The Vortex Strike Eagle 5-25×56 is one of the top-rated long-range scopes under $1000 (MSRP over $1250 but with a street price of around $700). In the five to six years since its release, optical manufacturing technology has advanced as fast as prices have dropped. How does a Vortex scope released in 2020 compare to a modern budget scope like the new $199 Monstrum Challenger?
The Monstrum ships with more accessories than the Vortex, including its own set of high-height rings. But lacks a sun shade included with the Vortex. The Strike Eagle also comes with a throw lever but the Challenger comes with a built-in fin on the magnification ring so it doesn’t need one.
Holding them both in the hand, I noticed the Challenger was a 6-7oz heavier. The turrets of the Strike Eagle looked slightly better milled and its numbers precisely lined up with the scope’s reference marks, whilst the Challenger did not (a blunder common in budget scopes). The Strike Eagle had the better build quality of the two.
Looking through the glass, I immediately noticed more chromatic aberration in the Challenger. This was disappointing after testing Monstrum’s ED-glass LPVOs last year. The Challenger also showed softened focus around the edges of the scope view, even at its lowest magnification. Both scopes had similar eye relief and eye box.
At the gun range, the Strike Eagle was a bit brighter and noticeably sharper, with less chromatic aberration than the Challenger which showed purple fringing even at 5x. Both scopes showed good color rendition and the ability to see details in low light at 25x. The Strike Eagle resolved resolution lines 3-4 steps smaller than the Challenger.
One other key difference for me was in each scope’s reticle design. The Strike Eagle was better suited for precision target shooting with finer stadia lines and a floating dot-point. The Challenger had a bold central cross as its aimpoint which was visible even at lower magnification, making it a much faster to aim tactical or hunting scope. Overall the Strike Eagle was the better scope. Factoring in the price, the Challenger at 1/3 the price was the better value.
Anduril originally named Narsil is a sword in The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion. Narsil was forged in the First Age by the first Dwarves, was broken by Sauron and reforged by the Elves during the Lord of the Rings, and renamed Anduril (which means Flame of the West) by Aragorn.
DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE
Andruil Technologies
Anduril Industries, Inc. is an American defense technology company that specializes in autonomous systems. It was cofounded in 2017 by Oculus Rift inventor and entrepreneur Palmer Luckey
Next Livestream Wed January 15 for our SHOT Show episode
EARLBIRD CLUE: This gun brand’s M9 pistol replaced the Colt 1911 as the issued sidearm of the US military in 1985, until it was in turn replaced by the SIG P320.
BoomStick @FukuYTmark6 and LongRilfe @MnShootingSports have set up a 50-yard rimfire challenge that is right up my alley: Budget. This challenge target has six 3/4″ target rounds which is pretty standard but the real challenge is the limitations on the price of the gear and ammo you can shoot it with.
This challenge is limited to factory rifles (no upgraded trigger or barrel) and optic must have a retail price of less than $700 combined. Moreover, the rimfire ammo used must be bulk box 22LR and excludes more premium ammo types such as CCI Standard and Norma Tac22 (CCI standard is premium? love it!).
I’m a dumpster diver at heart so I accept this challenge with a smile. My rifle is a factory Ruger Precision Rimfire which I bought on a Black Friday sale at Sportsmans Warehouse for less than $300, but for the sake of this challenge, I’m going to count the average sale price today which is about $400. That means the scope I choose has to cost less than $300. Fortunately for me, I recently reviewed the Discovery Optic LHD 8-32×56. A very high magnification scope for a very budget price of about $249 https://youtu.be/Jn7LcnJBsbg
For the challenge, my Ruger RPRF was installed with UTG Reconflex bipods (retails for about $49) and I shot it with Aguila Super Extra High Velocity 40grn CPRN.
During the challenge run, I initially aimed at the center of the dots but experienced a climbing point of impact. While attempting to compensate by aiming toward the bottom, the point of impact sometimes shifted downward. By the 3rd target circle, I gave up compensating and simply aimed at the center. About 50% of my shots were flyers. All in all, I only scored 11 out of a possible 18.
Arken has dominated the affordable PRS scope market with tactical scopes under $600. Their founders are long-range shooting enthusiasts and this passion drove them to create Outlier, a rifle component company. At SHOT 2025 they won the award for most innovative rifle with their new Backdraft suppressor barrel.
