Friday Evening Lights: Wilcox BOSS Xe

SHOT Present 2023 has come and gone. Now it’s again to our repeatedly scheduled programming. Extra evening vision-related content material within the night each Friday. This week’s Friday Evening Lights showcases the Wilcox BOSS Xe. An enormous thanks to Gretna Gun Works and particularly Ryan Murphy for letting me borrow one among their BOSS Xe to play with.

Lasers And Optics @ TFB:

Wilcox BOSS Xe Is a Pink Dot MFAL

The Wilcox BOSS Xe is a pink dot with an built-in multi-function aiming laser (MFAL).

The highest hood part is your typical pink dot. However the Wilcox BOSS Xe has built-in mounted backup iron sights. You possibly can see them within the picture under. They aren’t adjustable although. What’s extra vital is what is going on beneath the pink dot. See the row of three blue-tinted lenses and the fourth lens under that and within the center? These are the MFAL side. That is an IR/VIS laser with VCSEL and LED IR illuminators, multi functional aiming system.

Often, to realize one thing like this, you would want to mount a pink dot on prime of your laser or have some convoluted mount choice just like the GBRS Hydra. Or simply run an ordinary setup the place your MFAL is on the finish of your gun and also you run any pink dot/optic you favor.

The pink dot and laser are slaved to one another so if you zero them it is only one adjustment. There’s a lot happening with buttons and choices for the BOSS Xe. The primary notable function is the Trajectory Change. It’s the small throw lever to the left of the elevation adjustment dial.

On the left aspect of the BOSS Xe is the mode choice knob. Considerably like a PEQ-15, it has an off place at 9 o’clock. Rotating down one enters a sub-menu and the subsequent modes are for VIS Aiming Low and Aiming Excessive energy ranges. Rotating clockwise previous 9 o’clock goes into IR modes. There’s a security screw at 3 o’clock that blocks the knob from choosing the full-power laser choices.

BOSS Xe Trajectory Switching

As talked about above, the BOSS Xe has a lever to change “trajectory”. That is for zeroing two totally different bullets. So for instance .300BLK, you zero the BOSS Xe to your gun taking pictures a supersonic load of your alternative. Then you definately throw the lever down and 0 the smaller adjustment dial on the lever to match your subsonic load. I examined this with my pal’s SIG Rattler in .300BLK.

I zeroed the BOSS Xe to my pal’s pink dot which was set for 100 yards. Then I attempted to zero the trajectory swap elevation and ran out of elevation. I had to make use of the underside of the segmented circle as my aiming level to get the 220 gr subsonic masses. See the video under.

I didn’t discover the switching lever to be all that helpful. I had zeroed the BOSS Xe to my HK SP5 and thought perhaps the subsonic 9mm and supersonic 9mm would want a trajectory swap. They didn’t. HRF Ideas informed me he likes to make use of the BOSS Xe trajectory swap for shut and much zero of the identical caliber. He units the common zero for 100 yards and the throw lever for a better vary of 25 yards for his .300BLK.

BOSS Xe Distant Change

The BOSS Xe has a three-button distant swap. The primary button is for the underside illuminator which is all flood LED for illuminating a room. The center button prompts no matter mode you’re set to on the mode choice knob. The final button is for low-power IR aiming laser and room illuminator.

Picture from Wilcox BOSS Xe guide

So when you’ve got the mode choice knob set to IR Twin Excessive and press the center button, you’ll get the complete energy 36mW VCSEL IR illuminator and IR pointer. However pushing the third button will override and offer you low energy 0.7mW IR aiming laser and IR room illuminator. Wilcox additionally has a twin lead distant swap that has a SureFire plug for activating a lightweight. The primary button then controls the sunshine reasonably than the room illuminator.

The distant tape swap has a 90º plug that inserts into the rear of the BOSS Xe. I really feel like you’re losing a great 3-4 inches of cable simply to succeed in the rear of the optic.

One other minor concern is that the distant cable might intrude with a magnifier. Fortunately, the Unity Tactical FAST magnifier mount appears to guard the cable a bit.

Folding the magnifier out of the way in which clears the plug and the discharge lever considerably shields the cable.

