At this point, I do not remember any more how I stumbled on this barrel, but it is not unusual for me to be looking for relatively random things while I can't sleep at night.
Then again, given how much time I spend at the range, looking at different AR barrels is not all that random.
My take on AR-15s is that they are supposed to be lightweight and accurate enough to reach to the outer limits of the capability envelope of whatever they happened to be chambered for.  I know they are plenty of people out there with freakishly accurate AR-15s that are set up with thick barrel.  They are impressively consistent, but a heavy AR-15 sorta defeats the purpose of an AR-15 to me.
Then again, I do have a couple of moderately heavy small frame AR variants.  One is built around an 18" 223Wylde WOA barrel and the other around a 22" Satern 224 Valkyrie barrel.  I'll talk about those builds in due time and I enjoy shooting both of those rifles quite a bit.  However, I view them as practice rifles since 5.56 and 224V are nice practice rounds for longer range stuff and it is easier to balance heavy barrel rifles for shooting off bags.
Most of my ARs are a lot lighter than that and they are built around 16" barrels of moderate weight.
Ideally, I want this rifle to weigh no more than 8lbs with a scope, typically an LPVO of some sort.  This is the type of rifle I expect to be equally comfortable doing timed short range drills and shooting plates between 600 and 800 yards (with appropriate ammo).
Over the years, you have seen pictures of several of these variants.  One of my favourites is built around a 16" Proof Research carbon fiber barrel.  That's the AR in this video:

I have another one built around an experimental 16" barrel that is sleeved in AlSiC, a rather exotic material.  That way of making barrels did not go into production, unfortunately.  It is not the most intrinsically accurate barrel I have, but it is very well behaved when hot.
Naturally, I also have a couple that simply have thin, near-pencil profiles.
The basic problem with most of the light weight barrels I have seen to date, is what happens when the barrel heats up.  Most barrels end up with substantially larger groups when hot, which is OK.  However, quite a few of them end up with the group centroid also changing, sometimes significantly, which is not OK.
That is an especially commo problem with carbon fiber wrapped barrels.  Christensen barrels are famous for their wandering zero.  Proof Research barrels seem to be better and the two I have do not wander around when warmed up.  However, it appears that some do.  With carbon fiber wrapped barrels I tested, Proof was the best, but it has been a little while since I experimented with it.  More recently, I have heard from others that Helix6 and Bartlein barrels are more consistent, but heavier. 

Most lightweight barrels designed for light weight have an odd (to me) profile with too much metal removed by the chamber.  Some years ago, Adams Arms had their own pencil profile barrel that left a lot more metal near the chamber, then went thing quickly.  The way Q does their light weight barrel is also done with heat distribution in mind.  Their barrel leave a lot of metal near the chamber, then run what is essentially a straight taper.

All this barrel research is probably how I stumbled onto the Trident Barrel from X2 Devgroup https://x2devgroup.com/trident-barrel/

It has very deep flutes which dramatically cuts weight.  It is about five ounces lighter than my carbon fiber Proof barrel of the same length.  Fluting can often cause problems when not properly stress relieved, but it seemed like they were paying attention to this kind of stuff and taking care to not introduce stress.  After digging through my memory banks a little, I remembered that a know someone at that company.  It was time to pick his brain.  He is a pretty serious shooter, and he was happy with these barrels.  Then he said something that made me perk up and pay attention.  He talked about vibration and how these barrels felt "dead".  That is a lot of the same verbiage I hear about structured barrels from TacomHQ.  Once my interest was properly peaked, I looked around, relaized I have enough spare parts to build an upper and that I have a built up AR-15 lower that is not attached to anything.

Once the barrel got here, I gave it a careful look.  In terms of the quality and consistency of the machining, it looked very good.  Those are some seriously deep flutes though.

The barrel, somewhat unusually, is dimpled for both of the gasblock screws and in a way that will work with the majority of gas blocks out there.

