a red pip in the scope's display " src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/01/11/article-2260586-16DE8A3A000005DC-689_634x348.jpg" />The rifle goes on sale on Monday and its release has been called controversial because of its proximity to the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre The rifle offers an iOS app that connects to the scope via a mobile Wi-Fi network and streams the scope's display to the app, allowing someone with an iPad or iPhone to act as a spotter and for videos to be uploaded to the Internet In addition to its fool-proof targeting system, the Trackingpoint gun has the added ability to stream video to an iOS Apple device and utilise social media. This allows hunters to gain instant advice on their aim from experts using the Internet and more interestingly allows shooters to video anything they shoot on an expedition and upload it onto the web as proof. The makers of the rifle also claim that the gun is safer than a standard bolt action rifle. This is because a large number of injuries are caused by recoiling guns fired by nervous shooters with twitch fingers. TrackingPoint’s rifle increases the pull strength of the trigger until the the the target is aligned. In this way, the hunter is more likely to hit their target and accidental firings can be largely avoided. And TrackingPoint have been quick to downplay any interest from the Department of Defense in their advanced firearm. They said that its goal is to produce the technology first, and then find the market and applications once it actually had a finished product. Watch a TrackingPoint rifle demonstration Poster Comment: Title at the site had the word "Terrifying" at the beginning. I deleted that because the only thing that would terrify me about it would be the price. Love to have one.
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#2. To: James Deffenbach (#0)
17,000 seems a bit high for something that can be hacked together with a wiimote or kinetic and a linux OS. And while I love this version and the reticule I would still like to see a civilian version of the acoustic scope that paints a target on the sound of the last shot fired. Making unfortified snipers easy take downs.
#4. To: titorite (#2)
It's certainly way out of range for me. If I had more money than I knew what to do with I would have in an order for one (or two).
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Replies to Comment # 2. 17,000 seems a bit high for something that can be hacked together with a wiimote or kinetic and a linux OS.
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