REVIEW: BROWE BSO 4x Combat Sight

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After our extensive magnifier comparison series, we now want to compare the so-called "Combat Sights," optics with fixed magnification. We will focus initially on the 4x devices to keep it manageable. We start with the Browe BSO, tested here on SPARTANAT.

First, a few words about Browe. Brian K. Browe is a former operations manager at Trijicon. Anyone familiar with military optics knows this company: Trijicon has been around since 1981 and has set a milestone in military firearm optics with its ACOGs (Advanced Combat Optical Gunsight) and their light collection technology. More on Trijicon and ACOG will follow in the subsequent Combat Sight Reviews.

Browe broke away from Trijicon and founded his own company in 2009. With a very similar design - you can definitely see Browe's roots - Browe has revolutionized the Combat Sight once again. The competitor to Trijicon's ACOG was and is the Browe BCO - Browe Combat Optic, which we will present in the next Combat Sight Review. The difference back then was that unlike the ACOG, the device was battery-operated and underwent some other technical and mechanical changes, but more on that in the next review.

Here we now focus on the BSO. The sporty version of the BCO has a magnification of 4x32mm. It weighs 300 grams without mounting and is 13.2cm long and 6.7cm wide.

The housing is manufactured according to military specifications and is therefore extremely robust for a sports optic. It uses 6061-T6 aluminum - everything is shielded from external elements - providing the optic with a water resistance of 42m.

The adjustment turrets are reached by unscrewing the caps - the caps are secured against loss. Adjustment is done in 0.5 MOA steps.

The BSO comes with an American Defense 34mm quick-release mount, which guarantees 100% zero return and high quality.

It's nice that the mounting allows for adjustment of the optic forwards and backwards due to the ring - so the eye relief can always be optimally set.

The optic is also quite short - about 3.5cm - as with Trijicon.

For the reticle, you have the choice between a crosshair with Bullet Drop Compensator for .223 or 7.62 or a horseshoe with Dot.

Our test device had the crosshair marked with hold lines up to 600 meters, calibrated for .223.

If you're looking for a switch or button to illuminate the reticle, you won't find one. The BSO has a passive illumination, which Browe calls RIT - Rechargeable Illumination Technology.

With this, you basically charge the reticle with a light source: shining for 15 seconds with a strong light source gives you 1-2 hours of illuminated reticle. You can choose between green and blue for the color of the illumination.

When not illuminated, the BSO has a very good and bright field of view. The reticle is fine, the edges sharp - everything you would expect from an optic in this price range.

Not visible in this review: You can mount a ring on the BSO front to carry a mini RDS piggyback. The beauty of this is that the RDS is not fixed at 12 o'clock but can be rotated to any angle according to the shooter's preferences, such as 45° to the right, as often seen in offset mounts.

What makes the BSO particularly interesting is that it can be used as a magnifier. We simply mounted the device behind a Holosun 503 GU (Review here) and what do you get?

Exactly! A magnifier with Bullet Drop Compensator and 4x