Video Transcript
One of the more interesting optics on the market has been the Trijicon VCOG. Many of you guys are aware of the Trijicon ACOG series, a fixed magnification scope that is extremely robust, very durable, it's been around for 20+ years. But the VCOG is a scope that is interesting because it starts to bridge the gap between a traditional LPVO in a 1-6 or 1-8 range. And it takes some of the qualities of the ACOG as far as the durability and the robustness and it brings it over into the qualities that the LPVO provides, which are being able to drop down to a 1x magnification setting for shooting up close, and then being able to actually dial up and have also a different type of reticle and a few other things. Now, Trijicon has had the 1-6 VCOG for quite a while. And a few years ago, they launched the 1-8, which is a little bit more modernized compared to some of the other optics that are being released right now. But the Marine Corps actually chose the VCOG 1-8 as one of their main optics for the HK416 IAR.
And so guys are now employing this very robust LPVO in combat settings. And that's been really interesting to see because the Marine Corps really values the durability of the Trijicon ACOG.
Now the Trijicon VCOG is tested to MIL-STD-810G, which just a few moments ago, I pulled it up online, which it's a 1,086 page document, detailing the testing procedures for environmental testing, durability testing, and a host of other types of tests that are done to ensure that the product can handle a fair amount of abuse. And even just yesterday, we took a couple of these out there, we threw them around on the concrete, we dropped them off of a conex box into gravel, we chucked it out of a moving vehicle, driving 25mph onto a dirt road to simulate, you know, leaving a gun on the roof of your truck because you're forgetful, driving off and it just flying off. And we had optics that were still able to retain zero. There were a few other little issues, but we were still able to engage man-sized targets up to 500 meters, and we were still able to use the optics just fine. This is the 1-8 that I was using.
For all of those tests, and it has held up quite well. The only downside that I really had was when it impacted the concrete on the battery compartment and that fried the electronics to the scope itself, but I continued shooting it throughout the day and it maintained zero after throwing it off of a conex box, after throwing it outside of a truck, it held up surprisingly well, glass is still clear, it's not shattered. And more importantly, the zero between magnification settings was not affected either. So even though I'm zeroing the optic on 8x and confirming zero on 8x, when I drop down to 4x or 1x, the point of aim and point of impact is the same. That is one of the larger issues you can have with LPVO's that unless you're paying attention to shooting paper, you're not gonna notice, but if you zero it on 1x or 6x, it is possible that after you change the magnification, the tracking isn't all lining up and you're gonna have an un-zeroed optic on different magnification settings. But after all the abuse, we were not running into that and that was super cool.
The packaging is very simple for the 1-8 model, cardboard box with the Marine Corps issued coyote padded case that they really like. You also get a scope cover, mainly just to protect the glass. You definitely don't need this to protect the scope, it can protect itself.
You'll get a single double AA, this is a double AA optic, which is super nice. Trijicon says it's a 633 hour battery life on setting 6, which is kind of in the middle, which is impressive. You get a lens brush, which you probably already have tons of these if you buy multiple optics and of course all the manuals and things for the VCOG.
Now there are a couple different one to eight models that Trijicon offers. They have one that has a very simple MRAD or MOA reticle. This is the Marine Corps issue one. So it comes with all this fun packaging, but it also has front cap and rear cap covers if you're into that sort of thing. It has a LaRue QD mount, which the cool thing with the VCOG series is this is a scope that you don't have to level. It takes regular ACOG mounts, which are two screws on the bottom.
The mount is fused into the tube of the optic itself. So you never have to worry about leveling the optic or anything like that. They come with mounts already. You can buy aftermarket mounts, tall mounts, candy lever mounts. There's lots of different options out there. This mount is really nice. It's a QD mount, so you can always pop it off, throw it back on. We were not testing return to zero with this mount. We were not doing a mount test, but I would assume it returns to zero very nicely because it is a LaRue.
