(courtesy inteliscopes.com)

“Effective immediately, Inteliscope LLC has decided to refuse all future sales of Inteliscope smartphone-rifle-adapters to Russia and intends to maintain this policy until Ukraine is no longer illegally occupied by Russian troops,” the company’s presser proclaims. “Ukraine has demonstrated interest in joining the European Union. The Ukrainian people should be respected and have the right to democratically decide what is best for their country without dictatorial influences from Vladimir Putin. Furthermore . . .

it is my opinion that this is likely an unpopular move amongst the majority of the Russian people. My hope is that pressure from companies like Inteliscope may climb the chain of influence among the Russian people and affect the choices of the Russian government.”

(courtesy inteliscopes.com)

OK then. So, how many scopes has Inteliscopes sold to Mother Russia? Jason Giddings tells TTAG that his company has sent roughly 100 scopes to Russia. Any of them going to their troops? “I doubt it,” he said. “I suspect most of them go to hunters who mount them on the side of the rifle to supplement glass scopes.”

We have recently been growing sales in Russia. The sales and relationships we have garnered with the Russian people are extremely important to us but we feel that we cannot, in good conscience, sell products that may be used against the Unites States or its allies.

As a very small Unites States business recently founded in May of 2013 we feel that this is the only step we can take to influence the Russian attitude toward Vladimir Putin’s choice to invade the sovereign country of Ukraine. We encourage other companies in the Unites States and abroad to adopt similar policies. Together we can make our voices heard.

Thanks for your time.

Sincerely,

Jason Giddings

And as always, have nice day. 

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61 COMMENTS

  1. Great PR stunt, but I doubt any serious shooter, let alone a military, would have even the slightest interest in their product.

    • If it wasn’t for this post I’d have never heard of them

      I’d kinda like to play with one though. It could also serve as a training tool. I’d like one on a 22lr AR

      • Inteliscope is a joke. You can download the app for free and check it out. It was pretty awful when mounted to my son’s Nerf gun, no way I’d mount it on a real firearm.

        • Nerf gun does not have a compatible rail. It only fits Picatinny and Weaver rails. There is a free app which is sweet for tactical ranges and shooting around corners without head exposure but there are a lot of other uses… long range shooters like to hang it on the side of their rifle and use it for shot drop and wind-age calculations while using their nice long range scope on top. A lot of folks like to use it for training. Its interesting to record someones face while they shoot… beginners oftentimes will close their eyes just as they squeeze the trigger.

        • @ Jason Giddings
          “There is a free app which is sweet for tactical ranges and shooting around corners without head exposure but there are a lot of other uses”
          – No serious shooter is going to trust an iPhone to aim his gun around a corner for him.
          “long range shooters like to hang it on the side of their rifle and use it for shot drop and wind-age calculations while using their nice long range scope on top.”
          -No they don’t. They use ballistics computers or tables. No one wants their FOV obscured by a smartphone.
          “A lot of folks like to use it for training.”
          -No they don’t. A FEW people may use it for play-time that they CALL training… but they’re still using it for play.
          “Its interesting to record someones face while they shoot… beginners oftentimes will close their eyes just as they squeeze the trigger.”
          -So, a range buddy or a friend can say ‘stop closing your eyes.’ That should do it.

        • What a joke, you think I’m spending $100 on a cell phone mount? I taped the phone on for exactly the same effect. Here’s the cons:

          You must zero the firearm every time you remove the phone, which is going to be after every use.

          The video recording function doesn’t work. It just says “coming soon” and has said so for the past month.

          The lag between the phone and the firearm means you have to aim very slowly. I don’t call that training.

          This is an overpriced toy that doesn’t work well even on actual toys.

    • I think if you do a little research you will find the US Army already is planing to put such a device on a soldiers weapon and even give him a monocale so he can hide and accurately engage enemies by putting just his rifle over a barrier or around a corner.
      Chances are they will adopt a ruggedized android phone over the system being developed.

  2. Most smartphones cant survive a short fall and a couple drops of water. Highly doubt that any soldier would rely on one stuck to a battle rifle. I wouldnt even take one hunting. Range toys are range toys.

  4. I don’t know if the US military is buying these, but I hope they adopt the same policy here with all the countries the US tends to invade that they have no business in.

    • We don’t like it when bigger countries invade little countries, that’s our f*cking job!

      We are the SWAT team of the world, “No, no, no, we can have these and do that, but if you ‘regular people’ try it, we’ll get you and your little dog too.”

      • You wrote “invade.” The word you’re looking for, pertaining to the U.S., is “liberate.”

