DarkLordOfOptics
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Guns, Optics, 2nd Amendment and resisting the Left in everything they touch.
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If starting from scratch, Phase 2

Last month I posited another scenario, sort of a "lessons learned" thing.
What would I choose if somehow I got to start from scratch in rebuilding my armory.

Phase 1 is here: https://darklordofoptics.locals.com/post/3998909/if-starting-from-scratch-phase-1

I am using the same boundary conditions as in Phase 1.

Here are some thoughts on Phase 2:

The hunting/precision rifle in Phase 1 was The Fix in 8.6Blackout. As fond as I am of that caliber, it is not especially flat shooting and I live in the mountains. If I ever get to go to Africa or on a bison hunt I would need something bigger (375H&H or equivalent), but I have not done that yet. I have been on a sheep hunt, however, and there will be more of those.
For a lightweight mountain rifle, a very interesting option would be something like Sig Cross in 277Fury. The high pressure cartridge gets very good velocities out of a 16" barrel. Shorter barrel is very advantageous when you are looking to use a supressor. However, while hybrid case 277Fury ammunition is beginning to pop up a little bit, the roll out of the Cross rifle has had a few speedbumps and I do not see the 277Fury chambered Cross a whole lot. As tempting as it is, right at this moment, I would rather wait and see. That leaves 6.5PRC as the best option to get flat trajectory and long range wind performance out of a light weight rifle without crazy recoil. Since I can't get the Fix in that caliber yet, if I wanted to spend some money, Seekins HAVAK Element https://bit.ly/3C9bNom would be hard to overlook especially since it comes with a 21" barrel (most 6.5PRC rifles have a 24" barrel). It weighs 5.5 lbs, so I would be able to keep it at around 7 lbs with a scope and 8 lbs with a suppressor. It is nearly $3k for just the rifle though. These are nice guns and worth it, but there is a strong case to be made for one of Tikka T3x variants for less than half the price: https://bit.ly/3N8IMiK
Weight with a Tikka is about 1.5lbs more than with Seekins.
Either one would get Q's Jumbo Shrimp suppressor and Vortex Razor HD-LHT 4.5-22x50 scope https://bit.ly/45KiOtl.
With the suppressor and the scope T3 would be in the 9.5lbs range.

Next on the list is a semi-auto of some sort. I chose a small-frame 5.56 AR in Phase 1. While it would be very tempting to add another AR in a different caliber, I think I am going to pick something that takes an AK magazine instead. The Gucci choice would be something like Krebs AC-18 Core, but I have a hard time spending that much money on an AK. I do prefer AKs with the front sight on the gas block, so Palmetto AK-E is my favourite of the AKs I have https://bit.ly/45Twd2i It has been out of stock for so long that I do not know if it will ever be available again. I might just take a step sideways and get M+M's M10X-Z instead. It is a very smart design. https://bit.ly/3C8zNI6

Whether AK or M10X, it would likely get a 2x prism from PA: https://bit.ly/3XBu2Mr

7.62x39 does not need all that much magnification to me, but having a little bit of magnification is a very useful thing.

Moving right along, I would be remiss if I did not get another rimfire, this time something small, light and ideal for plinking with the kids. That means Ruger 10/22TD. https://bit.ly/3MNocTA I have a somewhat tricked out version of one, but straight out of the box, this thing is a blast, especially with the Erector22 suppressor from Q. You can also get it with an integrally suppressed barrel. I use the SB-X barrel https://bit.ly/3oEBNVt

The choice of an optic for the 10/22TD might be a little controversial, but when I was testing a prototype of Element's new 5x30 prismatic, I really liked it on the 10/22. It is a little more magnification than I would normally want on a scope like this, but it was very easy to use.

Lastly, let's pivot to handguns. In Phase 1, I picked out a carry gun Glock 48MOS. Given the importance of this function and my paranoias, I'd be inclined to do the boring thing and get another one. I like spares. The alternative would be something chambered for 10mm with a longer barrel for hunting or carrying in a chest rig in bear country. I have a couple of guns like that. Large frame Glocks are a little too big for my hand, so I built the two I have on Lonewolf's Timberwolf frames, one with a 4.5" barrel and set up with 45Super springs and another with 6" 10mm barrel. Both are reliable and accurate. One currently has Shield RMSw sight https://bit.ly/3OQ1w7O, another is equipped with Swampfox' Kraken https://bit.ly/3oFWqjY. I like both. One of the things I really appreciate about Shield is that I can get RMSw with an 8MOA dot. For some reason, everyone seems to want the smallest dot possible in their reflex sights and manufacturers are happy to oblige. I think that is wrong, especially when it comes to handguns. There are several reasons for that. One of the more interesting ones is that if you ahve mild astigmatism, chances are you can aim more accurately with an 8MOA dot than with a 2MOA dot, especially at distance.

I think that about covers it up. I'll start thinking about Phase 3.

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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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