Almost got ripped off on an ACOG clone!

[Andrew17019]

So I have a friend who I sometimes buy parts and guns from, and I usually get relatively decent deals from him. He wanted to sell off an ACOG that he had on his Bushmaster and was offering it to me before he put it up on local forums. His price to me was quite cheap, and I went ahead and withdrew half the money from an ATM and was going to withdraw the second half today. He brought it in today and I was looking at it in depth, and I found a couple of details that didn't really line up with me. I did some searching and found the exact model on an Airsoft site. Here's a picture from the site:



Even though this is marked Trijicon (R) and ACOG (R) and has an NSN and model #, this is not a true ACOG. The model # printed on the side is for a red-reticled 4x32 scope made for the M16A4 that the USMC uses. The reticle on this scope is black and amber in low-light conditions. I also noticed that the eyepiece was unscrewable, which was different from all the ACOGs I've ever used, so I unscrewed it and it popped right off. This more than anything else clued me in that it was a fake. On the red dot sight (Doctor sight) there were no Trijicon markings, and the design is slightly different from the design of the early Trijicon doctor sights. Also notice that the fiber optic is covered by a smoked (not completely clear) plastic cover, and does not extend to the end of the hood. This should not be the case on a TA31.

I had money in my pocket, but with some research I avoided a big loss for me. My friend is pissed off now, but the price he paid is not extraordinarily more than what is being asked online. A true ACOG should cost $900+, and the "airsoft" replicas are going for around $200.

Buyers beware! Check the model numbers on any sights you buy, especially if they're "tactical" in nature and could be used by the airsoft community!

Here's a link to the clone model:
http://www.crw-airsoft.com/acog-ta31...dot-1741-p.asp