Forward Controls Adjustable Turret Caps for Aimpoint Micro

AR/M4 AR General Discussion
1

It wasn’t long after I got my Aimpoint Micros I found myself wishing for an easier way to get to the adjustment turrets. The factory turret caps do a good job of keeping out dust and grime and the weather, but they’re tiny. For fat fingered fellows like me, they are easy to drop get lost, especially in gravel or grass or snow or the loose brass piling up at your feet. The specialized tool Aimpoint supplies with their Micros does make adjustments easier, but it doesn’t help if it gets misplaced, forgotten or lost. I wanted to be able to make adjustments without a special tool and without having to remove the cap.

About a year ago, I contacted Roger Wang and asked him if this was something he could make. I sketched out how I thought it should look and he said “Hmm… Lemme talk to our guys…”

…and they worked their magic! Roger contacted me over the weekend and said “Hey, check out the new item on our website!” I did and to my amazement, there was the turret caps I’ve been wanting! Just like I imagined them, but better. Roger calls them the “ATA”, which I think stands for “Adjustable Turret, Aimpoint”.

Here’s a photo I robbed of of the Forward Controls website. I hope Roger doesn’t mind.

I didn’t think the photo would come out so small! Here’s the link- http://www.forwardcontrolsdesign.com/ATA-Ajustable-Turret-cap-Aimpoint-Micro_p_143.html

I immediately ordered a couple of sets for myself and they were dropped in the mail today. Now, I’m waiting impatiently for them to arrive.

The ATA caps are made of two parts (three, if you count the O-ring)- a cap and a disc. To install, remove the factory cap. Then, place theATA disc on the Aimpoint turret. The disc has two pins that fit in the two holes in the top of the turret. Then, screw the ATA cap down over the disc until the cap is snug. Roger explained that if the cap is over tightened, it will compress the O-ring too much and make adjustments harder to do. (There is an O-ring at the base of the turret placed there by Aimpoint. The caps tighten against the O-ring.) Roger told me they sent an Aimpoint with a set of factory caps and the new ATA caps to be tested in a pressure chamber. He said the ATA caps held up just as well as the factory caps.

Ok, my order hasn’t arrived yet, so I have no first hand experience with the ATA caps. Yet. When I get them, I’ll put them through their paces and see what I like and what I think needs to be improved. I can’t help but be excited, though. If they work as hoped (Roger has a set he’s been testing on his own Aimpoint) making adjustments to an Aimpoint has become much easier.

One nice touch is the engraving on the disc. When using the factory cap, Aimpoint has thoughtfully provided markings to help the shooter know which way to turn to make adjustments. The factory markings are universal. They are marked “U/R” with an arrow pointing counter-clockwise so the either cap can be used to make adjustments to either elevation or windage. The discs of the Forward Control adjustable caps are marked individually. The elevation disc is marked “U” and the windage disc “R”, both with a counter-clockwise arrow.

Roger tells me Forward Controls is working on a version for other Aimpoints (such as the Aimpoint M4).

I’m excited! First, because making sight adjustments to an Aimpoint will be easier with the ATA caps. Second, because it’s based on an idea I had!

So, whattya guys think?

2

Pretty slick! I hope they sell a ton of them. I’ll be buying a few sets after the holidays.

3

I’m always happy to see the products Roger Wang rolls out. Incremental improvements really add up when looking at a rifle as a sum of its parts. Great job being part of this!

4

Thanks guys :slight_smile:

ATA (Adjustable Turret cap, Aimpoint Micros) was in development for a year, mostly because the requirements we place on the ATA, and the components’ diminutive nature which requires high level of precision and tight tolerance, all of which takes time to design, test, and verify.

I understand the idea of windage and elevation adjustments for the Micro series sights. By incorporating the tool into the caps, one doesn’t need to carry or need another tool to make adjustments. It’s pretty smart, until actual people started using the sights, and forgetting and losing them. If you lose the caps, there’s no easy way to adjust anything, since it’s two indentations as found on security screws, a screw driver can’t be used. And folks lose them a lot.

