Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles Marines paying $291ea for ACOG's

Nightforce NXS variables and SWFA SS 1-6x HD. If you listen to Trijicon the VCOG is as well, however the Marines had some problems with them. The ones we have, have been fine. The Elcan, can not.



Acogs work. But they are old tech, or at least an older way of looking at things- yet I would say that about ANY BDC reticled optic. Having said that, there is an Army SMU that seems to be pleased with the Acog/RMR combo.

Showed up in Fallujah in 2005 with RCT 8. They were kind enough to issue us ACOG's for our AR's. We took them to the range to zero and easily got one hole ragged groups from the standing. Over the next 8 months, we used them hard; dust, heat and long rides over rough roads. None of them lost zero or failed. My first experience with this optic and I was impressed.

In both cases, their product liability insurance costs are probably quite a bit higher when they put them on the civilian market than when they sell them to the military.

What's wrong with the Elcan?

Due to the design itself, they will probably never be truly durable and reliable. You have a lever that flips a prism and any play of that lever results in inconsistent alignment of the prism. That's ignoring zero shifts between 1x and 4x.

They can work, but I see a higher failure rate than I find acceptable.

I had good luck with my Elcan, for durability/reliability and accuracy....but I left it on 4x, and used it because of the all external mechanicals and abuse it took in and out of vehicles and such. Would it be my top choice if I was the guy going in? Probably not, but it was a better option for me than an eotech or aimpoint, and we were thin on acogs at the time. Once we got more acogs, I just stayed with the elcan because it wasn't broke, and it had better glass/reticle, to me.