I sat down (virtually) with Greg of Ames, Iowa who was one of four winners in my July 17 Moondog R&D Summer Contest. I gave away four $25 gift cards to Evike.com and an H&K promo baseball cap from Shot Show. Greg was the first winner to get back to me for a Zoom interview.
Greg is a semi-retired commercial real estate agent and FFL. He plans to use the card to buy some more pew pew gear. He stumbled on my YouTube channel Moondog Industries while searching for info on Hawke scopes.
I was sent these prototype 12ga Shotgun Shell holders to evaluate without graphics on the package or instruction manual. They’re polymer and fit 12ga shell securely enough (I didn’t have any 20ga shells to test). They attach to the side of your shotgun receiver using 3M-style adhesive pads, though I’m not sure how well the pads will stay on long term if exposed to gun cleaning solvents.
I gave my contact at the Shooting Product Club some feedback. The product works but is probably better suited for airsoft than reel steel. I’m not sure who the market is for in real firearms? Sure, it’s a budget way to attach a quick load set shells to your shotgun but I personally don’t like the idea of exposed shells that could get snagged.
Trap and clay shooters have round restrictions when competing. Bird hunters are often restricted to 2 round in their gun so perhaps them? Or maybe 3-Gun users maybe who want just an extra backup holder? Looking at Amazon, I see they’re now on sale and quite affordable with 2 packs going for under $10. https://amzn.to/3ciJZEg
The Grand Prize will be chosen from all contest entries submitted from July 28, 2022 through August 28, 2022. Entries must be received no later than 12pm EST on August 28, 2022.
UDPATE
Congratulations Steve Dannuzio of California for winning the contest!
1. Subscribe or follow my YouTube Channel (Moondog R&D), TikTok, and/or Instagram
2. Take a screen shot of the channel screens showing you have subscribed/followed and email it to me
3. Email me with the Subject: “Borescope Contest”
• Attach the JPG or PNG screen shot
• Include your full name and ship-to address in the email (so I can confirm you live in the US or Canada)
Use the button email below or email me directly at: contest@moondogindustries.com
4. BONUS: Share this with a friend and get them to enter the contest too. Ask them to reference your name and email address in the body of their message ie. “My buddy johndoe@gmail.com clued me into the contest”, and I’ll award you an extra-bonus entry to the contest. It’s important that they reference your email so I can easily look up your entry. Each friend that subscribes and refers to you in their email will earn you another bonus entry for a maximum of 10 entries (including yours).
NO PURCHASE IS NECESSARY TO ENTER. YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING DO NOT INCREASE WITH A PURCHASE. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED.
Void where prohibited by law. Must be legal resident within the USA or Canada. Moondog Industries employees, subsidiaries, affiliates, suppliers, advertising and promotion agencies, employees’ immediate family members, are ineligible participate in the contest/giveaway.
Entrants must be willing and able to appear on YouTube to discuss the contest and post images of the prize on their social feed should they win the contest.
Moondog Industries (known as the SPONSOR) is a video Edutainment producer and game promotor based in San Francisco, CA. YouTube, TikTok, Rumble, and online video platforms (known as PLATFORMS) are not SPONSORS or in any way affiliated with the contest or content.
By entering your contest, participants agree to abide by the SPONSOR’s Official Rules and decisions. The SPONSOR retain the right to refuse, withdraw, or disqualify entries at their sole discretion. By submitting an entry, the participant agrees to accept the decision of the SPONSOR as final and binding.
Contest email entries must be received by between:
12:00pm EST 28 July 2022
and
12:00pm EST 28 August, 2022.
This contest requires your skill in navigating your phone or computer controls to screen capture an image of the following YouTube channels/Social Media accounts. Subscribe or Follow and make a screen capture of those pages showing a greyed out Subscribe button or indicator that your account is Following that page. Send a screen capture image file of any of those sites to contest@moondogindustries.com . One entry per person or per Social Media account/platform. Fraudulent methods of entry, photo retouched, or other methods of circumvention of the rules may result in the SPONSOR invalidating a participant’s entries.
Winner must be able to receive the prize by e-mail or by physical mail. Prize may be substituted at the sole discretion of the SPONSOR. Acceptance of the prize grants SPONSOR permission to use the Winners entry, name, and likeness for advertising, promotion, and trade without further compensation or remuneration unless prohibited by law.
Odds of winning is dependent upon the number of eligible entries received.
The winner will be chosen at random by the SPONSOR from among the entrants that demonstrated the skill to navigate the electronic entry and have met the minimum requirements. Winners will be contacted via the email used to enter the contest no later than December 31, 2022.
