Dark Lord Of Optics

As some of you may know, I have been having some issues getting my CP33 to feed the first round reliably...

Primary Arms has been doing a lot of things right lately and none of them more so than this scope. It is absolutely exceptional in terms of how much performance they stuffed into a very compact package. This is easily the best under $2k LPVO I have seen to date. Scope: https://bit.ly/3KKNPl9 Mount: https://bit.ly/3Qs2ghs

This one is going to get nerdy, folks! As you all prepare to dust off your pocket protectors, I am mostly looking to go into more detail on the technical aspects of how FOV and resolution work with electro-optical sighting devices. Naturally, there will be a Q&A as well. Post show notes: A question came up on thermal scopes in the $5k range that I like. There are plenty I have not tested, but I really liked Steiner S35 (these guys have it in stock for $4500: https://bit.ly/3JNasGC) and Bering Super Yoter. Stiner is heavier and bulkier, but has longer battery life. Bering is trim and compact, but battery life is shorter. Pick your poison. There was a good amount of conversation about precision scopes in the $500 range. There are several good options there. I am quite partial to the Element Helix FFP 6-24x50 https://bit.ly/3QBRWDb The guys at Element really pay attention to tracking consistency. If you are looking for some extra adjustment range without breaking the bank, Arken seems to have cornered that territory: I have only tested their SH4 Gen2 4-16x50, but I rather like it. With Vortex, I think the Venom is a very user friendly scope if you do not need illumination: https://bit.ly/3AfXA8F If you are willing to step up in price a little, I have to admit that Element Titan 3-18x50 is really growing on me. It is a nice scope with a huge adjustment range. https://bit.ly/3bBFfJP

In the spirit of continuing my coverage of commercial electro-optics, I decided to spend some time on iRay thermal products. While we are at it, this is a good opportunity to discuss how thermal clip-ons work and how they are different from conventional thermal riflescopes. I currently have two iRay products on hand. They need to go back, so this is a good time to discuss them while they are here: iRay RL42 thermal riflescope: https://bit.ly/3Mrj4Dy iRay Micro RH25 thermal monocular and clip-on: https://bit.ly/3lfAuqM Post show notes: A question came up on what would be the lowest cost of entry if you are looking for a decent clip-on, but do not want to go all out. I use Burris BTC-50. It is around $3k and gets me a 50mm lens albeit with a lower resolution sensor. https://bit.ly/3E1bb2w If you are just new to thermal, there is a lot to be said about Accufire Incendis that can be used as both riflescope and clip-on. It is about $3k and for hunting with it, I'd stay within about 250 yards. Detection distance is much longer, of course. https://bit.ly/3LkHPj4 Nothing with thermals is cheap, but $3k is roughly the starting point for the decent stuff. If you care more about portability, but still want to be able to use the device as a clip-on, iRay Micro RH25 linked above is a really capable general purpose device that can be used handheld, on a helmet and on the gun. However, if you are trying to use is side by side with PVS-14 and sorta blend them in with each other, you need wider FOV. PVS-14 has 40 deg FOV. There are not a lot of thermals with FOV as wide. N-Visions NOX18 is not quit that wide at 30 degrees, but wider than most and very compact: https://bit.ly/3vHH1Qi

It has been a while since I've done one of these, so I plan to leave a lot of time for the Q&A. I'll talk a little about Night Vision in general and Photonis' PD PRO 16M in particular. I also plan to discuss how good current state of the art digital night vision technology is and what we should expect in the foreseeable future. Post show notes: I got my Photonis monocular from Brookes Precision. While John is working on getting his website up, I set up an e-mail for him: brookesprecision@darklordofoptics.com Send an e-mail there if you need to get a hold of him. I do not have any business or financial interest with Photonis or Brookes Precision. Just helping a friend. The first hour and fifteen minutes was discussion of Night Vision in general and Photonis in particular. After, we switched gears to tall about prismatics. https://youtu.be/6AOKafmjcBg?t=4422 Prismatic discussion preceded by a couple of minuted on imaginary horse sized ducks

BDC reticles are all over the place. They are successful because they are simple to understand. However, with most BDC reticles, I am decidedly not a fan and I think the way they are presented is deeply flawed especially for applications that require any sort of precision. However, there are a few people out there making meaningful improvement to the idea. I have done a show on David Tubb's DTR reticle in the past. Today, we will talk about problems with typical BDC reticles and then go over tacomHQ's Master reticle concept that represents a different and very original take on BDCs. It tackles one of the biggest problems BDC reticles have at distance

It has been a couple of months since our last Ukraine War update, so it is high time we re-visit what's happening there. There are comparatively fewer bombastic news articles coming out, but the intensity of the fighting has been quite high. The nature of the military side of the conflict has changed though to a good degree. I find the duplicitous nature of US coverage of the way on both sides of the political isle really interesting and quite detached from what's happening in Ukraine. Join us for a discussion.

