DarkLordOfOptics
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Guns, Optics, 2nd Amendment and resisting the Left in everything they touch.
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What shall I do with the Stag now?

Well, now that the pronghorn episode is over (until I get the mount back, etc), I need to decide how I am going to set up the Stag Pursuit 6.5PRC going forward. It is designed as a hybrid hunting/precision rifle. It did the hunting part. Now, perhaps, it is time to set it up differently and in a more precision oriented way. I have a few options on how to go about it, but here is what I am leaning toward.
As configured right now, it clocks right at 13.3lbs with a magazine and sling, so it is already too heavy for something like NRL-H 12lbs class. However, setting it up for the NRL-H 16lbs class is perfectly doable.
Here is what I am thinking:
Burris XTR Pro 5.5-30x56 in XTR Signature rings
GRS Bipod (it is stupid sturdy even with the under the barrel mount)
Same Jumbo Shrimp suppressor (I need to pick up a couple more of these)

If my math is right, that will all add up right to 14lbs without a magazine and a sling. That gives me a nicely accurate rifle that I can take to an NRL Hunter match or to next year's Burris Optics Team Challenge if my other plans fall through, while leaving my a couple of extra pounds for weights if I want to adjust the balance of the gun. For a gun that will be shot off of a tripod a lot, I want to balance it as perfectly as possible right in front of the magazine where the arca plate normally lives.

In principle, I could pop a heavier barrel on it (and might when I shoot this one out) for better accuracy, but I really think I am the weak link in the accuracy equation, not the barrel.

Given the cost of 6.5PRC ammo, it is not a gun to shoot in volume, but at this stage I have enough brass to develop some handloads.

143gr ELD-X ammo I have been shooting clocks in right at 2900fps.

If I were to look for a match load with a match bullet, I would probably start out by testing some factory ammo (starting with Hornady's 147gr ELD-M), but there are some very efficient match bullets to try. Badlands Precision bullets are a little picky about barrels, but if they shoot well in this one, they are spectacularly stable. Berger is always a top contender.

In other words, there is quite a lot I can do with these just with the pieces I have on hand. With Hornady's hunting ammo, the extreme spread was right around 50FPS. I am confident I can halve that without too much effort.

What do you think? Go via this path? Or make a U-turn and shoehorn it into NRL-H 12lbs class?

With the Razor HD-LHT 4.5-22x50, that is very doable. With a light Gunwerks bipod and HD-LHT, it adds up to 11.9lbs. I can loose a couple of ounces if I switch to Thunder Beast Ultra 5 in 6.5 to give myself a slight margin.

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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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