By Dickson Ly

As a photographer, I’m naturally interested to follow the latest development of cameras and camera lenses. With glass, the saying “you get what you pay for” truly applies. Similarly, I also want quality optics for my rifles. Optics, like camera lenses, are an investment and should be treated as such. It’s arguable that one should spend the same amount if not more on an optic over the cost of the rifle itself. After all, you cannot hit what you cannot see.

Tangent Theta is a brand that is relatively unknown in the market for rifle optics. They are located in Halifax, Nova Scotia in the Canadian Maritimes. They produce military-grade precision rifle scopes for use in extreme environments. They currently produce three different models: the TT315M, 5-15x50mm scope with 30mm tube; TT315P, 3-15x50mm scope with 34mm tube; and the fan favorite TT525P, 5-25x56mm scope with 34mm tube.

During an industry event a few months ago, I ran into Trevor Publicover who is the Vice President of Sales at Armament Technology Inc. Armament is the master distributor for ELCAN (Ernst Leitz Canada) and Tangent Theta scopes worldwide. I’ve known Trevor over the years meeting him at the Armament booth at SHOT Show, and he was kind enough to invite me to visit Tangent Theta for a factory tour.

I have visited Aimpoint and Meprolight previously, and I was very interested to visit a telescope manufacturer, as almost all scope manufacturers refuse to disclose how their scopes are made because some of the brands do not even produce their own scopes. Due to the lack of industry standard of quality measurements and information, it is one of the most confusing and misinformed product categories in the industry. Not to mention, everyone’s eyes are different so when it comes to image clarity, contrast and resolution, etc., I wanted to see with my own eyes and make my own judgment if their scope is worth the money.

Armament Technology Inc.

Andrew Webber is an entrepreneur, the founder of Armament Technology Inc. and President of Tangent Theta. In order to talk about Tangent Theta we have to dive a bit into how he got started in the firearms industry.

Mr. Webber founded Armament Technology in 1988, building custom precision rifles based on the Remington Model 700 footprint. The idea started when he purchased his first precision rifle, the Steyr SSG 69 PII in .308Win for $1400 CAD, but to his surprise, he had to rework the trigger group on his first trip to the range. Instead of feeling angry and frustrated, he thought he could build a better rifle by building one himself using carefully selected, quality components such as custom barrels from Mike Rock, bedding the stock, polishing the receiver and trigger components and hand fitting them together. He did that for a few years and managed to sell them to local police departments in Halifax as well as to Boston and Winnipeg and other police units. Overtime the competition caught on, and custom rifles had quickly become a commodity. He got out of the custom rifle business and instead focused on optics as that would be an ever increasing importance in the world of shooting.

Mr. Webber is a six-time Canadian national champion for precision rifles but also an avid competitor at service rifles matches. At the time, the Canadian Armed Forces were issued with a C79 optical sight with 3.4x magnification featuring tritium illumination produced by ELCAN. At the small arms rifle championship competition that took place in Connaught Range in Ottawa, it was noticed that ATI-modified C79 sights did not exhibit the same problems inherent with the DND issued sights. This caught the attention of a colonel, who approached Mr. Webber and asked what made his sights better than the others. Mr. Webber told the colonel his company had corrected a number of deficiencies in the mounting and zeroing systems of the C79s that would enhance accuracy and lifecycle durability. Following that conversation was a meeting with an Army General, and the lists of improvements Mr. Webber had done was used as the basis of the specification of the C79A2; subsequently, he won himself the contract to refurbish or replace all 65,000 C79 sights for the Canadian military. The refurbishment program continued on for over a decade, and it recently ended in 2017.

All current ELCAN rifle optics for the Canadian and commercial markets are produced in Midland, Ontario, but they all get delivered to Armament for final integration and inspection before reaching both military and commercial customers. The technician aligns the threaded front objective with the KILLFLASH® unit that is included with each SpecterDR due to its unique prism design. He also applies sealant in all the exposed screws so the end-user can’t unscrew them and cause damage to the optic.

Premier Reticles—Tangent Theta is Born

Premier Reticles was a reputable optics manufacturer that won the contract to produce tactical long-range scopes for U.S. Maine Corps snipers. Armament Technology was the distributor for Premier, and due to various internal and external events, the company went under. Armament Technology was the North American distributor for Premier at the time, and Mr. Webber purchased all of Premier’s assets including its inventory and equipment. Armament had the expertise to service Premier scopes as they were also the warranty center. Upon Premier’s demise, Andrew Webber left ATI to assemble a team to run warranty services on Premier scopes and subsequently design a replacement for the line, thus Tangent Theta was born.

Keep in mind even though Tangent Theta scopes resemble Premier scopes from afar, internally they have been completely redesigned and reengineered so parts are not interchangeable between the two brands.