SPONSOR are not liable for the winner’s failure to receive notification of winning if he or she provided a wrong email address or if their email security settings caused your prize notification to go into the spam or junk folder. If a winner does not respond within 24hrs of sending a notification, the SPONSOR will select an alternate winner. Receipt of the prize is upon the condition of compliance with federal, state, and local laws.
The SPONSOR, upon submission of an entry into the giveaway or contest, has the right to use the participant’s submission, voice, likeness, image, statements about the contest, etc., for publicity, news, advertising, promotional purposes, trade, and so forth, without any further notice, review, consent, compensation or remuneration.
Participants shall defend or settle against such claims at their sole expense, and shall indemnify, defend and hold harmless the SPONSOR from any suit due to damage of or by the prize.
The SPONSOR reserves the right to modify, suspend, cancel or terminate in the event that non-authorized human intervention, a bug or virus, fraud, or other causes beyond your control impact or corrupt the security, fairness, proper conduct, or administration of the contest/giveaway.
Entry into this contest constitutes the participants agreement to release and hold harmless the SPONSOR and PLATFORMS, their subsidiaries, affiliates, employees, etc., against all claims liability, illness, injury, death, loss, etc., that occurs directly or indirectly from participation in the contest or use/misuse of the awarded prize.
As a condition of participating in the promotion, the participant agrees to resolve all disputes with an arbitrator designated by the SPONSOR in the state of California, without resorting to any form of class action. Entrants waive all rights to punitive, incidental, or consequential damages, and waive all rights to have damages multiplied or increased.
Participants agree to abide by all privacy and NDA laws in the State of California and any federal laws of the United State of America.
Participants may request a list of winners by submitting a request in writing to Moondog Industries for up to 30 days after the contest ends.
Winners will agree to post a photo of the prize on their social media channels in such a way as does not violate any rules of that platform. The winners also agree to appear for an interview where they will discuss the prize and its performance. If there are functional problems with the prize, the winner agrees to make a good-faith effort to resolve all issues with the SPONSOR prior to posting reviews or opinions about the prize.
By entering the contest, the entrant has affirmatively reviewed, accepted, and agreed to all of the them.
1. Subscribe to my YouTube Channel: Moondog R&D
2. Take a screen shot of the channel screen showing you have subscribed/followed and email it to me
3. Email me with the Subject: “July 25 Contest”
• Attach the JPG or PNG screen shot
• Include your full name and ship-to address in the email (so I can confirm you live in the US or Canada)
Use the button email below or email me directly at: contest@moondogindustries.com
4. BONUS: Share this contest with a friend. Ask them to reference your name and email address in the body of their message ie. “My buddy johndoe@gmail.com sent me this contest link”, and I’ll award you an extra-bonus entry to the contest. It’s important that they reference your email so I can look up your entry. Each friend that subscribes and refers to you in their email will earn you another bonus entry for a maximum of 10 entries (including yours).
Entries must be received no later than 11:59pm PST on July 24, 2022
NO PURCHASE IS NECESSARY TO ENTER. YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING DO NOT INCREASE WITH A PURCHASE. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED.
Void where prohibited by law. Must be legal resident within the USA or Canada. Moondog Industries employees, subsidiaries, affiliates, suppliers, advertising and promotion agencies, employees’ immediate family members, are ineligible participate in the contest/giveaway.
Entrants must be willing and able to appear on YouTube to discuss the contest and post images of the prize on their social feed should they win the contest.
Moondog Industries (known as the SPONSOR) is a video Edutainment producer and game promotor based in San Francisco, CA.
By entering your contest, participants agree to abide by the SPONSOR’s Official Rules and decisions. The SPONSOR retain the right to refuse, withdraw, or disqualify entries at their sole discretion. By submitting an entry, the participant agrees to accept the decision of the SPONSOR as final and binding.
Contest email entries must be received by between:
12:00pm PST 19 July 2022
and
11:59pm PST 24 July, 2022.
This contest requires your skill in navigating your phone or computer controls to screen capture an image of the following YouTube channels/Social Media accounts. Subscribe or Follow and make a screen capture of those pages showing a greyed out Subscribe button or indicator that your account is Following that page. Send a screen capture image file of any of those sites to contest@moondogindustries.com . One entry per person or per Social Media account. Fraudulent methods of entry, photo retouched, or other methods of circumvention of the rules may result in the SPONSOR invalidating a participant’s entries.
The winner will receive $100 in Evike gift cards and a H&K promotional cap shipped to them from San Francisco. Winner must be able to receive the prize by mail. Prize may be substituted at the sole discretion of the SPONSOR. Acceptance of the prize grants SPONSOR permission to use the Winners entry, name, and likeness for advertising, promotion, and trade without further compensation or remuneration unless prohibited by law.
