DarkLordOfOptics
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Guns, Optics, 2nd Amendment and resisting the Left in everything they touch.
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Why I recommend 6.5 CM all the time, but do not own one

Back when I started shooting, if someone was new to this thing and wanted to get into the precision side of things, you were generally told to go get a heavy barrel 308 bolt action rifle, put it into a decent stock of some sort (McMillan if you had money or Choate if you didn't), get a Leupold scope on it and learn to handload. If you do not want to handload, Federal Gold Medal Match was the ammo to use.
That is still a pretty respectable way to go, but a lot has changed in terms of what's available. For one thing, quality of factory ammo has improved by leaps and bounds. It will cost you a little money, but with popular calibers you can get by with factory ammo.
20-30 years ago match quality factory ammo was hard to come by and 308Win was damn near every game in tow.
Nowadays, when someone comes to me and they want to get into deer hunting or precision shooting, I routinely send them in the general direction of 6.5CM.
It kicks a little less than the 308, flies a little flatter than the 308, still has very respectable barrel life (by the time you wear out a 6.5CM barrel, you'll know what you are doing, so you'll now if you want to switch) and is just as capable against deer-sized game.
As far as rifles go, as a first bolt gun, I usually steer them toward one of the several excellent Tikka T3X variants. There are other accurate factory rifles, but I am partial toward Tikkas and noone has yet come back to tell me it wasn't accurate enough. There is also enough aftermarket support if you decide to get serious about it: aftermarket barrels, stocks, etc are plentiful.
I have had a good number of 6.5CM rifles go through my hands. They have generally shot well and most were very shootable.
Yet, I do not own one. Why?
I have several good reasons.
One is quite simply that I am not new at this and I am not trying to do multiple things with the same gun. Now, if I were dead set on shooting NRL Hunter and trying to place well, I would probably lean toward 6.5CM due to power requirements there. However, for hunting I do not really need it since I happen to already have 308 Win that has more pop at hunting distances, 243Win that shoots flatter with less recoil, 280Rem that has more pop and shoots further and flatter and 300WSM that has even more pop and shoots even further and flatter. I also have a bunch of other guns in a bunch of other calibers of varying exotic-ness (new word?).
I keep on thinking about getting a nice 6.5CM because everyone should probably have one and every time I stop myself. I am all for getting new guns, but 6.5CM simply does not do anything for me that my current assortment of artillery does not.
Now, as was pointed out to me when I went sheep hunting, 308Win is not really a sheep hunter's cartridge. However, that happened to be the gun I shoot well and it worked out just fine. Still, I think it is fair to say I do not really have a true flat shooting sheep gun. That kinda made me think of 6.5CM, but a faster 6.5 would probably do the job better. The natural step up in speed is the 6.5PRC and I have been really thinking about one.
However, I really like the idea of hunting with a shorter barrel. I have been hunting with my 24" barrel 308WIn Fix and, honestly, I have no complaints.
However, I am not playing with 8.6Blackout in a 16" barrel and it is a notably handier gun. Once Q releases the Pork Chop suppressor for it, the 16" barrel with a suppressor will be about 24". I can live with that.
However, with a suppressor, my 24" 308 barrel becomes a 32" barrel. On some hunts it will work fine, but that will be a little unwieldy.
I could, of course get a 16" barrel in 6.5CM or 6.5PRC, but velocities drop somewhat precipitously in shorter barrel with overbore cartridges.
I might get 2800fps with a 140gr bullet out of 6.5PRC, but if I am trying to find a ballistically superior solution for a sheep rifle, I have to be able to do better than that.
I might still build a 6.5PRC with an 18" or 20" tube or something along those lines, just to claw back some velocity. That is the logical thing to do and if I have an opportunity to go sheep hunting again, I'll pick one up. Besides, I happened to have a fairly compact and lightweight 6.5 suppressor (Q's Jumbo Shrimp) that is less than 6" long.
However, the introduction of 277Fury by Sig gave me a new hope. It fits normal short actions and SR-25 magazines. That's a big plus for me. Since 277 Fury in its hybrid case form runs at notably higher pressures, I can get essentially the same speed as 6.5PRC out of the same barrel lengths except with a slightly heavier bullet. Sig's 150gr hunting ammo reputedly does 2820fps out of a 16" barrel. I would like to see it get out into the wild, so that we can get an independent corroboration of the velocities. However, this being the new military cartridge, there has to be a pretty decent ecosystem coming up.
General disclaimer: while I think 277 Fury is an excellent idea for a hunting cartridge, I do think it is a stupid idea for general purpose military cartridge. As is usually the case, the brilliant thinkers at the Pentagon went with it because they are fighting last decades war. I'll be happy to do a livestream on that if you are interested.
Going back to my original point: I am getting spoiled with short and handy rifles, so I am looking at something with similar handling qualities for a sheep gun. 6.5CM does not do that for me. 6.5PRC barely does. 277Fury offers new hope. If I can get performance that I want out of a normal short action, we are off to the races.
Perhaps I'll pick up Sig Cross in 277Fury next year to experiment with. Or perhaps I'll be able to get an appropriate barrel for The Fix

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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

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 ...

Had to switch to a different streaming service

Rumble Studio crapped out on me. so I hadd to stream using a different service

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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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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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