Next match I shoot will be next weekend in Larkspur, CO.
https://nrlhunter.org/match/battle-of-rattlesnake-butte/
After that, I will stick around Colorado Springs for a few more days to visit the Space Symposium. https://www.spacesymposium.org/
If you are around Colorado Springs, I'll be around most of the week of April 7th.
The only way I can go out to shoot these matches is to combine them with work trips or family trips.
Given that constraint, this is likely the last match I shoot between now and BOTC in Wyoming. It would be nice to do one in May somewhere, but I am a little concerned my wife's patience is wearing thin.
After BOTC in June, I'll be trying to focus a little more on semi-autos (maybe Quantified Performance if I can find a convenient match) until we get to the hunting season.
I do not yet know what that will look like since the results of the New Mexico draw won't be out for a little but, but I do intend to have a Mule Deer hunt in Montana last week of October.
As is often the case, I am basing my reviews on the different hunts and matches planned for this year and on the requests from the supporters here.
For the match in Colorado, after some consideration, I will stick with shooting my 308. I considered doing it with the 6.5PRC, but decided to stick the suppressed 308 for now. In California, I kept it at 12lbs. This time around, I'll get it up to about 15lbs in weight.
The weather is promising to be cold and snowy, but at least they changed it from "rain and snow" to just "snow". With my luck, by the time we get to the weekend, it will become "rain, snow, hale, thunder, lightning, flash floods and mud slides", so I am packing accordingly.
The current plan it set up as follows:
Q Fix with 24" 308Win barrel (normal model is 16" https://alnk.to/cwTMiav, but I have an after market Proof barrel)
Q Trash Panda suppressor https://alnk.to/28T4qGa
MDT Ckyepod Triple Pull https://alnk.to/a45ayLF
Tangent Theta 7-35x56 scope https://alnk.to/8tQlJqT
Area 419 scope mount https://alnk.to/aeZVxBr
Leica Geovid Pro AB+ 10x42 LRF bino https://alnk.to/apUGwqn
MDT Peanut glass filled bag https://alnk.to/esY75ci
Cole-Tac flat bag with backbone frame https://alnk.to/3J7Tfrg
Telson inverted leg tripod https://telsonoptics.com/shop/tripod-ballhead-combo/?ref=llkqsdus
I'll be shooting AAC's 175gr ammo again. https://alnk.to/44Xpd6X It is loaded for them by Hornady and uses, best I can tell, Hornady's Aeromatch bullet. I think that bullet is a carbon copy of the 175gr SMK and my data seems to prove it out. Hopefully, AB will have the custom curves for this bullet eventually. That will tell us how close it is to the SMK.
I did some inventory and I do have some Hornady-labeled 308 ammo and it appears a bit more consistent than the AAC labeled stuff. The difference is not huge though.
So far, I have successfully managed to avoid reloading for this, but I do have a couple of projects coming up that involve reloading (more on that in a future post).
Given my experience during previous matches and general paranoia, I plan to make sure I have some spares.
The only other LRF Bino I have on hand is Meopta Optika LR, but a friend of mine asked to borrow it for this same match (his LRF bino is being repaired), so I will set up my Impact 4000 on the rifle for backup distance estimation. Depending on how much snow we get, I might be doing range estimation with the reticle some of the time anyway.
Cold weather often does bad things to battery powered devices. The remedy, of sorts, is to use rechargeable batteries. Under warm conditions, they have less capacity than non-rechargeable ones, but they cells used internally are of a different type. They experience less of a voltage drop in cold temperature. I have some rechargeable CR123 and CR2 batteries here just for that reason.
Now, I just need to work out what other spare equipment to take. Since I am driving both ways for this one, I am not as space limited.
For a scope, I think I will set up one of the 44mm scopes I am currently testing, perhaps Delta Stryker 3.5-21x44, since I am working on finalizing that review anyway and like the scope.
Last match, my tripod crapped out on me, so I will definitely bring a spare. Perhaps, this is the time to dust off the Spartan Precision tripod (https://alnk.to/3U2EeJp) I normally hunt with. It is reasonably light and compact. I also have a lightweight bipod from Spartan that use the same attachment and will work as a spare https://alnk.to/fwsEYFk
Beyond that, I think I am reasonably well set. I do not want to drag two rifles with me.
I have been practicing building up my shooting position on the clock. That has been centered around Phil Velayo's Chaos drill. It is frustrating and I am not convinced there is a ton of improvement, but I am definitely not getting worse. I suppose I will settle for that.
DNT's 7-35x56 has been here since February and I have managed to have some reasonably significant amount of time with it to date. This video is mostly in the nature of a "first look", although a bit more extensive than that. I will follow up with a careful examination of the reticle and low light performance.
https://amzn.to/4iGPl9w
So far, I am quite impressed with what the scope offers for the money.
Talking to one of the owners, he said he wants to be the undisputed bang for the buck champ under $1k. It is too early to be sure, but he might have a point there.
