At SHOT Show 2025, I stopped by our friends at Evike.com who had a large booth near Holosun and Baretta. We got a chance to see their new licensed airsoft guns which are spot on copies of Kimber, Stacatto, Daniel Defense, and Noveske firearms. These are perfect training devices for dry-fire and non-lethal CQB training.
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Evike.com http://www.evike.com/#a_aid=moondog&a_bid=b467b403
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It came as a bit of a surprise when I heard that Nintendo would be opening a new store at Union Square, in downtown San Francisco. When you mention downtown San Francisco nowadays, the image that comes to mind are shuttered retail stores and fentanyl addicts. But in May of 2025, a month ahead of the Switch 2 launch, Nintendo opened only its second store in the USA.
Nintendo’s first store was at Rockefeller Plaza in New York City. I’ve visited there regularly since it opened over a decade ago. The San Francisco store has attracted a line of fans and tourists since its opening. Because of its popularity (and possibly to reduce the risk of theft), the store security has limited the number to 100 customers who can enter the store at a time. When I got there, the line was about a half block long, and it took about 20 minutes in queue before I got in.
The store has two levels. The street level has most of the San Francisco labeled Nintendo Store merchandise, and you will also find sections dedicated to the Mario Bros., Donkey Kong, and Animal Crossing. Downstairs are sections with merch for Splatoon, Pokémon, Pikman, Zelda, and the new Switch 2 console and games.
Whilst the San Francisco store is physically smaller than the New York Store, its design feels more like a boutique for a fashion brand than a retail game store. The San Francisco store offers a wider selection of products, apparel, and merchandise from a wider range of Nintendo franchises. Even if you’ve been the New York store, it’s well worth visiting the San Francisco store for a different experience.
This is a pre-recorded episode of the Too Much Information show. In this episode, we’ll be talking with 1957 Porsche Speedster and his daughter, Grace about her experiences at the Golden Trailer Awards. @GoldenTrailerAwards
This video is sponsored by Aura. Stop leaving yourself vulnerable to data breaches. Go to my link https://aura.com/moondog to get a 14-day free trial and see if any of your data has been exposed.
This video is sponsored by Venice.ai. Go to my link https://venice.ai/moondog to enjoy private, unscensored A.I. Get 20% off a Venice Pro Plan using code: moondog
Read my notes https://moondogindustries.com/tmi-250625-gta-report/
Moondog2A
Moondog Reviews
Moondog Go
No live contest this week. Instead, we’re doing the ZKT wipe giveaway via email
Todays guest is a retired biotech engineer, who spent over 30 years developing and manufacturing Medical Diagnostic Testing regents. He’s worked in California, Deleware and the UK. He won last month’s prize of tickets to the Golden Trailer Awards. His daughter who is studying Marine Biology at UCLA, went to the awards show earlier this month.
SPECIAL GUEST:
Lee aka 1957 Porsche Speedster and his daughter Grace
Golden Trailer Awards: https://goldentrailer.com/
No live contest this week. Instead we’re doing the ZKT wipe giveaway via email
ZKT Wipe giveaway
Be one of the first 3 people to email me at moondogairsoft@gmail.com with the SUBJECTLINE #zkt with your name and adress.
Monstrum released the Challenger 5-25×56, a new budget FFP long-range scope. This improves upon their older G3 4-24×50 long-range scope with features appealing to PRS style shooting with a larger 56mm objective lens, zero-stop turret, and a Christmas tree reticle. Remarkably it has all of that at a lower price than the G3.
The Challenger ships with several accessories including a decent set of high-height rings. It does not include a sun shade which many budget PRS scopes include. The Challenger has a built-in fin on its magnification ring so doesn’t need an additional throw lever.
The illumination knob has 6 levels of brightness with an Off in between the settings. The elevation turret is non-locking but has a built-in Zero-Stop activated by screwing down a worm screw accessible under the turret cap. An odd design feature is the screw-down turret top on the elevation which covers the turret screw and access to the Zero-stop worm screw. This makes resetting the turret zero a little bit more work.