$4600 Price Tag

The TT525P with 5-25x magnification is the most popular model in Tangent Theta’s small lineup; it outsells the other3-15×50 models 8 to 1.

It is available for $4600 USD which will put off a lot of potential customers for being too expensive. Speaking to Mr. Webber, however, the main goal for Tangent Theta is to build the best military precision scope in the market. This is unusual since almost all scopes in the market are built to a price point to compete with comparable products form other manufacturers. This is certainly not the case here. They essentially built the most durable scope by using the best glass and strongest components and put the price tag on it after. This is akin to the old days with Mercedes Benz where the company first built the best car it possibly could and then put a sale price on it; the company was not run by bean counter accountants.

Breaking Records

Rumor has it that military snipers have succeeded in going beyond the current longest recorded sniper kills, which was at 3540m (3871 yards). When the end-user is pushing for extreme long distance, he needs to have the best scope on his rifle.

The turrets feature patent-pending, TOOL-LESS RE-ZERO® with a build-in zero stop feature. To reset the turret, the user simply has to unscrew the cap, lift the turret up and set it down to its zero, hand-tighten cap and viola. It offers 5-6 clicks up on the elevation turret before hitting the zero stop. It’s so simple one would think why hasn’t any other scope manufacturer come up with this design. The answer is simple–cost.

Each scope contains a total of 270 individual parts, and each one is hand-assembled. When Tangent began to take orders, the demand was so high that they had a year and a half of back orders to process. This was a tough period for the company as they had to build the scope on a timely manner without sacrificing quality. The first delivery of scopes took place in second quarter of 2014. Due to this, the company did very little marketing in the beginning, but they have always had a booth at SHOT Show. Tangent’s scope has sparked interests from various European scope manufacturers—some had gone to Tangent’s booth to check them out, and one manufacturer even gave honest compliments for the scope’s excellence.

Factory Tour

The tour started in the receiving area where the components such as the lenses, main housing, erector tube and turrets are received from suppliers. The components are carefully checked for tolerances and get rejected if they don’t meet their standard.

One of the questions that gets asked a lot is where do they source their glass? The answer is they source the highest quality glass from both Europe and Asia. In today’s globalized environment, it does not matter where the components are from as long as they are quality-made. The country of manufacture is not nearly as critical as it once was decades ago.

Right next to the receiving area, there’s a small machine shop where certain small components are made and where some critical components are match fit down to microns.

Located upstairs is a Class 100 clean room. Class 100 signifies that the room maintains less than 100 particles larger than 0.5 microns in each cubic foot of air space. Like any clean room, it has positive air pressure to keep dusts and contaminations out. Before entering I had to put my foot on the sticky mat located inside and outside the room to get rid of any contamination on my shoes. Here is where the technicians, mostly females dressed in gowns and wearing white gloves and hair nets, carefully assemble the erector assembly, turrets and lenses into the main housing. The room does not have a ceiling light but instead is lit by spotlights on each workstation in order to help the technicians inspect and remove any dust and particles on critical components such as the lens before assembly. Naturally this task requires a lot of patience and care, and each technician is well-trained before he/she can take on this important task.

Shocking Tests

Once the scope is assembled, it goes through a stringent set of tests that includes tracking test, shock test, leak test and extreme temperature test. Of them all, the shock test is, well, quite shocking. Enclosed in a small room there are 2 shock test machines that run on a loop to hit the mounted scope against a hard surface from a controlled free fall repeatedly. Each scope will experience 1000 G of gravitational force 1000 times. I was told during the scope’s early development, they found white powder on the bottom of the machine. They quickly realized the powder was in fact glass that was completely shattered. A redesign promptly followed.

For the leak test, the scope gets pressurized in a depth equivalent to 10 meters. It’s important to note that they change the pressure at a rapid rate, to make the test more difficult and to simulate real life scenarios.

The temperature test is equally impressive—each test scope gets tested down to -45 degrees Celcius (-49 degrees Fahrenheit). Who would use their rifle at -45C you ask? Actually, Special Forces will take their rifle to environments that will require their scope to function in those conditions.

The scope is checked to ensure the reticle is perfectly level. They use an industrial-size bubble leveler that’s extremely accurate down to the hundredths of a millimeter.

Additionally, the turret design has been tested to 30,000 revolutions, which equals to 4.5 million clicks in Mrad and 6 million clicks in MOA. And if the customer ever wore out his turret from frequent use, Tangent Theta will gladly replace it under warranty.

