DarkLordOfOptics
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Guns, Optics, 2nd Amendment and resisting the Left in everything they touch.
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Kicking things off with March 1.5-15x42

As many of you know, I received March's new dual focal plane 1.5-25x42 a little while back and started looking at it.
The basic premise of this scope is versatility, so I have to look at it a bit differently that I would normally be looking at a scope.
My sorta standard operating procedure when I get a new scope to look at is to find a couple of models from competing manufacturers that are somewhat similar in terms of price and configuration, run the scope side-by-side and see how they stack up.
That would work great is this March wasn't really one of a kind. There is nothing quite like it out there in terms of configuration, size and packaging.
The attached picture sorta gives you an idea of the size. It is on the right, next to the PA PLxC 1-8x24 and Blackhound 2-12x44.
The big question, really, is how well March pulls off this complex of a design in this small of a package.
Rather than look at it as a solo product and since there are no direct comparisons to make, I will instead think of it in terms of the application.
When I do that, it turns out I have three scopes here in vastly different price ranges that sorta go after the same general application range:
Athlon Helos BTR Gen 2-12x42 for around $500
Blackhound Emerge 2-12x44 for around $1200
March-FX 1.5-15x42 for around $3000 (I'll confirm the price, now that I think about it).
The fact that there will be some diminishing returns at the highest price is a given. Noone spends $3k+ on a scope because they are looking for a bargain.
However, it will be very interesting to see what that money really gets you.
At first blush, March reticle (the FFP part) needs work. However, if they agree that it needs work, the reticle is the easiest thing to change.
The SFP reticle in the March (remember it has both FFP and SFP reticles) makes a huge difference for low power use.
I expect March to be excellent mechanically and I really like the new Shuriken turrets. They will be tested thoroughly.
Did they pull of the optics well enough? How does it work as an overall package? What does it give you that the less expensive designs do not? What application is the best match for it?
I obviously have some pre-conceived notions on this, but it will be interesting to see if they prove to be on point.

Stay tuned.

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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
Another G&A Article

For the few of you who still pay attention to print magazines, I have an article in the latest Precision Rifle Shooter, called "Optics For NRL Hunter". For those of you who have been following my stumbling and bumbling match shooting exploits, there isn't going to be anything new there. You know what I think on the subject.
However, I still get some sort of a weird nostalgic kick out of seeing something I write printed on paper.
When I was growing up in the Soviet Union, my room doubled as a family library. I think it is some latent aftereffect of spending my childhood with books. Gen-Xers have a reputation of spending their childhood outdoors doing whatever mischief came to mind and that is true in my case, to some extent.
However, that is largely because at some point my mother got sick and tired of seeing me in the apartment with my nose stuck in the book. Every once in a while she would just search me for hidden books then kick me out of the house to go do something active. It ...

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Tune in tonight for the 100th episode for DLO Live! and the scope raffle.

In this 100th episode of DLO Live! show we will wrap up with hunting scope recommendations starting where we left off last week.
I will also raffle off Swampfox Warhawk 2-10x44 riflescope that I used for the MPVO comparison.
In order to participate in the raffle, you have to be a member (free membership is sufficient) of my darklorofoptics.locals.com community and you have to be present during the livestream when I do the raffle.
If you want to be included in the drawing, please send me an email at [email protected] Make sure to include your full name and your Locals screen name in the email.

As of right now, there are very few entrants for the raffle, so they have a better than 10% chance of winning the scope.

This is your chance to screw it up for them...

Happy Labor Day, Y'all! and a new Raffle.

Well, the Labor Day is upon us. I will spare you my general thoughts on this holiday, given some of its socialist origins. It is still a nice day to grill a few steaks and enjoy a long weekend.
I added a few more notes to my somewhat limited agglomeration of Labor Day deals and many expire today: https://darklordofoptics.locals.com/post/7224686/labor-day-is-upon-us
Of all of the ones I have seen discounts on Tract Toric products https://tractoptics.com/toric-uhd-30mm-2-5-15x44-ffp-illuminated-mrad-eagleman-long-range-hunting-rifle-scope?ref=ILYAKOSHKIN,
Primary Arms' closeouts https://alnk.to/5Q7R6eK
and Anarchy Outdoors chassis discounts sorta stand out https://www.anarchyoutdoors.com/mdt-hnt26-chassis-system/?ref=fl0iza41 with the LABORDAY25 code.

On a separate topic, I went and listened to a little bit of my yesterday's livestream and it certainly looks like the video and audio are much smoother than what I had last week. Perhaps, one of those network changes did finally have an effect. ...

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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