I had an Aero upper and an Aero handguard of relatively ghastly color, that probably explains why it was heavily discounted.  Since I fully expect it to be scratched up and covered by dust before too long, I could not care less.

I plan to run it with and without a suppressor, so I added Q's Cherry Bomb compensator to it.  As this is written, I have not fired it yet, but will shotly.  After some consideration, I decided to mount March's excellent 1.5-15x42 MPVO on it. https://alnk.to/b7zh0YQ  That is still the purest expresssion of the MPVO concept on the market today, so I thought it was appropriate.  Depending on how it performs, March may or may not stay on there permanently.  However, for initial break in, long range practice and accuracy evaluation, it knocks the socks off of any and every LPVO ever made.

Most AR-15s are reasonably broken in somewhere between 200 and 500 rounds, so I am not going to stress about accuracy too much in the beginning.  I'll get it sighted in, do some positional shooting and keep an eye on whether there is any abnormal behavious.

The rifle ended up weighing a bit under 6lbs without optics and a bit under 8lbs with March 1.5-15x42 in Burris XTR Signature rings. https://alnk.to/4MBZHCL The suppressor will push it a hair over 8lbs, but that's close enough.  With the bipod as pictured it just under 9lbs.  The bipod is not going to be on there permanently.  If I have to choose between a suppressor and a bipod for weight reasons, Jumbo Shrimp it is  https://alnk.to/880ol8Y

Eventually, I will likely switch to a lighter LPVO on this gun since I prefer the March on a hunting rifle, but in the meantime, configuration-wise, it is a near perfect SPR.

The nice thing about all these AR variants is how easy they are to accessorize, but all those extra gadgets do add weight.  For example, if I throw Steiner's excellent C35 v2 clip-on on there, it is another pound. https://alnk.to/8iV9jU9

An offset red dot sight will not add much weight, but it still adds a little.  Same goes for the light/laser (I think I have an extra CMR-301 https://alnk.to/880olc5 somewhere here that I can use.  It is not super fancy, but it works).

Before it is all said and done, if I keep everything on there, I will end up with am 11.5 to 12 lbs gun.  It sounds like a lot and it is.  However, if I did not start with a sub-6lbs gun before everything that I plan to latch onto it, we'd be talking about a 15lbs setup.  That's why I want a truly accurate sub-6lbs AR-15 and that is why I am always on this "holy grail" barrel search.

Stay tuned for the updates as I test this thing.

 

Every Thanksgiving these last few years I wake up in the morning knowing that this is the year when I will finally get in touch with my sweet, emotional and well meaning inner self and write a truly profoundly heartfelt and warm Happy Thanksgiving message.

That results in several minutes of hopeful soul searching.  Sadly, no matter how deeply I dig, all I come up with is sarcasm, cynicism and a profoundly dark sense of humor.

This year, I decided that I have been looking for humanity in the wrong place and that the advent of AI might offer some ability to fake warmness and optimism for people like me.  

I asked ChatGPT and Grok the same exact question: "write a profound happy thanksgiving message for a bunch of patriotic gun nuts"

Here is what I got back:

 

From ChatGPT:

Happy Thanksgiving to Our Fellow Patriots!

As we gather this Thanksgiving, let us give thanks for the blessings of freedom, family, and the great land we call home. We honor the principles that built this nation—strength, resilience, and an unwavering commitment to liberty.

Today, as we carve the turkey and reflect on our blessings, let’s not forget those who have fought to protect our freedoms and those who stand ready to defend them still. It's a time to cherish the bonds of family, the camaraderie of friends, and the power of unity that keeps our American spirit alive.

May your Thanksgiving be filled with the warmth of loved ones, the satisfaction of great food, and maybe a few moments at the range to remind us of the rights and traditions we hold dear.

