Thursday, June 21, 2012

Trijicon ACOG TA11E review

I am going to do something a bit different today.  I usually leave all firearm related posts and stuff to other websites just because that seems to be the most "exciting" thing to post about, but it gets overdone I feel.

Don't get me wrong, I think that firearms are an important prep item and should not be overlooked, but they are no more important than food storage, water purification, gardening tools, etc.  You can't eat bullets anymore than you can shoot a deer with a can of beans.

Over the past few months, I was looking for a tough, durable do-it-all scope for my 308 AR.  The 308 cartridge is one of my favorites because it is effective, has pretty good reach, is easy to find, and is easy to reload.




I looked around at quite a few different options, but kept coming back to the Trijicon ACOG.  It's not a cheap date to say the least and cost almost as much as the firearm that it sits on, however it is legendary for it's durability; it doesn't require batteries (a huge plus) and performs it niche function very well.  The red strand on the top of it is actually a fiber optic strand that will light up the chevron in almost all lighting conditions.  For darker environments, it has tritium, so even in pitch black, you can at least see the reticle.  It addition to that, it also comes with a Bible reference on it from the manufacturer, so I think that is pretty neat as well.  Mine has Matt 5:16 which says "Let your light so shine before men...".  Pretty fitting actually.






The ACOG isn't a high magnification scope.  It is a medium range optic, but performs its function flawlessly in that area.  I purchased the red chevron version (example of reticle and ranging options below) because the chevron can act like a dot at close range, you can use the chevron to effectively range targets at unknown distances, and the tip of the chevron can be used for precision.

As you can see below, each line on the BDC (bullet drop compensator) is approximately 19 inches wide at the distance on the reticle.  So for example, if you are viewing a target at 800 meters (which is just a few yards shy of 1/2 mile) and it is as wide as the very bottom cross-hair, then it is 19 inches wide.  This is the equivalent of the average shoulder width of a human.  While I certainly am never planning on using it in this manner, knowing the width of the cross-hair helps range targets a bit better than just cross-hairs alone.








Overall I feel that for the price paid, the anticipated use and the expected lifetime of the scope, it was actually a bargain.

On a recent trip to the range, I bought some crappy steel cased ammo to blow through at the range.  The AR 308 and ACOG combination allowed me to shoot offhand and place an entire magazine (20 rounds) inside a 12 inch target at 100 yards.  Off a decent rest with some better ammo, I am certain that I could cut that group in half without a second thought.

Overall, I am very pleased with this setup and feel that it fits well into my anticipated use. 





Friday, June 15, 2012

Still alive and kicking

Things are a bit crazy right now with summer here.  Keeping the garden weeded, mowing grass, raising chickens and quail and still trying to find time to fit my job into all of this!

We are eating fresh vegetables out of our garden already and it will just keep accelerating through the year.  Tomatoes, squash, peppers, okra...yum!

Our sunflowers are growing like crazy and are already over 4 feet tall.  We had a windstorm come through and blew them over, but their stalk just makes a curve in it and keeps growing up.

Our quail are giving us more eggs than we know what to do with.  Right now that is a challenge, but in the near future, it could be a huge advantage.

The last batch of quail that were hatched are about 2 weeks away from the dinner plate.  11 weeks to eggs to dinner plate is not a bad turnaround time at all.