DarkLordOfOptics
Politics • Science & Tech • Sports
Guns, Optics, 2nd Amendment and resisting the Left in everything they touch.
Interested? Want to learn more about the community?

Learn more first
Primary Arms micro prismatics

Primary Arms has two micro prismatic sights at the moment, both of them part of their SLx product line. I've got a video on these coming shortly, but I have been slow with editing, so I figured I should lay the groundwork, so to speak. I added them to my updated recommendations, so some additional commentary seemed like a good idea.
I have spent quite a lot of time in the last year or two trying to think of a variety of ways to set up AR-15 rifles. I sorta know how I like to set them up for me, but that does not necessarily translate in how I think they should be set up for others, for example for my wife who is eight inches shorter than I am and less than half the weight and for my kids (8 and 10 years old as this is written). To be fair, my 8 year old son will probably be bigger than I am before I know it, but in the meantime I need to set up something he can grow with.
The fashionable thing, of course, is to set everything up with LPVOs and offset red dot sights. That is not too dissimilar to how I set up my AR (see the second Guns of the Dark Lord video), except I use offset irons and, for me, those are really supplementary sights. I use the Razor Gen3 LPVO on that gun on 1x all the time.
My wife has taken a couple of gun classes with me. She seems to like the classes (or at least likes them enough to go with me sometimes and develop some proficiency), but she is not a gun enthusiast. Also, when we are home, making her practice requires political skills and powers of persuasion I do not possess. It is easier to take the kids with me to the range, but getting them to do structured practice can be a bit of work. Besides, I sorta want to keep it fun for them.
What is fun for people who are not yet (or will never be) gun nuts? Being able to grab the gun and shoot at different targets, at different distances, and do so without putzing around with equipment.
Given that I am also dealing with people who are physically pretty small, the whole setup has to be light ad maneuverable.
So, what we've got for the moment is: light, quick, accurate enough, easy to use with minimal number of controls.
Well, that sorta spells out some sort of a low power prism with an offset red dot and the lighter this whole thing is, the better.
What is low power? That's another interesting question. For speed, you sorta need something with unity magnification, but the drills I am setting up for training tend to involve taking a look at something before shooting it. There is a lot to be said about being able to go fast and I am really not good at the whole going fast thing. However, I can make a really good argument that we are not living in a video game and being able to recognize whether whatever you are looking at needs to be shot is as important as being able to shoot quickly and accurately.
For target recognition, a little bit of magnification goes a long way. My wife's AR sports Trijicon Compact ACOG 1.5x16S with Primary Arms' ACSS reticle. 1.5x may not sound like much, but magnification is multiplicative. It is roughly equivalent to the difference between 2x and 3x or between 4x and 6x or between 10x and 15x.
For me the range of "low magnificaiton prismatics" starts at 1.5x and ends at 4x. 4x is probably higher than most people are comfortable with for this kind of use, but I spent so many years shooting my Elcan OS 4x that I am supremely comfortable with it as long as the reticle stands out well enough.
After that whole preamble, let's go back to Primary Arms' new batch of prismatics. They have two SLx micro-prisms, 1x and 3x, and a GLx 2x that is more of a standard/large-ish prism design. It is still a very compact scope since prism size is tied to magnification and FOV. With 2x magnification, you do not need a huge prism to get good FOV an large exit pupil. The GLx 2x has a 12mm exit pupil and the whole thing weighs 11 ounces with the mount and everything. If I had to choose one optic for a lightweight AR, this would definitely be in the running.
The SLx micro-prismatics take that whole compact thing to another level. They are not quite as nice as the GLx, but they are notably smaller and lighter. What really shocked me was that since they are part of Primary Arms SLx line, my expectations were pretty low. Older SLx products I have seen did not exactly inspire me, but these are legitimately good.
And small. Did I mention small? I may have mentioned small. Well, they are small and lightweight.
Time will tell if they are robust, but they seem to be so far.
They barely have any effect of the handling of light weight ARs and remarkably enough, they are very easy to get behind. The eyepieces were designed with comfort in mind.
Optically, they are better than I expected. Now, I am not going to trade in my Elcan any time soon, but I am not going to buy another fixed power Elcan or Trijicon either. For what I need, these are plenty good enough and for the price of one Elcan I can have multiple ones. To be fair, I do plan to pick up a switch power 1x/4x Elcan, but that is a conversation for another day and there is a reason for my madness.
For ARs that are light, capable and easy to use, these new micro prisms are awesome. Now, the natural question is, if microprisms are so good, why would anyone want to buy a large prism scope? They do get pretty beefy as the magnification goes up. They offer a very wide and immersive FOV which has certain advantages. I'll talk about large prism scopes in a separate post.
Going back to micro-prisms, the other application for these is to assuage my paranoias. I really like to have backup optics pre-sighted in for most of my rifles. For conventional hunting rifles I usually use very lightweight SWFA Ultralight 2.5-10x32. For ARs. I think it will Primary Arms' micro-prisms. They are small, light and easy to pack. Unexpectedly, the integrated mount comes back to zero surprisingly well if I use a torque wrench.

