I'll admit, I hate selecting optics for rifles. I generally gravitate towards the lower end of the scale in regards to pricing, generally stuff labeled as decent for the money "budget" level. I've had a few Acogs also, they were nice but not easy on the wallet. During some research lately I see alot of reviews on optics where the person will state they like it, but wouldn't consider it "duty grade".
So here is my question to get a good conversation going. What is considered "duty grade" in optics, what features make something good enough for duty and how much does duty grade cost? This question is mainly aimed at magnified optics for rifles, but we can generalize to include others as well. Looking at different levels of offerings in manufacturers scopes, at what level does their scope go into "duty grade" is what I can't figure out.
I did not serve in the military, so I don't have first hand experience with hard use of gear. I don't use my gear hard anyways, but I do like to find value in things while saving money too. I appreciate good glass, but how much do I need to spend to not have that doubt in the back of my mind that my optic isn't good enough? Part of me understands that I don't need high end stuff for what I do, but the firearms community has the other part of me convinced that I'm doing myself an injustice by being cheap.
So here is my question to get a good conversation going. What is considered "duty grade" in optics, what features make something good enough for duty and how much does duty grade cost? This question is mainly aimed at magnified optics for rifles, but we can generalize to include others as well. Looking at different levels of offerings in manufacturers scopes, at what level does their scope go into "duty grade" is what I can't figure out.
I did not serve in the military, so I don't have first hand experience with hard use of gear. I don't use my gear hard anyways, but I do like to find value in things while saving money too. I appreciate good glass, but how much do I need to spend to not have that doubt in the back of my mind that my optic isn't good enough? Part of me understands that I don't need high end stuff for what I do, but the firearms community has the other part of me convinced that I'm doing myself an injustice by being cheap.