Holographic sights may shift 4 MOA in certain conditions, reticle fades with age.

The U.S. Special Operations Command is warning its operators that some of their electronic rifle sights might fail them in certain environments.

As first reported by Tactical Retailer contributor Eric Graves, in mid-September USSOCOM issued a so-called "Safety Of Use Message" telling special operations troops that several models of the EOTech-made Enhanced Combat Optical Sight could shift their zero by as much as 4 minutes of angle at 100 yards after being exposed to very high, or very low temperatures. Additionally, SOCOM said in March the EOTech holographic sights will encounter a "fading reticle and parallax error" due to age and other conditions.

Weapons testers found the EOTech sights' 65 MOA ring faded with age and therefore "the holographic reticle may not be visible in all firing positions." The testers also found that the EOTech sights will show a 4 MOA parallax error that will affect "off-axis firing positions at all temperatures."

Officials with EOTech have not responded to a request for comment.

According to SoldierSystems.net, financial documents show EOTech parent company L3 Communications has known about the problem and has carved out $26 million in contingency funds to deal with potential lawsuits and other actions against the company related to its holographic sights.

SoldierSystems also found EOTech has changed its user manuals to leave out language about its sights being "parallax-free" and to not specify operational temperature ranges. SOCOM testers found the zeroing errors when the holographic sights were exposed to temperatures of -40 F and 120 F, not unheard of conditions for the back of a police cruiser in Arizona or an ATV in Afghanistan.