SMG/PCC....

DarkLordOfOptics

Politics • Science & Tech • Sports

Guns, Optics, 2nd Amendment and resisting the Left in everything they touch.

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ILya Koshkin@DarkLordOfOptics

December 02, 2023

SMG/PCC....

Now that I am home after getting laughed at by all the elk in NE Wyoming, I started looking through my e-mail and noticed an article from the EveryDay Marksman called "In Defense Of The SMG". At first I thought that Matt was baiting me, but then I realized that it is written by someone else for EDM. It is written quite nicely and makes many good points. Consider reading it before my comments below the link.

https://www.everydaymarksman.co/equipment/in-defense-of-the-smg/

I own a 10mm PCC that I can also convert to 357Sig (TNW's ASR). I do not own a 9mm PCC, but my brother has one from Keltec which works reliably. I have lot of mileage with it. I also own a Henry 357Mag lever gun which is the original PCC.

I really like them all. If politicians truly go crazy and ban semi-autos, I'll switch to leverguns as the next best thing after all my semi-autos end up lost in a tragic boating accident. Until then, I can find no compelling reason for PCCs to exist aside from the fun factor.

The only argument Pieter makes in the article that I find compelling, is that the magazines have a smaller footprint and ammo takes less space. I can work around that.

The gun in the attached picture (and many others like it) together with this ammo https://discreetballistics.com/shop/300aac-blackout/, relegate PCCs into well earned obsolescence.

Subsonic 300Blackout with the right bullet is just as quite as subsonic PCCs and a lot more quiet than supersonic PCCs, while shooting flatter with a more lethal bullet.

Unlike PCCs, if I want to add a little more range, I can also supersonic 300 Blackout ammo.

In either guise, it completely knocks the socks off of anything shooting a 9mm. 10mm and 357Mag, do offer a LOT more pop out of a 16" barrel than
9mm, but not more than supersonic 300Blackout.

The other seemingly compelling argument is that with 9mm, it is much cheaper to practice. That is absolutely true, but the ammo you would use for home defense is not cheap with either caliber. If you are truly looking for volume practice, a semi-auto 22LR set up to mimic the handling of whatever gun you use for defensive purposes is still the way to go.

My 300BLK Honey Badger is about the same general size and weight as a similarly good quality PCC and lighter than many. AR-15 form factor has well proven ergonomics. There are innumerable 30cal suppressors out there. As far as accuracy goes, it is more accurate than any and every pistol caliber long gun I have ever seen (that might be due to ammo, but gas system likely has something to do with it as well).

What am I missing here?

WWW.EVERYDAYMARKSMAN.CO

In Defense of the SMG. Maybe You'd Like One After All

SMGs and PCCs have gotten some love lately, and fell off the radar. Their utility is a hot topic for debate, so here's one of our takes.

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ILya Koshkin@DarkLordOfOptics

May 01, 2025

Burris XTR PS HUD

Here is a better look at the Heads Up Display (HUD) in Burris' XTR PS scopes. In this case, I am looking through a 3.3-18x50, but the HUD is the same in both models.
https://alnk.to/4qN7csi

AFF10 code gets you extra 10% off on just about anything on Opticsplanet website starting at midnight tonight.

The more time I spent with HUD equipped scopes, the more I think that this is a significant step forward.

If they ever get a WMLRF to connect to this thing, it will be amazing, but even as is, I think it is a meaningful advantage.

00:09:18

ILya Koshkin@DarkLordOfOptics

April 27, 2025

Through the scope view at the STR-MIL reticle in Steiner H6Xi 2-12x42

Here is a quick look at the reticle through the scope. As I watch the video, it looks thinner in the picture than it does in real life. I have a suspicion that those relatively dense 0.2mrad hashmarks make the primary stadia stand out more than they would otherwise.

One one hand, I'd prefer for this reticle to be a little bolder or have some high visibility features.

On the other hand, it is pretty usable as is and the scope is quickly becoming one of my favourite MPVO designs currently on the market.

Next step will be to get it back on the gun, mount a piggy-backed RDS and do some shooting from 10 yards to 800 yards.
https://alnk.to/9bvy9a9

00:04:19

ILya Koshkin@DarkLordOfOptics

April 10, 2025

Zeiss SFL 12x50

Zeiss makes quite a few binoculars. Aside from an occasional misstep (Terra...), most of them are pretty good.
As with any product line, some models come together better than others.
Zeiss' SFL product line is something I looked at briefly, but never dwelled on it too much. They seemed like nice binoculars, but I never really looked at them carefully.
Imagine my surprise when the folks at Zeiss reached out and asked if I want to take a look at their new 12x50 version of the SFL.
They know I live out west, so they must have heard I have the space to really work out where the limits of a 12x50 binocular are.
Given that sending me a product to look at involves certain risks (until I am pretty much done with the review, I ignore marketing literature and any and all attempts from any company to tell me what to say), I figured that they either decided to live dangerously or that they are pretty damn confident of how good the product is.
I do not know for sure which one it is, but the ...

