ACOG - TA33 crapped out!

canucklehead

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Rating - 100%
401   0   0
Location
Calgary, AB
Guys,

Shooting my SG542 last weekend, my TA33 Amber chevron ACOG failed on me. OK well the optic is still usable, the Fiber Optic illumination DIED on me. The chevron is still visible, but it's straight black with ZERO illumination via FO or tritium. The outside FO tube is solid and there is no visible damage. Still holds zero as well.

Has anyone ever heard of this? I've never had this issue with any of the 8-10 other ACOG's I've owned, but unsure if warranty extends to me as the second owner (no original receipt).

I'll contact Trijicon in the meantime, but thought I'd ask if anyone else ever had this issue.
 
Guess the ol 308 was too much for it. What would you say that was, 20 rounds before it crapped out and went dark? I hope trijicon comes through on this, that should not happen.
 
Yeah about 20 rounds. Have an email in to Trijicon... But website says warranty doesn't cover illumination but that's not right.

Anyone ever have a warranty claim in on a trijicon product?
 
That's wild. Was it a complete switch to light's out, or a slow degradation?

I'm not big into Trijicon already to be honest.

Lights out - I noticed it instantly. My guess is the terminating end of the FO jarred loose? A semi-auto .308 battle rifle shouldn't be shredding Trijicon optics I don't think. My first negative experience with them actually...
 
I doubt it "shredded" anything. Many many many Trijicon optics have endured vastly more rounds than what you put yours through without fail. You got a defective optic. Trijicon will make it right. Still frustrating nonetheless.

TDC
 
Well a bit of an update.

Trijicon told me on the phone to bring it to a Calgary distributor (TSE in this instance). Brought the optic in and filled out some paperwork. TSE called me back and said because I was not the first owner (which I explained to Trijicon), they couldn't send it back. Well they could, but Trijicon couldn't ship it BACK to Canada.

Called Trijicon again this morning, and explained the situation. Trijicon confirmed TSE's story, and normally they can't do this as warranty. But she did say they REALLY want it back for some analysis, and it's not a normal failure mechanism that they know of...

Anyway - waiting to hear back from Trijicon on what the can do. I'd even be willing to pay for repair costs if it's not 'under warranty as original owner' - but if I can't get it shipped BACK to me, what's the point? A little crazy.
 
there's no way a 308 would damage an agog, does the tritium still glow in the dark?

Yeah I know... makes no sense why it would fail at that point.

The tritium DID glow a couple of days before i tried it on the SG542... there is NO tritium glow now... but that makes sense as I believe the final connection of the light pipe to the reticle is disconnected. The glowing tritium still uses that same light-pipe to illuminate the reticle.
 
That's wild. Was it a complete switch to light's out, or a slow degradation?

I'm not big into Trijicon already to be honest.

I've owned a few ACOGs, and they were decent, but the design is a little outdated IMO. Eye relief is poor on most models. The big advantages are compactness and weight.
 
I've owned a few ACOGs, and they were decent, but the design is a little outdated IMO. Eye relief is poor on most models. The big advantages are compactness and weight.

The eye-relief on the TA33 series is insanely better than the TA31's. I can run it two to three inches further forward than any other optic I've tried. It's very small and very light. I would never go back to a TA31 (or TA11 for that matter). There are better options in that category, but a TA33 is hard to beat in the lightweight 3x category! :)
 
The eye-relief on the TA33 series is insanely better than the TA31's. I can run it two to three inches further forward than any other optic I've tried. It's very small and very light. I would never go back to a TA31 (or TA11 for that matter). There are better options in that category, but a TA33 is hard to beat in the lightweight 3x category! :)

Yes, I've owned both a TA33 and a TA31. It is hard to beat them for weight and compactness, and the TA33 is one of the models with decent eye relief; however, IMO they're overshadowed by the versatility of 1-4x, 1-6x and even 1-8x scopes, admittedly at the cost of weight. The ability to adjust the scope on the fly and switch to lower/higher magnification is worth the weight, so to speak.
 
Bad news.

Trijicon has determined from the serial number that my optic was sold to a US distributor in 2006. As such, it would need to have proof of a legal import into Canada in order for it to be shipped back here after service.

Since I'm the second owner (bought here in the EE about 3+ years ago), I'm guessing it was exported from the US at some point in its life. I've heard of this happening with EOTech owners years ago, but I always just assumed my TA33 was originally sourced in Canada.

Sooo... looks like I'm stuck with a functional, but non-illuminated, ACOG that can't be fixed. Crappy deal. I'd think Trijicon would want to see the optic in any case to determine cause of failure, but zero chance of me sending it and not getting it back!
 
Maybe Trijicon would offer you a "store credit" at one of their canadian dealers, and you send in the defective item?
I certainly hope they would! Really sorry to hear about this bad luck!
 
Maybe Trijicon would offer you a "store credit" at one of their canadian dealers, and you send in the defective item?
I certainly hope they would! Really sorry to hear about this bad luck!

Yeah that'd be great... but unlikely in my opinion. I don't even know if they really care about getting it back. Might not be worth their time.

Either way I'll try to push that angle and see what happens... thanks for the idea!
 
That's quite a pickle. If both the tritium and FO went out, then it sounds like it's come unseated in the housing. BUt yeah like the boys are saying, an ACOG could take that kind of punch easily.
 
Another update....

I picked the optic back up from TSE a few weeks back... they couldn't find it originally, so took some searching. Guy who finally retrieved it said 'oh did we call you about this?'. No, I said - just thought I'd come pick it up!

He said Trijicon contacted TSE separately, and asked them to ship it back to Trijicon to be DESTROYED. WTF??? They don't know it wasn't legally imported - I just can't prove that it was, since I was not the importer. How could/would Trijicon request TSE ship them back something that is not their legal property in the first place? Insane.

Don't know if I'm getting the whole truth, but the fact of the matter is Trijicon will not step up or do anything else for me. I'm stuck with a broken ACOG and no way to fix it. I guess that's the chance you take when you buy a used optic in the EE, so I guess it's 'my fault'. However - since it's an ACOG, I never would have DREAMED I'd need warranty/repair service on it anyway.
 
Oh man, that's ridiculous. A big company like Trijocon would go that low. It's your brand, honour it regardless. Note to self, don't buy used Trijicon off EE unless it comes with a sales receipt from an authorized dealer.
 
Back
Top Bottom