All posts by moondog

Tom "Moondog" DelMundo is a former NYC Creative Director.
Product Reviews, Shooting Sports

New Arken EPL-4

The first thing most experienced shooters remark on the Arken EPL-5 and SH-4, apart from the low price, is the weight. For all the features you get in a sub $600 scope, the one thing you don’t want more of is weight. Compared to a similar magnification Vortex, Athlon, or higher end scope, Arkens are heavier. This isn’t much of an issue for benchrest or even NRL or PRS shooters but it certainly was a deal breaker for most hunters.

Arken listened to the feedback and came up with a new line of scopes with an “L” in their name for “light weight”. The new 6-24×50 EPL-4 shaves off 16oz of weight compared to a 5-25×56 ELP-5. That weight savings comes with a trade off a smaller range of adjustment due to its smaller objective lens and tube. But along with its capped windage turret, this 1-pound weight saving should make this new scope attractive to back-country hunters and most competition shooters alike.

I look forward to testing the EPL-4 later this year.

Shooting Sports

New KelTec R50

KelTec is the Mad Genius of the firearms world, creating a range of innovative and unique gun designs like my folding 9mm Sub-2000 carbine. At last year’s SHOT, they showed me a prototype of a Carbine Kit for their P50 5.7 pistol. Perhaps for regulatory or other reasons, they chose not to release that kit. Instead developed a fully assembled R50 rifle variant of the P50 pistol.

For all intents and purposes this appears identical to the Carbine Kit conversion of the P50 they showed me last year. Its obvious they planned to create one from the start because all P50s come with a cut-out in the lower hand guard for their folding stock. Due to recent DOJ policy changes regarding pistol braces, some features and variants will no longer be available for this rifle.

The KelTec website states they expect a Q3 product release. I would take that with a grain of salt considering they had planned to release the Carbine Kit last year. Regardless, us oppressed captives of the State of California may never see the P50 until KelTec releases a non-folding CA complaint model.

Gadgets, Shooting Sports

New Athlon Cronus 20-60x86mm

At SHOT Show, Athlon debuted the Generation 2 update to their top-tier Cronus spotting scope. This new model features updated glass 1mm larger than its predecessor. But its major improvement is in its large focus ring which wraps around the scope’s tube. Athlon updated the internal gearing to provide more precise fine focus resolution while its large diameter allows for fast course changes in focus.

Shooting Sports

New Ruger SFAR .308

At Shot Show 2023’s Industry Range Day, there was a long line at the Ruger tent which ended up being mostly to try Marlin’s new lever action rifles. But on the less crowded side of the tent was what looked like their ARs. But it wasn’t, it was the new SFAR. You could be forgiven for mistaking it for yet another 5.56 AR, but the SFAR (Small Frame Auto-Loading Rifle) is chambered in .308.

Compared to other .308 AR10’s I had shot that day, the SFAR had the a smaller physical footprint. And more amazingly weighed as much as a typical 5.56mm AR. Perhaps it was the can they had had on it but the rifle had a softer felt recoil. Not unlike shooting a AR PCC. I was delighted and surprised.

I am not sure what sorcery Ruger used to shrink down an AR10’s components but it seemed to work. I understand that the guys at TFB had issues with their SFAR cycling reliably. My demo rifle functioned flawlessly as it did for the half-dozen other shooters ahead of me in line. If I was in the market for an AR10, I’d consider this one.

Shooting Sports

New Lapua Long Range .22LR

At Shot Show 2023, I got an early look Lapua’s new Long Range and Super Long Range .22LR ammunition. They claim these new rounds are designed to shoot consistently at ranges of 200yrds, 300yrds or more.T he bullet and case are identical to Lapua’s Center-X and Midas+ match .22LR. By tuning the powder chemistry they claim to have increased velocity by a modest 30fps while keeping the maximum velocity spread to a minimum.

The new ammo will be released towards the end of February. I’m hoping to get my hands on some directly from Lapua to test and evalute myself.

Shooting Sports

New Rock Island RIA 5.0

At this year’s Shot Show 2023, I got an opportunity to check out Rock Island Armory’s newest pistol design. Not just see it at the booth but actually shoot it at Industry Range Day. This new 9mm has a low barrel axis design with the slide riding inside of the frame like the CZ 75, FN Bruno, and Sig 210. The RIA 5.0 shares no parts or magazine compatibility with those other pistols.