Odds of winning is dependent upon the number of eligible entries received.
The winner will be chosen at random by the SPONSOR from among the entrants that demonstrated the skill to navigate the electronic entry and have met the minimum requirements. Winners will be contacted via the email used to enter the contest no later than December 31, 2022.
SPONSOR are not liable for the winner’s failure to receive notification of winning if he or she provided a wrong email address or if their email security settings caused your prize notification to go into the spam or junk folder. If a winner does not respond within 24hrs of sending a notification, the SPONSOR will select an alternate winner. Receipt of the prize is upon the condition of compliance with federal, state, and local laws.
The SPONSOR, upon submission of an entry into the giveaway or contest, has the right to use the participant’s submission, voice, likeness, image, statements about the contest, etc., for publicity, news, advertising, promotional purposes, trade, and so forth, without any further notice, review, consent, compensation or remuneration.
Participants shall defend or settle against such claims at their sole expense, and shall indemnify, defend and hold harmless the SPONSOR from any suit due to damage of or by the prize.
The SPONSOR reserves the right to modify, suspend, cancel or terminate in the event that non-authorized human intervention, a bug or virus, fraud, or other causes beyond your control impact or corrupt the security, fairness, proper conduct, or administration of the contest/giveaway.
Entry into this contest constitutes the participants agreement to release and hold harmless the SPONSOR and its subsidiaries, affiliates, employees, etc., against all claims liability, illness, injury, death, loss, etc., that occurs directly or indirectly from participation in the contest or use/misuse of the awarded prize.
As a condition of participating in the promotion, the participant agrees to resolve all disputes with an arbitrator designated by the SPONSOR in the state of California, without resorting to any form of class action. Entrants waive all rights to punitive, incidental, or consequential damages, and waive all rights to have damages multiplied or increased.
Participants agree to abide by all privacy and NDA laws in the State of California and any federal laws of the United State of America.
Participants may request a list of winners by submitting a request in writing to Moondog Industries for up to 30 days after the contest ends.
Winners will agree to post a photo of the prize on their social media channels in such a way as does not violate any rules of that platform. The winners also agree to appear for an interview where they will discuss the prize and its performance. If there are functional problems with the prize, the winner agrees to make a good-faith effort to resolve all issues with the SPONSOR prior to posting reviews or opinions about the prize.
By entering the contest, the entrant has affirmatively reviewed, accepted, and agreed to all of the them.
In late May, a request went out to the members of the Coyote Point Rifle and Pistol Club (CPRPC) for volunteers to work as RSOs (Range Safety Officer) at a special firearms training event to be held at the Indoor Pistol Range. The CPRPC has its home at the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office Seibel Firearms Training Range, where we use and operate its outdoor rifle range; but the club does not have access to the state-of-the-art indoor pistol range.
The FBI Citizens Academy of San Francisco’s Alumuni Association was invited to by the Sheriff to hold a firearms safety and familiarity course at the facility. Since most of the participants had little or no firearms experience, it was required that there be a 1:1 ratio of RSO’s to students while handling firearms. Thus, on a sunny Saturday in June, I and about 16 other CPRPC members found our selves supervising about 20 FBISFCAA members at the range.
The FBISFCAA members spent the first few hours in a facility classroom taking a Basic Pistol course from a Firearms Instructor. Then in groups of 14 they entered the Pistol Range and were paired up with a CPRPC RSO who supervised them. The FBISFCAA supplied their own ammunitions and each student got to fire 10 rounds each from a pistol and/or revolver on the bench. All of the students performed well and everybody left with a big smile on their face and greater respect for firearms safety.
One thing that struck me was how many of these students had very little or no experience with firearms until today. And many of them were older than me and I’m not youngster. That just reinforces the fact that since the 1960’s average American have had less and less first-hand experience with firearms. Along with the erosion of civility and our sense of civic duty, this is a trend we have to reverse.
Every year, each responsible shooter should introduce a new shooter to the range and shooting sports. If we don’t, the general public will distrust firearms and firearms owners more and more. Humans an an instinctive fear of the unknown. If we have a right to bear arms, then we also have a responsibility to use them wisely and show others how to do so.
If you’re interested in learning more about the FBI and the Citizen’s Academy, check out their website. They have chapters all over the country: https://fbisfcaaa.org/
If you’re Bay Area resident and local shooter and would like to join the Coyote Point Rifle and Pistol Club learning more on the website: http://coyotepointrpc.org/membership
While out on the East Coast to produce OP: Bad Blood 2022, I stop in to my old stomping grounds in Midtown-Manhattan to visit the Nintendo Store in Rockefeller Center.
