"Fake" ACOGs
 

I've read in some articles on the site that the way to tell if an ACOG scope is fake or real is to look for the presence or absence of the fiber-optic band across the top of the scope. While the majority of ACOG scope models do have this defining feature, I'm afraid there's a few, such as the TA01 series, that do not have the fiber-optic band. This might create some confusion with users claiming that an ACOG is fake because it lacks a fiber-optic band, when in fact it is a real one that simply does not have that feature in its' design. Just thought I'd bring this to the members' attention for future reference.

Great information. Good to know, thanks.

But FYI: 99% of the optics in Movie armory inventory are REPLICAs. Why spend the $$ on good optics (and they are really expensive) for something no one will sight through and all actors/stuntmen will just bang around.

I was handling the UMPs and other weapons from the movie IRONMAN and poking around the optics and asked Mike Papac (from Cinema Weaponry) "Are any of these real?" and he said "No, they're all Airsoft fakes".

Rule of thumb, if there is a decent (even a not so decent) replica of the optic, red dot, NV, etc. available, the armorers will use THAT rather than spend the outrageous sums of money for the real deal and risk having some idiot actor break it.

Yeah, you can get a very sturdy, nice looking airsoft red dot scope for about $15. I have boxes of fake optics, along with tons of rails and scope mounts that I've picked up over the years. They always come in handy. ;)

So for future reference should we just simply refer to all ACOGs on the wiki page and omit the fact that they are replicas since all of them are replicas?

I've got a pretty good quality NC Star Aimpoint replica on my airsoft M4 that I got for about 20 bucks. Buddy of mine saw it and swore it was a real Aimpoint until he picked it up and saw the NC Star logo on it.

In fact, this is it right here (not the exact one, but same make and model):
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA280_.jpg

Nice, though the lense covers also make it obvious it's a replica since no Aimpoint I've seen has lense covers like those.

I've been told by one other armorer that they do keep some real ACOGs, Holosights, and other such optics in rental inventory, and that they do get used in movies and TV shows. However, he confirmed that this is quite rare - usually only for extreme close-ups of the gun, and never in any circumstances where they expect lots of stunts and opportunities for the guns/optics to get banged around. As you've said, probably 99% of the time, the optics are the airsoft replicas.

EDIT: I just read the email again. He said that the main reason they stock the real optics is actually for the benefit of video game developers who want to study how they work so that they can model them correctly in the game.

Which pretty much proves that you'll never see a REAL (read expensive one) being thrown down the hallway by Daniel Craig ... ever. In fact if they are used for game development and study, they WON'T be seen in a movie or tv show ... EVER. One could not risk the optics being messed up if animators are trying to replicate the scope's abilities and reticle. Sure the real things are built for combat, but ACTORS are like the Samsonite Gorilla. They can break anything.

Maybe the military should hire some of these actors to torture test for them? :p

Oh, I don't disagree with you that it makes zero sense to ever give an optic to an actor, and I'm sure it's pretty much never done. But I do know at least one armory has some real optics in inventory.