Precision rimfire is clearly a growing shooting discipline. It has been a topic of conversation here more than once and this time, my guest is Greg Roman of Vudoo Gunworks. Vudoo makes some of the most accurate rimfire rifles I have seen to date and the company is well known for consistent products and exemplary customer service on rare occasions when it was needed. I'll kick things off with a few thoughts on rimfire optics and Vudoo rifles, after which we will transition into the customary Q&A session.

Join me at www.darklordofoptics.com for further discussion. I have been messing with the 1x and 3x SLx Microprisms from Primary Arms for quite a while now. Long enough to comfortably add both to my list of recommendations. I have talked about these tiny prismatics here and there for quite a bit, but it is time to be offering some parting thoughts. There will be a couple more installments of these, but here is the first one. Something to clarify: if I were to buy only one of PA's small prismatics, it would be the slightly bigger GLx 2x (https://bit.ly/3vWrUks). It kicks ass. As I will talk about in the next video, the tiny 3x Micro prism (https://bit.ly/3KuU7oL), while a very nice sight on its own is also a perfect back up scope for ARs. For any rifle I use a good bit, I also have backup optics setup. Just so that you understand the overall levels of my paranoia. For rifles, I tend to have a primary scope with secondary offset or piggy-backed sights on the gun and I ALSO have a pre-sighted in backup sight of some sort. For boltguns, I use the SWFA SS Ultralight for this. For ARs, I usually have a backup red dot sight of some sort, but I like having a small amount of magnification. The tiny SLx 3x Microprism is easy to keep available just in case without weighing anything down or spending a fortune. To be fair, there are other microprisms out there, most notably from Burris and Vortex, although I happen to prefer the reticle arrangement of the PA SLx. They all work pretty well and I have the Burris one here as well, set up in exactly the same way: as a backup scope for a larger LPVO or larger prismatic. That's one of the big things that I got out of this: to get a nice LPVO, there is going to be a weight penalty and, most importantly, you'll spend some money. In the meantime, with this new generation of small prisms, I can get a pretty mature and well thought out scope product for not a lot of money. It is a great first time user magnified optic and if you later decide to upgrade to something bigger (LPVO, etc), you already have your backup optic squared away.

Join me at www.darklordofoptics.com for further discussion. In this video, I take a look at Russian-made Dedal riflescope. There were a couple of quirks, but overall it is better than I expected. To be fair, I am generally prejudiced against Russian-made products having grown up there, so my skepticism is not unexpected. Still, the scope held up well and while there were a couple of QC misses (tracking was 3% off and the reticle was not perfectly centered), the scope adjusted the same away every time and stayed zeroed.

This livestream is intended as a Q&A follow-up for the High End Tactical #7 video.

Join me at www.darklordofoptics.com for further discussion This seventh installment of the High End Tactical series goes over the current crop of fancy 50mm objective scopes.

This was streamed live on www.darklordofoptics.com on April 26, 2022.

In this livestream, I am looking to go over how thermal imaging works, why it is fundamentally different from what we normally see with our eyes or even from what we see through night vision devices. I'll touch on a few thermal scopes I have been looking at lately and wrap up with the usual Q&A. In many ways I am testing the waters here because I do not know how technical you really want me to get. If there is interest, I can make it as nerdy as you want.

Join me at www.darklordofoptics.com for further discussion. Here is a review of Steiner's new MPS enclosed emitter red dot sight. It is a competent design with a few clever features and robust construction.

Join me at www.darklordofoptics.com for more details and censorship free discussion. In this video, we take a quick first look at the new AF-C from Alpha Foxtrot. It is an aluminum frame Glock 19 clone with improved ergonomics and excellent shootability.

For more discussion, visit me at www.darklordofoptics.com This short video is a wrap-up of a year long test of the CTS-1550 compact red dot sight from Crimson Trace. It lived on my carry gun for most of 2021 and gave me exactly zero problems. Naturally, just as I got done with it, Crimson Trace discontinued it, but the good part is that it is nicely discounted: https://bit.ly/3Jfe435

Tune in for a brief (ish) update on what's happening in the Ukraine War now that we are three weeks into it.

In this show, Eugene and I will go over the situation as it stands now, touch on US response to it, the way Russian and US media portray the situation and a variety of other issues. We will, of course, take questions. Budget on a couple of hours for the whole thing.

Travis of Silvercore Podcast and Alex of Affordable Rifle and Optics Reviews are both in Canada and they will join me to discuss what's happening there with the Freedom Convoy.

Will and I are going to give SHOT Show recap one more final shot (pun intended).

SHOT 2022 Takeaways

As we wrap with 2021, I want to spend a few minutes on how this year has been for me in terms of guns and optics and what I am looking forward to in 2022. A couple of fellow gun bloggers will stop by as well.

This one is going to get nerdy, folks! I am travelling this week, so this one is going to be done under field conditions from my hotel room near Boston. I'll talk a little bit about a few different ways reticles are typically illuminated in riflescopes and what applications these different illumination methods do best with. Naturally, I'll open it up to a Q&A. I'll limit this to two hours as I have been doing lately.

Visit www.darklordofoptics.com for further discussion