[GunGeek]

So the Marines just made a purchase of $28,092 new ACOG's at $8,169,996.00; nice little sale for Trijicon, on a great scope for our soldiers. The math works out at just under $291.00 per ACOG. Now when I try to buy an ACOG, about the best price I find for the same scope (4x32 w/ TA31 reticle) is just over $1,200.00! Man, I thought H&K treated their civilian customers rough...that's over 4X the price the US military is paying.

Now of course you would expect to pay more since you're ordering one vs. 28,092…but 4X more? Twice the price would be about expected…or perhaps 2.5 x the price. Or if we follow the precedent of the Sig 320, which civilians pay just under 3x the price (retail is around $600, military pays $207 per pistol).

We're being a bit gouged. I guess hat's off for Trijicon and Sig pulling it off.

Price of ACOG
Trijicon Awarded New Marine Corps RCO Contract - The Firearm BlogThe Firearm Blog

Price of Sig 320
GRAPEVINE: US Army Pays $207 Per Pistol to SIG SAUER for M17 Modular Handguns - The Firearm BlogThe Firearm Blog

 

[William R. Moore]

They'll take a tax write off and beat their competitors to death with the "as issued to the USMC" & "Service pistol of the US Military". Beyond that, you always get a better price if you order gazillions. That and cheaper wood is how Sears sold Ted Williams model 53s for about 60% of what Winchester sold Winchester 94s.

Trijicon needed a win, their Reflex series was severely dated and losing market share by the truckload. Probably why they low-balled.

Back in 2012 I got to play with one of Trijicons scopes and a Zeiss prototype. The Trijicon was $1200 or so and an estimate on the Zeiss was around $2600. The Zeiss was cheap at that price given it's resolution and low light capability. The Trijicon....eh......BUT it was brighter in low light than the Reflex II on my issue rifle in daylight. That's an indictment of the Reflex.

 

[William R. Moore]

While driving to the post office this morning something else dawned upon me. Selling to the Feds takes at least one layer of the distribution chain away. MSRP always has about a 30-35% markup for each step of the distribution chain figured in.

So besides the giga-item discount, you lose several steps in the supply chain. The Fed price is probably close to what the manufacturer gets for their product from the first step in the distribution chain.