Firearms and shooting sports
Fenix updated their HT series of reachable flashlights with a hunting flashlight which offers a very intuitive 2 button selection scheme. Users can quickly switch between green, red, and white light depending on the situation; to preserve night vision or to track prey. It is able output a blinding 2700 lumens at maximum brightness.
Get 10% off using code AF-MOONDOG
on Fenix LIghting’s website https://www.fenixlighting.com
Amazon https://amzn.to/3UsK8IX
Palmetto State Armory is developing the JAKL, a gas/piston action Battle Rifle platform and showing off its versatility and modularity. On the surface it has MAGPUL Masada ACR vibes, which isn’t a bad thing (if you can divorce the ACR design from the mediocre rendition by Bushmaster and Remington before they went out of business). The ACR never reached its full potential. In any case the JAKL is a badass looking rifle.
The concept JAKL rifle they showed me SHOT Show 2024 was chambered in .308, with features found in rifles such as the FN SCAR, FAL, and the AR10. It does them one better by offering a non-reciprocating ambi charging handle and an 8-position gas setting to allow the rifle to cycle with suppressors and subsonic cartridges.
While many optics come to SHOT Show to show off the latest and trendiest, it’s surprising to see a brand bring out a traditional product. Athlon showed me their new fixed power Talos SFP. That’s right, a fixed power scope. This Talos has a fixed 10x magnification.
What is impressive is that this scope has 35mils (120 MOA) of internal adjustment. So this scope is perfect for airgun or competitive bench rest shooters who are shooting at fixed targets at known ranges. Moreover, coming from Athlon’s Talos line, this optic is also one of their most affordable.
Available on Amazon through this Affiliate link https://amzn.to/4bMSfGU
Phones have changed how we take photos and videos in our personal lives. Phones have also become ubiquitous in the world of telephotography, birding, and astronomy. Many entry level spotting scopes and telescopes come with plastic and metal phone mounts.
As anybody who has used these free or inexpensive mounts has discovered, getting them aligned properly and keeping them in place can be challenging. And if you need to remove the phone momentarily to adjust the eyepiece or make an optical adjustment, you have to re-align the phone from scratch every time you remove the phone.
APEXEL sent me a 3-axis phone mount for telescopes and binoculars. The mount is made of aluminum alloy for rigidity and stability. It has geared controls knobs that slides your phone along 3-axis of motion: vertical, horizontal, and toward and away from the eyepiece. In my testing I was easily able to align my phone.
It does have 2 shortcomings well 3. The third can’t be helped as it’s a rather large device. The other issues are eye relief and the phone clamp. You will not be able to use this mount on most rifle scopes; which have ≥3″ of eye relief. The APEXEL doesn’t have enough range of adjustment; toping out at about 1″. The other disappointment is the phone mount itself, which is a pinch style claw mount. Your phone is simply held in place by spring tension. APEX should have added a ratcheting mechanism instead.
While this mount isn’t perfect, it’s nearly so. At less than $60 currently, it is a good value compared to specialized other telescope mounting systems of the past. I hope APEXEL comes up with a solution for using it with long eye relief optics like rifle scopes.
This is available on Amazon through my affiliate link: https://amzn.to/3Pr3NGi
Maven is a new company in the Premium Optics world, founded in 2013 in Wyoming by three veterans of the outdoor industry. Their goal was create quality sporting optics without the big box store mark-up by selling direct to consumer through their website. This business model is not new (Arken, Tract, and Discover are some examples) but what does make Maven unique is the level of customization they allow on their products. Maven was the first optics company to offer customers a choice of different color accents, camo patterns, and custom engraving on different parts of their optics.
Perhaps more than most, this scope looked “premium priced”. The price of the RS.5 starts at $1400 and depending on level of customization can run up to $1510. They also offer accessory bundles which include scope rings. The base model arrives in a compressed paper clamshell package, that opens like a high end egg crate; but those fancy ‘cruelty free’ eggs they sell at Organic Markets.
Surface appearances aside, my testing their RS.5 precision hunting scope showed excellent optical and tracking performance. This Japanese made scope has ED glass and an well designed SFP reticle that offered useful elevation and wind hold stadia and a super fine .1 MOA floating center dot for precise long range shooting. Despite its svelt 30mm tube and low profile turret, it offered 100 MOA or vertical travel and precise tracking.
I was especially impressed with the scope’s stylish industrial design. The turrets are resettable but instead of visible hex or slot screws, the top of the turret is seamless hidden locking hut which twists off (though mine was really on tight and required some rubber bands and a pliers to loosen). The control surfaces were nicely checkered and had nice pewter grey accent coloring making the whole scope feel more like a fine timepiece than a typical scope.
I’m looking forward to trying out their other scopes and binoculars. The Maven RS.5 may look boojie but it performs like a badass.
