DarkLordOfOptics
Politics • Science & Tech • Sports
Guns, Optics, 2nd Amendment and resisting the Left in everything they touch.
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The AK of ARs

This thought experiment is courtesy of an interesting discussion with @Wolfward and @TheMarksman
How would I put together a semi-basic AR that goes on a rack to be used by a broad range of people for a variety of basic AR tasks.
Let's say a major earthquake just took half of California underwater, while at the same time two simultaneous hurricanes half drowned the bulk of the Eastern seaboard. Basic services and utilities are going to be out for at least a couple of weeks or more. Eventually, civilized life is going to be restored, but in the meantime, the dregs of society will make their presence known.
You get together with your neighbors and find a way to keep your neighborhood reasonably protected. Chances are, this will not descend into outright civil war, but armed patrols by groups of two to four people might be in order.
I need to build five general purpose ARs for that. They will be carried a lot and shot very little. However, if they end up needing to be used... they REALLY need to work well.
As you round up your neighbors, some have good firearms experience. Others have only seen a gun in the movies. Most are somewhere in between.
How do you put together an AR that will work for all of them?
That's why I called this article "The AK of ARs". An AK is a basic tool that's easy to use for almost everyone, yet it can do a lot in the right hands.
Mind you, for this exercise, I am not trying to control costs too much. There is nothing extravagant here, but I am not going to go cheap either.

I went onto Faxon website to look at barrel because I was planning to do this build around either their Gunner or Pencil barrel profiles and realized that they have a fully built AR that is almost identical to what I would choose, the Sentry model:
https://faxonfirearms.com/faxon-sentry-16-5-56-rifle/

It is right at 6lbs without optics, which is very good. It comes with ambi controls, collapsible stock (important for fitting people of very different sizes), Gunner barrel, long handguard that covers the and protects gas block and gas tube, decent general purpose grip:
16" 556 Gunner Profile Barrel - Nitride Coated
Enhanced Forged Receiver Set w/ Tensioning Screw
Nitrided M16 BCG w/ Superfinish
15" M-LOK Aluminum Handguard
Hiperfire EDTDM Single Stage Trigger
Ambi Charging Handle
Radian Talon Ambi 45/90 Degree Safety Selector
Magpul MOE SL® Carbine Stock or similar
Magpul MOE® Grip or similar
Faxon MUZZLOK® Muzzle Device
Mid Length Gas System
Rifle Weight: 6.1 lbs
They also have a lighter weight Ion rifle, but that adds a few things that might compromise reliability and durability, like carbon fiber handguards and lightened reciprocating parts.

Honestly, when I was going to configure a rifle out of pieces, I was planning to do an almost identical build, except with a Reptilia Recc-E stock:
https://alnk.to/gVJ2rgV
I discovered that stock somewhat recently and it has become my favourite.
I also prefer the MCMR handguard from Bravo Company: https://alnk.to/dAkDOEi
I find that slim handguard with mlok slots everywhere gives me very good options for hanging lights and other stuff on it should I want to.

With optics, I am going to stick to my guns. For this application, Primary Arms GLx 2x is the best currently available option: https://alnk.to/fHjJzZq
At 11 ounces, it is not terribly heavy. It requires no manipulation except for turning on illumination should you be so inclined. It has proven to be very robust. It has very flexible eyerelief which makes it easy to get behind for a very broad range of people. The reticle illumination adjusts from night vision compatible to daybright. In other words, if you want to do more with this optic, you can.
If you put the rifle back on the rack without turning illumination off, it has a motion sensor, so it shuts off on its own. For shooting within a couple of hundred yards, it is plenty of magnification without slowing you down too much. Unlike red dots, it works with nearly all eyes.
While GLx has proven to be remarkably robust, my paranoia demands a supplementary sighting system, preferably something that does not rely on batteries.
For that there are a couple of options and the one I really like comes from XS Sights in the form of their offset XTI2 sights. While they have a tritium version available, I am partial to the less expensive model with huge orange dot up front: https://alnk.to/8PCbkiW
Beyond that, a flashlight is a good idea. They vary tremendously in price and quality. I am not a flashlight snob, but one thing I know is that if I am setting something up for general purpose use, I prefer to not have wires running all over the place. From an ease of use and weight standpoint, I'll lean toward Inforce WMLx: https://alnk.to/cwQ5VuU

As configured, the rifle comes from Faxon for around $1150. The scope is $370. Offset sights are $125. The light is $170.
We have a well equipped rifle for under $1900. Five of these will cost almost $10k...

I did say that it was something of a budget build....

With cheap rifles and cheap red dots, you can get five guns well under $5k.
For example, if I were seriously looking to do something like this, I would just wait for a good sales and pick up five rifles like this one from Palmetto for $500 each: https://alnk.to/7fnmv7n
Pop five of the these PA red dot sights on them: https://alnk.to/hDo4nhY since they have Autolive, the practical battery life should not be a concern.
On two out of five, I would throw on a compact 3x magnifiers: https://alnk.to/7fnmvba also at $200 each.
It forgoes some niceties, but now I am only $3900 plus tax and shipping in, instead of $9k.
The big question is whether I am sacrificing reliability with a cheap AR. I probably am, but that is a bit of an open question. These days, even cheap ARs are fairly robust and I know how to make them run if I get a chance to test them.
The one remaining point that was brought up is that after some amount of rapid fire, aluminum handguarrds get hot.
For $45 I can get one of those Hot Pocket rail wraps that mitigate the heat.

The nice thing with going with a mid-range rifle like the one from Faxon or something built around a Ballistic advantage Hanson profile barrel (https://bit.ly/43gCH8O) is that you are very likely to end up with pretty accurate rifle that can be coerced into an SPR role with nothing more than an optic change.

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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

post photo preview
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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