Category Archives: Shooting Sports

Firearms and shooting sports

Shooting Sports

Athlon Midas LE Gen2

Clint Eastwood’s first leading role was in “A Fist Full of Dollars“. Not many people know this, but that Western was a remake of the Japanese film, “Yojimbo” by Akira Kurosawa. Even fewer realize that Kurosawa was inspired to write his samurai film, by his love of American Westerns.

All this came to mind when I opened up the Midas LE Gen2 box sent me by Athlon. I was struck by how much the LE looked like a giant micro red dot. I realize that RMRs (Ruggedized Miniaturized Reflex-sight) are themselves shrunk down reflex sights. Like the Clint Eastwood Spaghetti Westerns: the original was great, the copy was just as good and different enough to be its worth it.

The LE has a reticle that can be changed from a 2MOA red dot, a 65MOA circle-cross, or combined. Activation, brightness, and reticle are controlled by two function buttons on the left-hand side of the LE. Pressing both button simultaneously changes the reticle. The unit has motion activation (aka Shake Awake) and Athlon claims the LE can run for up to 50,000hrs in medium intensity off its CR2032 battery.

The LE was designed as a rifle top red dot. Despite its giant RMR appearance, the LE only a little bit wider than a typical tube-style red dot and about the same weight; it’s smaller than an EOTech X. It offers a nicely designed locking QD Picatinny mount and relatively low profile sitting less than 1.5″ above your rail.

Everyone who tested it remarked on how light it felt on the rifle and how easy it was to sight in. The large reticle and its wide field of view made it easy and fast shooting, thanks to its massive 26x35mm objective lens. Its rare for me to test an optic and then have those who tried it asked me later for links so that they could order one themselves! If Athlon ever roll out an LE Gen 3, I hope they offer a green illumination option and add a 25MOA circle reticle.

BUY IT

Amazon affiliate https://amzn.to/3XnSiDC

SPECS

RETICLE SIZE: 2 MOA, 65 MOA

WEIGHT: 7 oz

MOUNT: Picatinny Rail

RETICLE COLOR: Red

LENGTH: 3.4″

MAGNIFICATION: 1x

BATTERY: CR2032

CENTER HEIGHT: 1.29″

OBJ. LENS: 28 x 36 mm

Shooting Sports

Feyachi Magnetic Quick Release Tactical Vest

Putting on a Plate Carrier (PC) tactical vest can be easy or moderately challenging to the user who customized its setup. But for anyone else, that PC can be a puzzle of buckles, straps, and velcro, that can vary widely by brand and by each user’s customization. Easy enough if the user is conscious but good luck if that user is knocked out or cognitively incapacitated.

Feyachi came up with what may be the easiest way to take off a PC: magnetic buckles. They came up with a unique system that connects the shoulder straps and cummerbund to the front plate that easily disconnects using a cable actuated magnetic buckles. These buckles snap into locking position mechanically. Pulling the cables, moves the magnets which unlock the buckles. This disconnect process is nearly instantaneous and while not always 100%, disconnects enough of the 4 buckles to easily pull off the PC vest of the user.

But that does bring up the question, what’s the use case for this super fast disconnect? Is it in case of a vehicle rollover? Perhaps if the PC is on fire? Or in the case of a water accident, to ditch the heavy PC? Feyachi doesn’t say and if I was their lawyer I probably wouldn’t want them to claim what it does for liability reasons.

For casual PC users such as airsofters who use a vest on a regular basis, having a quick release between skirmish games is pleasant, though most airsoft vests have pretty easy buckle systems. As a PC it is light duty vest that is cheap at around $120.

For professionals the vest feels a bit bit too lightly reinforced and the included pouches are cheaply constructed. The stitching looked budget, with loose thread ends around the velcro, and no gusseting reinforcement in critical straps. Surprisingly the vest’s internal plate pockets have pretty good with extra straps to hold plates in place. The biggest gripe expressed by my tester was that the cummerbund does not have stretch panels, so you have to suck in hard to attach the buckles and put on the vest.