Regarding warranty, Tangent Theta does have a customer support phone number and email; however, they do not have a separate warranty and repair department. The technicians who assembled your scope will be the same people who service your scope if there ever is a problem. This speaks volumes on the extreme low rate of defects but also how often customers have to send back their scope for service. This is in extreme contrast to a particular scope manufacturer that offers a VIP warranty, and in order to guarantee their 3-day turnaround time, the company has to overstaff their warranty department.

Once the scope passes all the tests, it will go downstairs in the packing and shipping department, where a technician will do a final inspection on the scope before it leaves the factory.

Future Prospects

Tangent Theta is currently working on the new Gen3 XR reticle in both MOA and Mrad. It will be based on their current Gen2 XR reticle but features more information on the Christmas tree for quicker windage and elevation calculations without the user’s need to touch the turret. It will also feature a floating dot in the center for less obstruction towards the target. It is estimated to be available in the beginning of 2019.

Next in the pipeline is the Horus H59 reticle in Mrad for which they have recently signed a license agreement to use their popular reticle. This is expected to be available sometime mid-late 2019.

There’s also a plan to introduce a 3-15×50 scope that is designed mainly for hunting that features lower profile, capped turrets.

Future planning includes a discussion of introducing a new model specifically for F-Class competitions. This is speculated to be in the 50x magnification range, but the company will not comment further as this is something further along in its product roadmap.

Tangent Theta may not have a long history, but it is definitely here to stay. It’s a company that does not aim to gain short-term profits but to build their market share at a steady pace. They would rather sell you a scope that will last many lifetimes like any quality mechanical device like a bolt action rifle or a watch. For more information visit tangenttheta.com.

By Dickson Ly

When one purchases a new rifle scope, most of the time it comes packaged with a set of loose, cheap bikini-type covers that most owners would simply leave in the box. When one acquires a high-end rifle scope from reputable brands such as Schmidt & Bender and Nightforce, they include a set of quality flip covers that are made in Canada by a company called Tenebraex. I had the opportunity to visit Tenebraex during my time in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, thinking it would be a brief factory tour, but I was mistaken.

The Tenebraex building simply has the company signage above its entrance. From the outside one would not guess they produce the majority of scope flip covers for both OEM and aftermarket. Paul Boese who is the General Manager greeted me and walked me through the factory tour.

Tenebraex Corporation was founded in 1992 in Boston, Massachusetts, but its assets were purchased by entrepreneur Andrew Webber on August 9, 2013, and operation was moved to his home town of Halifax. Tenebraex became a division of Armament Technology which is also their exclusive distributor worldwide. Their product portfolio includes KillFLASH® Anti-Reflection Devices, Tactical Tough® Scope Covers, Weapon Sight Polarizers and Laser Filter products. They supply KillFLASH® to various U.S. and NATO military forces by the millions.

Tactical Tough Flip Covers

One may not realize, but producing a set of properly fitting flip-up scope covers is not easy. One might be familiar with cheap flip covers that are made in generic sizes, down to the millimeter. However, the dimension can be half a millimeter or quarter of a millimeter off resulting in the flip covers being too tight or too lose. Years ago I purchased a set for my Leupold IER scope according to the fitment guide on the manufacturer’s website; the covers ended up just slightly loose, and they came off after firing a few rounds from my .308 bolt gun. I removed them, and swore I’d never buy another set again regardless of price.

Paul Boese says often times scope manufacturers provide scope dimensions that are rounded off and are not exact. It creates quite a problem when the dimensions are off even by half a millimeter as that can cause the covers to either come loose during use or not fit at all.

Moreover, the scope specifications can change from production batch to production batch, and manufacturers do not inform Tenebraex so often times they find out the hard way—after customers purchased the covers, and they ended up not fitting their scope.

They have over 200 unique item numbers or SKUs in their system, but it boils down to seven different sizes of flip covers. For the objective cover, they would design an adapter of the right diameter and thread pitch that will fit the specific scope.

Currently only Tangent Theta, Schmidt & Bender and Nightforce produce their rifle scopes with the Tenebraex profile that is multiple, machined, flat surfaces surrounding the edge of the scope housing that allow the flip cover to rotate and lock in almost an infinite amount of positions, which their flip covers will fit without the use of an adapter ring. One would think there needs to be a universal standard for flip covers; however, a lot of optic manufacturers simply believe their proprietary design is better or they manufacture their own flip covers for their own rifle scopes.

In an attempt to reduce production cost and offer customers more competitive price, they have introduced Multi-Dimensional Tactical (MDT) flip covers which instead of using a machined aluminum adapter, it uses flexible rubber that can be stretched and fit over a wide range of dimension instead of an exact fit.

The polymer components are made by suppliers in Ottawa, Canada, as well as Boston, Massachusetts. Each component is serialized by batch and properly tracked just in case an issue arises they can locate the problematic batch which indicates when they were produced and where they were delivered to.

