Category Archives: Shooting Sports

Firearms and shooting sports

Shooting Sports

Klarus E5

The Klarus E5 looks like a flashlight Apple would design: a cross between a highly functional EDC and an overpriced minimalist fashion accessory. But the E5 is anything but overpriced. Flat EDC lights are a mini-trend in flashlights. The Olight Arkfeld is probably the best-known example. Klarus has staked out its position by offering the lightest, flattest EDC.

The 1.4 oz E5 weighs less than a pair of Apple AirPods (with charging case). It’s about the size of 3″ bladed EDC knife and shares about the same pocket space. It has a magnetic tip that allows the E5 to tail-stand as a work light or be attached to the roof of a car as a warning signal. The EP5 comes in 6 different colors, with matching colored belt clips.

The EP5 has two light emitters. In function, it’s intended to be primarily a clip-on lapel light. Its main LED emitter is its larger round light on its side. Its auxiliary light forms the top end opposite its magnet. Both lights are activated and controlled by a single side button the light. Tapping on the button after the light unit is activated switches the main light from low-medium-high-flash/signal modes. Keeping the button pressed after activation switches between the Main and Aux light emitters. Double tapping the button activates the Aux light in strobe mode. Triple tapping the button activates the Main light in Turbo mode, outputting a maximum of 600 lumens

The EP5 trades off ergonomics in controls and function for minimalist aesthetics. The EP5 is stylish and lightweight, making it appealing, but it lacks features like mode memory, which are required in a real EDC work light. But its low price, lightweight, and packability make it a great every-day-carry light, just not an every-day-use light.

BUY IT

Amazon affiliate https://amzn.to/4gtwE8L

SPECS

• Maximum Brightness：600 lumens
• Weight: 37g
• Thickness: 8mm
• Battery Capacity：450m
• Charging port: USB-C
• Max runtime: 12hrs
• Waterproof: IPX4

Shooting Sports, Social

TMI Live 241023

My notes from today’s livestream

Aura Sponsorship: https://aura.com/moondog

Contest: #maven Sticker Package

FRESH VIDS

Evike Timelapse https://youtu.be/344UnhfX2Sc

Klarus E5 https://youtu.be/hIjoNwFPLdg

Feyachi QD PC https://youtu.be/w3Py5uilP1s
Contest early access: https://moondogindustries.com/november-2024-contest/

Maven RS4 https://youtu.be/zaA9dQsN3Qc

Contest: Discovery Optics scope rings and mounts https://youtu.be/BDYjHoSEadE

Discovery Optics: https://discoveryopt.com 
10% Off code: Moondog

20 MOA mount https://amzn.to/3U2OFBi
10% Off code: Moondog1021

THUMBNAIL THIS

• Maven CS2A

• Primary Arm SLx

LIVE CONTEST

• #maven

VOCAB

Cheering Guide – When a KPop or JPop group puts out a video when they release a new title track, and it’s so the fans (if they want) know when and what to cheer at specific times.

Vocaloid – A singing voice synthesizer software product. Its signal processing part was developed through a joint research project between Yamaha Corporation and the Music Technology Group in Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona.

RABBIT HOLE

F5ve https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opMa_L52z0I

Rock Horror Picture Show https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-T3wrbOr68w&t=95s

Professor of Rock: Hall and Oats https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=N_h5UhQp4xQ

Comet A3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulBTMI9dP0I

OctoSquigglez Vocaloid https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zey7jzfQcJc

Hatsune Miko

Leek Song (Finnish!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrgO_9ey53M

LIVE CONTEST

• #march

Shooting Sports

Maven RS.4 5-30×56 FFP

Maven has some of the sexiest looking scopes on the market in terms of build quality, materials, and styling. But don’t let a hot body fool you. Like an exotic sports car the Maven RS.4 has serious engineering under the hood.

The RS.4 is Maven’s scope for PRS competition or long range Western hunting. It offers many features optimized for long range enthusiasts. Maven offers it in MIL or MOA with a variety of Christmas tree and specialty reticles. I got the CFR-MIL reticle which is similar to the PR2 reticle on the Leupold Mk5.

The turrets are oversized and large diameter to provide quick turns to adjust dope and fine adjustments. The turret have a hidden tool-less locking top to allow the user to reset them. Under the elevation turret you’ll find a black metal ring that can be dropped to engage a pin on the turret base to engage a precise zero-stop.

All the nobs and rings turn smoothly. The turrets offer precise tacticle clicks that are audible. The reticle illumination is powered by a CR2032 coin battery and is split between red and green settings with an off in-between brightness settings. The illumination dial layout is a little unusual with the highest settings in both red and green are on the same side of the dial. Unfortunately it’s illumination is only so-so. Only the very central cruciform of the reticle is illuminated with a faint glow on the Christmas tree. The RS.4’s brightest isn’t noon-day daylight which a liability for certain lighting conditions.

The RS.4 has ED glass which gives it excellent sharpness, clarity, and color balance. Chromatic aberration was greatly minimized in all but the highest contrast conditions. Even in those extreme cases, I noted an orange fringe rather than a purple or green one. The eyebox was a bit unforgiving, even with the magnification dialed down to 10x. At 30x it’s very tight, so it’s imperative the shooter have a firm and comfortable cheek weld on their rifle.

The RS.4 is a beautifully designed scope with long range shooters in mind. Especially the kind of shooter who step out of their custom Cybertruck wearing their ironed T.A.D. outfits and matching Canadian Goose parka.

BUY IT

Maven affiliate: https://alnk.to/7X4TGjC
Maven Custom builder (use code: moondog): https://alnk.to/3J6z2Dh
Amazon affiliate: https://amzn.to/3MByMgU

SPECS

Focal plane1st
Magnification range5x – 30x
Obj. Lens diameter56mm
Tube diameter34mm
Objective outer diameter65mm
Eyepiece outer diameter43.6mm
Overall length325mm / 12.79in
Weight (without battery)35.4oz / 1004g
Max Elevation35.5 MIL
Max Windage14.6 MIL
Click value0.1 MIL
Adjustment per turret revolution10 MIL
Parallax adjustment15y-Infinity
Exit pupil diameter@30x: 1.9mm
Eye relief@30x: 86-92mm
Field of view @ 100y@30x: 3.9ft
Effective objective lens diameter@30x: 56mm
Field of view@30x: 0.74°
Field of view, apparent@30x: 22°
Light transmission91.84%
Twilight factor@30x: 40.98
Submersion tightness / waterproof rating3m depth
Gas purgedNitrogen
Reticle constructionEtched Glass
Reticle optionsMOA/MIL
IlluminationRed/Green
OriginMade in Japan
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