        • Oh yeah, I forgot about that one…

          That would be a good legal argument for a home invasion trail, “I was just trying to liberate his home…”

      • You’ve hit the nail right on the head! Only America can unilaterally invade a peaceful sovereign country and beat it into submission! Perhaps this guy should study a little history before he goes shooting his mouth off. The Crimea was part of Russia for more than 200 years before the Soviet premier and the politburo decided, with the stroke of a pen, to suddenly make it part of the Ukraine, I believe in the 1920’s. The Ukraine, as we know it today, is a “constructed” country. It has two culturally distinct groups of people jammed together into one country, (sound familiar? red state/blue state?). The real Ukrainians, who live in the actual, historical territory of the Ukraine, want to ally themselves with the European Union, while the Crimea, which is 95 to 97% Russian and Russian speaking, desperately want to remain tied to their mother country, Russia. With this in mind, and with the fact that Russia maintains a major naval base in the Crimea, is it any wonder that Putin would send in troops to protect it’s interests and the Russian people living there? This is no different than when we sent troops into Grenada to protect US citizens there, only Russia hasn’t killed anyone in the Crimea as we did in Grenada. The US is just mad that Russia has the effrontery to horn in on it’s private little game of invading sovereign countries and pushing people around, only in this case, Russia has an actual strategic interest in the region. As a matter of fact, if a free vote of the populace of the Crimea were allowed, it is an absolute certainty they would vote to be repatriated with Russia. In other words, Russia actually has a legitimate reason for being in the Crimea, while the US simply ignores international law and does what it wants because it’s leaders have grown a “bully mentality” from picking on little countries that can’t effectively fight back. But now they’ve grown in their hubris, and have decided to pull a real lion’s tail, and if they don’t watch out, it’s WE who are going to get bitten!

        • Following that logic, one could make a pretty good case for the Mexican annexation of most of the American Southwest.

        • “intl law” = dimwitted PROGRESSIVE construct. Find a history book.

          The Russia only killed about 7.5MILLION Ukranians Search on Holodomor

        • Yeah, that “naval base”? It’s the home of the 4th Fleet.

          And maybe we should play the “insurgents/freedom fighters” stupid little game some more! al-Queda in Iran and Afghanistan = “insurgents”; al-Queda in Syria = “freedom fighters”…

    • You mean we don’t sell war material to our enemys while we are at war with them like the french do?

  6. “……sell products that may be used against the Unites States or its allies.”

    Careful. Pretty soon Conneticutt might be on the “no sale list”.

  8. Hmm recoil is known to play havoc with poorly designed and manufactured riflescopes. Are you really going to risk your precious iPhone to an undetermined fate? A day or two without all those apps, contacts, photographs and worse of all a trip to wait in line at the Apple store?

  9. Wait who are these guys again?
    There was no invasion or occupation of the Ukraine. All the soldiers there had Crimean passports. Russian too, see they were dual citizens. And Barry doesn’t call it an invasion, it was an un-documented visit.

  10. We have fired thousands of rounds using an Inteliscope and we have thousands of customers since July, when we started selling them, who have also shot thousands of rounds. We have never had any phone damage. I would certainly not recommend the polymer version for anything over an AR-15 but the PRO version is all aluminum, universal, and is tough as hell. I regularly use the pro version on my SR-25 (308) and on my UTS-15 (12 gauge)… I have never tried it on a 50-cal but I would love to.

        • Then perhaps you should study the history of a situation before you risk the reputation of your company with a knee jerk reaction to a non problem. I am so sick of people tying a red white and blue blinder over their eyes and then eagerly grope their way forward shouting USA! USA!
          The companies that made a stand for the 2nd Amendment by refusing to do business with States like Colorado and New York are justified in their actions, and I applaud them for their pro active stance. But what you have done in the name of your fledgeling company is nothing more than bold faced grandstanding, and everyone knows it. It reflects poorly, not only on you as a private person, but on your young company as well. I, for one, will never try one of your products, much less buy one, simply because of this bonehead maneuver. Poor judgement, bad move.

    • Which idea is interesting? Tiny company using an unstable, dangerous political situation to get free PR, or duct-taping a phone to your rifle?

  13. So is the Russian government even a consumer of this product? It seems interesting as a training tool, but I’m not sure it fits with Russian doctrine. Also, most of the mobile phones I’ve seen in Crimea footage probably could not run this app…

    I mean it just seems like this company is getting ahead of itself. I have seen photos that document some of the Maidan protesters had overt Nazi symbols on their riot shields. One in particular had the Black Sun rune painted on it, with the word “Vikings.” The Black Sun rune had special significance to the Waffen SS and the use of that symbol is a blatant, fascist provocation… especially in Kiev.

    I understand Russophobia is big here in America these days, but you should be careful casting your lot with Nazis. The Historians haven’t finished writing this chapter yet, despite what the mass media would have you believe. They could all be singing a very different tune a week from now.

    • Not sure if it fits with Russian doctrine, eh?

      I dunno. Sometimes the only way to kill a terrorist is with a backflipping smartphone attack.

    • What does this have to do with Russophobia? Disliking the foreign policy of the government of Russia is not the same as disliking Russians. I am Russian, and my position on Ukraine can be summed up as “Fuck Putin, героям слава!”.

      BTW, as far as those “Nazis” go, they only exist in the imagination of the Russian TV talking heads. Even then some of them get a glimpse of reality every now and then, as we’ve already seen with all the resignations on RT.

  14. Well, Inteliscope may know a few things about technology, but their political knowledge is not very good. The company is apparently buying the U.S. government bullsheet hook, line, and sinker.

