Texas based Primary Arms has grown into an online retailer offering everything from ammo, firearms components, and tactical accessories. They started as an optics company specializing in ARs and innovators in tactical reticles. Their innovation of the ACSS reticle was instrumental in the rise in popularity of LPVO’s in America’s sporting rifle. At SHOT Show 2023 we got a first look at their newest LPVO, the 1-6×24 SLx, which promises a “true daylight bright” reticle.
At SHOT Show 2023, I stopped by the Monstrum booth and was introduced to Cyborg, their new line of prism optics. The Cyborgs will be released with 1x, 3x, and 5x models with ACOG style horse-shoe reticles, shake-awake activation, and digital brightness controls. Overall, they look similar to their boxier Gen2 Marksman prism line which are nearly half the weight of their previous Gen1 Marksman prisms.
Southern California based Monstrum Tactical is one of the most underrated brands in firearms. Largely lumped together with budget brands like CVLife, Feyachi, and the plethora of random clone brands. They make some of the best value scope mounts, with features like recoil lugs in their bases. But their red dots and rifle scopes looked like Nightforce and SIG optics but were heavier and with budget level glass.
In the last couple years they’ve quietly been improving the quality of their optics. Their newest designs no longer look like knock offs but are uniquely styled. Their glass has gotten better. They still need to improve their turret quality and reticle options, but they’re putting out decent scopes.
Cyborg Prism scopes are available on the Monstrum Tactical website using my Affiliate link: https://alnk.to/5ud6d8E
Monstrum Tactical is mostly known for their budget oriented tactical optics, LPVOs, and exceptionally good value scope mounts. They have also carried a line of weapon lights that maxed out at 400 lumens, which by today’s standards is low power. At SHOT Show 2023 Monstrum introduced their new Tracer EDC laser and flashlight which has a max 1000 lumen output. And they showed me a prototype angled foregrip with an integrated laser and weaponlight that outputs 2000 lumen. At time of filming, it didn’t have a name but maybe they’ll call it the Moondog.
I have very little experience with thermal optics because they’re so damn expensive. But what I do know is that cheap thermal scopes are pretty much a waste of time. I stopped by the iAiming booth because it was literally across the isle after my visit to Athlon and it was well worth my effort.
iAiming is an Australian based company with US sales offices in Texas. The showed me their newest scope, the iA612 which MSRP’s for $5799 with a street price closer to $5500. One of the nice things about SHOT Show is getting hands on with products I in no way can hope to afford.
The ia-612 has a digital zoom from 2.4x-19.2x and a digital viewfinder with 1024×768 resolution. It offers the user the ability to range find and to choose one of 6 different reticle types. It has built-in WiFi which allows you to broadcast the scope’s view a phone App so your friends can see real time scope views and potentially spot for you.
The newest feature that iAming was showcasing with the ia-612 is an automatic 1-shot zero feature. When you set it up on the onboard menu, the self-zero feature detects the heat signature that a bullet leaves on a paper target. The scope will automatically re-zero the reticle to that hole and Bobs your uncle, you’re zero’d out. That’s something I’d like to test out myself.
Short Elon Musk randomly gifting 1000 shares of Tesla to Twitter users with “moon” and “dog”in their handle, it’s not likely I’ll get a chance to test one myself. There is hope that iAiming might send me an evaluation model but we’ll see.
If Variety is the Spice of Life then Palmetto State Armory (PSA) is the howling Ghost Pepper of AKs. PSA used to be known as a retailer of budget AR components and AK kit guns build by small regional manufacturers but in the last few years, PSA has branched out into becoming its own legitimate gun brand. This year they’re debuting not just one or two new AK models, but a half dozen.
These new AK’s under their Soviet Arms brand span a range of historical AK like the Norinco Type 56 Chinese AK to to modern variants of AKMs and Kinkovs used by Russian special forces. PSA has long been known for making military and historical clone guns including Vietnam era AK’s and M-16’s and this year a new 5.56 chambered clone Stg 44!