One issue in the design is that he quick release cables are exposed and could snag in real battle situations. The quick release actuator is positioned directly in the center of the chest for easy access but does mean that you can’t position an Admin panel or equipment that would cover it. The vest’s impact padding has air flow channels but the foam pads are a bit too thin to allow for uniform fabric not to fill them in.

This PC vest isn’t bad but it has it’s trade-offs. For tactiCOOL types, having a unique whizz bang bit of of unique gear to flex is its own reward.

WIN IT

Enter for a chance to win this vest (contest ends 12/1/24) https://moondogindustries.com/november-2024-contest/

BUY IT

Amazon* https://amzn.to/4eIthcP

Shooting Sports

CPRCP Falling Plates 10.5.24

I recently reviewed the ED-AR LPVO from Discovery Optics. I even performed a drop test on it and it held zero (though it did shift after dropping, it held that shifted zero). This weekend I had an opportunity to put it through a performance test by using it as my optic in a Falling Plates Match at the Coyote Point Rifle and Pistol Club (CPRPC).

I zero’d out the scope and it performed well. Despite the ED-AR’s middling illumination brightness, it was more then sufficient in helping see a visible aimpoint against a white metal plate and the dark grey of the backstop. Except for one ammo malfunction on my last shot in the first round, I had perfect scores all the way through.


But it all fell apart on my final round. I’d been running the scope at 1x through the first 3 rounds of the match from 30yrds, 35yrds, and 40yrds. But for the last round at 45yrds, I decided to change my magnification from 1x to 3x matching the size of the reticle round to the size of the plate at this distance. I thought that would make it easier to hit the targets. Instead it did the opposite: it made me slower and less steady.

What I failed to realize is that when I had been practicing before the match, I had the scope at 1x. I had gotten used to aiming with the reticle at that size. Moreover each round during the match had given me extra practice and experience shooting with the scope set at 1x. When I switched it to 3x, I didn’t have any practice at it. I was fighting against my muscle memory and the increased magnification made my aim more “jumpy”.

I flubbed my first string only knocking down 2 out of the 6 plates. My second string was better but I only managed 4 out of the 6. Lesson learned: don’t introduce new variables into your optic during a match, without practicing it before hand.

Instead of coming in first (had I against scored a perfect 6 as my previous two rounds). I came in 4th. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

If you would like to compete in a CPRPC monthly Falling Plates Match, you can sign up for their mailing list pistolexecutive@coyotepointrpc.org

BUY IT


The 10% discount code: MoondogED18

Amazon affiliate: https://amzn.to/4g3PMKg

Discovery Optics: https://discoveryopt.com/DISCOVERYOPT-ED-AR-1-8X24IR-FFP-Optics-Scopes.html

Shooting Sports, Social

Hazzbro’s Hammer Time

Hazzbro is a reloading YouTuber who I met (virtually) on the Guns, Beer, and Therapy livestream hosted by American Hillbilly. He created a Mario themed target shooting contest called the Hammer Time Challenge. He’s inviting everyone to download his targets and shoot it for points and to post up your results.

I took up the challenge and download the 22LR target sheet. After my falling plates match at the range, I set up Hazzbro’s target at 50yrds and shot them with my CZ457 using CCI standard velocity ammo. We’re in the middle of a heat wave here in the San Francisco Bay Area and unfortunately, by mid-afternoon the 50yrd line was fully exposed to the sun.

It was an uncomfortable process of zero’ing out the scope and shooting the targets. But I managed to not miss too often or hit Mario. Still I failed to hit either of the coin targets and only scored a 16 after penalties. Can I do better? Possibly. Certainly with better ammo but I’m reasonably satisfied with my performance, though I won’t be winning any prizes with it.

Hazzbro’s Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Hazzbro1964
Download Hazzbro’s Hammer Time targets: https://www.hazzbroshide.com

Shooting Sports

Vortex Diamondback Tactical 6-24×50 Revisited

Almost four years ago, I posted one of my first rifle scope reviews of my Vortex Diamondback Tactical (DBT). For the longest while it was my go-to scope on my Ruger Precision Rimfire when I wasn’t testing a scope. In those intervening three years I’ve reviewed dozens of scopes and thought it was worth revisiting my assessment of it.

