The Trijicon AccuPoint 2.5-12.5 x 42mm is a unique rifle scope offering some of the best features currently available, and a magnification range superior to many scopes. Today, I’m taking a look at it from a law enforcement and sportsman’s perspective.
The 2.5-12.5 x 42 riflescope is one of six offerings in the Trijicon AccuPoint family and has the incredible potential over a wide range of shooting disciplines.
Trijicon solidified itself as a top-tier glassmaker, earning high praise for its military ACOG scopes. The AccuPoint family offers strong competition from magnified reflex scopes like the 1-4x and 1-6x scopes, all the way through the spectrum to extreme long-distance shooting with the AccuPoint 5-20 x 50mm scope.
I’ve chosen to highlight the AccuPoint 2.5-12.5 x 42mm scope because I feel it offers an outstanding magnification range to capture a very large portion of the rifle shooting market.
The 2.5-12.5×42 AccuPoint is a high-quality scope with many uses.
AccuPoint 2.5-12.5 x 42mm Scope
For decades rifle scope manufacturers seemed to have distinct separations between short-range, mid-range, and long-range rifle scopes. Perhaps, at that time, the market demanded a clear-cut change in the type of shooting desired. In addition, manufacturing certain types of scopes with a generalized set of magnification ranges made the manufacturing process much easier.
However, in the recent past (particularly in the last 10 years) the riflescope market has had a determined push to break the mold on traditional magnification ranges. Indeed, low power scopes like the TruGlo Omnia 1-4x and 1-6x AR scopes and Trijicon Accupoint 1-6×24 scope have all been born from a healthy and vigorous rifle competition community, as well as military conflicts in more urban settings.
This same push for unique scopes to match new shooting styles has reached into the mid and long-range riflescope manufacturing as well. This is where the Trijicon AccuPoint 2.5-12.5 x 42mm scope shines.
Taking on a traditional rifle scope appearance, this AccuPoint scope is intended to reach the largest area of rifle shooters’ needs. Dropping the low-end magnification from the very common 3x to 2.5x may not seem like much, but anyone who has spent a lot of time scoping targets at closer ranges knows even the slightest magnification drop can go a long way to better sighting.
This AccuPoint has a second focal plane (SFP) reticle system, which has proven to be highly popular among shooters. The benefits of the SFP system is that the reticle remains a constant size over the range of magnification. The downfall of the SFP reticle is that hold-overs on both the MOA and Mil-Dot reticles will only be true for the specific magnification setting zeroed. As the magnification changes, the hold-overs do not keep accurate value.
The Trijicon AccuPoint 2.5-12.5x42mm scope is packed with features.
Scope Features
- Magnification range of 2.5 – 12.5x
- 30mm tube for excellent light transmission
- Second Focal Plane (SFP) reticles (scroll down for more information on these)
- Multi-coated lenses
- Four fiber-optic illuminated reticle options
- Tritium aiming point for low-light conditions
- BDC and hold-over options
- Capped elevation and windage turrets.
- Illumination control rheostat
Then Trijicon expands the upper range on this AccuPoint scope from the traditional 9x or 10x magnification to a very healthy 12.5x. This is another area the AccuPoint shines, as the increase in top-end magnification provides the shooter a greater range and clearer picture for accurate shooting. The extra 2.5x or 3.5x magnification at the top end is an incredible improvement and really places this AccuPoint in a position to be a shooter or hunter’s go-to scope for almost all their shooting needs.
The Trijicon AccuPoint 2.5-12.5 x 42mm scope is ideally suited to provide shooters incredibly good sight pictures in close range to medium-long range distances. This AccuPoint comes with a 30mm tube, which is far superior to 1-inch (25.4 mm) tubes for light transmission and clarity of optical sighting. Though there are some very impressive 1-inch tube scopes on the market, I always favor the 30mm scopes. More light = better sight picture! The 42mm objective lens is large enough to provide very good light transmission for the enhanced and multi-coated lenses to produce high quality and high clarity sight picture in a variety of lighting conditions.
The Trijicon AccuPoint 2.5-12.5 x 42mm scope has the option for set rings and bases, or a very versatile quick-release mount. The quick-release mount can provide very fast change-out between rifles for particular shooting requirements. Once zero is determined for each rifle the shooter plans on using this AccuPoint scope on, the quick adjustment from rifle to rifle can be accomplished in literally minutes.
The four reticle options for the Trijicon AccuPoint 2.5-12.5×42 scope.
The Trijicon AccuPoint 2.5-12.5 x 42mm scope comes with four reticle options:
- Standard Duplex
- MOA – Dot crosshair
- BAC Triangle post
- Mil-Dot crosshair
Each of the reticle selections is illuminated with a green fiber optic aiming point. These fiber optic sights also have the benefit of Tritium when the exterior light drops down even darker. Green has been considered a much softer and easier color for the shooter’s eye by some. The BAC Triangle post reticle gives the additional options of red and yellow colors. The illuminated aiming point is incredibly advantageous for low-light shooting situations when non-illuminated reticles can begin to blend in with the target or surrounding terrain.