Here’s to faith in the future, pride in our past, and love for this great nation. From our family to yours—Happy Thanksgiving, and God bless America! 🦃🇺🇸🔫

 

From Grok:

Happy Thanksgiving, fellow patriots and guardians of freedom! On this day of gratitude, let's give thanks for the liberties we cherish, secured by the vigilance and resolve symbolized by each of your steadfast arms. May your gatherings be filled with the warmth of camaraderie, the echoes of liberty, and the assurance that the spirit of America is alive in every one of you. Here's to the Second Amendment, to our shared heritage, and to the unyielding spirit of independence. Enjoy your feast, your fellowship, and keep the flame of freedom burning bright. Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Please put in the commens below which AI message you prefer before reading further.

 

ChatGPT's message conviniently ignores the "partiotic gun nut" part aside from the a few moments at the range reference.  Generally, it reads like something put together by script writers for "white dudes for Harris" commercial upon realizing that they have to find employment in a post 2024 election world.  It is not the power of unity that keeps our American spirit alive.  It is the American spirit and the American idea that give us some measure of unity, not the other way around.

 

Grok's message is more on point.  It actually mentions the 2nd Amendment and "assurance that the spirit of America is alive in every one of you" is both conceptually more accurate and somewhat flattering.  

 

I mostly use AI for technical stuff where it can do the calculations for me or write a few lines of code faster than I can.  However, it is full of bovine manure abotu 20% of the time, so I would not use it for anything technical where I can not easily check what it has done and find mistakes.

 

All that aside, Happy Thanksgiving, Gentlemen!

When I visited Vortex back in September, I mentioned that I took a quick look at their new line of Defender red dot sights.

While all three are pretty nice, I thought the largest variant, the XL, stood out.  Despite being relatively compact and having a substantially large window, it seemed to maintain collimation quality very well pretty close to the edges.  That was noteworthy.

Now, I have done a good amount of shooting with it and have some initial thoughts.

The main reason I went with the XL version is two fold.  One is that it looked to have a very large sweetspot.  Another is that while the overall trend with pistol mounted red dot sights is toward enclosed emitter designs, one of the areas where open emitter sights have a distinct advantage is window size.  If you try to make an enclosed emitter RDS with a window this big, it will no longer be practical on a pistol.  Too big.

One of the long running experiments I have going on is an attempt to figure out how much of an issue (for me) is window size.  Many people want the largest window possible.  Others do not hugely care.  In principle, with a larger window size, your follow-up shot can be faster if you enver lost sight of the dot due to the recoil impulse.

In practice, I tend to shoot with rather slim and compact handguns a lot (Glock 43x or 48 most commonly), where the gun moves enough to always lose the dot.  Since you always ahve to reacquire it, the larger window size does not seem to offer all THAT much of an advantage.

Now, I have three similarly sized Glocks (two GLock17 and one 34) with different size red dot sights: Vortex Defender XL, Shield RMS2 and Leupold Deltapoint Micro.  I am going to do some experimentation and see how quickly the gun settles back on target for me with all three.  

The Defender XL is somewhat new for me, so before I do anything with a shot timer, I am just making sure I do some practice with it.

There are several reasons, other than the large window that made me the XL version of the Defender intersting.  I wanted to see if the size will prove to be a hindrance for carry.  I also really liked how they did the battery compartment.  It also comes with the largest dot size of the three: 8MOA.

There are three models: XL, ST and CCW.  XL and ST use DPP footprint.  CCW uses RMS/RMSc footprint.  Parallax and distortion seemed very well corrected on all three.

The window size of the XL is 25.5x23.5mm (WxH). On the ST it is 23x20mm.  On the CCW it is 20x16mm 

In practical terms, the width of the window on the XL is about the same (very slightly narrower)as the width of a full size Glock slide.

The housing, naturally, extends a little bit wider with the widest point being the brightness control buttons on the left and the right.  That makes them very easy to find via the tactile feel.  It also makes me wonder if I will accidentally press them when carrying the gun, so that is something to experiment with.  I do not have any issue concealing a full size pistol, especially now that we are at the beginning of November.  I will keep an eye out for that.  Generally, for a carry gun, I prefer autoadjust brightness, but there are conflicting opinions on that.