The DBT is one of Vortex most affordable partly due to it’s more paired down features. It does not have illumination, a zero stop elevation turret, nor locking windage. It does have an excellent FFP reticle with a Christmas tree for long-distance shooting and nice thick outer cross hairs to make it easier to see the reticle out at low power. It was a “cross-over” scope before there was even a term for it. I especially like its tiny 0.25 open center, which allows me to more precisely see the center X when competing at 100yrd matches.

What I’ve forgotten or failed to notice was the DBT’s faults. The scope has an unforgiving eyebox at 24x. It has rather sloppy feeling turrets that pass the box test and track. The glass has noticeable chromatic aberration but despite that shows surprisingly sharp resolution.

Despite its flaws it is still a solid performer and one of the best value scopes, giving a solid option in Vortex’s low entry level scopes.

RESOLUTION

Element: 5 / Group -1

PRODUCT AFFILIATE LINKS

Diamondback Tactical: https://amzn.to/3nadcCS

SPECS

  • 6-24x50mm
  • Tube Diameter: 30 mm
  • Eye Relief: 3.9 inches
  • FOV @100 yards: 18-4.5 ft
  • Reticle: EBR-2C (MOA)
  • Click Value: 1/4 MOA
  • Max Adjust Elevation: 65MOA
  • Max Adjust Windage: 65MOA
  • Parallax: 10yds-Infinity
  • Length: 14.28 inches
  • Weight: 24.6 ounces
Shooting Sports

Burris Fastfire4

The Fastfire4 is the multi-reticle red dot in the Burris Fastfire family. It is feather light at under 2oz with a doctor/vortex footprint. It has a unique set of features designed for 3-gun, action shooting, and mounting on shotguns for bird and clays.

The Fastfire4 has an oversized objective window allowing for a more forgiving field of view for action shooters in unusual shooting positions. While small and light, Burris managed to fit in ambient light sensor. When placed in auto-brightness mode, the Fastfire4 will automatically dim and brighten to compensate for lighting conditions. The Fastfire4 offers 4 different reticle options which can be cycled by pressing the button on the right side of the optic: A 3MOA precision dot, an 11MOA dot, and two 50MOA circle dots, one with a horizon line, which Burris calls a wing-dot reticle. I think the latter reticle looks more like a Pokeball. The horizontal line is presumably for shotgun users, who might use it as a guide for their shot spread.

I prefer multi-reticle red dots in Falling Plates matches. I like to switch between a precision dot and a circle dot reticle at different target distances or stages. Large circle reticles allow me to bracket my steel targets for faster follow up shots.

Burris also included a plastic hood which can be fitted to the rear of the reflex sight, converting it into a closed emitter red dot. This allows the red dot to be resistant to rain and dirt that can plague reflex sights. Anybody who’s struggled to wipe off the wet inside of a reflex sight, will know how useless they can become in the rain. This hood can be especially useful when mounting this sight on a shotgun.

The Fastfire4 is not perfect. While it has a rated 26,000 runtime on a CR1632 battery, and an auto shut-off after 8-hours, it lacks motion-activation. The unit has to be manually activated before use, precluding my consideration for its use for Home Defense firearms or Concealed Carry. As a minor peeve, the front lens bulges past the frame and I often found my palm print on the lens after racking my pistol slide. This could have easily been fixed by extending the lip of the lens frame a few millimeters. And finally, the Fastfire4 isn’t cheap with a street price around $360 which makes it one of the more expensive MRDs on the market.

Despite these drawbacks, the pluses definitely outweigh the minuses for this optic, especially for action shooters. The Fastfire4’s reticle options are ideally suited for the falling plates and bullseye matches I compete in. I just wish it were cheaper and offered in RMR or MOS cut for my other pistols and mounts.

