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. 

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.

Seriously?

How serious are you?

Stop for a second and think.  What would happen if right now BAM a "One Second After" type of event happened.  Take just a bit of time and really try to immerse yourself in that scenario.

What would be the first thing that you would do?  What would your course of action be?  What do you imagine your first hour, 12 hour, day, week would be like?

Do you seriously have a plan or do you just have a plan for a plan?

Are you playing prepper or do you have a firm, actionable plan AND the hardware/resources to carry out that plan?

Where are you right now?  How do you get to where you need to be?  What do you have with you to help you carry out that goal?  

What if that plan falls through?  What if that "little hidey hole back in a national forest that nobody else knows about but me" turns out to be the destination for half of your county's population?  Do you have an alternate Bug Out Land?  

What would you do for water?  Seriously.  Remember, the Shit just Hit the Fan.  What do you do today?  This is no longer hypothetical or a post on a forum, this is real and this is happening!

Rain water with a water filter?  Just this morning in my area, the weatherman said that the past two months have been the driest on record since the late 1800's.

How does that rain water sound now?  Have access to a river or pond?  Awesome!  How are you going to access it?  Do you have the necessary water prep/filter?  Is it in your possession or just "in your plan?"

What about food?  Do you have what you need for today?  I am sure that you do.  What about this week?  If you have found this page, you probably have that covered.  This month?  Hmmm, are things going to get a bit tight?

Human Nature.  I have been in a few places that have shown human nature is capable of stooping to any level to ensure survival.  This won't happen after a few months, this type of nature will begin to exhibit itself within hours.  How will you deal with it?

I am sure that most preppers have firearms pretty squared away.  What about ammo?  Is it in your possession or just "in your plan"?  I personally know preppers that have several high quality firearms but not enough ammo to even carry them through a decent day at the range without stopping by walmart to stock back up.

Do you have a plan to help people out?  Do you have the means and capability to carry out that plan?  Do you plan to help to try to build a community or will you be in "EMFH" (Every Man For Himself) mode?

What skills do you have to help build a community?  Database programmer?  Car Salesperson?  Lawyer?  Window Washer?  Probably not a big call for these fields in the PAW (Post Apocalyptic World).  Know how to raise livestock and manage a flock/herd?  Nice.  Know how to save seeds and raise a garden?  Awesome!

Putting ourselves in this mindset and getting out of the "planning to plan" stage just might, one day, save our lives!

LET THERE BE QUAIL!

Well, about 3 weeks ago I fired up the old incubator that I put away last year and put a bunch of my eggs from my 6 mature Coturnix Quail.

The incubator did it's job well and I now have 8 little bundles of energy bouncing around inside the incubator.  (I will be posting pics as soon as my crappy camera/phone cooperates with me).

Because of all of the selective breeding that has occurred throughout the years to get this kind of bird, the Coturnix Quail has lost all instinct to brood.  Hence the incubator. 

A person could use a very small banty hen to sit on the eggs (which I have one and she VERY MUCH has the instinct to brood, sometimes it's hard to get any eggs because wants to sit on all of them.

If worse comes to worse, I will do that, but for now I will use the incubator.  It increases the hatch rate and reduces work.

Anyway, my plan is to basically keep the incubator full of eggs and every 3 weeks put in another batch.  By the beginning of fall I should have enough of a cycle to allow me to butcher 4 - 5 each week to add to my VERY locally sourced food.  1 quail is not much meat, but every little bit helps.

Close Food: This time its personal!

Well finally got my plants in the ground and not a moment too soon since we just had a great rain storm that should help my stuff just leap out of the ground.

Here are a few random, crappy cell phone pictures of my WIP (Work In Progress).

This is my garden plot.  Much smaller than the previous three years, but will still keep us in fried okra, fried green tomatoes, fried squash, (do you detect a pattern here?).  Ok, I do eat raw stuff too, but fried stuff is just so freaking tasty!

I went to the dark side and got a few hybrid tomatoes.  Don't worry though because most of the plants are heirloom.

