Category Archives: Shooting Sports

Firearms and shooting sports

Product Reviews, Shooting Sports

SVBony SV46 20-60×80

SVBony, the Hong Kong based maker of budget astronomical telescopes, sent me a their mid-range SV46 spotting scope to test and evaluate. I reviewed the SVBony SV28 a few months ago and found it to be good value in the sub-$100 price tier. The SV46 is a big step in features and a moderate step up in price.

This is 80mm scope is heavier and has a more robust and detailed build. It is IPX waterproof rated and its front lens cap was so well fitted that I seriously had a hard time pulling it off. It has the stacked coarse and fine focus knobs found in pricier high end spotting scopes. Its eyepiece was large, removable, and featured an independently turning magnification ring.

But for a sub-$500 scope there has to be a trade-off and in the SV46’s case, its in the optics. Looking through the glass I found softness around the other edges. At x60 there was noticeable purple fringe. In the USAF-51 resolution test, I was able to resolve down to Element 4 in Group 0 which is quite good for a scope under $500 but this sharpness only applied to the center of the image as the focus got significantly softer about a 1/3 out from center.

The It’s optics, while underwhelming, are on-par with similar scopes in this price tier and magnification range. The Athlon Talos has better glass but has less features and looks and feels cheaper in comparison. The SV46 has a well built tube, adjustments, and controls normally found on spotters twice its price. As evidenced by very tight seal on the lens cover, is extremely water tight.

PRO

  • Built in Sun Shade
  • Water tight seals
  • Built in eye-cup
  • Fine and Course focus knobs
  • Indexed mounting ring

CON

  • Shallow eye-relief
  • Not sharp from edge-to-edge
  • Chromatic aberrations

USAF51 RESOLUTION
Group: 0 / Element: 4

Available on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3wgo1bf

Shooting Sports

CVLife M-Lok Bipod

The CVLife M-Lok bipod is a Harris-style bipod that retails for about $30 on Amazon (a 1/4 of the cost of a Harris). Its light-weight, aluminum construction features a low-profile mounting head that directly attaches to most AR-style octagonal M-Lok handguards.

The leg design is a copy of a Harris bipod with spring-loaded telescoping legs that deploy by swinging them down from and depressing the locking tab on the legs. Once deployed, the lower leg’s length can be adjusted by locking them onto segmented notches. The feet are rubberized pads, which are held in with rolled pins. I was not able to test if they were replaceable with spikes.

Until recently Harris did no have an M-Lok model but at Shot Show 2022, I was shown a prototype M-Lok bipod which appears similar. But unlike this CVLife bipod, the Harris prototype allows for cant adjustments and play . At the time of this video recording, the Harris M-Lok bipod has not yet been released, nor is it shown in their website. https://www.harrisbipods.com/bipods/

While this CVLife bipod is not as ruggedly constructed as a combat proven Harris, it should prove to be rugged enough to typical range shooters. It is best suited to light recoiling rifles such as .22LR and .223/5.56mm.

Testing on my Ruger Precision Remfire rifle, I was able to keep good groups at 100yrds (well, good enough groups using cheap Federal Champion .22LR cartridges). The bipod proved to be steady and rigged enough provide repeatable performance. Its long term durability will have to be tested over time.

CVLife sent me this bipod to test and evaluate. When comparing performance and price, this bipod is still good value.

AVAILABLE ON AMAZON
Use this affiliate link to support this channel: https://amzn.to/3MuJAvg

Shooting Sports

Weight Sorting 22LR

There’s some old-school lore among bolt-action rimfire shooters that weight sorting bulk 22LR ammo is almost as good as buying Match Grade ammo. I put that theory to the test, partially out of curiosity and partly out of necessity. Since the COVID pandemic, Match Grade rimfire ammo has been impossible for me to find locally and what few boxes I could find were outrageously priced.

Match Grade rimfire ammo differs to cheap bulk ammo primarily in the quality control testing of the product. Many manufacturers do not make “practice” or “plinking’ grade ammo. Instead really only make Match ammo but based on the quality control testing of the batches, they reclassify and repackage the rejects lower grade varieties (Club, Target, Rifle, etc.). This quality control includes visually inspecting the uniformity of the cartridge as well as weighing them. Consistency in ballistic performance comes from consistency of the bullet cartridge.