To summarize all of this: not only do these punch above their price range in terms of overall performance, I can also have spares with minimal effort and without going broke. I'll have the videos up with some extra commentary soon. In the meantime, this was why they are among my recommendations.

Interested? Want to learn more about the community?

Learn more first
What else you may like…
Videos
Posts
Articles
Vortex Defender XL Green

This is the second time Vortex' Defender XL crosses my path. I was very impressed with the original red dot version, so I was curious to see how the one with the green dot works for my eyes.
To get the details, see the attached video.
The cliff's notes version is that I am just as impressed with this one. In terms of collimation quality and parallax control, it is quite exceptional.
https://alnk.to/881BEV1

00:10:20
Primary Arms HTX-1 US Made red dot sight

I've had this RDS for a bit over two months now and I am beyond pleased with it.
Despite some spirited abuse, it keeps soldiering on.
https://alnk.to/1C9z5dw
It is a very nice RDS and being fully made in the US does not hurt either.

00:13:03
Delta Stryker 3.5-21x44 Wrap-up

This scope comes up a lot since I really like the configuration. It is time to do a final wrap-up of it.

It is one of my favourite scopes on the market today, especially for the money, since I naturally lean toward general purpose-ish designs. Still, while the 3.5-21x44 Stryker is relatively compact and light, it still clearly leans toward the precision side of things, which suites me very well.

https://annexdefense.com/optics-and-optic-accessories/delta-optics/

00:10:25
Labor Day is upon us...

As we head into Labor Day, we will all be bombarded with a huge number of emails indicating impending discounts of all sorts.
I am not even going to pretend that I have the bandwidth to go through it all, but if I see something worthwhile, I'll post it here. This will remained pinned to the top of the feed for a week or so.

The first nice deal that crossed my path here is steep discount on the original version of the FFP PLxC LPVO from Primary Arms. https://alnk.to/5Q7R6eK
Now that the new version with nuclear bright illumination came out, it looks they are closing out the original. It is a lot of LPVO for $1100 and the version with the Meters reticle is my favourite. You can easily make it work for imperial units.

Tract has the TORIC100 coupon code that gets you $100 off any Tract Toric optic. https://tractoptics.com/toric-uhd-30mm-2-5-15x44-ffp-illuminated-mrad-eagleman-long-range-hunting-rifle-scope?ref=ILYAKOSHKIN
The coupon codes are stackable, so if you also use my DLO discount code...

I was a bit confused at the beginning but this is a new Model looking at the turret compare to old LH2-10x40,
Any news on this ?
https://www.amazon.com/Vortex-Optics-Razor-Second-Riflescopes/dp/B0FBMNTW52?th=1

Updates, deals and new review items: PLxC RDB, Zeiss Tripod, etc

As the week is coming to an end, I find myself in an unusual place: home.

I plan to be home between now and September 1st when I have to go to Israel for ten days, returning on the 11th (dayjob stuff).

For the last couple of months, between family vacations, work and a couple of matches, it seems like I only spent enough time at home to check zero on my 6.5CM Fix and head out again (it has not shifted, thank you Area 419 mount).

I have a lot to do during the next two weeks, but I will try to take some pictures, film some footage and release it as I go along. I can edit videos on the plane or in Israel just about as well as I can at home.

