td-aimpoint_7550
It’s been at least eighteen years since I learned about Tango Down. I met its proprietor – Jeff Cahill – a few years later. I was hosting a Pat Rogers / EAG carbine class for my department. He had developed a unique target design with another company I was working with. Pat wanted to use those targets for the class, but I had not gotten them yet. That led me to Cahill, who got the targets into my hands in time for the class. How? He drove a big box of them up to us on a trip to see family. Jeff went out of his way to do that.
For the first few years I knew Jeff, I spent every SHOT show in his booth. Jeff grabbed enough floor space to host other up-and-coming companies, ones that could not have afforded to get any footprint there any other way. That is just how Jeff is.
Fast forward. Tango Down has worked with Larry Vickers and others to bring various handgun accessories to market. They even developed the ARC magazine for the 5.56mm SCAR rifle project.
Unfortunately for me, most of the handgun accessories were specifically for Glock pistols since I generally don’t use Glocks.
That changed with the release of Aimpoint’s Acro P2 optical sights. Jeff and crew have designed products that enhance those sights. One provides an increased level of protection for the optic. The other provides a greatly improved mounting interface.
Acro Sight Guard
The first product is a lens guard for the Acro P2 sights. The AALG-01 fits Acros mounted on top of an OEM or after-market plate; the AALG-02 is designed for those Acros attached to the slide via a direct mount.
The AALG-002 attached to an Acro that is mounted via direct milling. Atei’s excellent shim sight is visible as well.
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Made from 6061 T6, an aerospace-grade alloy, Tango Down has hard coat anodized it in any color you want, as long as it’s black. After cleaning the optic’s surface, press it onto the downrange end of the optic to install it. Once it is on, hand-tighten the 2-56 screw on each side of the guard.
What does it do? It protects the glass by creating a raised surface that surrounds the glass. The raised impact resistance surface will prevent most damage by putting that barrier far enough out to keep it away from the glass. The gap has the secondary benefit of guiding your dirty, oily fingers away from the glass.
Why is the AALG a good addition? Look at that armor plate caused divot from a demo I did.
Is this a thing? Yes! I started using one of the early P1s available to the general cop world in the summer of 2019. Over the next couple of years, while teaching pistol-mounted optics classes, I would demonstrate clearing a stuck case. I could do it with a support hand grip on the slide most of the time. However, there were times when that fired, stuck case was not coming loose that way. Then I had to shift to racking the slide off a fixed object. In one class, I put a heck of a dent into the housing of the Acro P1 I had on the gun. The dent missed the glass but not by much.
So, yes, I see the need for something like this. Jeff sent me one of the AALG-02 versions about this time last year. I put it on my duty pistol. It has stayed tight on the optic and has not interfered with the pistol’s functions. While it has not seen the number of demos I used the P1 for, it has prevented damage to the optic’s face – which is what it is designed to do.
Acro Mounting Plate
There is no shortage of entities manufacturing mounting plates for those slides cut for them. Many manufacturers’ OEM plates have had fit, form, or function issues. Jeff also sent me one of their AAM-01 plates for Glock MOS pistols, specifically for the Acro P2.
De-greaser, thread locker, and torque wrenches – all needed when mounting optics
Using the mounting method, I have covered in these pages previously, (Here) I mounted it on a Gen 4 Glock 19. It fits snuggly, requiring a little tapping to seat it. It didn’t require any adjustments to fit the manufacturers’ cut. Once installed and cured, I mounted a Steiner MPS pistol optic without issue. While the Steiner fits most Acro mounts, it is not 100%. An acquaintance and I fired several hundred rounds through without any mount issues.
My work with the C&H Precision Duty optic has all been with it mounted on TangoDown’s plate.
When C&H Precision released their enclosed emitter Duty optic, I mounted it with this plate. That optic fits without any issues. I fired over 500 rounds through it, and there have not been any issues related to the mount itself or the optic’s interface with the mount. A Glock-ophile of some note shot it during a recent class; he did not have any concerns with it either.
TangoDown’s Acro plate installed on an H&K VP9 but missing the witness marks (photo courtesy of TangoDown)
The AAM-01 plates are machined out of ordinance-grade steel and finished with Melonite. It fits the Gen 4 and Gen 5 MOS cut slides. Other Acro plates exist for H&K, Sig, Smith & Wesson, and Walther pistols.
Getting ready to mount the AAM to a Gen 4 Glock 19, a Steiner MPS went on it at first.
Like I said, I have been using products from Tango Down for years, and I will continue to because of the thoughtfulness they bring to design and development and the quality of what hits the end-user hands.
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