This is a first look at the SilencerCo Radius Range Finder. We will update this thread after using it for a while.

Last year, SilencerCo Weapons Research announced a new laser rangefinder.

The goal was to create a "rail mounted rangefinder capable of ranging out to a mile on a reflective target and attaching to a Picatinny rail in any orientation."

They opened up a pre-order period, and of course we got on the waiting list. After a few small delays, the product finally shipped earlier this month.



We haven't had much of an opportunity to use it in the field, particularly for our intended use which is at night. There are no range finders commercially available that can be used with nv gear. Looking through traditional (monocular) range finders means you have to get one that has an LED display, as LCD cannot be read at night, you have to use the laser to get it on target, range, and then quickly look through the viewfinder to read the range before it erases. We've been looking for a rangefinder with an external display, and the Radius comes in under the $1000 price. Dimming the display with some sort of ND filter should not be too difficult since it does not come with a built in NV mode.

We have played around with it during the day, and initial thoughts are:
1) This thing is pretty heavy. It is definitely well made, and tough. All aluminum, no cheap plastic used here, but nearly 2lbs!
2) Adjustment is very easy via two large dials for windage and elevation (so you can zero with your sight)
3) Strong mount which we expect to be able to hold repeatable zero




In order to be able to mount this in any orientation, the rear display can be rotated to 0, 90, 180, and 270 degree positions. This means that whether you mount it on top of your optics, or ion a side rail on an AR, you can orient the display to be right side up.



Manufacturer claims continuous ranging for 12 hours with (2) CR123 batteries, and resistance to even extreme elements.

It comes with a visible laser which can be used to easily zero with your primary sight. It also has a scan mode where it is constantly ranging targets.

Which brings me to the item I like least on it, and that is the battery cover. It is simply a piece of rubber that is pressed over the battery compartment to stay on. It is a tight pressure fit, so no question that it's water resistant, but it is difficult to align it perfectly and get it on quickly, a task I expect to be much more difficult in the dark if needed.



One thing is that this thing is FAST! Readings are instant and so far we haven't had any problems getting a range on any targets.

It comes with a remote tape switch that can be used for ranging or to switch modes.

Their video




More information: http://beyondhuman.com/radius/

To be able to use it at night (with nv gear)? Not sure if that's what you're asking....
A "day" display will be too bright for NV as well as generate visible light. The latter is not as big a deal for pigs, but if they were capable of shooting back I wouldn't want to generate any visible light to give my position away. Since they don't typically have nv gear it's not that big a deal to run an open display with very dim or IR only "night vision" setting, that way it's not too bright on our side, and it has no visible signature.

Just came back from a couple of days with the Radius in the field...

Day one was spend getting familiar with it and engaging reflective targets from 400 to about 1400 yds.

The second day was spent prairie dog hunting at ranges from ~150-500yds. This is a true test of the unit as we needed to range over relatively flat ground, dealing with grasses in the way, and with no hard or reflective targets to focus on.

Because prairie dogs are relatively small to begin with, precise alignment of the unit is essential to get consistent and accurate results (more on this later).

Location

We flew out to the NRA's Whittington Center in northern New Mexico to put the Radius through its paces.

For those that have not been there, the Whittington Center is in the town of Raton, NM and is billed as the largest and most comprehensive shooting facility in the United States.

With 33,000 acres overall, there are ranges for various distances, including a 1000yd range, silhouette ranges, trap and skeet ranges, archery, a pro shop, museum, cafeteria, and lodging both for campers as well as cabins. The center offers firearms training, hosts shooting events, and provides guided hunts, as well as non-shooting sports such as mountain biking and horseback riding.

The range we were on was a minimally improved to be able to shoot steel targets set into the cliffs from makeshift positions at unknown distances.

in the photo here, you can see the hillsides in the distance that presented steel targets from ~800-1400+ yds.



Platform

The radius being a rail-mounted range finder is part of an overall shooting "system" that includes the range finder, the rifle, the ammunition, and the scope.

Rifle
We were shooting a Ruger Precision Rifle chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor.



This is a short-action removable magazine 24" barreled bolt gun in a very AR-like chassis.

It has a folding hinge that is attached to an AR-style buffer tube so it can accept any AR-style stock. It also features an AR-style grip and selector, and takes Magpul 7.62 PMags. The keymod free-float hand guard makes adding rail sections and mounting accessories like the radius very easy.

The rifle is also available in a 20" .308 version, as well as a 26" .243. We chose the 6.5 Creedmoor for a number of reasons, including its ability to be suppressed, ability to cut through the wind, and the fact that it is a very soft-shooting round.

Suppressor
We had the chance to shoot both the SilencerCo Omega 30 and the Hybrid side by side on the Ruger.



While not significantly different, the Omega is a bit quieter and lighter than the Hybrid. Both made the gun comfortable to shoot without hearing protection, and it was possible for shooters to talk to each other while the rifles were firing.