I took the more mediocre 22LR ammo I had in stock, which was a loose box of Federal Champion “Blue Box”. Using a digital scale, I measure the weight in grains of each 22LR cartridge I would pull out of the box. I sorted the measured cartridges into groups: 49.8gr-51.2gr and under, 51.3-51.5gr, and 51.6gr-5.19gr. Any cartridges outside of these 3 batches was thrown in the “junk” pile; about 1 in 30 fell.

I took 50 rounds of the middle-weight batch (~51.4gr) to the range along with the new box of Federal Champion. Using my CZ-457 as the test bed, I set up a target downrange at 100yrds. I pasted up eight, 5/8″ sticker dots as my targets. I would fire 20 shots, 5 at shots at each of the 4 targets in each group.

The first group would be my weight-sorted batch. On second row of dots would use random bullets pulled from the Federal blue box. I chose to shoot the random batch 2nd to afford it the best opportunity possible. Compared to the Weight Sorted batch, the barrel would be well seasoned and I would have been warmed up from shooting the 1st batch.

Inspecting the target afterwards, my first impression was that there wasn’t a huge difference between the two rows. But after taking a photo and crunching the numbers using my phone’s Range Buddy app, the number told a different story. The Weight Sorted batch scored an average of 1.25 MOA whilst the Random Batch scored an average of 1.83 MOA. That 0.58 MOA difference that’s an almost 60% improvement!

But in the real world 0.6 MOA, hardly seems worth the time and effort to measure each 22LR cartridge. Certainly when shooting at a competition, every little bit helps. In one of my recent matches the difference between my 1st place win and 2nd place was only 3 points.

You can try it yourself to see how much a difference weight sorting is to you. You’ll need a precision digital scale that can measure to the nearest 0.01g . I used this one: https://amzn.to/3s8NG4j

Shooting Sports

Leupold Mark3HD 8-24×50

I bought my first Leupold a Mark 3HD 8-24×50 to pair with my new Ruger Precision Rimfire 22LR rifle. Its optical performance did not disappoint. In my camera testing and naked-eye observation it produced stunningly sharp and bright images with its HD glass.

Using the USAF-51 optical resolution chart, I could see resolution lines down to Group 0 which put this scope in the same league as some 60mm and 80mm spotting scopes! In glass performance, this is the sharpest and brightest scope I’ve tested in the sub $900 tier. Not surprisingly, only its big brother, the Mark 5 was able to resolve even smaller elements on the chart but that scope is four times the price.

While I had this on a 22LR, this scope is better suited for a high-power rifle. At 8x, it’s eye relief was well over 5″ behind the eye-piece at low power. This proved to be a challenge in filming as my phone/camera mount could not really be extended that far. At high-power the eye relief contracted slightly but the eye-box did quite profoundly; at 24x its eye-box was rather unforgiving.

It’s low, hunting profile turrets were a bit disappointing. The clicks were soft and muffled. But the tracking was dead-nuts accurate. The elevation turret had a precise and easy to use zero-stop and the windage was covered by a cap, hunting-style.

It has a 2nd focal plane Mil-Spec metal P5 TMR reticle. They way Leupold designed their Mk3, it uses the exact same reticle scrim plate as the lower power Mk3 but enlarged at a fixed 24x size. Because its a 2nd focal plane, the reticle size doesn’t change. Unfortunately, this also means the reticle appears overly thick at low power. This may be great for hunters who prefer a reticle that doesn’t get lost in their field of view. But a thick reticle is anathema to precision shooters because it obscures small targets and bullseyes.

Full P5 reticle design vs. P5 reticle presented in Mk3 8-24x. You only ever see the center portion.


Unfortunately this was a dealbreaker for me. While I love the glass clarity and Leupold’s reputation for reliability, the reticle made this a hard-pass for me. Regretfully, I returned it and will have to look for one of Leupold’s other models for my needs.

