DarkLordOfOptics
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Guns, Optics, 2nd Amendment and resisting the Left in everything they touch.
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Leupold Mark 4HD 4.5-18x52 Almost Final Thoughts.

Since this scope is going to accompany me on a pronghorn hunt next weekend, I have been spending a LOT of time with it.
I will put a together a final review video after the hunt, butfigured it was worthwhile to offer some thoughts prior to that.
After the hunt, I might be somewhat swayed by whether I am successful or not.
For the time being, I am my usual self, relatively unaffected by buck fever.

I currently have two Mark 4HD scopes:
2.5-10x42 FFP with illuminated TMR https://alnk.to/gVLq1hd
4.5-18x52 FFP with illuminated PR1-mil https://alnk.to/eZH5eia

I have spent a good amount of time with both, but more with the 4.5-18x52, so I will focus on that one.

In a nutshell, I rather like this scope. It has stayed zeroed on a couple of guns, primarily Stag Pursuit in 6.5PRC. Tracking looks to be consistent. I did quite a lot of turret spinning.
Optical quality is quite good. There is some CA on very high contrast targets, but it is mild. Overall, the image is very pleasing. FOV is mid-pack with around 20 degree Apparent FOV (see attached tables). Note that FOV numbers published on Leupold website are lower than reality. The numbers in my table are what I measured.
Eyebox is nicely forgiving. This is a comparatively common compromise for Leupold designs. They throttle the FOV a little to get a nicely flat image with a very forgiving eyebox.
It is not a particularly compact scope, but weight is not bad at about 27 ounces. If you do not need to use it with a thermal clip-on, it is a very capable crossover scope that can go hunting with you or help you make weight limit for a competition. I did some basic arithmetic anc concluded that if I were to put it on my Fix, I would easily make it into the NRL Hunter Open Light class (under 12lbs) with a suppressor and bipod.
The rifle you see in the pictures is heavier than the Fix, so it weighs 13 pounds as configured with Q Jumbo Shrimp suppressor (https://alnk.to/g3bDbPE), Gunwerks Elevate 2.0 bipod (an exceptionally nice bipod that deserves its own article https://alnk.to/87Zx36E) and Mark 4HD 4.5-18x52 in Leupold's Mark 4 rings.
While we are at it, these rings are 1913 spec, not STANAG, so they do not make it onto my list of recommendations. The scope, barring some unexpected issues in the field, does so comfortably.
Reticle illumination is controlled via a push button. I am not a huge fan of push buttons, but they are compact and they mostly do work.
Illumination is done fairly nicely and there is an electronic level where the reticle starts blinking if the scope is tilted. I have not been using it all that much, but it is helpful at longer distances.
The reticle in the scope is illuminated PR1 Mil. It is a fairly basic Mil-hash design that looks like evolution of the TMR, to some degree. It is based around 0.2mrad hash mark spacing, which I am very used to. The lines are probably on the thick side by modern standards, but I think it is sized just right. The center dot is 0.05mrad. The main stadia lines are supposed to be 0.04mrad according to Leupold, but they look a little thicker to me. Either way, I found that the reticle was fairly easy for me to use across the whole mag range.
With this scope, I dial elevation and hold for wind.
The windage turret is covered. The elevation turret is Leupold's M5C3 with zero stop and zero lock. It is similar to the one in the Mark5HD, except they kept it at 10mrad per turn, instead of 10.5. I think I prefer 10.
There is a slight amount of slop in the clicks, but not enough to bother me. We'll see if it gets looser with use, but so far so good. Resetting the turret is pretty trivial: loosen two screws, slip the turret to where you need it, tighten the screws. It is not a highly original method, but it works.
In terms of size, this turret is just right. It is large enough to comfortably manipulate, but not very tall. In terms of the form factor, it is easily one of my favourite design on the market today. Click feel is decent, but not spectacular. It is no Tangent, but it does not have a Tangent price tag either. As a practical matter, I never skipped a click, but there were several times when I did not quite trust my count and had to look at the turret. I thought I skipped a click, but I hadn't.
As I spend more time with the turrets, I trust them a little more every time. Since I am preparing for a very specific situation (New Mexico pronghorn hunt), I am training primarily in the 300 to 400 yard range. I do not anticipate having to take a shot beyond 300, but it is good to hedge a little. I did not look at the reticle dimensions super accurately, but so far they seem to be true, but, again, I am checking it at 300 yards. When I am done with the hunt, I'll take it off the rifle and finish all my usual checks: tracking on the collimator, side-by-sides with other scopes, etc.
Interestingly, when I was putting the spec table together, I did a search for scopes in the $1000 to $2000 range that are equipped with a 50-ish mm objective diameter and top out between 16x and 22x.
At ~$1700 dollars, Leupold has nothing directly comparable. Razor HD-LHT is a couple of hundred dollars less. NX8 is $250 more. Everything else is even further out.
When you put it up against the competition, I think the whole Mark 4HD series is a stronger competitor than the Mark 5HD, partly because it is a nice scope and partly because it sits in a price range that is decidedly less crowded than Mark 5's.
Bushnell DMR3 lacks illumination and is heavy.
GPO 2.5-20x50 has a garbage reticle.
The more I look at the field, the more it appears that Leupold picked a very nice price niche for themselves and populated it with a well packaged, reasonably light and optically sounds products.

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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.

Tract has the TORIC100 coupon code that gets you $100 off any Tract Toric optic. https://tractoptics.com/toric-uhd-30mm-2-5-15x44-ffp-illuminated-mrad-eagleman-long-range-hunting-rifle-scope?ref=ILYAKOSHKIN
The coupon codes are stackable, so if you also use my DLO discount code...

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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