For those who discover, the distant swap is mounted at a 45º angle. It comes with a metallic mount that has these hooks that seize onto Picatinny. You possibly can see it within the picture above. See the ramped arms, just under the distant swap? Under I mounted the swap to my KAC MP5 handguard. I’d have most well-liked mounting on prime of the Picatinny reasonably than between them at an angle.

BOSS Xe On An MP5

As a result of charging deal with, I couldn’t run the distant swap on the left aspect of my KAC handguard. So I inverted it and ran it beneath at 4 o’clock. I used to be capable of run the plug between the cocking tube and the barrel.

After I was testing out the BOSS Xe, I seen the room illuminator sits actually near the highest rail of a gun. And on an MP5, the entrance sight is in the way in which. However take a look at the picture under. The room illuminator casts a shadow of the entrance sight. I used to be curious if this might work as an aiming answer for close-range targets. The issue is the shadow will change dimension relying on how shut or far the goal is. If I used the shadow of the entrance sight, it will be off and I’ve no means of zeroing this. I confirmed it with the aiming laser and you’ll see it might probably work. The outlet for the entrance sight roll pin might probably work as a maintain over bore aiming level for excessive close-range taking pictures. However alas it was not shut.

Here’s a video the place I ran the BOSS Xe on my HK SP5 in an area evening match. You possibly can see in a few of the runs I used the room illuminator and you’ll see the projected shadow of my entrance sight. On the similar time, the highest of my SP5 is lit up from the IR illuminator splashing throughout it.

BOSS Xe Points

The BOSS Xe has some idiosyncrasies which are a bit odd. The primary one is the cant indicator. The reticle has a segmented circle. While you tilt the optic, the aspect of the reticle will blink. So in case you roll the optic over to the correct, the correct aspect of the segmented circle reticle will blink. The identical in case you roll over to the left.

At first, you assume “oh that’s neat”. However if you really use it it appears foolish. It is a pink dot probably used on a brief .300BLK firearm. The cant indicator is extra for precision taking pictures long-range. Not one thing you’ll be doing with a brief .300BLK gun with the BOSS Xe.

One other odd quirk is the VCSEL IR illuminator. It has a really slim divergence. See the screenshot under.

The IR illuminator could be very slim with no spill in any respect. It’s nice for the surgical software of sunshine. Like if you wish to throw mild via a window with out it spilling everywhere in the outdoors of the window. However it isn’t nice for primary situational consciousness. No spill makes it powerful to see what’s outdoors of the tight sizzling spot.

One other oddity with the BOSS Xe is the reticle. There’s a slight reflection that may be a bit annoying,

Closing Ideas On The BOSS Xe

I need to just like the BOSS Xe nevertheless it has some points. Just like the Twin Lead distant swap. Whereas it could activate a flashlight I would love VIS override as an choice however so far as I can inform, it doesn’t exist. You would set the mode selector to VIS Intention Excessive so the center button prompts the VIS laser however you can’t concurrently activate it and the flashlight until you press each buttons on the similar time. Lower than best. The truth that the flood IR room illuminator sits simply above your receiver means your gun will mild up each time you employ it. It should trigger slightly little bit of automating and auto brightness management to your helmet-mounted evening imaginative and prescient goggles. Then there’s the problem with the trajectory swap. It seems like an excellent thought nevertheless it didn’t work that properly for me. Perhaps your expertise is best than mine. Then there’s the worth. The Wilcox BOSS Xe retails for $4,500. That may be a lot. No means round it. I really feel I’d be higher off with an everyday pink dot on a Wilcox RAID Xe or different weapon-mounted MFAL.

I’m nitpicking to search out fault with the BOSS Xe. It’s a laser with a built-in pink dot. This might resolve issues for some folks. I might see the Wilcox BOSS getting used on sure weapons that wouldn’t have a lot room for conventional equipment. Like utilizing it on my HK SP5. I might see somebody utilizing it on a B&T TP9 or a P90. However mounting the distant swap turns into problematic. I need to see an M-LOK suitable mount and a mount that attaches the tape swap instantly onto a Picatinny rail. I’d have favored it if I might have the tape swap at 12 o’clock on a handguard.

Because of Ryan of Gretna Gun Works for letting me borrow their BOSS Xe. If the BOSS Xe is one thing that would resolve an issue for you, then give them a shout.