The Death of Tracking Point

[OldCannon]

Nice article from The Verge: http://www.theverge.com/2015/6/11/87646 ... le-company" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The article is pretty consistent with what I knew was happening internally at Tracking Point (their office is about 2 miles from my house).

[eureka40]

Drove through their parking lot last week during the day. There were 5 cars and no signs of life.

I had an interview with them in early 2013, something just didn't seem right. Never really nailed it down, just instinct I guess.

[winters]

Their isn't that many customers who buy guns for thousands of dollars. All you have to do is goto a gun show and what price point is selling the most? not 10,000 dollars.

[OldCannon]

Their isn't that many customers who buy guns for thousands of dollars. All you have to do is goto a gun show and what price point is selling the most? not 10,000 dollars.

For a precision rifle, there were people that were willing to pay that much. It's only a few thousand more than a good top-end rifle with excellent optics. I think there were two key challenges (on top of the rumored finicky-software) that people noticed with the rifle:
1) You had to get their custom ammo. The ballistics calculations were done with very specific loads. This annoyed some shooters that wanted to use very specific bullets/powders for their targets.
2) You still had to call wind, which is the hardest part with long distance shooting. In effect, the rifle system did the "easy part" and you were left with the hard part. That didn't please the experienced shooters.

[Beiruty]

DARPA is working on One-Shot program a laser would read the wind estimate. It is like a HUD display overlaying real top glass scopes. Not sure what is the status.

http://kitup.military.com/2014/02/darpa ... -shot.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[ryancuahere]

While I love the concept, it fails one critical point. The more complex a weapon system, the more likely it is to fail. The military needs to ditch the M4 for something more reliable, but a fancy weapon system isn’t the way to go.

[berettadave]

I have a good friend who worked for them a few years ago. He got caught in the layoffs despite being the top salesman for them. From the problems they've had and with the way people were treated, I've been surprised they haven't shut the doors already.

[MechAg94]

While I love the concept, it fails one critical point. The more complex a weapon system, the more likely it is to fail. The military needs to ditch the M4 for something more reliable, but a fancy weapon system isn’t the way to go.

I think if they truly opened up a competition for a new rifle, there are already lots of designs that could be used. However, the issue would be decided based on politics as much as actual performance.