This is it! Ask away.

Have you read this yet?

www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=3&f=18&t=139306

Its not about ACOGs only, but there is a lot of info in there and I think you might get a better understanding of what you are looking for?

Which to get, in my view, would primarily come down to what you wanted most out of the overall gun.

I find the TA31 much, much more useful. The full time illuminated reticles ability to give a magnified optic close quarter capability (BAC), I think it is about the best general purpose optic you can get for an AR15. Good from anywhere from arms reach to several hundred yards.

The TAO1nsn (and TAO1 for that matter) are both EXCELLENT task specific optics. The more precise reticles and simple range estimating ability of the TAO1 series makes it a great mid to mid-long range optic. These same features which increase its longer range capability, however, severly decreses their usefullness at close range.

I own both and my NSN model rarely gets used.

There has been A LOT written back and fourth on these pages on which ACOG reticle to go with. The answer is usually whatever one you can find!!! They tend to be a little hard to find sometimes. After a lot of thought and using all three, I still find the donut to be the most usefull of all three reticles for a variety of reasons that I typed out a couple months ago in some thread. I cant remember which. Wish I could find that post to share. The reason was, that in the end, you give up marginal accuracy benefits but gain greater speed with the donut. The differences are seriously like splitting hairs though, and in the end, personal prefference plays a bigger factor in which reticle to go with morethan real world advantages or disadvantages they have.

npd223,
You can buy whatever ACOG you want without paying much attention at all to how the BDC is "supposed" to be callibrated. You can work almost any of them to work for you. For instance, I zero 1" high with my TA31 on a flat top and the BDC is within moa all the way out to 600. Theres a few scopes that get screwy, but you can make modifications to your zero and make almost any of them work. Dont let the suggested mounting and barrel lengths dictate which scope you choose.

Go here to see just what I mean...

www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=3&f=18&t=152794

It the post titled "Trijicon TA31 ACOG Group buy!" permanently tacked to the top of this forum... dang, they always miss the tacked threads!!!

The ones that were designed to be mounted to flat tops come with flat top mounts. The ones that were designed to be mounted to carry handles do not. However, like it says above, you can tweak almost any of them to be mounted any way you want. If you choose to buy one that does not come with a flat top mount, and will mount it to the rails, you have several choices in mounts. The ones I am familar with are

Trijicons TA51 mount. It is the lowest mount and the most affordable. IT is a completely sufficient mount and anyone with one should not feel like the NEED to upgrade. Jeez, there was a post a few months back where a guy in Iraq showed a picture of his ACOG after it had gotten hit with some sort of bomb or something. The optic was trashed and so was the rifle, but the dang TA51 mount was *STILL* holding on to a piece of the flat top which was also blown to bits. Great pic, great testament to how tough the mount is... Reason those who deide to ditch it for other mounts is because it uses thumb screws and they preffer the quick detach capabilities and better return to zero ability of throw lever mounts.

ARMS makes a similar mount to the TA51 called the #10. It is a more affordale version of their #19s mount. The #10 uses thumb screws to secure it like the TA51 mount. Biggest difference is that it has more mounting holes in the base, 4 in the #10, only 2 in the TA51. What this means is that you can mount it further to the rear if you need to. This is rarely an issue with anyone, but I am pretty sure the cost is about the same, or pretty close to it.

ARMS #19s is a single throw lever mount for the ACOGs. It is short and light, has excellent repeat zero qualities, and for many, was *THE* ACOG mount to purchase for quite some time. I have one and have found it to be an excellent mount. It has been taken off and put back on the rifle countless times without the need to rezero. I could easily recommend it. Because there is nothing that locks the #19s between rails, some (not all) have noticed the mount can slide back and fourth between one rail and the next. I have noticed this too but cant say I have ever found it to be a problem. ARMS recommends you place the mount on the rail, push it forward against the notch in the rail and tighten it down. If done like that, there shouldnt be anything else that moves the mount on the rail.

LaRue Tactical has come out with the newest ACOG mont and it is quickly becoming favored by many. It is the same size as the ARMS #19s, but it has two throw levers. The throw levers on the LaRue are adjustable so the user can tighten it on to a rail, or loosen it on a tight one. The LaRue, as I recall, (dont have it in front of me) does have something that locks the mount in between the rails. So between that and the ability to really tighten the throw levers, you should never notice any movement in the mount on the rail by your own force or any other. Some (not all) however, have noticed the levers to remove the finish from their recievers.

Wow, thats a lot about four small mounts for oe brand of optic... good luck with your chioice. And remember, your not deciding which optic and mount you will get... period. you are only deciding which optic and mount you are getting first. Hahaha, you will get more. We cant help ourselves.

Heres that pic of the TA51 mount still holding on to the piece of flat top... Some on recently put a link to the topic so I wanted to come back and post the pic...



Full report is here;

www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=3&f=118&t=200817

I wouldnt think so, but stranger things have happened!