Available on Amazon
8-24×50 https://amzn.to/3xq9hsA
6-18×50 https://amzn.to/3KKZSzH

RESOLUTION
Group: -1
Element: 5-6

OVERALL RATINGS (out 5)
Build: 5
Glass: 5+
Reticle: 3
Holds Zero: 5
Box Test: 5
Turrets: 5
Eye Box: 5
Value: 5

Shooting Sports

Feyachi LF58 Retro TLR-2 or Rip-Off?

Back in 2004 we were watching the Matt Damon in the first Bourne sequel, Tobey Mcguire in Spiderman 2, and looking at Streamlight’s newest pistol light with a built in laser, their TLR-2. One could easily mistake the Feyachi LF58 for a remake. While not a 100% copy of the TLR-s, the Feyachi LF58 is strikingly similar.

Feyachi sent me an LF58 to test and review. It came in a plain brown box containing the light, instruction pamphlet, pair of CR123A lithium batteries A set of batteries is included in the battery compartment of the light with protective plastic contact barriers which much first be removed to activate the light. The box also contained two Allen wrenches; one for the base mount and the smaller to adjust the laser.

The LF58 is the green laser variant, mated to a 200LM light. It mounts via an integrated Pictinny rail clamp and mates well with my Glock 17 postil. In my testing, I found the built in laser was very nearly aligned to the bore. Slight adjustments can be made with an included Allen wrench to achieve a 1:1 zero.

The controls are very much a copy of the Streamlight TLR-2 with toggle-posts in the rear battery compartment which can be manipulated with either the primary or secondary index fingers. The light as momentary and constant on settings. A dial near the bottom of the scope selects for light-light&laser-laser modes.

In my testing I found that the light output far exceeded the stated 200LM by Fayachi. My readings placed it closer to 400LM. This is only half the max output of a modern TLR-2 (~1000LM) but still plenty bright for most home defense situations.

I plan to conduct further testing to determine its long term durability and reliability. While it seems to sufficiently rugged for range use, I’m not yet convinced that it’s reliable enough for personal defense.

Help support my reviews by purchasing this light through my Amazon Affiliate link: https://amzn.to/3KnOIA1

Shooting Sports

Shot Show 2022: Ammo-Up

If you enjoy shooting at the end of a fun day at the range, you’ll be left with a smile on your face and a lot spent brass on the ground. Unless you’re shooting at some full-service indoor range, chances are you’re responsible for “policing” your brass; you need to pick up a broom and a dustbin and clean up after yourself.

Ammo-Up is a company that makes a very clever and effective tool that picks up almost all types of spent shell and collects them in easy to dump bins. This device is vaguely shaped like a push lawnmower. It has a roller with long polymer fingerlike bristles which grab the shells from the ground and a teeth above the brass bin combs the shells out of the bristles into its catch bin.

Cleaning up is as easy as rolling over the brass and Bobs-your-uncle, the brass it gone. The picker works on carpet, concrete, and even sand. But it doesn’t work on gravel (which get lodged in the bristles along with shells) nor does it work on .22 or smaller rimfire (the shells are too small).

We have a large sized unit at the Coyote Point Range that the Sheriff’s use for their 9mm and 5.56mm shells but us poor rimfire shooters have to contend with old school brooms and dustbins. I stopped by the Ammo-Up booth to see if they had come up with a solution or option for .22LR but alas, no.

Their units are sold online and are available on Amazon. https://amzn.to/3L0Zcpt

Shooting Sports

Hi-Lux Malcolm 20x

https://rumble.com/embed/vzh5ie/?pub=7xlsb Monetized

If you own an original, vintage, collectible rifle or a modern replica, it only makes sense that you’d want a scope to match its period aesthetics. Often times, a vintage scope, in good condition, can be as hard to find and as dear as the rifle you put it on. To serve this collector market, Leatherwood/Hi-Lux introduced their W.M. Malcolm line of target scopes.

Malcolm scopes utilize modern C&C construction methods, materials, along with modern optics and coatings. I saw their newest scopes at Shot Show 2022 but got a hands-on demonstration back home from my friend Mike at the Coyote Point Rifle and Pistol Club. He recently purchased a 20x Malcolm scope for a 1950’s vintage BSA Martini International Target 22LR.