The Backdraft design isn’t limited to bolt-action rifles. At their booth in the Casesar’s Forum, they allowed visitors to at go to a portable indoor shooting range and test out the Backdraft on an Outlier Atlas AR9 PCC rifle. The Backdraft suppressor is a carbon fiber barrel sleeve and a short screw-on barrel can. The design has the side benefit of reducing heat build-up on the screw-on can.
I confirmed this with some trepidation by touching the can after running a mag of 9mm through the Atlas. To my genuine surprise, it felt only about as warm as a human hand. I’ve held hotter coffee cups. You can buy the entire rifle or just the Backdraft barrel from Outlier.
Companies spend thousands of dollars creating their brand that is supposed to be memorable and stand out. Their brand is exemplified in their logo but how unique is their logo design? I asked attendees of SHOT Show to identify these popular brands stripped of any identifying text of their name.
Some companies seemed easier to identify than others. Very few got all of them correct. Take part in my 2A industry quiz. Post your answers to the logo quiz in the comments of the Quiz Video and you’ll be entered into a contest to win a bag of SHOT Show swag.
Entries must be received no later than 12pm EST on 2/25/2025.
CONTEST INSTRUCTIONS
1. Subscribe to my travel channel on YouTube: Moondog Go to prove you’re not a bot. or Post a reply comment in my video giving your best guess to each of logo band identities.
2. Take a screen shot of your COMMENTS or the SUBSCRIBED button for Moondog Go .
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Void where prohibited by law. Must be legal resident in the USA. Moondog Industries employees, subsidiaries, affiliates, suppliers, advertising and promotion agencies, employees’ immediate family members, are ineligible to participate in the contest/giveaway.
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Moondog Industries (known as the CO-SPONSOR) is a video Edutainment producer and game promotor based in San Francisco, CA. YouTube, TikTok, Rumble, X and online video platforms (known as PLATFORMS) are not SPONSORS or in any way affiliated with the contest or content.
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By entering your contest, participants agree to abide by the SPONSOR’s Official Rules and decisions. The SPONSOR retains 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.
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Contest email entries must be received between: 12:00pm EST 1 January 2025 and 12:00pm EST 25 February 2025
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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.
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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.
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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 February 25, 2025. Winner must have a legal address within the US to ship the prize.
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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.
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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.
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Entry into this contest constitutes the participant’s agreement to release and hold harmless the SPONSOR and PLATFORMS, 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.
12. Disputes
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.
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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.
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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.
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The Arken EP8 is one of the best FFP LPVOs I’ve tested. So, I was very eager to get my hands on the LH6 when I first heard that Arken was releasing a 1-6×24 LPVO in second focal plane (SFP). I prefer SFP LPVOs because their reticle doesn’t change shape with magnification, and I find 1-6x LPVOs to have more forgiving eye boxes than higher power models.
In physical appearance and build quality, the LH6 is nearly identical to the EP8. The LH6 even shares the same KL-Box reticle that incorporates a ranging ladder into the BDC hold-over markings, making it one of the fastest optics to shoot. Unfortunately, while this design works for the FFP EP8, I find the design to be a bit too busy and cluttered for a 1x LVPO.
I still like the KL-Box reticle, but I suggest Arken simplify it for the LH6. They could remove all of the numbers from one side because they are duplicated on the other. And then remove every other number because people know that between 4 and 6 is the number 5. They could remove half of the L-shaped sizing stadia, and it would still be a usable ranging ladder because you can determine if the target is closer or farther if they are smaller or larger than the remaining L.
Here’s the original (left) and my suggested KL-Box Mod M (for Moondog).
MidTen is a budget firearms accessory brand that many consider to be Airsoft grade. Their products typically come in unmarked boxes, and their products don’t have logos. They released an update rifle reflex sight simply named the “Red Green Dot”. A generic name that perfectly matches their generic packaging.
This reflex sight appears to be a beefed up replica of the Ultradot style reflex; made of metal and polymer. Like Ultradot copies, it a rotary selector at the rear that changes an etched mask which changes the shape of the reticle projected. The unit offers a choice of 4 patterns: dot, circle-dot, crosshair-dot, and sunburst. The unit has a metal cage around a large sized mirrored lens but all reflex sights are not as rugged as a holographic EOTech. From personal experience, an airsoft BB hit from CQB distance can chip a lens so extra protection is required for actual airsoft use.
