DarkLordOfOptics
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Guns, Optics, 2nd Amendment and resisting the Left in everything they touch.
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Another GPF article: Energy Crunch

I hope you do not mind this constant stream of articles from GeoPoliticalFutures that I like to reference. If it is too much, please tell me. As I mentioned earlier, I am trying to find the right mix of content for this website.
GPF has a strong analysis department spread all over the world and if I am trying to make sense of something, they often have good apolitical (or minimally political) data summary somewhere.
That's why when I drink my coffee in the morning, and look through my overnight e-mail, anything from GPF deserves a closer look.
With George Friedman, who I typically reference, I really like his well thought out opinion pieces.
With other authors at GPF, I mostly look at the analytical bits, but most of what they produce is worth reading. Naturally, I usually have my own take on things.

This particular piece is looking at the reasons behind the spiking energy prices. There are some nice charts in there, so rather than copy and paste it, I am attaching a PDF.

Look at the charts in their and pay close attention to what they project in terms of energy demand. We are essentially in a cold war of sorts with China and if we are looking to really squeeze them (and we should), energy is definitely where it is at.

In principle, another is manufacturing. There has been a lot said about all of the US manufacturing base being shipped over to China. Some of it is true. Some of it is hyperbole. Some of it is looking at the wrong things.

Traditional labor and material intensive manufacturing always ends up leaving places with high wages and going to places with low wages. China seized on that years ago and, by strongly subsidizing their manufacturing base, created the industrial juggernaut that they currently are. I think their long term power is somewhat overstated and that totalitarian political system can not co-exist with somewhat free market economy for very long, but time will tell. This is probably a conversation for another day.

China is no longer the cheapest place to make stuff, so some of the most labor intensive manufacturing is moving to other places, while China is trying to move upmarket. That requires energy and they are usually in some sort of an energy crunch or on the verge of one. That is an opportunity for countries worried about China's power (and that should be all of them).

Another thing to consider is that arguably the biggest reason China is maintaining it's industrial power is not just the labor costs, but also efficiency. Huge manufacturing regions in China created this incredible infrastructure where everything you need is comparatively nearby and even rather complex manufacturing processes can be accomplished quickly without shipping things back and forth too much.

As companies quietly trying to diversify from China (and there are quite a few of them) learned, that infrastructure is hard to set up from scratch in places like Vietnam and Thailand, for example. That infrastructure, or lack thereof, is also one of the reasons it has become so expensive to manufacture things here in the US.

We sorta had it, then we shipped it all overseas. Rebuilding in the same it used to exist is not feasible without a major decline in the standard of living here.

The big question is whether it is possible to do it more efficiently. Well, if EPA wasn't mucking things up, there is a lot more high tech stuff that we could do here, especially within the semiconductor and biotech world. There are some steps being taken in that direction. It started under Trump, so naturally it is quite possible that the crack team of imbeciles currently occupying the White House might screw it up (elections matter people, especially the one coming in 2022).

How about more traditional manufacturing? That would be hard. Doing that on large scale is a huge infrastructure investment that I just do not see happening and the more boutique stuff never left.

I think there is a real opportunity there with additive manufacturing, commonly known as 3D printing. That brings us back to where I started this conversation: energy.

In principle, all you need is for additive manufacturing is energy and pre-processed, to some degree, raw materials. There is very little waste. You can do very complex shapes. Additional machining is often limited to just cleaning up the surfaces if that.

All you need is a building with power, 3D printing machines, software control systems and the means to feed them with raw material.

If we invest into nuclear power, use hydrocarbons we pull out of the ground to make composites and invest into additive manufacturing, we could see a significant uptick in industrial activity right here.

In many ways, despite the Democrats persistent efforts to screw it up, US is an energy superpower and we should always remember that.

whats-driving-the-spike-in-energy-prices-geopoliticalfutures-com.pdf
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5x Prismatic Wrap-up

This is not the end of my commentary on 5x prismatics, but it is a wrap for an unintentionally very long term project I had. I spent an unhealthy amount of time evaluating these four prismatic riflescopes:
Element Immersive 5x30 https://alnk.to/gzXEPUr
Swampfox Sabre 5x36 https://alnk.to/aAPTubq
Vortex Spitfire Gen2 5x https://alnk.to/3co4hVD
Primary Arms SLx 5x https://alnk.to/2jOhnT7

Two are large prism designs. Two are small prism designs.

The order in which I list them above corresponds to the image quality, from best to worst, although there isn't a ton of difference between SLx and Spitfire Gen2. Purely on the merits of resolution, Sabre is comparable to them as well, but much wider FOV and forgiving eyebox does put it a step above in terms of performance (at the expense of about a pound of weight). Element Immersive 5x30 is a different beast optically and it should be at a higher price at which it sells. It resolves better, has higher contrast and widest FOV of the bunch. Side-focus adds ...