One of the more interesting things about this optic though is you cannot dial the turrets. So unlike a lot of other LPVOs and 1-8 on the market, typically when you remove your top cap or you unlock the turret, you will have all of your mills, 9 mills or so, and you also have .1 or .2 increments. And this would allow you to dial onto a target at a specific distance. So if you know I'm shooting a target at 500 meters, I need to dial 5.8. You could actually turn your turret to 5.8, shoot that target and then dial back to zero. This VCOG series though is just a more simplistic optic in this regard where you're just gonna zero it with clicks. There's no numeric data telling you how many mills up or down you are. It's .1 MRAD increments in this MRAD model. Once it's zeroed and you're done, top cap goes back on and you're done.
Now I did a tracking test with this scope and it does track accurately. So if you wanted to try to actually count, I'm gonna count 20 up and then count 20 down. You could do that if you were dialing onto a specific target but I don't recommend that. You're probably going to miscount one of the clicks or a couple of the clicks and then you're not gonna be zeroed once you come back down to what you think is zero. So there's no, you're not gonna be able to dial on targets with this scope. You're not gonna be able to utilize speed drop. But the nice thing with that is, this is a scope that's really fast to zero. You don't need to worry about re-zeroing your turrets and playing with screws and stuff. Once it's zeroed through the cap's on, you are done.
The reticle inside of this is pretty good. It's not too bad. This one has the wind dots on the sides, which is really nice. There are other models that do not have that. I was able to engage very small targets just fine because this is an 8x magnified optic. The center reticle is very fine, which I really like. But since you're not dialing on anything, once you go past 200, you're gonna be holding on targets unless you do like a 36, 300 meter zero or something. I recommend zeroing this at 100 meters and then understanding your mill holds. You can even print out a little dope sheet on your stock or something. Just so you have a little bit better understanding of where you need to hold inside the scope, whether it's 2 mils, 3 mils, 4 mils, in order to make an accurate engagement.
The VCOG has an adjustable diopter. So as you are setting the scope up, I definitely recommend you get this set on whatever magnification you are looking for so you have the clearest image possible. And then when you're done setting that, it's just gonna twist with the rear right here. You can throw your Tenabraex rear back on. That's gonna help protect it from adjusting and moving. And then you'll be good to go.
Now, one of the complaints to the Trijicon VCOG is weight. It is a heavier optic, but the funny thing is when you actually compare, this particular optic, which has a QD mount, which has flip covers, we'll stick these on for the weight. And you compare this to an optic in its same class, another one to eight, that's a 34 millimeter in diameter optic. You're gonna see that the weight difference is actually not that much. Yes, it's taking a double A, so the compartment is larger. And so you're gonna have a little bit more weight and the battery itself is heavier than a CR2032. But the weight between this optic and say, compared to a NightForce 1-8 ATACR with again, the same flip covers and in this case, I have a Geissele mount, it's going to be about the same. So in this case, this optic right here, this package is going to be 29.8oz. But this optic, the Marine Corps 1-8 model weighs 31.6oz. So it's only 1.7oz heavier than this ATACR 1-8, 34 millimeter optic, which is in the same class as this scope right here.
If you run into eye relief issues, maybe you like to retract your stock a little bit further forward and you stick this all the way in the front of the upper receiver, do not bridge if you can help it. You can unscrew these three screws here in the bottom and move the entire scope forward in this mount and give yourself a little bit more eye relief if that's something that you're going to need. In this case, I have a traditional thumb screw, ACOG thumb screw mount on this IAR on this 1-8. And I had to position it a little bit further forward because I wasn't getting the eye relief that I wanted. This guy right here, I slopped it on this gun yesterday, pulled my stock all the way out, minus one. And I had good enough eye relief that I didn't need to get in here and play with the screws. And I just immediately started blasting with this and it worked really well.
If you have any other questions about the Trijicon VCOG series of scopes, go ahead and email us at [email protected].