Here is my patch of garlic from the previous years.  (it doesn't really grow sideways, its just the camera angle LOL)

As you can see in this picture, my wife will have no excuse not to keep me well stocked with cherry cobbler!

Here is a small glimpse of part of how I keep my garden watered during the dry spells.  Its a rain water catch off of my well house.  Old DirecTV dishes make for a plethora of great hobby uses.  Here it is being repurposed as a funnel.  Inside the water drum I have a pump that I use to pump the water out through a hose.  It doesn't have great pressure, but does an acceptable job of watering the garden when needed.  It doesn't take long to capture 55 gallons (a few rains) and I can water the garden about 3 times out of this before its empty.

Our grapes are coming along nicely.  I am going to try some new recipes this year that call for grape leaves.  I have never eaten anything with grape leaves in it, but since my motto is "waste not want not", I am going to try a few.  Have plenty of grape leaves to experiment with.

During my "down time", I can usually be found behind my workshop starring at this.  Its my makeshift target range for my pistols.  Its only about 20 yards, but long enough for some decent pistol work. 


I truly love spring, summer and fall and enjoy every minute of being outside on my place.  Some folks like to take vacation to go places.  I like to stay home.  I feel that if everyone had as wonderful place as I do, there would be a lot more "stay-cations" in the world!

Addendum - 5-10-12:
Just walked around my garden last evening and the squash and cucumbers are already breaking through the ground.  Got some blooms on my tomatoes.  

Close food part Duex

Well, here it is almost May and my crops are still not in the ground.  It turned off a bit cool, but also had a few rainy days here that prevented me from re-plowing my garden to get it ready to plant.  I finally got it done over this past weekend, but didn't have enough time to plant.  I will be planting this week in the evenings, so I will post a few things about that when I do.

On a completely different note, I finished my new quail cage, so when the 20 eggs get out of the incubator, they will have a new home to move into.  I started raising couternix quail last year, but wanted to keep my brood small until I decided if I wanted to move forward with them or stick with chickens.

I have decided to increase production on the quail due to the lighter requirements (foodwise, they eat less than the chickens) plus the much faster turnaround time (after hatching, they are either ready to lay eggs or butcher in about 8 weeks).

My plan is the increase production to the point where I can harvest about 4 - 6 quail per week to supplement my families diet.

Keep your friends close and your food closer!

Something is reassuring about being able to walk out of my back door and see food.  Whether it is my chickens, quail, eggs, cherries, grapes, or food that is growing in my garden.  The closer that you are to your food source, the better off you are.

Here are a few pics of some of the food that I have been working on.  Some of it doesn't take much because I have already put in the work to get it started such as my grape vineyard, cherry tree's, blackberry patch, or my grove of wild plums.

You may not be able to make out the tiny green cherries in the crappy picture above, but my cherry tree's are loaded.  

Above is a picture of some of my grapes.  Should yield plentiful abundance to make a ton of grape juice and raisins.


However my garden is my main local food source and something that takes time and energy to get it to yield.

In the past 3 years I have had about 3500 square feet of garden space, but I cut that down to about half this year because my job really cuts into my day and I plan on doing a few more projects this year that will eat more of my time.  I will highlight those additional projects in the coming months. 

Above is a picture of my garden space this year.  I have plowed it once, but want to go through a few more times before I plant, but rain has kept me from doing that yet.

Because of the reduction of space, I have to cut down on what I will be planting, so here is the list: 

Okra (I ADORE FRIED OKRA)
Tomatoes
Yellow Squash
Zucchini Squash
Acorn Squash (after the Yellow and Zucchini are done)
Cucumbers
Peppers (Bell, Banana, Jalapeno)
Sunflowers (my kids love the huge flowers, plus they are great to keep the birds away from the other things and to keep the bee's coming in)

Due to the much warmer than normal weather, this time next week I should have my garden planted which is about a full month earlier than normal.

I will keep things posted.