00:16:40
Blast From The Past: Millett ZoomDot RDS

I dug this thing up purely by accident. It has been a long time since I used it for anything, but I am thinking I should, especially as I work on a magnifier video.

MIllet's ZoomDot was a unique red dot sight that had auto brightness and variable dot size from 1MOA to 10MOA.

Early ones, like mine, were made in the US. Millett had some aspirations of selling these to the US military.

I do not think they got very far, then the company was bought by Bushnell and essentially shut down after a little bit. At some point, the manufacturing for the ZoomDot moved to China and it was not really the same.

00:05:44
Scout Scopes: Burris 2.75x20

Scout scopes are almost like a forgotten art form these days. There is an occasional discussion either on how they are the greatest thing since sliced bread because 1) THE colonel said so 2) if you do not think they are, refer to rule number 1.
Alternatively, the prevailing thought is that they are completely useless and if LPVOs existed in Jeff Cooper's time, there would never be such a thing as scout scopes.
The truth, as is usually the case, resides somewhere in the middle.
Scout scopes do have their place, but they are definitely a niche product. It is, however, an interesting niche.
Scout scope pickings are relatively slim in terms of what's on offer.
Leupold makes a 1.5-4x28 https://alnk.to/gKSibYj
Burris makes a 2-7x32 and 2.75x20
Vortex has a 2-7x32 in the Crossfire line
There are also a few out there from UTG, Aimsports, etc.

I strongly lean toward compact fixed power designs, so Burris 2.75x20 https://alnk.to/cSJCBQx is probably my favourite and is the subject of this ...

00:11:58

Hi Ilya,

For many years I have been looking for a new spotting scope that has an FFP mil reticle for accurately calling corrections.  I have the angled version Kowa TSN-883 with 20-60 eyepiece that is great except it doesn’t have a reticle so the correction calls are not as precise or as fast as they could/should be. An ideal reticle would have a crosshair or L with a grid off of center but a simple crosshair, L or a tree would be sufficient.

I really like dual focus (can settle for single focus) that uses the small knobs that rotate very easily/smoothly so the scope can be focused on a v-bag while staying on target when it's impractical or a hassle to use a tripod. 

I also like an angled eye piece because it’s easier to establish a comfortable position in many situations as compared to straight eyepiece where you need to be directly behind the scope.  

I haven’t found anything with these attributes with max magnification and glass quality at least “good enough” for clear ...

Is it possible to integrate functions of impact 4000 into/with a scope cam system with a ocular side display, without running into patent issue?

Hey Ilya,
This may be a dumb question but is the quality control of leica binoculars and other sport optics are expectably worse compared to their photography counterparts?
I’m only asking since I have lots of excellent cameras and lenses from them and had never had any complaints for the 3 shelves of lenses I owned but the first and only binoculars I got from them seems to have a sizeable imperfection in the case of my Geovid AB+ It’s a wonderful piece of equipment throughout its range of utility and optical clarity.
However, I’m not sure if I’m cherry picking like with photography and cinematography gears but I can’t help to notice there’s a tiny hair/ crack/ glue flake in the edge of the 10 O’clock area in the right tube and it appears to be around 5mm when looking down the binos.
In photography world inperfections like this probably warrant a trip back to the factory; but I assume that similar imperfections in sporting optics doesn’t prevent it from fulfilling its ...

A morning with a chronograph

When I tell people that I am using Hornady's factory ammo for matches, I get occasionally surprised looks.  Occasionally.  Most of the time, I get fairly condescending looks from handloaders who would not let a factory round pollute the chambers of their precision rifles if their lives depended on it.

To be fair, if I had the time, I might be reloading as well.  I might be able to do better than modern factory ammo, but the truth is that I am not a quarter MOA shooter, so a lot of that would be lost on me.  The UKD matches I fidn most interesting can be done by a competent shooter with a 1MOA gun.  I am working on that first part.  I reload when I have to, but if I can get factory ammo that's not outrageously expensive and that shoots well, I will go with that every time.

I looked around and realized that I have about 600 rounds of Hornady 147gr 6.5CM factory ammo from two lots.  400 rounds from one that I will use during the match later this month.  The remainder I will likely use up practicing prior to that.

I woke up early and snuck out to the range while my family was still asleep earlier today.

I set up in the 100 yard tunnel we have.  I took my four shots to zero with the lot I plan to use for the match.  Then I fired a six shot ~0.7MOA group.  That's accurate enough for my purposes.

Here are the chronograph results:

It is slow, but accurate and consistent.

Then I shot a five round group of Hornady 147gr ammo from the other lot.

Both of those lots are not too shabby for factory ammo.  POI was within 0.2mrad between the two lots, all laterally.  