This scope was a replica of Unertl scopes made from the 1930’s-2008. Rather than turrets that manipulate internal lenses, Unertl scopes use a unique mount, with turrets that move the entire scope tube within its brackets. While precise, its external mechanism is exposed to the elements and the environment; a design not known for ruggedness or durability when abused.

Despite the Unertl’s design quirks, it is able to retain zero on large caliber and magnum rifles. Legendary Marine Corps sniper Sgt. Hathcock utilized a Unertl scope on one of his sniper rifles. He was credited for 93 confirmed kills during the Vietnam War.

Looking through the scope, I was surprised at how sharp the image was. Looking at at the USAF Optical Resolution chart, at 100 yards, I was able to make out vertical and horizontal lines down to Element 1 of Group 0. This level of detail was comparable to a $2500 Leupold Mark 5, I recently reviewed.

Part of the reason for its optical performance was due to it being a fixed 20x power scope. Variable power scopes can have chromatic aberrations, darkening, or distorted image due to the additional lenses required to shift magnification. A fixed power scope does have limits to its field of view and versatility. But mounted to a long-distance target rifle and shooting 100 yrd. bullseye, a fixed power scope isnt’ at a disadvantage.

Annoyingly the original edit of the video was erroneously rejected by YouTube’s staff reviewers, categorizing its content as “Firearms Modification.” But by their own definition: “Modifications” refer to anything that interferes, enhances or changes the internal functioning of the product, as well as hair triggers, bump stocks, and explosive/incendiary ammunition, or other attachments such as thermal/infrared sights or large capacity magazines. Anyone with basic firearms understanding would see that the video does not depict any internal modifications of any sort, nor are any of the other cited issues presented. I have had to re-upload a lengthy explanation section to educated YouTube staff.

Available on Optics Planet: https://shrsl.com/3hp4u

Information on the BSA Martini International rifles: https://www.rifleman.org.uk/BSA_Martini_International_Mks.I_and_II.html

Shooting Sports

How to pronounce Heckler & Koch

Heckler & Koch or simply “H&K” is one of the worlds best known gun brands. Their iconic MP5 is almost synonymous with Police and Military Special Operations and Counter-Terrorism units. Known for very unique and futuristic polymer designs, precise engineering, and high-performance.

Their name, specifically the later half, can still cause some trouble for many gun enthusiasts. While the German name ‘Koch’ actually has a number of valid pronunciations, it interesting to note that the when I visited their booth at this year’s Shot Show 2022, their staff representative insisted the official pronunciation was decidedly more American sounding, than German.

Product Reviews, Shooting Sports

Pridefend Gunsmith Bubble Level Kit

A gun accessory company sent me a Pridefend bubble level kit to test and review. I had never heard of the “Pridefend” brand before this review. This odd sounding name hinted at bad Chinese to English Goggle translate or MadLibs. Their low $6 price on Amazon (at the time of this review) made me a bit trepidatious, since you often get what you pay for.

When they did arrive, I was pleasantly surprised they came packed in a nice metal tin. The kit included two types of bubble levels and a 1.5mm Allen wrench to adjust them. I checked them against a 3-position carpenter’s spirit level and found the larger of the two Pridefend was not true but I was easily able to re-true it using the Allen wrench. I thought the other bubble-level, with a ‘P’ decal, was also not level but this was due to the off-center magnet at its base. After attaching it to the metal case, I found that it was level.

Taking it to the range, I found the bubble levels to be useful in leveling my CZ rifle to correctly align my scope after changing its Picatinny rail adapter. Despite the need to initially adjust one of the level (so you do need a known and trusted spirit-level or reliable phone App), I was pleasantly surprised at the usefulness of this tool.

Needless to say, I’m pleased enough that I WONT be returning this. It’s going into my range bag where the magnet has been additionally useful in policing my odd collection of allen wrenches in my mini range toolkit.

The kits are available from Amazon: https://amzn.to/3DHNpda