The ACOG success story is no accident. It’s the result of Trijicon’s genetic tradition of engineering and innovation—a trait passed on from firm founder Glyn Bindon, who immigrated to the United States from South Africa in the 1950s, received a degree in aeronautical engineering and worked on a variety of different technically challenging projects.
Fans of the movie “Apollo 13” may understand how perilously close the flight came to disaster, but there’s a gun connection to the real-life spacecraft making it back to earth safely. Bindon, while working for Grumman Aerospace, was part of the team that collaborated with NASA on a lunar module valve that outperformed its design specs and played a critical role in averting catastrophe. Bring that story up the next time somebody at the range tells you connecting at 1,000 yards “Isn’t rocket science.”
During a family visit to South Africa in the 1980s, though, Bindon’s career changed course. He met the developer of the Armson OEG gunsight and upon his return, began importing them for sale in the United States. By 1985 he was developing his own ideas for self-illuminated aiming systems and as he branched out, family-owned and operated Trijicon was formed.
When the first ACOG rolled out of the factory in 1987, the TAO1, it employed fiber optics in a configuration many experts claimed wouldn’t work. Wrapped in a package tough enough to survive combat, it performed so well it was included in the Army Advanced Combat Rifle program the same year. Small military contracts followed and the company’s sights served on the Front Line of Freedom in Panama’s Operation Just Cause (1989) and Iraq’s Desert Storm (1990 to 1991).
In 1992, the Bindon aiming concept (BAC)—a both-eyes-open approach developed by the company founder—was finally harnessed in the company’s TA11 model (seen above). In 1995 an ACOG version was adopted by Special Operations Command.
Civilian sales grew steadily, but in 2004, the TA31RCO, which is based on the company’s TA31F version and employs the BAC, became history’s first official Rifle Combat Optic (RCO) of the Marine Corps. The four-power ACOG’s chevron-shaped reticle had tritium illumination for sighting in low-light conditions and employed fiber optics to ensure daytime brightness. Unfortunately, Glyn Bindon didn’t get to witness his creation as it became the world’s most effective combat optic. He died in a plane crash only months before the contract was announced.
The performance was nothing less than sterling during Operation Iraqi Freedom. First Marine Division Commanding General at the time, Maj. Gen. J.N. Mattis, said, “The ACOG mounted on the M16 service rifle has proven to be the biggest improvement in lethality for the Marine infantryman since the introduction of the M1 Garand in World War II.” By April 2005, the 100,000th ACOG was produced, plated in gold and put on display at its headquarters in Wixom, MI. The 4×32 RCO version was selected as the Army’s field carry optic in 2007 and the same year the 4×32 ECOS with a miniature reflex sight was in the hands of our Special Forces troops.
When the company celebrated its silver anniversary in 2006, Stephen Bindon, Trijicon’s President/CEO and eldest son of the founder modestly claimed much of the firm’s success is due to its staff. “When you’ve been in business as long as the Bindon family, you learn a few things along the way. One is that if you treat all of the members of your team as one big family—trusting their input and valuing their ideas—your employees, your company and your customers all reap the rewards. Another is that innovation is an ongoing process, because there is always a way to make something better.”
In 2017 the millionth American-made, limited-lifetime warrantee ACOG rolled out of the plant. “We’re excited to celebrate this one millionth milestone, but we’re also not content to rest on the ACOG’s success,” the company said in a statement on the feat. “We have exciting plans for the line. Every day, we work to earn the trust of those whose lives depend on the ACOG.”
In celebration, a Stars & Stripes Limited Edition ACOG was produced “to share the story of the ACOG and the incredible men and women who manufacture it and use it around the world.”
The company also makes higher magnification optics now, include the new for 2020 Credo. You can get a peek at it here.
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