Trijicon's Rifle Scopes

I have nothing new to add to the discussion about Trijicon's placing codes on their rifle scopes that corresponded to Bible quotes. It's a ludicrous thing for them to have done, and filing off the numbers won't solve the bad public relations shot that has been done. But here's a more interesting question - why did the Marines buy so many, and why did they pick one of the most expensive scopes?

The ACOG/Trijicon brags it's Advanced Combat Optical Gunsight is "the most technically advanced combat gun sight available" (brownells.mil-le.com, pg. 39). The US Marine Corps has contracted 800,000 ACOG's at $660 Million USD ($825 per unit in 800,000 lots) for the USMC. Not such a good deal when the catalog lists them at $792-$836 for lots of one, depending on the mounting system.
 ---------
If we are putting ACOG's on every rifle, then we should eliminate the auto/burst function on the service rifle for all except one auto rifleman per team. Aimed fire should be stressed.

There are several competitive and perfectly serviceable sights and scopes on the market. All are sold by Brownells and can be viewed online. These included the Burris fast-fire ($219.95) and the Trijicon Red Dot ($310.83). There are three pages of comparable M16-family scopes, many of which are more economical and just as serviceable as the ACOG.

Just my opinion based on a lifetime of shooting rifles.

Interesting point. Now one could jump to the conclusion that there was some inside deal that benefitted the company - or maybe it was just a really bad decision by someone in defense acquisition. That never happens...

Comments

[Comrade E.B. Misfit]

"Why did they pick the most expensive one", you ask?

Simple. They are playing with Other People's Money (ours). Which is pretty much why everything that the DoD buys costs far too much.

[daskro]

Up until pretty recently there hasn't been an alternative to the Trijicon ACOG scope, and there still isn't one that is significantly less expensive. Leupold, Aimpoint and Eotech(now owned by L3) are really the only viable reflex sight manufacturers other than Trijcon because they're the only games in town that have consistently made durable sights. All of these manfuacturers sell sights which are between 500-1000 dollars. Brownells and burris sights, like all low profile refelx sights are good for plinkers but will break rather easily when dropped.

Marines bought the Trjicon ACOG because they are the best in magnified reflex sights.

[NVH]

Daskro's right, no good alternative, you train a Marine with Iron Sites, everyone's a rifleman, ACOG's are the best and you don't put cheap shit in the hands of our marines and troopers. Plus you buy a lot cause it's a good piece of gear and it ain't marine or sailor proof. It's like my mother in law, when she finds shoes she likes that fit well and are comfortable, you buy a pair in every color they have...simple common sense.

[Charles Maynes]

Also the ACOG is fully passive with no battery requirement, and has 4x magnification vs the typical 1x magnification on the EOTEC and Aimpoint sights.

also the retail price on that optic is $1500.... so you might want to re-check that... http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=ta31rco&tag=googhydr-20&index=aps&hvadid=1696007801&ref=pd_sl_60wl8i8uks_b

[MDisk]

Search ACOG cheaper, this is a great purchase. The optics are great and there is a red / green illumintated (cross full) term. This was something I had not expected and is a nice additional feature. Over all seems well built and the houseing around the optical, is very strong.