Trijicon Acupoint on DG gun compared to illuminated VXIII

[sam700]

I was wondering how the Trijicon Acupoint scope compare in optical quality and toughness to a VXIII? Anyone have any experience with them on a brush or dangerous game rifle. Also, which reticle style would you recommend?

I picked up a VXIII (1.5 to 5 illuminated reticle) a month ago, but was not impressed with the illumination module design. The illumination is not visable during the day, it has a way of turning on and killing the battery if something brushes against the dial. Also, the illumition flickers from on to off if the dial is not perfectly centered in the detent. The scope hasn't seen any serious use yet so I was thinking of exchanging it for a Trijicon Acupoint.

The primairy purpose is for quick target aquisition for brush hunting. Just got back from Alaska and stumbled on two grizzles in the brush around dusk (was hunting for black bears unfortunately). Luckily they bolted the other way pretty quick. The problem I had with the VXIII was that although the image was pretty bright and it was easy to aquire the target in the scope, finding the crosshairs was difficult as we were in a shaded area at dusk. After the two bears faded into the brush we spent a minute or so searching with our scopes in the direction they traveled to make sure that they weren't still hanging out just out of our unaided sight (because of lighting conditions it wasn't far). Although the image was good, the crosshairs were almost impossible to see, so I quickly switched on the reticle's illumination. Unfortunately, I didn't see any light so I didn't bother to mess with it further. later it turned out that I had the dial set between detents.

As I see it there are a few flaws with the design, one I mentinod above, the other is that if you ever need to shoot in a hurrey, it will probably be in poor lighting conditions and you won't have time to mess with the dial. I thought about this when I purchased the scope, but I've been pretty loyal to Leupold in the past and they've never let me down.

 

[AK103K]

I'd be interested in hearing about the Accupoints too, especially the lower power models. I have a Leupold 1.5x5X on my one AR, and the Accupoint looks like it could fill the gap between scope and red dot.

 

[sam700]

I took a look through one a while ago and loved the illumination. The brightness of the reticle seemed like it would really help with quick target acquisition. I just never had any experience with Trijicon and I wasn't sure if they were as good in low light and as rugged as the Leupolds

 

[AK103K]

The one thing I'm not sure of, is the life of the tritium. I'm assuming its about the same as a set of pistol sights, and only good for about 12 years. What do you do when its dead, or to the point not readily seen?

 

[sam700]

Don't know, it looks to me like 99% of the lighting comes from the fiber optics. I would imagine that if it is dark enough to need the tritium, you'd have a hard time seeing the target through the scope. I'd be kind of curious to take the scope into a dark back room of a store and test it out. So far, I've only looked through it in well lighted areas

 

[Greenspartan117]

Zak Smith did an article on fighting optics and wrote a short blob on the accupoint. Here is the link below:

http://demigodllc.com/articles/fighting-carbine-optics-short-guide/

he said, "Of the fixed-power Type II optics, the TA11 ACOG is the best choice. It provides a little more eye relief and a large exit pupil than the TA01 and TA31. Together, these two attributes make it a lot faster to acquire a sight picture and easier to maintain while on the move. The 0.5x difference in magnification versus the TA31 is marginal. Price on a TA31 or TA11 ACOG with a QR mount is about a grand. The Schmidt and Bender 1.1-4x20mm Short Dot has almost true 1x at the low and a bright illuminated reticle center. It has a mil-based reticle for bullet drop, in addition to external target knobs (the locking turrets are the way to go for reliability). The extra capability of the Short Dot is paid for in bulk and its $2200 ticket. The sleeper is the 1.25-4x24mm Trijicon AccuPoint (TR21). It shares the same fiber-optic design as the TA31/TA11, but can be dialed down to low power for close-range work. Its reticle has no BDC features, however. The TR21 is a good deal at about $575."

 

[Bartholomew Roberts]

The half-life of tritium is 12 years - meaning the tritium-only illumination in total darkness will be half as bright in 12 years.

As someone else noted, the fiber optic collector gathers ambient light in anything less than total darkness and provides most of the illumination. Another bonus (over even the ACOG) is that the Accupoint has a sliding plastic cover over the fiber optic that you can use to manually dim the brightness if you like. That can be nice when the sun is really bright.

Can't say how the Accupoint would hold up on a dangerous game rifle though. Haven't ever seen one used on anything heavier than a .308.