The illumination rheostat control is on top of the ocular bell.
Scope Specifications
- Material: 6061-T6 black hard-coat anodized
- Magnification: 2.5x – 12.5x
- Overall Length: 13.8 inches
- Weight: 22.4 ounces
- Tube Diameter: 30mm
- Objective Lens Diameter: 42mm
- Objective Bell Diameter: 49.9mm
- Adjustment Settings: 0.25 MOA (or 0.1 Mil) @ 100 yards
- Adjustment Range: 90 MOA (26.7 Mil)
- Illumination: Fiber optic and Tritium
- Field of View (FOV): 8.3 feet (2.5x) to 41.3 feet (12.5x) @ 100 meters
- Exit Pupil: 0.42 to 0.13 inches (10.6mm to 3.3mm)
- Eye Relief: 3.9 inches constant
- Parallax Setting: 10 yards to infinity
- Waterproof: 10 feet (3m)
- Each AccuPoint includes: Trijicon log sticker, LENSPEN, set of lens caps
- MSRP: $1299.00
The 42mm multi-coated Objective lens should provide outstanding light transmission for sight clarity.
In my opinion, the Standard Duplex and BAC Triangle post reticles are the least desirable selections for this AccuPoint. The Duplex reticle’s posts and crosshairs are too large to acquire a good sight picture on smaller targets, particularly at distance, though the center illuminated dot is a nice feature. The BAC Triangle post seems to be a tribute to early 20th-century reticle designs, but without good horizontal reference points (crosshairs), I feel this reticle has a very limited application.
Mil-Dot crosshair offers a lot of benefits. The Mil-Dot posts and crosshairs are smaller than the Duplex and offer ranging and hold-over aiming points. The illuminated center dot is also a very nice feature for low-light shooting conditions. The MOA-Dot cross-hair is tied for the best reticle for the Trijicon AccuPoint 2.5-12.5 x 42mm scope. The selection of the Mil-Dot or MOA-Dot reticle will likely come down to shooter preference, and that’s O.K. The MOA-Dot offers smaller crosshairs, MOA hold-overs, and a clearer overall sight picture. However, the Mil-Dot reticle provides better ranging, and what some consider a much easier hold-over system.
The MOA-Dot reticle, when used at the 12.5x magnification setting, can be used as a BDC system. By setting up your rifle and cartridge in a ballistic calculator the shooter can know exactly where to place holdovers with the 2 MOA spaced, 0.65 MOA dots.
One drawback, in my opinion, is the capped turrets. I much prefer to have water-proof exposed turrets for making quick adjustments to point-of-impact (POI) on the fly. However, with the Mil-Dot and MOA-Dot reticles, with proper hold-over aiming points, a shooter may not need to make adjustments in a more traditional sense.
Final Thoughts
The Trijicon AccuPoint 2.5-12.5 x 42mm rifle scope packs a lot of features and one of the best overall magnification ranges on the market today. Using a high quality, hard-anodized 30mm 6061-T6 aluminum body, this AccuPoint is ready to meet the harshest conditions and still provide outstanding sight quality and durability. I am a huge fan of the larger 30mm tubes, and this is a significant plus for Trijicon. The magnification range of 2.5x to 12.5x is fantastic, covering a huge portion of what sport, hunting, and professional shooters require.
The multi-coated lenses should provide quality light transmission while reducing glare. In addition, the option of four reticles provides an even broader range of uses for this scope. I really like the MOA-Dot and Mil-Dot reticles the best, as I see them as the most versatile options with the best overall sight picture.
Illumination is becoming a standard, and something any serious shooter should consider a must-have feature. The fiber optic dot, back up with low-light Tritium is outstanding. This feature should extend viable shooting options by several minutes in the critical moments of low-light at dawn and dusk when many game animals present themselves. In addition, the illuminated reticles provide professional shooters, like police snipers, a critical advantage in life-or-death situations that are often faced in low-light conditions.
Overall I’m impressed with the Trijicon AccuPoint 2.5-12.5 x 42mm rifle scope. If there were any suggestions to make this scope better it would be to include a First Focal Plane (FFP) option, as well as an exposed turret option. If you are looking for a scope with a large magnification range and a First Focal Plane reticle, check out my article on the EOTech Vudo 3.5-18x riflescope.
Buying the Accupoint Scope
Due to the high-end nature of this riflescope, few gun dealers will carry it. The best price I’ve found on this line of Trijicon scopes is through our affiliate link here. Optics Planet is a trusted dealer who I’ve used many times in the past.
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