Not sure how suppressors are not mandatory anywhere firearms are being used recreationally...

Scope
Sitting atop the Ruger was a Vortex Razor HD Gen II. This is a 4.5-27x56 34 mm single-piece aircraft-grade aluminum tube and L-Tec turret system with MRAD FFP reticle.



It allowed for precise adjustment of windage and elevation, as well as for quick holdovers once targets were ranged. This came especially handy when moving quickly between targets such as the prairie dogs on the following day, as well as some of the quick shooting exercises we did to range and engage multiple targets at varying distances as quickly as possible.

Ammo
The ammo selected for testing was the new Hornady 6.5 Creedmoor 143gr ELD-X Precision Hunter.

The ELD-X stands for Extremely Low Drag - eXpanding. These bullets are designed to work at conventional (0-400yd) as well as extended (400+) ranges.

It proved to deliver match accuracy with a "hunting" bullet. It also features 'Heat Shield' tips; Hornady engineers noticed that traditional polymer tips were deforming in flight, and affecting the BC of the bullet in flight, so a new polymer tip was developed to eliminate that problem.

The ELD-X bullets are state of the art hunting bullets, and our experience proved they were certainly accurate at long range.

Radius
The radius was mounted to the rifle in a couple of different locations. Each of these requires the unit to be zeroed. This is a critical step especially when trying to range small targets as we did on the second day...


Zeroing the Radius

The radius can be mounted in any orientation. We used them side mounted and on top of the scope (with a separate mount that added a picatinny rail on top of the scope).

The idea is to align the scope and the range finder, and we do this with the visible laser (which is slaved to the IR laser). Since the laser and the line of sight of the scope are straight lines, as long as both of these are aligned, the laser and the reticle (without any offset after zeroing) in the scope will be looking at the same spot. The bullet's path will be a parabola that will intersect the line of sight at 2 points, but the image you're looking at and the laser will always be straight and parallel.

This assumes you have no windage or elevation dialed into the scope (after zeroing laser to scope). So if you do dial adjustments into the scope, you need to reset to zero in order to range accurately.
It is also parallel but offset from the scope. So depending on your mounting position, the laser could be just over the reticle with a top mount, or it could be offset low and left with our side mount.

In order to account for this, the zero target has an aiming point with the same offset.

So for example, if your radius is sitting 2.5" low and 2.5" left of the center of your scope, you'd want your laser to hit the target 2.5" low and 2.5" left of the aiming point. The target below is set up for this scenario:



Note because we zeroed in bright sunlight, the reflective tape is there to be able to see the laser. The reflective dot is positioned at the correct offset, in this case low and left.

No matter what distance you zero at, you will be parallel at all ranges, so distance is not critical. It is much easier to start off close if your laser is way off though, as it will be easier to find the starting point. You could start close and then move further away to fine tune your alignment.

(more details on zeroing available here)

All of this is easier in low light, as you will be able to see the laser all the time vs only when it hits the reflective tape.

With the target set up, all you need to do is aim the reticle at the center point, and adjust the radius windage and elevation to align the visible laser with the offset aiming point.



These windage and elevation knobs obviously change roles from a top mount to a side mount...

Now that we're zeroed, wherever your scope is looking is where the radius will range. So aim your reticle at the target, and it will range the correct target (technically it will range a spot 2.5" low and left so keep that in mind on small targets).

Modes

The radius can be used with a remote switch, so when you find your target, you touch the switch and it will display the range.

This switch is placed within reach of your trigger finger (i.e. right outside the trigger guard one side of the receiver) so it requires very little effort to range as you get ready to fire.

The other way it can be done is by using constant ranging, where it will always be reading the distance to the target. This way any time you are on target, the range will be displayed. This is more battery intensive, so use when you see fit.

We ran the scope 2 days in various modes on one set of batteries and never needed to change them.

We did end up bending the remote switch connector by resting the rifle on various improvised rests when the radius was side mounted. This means al the weight of the rifle was likely resting on the cable connector. If this connector could be relocated in the future to somewhere where it would be more protected, or even facing straight back, it would eliminate this problem.

Below is the complete setup:


That target by the way is from Mason Target Systems.
(if anyone is interested in purchasing, they're offering $500 off using coupon code : SiCoNM2016)

It allows you to see your hits from up to a mile away using a phone or iPad. It came in very handy to check hits when we were shooting it from 600-800yds away.

On our first day we shot at the Whittington Center Range shown above at steel on the hills. We shot a series of targets at various ranges as fast as we could to show how quick and easy it is to range, adjust and fire at any distance with the radius. It never failed to get a good reading, but this is the ideal environment for the rangefinder. All surfaces are hard, reflective, and more or less on the same plane as the target for a large area around it.