The windage turret is a more typical, push-down-to-lock design. It has an exposed slotted turret screw top to reset the turret to 0. Unfortunately, my model’s turret markings did not exactly line up with the tube’s indicator dot, a tell-tale sign of cheaper, budget construction.
Glass and optical quality are also where Monstrum compromised to achieve its low price. The image at its lowest of 5x shows noticeable chromatic aberration. The image was not sharp from center to edge, with noticeable softening and distortions at the outer 1/4 of the scope image. Color fidelity was good but with a slightly warm balance. The was average for a budget PRS scope: tight.
The new reticle is the Challenger’s best improvement over the G3. It is a more tactical style reticle than other PRS Christmas tree reticles, with a thick “+” as its central aim point. This made the reticle much more usable from 5x-16x than typical FFP reticles but was too thick for Precision target shooting as it obscures the central X ring of a bullseye. This reticle will be more appealing to hunters than Benchrest shooters.
For long-range hunters or gong plinkers on a budget, this scope is priced low enough to be worth a try. As a competition PRS scope it has disappointing optical performance. But factoring in its jaw-dropping street price of $199, the value calculous for this scope shifts radically toward its favor.
Monstrum Challenger on Amazon: https://amzn.to/4gSoS7J
Monstrum Challenger: Group -1 / Element 2
| CHALLENGER |
| Magnification: 5-25x Objective Lens: 56 mm Tube Diameter: 30mm Focal Plane: First Reticle: CM4 MOA, MM4 MIL Illumination: red Battery: CR2032 Eye Relief: 3.5-4 in FOV @ 100 Yards: 25.3-5.06 ft Parallax: 25 yrds-Infinity Elevation Adj: 45 MOA Windage Ad: 45 MOA Per Click: 1/4 MOA Per Rotation: 20 MOA Length: 14 in Weight: 37 oz |
I stopped by the Fenix booth at SHOT Show to see Fenix’s new offerings for 2025. I had tested the EO3R, which is a small flat EDC flashlight, about the size of my car’s alarm fob. The new E06R extends this design with a higher output and higher battery capacity. It’s also a bit longer by about 50% so it’s no longer a keychain sized EDC but not quite long enough to be a knife sized flashlight like the OLight Arkfeld. It’s about the size of the SW05R clip-on light that they sent me to test. I hope to get a sample of the EO6R to test out too.
Get 10% off using code AF-MOONDOG
Fenix https://alnk.to/eDSFSD5
Amazon https://amzn.to/4iqPSMg
Swarovski is known for some of the highest quality glass in sporting optics and some of the most expensive. The AX Visio 10×32 binoculars are nearly $5000. But that premium price isn’t just because it’s a Swarovski, it’s because the AX Visio has built-in visual A.I. components, allowing it to identify birds and wildlife.
When the user aims the binoculars at an animal and activates its ID system, it checks its internal database and displays the name of the bird or animal to the viewer. It has built-in GPS to reduce false positives by excluding animals that would not normally be located where the viewer activates it. For example, if the unit was used in California, it would not identify birds normally found in Australia.
I hold a slim hope that I can get a sample to test out.
On Amazon https://amzn.to/41qCgtK
The Fifth Avenue Apple Store is Apple’s flagship store in Manhattan. Opened in 2006 and with its iconic glass cube installed in 2011, this store was built on the site of the General Motors Gardens. It still contains potted trees which are carefully illuminated by sunlight and artificial lighting.
The store was originally designed by Bohlin Cywinski Jackson. Its renovation in 2011, which included the construction of its iconic glass cube entrance, was by Foster + Partners and Apple’s chief design officer Jony Ive. It visually harkens to I.M. Pei’s Louver pyramid. The Apple Store sits at the corner of Fifth Avenue opposite Grand Army Plaza at the corner of Central Park.