So far, I am quite impressed with the optic for what it costs and everything I have heard about customer support has been good.
The scope I have did have a minor glitch with the focus cell (I talk about that in the video), but it seems to have worked itself out. Perhaps there was some sort of a minor machining mark somewhere in there that got polished out.
Beyond that, it has been a good scope for me. I tried it on a ...
Here is another scope that has been here entirely too long without a formal review.
Delta Javelin 4.5-30x56, along with Athlon Ares ETR 4.5-30x56, stands at the top of the ladder of Chinese-made precision scopes I have seen to date.
To be fair, there are some new ones that are popping up that I have not tested yet (like the Telson 5-25x56) and some excellent ones that are less expensive (like DNT 7-35x56). Still, of the ones I have had a chance to spend some serious time with, it is Javelin and Ares ETR. Athlon has a Gen2 of the ETR that was announced this year, that I am very curious to test against the Javelin. Compared to the Gen1 ETR, I thought they were extremely close optically, but I slightly preferred the turrets and the reticle in the Javelin. We'll see if Athlon's Gen2 will change that.
I talk about Delta a good bit, but the brand is still not very widespread in the US. Still, there are several people selling them including Don at @AnnexDefense . Since he is a member here, I...
As I was getting this final video ready, I could not help but think that I have been talking about this LRF bino incessantly since December when I first got my hands on it.
https://alnk.to/eONAsar
I was very impressed with it when it arrived and I am very impressed with it now. I thought it was worthwhile to do a video wrap-up, see if any questions come up (i.e. something I forgot to address) and cover all the unintended omissions in an article.
Leica is, occasionally, a mystifying company in terms of their market strategy, but there is never any doubt about their technical capability. They can and do make absolutely exceptional optical instruments. There is new leadership in Leica's US office and I walked away from a meeting with them very encouraged. They seem to be listening to the market and have some good things in store.
In the meantime. as I said in the video, as far as LRF binoculars go, this is the best image quality I have seen to date combined with a very consistent LRF. ...
Hey ILya, have you had an opportunity to look at this new one?
https://www.snipershide.com/shooting/threads/i-spy-new-baby-razor-g3-4-24.7252761/#post-12086413
What are your thoughts on the new 5-40I dlr from Kahles for prs and nrl hunter? I was looking at either a zco or tangent to upgrade from my atacr, and came across this. Area 419 did some testing, but I would like to know your thoughts on this before I spend the money on it.
My understanding is that their warranty used to be problematic, but they have improved their warranty and customer service.
I am not crazy about their reticles, I really like my mil C, but could probably live with the skmr + if the brightness, fov, depth of field, and paralax forgiveness are a big improvement from what I have now.
Well, since I was running a little low on AAC Precision 175gr 308 ammo, I ordered another batch. This one came from a different lot than the batch I had before.
I have about 13 months left to be in my 40s, so I figured this is my last opportunity to get cheeky with this project title.
As I mentioned during last week's livestream, I am kicking off a large review encompassing seven different riflescopes that really share only one thing in common: their objectives are in the 42-44mm range.
Here is a comparison table of the specs for the scopes I have on hand. Note that the Swampfox Warhawk 2-10x44 is not going to be in this comparison very much. I'll do a separate video on it. The biggest reason for that is simply that this spec table is becoming too long and comparing so many scopes all at the same time is exponentially more difficult. I was going to take out either the Warhawk or the Blackhound since neither of them have a zero stop, so I flipped a coin and Blackhound got to stay. I will go over it a little bit below the table.
I did not set out to have this particular line-up in mind, but I like this riflescope type, so I ended up with all of these on hand.
Some of these scopes I have lready reviewed quite thoroughly, namely the Blackhound and Tract.
If you look at the specs carefully, you'll see that these range from true ultrashort designs (GPO and March), to "kinda short" designs (Leapers, Delta, Leupold and Blackhound) to a conventionally sized Tract Toric. Some of these lean toward the MPVO category. Some are unabashedly aimed at the Crossover market. Tract stands alone as a relatively conventional hunting scope, except configured very nicely to do everything as necessary. Another scope that would fit this category very well also that is no longer here is Vortex Strike Eagle 3-18x44. I might reference it occasionally.
I have a good amount of mileage with all of these, although I have not yet released a final review on every design. Still, I can offer some initial thoughts in order of ascending price.
Like any self respecting firearm enthusiast I always have some number of projects going on concurrently. One of them is a fast twist 22-250 bolt gun.
Every once in a while Tikka makes a run of 22-250 T3x rifles with 1-8” twist barrel and I happen to have one. That dramatically changes the varminty character of the 22-250. With a modern 80gr bullet, it is a nicely viable hunting rifle for small and medium game (just about perfect for pronghorn). It is also a very capable long range number. At the altitude where I live, it does not go subsonic until you get to about 1400 yards.
1-8” twist will not stabilize the heaviest available 22 bullets, but works well enough for anything up to about 80grains, depending on the bullet construction.
