DarkLordOfOptics
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Guns, Optics, 2nd Amendment and resisting the Left in everything they touch.
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Getting Ready for a long range class

As some of you know, I am going to go take a long range class in Wisconsin the week of September 16th.
Now that the pronghorn hunt is behind me, I am switching gears to preparing for the class and to a muzzleloader deer hunt that starts on the 27th of September.
After much deliberation, my original plan for the long range class was to take a 6ARC chambered MiniFix. However, I have not been able to get my hands on a 6ARC barrel in time and that idea is likely to be shelved for now. I have everything else though, so once the barrel gets here, we are off to the races.
In the meantime, rather than re-invent the wheel, I'll simply pack up my 308Win Fix and take it with me to Wisconsin. Which brings up the question of how I am going to set it up for the class, especially since I am doing it sort of at the last possible moment.
Let's start with the optic. Unsurprisingly, I am going to pop a Tangent Theta 7-35x56 on it. No, it is not necessary for the class, but I have one and it is the long precision scope I am aware of. It is big. It is heavy. It is expensive. Performance-wise, it is spectacular. https://alnk.to/44WaHdn
I'll be using Area 419 scope mount for it. Having looked at a lot of mounts, I think this is the best overall mount I have seen to date: https://alnk.to/5ugexLN
I wanted to experiment with a different bipod and the good folks at MDT were nice enough to loan me Ckye Triple Pull. https://alnk.to/7BfkjQo So far, I am very impressed, but we'll see how it does during the class. The Fix is a fairly lightweight rifle, but between the scope and the bipod, I think I've already got the weight up to where recoil control is not going to be an issue.
Ammo is still an open question. I got a few boxes of AAC 308Win ammo. I'll test it for accuracy and if it is good enough, I'll order a case of it to be shipped straight to Wisconsin. If not, I'll establish several different zeros with whatever ammo I have that's accurate enough (Tangent's resettable turret makes this easy) and then go with whatever I can order quickly enough or find locally. Frankly, any 175/178gr ammo will work just fine.
The Fix takes regular SR-25 magazines and I have several from Magpul and Lancer, so I am good there. All of that fits into a nice hard travel case for transportation on a plane.
Since I discriminate against muzzle brakes, I plan to get everything sighted in with Q's Trash Panda suppressor https://alnk.to/3U1pIyr
Shooting matt of some sort is probably a good idea. The most compact one I have is the magic carpet from Eberlestock. It is no longer made, but I still have one and like it.
I'll need some sort of a rear support squeeze bag. I have a few around I can take. The lightest one is probably Eberlestock's Triple Wedge that has similarly been discontinued. If I can find one, it will be going with me. If not, I might experiment with something new. If you have any recommendations, I am all for it.
I'll probably get Vortex' Impact 4000 https://alnk.to/dWcBD8z set up on the gun, since the mount has a diving board. I do not think I need it for this class, but it does not hurt to have an LRF.
As far as other tools and accessories go, I have a small toolkit from FixItSticks https://alnk.to/2QwRPNA, travel cleaning kit and a few optic wipes to take with me.
That brings me to the most important question: what am I forgetting?
There is always something.

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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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