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DarkLordOfOptics
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Guns, Optics, 2nd Amendment and resisting the Left in everything they touch.
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NRL Hunter and SHOT 2025

Well, tomorrow morning I'll head out toward Arizona for my first NRL Hunter match. From there, I will drive to Las Vegas on Sunday and kick off various SHOT Show related activities.

I have some meetings set up, but not too many. If you happen to be at SHOT, there are a few booths where I will be spending some time. If you happen to be at SHOT, come say hi:

Tuesday, Noon Schmidt & Bender Booth 11347
Tuesday, 1:30PM Burris/Steiner Booth 13227
Wednesday, 10AM Primary Arms Booth 70151
Wednesday, 2PM Armasight Booth 72349
Thursday, 10AM Telson Optics, Booth 40126
Thursday, Noon Athlon Optics, Booth 41906

Naturally, I'll try to visit all of the optics manufacturers and quite a few gun manufacturers, but these are the places where I plan to spend some time.

Prior to that, if you happen to be anywhere near Paulden, Arizona this weekend and you happen to hear a standing wave of prodigious russian cursing coming from the general direction of Gunsite, that means I am missing every plate. That would be very irritating, but not terribly surprising. If you happen to be at the match, I look forward to seeing you there.

My rifle is all set up (picture attached). I stand a fair chance of being the amateur with the snobbiest rifle. On one hand, it is a far better rifle than my shooting skills require. One the other hand, since I happen to have a very nicely setup rifle, I do not see any reason to exercise some weird false modesty and use something else. As is, it is right at 15.8lbs on my scale, so it is appropriate for open heavy. Since I am shooting as an amateur (it is a Pro Am match), I do not think they care much what I use. If it is over the weight limit on their scale, I can always pull the Impact 4000 off. It is about a pound.

To re-iterate, the rifle is The Fix by Q with a 22" 6.5CM barrel. It is, essentially, this rifle https://alnk.to/4XwM7Ix except with an early production 22" Bartlein barrel.

I have a now discontinued Q Half Nelson direct thread suppressor on it. I did use a Jumbo Shrimp on this rifle for a while and liked the shorter overall length. Jumbo Shrimp ended up migrating onto a different rifle since. If I were starting from scratch, I'd probably stick with the more compact Jumbo Shrimp suppressor that is specific to 6.5 caliber. https://alnk.to/eDSs4OO The way things are going, I should probably pick up another one of these.

I am using Hornady's 147gr ELD-M factory load. It is nicely consistent in this rifle. https://alnk.to/biu3rdQ

The scope, unsurprisingly, is Tangent Theta 7-35x56 with Gen3 reticle. It is overkill for NRL Hunter, I think, but it is the best scope I own and I have a ton of mileage with it. Familiarity counts for a lot, I think. https://alnk.to/3J7tgaX
While the scope is heavy, since I am starting out with a pretty lightweight rifle, it is within the weight budget.

The mount is from Area 419: https://alnk.to/fHmZXFZ

The bipod is an MDT Ckye Triple pull. I do not know if it is necessary for this NRL Hunter match, but I'll find out shortly. Since it is relatively heavy at about 2.5lbs, it ends up balancing the rifle very nicely right in front of the magazine well https://alnk.to/9T9ZAPr
If I went with a lighter bipod, I would either need weights or a lighter scope to get the balance where I want it. At that point, might as well go for Open Light (I did configure a different rifle for that, but that's a conversation for another day).

A full length Arca rail for Sawtooth graces the bottom of the handguard. A large flat surface made shooting off of bags a little steadier. https://www.sawtoothrifles.com/product/dovetail-rail-q-sert/

The bag I plan to be lugging around is the Gamechanger X from Armageddon gear. https://armageddongear.com/product/game-changer-x/

The tripod is the inverted elg 3620 from SunwayFoto https://sunwayfoto.com/products/t3620csli-inverted-carbon-fiber-tripod-38mm-ballhead-36mm-tubes?ref=DLO

The tripod table is the prototype I pilfered from Annex Defense https://annexdefense.com/ a while back. I wish they would finally put it into production.

Last, but not least, I have a Leica Geovid Pro AB+ LRF 10x42 binocular that absolutely kicks ass. I have been spending a LOT of time with in the last few days. https://alnk.to/2uIaoIP

I do not anticipate needing a weapon mounted LRF, but I did mount Vortex Impact 4000 onto the diving board mount, just for a little bit of redundancy. https://alnk.to/6bW4ZSV

I did quite a lot of experimentation and the ballistic solution offered by the Leica generally agrees with what I get from the Impact. If I were using a regular binocular (without the LRF), the Impact would likely be the star of the show. As is, I can always use it to verify that I am looking at the correct plate.

I am not especially good at finding plates, so that might come in handy. I do have a Kestrel Elite 5700 with me, but I have a suspicion that there is not going to be enough time to mess with wind gadgets.

Given that the targets are going to be around 0.5mrad or so in size and given that I am shooting a 6mph rifle, unless the wind is really odd, I have some margin. If I figure the wind out to within 5mph of what it really is, it will all come down to me doing my part.

Wish me luck!

One disadvantage of having nice gear is that I have very few excuses available to me. When I screw up, I know it is me, not the gear.

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ILya Koshkin@DarkLordOfOptics
August 10, 2025
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
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ILya Koshkin@DarkLordOfOptics
August 08, 2025
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
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ILya Koshkin@DarkLordOfOptics
July 23, 2025
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
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ILya Koshkin@DarkLordOfOptics
August 25, 2025
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...

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LinkLQChen@LinkLQChen
August 18, 2025

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

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ILya Koshkin@DarkLordOfOptics
August 15, 2025
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 ...

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ILya Koshkin@DarkLordOfOptics
August 25, 2025
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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ILya Koshkin@DarkLordOfOptics
August 23, 2025
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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ILya Koshkin@DarkLordOfOptics
August 08, 2025
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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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