At SHOT Show 2024, I was invited by Arken Optics to interview Jade Struck, competitive shooter, firearms instructor for Keanu Reeves on John Wick, the face is Call of Duty’s “Iskra”, and proud Arken LPVO shooter. Jade has a remarkable resume and is an equally remarkable individual. She is one of the most physically fit firearms instructor I’ve ever met and she owes that inspiration her husband, former marine, Rudy Reyes.
In a feature rich half-hour conversation that ranged from working with celebrities, her competition background, the importance of fitness, Christian faith, and our favorite Batman actor. Thanks to Arken Optics for sponsoring this video and the opportunity to meet and be inspired by Jade.
Palmetto State Armory are the Mad Scientists of gun makers, coming out with new designs and recreations of guns. This year they brought out over a dozen prototypes including their first bolt action rifle. The Emerge is patterned after the Remington 700 and is designed to be compatible with 700 after market parts and accessories.
The PSA Emerge will come standard with Magpul furnature and an adjustable trigger that you’d usually find with more premium builds. Not surprising as PSA is known for giving us Poors more gun for the money. The first calibers to be developed will be 308 and 6.5 Creedmor.
PSA has too many ideas and but too little engineering time so they’re asking fans to vote for their favorite prototype guns that PSA should focus on. This means the 3 guns with the highest votes will be most likely to see testing and production later this year. Cast your vote at https://palmettostatearmory.com/
Kahles is known in the PRS world for having some of the sharpest, clearest scope when going after targets at 1000yrds or more. After 5 years of development Kahles was eager to show off their newest long range precision scope at SHOT Show. This features not a 36mm tube (good luck finding a many choices for mounts) for an extended range of adjustment and a 40% wider field of view.
Win an Athlon Talos 20-60×80 spotting scope with OSS lens cap, provided by OSS. Entries must be received no later than 12pm EST on June 22, 2024. Buy your own OSS lens cap on Etsy.
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Kahles is known for making high-performance long range optics so they’re not top of mind for MilSpec tactical scopes like LPVOs. But for competition 3gun shooters who are looking eek out every last fraction of a second in their run times, having clear sharp glass is a necessity.
Kahles showed off their K181 LPVO at Shot Show 2024 which offers red dot bright illumination. It comes in either a traditional BDC crosshair style retile or a simple two-dot aiming reticle; the ultimate in simplicity for a speed shooter interested in hiting either point-blank or mid-range targets.
“5.11” comes from the a rock climbing difficulty rating in Yosemite national park. 5.11 got its start specializing in making rock climbing pants. These were discovered by and purchased Special Forces operators who prized them for their durability, ergonomic pockets, and flexible design allowing for a wide range of dynamic motion.
DC Predator is an Instagram and YouTube channel of Scott Morris, his brother Ken, and son Kamron; a family of hunters from Arizona who have posted some of the most cinematic hunting footage this side National Geographic. Cam Morris is the primary cameraman for the channel and he brings his photo and videography experience to his family’s coyote hunts. And in case you’re wondering, I asked. DC is not a reference to our nation’s capitol. DC stands for “Death Clap”, the sound of a varmint going down.
Palmetto State Armory are the Mad Scientists of gun makers, coming out with new AR and AK designs and recreations of guns. This year they brought out over a dozen prototypes including their first 12ga. pump shotgun. Much of this gun shares design features with the venerable Remmington 870. This will part of their new Build Your Own series of kit guns designed to be easily built and assembled at home without specialized gun smithing tools.
Notable in its design is the position of the bolt catch release which is in the form of a slide-switch above the trigger; similar in position to an AR. The receiver is cut and designed to attach RMR footprint red dots. The front sight post is compatible with GLOCK front sights.
PSA has too many ideas and but too little engineering time so they’re asking fans to vote for their favorite prototype guns that PSA should focus on. This means the 3 guns with the highest votes will be most likely to see testing and production later this year. Cast your vote at https://palmettostatearmory.com/
The Monstrum Panzer, is named after the famous German WW2 tanks (“panzer” is the German word for “armor”). The Panzer sports tank tread inspired design to its turret caps and magnification ring that provides a useful grippy surface beyond its unique aesthetic. Monstrum showed me the prototype of the Panzer 1-6x at SHOT Show 2024.
The Panzer is Monstrum’s first focal plane (FFP) line of LPVO. Externally it is nearly identical to the Panzer 1-10x that I reviewed previously save for a 1″ shorter tube making it a few oz lighter. The trade off to the top end of magnification is that the 1-6x has a slightly more forgiving eyebox but the differences is subtle. One could argue that the difference in practical clarity between a 6x and 10x to the typical shooters ability to hit targets is similarly subtle. The biggest object difference is the $30 lower price of the 1-6x.
The Panzers come with a user replaceable fin on the magnification ring which can be swapped out for the included throw lever. In addition, the package includes a quality, high-recoil, cantilever mount and basic flip up caps. The turrets are capped and resettable with a hex key.
The Panzer now offers two choices in FFP reticle. The Panzer 1-6x I tested has their new CM3 reticle which has a tactical style BDC reticle with a tree style set of windage holdovers below a circle dot. I previously tested the CM2 reticle which is an MOA range finding reticle. Both reticles are illuminate only the center circle dot with a selection of 5 intensities in both red or green. The illumination is low light / CQB bright but not true daylight bright like Monstrum’s BDC-C1 Banshee.
Recoil testing, conducted at a rifle range, courtesy of GD Boomer. Ammo sponsored by Monstrum Tactical: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwZssTN1oGs&t=1s
Athlon scopes are some of the best values in sporting optics. But they make more than optics. Athlon make some of the most robust carbon fiber shooting tripods. But it wasn’t until this year that they’ve made their first heavy duty shooting saddle mount.
This mount is made of a solid block of aluminum for strength but with numerous lightening cuts to reduce its weight whilst retaining clamping strength. The clamp has a built in ARCA/SWISS compatible base, with both 1/4″ and 3/8″ screw mounts for direct attachments to photo tripods.
The walls of the clamp are slightly canted inwards to better seat traditional hunting rifle handguards. The walls of the clamp are covered in textured rubber padding to provide grip and protect wood from marring even under heavy recoil.