BUY IT

Amazon affiliate: https://amzn.to/4dc3OXG

SPECS

Magnification: 1x
Objective: 31mm
Battery CR1632
Adjustment/Click: 1 MOA
Reticle: 3MOA, 11MOA, 65MOA
Reticle Color: Red
Battery: CR1632
Maxi Wind. Adj.: 90 MO
Length: 1.9 Inches
Weight: 1.6 Ounce

Shooting Sports

CVLife 3MOA/65MOA red dot

The CVLife sent me their new tube enclosed red dot sight which may or may not be named the “Eaglefeather”. That name was present in the manual but on Amazon is simply called the “3MOA/65MOA multi-reticle red dot.” “Eaglefeather” isn’t a strong name for a red dot anyway, so I’m just going to call it the “3/65” which such a better name. Even better for a concealed carry micro red dot. They really should hire me to be a brand consultant.

The 3/65 looks a lot like a SIG Romeo5 but has the advantage of a user-selectable reticle, either a 3MOA dot, a 65MOA circle/sunburst, or a combination of the two. It has motion-activation and a 50,000 runtime off a CR2032 coin battery. I comes attached to an AR co-witness height Picatinny mount and comes with a low-rise Picatinny mount should you want to run it lower to your rail.

The 3/65 is fully enclosed tube helped to make this an all weather optic for harsh outdoor conditions. On the top of the unit there are “+” and “-” buttons which control brightness. The “+” button when pressed for 2 or more seconds, cycles through the various reticle styles. In my testing, the 65MOA circle reticles bracketed an 8″ bullseye from 7 yrds, so could be useful in a 3-gun or action shooting matches. The reticle’s adjustments are under Holosun-style flat-head topped turret caps; 1MOA/click that are audible and tactile positive.

In my testing, the unit proved to hold zero even after I accidentally dropped from 5ft onto concrete. Twice. I was attempting to simulate months of range time and abuse by banging the red dot up with my ammo can. When I hit the red dot from the left side, it came off and fell onto the concrete range floor. I remounted it and began to hit it again with my ammo can repeatedly and when I hit it hard from the left side, the red dot again went flying.

I was ready to call the unit or at least a mount a complete fail when I noticed that I had accidentally installed the clamping nut backward on the Picatinny mount. When I hit the red dot from the left side, it lacked the clamping force to say on my rifle and was knocked off. I remounted the red dot to my rifle correctly this time.

Test firing onto a target from 25yrds, I examined my 5-shot groups before hitting the red dot, after dropping it twice, and after reinstalling it and hitting it again. I was shooting off a tripod so not the most most repeatable of a shooting platforms. All three groups looked about equal in size and spread.

Despite my accidentally abuse test, I was surprised that the CVLife 3/65 red dot not only survived but for a budget optic with a street price under $90, this optic performed better than anyone could expect.

BUY IT

Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/3XnxOKe
Asin：B0DCZ6Z4T6
12%code：8MYTMDVE  

SPECS

Magnification: 1x
Objective Diameter: 20mm
Eye Relief: Unlimited
Click Value: 1 MOA
Adjustment Range: 60 MOA
Reticle: 3 MOA Dot + 65 MOA Circle
Height: 2.6 in.
Length: 2.5 in.
Width: 1.5 in.
Weight: 160g
Material: Aluminum Alloy
Battery: CR2032
Battery Life: 50,000 Hours

Shooting Sports

Bear Creek Arsenal BC-22

Bear Creek Arsenal (BCA) is a firearms manufacturer out of Sanford, North Carolina that is a reminds me of a smaller Palmetto State Armory. BCA makes AR15, AR10, and 10/22 pattern rifles and components that are well built, reliable and affordable. They wanted to send me one of their rifles to test but due to California’s draconian (and sometimes contradictory) regulations they could only send me a 22LR upper receiver.

The BC-22 is a complete .22LR all metal upper receiver with a direct blowback action. The model they sent me had a 16″ long free float barrel with a 1:16 twist. It had a full length aluminum M-lok handguard with a small section of 1913 Picatinny rail on each end for front sights and mounting optic extensions.

