UN12 - 006 Magazine

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Product Review: FAST Mounts UN0012 / UNITY TACTICAL FAST MOUNTS —

01 HEADS UP FAST Mounts allow for a heads-up shooting stance, which offers advantages such as faster reticle acquisition while wearing head-mounted gear, improved situational awareness, and a more neutral spine posture that creates less fatigue.

place at the center of the mount that won’t get snagged. For those who prefer holosights such as EOTech’s EXPS and Vortex UH-1 or red dots such as Leupold’s LCO, Unity also makes a FAST Riser that brings “lower 1/3” Picatinny-mounted optics to a higher 2.26-inch optical center. We found out that the FAST Riser will support “absolute co-witness” optics such as EOTech XPS and SIG Sauer Romeo8H as well, but compatibility with the FAST FTC Magnifier Mount will be limited. We’ll introduce that mount in a moment. As with the FAST Micro Mount, our time spent with the FAST Riser was equally satisfying. We tried the riser with an EOTech EXPS and observed that the lock-up between the optic and the riser was solid. The heads-up positioning takes a little getting used to for

“The higher, heads-up posture allows shooters to gain a quicker sight picture and better situational awareness when compared to standard-height mounts.”

mounts that flip to the side, the extra height of the FAST system allows the magnifier to be pushed down toward the weapon’s top rail and out of the way when not in use. No more snag hazard when the magnifier isn’t deployed. The FTC function is truly innovative and completely solves the problems posed by flip-to-side magnifier mounts. Use of the FTC mount is operated by what Unity Tactical calls a force-to-overcome mechanism. This means that you simply push it down when you need to stow the magnifier or pull it up when you need to use it. There are no buttons to slow you down. If you want to remove the magnifier altogether, that’s not a problem either. The magnifier mount comes outfitted with an ADM QD Auto-Lock Lever for quick detachment. The FAST FTC Aimpoint Mag

those accustomed to ducking behind the optic, but it

Defense, Midwest Industries, and Knight’s Armament

Mount is designed to take Aimpoint’s 3XMag-1 and

was overall more comfortable and caused less strain

Company. Both optic mounts are configured for direct

3X-C magnifiers and is also compatible with some

on our neck and shoulders.

hard mount to Picatinny rails. An optional quick-

other 30mm magnifiers. Unity Tactical tells us that

detach American Defense Manufacturing (ADM)

an EOTech G33 FAST FTC Magnifier Mount is in the

throw lever is available as an add-on.

works and will be available soon.

Unlike the Micro Mount, an iron sight does not come standard, but one is available as an option. As you can see in the accompanying pictures, our

The final item we looked at might be the most

The design innovations and build quality

sample FAST Riser was equipped with the Flip-Up

interesting of the collection. Unity’s FAST FTC

incorporated into the FAST Mount series are what

Offset Backup Rear Iron Sight module. The flip-

Aimpoint Mag Mount features the first-ever Flip-

we’ve come to expect from Unity Tactical. If you

up offset sight requires no buttons to operate and

To-Center (FTC) mechanism, which allows an

require the flexibility of a heads-up shooting style,

provides fast optic-to-iron sight transition if needed.

Aimpoint magnifier to be completely stowed within

dictated either by your gear setup or shooting

Just flip the sight up or down as needed. The Offset

the footprint of the weapon’s receiver while not

preference, we’ve found that the Unity Tactical FAST

Rear Iron Sight Module is compatible with offset-style

obstructing the optic’s sight picture or the shooter’s

Mount series allows you to do it, and do it very well.

front sights by companies such as Magpul, Dueck

peripheral vision. Unlike most other magnifier

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UN12 / Issue 006

: : For more on Unity Tactical: FAST Micro Mount $169 FAST FTC Aimpoint Mag Mount $198 FAST Riser $88 unitytactical.com

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built-in iron sight. The rear sight sits in an unobtrusive

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