There is little doubt that all of you are inundated with a large number of emails and notifications about, to quote our incoming president, "amazing, wonderful, best ever, never seen anything like it before" Black Friday sales.

I have to admit that I have not been looking very closely to whether there is anything particularly appealing on offer, but I will make an effort to look through my emails and see if any of the stuff I can comfortably recommend is discounted into a particularly attractive price range.

In the meantime, if you are out there shopping on Primary Arms, Brownells, etc websites, I would appreciate it if you clicked on one of my links. It makes no difference to you, but it helps me fund all the tests I do.

I have all the companies I have an affiliate account with listed in the FAQ section, at the very top https://darklordofoptics.locals.com/faq

This particular post is going to stay pinned for a week or two and I will keep adding to it as I notice anything interesting.

Starting with Palmetto State Armory, they always have some nicely discounted AR variants and this year is no exception. I have a good amount of experience with their ARs. They are not the most polished guns I have ever seen, but they are reliable and surprisingly accurate. I think PSA makes their own barrels and they have some a long way. Looking through what they have, I would probably lean toward this one for $500: https://alnk.to/6TANw5j
It already has upgraded furniture and I like the full length top rail on the handguard.
This one from Radical is even less expensive https://alnk.to/dAnAN9F and $400, but PSA's own builds have a more polished trigger.
Either one should be a reasonable reliable basic AR.

If you are just going to go plink with it at close range, there are plenty of inexpensive red dots out there. If this is more of a general purpose AR, you would be hard pressed to do better for the money than PA's SLx 1-6x24 with the Nova fiber illuminated reticle: https://alnk.to/btov1Sn
PA has a 13% off discount going on with a code TAKE13. That's their "Pre Black Friday". I assume there will be more discounts as we get closer.
If you are willing to spend a little more money, there is the PLxC 1-8x24 that is a big step up in quality and price https://alnk.to/2jN61wn
TAKE13 works for both scopes.

For those of you, who insist on not using Chinese optics, Brownells is closing out their 1-6x24 Japanese made LPVO and you can pick it up for $300 with the mount. https://alnk.to/6IG2y0y
The dual circle reticle definitely marches to the beat of it sown drum, but it works. I have one here and (surprisingly) like it. To be clear, I think the recently designed fiber reticle Chinese LPVOs for similar money have notable advantages, but if you want a decent Japanese LPVO on the same budget, the MPO 1-6x24 is your only option.

Eurooptic is running a sale on S&B scopes that has all sorts of interesting stuff in it: https://alnk.to/58rdIKi
For example, you can pick up 2.5-10x50 or 3-12x54 Polar for under $2k. These are remarkably capable hunting scopes if low light is important. Capped turret 3-18x42 Meta is right at $2k. That is easily one of the best general purpose hunting scopes made today.
If you are shooting paper, they have a version of the 10-60x56 for $3k https://alnk.to/9buEhzB
Also at EO, Vortex Razor UHD 8x42 bino is $900 https://alnk.to/9xkaffv and 18x56 is $1300 https://alnk.to/7X5lpUG
That's a steal, in both cases. There is a new version coming out with a different accessory set (same binocular), so EO can call these discontinued and discount them. UHDs are VERY good.
On the regular priced Vortex items, EO has a VTX15 discount that gets you 15% off of Razor Gen3 and other products. I generally like Vortex scopes if I were to zero in on three I recommend most routinely, it would be 1-10x24 and 6-36x56 Razor Gen3 https://alnk.to/9buEhIH and 4.5-22x50 Razor HD-LHT https://alnk.to/gVLZrD1
I do think that PST Gen2 3-15x44 is the most underrated scope they offer https://alnk.to/6TANxet

Opticsplanet has a couple of discount codes going. "PREPARTY" gets you $75 off on anything over $500. "PREFUN" gets you $40 off on anything over $250. A lot of individually discounted stuff is agglomerated here: https://alnk.to/dAnATBD

I was quite excited to find Steienr H6Xi for under $1500 on Opticsplanet, just to discover the same scope going for $1330 on Eurooptic: https://alnk.to/9mppm3Q

With March 4.5-28x52 that I am quite fond of, Eurooptic again beat Opticplanet to the punch. They have several in stock with the older style turrets for well below $3k and some below $2500. https://alnk.to/clYi1Xe That's a good price for a very capable scope. I am continuously shocked I do not see it more on NRL Hunter rifles. At that weight and magnification range, the March 4.5-28x52 is probably the best option going. If you want the new Shuriken turrets and can live without illumination, there is one for $2700. https://alnk.to/d3DjXgU

I am not seeing a ton of stuff that jumps out of me on Optics Force website, but Vortex Defender CCW for $205 is quite good. https://alnk.to/fwrVGY7

For a competition-oriented or just full size handgun, I would still lean toward the larger Defender XL where Euro's VTX15 seems to get the better bargain https://alnk.to/hhBvv8U

Updated on 11/26/2024:
It looks like Primary Arms has formally launched their Black Friday sale:
https://alnk.to/6mQxhFV
New things will be added every day. Several things there are quite interesting. Troy upper for $350. Complete SCT G19 frame for $53. Complete Precision Defense G19 slide for $130. Between the last two, you can have G19 sized Glock clone for $183 and the slide already has an RMR cut. That is quite tempting. I have one SCT frame (G48 compatible) and I am quite happy with it.
SLx 5x for $340 is very good too https://alnk.to/d3DkyIt

Brownells is busy discounting various BRN-180 variants like this upper https://alnk.to/hDr243g I am somewhat tempted by the "S" variants where the gas block is easy to adjust for suppressed vs unsuppressed use.

Added on 11/29/2024:

Tract has a series of significant discount on some of their more popular products: https://help.tractoptics.com/p/5GBO-891/2024-great-deal-weekend

SWFA has finally gone public with their Gen2 riflescopes and has them discounted for Black Friday. www.swfa.com The first out are the fixed power 10x42, 12x42, 16x42 and 20x42 scopes along with the FFP 3-15x42. Aside from the more visible markings, the turrets have been redesigned to incorporate zero stop. Each scope comes with two sets of turrets: larger diameter ones that you can easily grip and smaller diameter ones that can be capped. All the fixed power scopes are rear focus. The 3-15x42 is side focus.

FoldAR has all sorts of discounts going on their website. The most appealing looking are a few cosmetic blems they have. https://alnk.to/hhBxaWa To re-iterate, if you plan to travel with an AR, I think these are the best takedown AR variants on the market today. I have one that I take to classes and I am extremely happy with it. Mine is from the first batch they made and it has been absolutely rock solid. The new ones are modular and better than the one I have, but I am very attached to mine. Still, it is very tempting.

XLR has their Black Friday discounts live. I use their Element 4.0 chassis on my TIkka T1X and I am quite fond of it. https://xlrindustries.com/pages/sale?mc_cid=2d1ebd32a1&mc_eid=9b4557a093

MDT has all sorts of interesting things happening at very deep discounts https://mdttac.com/black-friday-2024/

Brownells has 15BF code for 15% off on almost everything. https://alnk.to/gp1Kh3a

Armaisght has 15% off on almost everything on their website. They make some very nice thermals and night vision devices. https://alnk.to/clYjImY

Opticsplanet has a new discount code "GETET" that gets you 14% off and 2% bonus bucks on just about everything they have. https://alnk.to/1N2QRGs

Primary Arms has been busy adding to their Sales page. 15% off on all of their optics is probably of most interest to me, but there is all sorts of stuff in there https://alnk.to/6IG4kFM

With Field Optics Research, BF2024 gets you 25% off

More to come.