If PSA is releasing a half-dozen different new AK variants wasn’t impressive enough, this same year they’re also releasing a similar number of new AR rifles under their Sabre brand. These AR’s will retail for under $1000 but come pre-installed with premium components like an ambi charging handle, 3.5lb trigger, and a low-profile hand guard. It’s going to be a busy year for PSA.
I end with this paradox: Is an AK clone of an AK clone still a clone?
Hawke Optics is the UK’s biggest maker of airgun and hunting scopes. With the popularity of LPVO (Low Power Variable Optics) in the AR and sporting rifle market, Hawke has expanded their scope lineup with 3 new LPVOs. You have 4 different reticle options, including their new Fiberdot LPVO utilizes a fiber optic illuminator. It claims to be truly daylight bright with a super fine pinpoint for precision shooters. The Vantage Fiberdot scopes are due to be available in Q2 or Q3.
UK based Hawke Optics is the worlds largest maker of airgun rifle scopes and offers a broad line of hunting scopes and field optics. They’ve applied this expertise in designing a new line of Prism sights. Utilizing a similar optical prism used in binoculars and spotting scopes, prism sights offer the simplicity, illumination, and fast target engagement of a red dot but with the fine etched reticle that can never fail due to a dead battery. For those of us with astigmatism the etched sight on a prism dot doesn’t distort or bloom like a red dot.
Prism scopes can also come fixed magnifications for longer range shooting (or old eyes). The USMC’s ACOG is a famous example of this a 4x combat prism sight. Hawke offers 3 new models in 1x, 4x, and 6x magnification respectively. The magnified prisms are ideal for action shooters or small game or fowl hunters.
Riton is an Arizona based optics company founded by an Army veteran and Law Enforcement Officer. In honor of their 10th Anniversary, they debuted a revamp of the design of all of their rifle scopes at SHOT Show 2023. I met with Jerimiah Alexander their head of Product Design who walked me through his work.
While a product “facelift” may sound superficial, I thought they were smart design choices which improved usability and ergonomics. I was one of those guys who at first blush thought Riton scopes didn’t have an ocular fast focus because it was completely smooth and flush to the tube; so the knurling is a 100% improvement.
They also introduced a refined Christmas Tree reticle to their 5 and 7 series. The thicker line weight and distance the T-cross makes it more usable at low magnifications to for hunters wanting to get a snap shot. Also notable is the switch to Warne, who make excellent QD mounts.
Last year, Riton dropped the ball in sending me scopes to review. But Jerimiah assures me they won’t make the same mistake this year. I hope he’s right.
SHOT Show is a great opportunity to meet the people at a brand face to face. But it’s not often that you get to meet a company’s CEO and have him personally walk you through their new products. At SHOT Show 2023 at the Lucid Optics booth, I did just that. Lucid’s CEO, Jason Wilson, showed me their newest Prism scope, red dot, monocular, and spotting scope.
Their products appear to be well made and have impressive specs (and impressive premium prices). I hope to test their products later this year to see if they live up to it.
Last year, I ordered prescription bifocal tinted sunglasses from the online optical company Goggles4u.com. I really liked their product selection and especially their low price. They even had an augmented reality tool on their website that allowed me to virtually wear a selection of their frames and see what they looked like using my computer camera.
I bought these sunglasses for daytime driving and they worked as until I got them dirty. I dripped some food on them when I got food in a drive through. So to give them a proper cleaning, I followed the advice I’d been given by every optometrist I’ve ever been to: wet the lenses thoroughly with water and clean them gently with lens cleaning fluid or a drop of dish detergent. After doing this, I discovered to my alarm that the coating on the tinted lenses washed off! The view through the glasses were now blurry and blemished.
I went to Goggles4u.com and used their Customer Service form page to upload photos of the glasses and ask them if something was wrong with how my glasses were constructed. The following emails were dumbfounding. Their Customer Service representatives explained to me that their sunglass coatings are NOT water proof! WTF?! Not only have I never heard of this kind of defect in custom optical eyewear but there was no warning of this issue when I ordered the glasses (nor now on the website.)
So while I had held this company in high esteem, this experience has flipped my opinion of this company and their products. I will never, ever buy or recommend their glasses.
