DarkLordOfOptics
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Guns, Optics, 2nd Amendment and resisting the Left in everything they touch.
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LPVOs that are not going back to the manufacturer

I have been talking about LPVOs a lot lately and someone e-mailed me an interesting question: "what do you actually own?"
It is a good question since scopes come and go all the time. Some are on loan. Some I sell when I am done. Some do stay here.
That changes occasionally as newer and better things come up. Many scopes I do recommend, I no longer own. For example, one of my favorite LPVOs is Delta Stryker 1-6x24. I sent it to a friend of mine in Alaska because I thought his 358Yeti bear gun needed a better scope. It does not make me like that scope any less, but since my personal proclivities lean toward long range, most of the LPVOs I keep here are FFP. In the meantime, the Stryker is perfect for what he needs.
SwampFox Arrowhead 1-10x24 is a really nice scope and has a lot going for it, but the one I had was with a MOA reticle. I thought it worked well, but I am not a MOA guy and it is a 1-10x24 SFP. While noone I recommended it to has yet come back to me disappointed, it is not ideal for how I personally use a 1-10x design.

Here is what I have at the moment that is definitely not going anyway any time soon. These are arranged in the order of descending price.
1) Vortex Razor Gen3 1-10x24 with mrad reticle. It has lived its life on a 5.56 AR-15, but I think I am going to move it to the Grendel shortly. MRAD reticle makes it more adaptable to calibers outside of the 5.56/308 world. https://bit.ly/3ihtSYk
2) March Shorty 1-8x24 with FMC-3 reticle (https://bit.ly/3P0U87h) lives on my 300Blackout MiniFix pistol and it is perfect there. I considered upgrading to the excellent March 1-10x24 Shorty (https://bit.ly/3w2qohK), but for what I do with this gun, I do not think that makes sense. Now, if I was buying a new one now, I'd spend the money on the 1-10x24 with side focus. However, since I already have the 1-8x24 and it serves my needs, that's a tougher call.
3) Primary Arms PLxC 1-8x24. This is the newest addition to my arsenal and since it has a 5.56 BDC reticle, it is going to go onto the rifle that originally had the Razor Gen3. It is four ounces lighter and a little shorter. I do not like BDC reticle, but I can live with them. It is easier to make it work on a 5.56 than on other calibers. https://bit.ly/3KKNPl9
4) SAI 1-6x24. This scope sits on a very lightweight 5.56 AR I have. Again, this is yet another BDC reticle, but I can make it work. I'll do a live show toward the end of the month on how I deal with all the crazy BDC reticles out there given that they are usually well intended, well conceived, well implemented, but fundamentally flawed and deficient. https://bit.ly/3mOjBoE
5) Steiner P4Xi G2 1-4x24. This one sits on my 458SOCOM where the magnification range is perfectly reasonable for shooting pigs and playing with bullets heavy enough that I am careful about dropping one on my foot. It really has exceptional 1x performance. https://bit.ly/3Fj70S4

I have a few prototype LPVOs here from a few projects I am involved with, but I do not do reviews on prototypes. They are also all flawed in some way that will be fixed by the time production scopes het here. I also have a HiLux CMR 1-4x24 that I was using for a little while on an AK, but it is about to go to someone else. There may be something else in the safe that I am forgetting, but if it is not sitting on a gun, it is not something I am planning to keep.

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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.

Anarchy Outdoors has 15% off on stocks, chassis and magazines with LABORDAY25 code. Generally, it is 10% off sitewide with the same code. My relatively routine recommendation, as far as the products they carry go, is the Area 419 mount ...

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.

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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.

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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.

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