DarkLordOfOptics
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Adding magnification

Jetlag is a bitch. What does that have to do with magnification? Absolutely nothing. I am in Israel at the moment with work and jetlag joining forces to very thoroughly kick my ass. I have this whole list of prepared topics I want to cover and I find myself sitting and staring at them like an imbecile trying to remember how I planned to address them. Perhaps, I am just having a Biden moment, but I prefer to blame work and jetlag.
Anyway, here is an interesting phenomenon that I only encountered recently: shooters who have no experience with magnification. I do not think it is a very widely spread situation, but it clearly happens since a good number of statements to that effect stood out to me on a few forums and discussion boards recently. Interestingly, a lot of these guys seem to be fairly competent gun guys, they just to be coming into this from a completely different angle that I am used. I am a precision guy at heart and I hunt. Historically, I spend most of my time telling people that out in the real world, very frequently, less is more and you should not overdo magnification. However, there is a ton of people out there, it seems, who come into this from handguns or shotguns or red dot equipped ARs. They have no experience with magnification at all.

Here is a direct quote from a Discord discussion, copied with the permission of the guy who posted it: "I don't have any sort of on-board magnification. I do have some binoculars, but the compact pair seem to be cheap, have poor light transmission, and don't make sense (labels read 20x magnification which is definitely not the case), and the other, more solid pair are bulkier"
Now, to be fair, I have no idea if he has experience with other firearms that do have magnification, but for the sake of the argument let's assume he is a one gun kinda guy. That frequently means that he actually knows how to use it. I'll also make an assumption that he has some sort of a reasonably decent red dot sight already on the gun.
Before we talk about magnification, let's revisit what that magnification is used for:
-increased aiming precision
-improved target identification
-surveillance and observation
The first requires for the magnifying optic to be on the gun.
The latter two can be done with either a weapon mounted optic or a standalone. If it is a weapon mounted optic, you have to be comfortable pointing a gun at thing you may or may not be shooting at. Generally, for the latter two, for civilians like most of us are, I strongly lean toward a standalone optic, for a variety of fairly obvious reasons.
The standalone optic can be either a monocular or a binocular depending on whether you prioritize ease of observation or compactness. If you will be staring through the optic for a long time, a binocular is your best bet. Using two eyes, assuming a decent quality binocular, will usually result in better image quality and lower eye fatigue. However, if you need to take a fairly quick look a monocular might be a more compact option.
The market is not awash in high quality compact monoculars, but most LRFs (Laser RangeFinders) are essentially monoculars with a little extra. I very frequently have my Leica CRF 3500.com with me if I do not think I will spend too much time staring through the optic. It is not cheap, but as far as observation quality goes, it is really a rather nice 7x24 monocular. It also does not hurt to know how far whatever I happen to be looking at really is. It is not cheap, but there are much less expensive LRFs out there. They may not be quite as good optically, but still a lot better than looking around with the naked eye. Leica CRF 3500.com 7x24: https://bit.ly/3aRrmXB
In the lower price ranges, I have had good luck with Vortex Razor and Sig Kilo LRFs, although Athlon's Midas 1 Mile also offers a lot of bang for the buck.
Technically, you can also have a LRF equipped binocular, but most of them are fairly large. The smaller ones Leica's new 32mm Geovids and GPO's 32mm Rangeguide, but I have not tested either. I hear good thing though.
Neither is inexpensive though and if you are looking to stay on a budget, there are several relatively inexpensive binoculars that, to be honest, everyone should have at least one of.
One of things you'll notice as I talk about the binoculars is that they are all of comparatively low magnification. In the original quote above, the gentlemen I quote mentions compact binoculars of 20x magnification, but says that he can's see anything, so he doubts whether they are really 20x. They probably are indeed 20x and that is one of the key reasons he can't see anything useful through them. They are, by definition, also cheap crap of some sort because I am not aware of any reasonable manufacturer who would put their name on a compact 20x binocular. It is not physically possible to make a compact 20x binocular that is good. I could probably come up with a digital one that would sorta work, but even that would not be easy especially due to stabilization concerns. With compact binoculars, you want to keep magnification moderate. It is very hard to handhold a high magnification binocular and light weight makes it even harder. For normal size binoculars, the practical limit for what normal people can handhold is somewhere between 7x and 10x (there are some individual differences). With larger designs and steady hands, you can go up to 12x, but even with full size binoculars at moderate magnifications you will see better off of a tripod. With compact binoculars, I strongly recommend keeping the exit pupil at 4mm or more if possible (exit pupil is objective diameter divided by magnification), which means keeping magnification low. We live in a world where a lot more people buy binoculars than use them, so low power options that do not look very sexy on paper do not sell very well. That is unfortunate because they are very easy to use without taking up too much space. If I am out on a hike or simply want to keep my pack weight down, I usually have a 6x to 7x binocular with me. Historically, it has been a first gen Vortex Viper 6x32. That has been long discontinued and I have added a few more low power options to my collection since that are actually available for purchase. I wish they were available with a ranging reticle of some sort, but unfortunately that is not in the cards. The cheapest option is the Kowa YF porro prism design. It is not the small owing to the porro configuration, but it is lightweight, inexpensive and surprisingly good for the money. Kowa YF 6x30: https://bit.ly/3B0dQeL If you are an infrequent user and you really do not want to spend much money, just get this one. It is not going to get lower than $100. With nice stereoscopic effect and a 5mm exit pupil, it is easily my pick for a budget option.
If you want something with a little less footprint, but good image quality and without sacrificing exit pupil, sticking with Kowa, but stepping up to the 6.5x32 BDII is your best bet: https://bit.ly/3tuBDyT I have been torturing this binocular for a little while now and it has become one of my favourites. It has maintained collimation despite some rather rough treatment and image quality punches well above its weight class.
Lastly, the binocular that lives in my truck is another porro design and this one is from Steiner. The 7x32 Navigator is the individual focus design which, essentially, just means that each barrel is focused individually for your eyes. In practical terms, you just get these focused for some reasonably distant target and never touch the focus adjustments again. It will work just fine from 50 yards or so out to infinity. To inspect something closer, you have to mess with the focus adjustments again, which I dislike doing. That's the disadvantage. The advantage is that there is a lot of depth of field and if I just need to grab a binocular to examine something fairly distant, I do not need to worry about focusing. It is a nice pleasing view with excellent 3D effect due to wider objective separation endemic to porro designs: https://bit.ly/3OcprKQ