In terms of durability, I do not expect any issues.  I know that these were seriously abused during the design phase and the people at Vortex I have talked to do not seem to have any concerns about durability of the Defender red dots.  I am looking at a sample of one, so it is not like I can do anything statistically significant there.

The XL comes with either 5MOA or 8MOA dot size.  ST and CCW are available with 3MOA and 6MOA options.  I have long been a proponent of larger dot sizes in handgun red dot sights.  It seems like competition guys are on board with that (XL is aimed at them to some degree), but why you would want smaller dots on the ST and CCW that are ostensibly aimed at the consumer carry handgun market is not clear to me.  I suspect Vortex is simply giving people what they are asking for even if they are asking for something that makes no sense.

That's the difference, I suppose, between people who criticise stuff for a living (yours truly) and people who have to sell stuff for a living (Vortex).  They have to be very cognizant of what their customers are asking.  I am very curous what the relative sales numbers for different dot sizes are.

The Defender XL I have here came with an 8MOA dot and that is just about perfect.

For an example of what that looks like, here is an 8MOA dot on a 7'x12" plate at 52 yards (note that the red splash to the right of the dot is a reflection off of the camera lens; it is not there when you are using the sight).

There are several reasons I prefer larger dots: they are easy to see at lower relative brightness, they work better with mild astigmatism, they are easy to pick up.  Also, if you are shooting a little further out, it is a little easire to compensate for drop.  For example, if you sight your dot in at 25 yards, with a typical 9mm, you have about 2 inches of drop at 50 yards, about 4 inches of drop at 75 yards and about 10 inches of drop at 100 yards.  On a hundred yard plate, I just place the lower edge of an 8MOA dot on the top edge of the plate.

XL and ST use 2032 batteries.  CCW uses a smaller 1632.  All three have shake awake, so I expect the batteries to last for a while. With all three, the battery is accessible from the top, so you do not have to remove the optic to change batteries. With ST and CCW, the battery cap is simply threaded in, which is uniformly a pain in the ass for many reflex sights out there, including these.  Vortex does give you a tool for that and it sorta works, but I much prefer how they did it with the XL.  Since they had more space to work with, the battery cap is hinged at the front and is released with a simple button.  Not only does it make battery replacement a breeze, it also makes sure you can not get your fingerprint onto the inside fo the lens while messing with the battery.

Shooting with it, my initial impressions are very positive.  Everything worked as it should.  Nothing shifted.  Zeroing in was a breeze, and it stayed zeroed.

Getting on target was VERY quick.  I am not a high speed/low drag kind of guy, so I suspect in the hands of a truly skilled shooter this thing would be blazing.

The gun I have it on is a very modofied version of G17.  The frame started life as a G31 which was the first handgun I ever bought.  I have somewhere between 150k and 200k rounds fired with that frame between the original 357Sig, the later 9mm and also the Advantage Arms 22LR conversion kit.  As you can imagine, all the springs have been replaced more than once.

At some point, I sent it in for a grip reduction, since I do not like the figner grooves very much.  The grip was made slightly smaller and shortened to accept both 17 and 19 magazines.

The trigger I have in it is the Gen3 version of Haley Stregic's Skimmer trigger.

The slide is the first gen Atom from Unity Tactical with the OEM Glock barrel, Lone Wolf striker and extractor.

It is still a Glock, albeit a nice one.

For the side-by-side I am planning to do, the RMS2 sits on a Gen5 Glock 17 that is stock other than sporting a Timney trigger.  Deltapoint Micro is on a bone stock G34. 

Generally, I fully admit that Deltapoint Micro is more appropriate on a slimline G48, but I wanted the guns to be broadly comparable.  Once this test is done, the Micro will go back onto a smaller gun and G34 will be milled for a different optic, probably for Acro footprint.