The Ultradot design is simple and reliable but quite a bit out dated by a couple of decades. Two other disappointing aspects of the design is its QD lever and battery. It has a quick detatch lever with a Picatinny base which does not offer a secondary lock, which means it could work itself loose after repeated recoil. Most red dots are powered by a CR2032 coin battery, but oddly this reflex is powered by a 3 x stacked, tiny LR41 button batteries.
I tested the unit on my Ruger 10/22 at 50yrds. I ran over 100 rounds of 22LR and the unit held zero. While 22LR doesn’t have much recoil, in my experience airsoft optics don’t hold zero on firearm even after a mag or two. This reflex may be a cheap as an airsoft optic but it appears to be a suitable to take to the range on a real firearm.
EARLYBIRD Clue: This submachine gun inspired by the CZ Model SA 25
THIS WEEK
Moondog2A
https://youtu.be/7pNa73Y6voM
Moondog Reviews
Moondog Go
EARLBIRD CLUE: This gun was first issued in 1954/56 and used in combat during the 1967 Six-Day-War. And seen used by Secret Service Agents during the attempted assination of President Regan.
THUMBNAIL THIS
WORD(s) OF THE WEEK
Colly
The lyrics to the “The Twelve Days of Christmas” was first published in the 1700s and based on a French poem. What we sing as Day 4: Four Calling Birds was originally written as “Colly” which is a European Black Bird. “Colly” is derived from “Coal-y” meaning black and where Border Collies get their name.
12 Days of Christmas The 12 days of Christmas is the period in Christian theology that marks the span between the birth of Christ and the coming of the Magi, the three wise men. It begins on December 25 (Christmas) and runs through January 6 (the Epiphany, sometimes also called Three Kings’ Day).
Stille Nacht / Silent Night “Silent Night” (German: “Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht”) is a popular Christmas carol, composed in 1818 by Franz Xaver Gruber to lyrics by Joseph Mohr in Oberndorf bei Salzburg, Austria.
Day at the Range is a popular YouTube channel that creates uniquely designed and fun rimfire challenge targets. He shoots them on his channel and encourages other shooters to download them and share their results. This December he created a snowman themed target where we have to protect Frosty The Snowman (code name: FTS) from being melted by evil suns.
I downloaded the target and added some festive holiday colors to the otherwise black and white target. I posted my target at the prescribed 50yrds and after zeroing my scope, proceeded to shoot at each sun. I missed about half of them unfortunately. Worse yet, I hit FTS with one of the misses. I only managed a meger score of 2 points but it was a fun attempt nonetheless.
If you’re interested in the scope I was using in this video, its the new Discovery Optic LHD 8-32×56. A very high magnification scope for a very budget price. I reviewed it https://youtu.be/Jn7LcnJBsbg
Olight is a flashlight company known for making high-performance flashlights for a more reasonable price point than more tactical brands such as Surefire and Streamlight. It was a bit surprising when Olight quietly previewed a micro-reflex sight at SHOT Show 2024. OLight makes weapon lights but is the first flashlight company to make a weapon optic (that I’m aware of).
The OSight is unusual among micro-reflex sights for having an oversized lens window and for being powered by an internal rechargeable battery. Moreover, it is unique in that its lens cover is also its charger and a mini-powerbank capable of recharging the OSight up to 4 times without being plugged into a USB-C cable. Fully charged the unit can run for up to 70,000 hours on low brightness which is impressive.
The Osight functions like a perfectly normal red dot and now comes in a green dot version as well. It also has auto-dimming, motion activation, and auto-off. And like OLight’s other products, the OSight comes in at a reasonable price compared to premium brands such as Trijicon and Holosun.
70,000 hours is a long time, nearly 8 years at low power; and they claim it will run continuously on the highest brightness for 17 days. But why would you need to constantly keep it charged? It seems a bit of an overpowered solution to the problem of changing a CR2032 coin battery. But overpowered for a reasonable price is something Olight is known for. I’ll leave that for the consumer to decide.
