I recently rolled the dice on an inexpensive NC Star scope called the Enhanced Combat Optic. It was loaded with neat features and cheap, additionally I really liked the way it looked. Many people would not consider putting cheap Chinese glass on a weapon they own but I thought “what the hell” let’s try it. Every Weaver I’ve bought in the last 7 or 8 years and a lot of other “American” named scopes we are peeling off the “Made in China” sticker anyways and quite a few of those have served me quite well. So let’s take a look.
I bought the thing from the Sportsmans Guide for somewhere in the $170 range, I don’t remember the exact price. Once I got it and unpacked it I was totally happy. It seemed sturdy, heavy though and all the many buttons seemed pretty good and not cheap like the price suggested. I could do without a blue reticle but that’s what it has, red or green would have been nice but blue wasn’t a deal breaker. It came in a nice box and nice case. Once mounted on the weapon it was getting close to time to try her out. I did notice a bit of “haze” or just not focused on the very left edge of the glass. It was at 9 o’clock and just the edge…so I could live with that but we’ll talk more on that in a bit after I go over the tech specs.
Tech Specs: The Enhanced Combat Optic has a blue reticle, fixed 4x, red/white navigation lights and a green laser that could be adjusted. It weighed 1lb 4.5 ounces with the CR123 battery in it, it has iron sights on top and a rail for mounting a red dot as well as mounting plates for a RMR style sight. With a quick detach mount it had everything a little boy could want all in one cheap package.
First Shoot: Here is where things start to go bad, which is sad because I really, really wanted to like the Enhanced Combat Optic. I mounted it on a 5.56 AR pistol, which by the way, I built long enough to legally accept that GripPod you see on it. So, I settled in and started to sight in, it took 4 rounds to find the 10 ring, the next 19 rounds went down range just fine into the 9 and 10 ring. So the Enhanced Combat Optic so far is working just fine. I hand the weapon over to Kelly and after 2 shots she says she can’t see crap and is clearly missing the target by quite a bit (4 to 5 feet) I take it back and sure enough that haze over at 9 o’clock was almost all the way across the glass. So the Enhanced Combat Optic made it a whole 25 rounds before whatever was wrong with it went all the way wrong. Too bad, like I said I really did want this thing to work out.
Summary: Well…I might try one more time…I thought it was really cool and maybe I just got a lemon, that seems to plague me lately. The Sportsmans Guide fully refunded me, no problems there, they take very good care of people and never had a problem with them when I’ve had a problem with something I bought. I’m a reasonable guy and as long as the company takes care of me I won’t hold a grudge, so I may take another chance on a second one. If I do you’ll know about it. This particular Enhanced Combat Optic I’m sorry to say did not make the grade. Thanks for reading and train often.
Cary Kieffer
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