Now, let's switch gears a bit and talk about adding weapon-mounted magnification. There are a couple of ways to do it, depending on whether you are looking to augment what you have or replace it. Given my baseline assumption that we are dealing with a competent shooter, it is probably best to not rock the boat. That means adding a magnifier to a red dot sight that is already on there. In principle, we could consider switching to an LPVO or a prismatic and setting up the red dot as an offset or piggybacked sight. However, that requires re-training which is nice to avoid in this case. Also, keep in mind that not all red dot sights play well with magnifiers. Let's assume what he's got there is something perfectly normal and reliable like an Aimpoint Micro or some other good quality enclosed reflex sight.
In principle, one of the better solution for this situation was proposed a long time ago by Aimpoint with their twist mount. Most modern magnifiers are mounted in flip-to-side mounts where, if you want an unadulterated view of the red dot, you just flip the magnifier to the side. It remains attached to the rifle, but you are not looking through it. There are a few different variations on this them out there, like Unity Tactical's FAST mount, but it is all the same basic idea. Aimpoint does offer a flip-to side mount, but they also have a less popular twist mount. With the twist mount, you can quickly remove the magnifier from the gun to use it as a handheld monocular. It has the advantage of being able to look at things without pointing your gun at them and of removing some weight from the gun when you do not need magnification. The downside, of course, is that you have an extra piece to store and that most magnifiers do not have a ton of magnification. Aimpoint's mount is set up for any magnifier that is built in a 30mm tube and all the good quality modern magnifiers are not. I use Aimpoint's 6x magnifier in this fashion, but it is a really expensive option: https://bit.ly/3OkUNyZ
In principle, any modern magnifier that sits in a QD mount can be used like this. Removing it from a rifle and holding it in your hand is a little more cumbersome, but it works. Good options for that are Sig's Juliet4 https://bit.ly/2NKcuhL and Vortex Micro 6x https://bit.ly/3B3CUSs

If you are not looking for something to be used both on the gun and handheld, i.e. add a magnifier in a flip mount and leave it on the rifle, I'd likely sacrifice some magnification to get the smallest available option which, for the time being, is probably Primary Arms' SLx Micro 3x with PEgasus ranging reticle: https://bit.ly/3DnfGFR

What do I personally do? or where would I start? Honestly, I would make sure I have some sort of a standalone monocular or binocular and, since everyone should have a laser rangefinder, I would probably start there.

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AR-15 Handguards with integrated Arca rail

I had a couple of ARs I wanted to set up for long range training. There is more to do with them, but I started out by swapping out the handguards for models with an integrated full length Arca rail. Larger flat on the bottom of the handguard helps it settle on the sandbag and makes it easier to shoot off of a tripod. I also found the ability to slide the bipod to different positions occasionally helpful.

The two handguards I have been testing are:

Fast Track my Catalyst Arms: https://www.anarchyoutdoors.com/fast-track-arca-precision-rifle-handguard-ar-15-rpr-only/?ref=fl0iza41

IWI/CMT HDM https://alnk.to/8iWcTQE

Both work well once installed, but IWI/CMT was ultimately less of a hassle to get properly lined up.

Fasttrack barrel nut arrangement is a little goofy and getting properly lined up took some trial and error. Here is the video they made that shows how it is set up. I was going to do my own, but once I got it all aligned, I did not want to mess with taking it up and ...

