DarkLordOfOptics
Politics • Science & Tech • Sports
Guns, Optics, 2nd Amendment and resisting the Left in everything they touch.
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Saw this linked on the Hide and figured I'll repost it here

https://www.vermilionchina.com/p/holosun-chinese-or-american

I have my own opinions, of course, and I do not hide them.

Still, in this case, before I elaborate on my personal thoughts, I really want to see what all of you think.

EDITED TO ADD MY OWN TAKE ON THIS:
Not unexpectedly, this is both simple and complicated.
The theoretical part is simple: if I can get a made in US product at the same or similar quality and price as made elsewhere, I will go with a US-made product every time.
The practical part is complicated: for conventionally manufactured products, the ship on US-made products has largely sailed. US manufacturing can, somewhat, compete on products that has enough expertise/knowledge/knowhow content to warrant a higher price. Cultural shifts in the US have made the return of traditional manufacturing the way we know it unlikely. The government's attempts to keep it up for DOD purposes result in inefficient manufacturing enterprises that can not compete in a private market. My dayjob is partially in that world. It is horribly inefficient and oftentimes backwards, but we do not have a good way around that. As a side note, that is why I take the railing against the military-industrial complex with a huge grain of salt. We need it to be able to defend ourselves if the barbarians come for us. The barbarians are gunning for us and if we do not look sufficiently scary, bad things will happen. That is one of the reason I am generally in favor of somewhat muscular foreign policy.
China is clearly gunning for us. In theory, it would be nice to not buy anything from them. In practice, they have become very good in making stuff. For a lot of mechanical stuff, the dirty secret is that when I want to make something very precise and very complicated, China is the better option and not only because of price. I have had essentially the same parts made in the US, in Israel, in UK and in China. It is not uncommon for a Chinese made part to be cheaper AND better made. That last part is a problem. In my work, I am often ready to pay more for a US made part if it is as good. I have had to settle for a poorly made part because the program had a "Made in US" requirements. That is a VERY bad sign.
That's mechanical stuff. It should be simple, but it is not.
On the high tech end of things, China has a weakness where innovation is concerned. That's why they are so eggregious with IP theft. The Japanese are even weaker in that, so they go and buy patents in droves. The Chinese steal them. We have to find a way to put a lid on that and I am in favor of keeping critical high tech technologies (semiconductor, biotech, etc) from China.
The weaponsight stuff is not as high tech, but it can go both ways. Companies like Holosun never really hid that they are coming to the US to learn how to make these products so that they can make them for themselves. "For themselves" turned out to be "for the chinese military". I try to avoid Holosun as much as I can because of that. I still track carefully what else they are up to. They are trying to move up the foodchain toward into fused thermal/reflex sight. I give you a 100% guarantee they are not going into to make money in the US market. They want to use the US market as a testbed for it and once mature it is likely to become an issue optic for Chinese storm troopers.
On the other hand, I know plenty smaller Chinese OEMs who make riflescopes other comparatively low tech things and have about as much love for the communist party as we do here. They are good people, trying to do good work and make a good product. As Chinese government continues to crack down on business, many of them are quietly trying to set up auxiliary manufacturing facilities elsewhere: Vietnam, Thailand, etc. Having grown up on the other side of the iron curtain, I do sympathize with their plight. It is still a Chinese product and in the case of war, they could be commandeered to work for the PLA. However, they are mostly trying to fly under PLA's radar and live a normal life. I can live with buying their products.
Taiwan is capable of making good products at the same basic cost as China and they want to play. Vietnam is the place where many Chinese companies are trying to set up manufacturing to avoid the communist party oversight.
Then, there is the issue of trade and tariffs. While punitive tarrifs is not my thing, reciprocal tarrif levels is not a bad thing.
Lastly, I do not know how to make US manufacturing more competitive. The only glimmer of hope, the way I see it, lies with additive manufacturing techniques. In economic terms, if we get our retarded politicians somewhat out of the way, US is a knowledge and energy superpower. That is uniquely beneficial for additive manufacturing.

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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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