 

I had some other ammo on hand, so I fired two five shot groups with Berger 144gr hybrid target ammo and Sako TRG 136gr.

Here is what I got for five rounds of Berger:

That's not a ton of statistics, but it is a data point.  The group was ~1.1MOA

 

Here the data for the Sako TRG 136gr ammo:

This ammo showed some mild pressure signs, but not too significant.  

Again, this is not a ton of data, but Hornady is looking pretty decent here.

I'll repeat the zero retention and consistency tests a couple more times between now and June 18th when we head to Wyoming.

I might pick up a couple more boxes of Hornady 147gr from a different lot to get some more data.

More to come.

 

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First PRS Match is behind me
High Noon at Del Norte

My first PRS match is officially behind me.  It was, I think an officially sanctioned regional PRS match at the shooting range called Del Norte about an hour from me (just east of Rio Rancho).
As I discussed previously, rather than using the rifle I originally prepared for it, I ended up having to change gears at the last moment and slapping a 5-25x56 Tangent on my daughter's 6ARC MiniFIx.  A lightweight 16" Proof barreled 6ARC is not an ideal set up for PRS competition, but, in the grand scheme of things, the rifle did hot hold me back at all.  I had a couple of weights that fit the Q-cert handguard, so I slapped them on there as well, which got the rifle to right around 12lbs.  The balance point was almost where I want it, but not quite.  In all other ways, this was a very handy rifle to shoot.  I am actually thinking of getting a couple more weights that I can stack on it (Sawtooth weights are stackable), so that I can shoot some future local matches with it.  It shoots Hornady's Black 105gr ammo very well (it also shoots 108gr ELD-M and 103gr ELD-X well, but I had a larger supply of Hornady Black ammo on hand).

It chrono'ed pretty consistently for factory ammo.  Here are the measurements for a 20 shot group.

If I were to take out the fastest shot, SD drops down to 8fps.  

In terms of wind performance, it is a 5mph rifle, so slightly better than the 308 ammo I was going to use originally, but not as good as the 6.5CM that was my intended match rifle for this year (we make plans, but then life happens).

I do have to admit that I really enjoyed shooting the match with the MiniFix.  So much so, that I am seriously thinking of building another one for myself, since this rifle is technically my daughter's.

The closest shot we had was a bit over a couple of hundred yards.  The furthest was around 1150.  That was a bit challenging for the 16" barreled 6ARC, especially since the terrain there is tricky and wind is doing strange things.  Morning was relatively quiet wind-wise, but then the wind becamse gusty with changing directions.

It was a one day match with about 30 shooters (six squads) and ten stages.  The 17 year old kid who won the match was in my squad with his dad.  Apparently he is on the US team, so it should not be surrpising that he won.  He was very good.

Overall level of the shooters in the match was quite good.  I really was not sure what to expect.  Somewhat paradoxically, the only matches that I have shot in so far are the much larger two day NRL Hunter matches.  In those, I am just out of the bottom third in terms of skill level.  In this match, it was pretty much in the same spot, I think.  

The terrain was a little bit like Cameo, I think (I have been there, but not shot there), with some angle changes and sufficient vegetation to make getting on target occasionally troublesome. 

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Getting back on the horse, little by little

My original plan was to do a livestream on Thursday of this week, but I think I'll push it out to next week.  A few days at home is doing wonders for my recovery, but my voice is still not quite there.  I do not think any of you are looking to listen to me cough for two hours straight.

Also, I am going to try to shoot that local PRS match this coming Saturday, so doign a livestream next week after the match is likely to be more productive.  It is my first one, so I fully expect that I will screw it all up.  It should be a good learning experience.  I do not have a dedicated PRS rifle and I am not looking to set one up jsut yet.  If I like it, I'll put something together, but as far as competition goes, my focus is really on UKD matches like NRL Hunter, Competition Dynamics, etc.  My 6.5CM is not back yet, so I'll just shoot it with my 308 FIx.  It is not ideal, but it will do just fine for my purposes.  I am in no danger of winning anything either way and this will stress my ability to read wind.  A secondary purpse here is that I am not 100% certain what rifle I will take on a mule deer hunt with later this year, but it will be either something new to test or this 308.  Now that I think about it, the 308 is going with me regardless either as a primary rifle or as backup.  The rifle shoots, so if I miss, I know it is on me.

For the match, I have Burris XTR PS 5.5-30x56 scope on the 308 Fix.  I think the way they did the heads up display in these is a meaningful improvement over conventional riflescopes.

https://alnk.to/d3EjPHC or https://alnk.to/8iVRlGN

Optically, I think XTR Pro is a little better, but the EO integration in the XTR PS is, I think, in advantage.

In parallel, I am looking at the replacement AAC ammo (they replaced the faulty ammo and I have chrono results on it) and testing the optics of the 40mm scopes in parallel.

 

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