When the editors of American Rifleman magazine met to sift through the past year's coverage of firearms, optics and accessories, we were once again faced with the difficult task of selecting the industry's best products for the purpose of awarding them the NRA Publications Division's highest honor: the Golden Bullseye.

"The Golden Bullseye Award honors our winners for bringing to market products remarkable in their utility to shooters and hunters," said Joe H. Graham, executive director of NRA Publications. "The award, now in its seventh year, has become a symbol of excellence and innovation in firearms, accessories and related equipment. We are confident shooters and hunters will receive this year's winning products with enthusiasm, and we congratulate the winners."

NRA Publications will present the annual Golden Bullseye Awards and Golden Bullseye Pioneer Award at an invitation-only breakfast during the 2009 NRA Annual Meetings & Exhibits, May 15-17, in Phoenix, Ariz. Following is a look at this year's American Rifleman Golden Bullseye Award winners.

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"Aimpoint originated in Sweden 30 years ago and, as 'Kleenex' is synonymous with 'tissue' and 'Xerox' stands for all copiers, so is "Aimpoint" to red dots. The U.S. Army has been buying Aimpoints for 10 years now, and it's hard to watch the evening news without spotting an Aimpoint on top of an M16. If an Aimpoint can withstand the heat and grit of the Iraqi desert and the cold and snow of Afghan mountains, chances are, it will make it through a couple of weekends of riding through the spring woods slung over your shoulder," so stated Field Editor Phil Bourjaily in a feature about turkey-hunting optics (March 2008, p. 46).

Bourjaily then introduced the newest Aimpoint, the Micro H-1, which weighs half as much as the now classic 9000 model, yet, as he wrote, "has every bit the performance and battery endurance." The Micro, which comes with an integral mount for Weaver bases, offers versatility in its wide range of mounting options. The factory now offers dedicated mounts for guns as different as the Ruger 10/22 rimfire and Merkel double rifles. It can even be attached to a shotgun rib with an aftermarket clamp-on base.

And in its seemingly endless cleverness Aimpoint has given the Micro, now a series of three models, such features as: elevation and windage knob covers that are also tools for turning the knobs; a 4-m.o.a. dot; and 12 brightness settings. "So far, I haven't hunted on a day bright enough that I had to turn the H-1 up to "10" much less "12," wrote Bourjaily.

Oh, and, by the way, the editors have been using Micros, too, and have yet to replace batteries in them thanks to Aimpoint's ACET technology, which allows the sight to run for more than 50,000 hours....