2025 Red Dot of the Year

The Aimpoint COA & A-­CUT development was a collaborative effort between Aimpoint and Glock, making it subject to a 1-­year exclusivity agreement. We’re on standby to see other guns receive the A-­CUT mounting interface, and thereby the COA. The pairing is genius, so much so that orders from law enforcement agencies have limited the combo’s availability on the commercial market.

Guns & Ammo’s staff tested the Aimpoint COA and A-­CUT since it was announced in the March 2025 issue, and it has lived up to the hype. Stabilized in all directions, the COA optic doesn’t move. A wedge locks the front and rear, while a raised shelf interlocks with the center channel underneath the COA. The rear sight plate uses two fasteners to secure a sight plate that completes the rear wedge. This means there is no recoil shearforce transferred to the fasteners or the threads, a failure point with other optic-­mounting designs.

We expect that the A-­CUT will revolutionize optic mounting footprints on handguns, but the Aimpoint COA optic is just as noteworthy. Often imitated, the COA possesses every one of Aimpoint’s innovations. It’s a lightweight, thin-­walled, closed-­emitter optic with low-­profile tactile controls. Transitions between intensity levels are uninterrupted. Reticle activation and adjustment are intuitive, and the COA displays a perfect 3.5 MOA dot with eight daylight and four night-­vision compatible settings. Though a CR2032 battery will run the COA for 50,000 hours — more than five years — to change one is as easy as loosening a screw, pulling out a tray, and switching out the easy-­to-­find battery. Even for all its features and benefits, the COA did not receive a price increase versus the Acro P-­2. The innovative design, materials, manufacturing quality, and demonstrated reliability made the A-­CUT and COA red-­dot sight system a clear winner. 

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