ATA is as simple a solution as we can contrive, given we can’t change the sight itself, ATA does precisely what we designed it to do: enable users to make adjustments without having to remove the caps and flip it 180 degrees, mate the two pin like protrusions with the two indentations of the adjustment.

As adjustments aren’t always made in a single try, the user leaves the cap aside while continuing to make changes, the caps are easy to forget and lose. These caps are tiny to begin with, and their black color doesn’t help. I wonder how many replacement caps Aimpoint sells a year.

ATA’s caps and discs are machined from bar stock 17-4 stainless steel. The serrations correspond to the number of 16 tick marks on the inside of the T1 caps. The precision and tight tolerance with with ATA is made, along with the internal O ring, allow the sight to retain the same water immersion depths as the factory caps.

Each ATA is shipped with the O rings installed in the caps, and two extra lubricated O rings. It is important to keep the internal O rings lubricated.

We’re happy with the results so far. Future development includes Comp M5 and M4.

5

I just don’t see the need. How often do you really need to dial in your RDS? Maybe once?? Looks like a solution looking for a problem to me.

6

Appears a well executed design.

7

Just ordered a set, plus his new MLOK QD sling adapter. Roger/FCD makes some of the best designed AR components out there. Plus you can’t go wrong with the FCD swag.

8

Haha I sent you something that’s not for sale, only given away, there’s now another swag I’m going to throw in :slight_smile:

A pair of plastic Aimpoint T1 caps is $24. A pair of billet machined 17-4 stainless steel caps and discs is $45, but it will be the last pair of caps you’d buy. Caps that don’t get removed don’t get lost :slight_smile:

There are some that lose their caps often enough, but we’re looking at a single aspect of the ATA. The ability to make adjustments quickly with a coin, or rim of a cartridge (as there’s now no need to remove the cap, flip it over, and mate it to the actual adjustment) is a larger part of the package.

9

This right here, plus innovation, is how and why you continue to get my business!!! Thanks Roger!

10

Pretty cool like everything you do. Will an IO cover still fit?

11

Yep should work. ATA being slightly taller to accommodate the rotating element, the ATA will be taller than the IO cover’s protective fence. But ATA is made of 17-4 SS, it doesn’t need a soft cover’s fence :slight_smile:

12

Roger, you’re a dang genius.

Again.

13

I love it, as I think this would be ideal for 300 blk. Right now I run a aero lightweight mount and leupold vx-r patrol on my SBR as it is the lightest setup where I can dial a different poi for super and sub, suppressed and not. This would allow me to easily dial my T1 for different configurations, without resorting to an optic that is more oriented toward longer range shooting.

It also could more easily facilitate moving an aimpoint between different rifles or uppers by tracking and recording zero variances.

I’ll be ordering some…

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

14

These are gonna be cool!

15

Thank you guys :slight_smile:

Credit for the idea goes to MistWolf, he had approached us with the concept, and we developed it. ATA is a simple solution, it isn’t perfect, but short of redesigning the sight, ATA does what it’s designed to do. ATA consists of 3 parts, a cap and a disc, and an O ring. The internal O ring is lubricated with silicon based lubricant, and will need to be reapplied when the cap starts to rotate with the disc too often.

In a pinch, petroleum jelly can be used for the job.

It was rather interesting to see the water immersion results from the lab. Neither the factory caps nor the ATA had managed to completely keep out minute amount of moisture, but with both caps and in all tested depths, both were able to shield the adjustment mechanism from the water pressure, which if left unchecked, would have forced water into the sight itself.

Early on we had inquired if the caps needed to be on at all (rhetorical question in retrospect, why provide a cap and an O ring below the cap otherwise), Aimpoint had explained that while still water resistant, the sights need the caps to go to the listed depths.

