8 Benefits of Weapon-Mounted Laser Rangefinders (WMLRF) For Tactical and Military Applications

1. Faster Ranging

Instead of fumbling with a handheld rangefinder, you take aim and range at the same time with a weapon-mounted rangefinder. Faster ranging increases your first-round hit potential.

2. More Accurate Ranging Due to Better Optics and Greater Stability

You don’t have to hold a rangefinder steady on the target. With a WMLRF, the rangefinder is co-witnessed (aligned) with the riflescope, so you can range by holding your scope on the target. You use the scope’s superior optics to pick out the target and range it. You see the target better, so you get a more reliable reading.

3. Scope and Rangefinder Operate as a Single Unit

Depending on your scope and rangefinder, co-witnessing the rangefinder with the scope turns the two into a unified electro-optical sensor. For example, if you use the Sig Sauer BDX platform with the Sightlok RF-1 mount, you aim at the target, press the rangefinder button, and the scope instantly displays a digital holdover dot in the reticle, so you don’t need to dial for elevation.

4. Fast View Switching Between Rangefinder and Scope

Fast view switching is a benefit unique to users of the Sightlok RF-1 mount. You can mount the rangefinder right next to the scope, so you can easily switch your view between the rangefinder and the scope, without fumbling with the rangefinder as a separate device.

5. No Bright Display That Ruins Your Night Vision or Alerts the Target

A dedicated WMLRF displays the range on an LCD or OLED screen. A handheld rangefinder in a Sightlok RF-1 mount is a more stealthy choice. Many dedicated WMLRFs, including the Vortex Impact 4000, are notorious for bright displays that light up your rifle and your face. The light can alert the target to your presence and ruin your low-light vision.

6. Integration With Ballistic Calculators

Most WMLRFs have a built-in ballistic calculator, which adds a lot to your accuracy downrange. For shooters on a budget, there are cheap WMLRFs that only range targets, such as the Laserworks LE-032. The LE-032 also benefits greatly from being stabilized and co-witnessed in a Sightlok RF-1 mount, as shown below:

7. Faster Firing Solutions

Faster ranging, combined with an onboard ballistic calculator, gives you a firing solution faster.

8. Increased First-Round Hit Potential

First-round hits are the ultimate goal: hitting the target more accurately, with the first shot fired, and faster. First-round hits are the promise of a WMLRF, and the reason so many shooters now use WMLRFs.

WMLRF Options

An increasingly popular solution to the “WMLRF problem” is mounting a handheld rangefinder to your rifle using a Sightlok RF-1 rangefinder mount.

The approach has some disadvantages. Overall, however, it’s a more flexible, modular, and cost-effective solution that, depending on the rangefinder you deploy, can actually deliver more accurate results in the field.

The finished setup looks like this:

The Sightlok RF-1 protects your rangefinder from recoil, bumps, and scratches. A polymer hood protects the rangefinder as a whole, and hard rubber covers protect the laser aperture and eyepiece.

The advantages of using a Sightlok RF-1 mount with a handheld rangefinder versus a dedicated WMLRF include:

• Quick Detach to range objects you don’t want to point your muzzle at
• Keep rangefinder warm in your pocket until needed to avoid cold weather failures
• Use superior handheld lasers with superior ballistic software
• Roughly $1000 cheaper
• Longer ranging and a better ballistic engine with premium handhelds like the Sig Sauer KILO5K, plus integration with Kestrel wind meters for real-time windage calculations
• More flexible mounting: you can mount your rangefinder on the left or top of your scope

The one downside: a Sightlok RF-1 setup typically has no remote. You press the range button with your support hand. Pressing the range button is a minor cost on a bipod or bag, but you break your hold when standing, kneeling or braced.

What About Recoil? Can’t It Damage My Rangefinder?

Handheld rangefinders are designed to survive drops of about 3 feet, and the impact from a 3-foot drop can generate several thousand psi of pressure. The RF-1 spreads recoil so evenly that no spot on your rangefinder takes more pressure than your thumb puts on the range button, a few dozen psi at most. A few dozen psi is well under 1% of the pressure your rangefinder is built to survive in a 3-foot drop. At that margin, the chance of a .308 shot damaging a healthy rangefinder in the RF-1 is effectively zero. In two years of selling the Sightlok RF-1, no customer has reported a rangefinder damaged by recoil. Read our full analysis of the recoil question and watch recoil test videos.

Here’s a documented test of the mount with the Sig Sauer KILO1000BDX rangefinder versus .308 rifle recoil:

Here’s a test of the mount with the Sig Sauer KILO1000BDX rangefinder versus 6.5 Creedmoor:

A Low-Budget Option: The Laserworks LE-032

If you don’t need a ballistic calculator, the Laserworks LE-032 is another low-budget WMLRF that works with the Sightlok RF-1. The LE-032 costs about $160, versus $1,500 for a dedicated WMLRF like the Vortex Impact 4000 or Tango Fire 4000. The mount that comes with the Laserworks LE-032 is floppy and unusable, but the rangefinder itself is functional enough when combined with a Sightlok RF-1 mount, which stabilizes it.

To learn more about the Laserworks LE-032, click here.

Or watch an independent, uncompensated review of the Sightlok RF-1 by the famous long range shooter MarkandSam AfterWork here.

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