Category Archives: Shooting Sports

Firearms and shooting sports

Shooting Sports

TechHunters Z4 3-12×44 MPVO

https://youtu.be/VdLU0Vbi8z0

When it comes to $150 budget optics, I’ve learned to temper my expectations. So when the TechHunters 3-12×44 medium power variable optic (MPVO) showed up on my doorstep, I was surprised. The scope feels surprisingly solid and its externals look well made.

It is a budget MPVO so it does have a tight eyebox, and at low power the view exhibits notable pincushion distortion. Chromatic aberration is present but actually less than entry-level offerings from big-name brands. Overall clarity and edge-to-edge sharpness were surprisingly good for a budget scope.

Brightness is adequate for dawn and dusk shooting, though the 44mm objective obviously limits light-gathering compared to a 50mm 18x bell. Color rendition is good for a non—ED glass scope.

Techhunters opted for a first focal plane (FFP) MIL reticle with a horseshoe center and floating dot. It features a minimal tree with wind hold-over dots. The entire high-power reticle is illuminated . The downside? The stadia around the horseshoe make for a blurry aimpoint at 3x. This is my only hesitation to considering this MPVO a cross-over scope for hunting.

This MPVO has the versatility to be considered a The 3-12x range bridges the gap between close-range hunting and mid-distance target work. At 3x, it’s fast enough for woods hunting; at 12x, it gives you enough magnification to identify targets and make ethical shots out to reasonable distances. It’s not an ELR optic, and it’s not pretending to be.

Is it perfect? No. The illumination makes the aimpoint blurry, the turrets could be crisper, and the eyebox is unforgiving. But the Z4 is about the price of a Vortex Crossfire 3-12×44 while offering a FFP reticle and features of the more expensive Diamondback.

SHOP

Amazon https://link.amazon/B0eY6p7fm

RESOLUTION

Group -2 / Element 6

SPECS

Z4

Magnification: 3-12x

Objective: 44mm

Tube: 30mm

Parallax Focus : 25 yrds-Infinity

FOV: 41.9-10 ft. @ 100 yrds

Eye Relief: 3.3″

Click Value: 0.1 MRAD

Elev Adj: 25 MRAD

Wind Adj: 25 MRAD

Length: 12.7″

Weight: 24.4″

Battery: CR2032

Shooting Sports

DiscoveryOpt 6061 Multi-Dimension Scope Rings

DiscoveryOpt makes high-quality scopes at a remarkably low price. The same value and performance are present in its scope rings. Their 6061 Precision Multi-Dimension scope rings are CNC machined from 6061 aircraft-grade aluminum, offering rock-solid reliability and strength.

The rings come with precision-machined shims, which allow the 34mm rings to hold 30mm tubes when attached. The precision rings and their shims are machined in pairs from a single piece of aluminum for accuracy and consistency. The rings are assembled with high-strength T-20 torx screw with designed with built-in recoil lugs in their bases.

These scope rings are serialized, vibratory tumbled, hand-bead blasted and finished with a Type III hard coat anodize, achieving a durable finish with exceptional scratch and impact resistance. The ring’s inner bore is pre-polished.

If all of this wasn’t impressive, perhaps its most unbelievable aspect is that all of this costs $25.

SHOP

Amazon https://link.amazon/B09XC6OvE

SPECS

6061 Precision

Scope Tube: 30 mm/34 mm

Rail Type: Picatinny  (1913)

Concentricity: ≤0.01 mm

MOA Cant: 0

Shock Resistance: ≥1000 G

Screws Per Ring: 6

Body Material: 6061-T6

Finish: Hard Anodized 

Process: CNC One-piece

Height: 0.97″, 1.28″

Weight: 200.0 g


Shooting Sports

OSight K 6MOA

https://youtu.be/q8vPnwRohcI

The new OSight K GN is physically identical to the red dot version of the OSight K. The large 6MOA dot is preferred by many combat professionals and competition shooters because the larger dot is more visible in bright daylight and faster to reacquire in rapid fire.

Like the original K, this budget reflex sight has a RMSc footprint compatible with CCW pistols and slim-profile slides like the 1911. It is powered by a user-replaceable CR1620 coin battery in a side tray. It comes with a wide selection of install screws and a cool skull-shaped Torx wrench.