We also looked at different rotating elements, and decided that simple is best. Potential options for the rotating element included a finger adjustable turret, a different slot for the rim of the cartridge, but neither proved practical, or necessary, respectively. The cap’s diminutive size would have made a finger adjustable turret equally small and thus difficult to grasp and turn, not to mention it would increase ATA’s installed height. It was also decided it wasn’t necessary to raise the disc above the top of the cap, as it didn’t help make anything better or easier, but only increased the installed height. A concave slot would be subject to the curve of the rim of various cartridges, where one would work great but another caliber’s cartridge rim wouldn’t. So a simple slot was used instead that’s not biased towards any caliber.

The 16 serrations which correspond to the 16 tick marks may not be something folks use, but we had the opportunity to give the serrations a function that’s provided with the factory cap, and it doesn’t cost more to incorporate it, so why not :slight_smile: Once zeroed, the user can mark the zero with a paint pen, the serrations do function better than the factory caps, since the cap and its serrations/tick markings remain stationary while you turn the disc, whereas with the factory cap, both the cap and tick marks rotate as you turn it.

For a small part, there was a lot of thought that went into it. For users that don’t forget to screw the factory caps back on, don’t mind the clumsy way adjustment is performed, and rarely, if ever, make adjustments again, ATA is not necessary. Machined from 17-4 stainless steel bar stock, small parts are not easy to make, especially given the disc must rotate smoothly, and the tight tolerance required to perform as well as an enclosed factory cap in water immersion tests.

We could have laser engraved the markings on the discs, but we chose to use the more expensive machine engraving. We could have used a lesser material, but we used 17-4 stainless steel. FCD lavishes on material, coating and construction when they make a functional difference, it isn’t a ploy so we can command a higher cost, nor is it a catchy fashion material to invoke customers’ imagination, ATA is designed for work, not for show.

For the user that has lost a cap or two, and finds the process tedious and unintuitive, ATA is a superbly made replacement caps that do more than replacing the factory caps.

16

Looks like a great idea, but is there any concern about the possibility of bumping the caps now and changing the optic’s zero?

17

Little, if any. The outer cap, once snugged in place, is stationary. The disc, which is used to make the adjustments, fits flush with the top of the cap and needs a tool like a screwdriver, coin or case rim, to turn.

18

Fantastic. Brilliant solution. I would think Aimpoint would be interested.

19

Once the cap is installed and snug, it’d be fairly difficult to rotate it without using an opposing thumb and a finger. The bottom of the cap should be making contact and applying pressure (thus creating a seal), and there’s some forgiveness there, as you can install the cap where the cap just makes contact and applies pressure on the O ring and stop, or continue to rotate the cap by another 90 degrees, more like 180 degrees, before the cap can’t be rotated anymore. When the cap is on it that tight, it’s compressing both of the O rings a great deal, and it is almost impossible to rotate the disc now without also rotating the cap.

There are circumstances under which the cap can rotate:

  1. When the cap is too tight
  2. When the internal O ring requires lubrication

ATA ships with the internal O ring already installed and lubricated (a time consuming process itself), and will remain lubricated under normal use, as it isn’t exposed to direct sun light and open to the world. O rings are consumables, so we provide an extra set of lubricated O rings in each ATA package, ATA owner is responsible for lubricating the internal O ring from time to time, especially if and when the cap starts to rotate with the disc.

20

That is exactly what I was thinking. I have a 300 BLK, and this will be perfect for elevation changes when switching from subs to supers. Run the elevation knob and go.

I also have a couple of shotguns with Aimpoints. Every zero for one slug, and then switch to a different one? And a 25-yard zero is almost always going to be different than slugs. If I had a shotty that I was using for deer hunting (which is officially a thing in the eastern states) I’d love to be able to easily dial in changes in a blind.

People spend a lot more than 45 bucks on things that have much less utility, in my very humble opinion.