Joyroom sent me their 5-port USB 72W car charger to test and evaluate. This charger plugs into a standard car lighter port and provides 5 USB ports of up to 12V of power (3 x USB-A and 2 x USB-C ports). The 3 USB-A ports are QC 3.0 compatible which means you can quick charge Samsung and Apple devices. In my casual testing on my Samsung S21 which had a 30% battery charge, I was able to draw a ≥2000mA current through each of the ports. This would allow me to fully charge my phone in about 10 min.
The unusual feature of this charger is that the charging ports are split between the main cigarette plug (2 x USB-A and 1 x USB-C) and satellite clip-on charger block connected by an integral power cable (~length of 4ft). The allows you the flexibility to provide passengers in the rear seats USB charging. A boon to any parent with kids with power hungry devices (like a Nintendo Switch). This is an especially useful when traveling as compact and budget rental cars rarely have rear USB charging ports.
This unit is available on Amazon through this Affiliate Link. Any purchases made through this link support my efforts to review new products. Thanks. https://amzn.to/3ImTGO1
Enter to Win an H&K cap and a $25 Evike Gift Card
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Subscribe to my YouTube Channel or Tiktok.
2. Take a screen shot of the channel screen showing you have subscribed/followed.
3. Email me a JPG or PNG screen shot, using the button email below or email me directly at: contest@moondogindustries.com
4. Include July 17 in the subjectline, your full name and ship-to address (so I can confirm you live in the US or Canada)
5. Each subscribe/follow to each channel is worth (1) entry, for a maximum of (2) entries per person. You may submit both screen caps in your email. Entries must be received no later than 11:59pm PST on July 16.
NO PURCHASE IS NECESSARY TO ENTER. YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING DO NOT INCREASE WITH A PURCHASE. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED.
Void where prohibited by law. Must be legal resident within the USA or Canada. Moondog Industries employees, subsidiaries, affiliates, suppliers, advertising and promotion agencies, employees’ immediate family members, are ineligible participate in the contest/giveaway.
Entrants must be willing and able to appear on YouTube to discuss the contest and post images of the prize on their social feed should they win the contest.
Moondog Industries (known as the SPONSOR) is a video Edutainment producer and game promotor based in San Francisco, CA.
By entering your contest, participants agree to abide by the SPONSOR’s Official Rules and decisions. The SPONSOR retain the right to refuse, withdraw, or disqualify entries at their sole discretion. By submitting an entry, the participant agrees to accept the decision of the SPONSOR as final and binding.
Contest email entries must be received by between:
12:00pm PST 8 July 2022
and
11:59pm PST 16 July, 2022.
This contest requires your skill in navigating your phone or computer controls to screen capture an image of the following YouTube channels/Social Media accounts. Subscribe or Follow and make a screen capture of those pages showing a greyed out Subscribe button or indicator that your account is Following that page. Send a screen capture image file of any of those sites to contest@moondogindustries.com . One entry per person or per Social Media account. Fraudulent methods of entry, photo retouched, or other methods of circumvention of the rules may result in the SPONSOR invalidating a participant’s entries.
The winner will receive a the prize described in the video shipped to them from San Francisco, CA. Winner must be able to receive the prize by mail. Prize may be substituted at the sole discretion of the SPONSOR. Acceptance of the prize grants SPONSOR permission to use the Winners entry, name, and likeness for advertising, promotion, and trade without further compensation or remuneration unless prohibited by law.
Odds of winning is dependent upon the number of eligible entries received.
The winner will be chosen at random by the SPONSOR from among the entrants that demonstrated the skill to navigate the electronic entry and have met the minimum requirements. Winners will be contacted via the email used to enter the contest no later than December 31, 2022.
SPONSOR are not liable for the winner’s failure to receive notification of winning if he or she provided a wrong email address or if their email security settings caused your prize notification to go into the spam or junk folder. If a winner does not respond within 24hrs of sending a notification, the SPONSOR will select an alternate winner. Receipt of the prize is upon the condition of compliance with federal, state, and local laws.
The SPONSOR, upon submission of an entry into the giveaway or contest, has the right to use the participant’s submission, voice, likeness, image, statements about the contest, etc., for publicity, news, advertising, promotional purposes, trade, and so forth, without any further notice, review, consent, compensation or remuneration.
Participants shall defend or settle against such claims at their sole expense, and shall indemnify, defend and hold harmless the SPONSOR from any suit due to damage of or by the prize.