BUY

Amazon https://amzn.to/4fgw2on

SPECS

Reticle Type: 6MOA dot
Reticle Color: Green
Window Size: 0.83 × 0.55 in (21 × 14 mm)
Wind & Elev Travel: ± 35 MOA
Adjustment 1 MOA per Click
Battery: CR1620
Max. Runtime 63,000h (Level 3)
Brightness Settings: 8 & 2 NV
Waterproof: IPX6
Body: 7075 Aluminum
Weight: 1.02 oz / 29 g
Footprint: RMSc

Shooting Sports

Arken Outrider 3-18×50

The Outrider is something most people do not expect from a tactical long-range scope company like Arken: fudd. The Outrider is a traditional hunting scope: second focal plane duplex reticle, and capped low-profile turrets.

When Arken released their first 2-12×42 Outrider, it was generally praised, but there was a common complaint: the Outrider lacked an adjustable parallax focus. Arken listened, and quickly released the Outrider 3-18×50.

The Outrider features edge-to-edge sharpness and a color-accurate image. They offer an illuminated fiber optic center dot that is daylight-bright and a cheaper model without illumination. It has a good eyebox and is pretty lightweight, especially compared to Arken’s other scopes. Moreover, the Outrider is covered under Arken’s U.S. lifetime warranty.

My only remaining criticism is the Outrider could be improved by adding discrete BDC stadia to the vertical reticle stem for elevation holdover; a standard feature with Vortex, Burris, and Zeiss hunting scopes. But ask 10 different people their opinion on a reticle, and you’ll get 20 different opinions.

For those looking for a Arken quality for practical hunting instead of long-range competition, the Outrider is your scope.

SHOP

https://arkenopticsusacom.sjv.io/xJvLkR
Discount code: Moondog2A

RESOLUTION

Group -1 / Element 3

SPECS

Outrider

Magnification: 3-18x

Objective: 50 mm

Tube Size: 30 mm

Eye Relief: 3.5 in

FOV: 39 – 6.5 ft @100 yd

Click Adj:  1/4 MOA

Focal Plane: Second

Elevation Adj. 56 MOA

Windage Adj. 48 MOA

Parallax: 10 yards – ∞

Length: 14.4 in

Weight: 29.2 oz

Battery: CR2032

Gadgets, Shooting Sports

SVBony SV29 25-75×80

The SV29 is a budget 25-75×80 mm spotting scope aimed at target shooters, birders, and anyone who wants high magnification without paying a premium-price. I got the tripod starter kit which comes with an SVBony light tripod, and a phone adapter for taking photos and video. In addition, the scope has a Vixen-style dovetail so you can slap on a red-dot or optical finder, a feature usually only found in astronomy telescopes.

The 1.25″ eyepiece is detachable, so you can swap in astronomical or electronic eyepieces from 3rd parties and SVBony. The tripod kit includes a forgetable but basic, light weight aluminmum tripod. While there are higher quality spotting scopes, I haven’t found many as good or feature packed as the SV29 for a street price under $200.

SHOP

SV29 –Only: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H148WG9B?maas=maas_adg_FF8AD3737814C7837E1EC321C7E4694A_afap_abs&ref_=aa_maas&tag=maas&th=1

SV29 – Tripod Bundle: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H1463VG3?maas=maas_adg_0CB5C353586E0782F4B7C9A8C9B49496_afap_abs&ref_=aa_maas&tag=maas&th=1

Scope:

Bundle:

Discount Code: SV29MOON
Valid through the end of October, 2026

SPECS

  • Magnification: 25–75×
  • Objective: 80 mm
  • Optical system: 4 groups / 6 elements
  • Apparent FOV: 40°–56°
  • Minimum Focus: 10m
  • Exit Pupal: 3.2mm-1.06mm
  • Eye relief: 16.3–18.3 mm (twist-up eyecups)
  • Prism: Silver-Coated Porro
  • Eyepiece: 1.25″
  • Length (Depth): 47 cm / 18.5″
  • Width: 17 cm / 6.7″
  • Height: 12 cm / 4.7″
  • Weight: 1.25kg / 44 oz
  • Finder interface: Vixen-style dovetail
  • Extras: phone adapter / aluminum tripod

Shooting Sports

Trakiom Aluminum Shooting Tripod

Amazon is full of cheap photo tripods pretending to be shooting tripods. The Trakiom aluminium shooting tripod is one of the better exceptions. It has 36mm fat legs, a 360° clamping head, and a tilt knob that actually does something useful. 3-position leg angles cover prone, kneeling, sitting, and standing.