The BC-22 complete upper was originally designed to run CMMG magazines but they told me that CMMG recently changed the feeder on their mags, so that they no longer ran reliably in the BCA upper. Instead they sell Black Dog magazines which were patterned after the original CMMG mags. BCA sent me two to test. I compared them to some CMMG 22LR mags I bought 3 years and did notice some differences in thickness of the feed lips and a notch not present in the Black Dog mags. I ran the CMMG mags on the BCA upper and it ran without issue, so maybe I’m lucky?

The BC-22 mounts like any MilSpec AR upper. The biggest differences in manual of arms is the lack of the AR rear charging T-handle. Instead, the BCA 22LR upper has a right side charging handle screwed directly onto the bolt. My AR bolt hold open paddle was partially non-functional; it did not hold the bolt completely open but it did prevent the bolt from falling into battery until it was disengaged. The BC-22 does have last round hold open with a mag inserted.

Disassembly of the upper and bolt for cleaning is different than on a standard AR. First the charging handle has to be unscrewed and removed with an hex key. Then a rear thumb locking bolt, where the T-handle usually sits on an AR upper, needs to be unscrewed. Once the charging handle and locking bolt are removed, the whole bolt assembly including recoil spring can be removed for cleaning.

I tested the BC-22 with bulk .22 ammo: Federal AutoMatch, Aguila Super Extra HV, and CCI standard velocity. Be sure to clean your barrel before testing because my barrel and handguard had a light coat of sticky lubricant to prevent corrosion. My first 20-30 rounds of AutoMatch grouped so horribly that I thought the barrel was damaged during shipping. It wasn’t until the barrel was properly cleaned and then lead fouled by 30-40 rounds of ammo that the groups tightened and normalized. Aguila and CCI grouped much better from the get go than AutoMatch, though this rifle seems to accentuate fliers, throwing them in the most random of directions.

There’s a lot of valid reasons to want an AR that can shoot 22LR: lower cost to train and shoot, greater availability of ammo (except during a pandemic), lower recoil, etc. The BC-22 is inexpensive for a complete AR upper; about as much as a base model 10/22. Unlike buying a 10/22, with the BC-22 you can shoot with the same rifle, optics, accessories, and sling as your War Rifle; but you can train with it for pennies. To put it another way, BC-22 costs about as much as 10 boxes of .223 ammo. So you could pay off the cost of a BC-22 in a good afternoon at the range.

BUY IT

Bear Creek Arsenal affiliate https://alnk.to/faC03Fs

SPECS

Weight6.25 lbs
Magazine CompatibilityBlack Dog, CMMG
Barrel Length16″
ProfileHeavy Barrel
Twist1:16
Barrel FinishParkerized
Material4150 Chrome Moly Vanadium
Thread Pitch1/2 x 28
Caliber.22 Long Rifle
FlutesNon-fluted
Gas SystemBlow-Back
Charging StyleRight Side Charging
ClassificationComplete Upper Assembly
PlatformAR-22
Bolt MaterialE9310
Receiver MaterialBillet

Shooting Sports

Freedom Benchrest 1000yrd Match

Dawn shone on the golden foothills of the Sierra Nevadas mountains. This morning, I found myself at the Sacramento Valley Shooting Center, about 40 minutes outside of Sacramento, CA and about 3 hours from San Francisco (give or take an hour depending on traffic).

As a father of two school aged kids, my ability to travel to a gun range for an early morning match is somewhat limited by time and distance. This was well outside of my normal range visits but one I had long wished to make. I was invited by my range buddy, James, to film and observe a 1000 yard benchrest match organized by the a Northern California chapter of the Freedom Benchrest club.

Freedom Benchrest organize monthly 600 yard and 1000 yard matches open to all. But unless you want to consistently place at the bottom of the standings, to be competitive requires a bit more than a factory high-power rifle and store bought ammo. Each of the shooters invested a small fortune into their setup. The 13 competitors brought out a panoply of custom built rifles, heavy-duty geared rifle rests, precision scopes (that cost most than most factory rifles), boxes of hand loaded ammo, and an array of cooling fans and sundry gadgets.