Maven website: https://alnk.to/7qjxEL4
Amazon: https://amzn.to/43epRJH
| RS.5 MOA | |||
| Focal plane | Second | ||
| Magnification range | 4x – 24x | ||
| Obj. lens diameter | 50mm | ||
| Tube diameter | 30mm / 1.8in | ||
| Objective outer diameter | 59mm | ||
| Eyepiece outer diameter | 43.6mm | ||
| Overall length | 366mm / 14.41in | ||
| Weight (without battery) | 25.5oz / 723g | ||
| Internal adjustment range (MOA/MIL) | |||
| Travel Elevation | 100 MOA | 29 MIL | |
| Travel Windage | 70 MOA | 20.3 MIL | |
| Click value | 0.250 MOA | 0.1 MIL | |
| Adjustment per turret revolution | 20 MOA | 10 MIL | |
| Parallax adjustment | 10y – Infinity | ||
| Exit pupil diameter | @4x: 8.5mm | @24x: 2.1mm | |
| Eye relief | @4x: 77-98mm | @24x: 86-98mm | |
| Field of view @ 100y | @4x: 27.8ft | @24x: 4.6ft | |
| Front/Rear mounting length | F: 53mm | R: 52mm | |
| Effective objective lens diameter | @4x: 34.5mm | @24x: 50.0mm | |
| Field of view | @4x: 5.31° | @24x: 0.88° | |
| Field of view, apparent | @4x: 21° | @24x: 21° | |
| Diopter correction (dpt) | +/-3 | ||
| Light transmission | 90.10% | ||
| Twilight factor | @4x: 14.1 | @24x: 34.64 | |
| Functional temperature | -4°~158°F | ||
| Submersion tightness / waterproof rating | 3m depth | ||
| Gas purged | Nitrogen | ||
| Reticle construction | Etched Glass | ||
| Reticle options | SHR-W | SHR-MIL | |
| Illuminated reticle Y/N | Yes | Red | |
| Origin | Made in Japan |
UTG makes some of the best made firearms accessories bar none; and more notably at a reasonable price. At SHOT they showed off their new ARCA-Swiss rails. These rails attaches to an M-Lok compatible handguard and provides a secure mounting point to a variety of shooting tripods.
The clever industrial designers to at UTG weren’t satisfied with simply creating light-weight ARCA-Swiss adapter rails. They created rails that were also MRAS and R-Lock compatible to boot. Best of all all UTG Leapers products are made in Taiwan (the good China) and their UTG Pro line is made in the good ol’ USA. So you don’t have to feel un-patriotic when you’re looking for a good value.
This rail will be available in April
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While testing the new Gen2 ED-PRS Discovery Optics sent me to review, I was filled with deja vu. It felt like I had just reviewed the ED-PRS though that was a year ago. Visually the Gen 1 and the Gen 2 are nearly identical save for slightly bolder font on the turrets.
The Gen 2 comes in a slightly smaller box than the Gen 1. Discovery scopes come with a ludicrous amount of accessories including high-quality scope rings, a scope base leveler, a lens cleaning cloth, a lens cleaning brush, and sun shade. Missing are the two additional 3″ sun shade tube sections present in the Gen 1.
The size and weight of this scope are hard to forget at nearly 4lbs and over 16″ long; over 19″ with the sun shade attached. One important difference with the Gen 2 is its greater range of adjustments, doubling the Gen 1’s numbers. The Gen 2 is also 4 oz heavier.
The ED-PRS has huge turrets. It’s like they looked at Arken’s turrets and said, “Hold my beer”. That said, the turrets are quite audible and tactile-positive with no slop. The elevation turret has a ring and cog tooth style zero stop.
The Gen 2 sports Japanese ED glass. Optically the image is quite bright and clear, with a slight warm tint but with little chromatic aberration; noticeably less than the Gen 1. The sharpness and resolution were quite impressive.
The only disappointing aspects is the Gen 2’s unforgiving eye box (which it shares with other Discovery scopes I’ve tested) and illumination. The maximum illumination isn’t visible in shaded daylight but is sufficient for low light. Neither of these issues is a deal breaker.
Then Gen 2 has excellent features and performance, a plethora of quality accessories, and an Amazon price of $400 If you need a long-range scope and weight and size aren’t an issue, the Gen 2 is arguably the best value scope. Period.
Available from Discovery. Use coupon code Moondog-ED5-25 and save 20%
https://www.discoveryopt.com/products/93
In Canda you can order one from https://www.CDNprecision.com
Group -1 / Element 6
ED PRS Gen 2
5-25×56
Magnification: 5-25X
Reticle Position: First Focal Plane
Max Elevation adjust range: 36MRAD
Max Windage adjust range: 17MRAD
FOV: 24.6 FT(7.5 m)-4.9 FT(1.5 m)100YDS
Exit Pupil: 11.2-2.2 mm
Eye Relief: 3.4 in(8.7cm)-3.3 in(8.5cm)
Click Value:0.1MRAD
Objective lens diameter: 56mm(2.2in)
Tube diameter: 34mm(1.34in)
Length: 415mm (16.34in)
Weight: 1255g (44.3oz)
GEN1
Max Elevation adjust range: 15MRAD
Max Windage adjust range: 8.7MRAD
Weight: 1156g (40.8oz)
GEN2
Max Elevation adjust range: 36MRAD
Max Windage adjust range: 17MRAD
Weight: 1255g (44.3oz)
Athlon has revamped their Midas binoculars and Cronus spotting scope. These are Athlon Optics top tier field scope models. Their binoculars have been updated with a bevy of ergonomic and usability enhancements including a redesigned diopter for better functionality.
Their flagship optic, the Cronus spotting scope now features a tandem fast and fine focus dials instead of the single barrel focus ring. I tested a Cronus tactical spotting scope earlier this year and it was a super clean and bright. This high magnification model promises to be every bit as sharp.
Midas binoculars are available on Amazon through this affiliate link: https://amzn.to/49zuSyC
Cronus G2 spotter is available on Amazon through this affiliate link: https://amzn.to/48t5mtI
Hi-Lux is known for making vintage style optics, They make the Malcolm, possibly the best reproduction Unertl style scopes on the market. They also make modern tactical optics; last year I tested their PR5 long range scope and found it a solid long range tactical optic if a tad heavy.
At SHOT Show this year, they showed me their new 1-8x LPVO the CMR1. This utilizes fiber optics to achieve a daylight bright central point like a red dot. I hope to get a sample to see how good it performs optically.