The Final Assembly

Each flip cover is offered in color black, RAL8000, coyote brown and desert sage colors. The three latter colors are all considered different shades of tan; however, when it comes to supplying to government contracts, the color specification is rather specific, and they cater to this type of request from their clientele.

In addition, many models are offered in a see-through option, either in clear or amber lens, which allows the operator to aim and fire shots without flipping up the covers. Ironically, this creates more reflection due to the use of transparent polycarbonate, even with anti-reflective coating applied. The lens can also get scratched, in which case you’re better off flipping them up. Tenebraex produces them due to contract requirements.

Anti-Reflective Device (ARD)

The anti-reflective device is often marketed under the registered trademark of KillFLASH® and is an absolute necessity in the modern battlefield. The modern soldiers are equipped with rifles that have an optic mounted, and the light reflection from the optic’s objective lens can give away their position possibly from miles away. The ARD mounts in front of the objective are made up of a short tube with a honeycomb-like grid.

The ARDs are made in-house in Tenebraex’s Halifax facility. The honeycomb grid is made of a large sheet of aluminum or fiber. It then gets sprayed with the proprietary XLUME® coating which absorbs light and reduces reflection and then it is cut to shape. The tooling that is used to cue the sheet looks like a cookie press except it’s made of steel. The shape, thickness and density of the honeycomb sheet vary and are dictated by variables such as the objective size and magnification range to name a few.

Tenebraex also produces ARD for binoculars, laser rangefinders and other vehicles—basically anything that uses a lens in the battlefield that can reveal your position to the opponent.

Interestingly, ARD is only visible to the user in a non-magnified 1x optic. For scopes like the Trijicon ACOG or other long-range rifle scopes, ARD is not visible as the user’s eye sees right through it. There’s a very slight reduction of brightness when the ARD is mounted, but the tradeoff is well worth it in a tactical situation.

Tenebraex engineers work closely with optics manufacturers, and they are trying to streamline the design of optics with integrated ARD and flip covers as part of the original design, instead of an afterthought with the use of adapters which result in increased cost and a more bulky, less elegant design.

Weapon Sight Polarizers

Polarizers are an accessory that’s often overlooked by many law enforcement procurements. Polarizers are designed to allow the shooter to look through glass as they cut the glass reflection of a car’s windshields. Law enforcements purchase specialized ammunition such as ones with bonded bullets that are designed to retain their shape and maintain trajectory after going through glass. If one cannot clearly see his/her target behind glass due to reflection, the type of ammunition used is rather a secondary problem since he/she won’t be able to take a clean shot.

The Weapon Sight Polarizer mounts onto the eyepiece and is designed to be rotated for adjustment. When not in use, it can be removed by lifting it up and leaving it above the eyepiece; it will be retained by the lanyards.

Currently this product is restricted to military and law enforcement; however, one can easily make his own using polarizer filters made for camera lenses.

Weapon Laser Filters

In the modern battlefield, lasers are heavily used by infantry, land and air vehicles by NATO for ranging and labeling targets. It’s not unreasonable to assume there’s an increased risk of eye damage by friendly fire.

Tenebraex currently produces a laser filter designed for the Trijicon ACOG made under contract for the U.S. government. The idea is to protect the troop’s vision from both friendly and foe lasers but more so from sophisticated opponents in potential future conflicts.

There were published reports of Latvian troops getting eye damage, some even getting blinded, during a recent training exercise close to the Latvian-Russian border.

This is troubling as IR lasers are not visible to the naked eye during daytime. Potential laser weapons do not make any noise and can be fired discriminately from long distances without being spotted.

There are also reports of European troops getting eye damage by friendly fire from the laser rangefinders on tanks. Incidents like these are purely due to negligence, but they do occur.

Paul tells me that they are working on laser filters that will not fall under ITAR and will be made outside of the United States. Whether there will be any interest in the commercial market for this product is yet to be seen.

Part of a Family

How does Tenebraex maintain an inventory that can meet the demands of government contracts, OEM and the aftermarket? Andrew Webber tells me that he pays his employees well, over what the actual position entails. Moreover, he values each one of his employees and treats them equally regardless of their position in the company. This way when a worker foresees a potential issue, he or she can speak up, and the issue can be avoided altogether. When the company shows a profit by the end of the fiscal year, each employee is eligible for a healthy bonus. Due to these factors, turnovers are extremely low, and I can tell that the employees are happy to be working there instead of simply going through the motions of “doing the job” and getting a paycheck.

They’re also not driven by demands of double-digit growth year by year over the span of decades like many large corporations dictated by shareholders and accountants. Instead, they strive for slow, steady growth that is more realistic in todays’ globalized economy.