There must be thousands of 'dead' ACOGs by now; has anyone heard of them selling refurbs for half price or less? I think they could sell all they wanted. Maybe the military has a deal with them to refurb and return to service.

The good thing about ACOGs is even when the Tritium "dies", it's still a damn-fine scope.  It's so dim on mine (they're only 2-3yrs old) that I probably wouldn't even notice.  It has to be REALLY dark to see it, then I can't see anything anyway (might be just my eyes, though).  The fiber-optic catches enough light to work fine for me.

Although I've never had/wanted to do it, it's my understanding that Trijicon will go through the scope and replace the Tritium for a very reasonable charge.  Those things are truly made for a LIFETIME of service, and even the "dead" and beat-to-crap ones still command a hefty price.

As far as I know the US military didn't start using ACOGs until the early 2000s. The tritium has a halflife of 12.5 years, so that means for a scope purchased in 2005 it will be half as bright by 2017-2018. The tritium isn't field replacable but Trijicon will service a scope to replace the dead H3. I doubt the military has *any* dead ACOGs yet.

I would be surprised if a refurbished ACOG (military or privately owned) would be worth significantly less than a new one.

I bought a trijicon ACOG non-fiber-optic way back in the "day", ser# 1510...  tritium was pretty well gone after about 15 years or so, sold it rather then re-charge the tritium.  Guy I sold it too didn't care about the Tritium... he paid more then what I originally paid for it brand new and loved the price and scope.  It worked out cheaper for me to sell the old one and use that to partialy fund a new one, even with the price difference it ended up cheaper then the recharge fee.  Plus I got a fiber-optic option on the new one.

A poster stated that he had been issued one in the mid-90s which is why the thought of old ones came to mind.

Just because something has a half life, it doesn't mean it is half as bright at 12 years.  It will deteroirate over time, but half life isn't that simple.

According to Trijicon's FAQ it is

I;m sure Trijicon wouldn't lie. The glow is produced by a radioactive isotope which does have a certain half life and that is a direct correlation to the brightness of the tritium. Thanks...

My appologies, I thought the Beta decay was not linear.