The course of fire was 1 round of 5-shots within 10 minutes followed by a second round of 10-shots also within 10-minutes. The shooters were allowed as many “sighter” test rounds as time allowed provided they completed their “scoring” shots within the total time frame. The targets were 6.5″ rounds with a 3″ bullseye, but at 1000yrds I could barely see 10″ target board with my naked eye. To score a perfect round a shooter would have to place all of their shots within 1.5″ of the center X; in gun parlance that’s a rifle capable of less than half-sub MOA accuracy.

The rifle is only a 1/3 of the equation. Each shooter used custom hand-loaded ammunition. Many of them build their own ammo loading setup in their garages and spend hours developing, testing, and crafting each round of ammunition. And then the other 1/3 of the equation is the shooter and the time they spent practicing.

The shooters came from all different backgrounds and skill levels. Some had been shooting “normal’ firearms all of their lives but only recently entered into long-range shooting. Some had just learned to shoot a few years ago and feel into the challenge of long-range. One thing I noticed was there were no shooters under 40 in the crowd; probably because the cost of entry precluded all but retiree’s and well paid tech-employees or in some cases they were one in the same (as I mentioned this is not far from Sacramento and San Francisco).

But even if you don’t have the small fortune, the folks in the group were happy to lend spare gear like an unused backup rifle bag or rifle rest to anybody willing to bring a rifle and some ammo to join them. And they were all willing to share their hard-won knowledge about the sport to anyone who was willing to invest their time. That’s the one other thing I found all of the shooters had in common: camaraderie.

At the end of the 2nd match after most of the shooters had finished there was still 5-6 minutes left. Louie invited me to shoot his custom-built rifle and his 6mm “Louie” ammo at his bench. His rifle had a 2oz trigger (for context a military M16 rifle has a 6-8lb trigger pull) and a geared rifle rest that adjusts the rifles’s position by millimeters by turning dials. I let myself have 4-5 test shots until I found a bullseye hit and then proceeded to shoot 10 scoring shots. Most landed within the bullseye and I got a 93 out of possible 100 points. Not bad for my first try at 1000 yard precision shooting.

Freedom Benchrest hosts regular monthly events at the Sacramento Shooting Center. Contact them ahead of time to sign up to compete or attend a practice day. Tell them Moondog sent you. Contact James jamesbacardi@aol.com

Freedom Benchrest Events Calendar https://freedombenchrest.com/event/sacramento-valley-shooting-center-match-4/

Shooting Sports

Maven B.3 8×30

When choosing travel binoculars there’s a trade off between power and portability. With the Maven B.3 it meets a Goldilocks spot between both. The B.3 compact size and optical performance covers a wide variety of users from hunters to sports fans, to birders, naturalists, and travelers. Most of all it appeals to those who strive for efficiency and minimalism.  

The B.3 comes in 6x, 8x, and 10x models, all with 30mm objective lenses and the same body. The differences in magnification also provide differences in field of view and depth of field, inverse to its magnification power. I chose the 8x to as the best balance of both. On Maven’s website, you have the ability to custom design and order your optics; selecting the color of components, including adding commercial camouflage patterns.

The B.3 also features ED glass for clarity and color balance. It has a generous depth of field, a wide field of view, and a silky focus mechanism. Like all of Maven’s optics, it is also the most stylish and aesthetically designed sports optics on the market.

BUY IT

Maven affiliate: https://alnk.to/a4415R6
Maven Custom builder (use code: moondog): https://alnk.to/3J6z2Dh
Amazon affiliate: https://amzn.to/4e7JckI

SPECS

B.3

Magnification: 8x

Objective: 30mm

Eye Relief: 15.1mm

Near Focus : 8.2 ft

FOV: 430 ft @ 1000 yrds

Coating: Multi

Glass: ED

Prism: Schmidt-Pechan

Waterproof 

Nitrogen Purged

Weight: 16.6 oz

Dimensions: 4.7W  x 4.6H x1.6D