    If they cared enough to look, they would find that the U.S. government is the bad guy in the Ukraine, having funded neo-nazi radicals who are now seizing control of the Ukraine government. The Crimea, which has had it’s own Parliament and a bit of self-determination is primarily ethnic Russian and has asked Russia for help. They know that the neo-nazis will sack the Crimea (with the help of the Western Bankers and Corporations), cleanse some of the ethnic Russians, and let the U.S. Government put missile launchers on the border of Russia – which the U.S. has done elsewhere and wants to do in the Ukraine.

    Russia has not invaded the Ukraine. They have come to the aid of Crimea who asked them for help. Interestingly, most of the upper-ranked Ukraine military leaders are fleeing to Crimea … they know just how dangerous the new U.S. backed and installed neo-nazi Ukraine leaders are so they are getting the hell out of Dodge – instead of becoming their hired guns.

    Quit getting your news off the TV and government media mouthpieces. It’s all lies and damned lies.

      • I have family in the Crimea and I’ve been there, so I’m pretty sure I have a pretty good idea what he’s talking about and he isn’t exactly wrong (though I may not agree with the conjecture part of it as to the Euromaidan leaders).

        You could make a case that a lot of Crimeans are not astoundingly keen on Russia moving in (especially the Tatars) but the “Get out of the Ukraine” bit is patently false. Crimea is not the Ukraine any more than Puerto Rico is the US. Crimea didn’t “join” Ukraine until after the fall of the USSR, and Ukraine basically strong-armed them into agreeing to it. If we had cared all that much, we would have done something about it 20 years ago.

        I’ve yet to see a major news organization truthfully and honestly report about the Crimean situation, which I guess should come as no surprise. Part of the issue is, as in most cases, there’s people on both sides in the Crimea, and there’s been people bribing people on both sides to spout rhetoric for years on the subject. But last time I checked, the pro-succession (or pro-Russian) side was considerably stronger than the pro-Ukrainian side.

        Shame on Inteliscope for dabbling in politics it clearly doesn’t understand.

      • Here. Expand your knowledge … or stay comfortable with your kool-aid. Whatever.

        http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-u-s-has-installed-a-neo-nazi-government-in-ukraine/5371554

        http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/timstanley/100260665/ukraine-the-opposition-arent-all-angels-some-are-neo-nazis/

        http://www.channel4.com/news/kiev-svoboda-far-right-protests-right-sector-riot-police

        http://www.ibtimes.com/euromaidan-dark-shadows-far-right-ukraine-protests-1556654

        http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/01/ukraine-wwii-legacy_n_3688865.html

      • Some of us actually get our information from the Russian people themselves, and from friends in Crimea.

        The majority of citizens living in Crimea are Russian, not Ukrainian. The Russian influence in Crimea has been dominant since the time of Katherine the Great. The Russians living in Crimea, and a significant number of the ethnic Ukrainians, DO NOT want to be dominated by the government in Kiev and have suffered under that leadership.

        We speak here from time to time about the right of states to secede from the union if in their opinion, and the opinion of the majority of their residents, the situation warrants it. This current situation in Crimea is EXACTLY the same as if Texas or Alaska or any other state wanted to secede. Neither the U.S. not any foreign government has the right or the standing to block the will of the people in this regard, and to believe that this has been some orchestrated crisis from Moscow as opposed to a mutually beneficial offer of assistance to resolve a long-standing issue is an opinion based entirely on ignorance of the situation on the ground there and the propaganda influence of the MSM that we generally are happy to disregard otherwise.

        And by the way, we cannot force our system of government on other people. The majority of Russian citizens LOVE Putin and his style of governance. Can we say the same for our leader(s) and how they are perverting our system?

        “You never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that it’s an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.” – Rahm Emanuel

        You don’t think the Obama regime is playing this up to distract us from the crap they’re pulling here?

  15. Something that hasn’t been brought up: will this Crimean crisis lead to Obama banning importation of Russian ammunition and arms?

  17. Gee, I’m sure the russian military is now going to fail in the Ukraine due to this serious sanction…LMAO. I say sell more of them to Russia, so their military marksmanship is dependent upon a darn phone.

    • Hmm… so I should just throw my hands up and let it happen?? Sure, we are a little company and I am sure a total of 6 distributors and a few dozen dealers in Russia will ever even know we did this… But there is a chance it will spread and other companies will step up. Your logic will have you sitting on your couch watching while the gun-grabbers come in and confiscate your newly illegal-ized firearms.

      • If you’re worried about gun grabbers, do you also prohibit sales to United States government entities, police departments, etc? These groups are far more likely to use your product against American citizens than Russian troops are.

  18. So it’s wrong if Russia does it, but when the US does the same thing it’s okay? God I’m sick of the hypocrisy of gun / gun accessory companies.

  19. downloaded the app played with it for awhile 1. please explain why i have a 4 mph n/e wind showing on it when i am steadly siting at my desk? (must be the chilli i had last night) 2, pointed it to what i know for a fact is due north and it was showing i was facing east. 3. sorry at this time it’s not for me …i deleated it

  20. I have several nice Mosin Nagant 91/30s that I’m willing to sell back to the Russians at a small upcharge. And ammo too!

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