I did find that most of the leg tube clamps had loose screws. Not just the tension screws but, more critically, the set screws that kept the clamps in place needed tightening with the included Allen keys. I can’t say I’ve ever had to tighten an entire tripod out of the box, but the tripod functioned without issue after I did.

Telescoped in and folded, it is about 26″ inches long and eight pounds. The ballhead is solid. The specs don’t state the size of the ballhead, but it looks like it’s ~40 mm in size. There is a bubble level next to the ballhead clamp.

It is not backpack-light, but it will hold still when a rifle is on it. If you want an ultra-light tripod, you can buy a carbon fiber one for 6x more. If you’re getting to your shooting hide or match by car, truck, or quad, you won’t care about the tripod’s weight, but you will care about the extra gas money.

SHOP

Amazon https://link.amazon/B03K3hBPt

SPECS

TRAKIOM SHOOTING TRIPOD

Leg Material: Aluminum

Leg Diameter: 36mm

Maximum Height: 63.4″

Minimum Height: 5.6″

Max Load: 30kg/66.4 lbs.

Leg Angel: 22º, 55º, 85º

Length (Collapsed): 25.6″

Weight: 2.6kg/5.73 lbs.

Gadgets, Shooting Sports

Tarantula LRF 25-256 Thermal Scope

To be honest, I’d never heard of the Vistaget brand before they approached me to test their thermal hunting scope. The Tarantula is a thermal scope with a heavy-duty body and recoil abosorbing integrated picatinny base. It provides day/night performance with an OLED display and a built-in laser rangefinder.

Build in rangefinders are the new must-have when hunting with night vision as determining the range to a target is critical when adjusting for ballistic drop. The Tarantula can also store up to 10 different ballistic profiles and adjust the reticle for point of impact. Unfortunately the laser ranging button is also the MENU activation and selection button which caused numerous mistaken function when I tested it.

Its controls and adjustments aren’t intuitive. The optical focus knob is at top of the scope insead of a side focus more commonly found in optical scopes. Instead the side knob is the digital zoom which would be better placed near the eye piece. Ergonomics overall are an area for improvement with this scope.

Despite its ergonomics, its thermal performance and resolution and were excelent under 50 yards and good enough to spot racoon at over 100 yards; you would be hard pressed to differentiate a dog from a coyote at that distance. It had a good variety of false color options. You can record video and photo still in its internal 32GB memory accessable via USB-C and wifi connectivity to phones.

Best of all, it has a dual-power system allowing it better than average endurance. Night vision and thermal optics are notrious for their short battery life. But the Tarantual has a built-in battery allowing its primary CR123A cells to be hot-swapped.

While not perfect, the Tarantala is a solid thermal optics for hunting and game observation.

SHOP

Coupon Code 8% Off: VGSCOPE8 (valid until Jan 31, 2027)

Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GRVDJ4VX?ref=t_ac_view_request_product_image&campaignId=amzn1.campaign.32GP6J9LDI2VJ&linkCode=tr1&tag=moondogindu05-20&linkId=amzn1.campaign.32GP6J9LDI2VJ_1788272355392

SPECS

TARANTULA LRF 25-256

Objective Lens: 25 mm

Glass: UHD

Thermal Resolution: 256 × 192 pixels

Thermal Sensitivity: ≤ 15 mK (25 °C)

Magnification: 3.49×

Close Focus: 3.5m

FOV: 281 fr. @ 1000 yrds

Display: 0.49-inch OLED 1440 × 1080

Laser Rangefinder: 1000m max

Recoil Rating: 1200G 

Waterproof: IPX67

Dimensions: 6.5″ x 5.1″

Weight: 32 oz

Shooting Sports

OSight R

OSight makes some of the smallest enclosed-emitter red dots and now they’ve made their largest. The mode R is a rifle-sized, enclosed-emitter, multi-reticle reflex sight. It comes with an Aimpoint T1/T2 compatible AR co-witness height mount. At launch, OSight offers a promo package that includes a high 1.93″ mount. It’s fair to say it’s a knock off Holosun AEMS but it’s about hundred clams less.

