MILWAUKEE -- Rich Lindlau and his business partners aim to help soldiers shoot more efficiently.
The first product from their company, Range Tactics LLC, is something called the Parallax Mitigation Device or Tru-Zero Device.
It is designed to enhance the performance of shooters who use the M-68 close-combat optic/scope that is sometimes used on M-16 and M-4 rifles. The M-68 is more commonly known as a red-dot sight. A shooter aims the dot at a target and fires.
The Range Tactics Tru-Zero Device attaches to the M-68 and allows soldiers to more accurately zero in their rifles "while at the same time reducing ammunition and time expenditures by 30 percent or more," Lindlau said.
Range Tactics is part of Wisconsin's VETransfer program, a business incubator/accelerator program for Americans who have served in the military.
The Tru-Zero Device was patented in July and is being used by U.S. Army, Army Reserve and National Guard units, Lindlau said.
Range Tactics is co-owned by Lindlau, Wayne Morgan and Dan Harder. Lindlau and Morgan have spent decades in the military. Harder is a mechanical engineer and director of product development.
Range Tactics is pursuing sales to National Guard units in a number of states as well as the Infantry Training Brigade at Fort Benning, Ga., Lindlau said.
The company also is seeking to land law enforcement customers but for now is focusing on the military. A Tru-Zero Device is also available to civilians. It retails for $34.95.
"Our mission is simply to remove the obstacles that prevent marksmen from reaching their true potential," the company says on its website.
The idea for the Tru-Zero Device arose somewhat out of frustration, Lindlau said.
He and Morgan have spent large parts of their military careers as small-arms instructors.
"We taught everything from handguns to machine guns," Lindlau said.
"The big thing that really got to us was walking the range with these troops who don't get to shoot frequently," he said. "We just noticed that they were constantly having difficulties" with the M-68 close-combat optic, especially when it was being used at close range.
The M-68 is extremely accurate and functional, but somewhat like the scopes on civilian hunting rifles, it has to be sighted-in and aligned with the gun's barrel. The process generally involves shooting several rounds to determine whether the scope/optic's red dot or cross hairs are lining up properly with a target.
"It has to be properly zeroed in and that's where people have trouble," Lindlau said.
The trouble often has to do with a phenomenon known as parallax.
Parallax is best described as an optical illusion that occurs when someone uses an optic device with more than one lens, such as a rifle scope.
"Where you think you see the object isn't where it really is," Lindlau said.
"Everybody had to visually estimate that it was centered," Lindlau said. "After walking the range thousands of times and telling people, 'Center your dot, place it on the target, squeeze the trigger,' just repeating that. I said to [Morgan] one day, 'Why don't we make something that shows them where center is.' We looked at each other and we were like, 'No, it can't be that easy.'"
They drew up some plans, made the device, got a patent for it and started producing them.
"There are 700 out there now," Lindlau said.
The device is designed to instill confidence in infantry soldiers, especially those who might have had trouble with the optics.
"For us, to see somebody on the firing line, they are very apprehensive because of their past experience, and they come off really fast and they've shot better than they've ever shot, that's pretty rewarding," Lindlau said.
"That's the reason we did it," he added. "Technically, it can improve soldiers' survivability. The better they shoot, the more confidence they have in their firearm, the better off they are going to be."
Range Tactics has signed on with a large distribution company that has experience in seeking and landing military contracts.
The distributor is scheduled to pitch the Tru-Zero Device to members of the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division.
"So, we'll see how it goes," Lindlau said.
Business on 06/09/2014