By Joe Ferronato
So many people hate Glocks. Why? Well, they aren’t that sexy. But I guess I’ll use any gun that John McClane or John Wick trust their lives to. Hell, Glock even got an honorable mention when the venerable Sonny Crockett used a G17 taken off a rebel in Cuba during an episode of “Miami Vice.” Was it his Bren Ten? Definitely not. But it worked.
I’ve shot a lot of handguns that feel better in my hand, have a better trigger pull, and look a hell of a lot better. But every time I grab a Glock, I know I’m going to shoot it well—and confidence in your equipment speaks volumes when your life depends on it. My first 10 rounds through this 43X renewed that sense of confidence. Glocks are workhorses that go bang every time you pull the trigger whether you religiously clean it or toss it in the mud and then slide it back in the holster for more abuse.
Even though Glocks are a little lackluster, Aimpoint partnered with the company to up the ante on the “cool factor” on this G43X package. Enter the Aimpoint COA.
AIMPOINT COA: COOL FACTOR
If you have any familiarity with us at Field Ethos, you’ll know that we all are huge fans of the ACRO P-2. Aimpoint’s manufacturing processes produce some of the highest quality reflex sights on the market. Countless servicemen and law enforcement officers trust their lives to the Aimpoint. The downfall of the ACRO has always been its size for concealed carry, especially on compact guns.
The COA combats that and considerably shrinks down the overall profile of the sight while maintaining the same size window as the P-2. Just like with the ACRO, the COA has a great sight picture with clear glass. Testing the COA, I found that it pointed naturally, and sight acquisition was fast even when drawing from the appendix position.
The comfort while carrying the Glock with the COA on top of it is one of the greatest attributes of the setup. While the ACRO is rather large and hard to conceal, the COA’s smaller profile allows it to sit comfortably against the body. Being an enclosed-emitter sight, it has more surface area than other compact red dots on the market and is slightly taller—but I have yet to be uncomfortable carrying the rig. In fact, the larger surface area decreases any discomfort that can come from bending or maneuvering with a red dot tucked in your hip crease pointing at your cajónes.
THE INNOVATION
The hype around the new COA has been immense over the past few months; so how’d they do it? How do you take the ACRO and shrink it down while keeping the same sight window, power source, and functionality but decrease the overall package size to make it comfortable to carry? Easy. Change the mounting system.
The COA mounts directly to the A-Cut slide. Think of the new optic cut as a dovetail that the sight fits directly into. It allows the COA to integrate directly to the slide without the use of any mounting plates or screws, meaning that the large CR2032 battery could be relocated to a bottom port rather than being accessed on the side like on the P-2. The battery relocation allowed Aimpoint to rid the sight of the secondary housing to cut down on size. It’s a simple update, but it’s worth its weight in gold for weight and profile reduction.
Without using a mounting plate or screws, the new sight does away with a possible failure point from old mounting solutions. The flush-fit design is locked into place directly on the slide, negating the sheer force on the mounting hardware and eliminating movement of the sight. To lock in the sight, simply place the rear iron sight into place.
The new cut also allows the sight to sit much lower against the gun, which allows you to index the iron sights. The irons are meant purely as backup sights in case of an emergency but can be utilized and easily indexed in the bottom portion of the sight window. They’re blacked out to keep the sight window uncluttered while shooting with the dot.
The only downfall to the COA currently is that you can only run it on a Glock, but I’d be willing to bet that will be changing in the future. For now, though, this G43X with the COA is a very competent weapon system that I am more than happy to carry.
Cost: $834
Pros: Compact carry system; enclosed-emitter sight; 50,000 hours of run time; clear glass; multiple brightness settings; ingenious mounting system; same size sight window as the ACRO P-2.
Cons: You can only get the sight on a Glock.