The SPONSOR reserves the right to modify, suspend, cancel or terminate in the event that non-authorized human intervention, a bug or virus, fraud, or other causes beyond your control impact or corrupt the security, fairness, proper conduct, or administration of the contest/giveaway.
Entry into this contest constitutes the participants agreement to release and hold harmless the SPONSOR and its subsidiaries, affiliates, employees, etc., against all claims liability, illness, injury, death, loss, etc., that occurs directly or indirectly from participation in the contest or use/misuse of the awarded prize.
As a condition of participating in the promotion, the participant agrees to resolve all disputes with an arbitrator designated by the SPONSOR in the state of California, without resorting to any form of class action. Entrants waive all rights to punitive, incidental, or consequential damages, and waive all rights to have damages multiplied or increased.
Participants agree to abide by all privacy and NDA laws in the State of California and any federal laws of the United State of America.
Participants may request a list of winners by submitting a request in writing to Moondog Industries for up to 30 days after the contest ends.
Winners will agree to post a photo of the prize on their social media channels in such a way as does not violate any rules of that platform. The winners also agree to appear for an interview where they will discuss the prize and its performance. If there are functional problems with the prize, the winner agrees to make a good-faith effort to resolve all issues with the SPONSOR prior to posting reviews or opinions about the prize.
By entering the contest, the entrant has affirmatively reviewed, accepted, and agreed to all of the them.
Texas Precision Optics sent me a Sniper ZY 4-14×44 FFP scope to test and its specs were impressive. With a street-price just under $140, you get a First Focal Plane (FFP) scope with HD glass, illumination, locking turrets, and a set of high-rise scope rings and additional accessories. Too good to be true?
Like many of TPO’s scopes, the ZY came pre-mounted out of the box. The scope rings are typical budget/generic Picatinny scope rings. No recoil lugs and rounded cross bolts. It has a 30mm tube and many shooters will likely buy higher quality rings or mounts.
The scope itself appeared will built with solid looking turrets. There was a fair amount of slop between clicks. This is not a precision long-range scope but it did hold zero at the range.
The scopes most unique features is the cogwheel shaped ends. The Sniper’s OEM was definitely going for a gear and tool aesthetic in the externals. Unfortunately the cogweel at the eye-piece had pretty sharp edges, making changing ocular focus uncomfortable. It could really use a bit of sanding/buffing the edges.
Optically, the scope has better than average sharpness and resolution for a 4-14x scope. There was noticeable blurring toward the outside edges of your field of view. The thin inner reticle can be illuminated in red or green with 5 level of intensity.
Available on Amazon
https://amzn.to/3Hjv48m
RESOLUTION
Group: -2
Element: 6
OVERALL RATINGS (out 5)
Build: 4
Glass: 4
Reticle: 4
Holds Zero: 4
Turrets: 3
Eye Box: 3
Value: 5
There’s old-school rimfire lore that you can make any cheap box of loose, bulk, 22LR into “match grade” by weighing each bullet cartridge and sorting it by weight into batches. In theory this makes sense because “match grade” ammo differs from “normal” ammo in extra quality control more than construction. I decided to see if this was true? In my tests at 100yrds, I found that my weight sorted 22LR ammo formed 50% tighter groups than unsorted 22LR randomly pulled from the same box.
Which got me wondering, does the same sorting process work with centerfire ammo? I tested it out with a bulk ammo can of Winchester 5.56x45mm 55gr FJM “white box” that I bought at Bass Pro in 2019 before the pandemic and ammo shortage. Winchester White Box has always shot kinda oko in my Aero Precision 20″ Mil-Spec upper; reliable but meh. I usually to get a 3″-3.5″ group at 100yrds, bench rested.
I sorted out 50 cartridges that all fell within 0.5gr of each other and 50 rounds randomly pulled and headed to the range. I set up a target with 8 paper sticker dots. I fired five rounds of weight sorted ammo into each of the four dots in the top row. Then I fired the unsorted ammo at the second row.
Upon inspection, I found that I got on average 2.39MOA in the the weight-sorted ammo. On average, the weight-sorted groups were 7% smaller than the unsorted ammo groups. Comparing mean group sizes, there was only about a 5% difference. If not for an especially bad flyer in one target of the weight-sorted group, that number would have been 2.07 MOA or approximately 20% smaller than the unsorted group. The two smallest weight-sorted groups were almost half the size of the two smallest unsorted groups. And
While this difference, as a percentage, is not nearly as dramatic with 5.56mm as with my .22LR tests, both tests due confirm a significant improvement can be made by simply weighing your bulk box ammo. This is especially helpful due to our current pandemic induced ammo shortages, when Match Grade ammo is nearly impossible to find.