 OLight designed the R with a 7075 body, able to hold zero over 10k rounds and survive a 1-mile height drop (or so they’ve tested, I have not). It has clever, see-through hinged lens covers, which can be swapped out for the included hex kill flash.

The unit has a motion-activated reticle with a 2MOA dot or 65MOA circle options. It uses a standard CR2032 coin battery with an 85,000hr rated run-time. I didn’t notice it at the range, but my sample did have edge distortion along the top edge of my window. In my live-fire testing, the unit provided an excellent sight picture to my target at 50 yards, and I was able to quickly and repeatedly get the dot on target. 

SHOP

Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H417MDMT?ref=t_ac_view_request_product_image&campaignId=amzn1.campaign.2RWVHXWHCS61G&linkCode=tr1&tag=moondogindu05-20&linkId=amzn1.campaign.2RWVHXWHCS61G_1790132739581

SPECS

Magnification: 1x
Window Size: 1.10 × 0.87 in
Eye Relief: Unlimited
Reticle: Red 2 MOA Dot, 65 MOA Circle
Brightness Settings: 9 daylight / 3 NV
Windage Adj: 50 MOA
Elevation Adj: 50 MOA
Click Value: 0.5 MOA
Battery Type: CR2032
Max Runtime: 83,000 hours
Housing: 7075-T6 Aluminum
IPX: 8 waterproof
Dimensions: 2.72 × 1.42 × 2.52 in
Weight: 7 oz

Shooting Sports

BART Lets Glow! 2026 Anime Festival

https://youtu.be/JTgp0jYdIeg

In 2025, BART introduced the Let’s Glow! BART Anime Festival and attracted more than triple the expected 1000 attendees. This year, the free anime festival expanded to accommodate even more anime fans. I traveled to the Warm Springs/South Fremont Station to check it out.

This year, the fest doubled in size. Booths and exhibits took up both sides of the BART station. The Itasha car expo in the Southern Pick-Up lot, the Artist Alley in the North side lot. In between, there was a stage for performers and cosplay contests, and a Food Truck row.

Itasha cars are vehicles themed and often wrapped with graphics depicting characters from popular anime and manga, and now VTubers. The Artist Alley was double the size and packed with shoppers picking up fan-made anime art, plushies, and merch. The longest line was for the Railgoods booth selling official BART merch featuring its Anime mascots: Baylee, Nimbus, Jasmine, and Mira

BART has anime mascots? Along with the Vatican (yes, the Vatican) the San Francisco BAY AREA RAPID TRANSIT system wanted to reach out “the youth.” Appealing to Asian-weeb subculture of Anime by bolting on a BART logo onto it. Did it work? Overall BART ridership is down 56% since 2016 but the Lets Glow! Festival has doubled in attendance since last year. So yay, I guess?

Shooting Sports

OLight PL X GL

The PL X is an evolution in OLights’ pistol lights. They designed the PLX to be shorter and more compact than their previous PL models, to be more holster-compatible. The PLX has the ability to switch between a flood or spot beam. The new GL adds a green laser for aiming assistance in low light.

Physically, the GL is similar to the original PL X. The USB-C port at the bottom has been moved and replaced with a flat switch for white light, laser, or combined output. The flood/spot selector switch can still be found on the left side of the unit.

The PL X has contoured buttons that allow you to push forward or push downward to activate the beam. The PL X has OLight’s familiar controls able to switch between low- and high-brightness modes with a double-tap, and strobe by pressing both buttons simultaneously or triple-tapping.

Thankfully, this OLight now recharges with a universal standard USB-C port. Remarkably, the unit is IPX 7 rated and able to be submerged in water for up to 30 minutes. I don’t claim that any OLIGHT is as durable or as reliable as military-tested weaponlights, but OLIGHT offers a lifetime warranty with good customer service.

RETAIL SOURCES

Amazon https://amzn.to/45sDCX6

SPECS

Max Lumens: 1200 (Flood mode)
Max Run Time: 95 min
Maximum Throw: 260 yards (Spot mode)
Battery type: 620 mAh
Charging type: USB-C
Dimensions: 63 x 30 x 31.5 mm (2.48 in x 1.18 in x 1.24 in)
Weight w/battery: 3.1 oz / 88 g
Track compatibility: 1913, Glock
IPX: 7 waterproof