Black Friday and other deals
It looks like we are officially in the midst of the discount season. While pointing out deals is not something I do a huge amount of. Getting some affiliate commission is nice and all, but that is not what this community is about. Still, if there are deals to be had this is the month, so I will keep this post pinned to the top of the news feed and add things to it as things pop up. Check it occasionally if you are looking for anything.
If you run into any particularly good deals, please post them for others in the comments under this post. If it happens to be from the website I have an affiliate account with, I might add my own link to that as well.
Primary Arms Black Friday Sale is... extensive: https://bit.ly/3gxfpJy
OpticsPlanet, naturally, has theirs: https://shrsl.com/3tb0n Also, BFCM12 gets you 12% off and they roll out some new discount every day.
1791 Gunleather has 15% off the entire website (use BF15 at checkout). They are sort of an interesting company. I've chatted with the owner a couple of times and he seems to know what he is doing. I originally stumbled on these when I was doing an article on handgun holsters that are designed with red dots in mind. That's when I found their ultra custom design that has some sort of a thermo pliable material sandwiched between leather layers. It feels like leather and carries like leather, but has the retention of a kydex holster. Essentially, you dump it into hot water (I use my sous vide for that) for a bit and then mold it to your gun. It is my preferred OWB holster at this stage https://bit.ly/3gCZ2Lr
Fix-It-Sticks has a few items on sale for the holidays. There may be additional discounts on Black Friday, but I do not have any insight into that. I have two kits from them that I use all the time and they have replaced almost all other tools I routinely use when working on firearms. The kit that lives in my shooting bag is this one: https://bit.ly/3UZXAlk The kit on my bench is the somewhat larger version of The Works one they have: https://bit.ly/3TYh1cX
SWFA Black Friday deals are up on their website. If you are looking for something with serious long track record of durability on a budget, their SS scopes are pretty much the way to go. It does not hurt that they are made in Japan: https://www.swfa.com/blackfriday2022
Shield has a crazy deal on the SMS2 with glass lens and 4MOA dot. Of all the different red dot sights out there, I have more red dots from Shield than anyone else. If you are looking for a low profile red dot sight for a handgun or as an offset for a rifle, this is pretty much as low profile as you can get without drastically decreasing window size. Until 11/24, they have it for a hair under $200: https://bit.ly/3G60Bfa
Cameras: if I were getting into an interchangeable lens system from scratch, I would absolutely go for the Fuji X-mount. They introduced a couple of new cameras, so some of the very capable stuff that has been around for a couple of years is getting slowly phased out. Fuji X-T4 with 16-80mm lens ( https://adorama.rfvk.net/e49e4Q ) is an excellent allround choice for both phot and video. Eventually, you can add a fast portrait prime to it and be done for a while. A year or two down the line, ad a long telephoto for taking moon pictures.
If you are in the market for a thermal that looks like a conventional scope for ease of mounting on bolt guns, Eurooptic has the XG50 (640x512 core with 50mm lens) marked down to $3400. https://bit.ly/3U1p5tu This one has 12um pixel, i.e. VOx core. Image quality is quite good and mounting height on bolt guns is easily compatible with most normal stocks.
Eurooptic is closing out Steiner P4Xi 1-4x24 scopes with G1 reticle for $549. https://bit.ly/3DTIshY I really like this scope and highly recommend it. It is assembled in the US. While the magnification range is only 1-4x, the optical quality is very good and it is one of the faster LPVOs on 1x out there. I think at the regular price it was a little overpriced. You could get the Japanese Delta Stryker for a little less than that, but at under $600, it is really between the P4Xi and PST Gen2 if you want something to get you speed on low power.
Also on Eurooptic website, until the end of the year (or supplies last), Leica Amplus 2.5-15x50 and 2.5-15x56 scopes are $500 off. These are good low light scopes, especially the 56mm one: https://bit.ly/3UThQVn
The first one that popped up in my e-mail is Brownells MPO 1-8x24 with mount. They have a flash sale of some sort where it goes for $759.
The scope is a little heavier than I like at almost 25 ounces, but it is robust and very nicely optimized both optically and mechanically. The mount looks a little bit like Warne, but I really do not know who makes it for Brownells. It is made in the US and it works quite nicely. I have one and like it so far. For under eight bills you get a Japanese SFP LPVO and US-made mount.
https://bit.ly/3UiJRpw
Under normal circumstances, I somewhat prefer Tract's 1-8x24 SFP LPVO that is lighter, but for the moment, the MPO with mount is more than $200 less than the Tract.
Primary Arms has a site-wide 12% OFF for the moment with SAVE12 code.
https://bit.ly/3UAbf24
If you would prefer a FFP LPVO in somewhat comparable price range, Primary Arms recently dropped the price on their GLx 1-6x24 to $600. I do not know if that drop is permanent, but it is a nice scope, so keep an eye on that one. I am sure they will have some sort of a discount code as we get closer to Black Friday. https://bit.ly/3WEExyc
The catch here is that I am not a huge fan of PA's GLx mount. It looks interesting with the skeletonization, but it can cause problems. I do not mind it too much with LPVOs, but I would not use it with a scope I plan to use for dialing. Now, their PLx mount is really excellent, so I always check to see if they have any open box ones https://bit.ly/3td83gM
All that having been said, if I were spending my own money, I would rather pick up one of the blemished 1-6x24 GLx scopes they have for $150 less: https://bit.ly/3UhrP6M Everything I use ends up scratched up anyway, so cosmetic defects are irrelevant to me. Optomechanically, these are perfectly fine which is all I care about.
Deals on Burris thermal optics are still ongoing at Eurooptics: https://bit.ly/3FReuxR
Also at Eurooptics, you can still get Vortex PST Gen2 3-15x44 for under $600: https://bit.ly/3DLnuC3
I think that is a closeout not a Black Friday thing, but a really excellent price on this scope.
Lone Wolf started their Black Friday deals already. It looks like they will be rotating through different products on a weekly basis and whatever they have on sale is on this page: https://bit.ly/3Wy9vb8
I have several Glock-type builds made exclusively out of Lone Wolf parts and I have to admit I am really happy with them.
Forloh has a Cyber Sale going on: https://bit.ly/3TRBm3s. My hunting clothing is sort of a weird assortment of different pieces from nearly every high quality maker. On balance, I think I like Forloh the most with Kuiu a close second. Had I discovered Forloh a little earlier, I would likely have most of my hunting clothing in their Exposed camo pattern. It is not the prettiest pattern, but it is seems exceedingly effective out where I am. Their Solair stuff for warm weather is excellent. For colder weather hunting, I am making very good use of their Deep Space baselayer: https://bit.ly/3DI5Kr6 It is remarkably good in controlling moisture.
More to come.
It is slow, but accurate and consistent.
This ammo showed some mild pressure signs, but not too significant. 