The RIA I shot on Range Day had a 4 lb single-action trigger that felt smooth, crisp, and tuned. It has a 4.9″ barrel with a unique rectangular profile that locks up with the aluminum frame to make it a very flat shooter. I was able to keep the barrel pointed easily with very little jump. I did experience one malfunction due to ammo not going bang (solid primer strike noted on the cartridge). And one momentary pause when an ejected shell lodged between my eye-pro and my forehead. Given the amount of use that pistol got that day without a cleaning, I’d say it ran reliably.

The initial release will only be available in black Cerakote, though the samples at their booth were in other colors, so other options will likely be forthcoming in the future. The pistol has a 17+1 capacity and comes with a single 17 round magazine. They will offer two models at release, a standard model with fibre optic sights (MSRP $998), and a SP model with a pre-installed C-more RTS2 red dot (MSRP $1298). Unfortunately it is yet another new, modern pistol that us law-abiding Californians are not allowed to own.

Rock Island Armory’s parent company is Armscor which was founded in the Philippines. Its not surprising that many of their staff are Filipino, as am I. I was able to make use of my limited fluency in my mother tongue to film a Tagalog language version of my booth visit video.

Gadgets, Shooting Sports

New Barnett Phantom Toy Crossbows

Guns are often called “Toys for big boys”. But at Shot Show 2023, we came across real toys at the Barnett booth. Barnett makes modern hunting crossbows made with polymer, carbon fibre, and optical sights. But they also make youth bows and slingshots.

The Phantom crossbows are plastic toy bows which fire suction darts that can travel 15′-20′. Toy crossbows aren’t anything new but what makes the Phantom special is that they have an internal magazine which hold up to 3 darts and allow the shooter to fire them in rapid succession, like a pump shotgun.

The Phantom is expect to ship in early Summer 2023.

Shooting Sports

New Aero Precision SOLUS

Aero Precision is well known for making some of the best built ARs. They brought their engineering experience in aerospace manufacturing to firearms, hence their name. Recently they’ve diversified into other rifle platforms including Pistol Caliber Carbines (PCCs) and this year officially released their first bolt-action precision riles: the SOLUS.

At Shot Show 2023’s Industry Range Day, I got a chance to shoot a SOLUS rifle in 6.5 Creedmoor. The PRS Competition rifle I shot is modeled after the Remington 700 action with a lot of parts compatibility. Aero made some improvements including a 20MOA Picatinny optics rail integral to the receiver, a short 60º throw and a reinforced 3-lug bolt.

I shot a mag and half and got a good first impression. I don’t know how many rounds my sample rifle has had through it, but the bolt pulled smoothly. The trigger was crisp. The Aero designed chassis was well built with a nice thin profile hand guard with an integral ARCA/Swiss rail. I was able to reliably hit the 900m gong with a 10-30 mph gusting cross-winds.

The SOLUS system is available as a drop-in barrel and action or as a complete rifle. And sadly one of the few new guns I saw at SHOT show that will be coming to California.

Shooting Sports

The Best Leupold Scope for NRL22?

While visiting the Leupold booth at Shot Show 2023, I asked John Snodgrass which scope he would recommend for NRL22 and without hesitation he said any of the Mark 5HD line, because it offered the highest quality optical clarity for small rimfire projectiles, along with the widest variety of reticle design to suit most NRL22 shooters.

The MK5 HD is available through my Amazon Affiliate link: https://amzn.to/3R0mcsO

Shooting Sports

New Leupold Mk5 HD 2-10×30

At my visit to the Leupold booth at this year’s Shot Show, I got an opportunity see their newest Mark 5 HD 2-10×30. This scope appeals to that niche of old-school hunters who always insisted that a 3-9x scopes is all you need. But want the extra. This 2-10x scope has the Mk5HD’s bright glass and excellent turrets.

This scope will be releasing soon with a price of $1999 on the Leupold website, perhaps slightly cheaper when on sale on Amazon and select online and big-box retailers. https://www.leupold.com/mark-5hd-2-10×30-m5c3-ffp-tmr