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Burris XTR PS Wrap-Up

The first Burris XTR PS scope I got my hands on landed here in the beginning of March.
That means I have been messing with this design for a bit under four months. That does not quite qualify as a long term test by my standards, but it is a fair amount of time and quite a few rounds shot, mostly 5.56 and 308.
I have both of the models of XTR PS and both work well.
https://alnk.to/3U3cZEC

For matches and such, I would lean toward the 5.5-30x56 version, but for general purpose use, the smaller 3.3-18x50 model does have an edge. You can shoot a match with it, take it hunting in the mountains or slap a thermal clip-on in front to go shoot some pigs. While not light weight, it is a very flexible design owing to moderate size and mid-pack magnification range.

As I said in the video, I think XTR PS is a meaningful step forward in simplifying how we shoot at distance.

I will provide occasional updates as I continue using the scope.

00:26:02
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 ...

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Leupold Scope dump at CDNN.

I just got an email, multiple models and reticles for 3HD, 4HD and 5HD scopes. You need call to get prices.

https://www.cdnnsports.com/optics.html?manufacturer=LEUPOLD

Independence Day, 2025

Publishing a "Happy Independence Day!" a day after independence day is probably bad form. It is also bad for posting affiliate links. Everybody and their grandmother is having discounts and I am not posting any links. To be honest, I do not particularly like posting general links and I simply did not have time to dig through everything and come with specific product links.
Still, if you plan to be buying something from one of the retailers I have an affiliate account with, I would appreciate it if you were to start with one of my links listed in the FAQ: https://darklordofoptics.locals.com/faq

I started writing the more substantive part of this post yesterday, but got sidetracked with thinking about the origin of the ideas that make America and ran out of time. I was only able to get back to it now. I suppose, better late than never.

We live in the world that, as far as the details go, is dramatically different from the world of the founders of the United States.

For the majority of this ...

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This is a good deal:

https://alnk.to/c0a5bf9

Scoping Gas Guns
an interesting question that acme in via PM

I received this question via a private message and thought it was interesting enough to answer it in some detail.  I have been thinking a lot about appropriate optics for gas guns recently, so this came it at the right time.

 

Here is what I ahve been messing with last few days:

 

Above: 18" WOA barrel 5.56 AR-15 with Burris XTR PS 5.5-30x56 on it.

Below: 22" Satern barrel 224Valkyrie AR-15 with Delta Stryker 3.5-21x44 on it.


For obvious reasons, I am not posting who asked the question, but what I'll do is send him a link to this article, so that he gets an answer and we might have a good discussion.
Here is what I received:

Had a question for you
I have a Knights Armament SR25 6.5CM with a 14.5" barrel - I plan on shooting 100 - 600 yards at targets at 100 yd intervals
I am favoring the TT 315P with an Aimpont Acro mounted on top -( see you liked the TT315M) - would that be enough magnification?
I saw the SB SB 5-20 which offer more top end - I like the turrets on the Tanget and tooless Zero - what are your thoughts between the 2?
If I stayed 400 and under - how do you see the TT315P with the Acro Red dot against the SB 1-8 Short Dot (saw your review on that)

There isn't really enough information in the question for a simple answer, so let's consider a couple of options.

What is the gun for? 

For shooting medium range (out to 600) with occasional close range use?  If yes, go with a conventional scope and offset or piggybacked RDS.

For shooting at close distance with occasional med/long range use? If yes, so with a nice LPVO like the above mentioned S&B Short Dot 1-8x24 https://alnk.to/3J8vlFv.  It is quite capable at long range, but where it will really knock your socks off is up close and personal.

The question of what is enough magnification is pretty personal.  For me, 3-15x is plenty, but I shoot a lot off of the tripod and off of barricades which likely influences my decision.  For that, my 3-15x50 TT315M Tangent works great and 6mrad of elevation is plenty.  https://alnk.to/gVNkUXB  175gr #08 out of a shoter tube will drop in the 5 to 5.5mrad range at 600 yards.

For a dedicated long range semi-auto, other than the looks, there isn't much downside to a larger scope, which is why I set up Burris' XTR PS on the 5.56 AR pictured above.  It is for my son to learn to shoot at distance and to us in next year's BOTC match.  https://alnk.to/gp33YuR

If I were setting up an accurate semi-auto and wanted a high mag scope for it, I would likely lean toward March 4.5-28x52. https://alnk.to/dLjHgjh  It is compact, relatively light and very good optically for any use other than the dead of the night (for which we should be using clip-ons anyway).

S&B Short Dot is a very nice scope, but March is a newer design and, other than the lowest light, has an edge in terms of image fidelity and stray light control.

TT315P Tangent is a veyr ncie scope and toolles turrets are appealing.  However, there is a weight penalty to that.  For me, that was not worth it.  I ahve 5-25x56 and 7-35x Tangents and those toolless turrets are spectacular.  However, in a 3-15x50, I am quit ecomfortable with simpler 6mrad per turn knobs on the TT315M.

 

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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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