While generally, I am very picky about what I accept for review (given my bandwidth limitations), I do have a few new things here worth talking about.

One is Primary Arms new PLxC RDB 1-8x24 LPVO. It is essentially a version of the original FFP PLxC LPVO except with different reticle illumination technology. The new model utilizes diffractive reticle illumination (same style ...

Well, that was a doozy...

My original plan was to try to set up a hunt where my daughter will have her first memorable hunting experience without working too hard.

The choice of the pronghorn hunt was largely based off of my experience in that same area last year.

The way it went last year was quite straightforward.  We drove around until we saw a large pronghorn buck.  It was a solitary animal that decided to lie down in an open area to relax.  We made a short stock, crawled the last hundred yards or so, found a good spot about 350 yards away from the pronghorn and made the shot.

https://darklordofoptics.locals.com/post/6034347/well-that-was-a-nice-morning

This year, when I decided to take my daugher on the same pronghorn hunt on the day of her 14th birthday, I figured it will be somewhere along those same lines.  It kinda was, but not quite.

Still, it worked out nicely.

In the pciture:

Q Mini-Fix with 6ARC 16" Proof Research carbon fiber barrel

Q Jumbo Shrimp supressor

Gunwerks Elevate 2.0 bipod

Telson Toxin 3-18x50 riflescope

Leica Geovid Pro AB+ LRF binoculars

Pint-sized sticky Gamechanger bag

Unnamed pronghorn buck.  It will likely get a name once it's skull is euro-ed and is hanging on the wall.

Only for Supporters
To read the rest of this article and access other paid content, you must be a supporter
Read full Article
Arming The Children
A couple of very specific children that is

In case you were wondering, no, I am not starting an underage militia.

I do have two kids though and I am teaching them to shoot.

Only for Supporters
To read the rest of this article and access other paid content, you must be a supporter
Read full Article
post photo preview
Steiner C35 Gen2 Mount
from Annex Defense

The production version of the Annex Defense's mount for the Steiner C35 Gen2 thermal Clip-on is finally here.  At $1600 (when this is published), the clip-on is an absolute steal.

I've had it for a few days, but, me being the good old paranoid me, I spent some time shooting with it before posting anything.  I had a couple of days with it prior to last weekend's match in Montana and a couple of days after.  Another to pop it on and off a few times and get a couple of hundred rounds of 6.5Grendel through the gun to see if anything shakes loose.  So far so good.

The C35 Gen2 clip-on is sitting on my 6.5Grendel AR as a part of a long running "Only One" project that I have.  It pairs perfectly with the Steiner H6Xi 2-12x42 scope.

Here is what comes in the box from Annex Defense:

The order in which the whole thing comes togethe is pretty stragihtforward:

-slide the thermal washer onto the threaded interface extending out of the back of the clip-on

-spin the mount itself onto the threaded interface (the mount is threaded on the inside) until it can go no further

-rotate the mount so that the clip-on is properly lined up to the picatinny clamp

-once you are happy with the alignment, use the three nylon tipped set screws (you'll need an allen wrench for that) to lock in the position of the clip-on in the mount.  You need very little torque on the set screws.  They are there for one reason and one reason only: to keep the mount from spinning when you tighten the timing nut in the next step

-spin the timing nut onto the threaded interface of the clip-on to lock the mount in place.  You should not need the timing nut wrench, but one is in there just in case.

Here are the pieces laid out in the order in which you will need them.

When you are done, it should look like this:

Note that the mount normaly comes with two T20 screws.  I am using two thumbscrews instead, since I am popping the mount on and off all the time.  It seems to be staying put with the thumbscrews just fine.  I am hoping Annex will offer the thumbscrews as an option.

It is not quite an equivalent of a QD mount, but we needed something with an extremely low profile clamp to fit under scopes with fairly large objectives.  As is, the mount works with most scope that have objective lens diameter of 50mm or less.

I am using with with Steiner H6Xi 2-12x42 and the two work together exceedingly well.

Read full Article
Available on mobile and TV devices
google store google store app store app store
google store google store app tv store app tv store amazon store amazon store roku store roku store
Powered by Locals