DarkLordOfOptics
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Guns, Optics, 2nd Amendment and resisting the Left in everything they touch.
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MPVO vs Crossover

These two terms get thrown around a lot, by me most of all, while what they really mean is very much open to interpretation. I do not have the power to unilaterally define them. I can, however, at least explain what I mean when I use them.

The term crossover scope arguably came about due to the advent of western hunting. Out west, it is not uncommon to take a shot on game from a considerable distance often in pretty gnarly conditions. That requires something akin to a precision scope if you want to do it well. Modern precision oriented riflescopes are frequently large and heavy. While it is possible to drag one uphill with you, it is not something I recommend. Plenty of people do it and I applaud their mental fortitude. I've done it and I don't like it. It is hard enough to drag my fat ass uphill. I am clearly not the only one, since quite a few years ago Premier Reticles came out with their Light Hunter scope. That was a version of their 3-15x50 design, except with simpler and lighter turrets all stuffed into a 30mm tube. Optically, it was the same as the larger tubed scope, but it weighed a lot less. It gave up some adjustment range and turret features, but that's largely it. When Premier went under Armament ended up with their assets. The scopes were re-engineered and improved. Then re-designed again and merged with a different ongoing development project that resulted in Tangent Theta scopes. TT315M and TT315H are the spiritual successors to the Premier Light Hunter: 3-15x50 scopes with 30mm tubes, limited adjustment range, simpler turrets and spectacular optical performance. They weigh around 27 ounces.
In parallel, Bushnell made their 3-12x44 and 4.5-18x44 LRHT scopes for a while (eventually they Bushnell-ed them), Leupold developed the 3.6-18x44 Mark 5HD and, more recently, Vortex introduced a 4.5-22x50 Razor HD-LHT. The latter, along with the Tangent are probably the purest expressions of the crossover concept we have today.
What's a crossover scope, then? To me, it is a FFP scope with max magnification of no less than 15x, illuminated mrad (or MOA for the masochists among us) reticle, elevation turret equipped with a zero stop and locking or covered windage turret. The objective lens diameter should be between 40 and 50mm. The scope weight should be no more than 30 ounces. Many of these criteria are somewhat arbitrary, but I have to draw the lines somewhere. On the low end I am looking for magnification of not more than 5x for an occasional offhand or badly supported shot. It is important that the reticle works adequately well across the entire magnification range, which is one of the reasons I require illumination. That is also why, to me, tree or grid type reticles that illuminate the whole thing are a problem. I want a small center portion of the reticle illuminated: a dot or a crosshair. You can get clever with it and illuminate a few more hold points, but not the whole thing. That has a tendency to make the scope useless in low light.

MPVO stands for Medium Power Variable Optic and the concept originated when people started thinking "what if I wanted to make an LPVO like scope, but did not need 1x on the low end?" 1x definitely complicates everything and one thing we can do by getting rid of it is bump up the objective diameter a little and optimize optics better for mid-range magnification. Original MPVO concept was sort of like a "tactical tweener". The purest expression of that original idea is Leupold Mark 5 2-10x30, Vortex PST Gen2 2-10x32 also sorta barks up the same tree, but it really did not set the world on fire. The Mark 5HD is an interesting design that I plan to test in the not too distant future. Given the absolute reluctance of most manufacturers to make high quality FFP riflescopes with objective lens diameters between 30 and 40mm, the definition of an MPVO got extended to include larger designs with 40-ish millimeter objectives. For these, the definition is a little different in that one of the binding criteria is low magnification, with higher magnification being a lot more flexible. To me, one of the absolutely critical requirements of an MPVO is reasonable compatibility with commercially available thermal clip-ons. That means the low end FOV had to be at least 7.5 degrees or thereabouts. That translates to around 40ft @ 100 yards. Wider is even better (closer to 50), but 40 is reasonable. For most riflescopes, that's between 2.5x and 3x. For some short-ish eyerelief prismatics, you can get close to that FOV on 4x, but they are not variable optics.
The rest of the specs are simple: FFP reticle with some ability to hold over, locking or covered elevation turret preferably with zero stop (but reticle only distance and wind holds are acceptable, so no zerostop is OK), covered or locking windage turret, objective lens diameter between 30 and 44mm, weight of less than 30ounces. Lighter is naturally better.
There is some obvious overlap between MPVO and crossover optics, but I prioritize different features with these two scope types.
Here are the two configurations I would consider ideal that, hopefully, illustrate my point.

Ideal crossover:
30mm tube, illuminated tree reticle (Vortex XLR2 or similar), 3.4-17x50, side focus, 20 ounce weight, 3 - 3.5" eye relief, single turn 12mrad turret with 0.1mrad clicks, no low power tunneling, covered low profile windage turret, exposed low profile zerostop elevation turret. Essentially, I am looking for a fusion of Razor HD-LHT and USO FDN-17x.

Ideal MPVO:
30mm tube, illuminated abbreviated tree reticle (S&B's MDR-T6 or similar), 2.4-12x36, side focus, 20 ounce weight, 2.5 - 3" eyerelief, single or double turn turret with 0.1mrad clicks and at least 10mrad of available adjustment, locking zerostop elevation turret, covered low profile windage turret. Essentially, I am looking for a fusion of the Mark5 with Blackhound Emerge or something in between. Leupold turrets are near perfect for this application.

Neither configuration currently exists. Both are eminently makeable and whichever OEM currently makes the Razor HD-LHT 4.5-22x50 with sub 22 ounce weight, can pull off these exact configurations if properly motivated.

Unfortunately, there is no one out there except for me who thinks these will sell. The wait continues....

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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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