On our second day, the terrain was completely different. Everything then was totally flat, and we were shooting from a low angle meaning grass, twigs, and any other obstacles were in the way. In this situation, the top mounted rangefinder position seemed to provide a more reliable option: as long as the scope had a clear view, the rangefinder did as well.


Also, prairie dogs present a relatively small target at 500 yes for the range finder, especially with the offset rangefinder. In this scenario you'd have to offset your sight picture accordingly, or try to range on a larger target such as the mound if they were near one, a rock, or something near your target. This represents the most difficult environment for a rangefinder to work, and as a result we had about a 50% success rate (it doesn't help we were shooting into the sun either).



In this environment, we ended up establishing certain "zones" with the radius by ranging static objects in that area, and tried getting up as high as we could.



Conclusion

Overall, the radius performed well for it's intended purpose, which is to be able to engage targets quickly with a weapon-mounted range finder. Being able to quickly get accurate distance in long shot environments where the topography can confuse estimates can mean the difference between a complete miss and a hit.

Different environments present different obstacles, and the radius will work better in some scenarios than others, as described above. There are ways around each of those.

I'll certainly put a radius on my precision rifle, as its ease of use combined with quick range finding makes it an invaluable tool, particularly if you're not part of a 2-man team where someone else is ranging for you.

Also, low-light hunting is another case where range estimation is very prone to error, and where the radius would excel. Can't wait to get it out in that environment next.

In this case, the entire system (rifle, suppressor, range finder, scope, and ammo) worked great together over the couple of days and probably ~1,500 rounds fired. I was impressed by the Ruger Precision Rifle (especially for the money), the Vortex, and the Hornady ammo. As for the Radius and the Omega, I was already a SilencerCo customer for both, and glad to see both products come out on top.

Thanks to SilencerCo, Ruger, Vortex, Hornady, Tri-State Outfitters, the TO Ranch, and Chuck who fed us home cooked meals at the end of each day.

No details on the cans as they were on and the rifles zeroed when I got there, but I can certainly find out.
SilencerCo did have this video of the Radius being used at night, but it's more of a promo http://beyondhuman.com/hoghunt/

I also happened to get what looks like a couple of lens caps for the Radius this afternoon... I know someone was asking about those.
With no retention though, these look like they would be easily lost.

A simple 1 piece rubber cap would cover all three, provide some protection, and be large enough to not lose as easily.


All you need to do is create a generic protocol to allow rangefinders and optics to communicate with each other over bluetooth, so you're no limited to one scope and one rangefinder. Otherwise, you need two companies to work closely together to develop a system, or you need one company that has experience in both optics and rangefinders to come up with it. Regardless, I'm sure it's not too far in the future.

I would imagine a next step would be to provide ballistics calculations in the range finder, or if they added a wireless transmitter, it could communicate with a phone-type app to do that for you.

All of those enhancements would be expensive, require more power, are useless without batteries, and are probably slower than a simple dope sheet in your scope cover. Look at the new Vortex Defender eyepiece cover, less than $20.

There are certainly "better" rangefinders out there, and they typically cost a lot more, but there are tradeoffs.

The concept with the radius is that you can quickly and easily range a target while looking through your scope. A quick glance at the radius display shows you distance without ever coming off the rifle.

A stand alone range finder would require you to come off the gun, find target, range, get back on the gun and find your target again. Of course if you have someone else ranging for you, that's a different story, but
even when working in teams, it was beneficial for both shooters to stay on the gun and range. If one missed, a followup shot was ready as both rifles were already on target while ranging and both shooters could check each other.

Another (huge) advantage is the ability to use at night, when range estimation is especially hard. A thermal or I^2 weapon mounted sight could be sighted with the radius, so what you aim at is what you range.

Otherwise:
Using a hand held rangefinder at night to try to range a target is first limited to LED display (vs LCD which you can't see at night).

If you have head mounted NV, you can try to range by putting the IR dot on the target and ranging from the hip. This requires you to then try to look through the unit to see the display with the NV, or flip them up to read the range with the naked eye before it goes away.

Then, if you're you're shooting with the head mounted NV and an IR laser, you're good to go. But if you have a NV weapon-mounted sight, you have to flip up your head-mounted unit and come back to the gun and find your target again in that sight.

If using only thermal, then you have to try to find the target in the hand held rangefinder with no image enhancement (which means you can't see anything).

So, more so at night than in the day, using the radius is a LOT easier than a hand-held rangefinder as it lets you use your sight to aim the rangefinder and get a range without coming off the gun. I have not found a better solution.


Have not seen but curious what they said.

They sent me a hard drive full of images and video and it was DOA... waiting on a replacement.

I thought I discussed up above, but the advantage was on top because it was able to see over low obstacles (grass) when we were shooting prairie dogs in NM. Minor difference in mounting height, but it made a difference where we were shooting.

Side mount obviously is a lower profile, especially if you're mounting on top of a scope, and it's easier to see and reach controls.
That seems to be the tradeoff.