00:11:45

afret@afret

18 hours ago

Hey ILya, are you doing OK? Read on the Hide that you were pretty worn out and trying to get over an illness. Hope you're feeling better.

ILya Koshkin@DarkLordOfOptics

April 29, 2025

Burris Fullfield 3-12x56

For several years now I have been saying that I should look at hunting scopes a bit more carefully. I always get distracted, but not entirely.

Just got my hands onto the re-designed Burris Fullfield 3-12x56.

Just received the 3-12x56 Fullfield with #4 reticle and illuminated dot.

Optically, it looks quite nice. I was not sure if they would be able to pull off a 56mm lens on a scope this short at this price, but it looks like they did. It seems to be very nicely corrected.

Eye relief is pretty consistent. It looks to be a hair over 3 inches on 12x. Once I got it set up on12x, I did not have to make any adjustments to my head position at other magnifications.

On lower power, there is enough eyerelief flexibility to accommodate sitting and standing shooting positions. I do not have to crane my neck when shooting sitting or standing.

The turrets have surprisingly decent feel, but I plan to keep them covered once the scope is sighted in.

The reticle is very visible and the illuminated ...

Gilberto Padilla@GilX47Lapua

April 28, 2025

Do you remember what the turrets felt like on your Zeiss LRP S5? Did your elevation and windage turrets feel similar? Mine are quite different.

The elevation turret on mine doesn't feel nearly as good as the windage turret.

The windage turret is very tactile and audible, you can feel each click thunk into place.

My elevation turret is barely audible and the clicks aren't nearly as positive as the windage. It's easy to skip past click detent in the elevation turret, this not a problem on the windage turret.

I also posted this question on snipershide as "Gil P."

ILya Koshkin@DarkLordOfOptics

April 23, 2025

A first look at Steiner H6Xi 2-12x42

MPVOs are finally getting some attention

Here are some initial thoughts on the Steiner H6Xi 2-12x42.

I finally had a chance to shoot with it both supported and unsupported, which is an important part of figuring out how usable an optic is.

I found what looks to be more accurate specifications in the manual that came with the H6Xi, so the spec table is now updated:

To re-iterate from an earlier post, Eurooptic is selling the H6Xi 2-12x42 for $1350 and at that price, it is easily the best deal going in this category: https://alnk.to/90ALO3C

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ILya Koshkin@DarkLordOfOptics

March 31, 2025

AAC Ammo: Trouble In Paradise

I think this is the almighty telling me to start reloading again

Well, since I was running a little low on AAC Precision 175gr 308 ammo, I ordered another batch. This one came from a different lot than the batch I had before.

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ILya Koshkin@DarkLordOfOptics

March 18, 2025

Deep into the 40s

42-44mm Riflescopes

I have about 13 months left to be in my 40s, so I figured this is my last opportunity to get cheeky with this project title.

As I mentioned during last week's livestream, I am kicking off a large review encompassing seven different riflescopes that really share only one thing in common: their objectives are in the 42-44mm range.

Here is a comparison table of the specs for the scopes I have on hand. Note that the Swampfox Warhawk 2-10x44 is not going to be in this comparison very much. I'll do a separate video on it. The biggest reason for that is simply that this spec table is becoming too long and comparing so many scopes all at the same time is exponentially more difficult. I was going to take out either the Warhawk or the Blackhound since neither of them have a zero stop, so I flipped a coin and Blackhound got to stay. I will go over it a little bit below the table.

I did not set out to have this particular line-up in mind, but I like this riflescope type, so I ended up with all of these on hand.

Some of these scopes I have lready reviewed quite thoroughly, namely the Blackhound and Tract.

If you look at the specs carefully, you'll see that these range from true ultrashort designs (GPO and March), to "kinda short" designs (Leapers, Delta, Leupold and Blackhound) to a conventionally sized Tract Toric. Some of these lean toward the MPVO category. Some are unabashedly aimed at the Crossover market. Tract stands alone as a relatively conventional hunting scope, except configured very nicely to do everything as necessary. Another scope that would fit this category very well also that is no longer here is Vortex Strike Eagle 3-18x44. I might reference it occasionally.

I have a good amount of mileage with all of these, although I have not yet released a final review on every design. Still, I can offer some initial thoughts in order of ascending price.

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