Too Much Information live chat show. In this episode, we’ll be talking with Gizzard Gary, about genealogy and researching your ancestors. Gary is a retired nuclear IT specialist and YouTuber https://gizzardgary.com/.
Read my show notes https://moondogindustries.com/tmi-250618-gizzard-gary-genealogy/
This video is sponsored by Aura. Stop leaving yourself vulnerable to data breaches. Go to my link https://aura.com/moondog to get a 14-day free trial and see if any of your data has been exposed.
This video is sponsored by Venice.ai. Go to my link https://venice.ai/moondog to enjoy private, unscensored A.I. Get 20% off a Venice Pro Plan using code: moondog
Read my notes https://moondogindustries.com/tmi-250625-gta-report/
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Moondog Reviews
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This cable channel covers a wide range of historical periods and topics including warfare, superstitions, warfare, inventions, technology, science, monsters, unidentified flying objects, conspiracy theories, aliens, cults, survival scenarios, and alternate history.
Genealogy is the study of family history and ancestry, focusing on tracing lineage and compiling family trees. It involves researching and documenting family relationships through various records like birth certificates, census data, and marriage licenses. Genealogists use these records to construct family trees and explore the connections between generations.
Todays guest is a retired IT specialist in the nuclear energy industry. He hails from Kansas and has a number of YouTube channels and programs, including Gizzard Gary, Gary Reviews, Boomer Listens, and hosts a weekly livestream Fowl Territory.
SPECIAL GUEST: Gizzard Gary
Golden Trailer Awards: https://goldentrailer.com/
This cable channel is owned by A&E and while it started of showing history doctumenatries it’s most well known programs have little or no connection to that topic: Pawn Stars and Ice Road Truckers.
ZKT Wipe giveaway
Be one of the first 3 people to email me at moondogairsoft@gmail.com with the SUBJECTLINE #zkt with your name and adress.
The scope has a First Focal Plane (FFP) reticle that appears to be a copy of the Vortex Razor HD. The reticle is very thin and hard to see at 1x but unlike the Razor HD, the illumination of the Bear Swift is only average in red and not daylight bright. It’s green brightness is rather dim. At 10x the reticle is much more usable but like many 1-10x FFP, the eyebox is tight and unforgiving.
Optically, the scope exhibited a slight image distortion and wasn’t the flattest image at 1x. But the glass had good clarity and sharpness and reduced chromatic aberration. The initial sample I received from CVLife had a small optical defect. The reticle was parallax focused at 100 yards and exhibited a slight 1/2 shift at 100 yards. Despite this parallax shift, I was able to stay on target during live-fire testing, and the scope retained zero after 50 rounds of .556. I sent photos and a short video to CVLife to explain this issue, and they quickly sent me a replacement without defect.
The Bear Swift’s features and glass clarity make it a good value for a $200 scope, putting it on par with the Monstrum Panzer series and better than most entry-level FFP LPVOs from bigger-name brands. If CVLife could improve its weak reticle illumination and the overly thin 1x reticle design, this would be an amazing budget scope.
Amazon https://amzn.to/3FcbDl6
Group -1 / Element 3
BEAR SWIFT
Magnification: 1-10x
Objective: 28mm
Tube: 34mm
Click Adj: 0.5 MOA
Elevation Adj: 80 MOA
Windage Adj: 80 MOA
Eye Relief: 3.5mm
FOV: 11.7 fr. @ 100 yrds
Illumination: Red & Green
Battery: CR2032
Weight: 29.03 oz
Length: 295mm
Tippmann is best known for making paintball guns/markers but many don’t know that they also make 22LR and rimfire firearms. Their 22LR AR model comes highly recommended by my club members for its compatibility with standard AR upgrades and accessories. At SHOT 2025 they showed off their new 22LR conversion kit which allows you to convert your AR15 to shoot 22LR rounds reliably.
Tippman https://tippmannarms.com/parts-and-accessories/accessories/m4-22-conversion-upper-kits/
