Telson is a new Premium Optics company based in Texas. I had never heard of them prior to testing their Toxin 3-18×50 scope. I met their founders (Canadian precision shooters) for the first time at this year’s SHOT Show.
Their scopes are all over a $1000 but have features usually found on scopes that cost many times more. Telson scopes feature high end Japanese glass, practical design features and quality construction. I was also impressed by the thought they put into the quality of their mounts and accessories.
Only time will tell if Telson succeeds in the crowded and competative PRS optics market but the quality of their products, design, and marketing are on target and all center X.
At SHOT Show 2025 UTG Pro released the Goliath bipod. This is a heavy-duty bipod designed for PRS, bench rest, and F/class shooters. The Goliath is notable for its extra low 6-inch stance when collapsed. Like all UTG Pro gear, this bipod is made in Michigan, in the good ol’ USA.
The Vortex Strike Eagle 5-25×56 is one of the top-rated long-range scopes under $1000 (MSRP over $1250 but with a street price of around $700) when it first came out a few years ago. Vortex took many of the features found in their top-tier Razor HD and created a virtually identical-looking scope for a 1/3 of the price. But is it a “Budget Razor” or a “cheap knockoff”?
The Strike Eagle shares a nearly identical-looking external design to the Razor, save for the Razor’s MilSpec FDE/Burnt Bronze finish. But on closer inspection, there are some differences. The illumination knob does not lock and the elevation and windage turrets don’t feel as crisp or precise as the more expensive Razor. While the controls are lackluster, its glass is not.
Looking through the scope, I was treated to Vortex’s glass. The image was bright, sharp, color accurate and high contrast. At the range, I did notice some chromatic abortion at high magnification, but not as pronounced as seen in the video footage. The Strike Eagle is able to resolve fine details to a degree I usually see in much more expensive scopes.
The Strike Eagle is not cheap. With the arrival to the market of brands such as Arken and Discovery Optics, its performance has been matched or even exceeded to some degree by budget High-Performance scopes. The Strike Eagle is still Vortex’s best glass for long-range under $1000.
This company was founded by an animator named Walt. Who’s first full-length movie was Snow White, earning the first Oscar fo an Animated Film.
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This animated film company created a world wide chain of amusement parks including the Magic Kingdom in Anaheim California, Epcon Center in Orlando FL, and eponymous parks in Paris, Hong Kong, Tokyo Japan, and Shanghai China.
It’s deja vua all over again. It felt like I had just reviewed the ED-PRS Gen2 5-25×56 about a year ago. This scope had some slight changes to the turret and improvements to the clarity and sharpness of the glass. Discovery asked me to review a new ED-PRS Gen2 5-25×56 in MOA, but this scope has even more changes than just the reticle.
The size and weight of this scope remain the same at about 4 lbs and over 16″ long; over 19″ with the sun shade attached. Discovery changed the turrets which no longer have silvered screw-in tops. The new version has black tops that have indents so that they can be unscrewed with your fingers allowing the turrets to be zero-set without tools. The previous Gen 2 had a shorter windage turret held in with 3 set screws. Discovery changed the windage turret which now has the same tool-less turret as the elevation.
Discovery also changed the design of the throw lever. Instead of a screw-in post, the new throw lever has a more robust flattened shape with a broader base that connects to the magnification ring. The lever is now held in place with two torx screws.
Discovery scopes come with a ludicrous amount of accessories. But with this and future ED-PRS scopes, they’ve removed the scope rings. Too many customers complained about the high-hight scope rings they included previously and asked for exchanges or returns, so Discovery chose to remove the free rings from the package. This is why we can’t have nice things.
The new Gen 2 retains and possibly improves the quality of the Japanese ED glass. This scope appears slightly sharper and clearer than my old Gen 2 MIL version. Unfortunately, it still has the same unforgiving eyebox. And another important feature that hasn’t changed: the price. This new scope is still about $350, which keeps the ED-PRS the best value in its class.
Bear Creek Arsenal is known for its value-priced rifles, pistols, and components. At this year’s SHOT Show they showed off an unusual rifle, their bolt-action AR in 350 Legend and 450 Bushmaster.
This new rifle allows you to hunt using a large hunting caliber while being compatible with MilSpec AR lowers, triggers, and accessories. They first rolled this new rifle out in 350 Legend and 450 Bushmaster to make sure that the platform could handle those high-pressure rounds before they produced more popular hunting cartridges such as .308.
5.11 Tactical released a stylish men’s sports coat blazer loaded with tactical-ready pockets and straps. This jacket was teased at least year’s SHOT Show, but was called at the time, the “Bravo” jacket. This travel blazer is available on 5.11’s website and is the closest thing to wearing John Wick’s jacket without being bulletproof.
This company was originally part of Standard Oil before that company was broken up. It’s brand name was first established in 1931. And later merged with Exxon in 1999.
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Ghibili Which means “Desert Wind” in Libyan Arabic. It is also the name of a Japanese Anime production company Studio Ghibili founded in 1985 by Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata and producer Toshio Suzuki
Studio Ghibli
24 movies or 23 if you count Nasucaä which was created before Studio Ghibili was founded.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuOfgFw8eM0
My Ghibli Films
Kiki’s Delivery Service: I can put this film on permanent replay. Kiki is such as a strong a sweet character that it made me want to have a daughter.
My Neighbor Totoro: The most Ghibili of Studio Ghibli films. Totoro has become the mascot for the studio. I saw poster for this when I first visited Hong Kong in 1992 and was obsessed with learning more about this film until I saw it as a bootleg DVD in the early 2000s.
Spirited Away: The biggest-grossing Studio Ghibili film and their first to win an Oscar. A love story to traditional Japanese spiritualism and traditions.
Howls Moving Castle: A sweeping magical epic with great voice acting by Mini Driver and Christian Bale
Grave of Fireflies: The first animated film to make me cry. It is a heartbreaking film about childhood and the misery of war. Was released as a double-feature with My Neighbor Totoro.
Ponyo: One of my least favorite Ghibli films. It’s a bit too childish and the English Dub is distracting: Liam Neeson just sounds like Liam Neeson in this film.
Nausucaä and the Valley of the Winds: The first Ghibili film (it predates the studio founding). I saw a mediocre American adaptation on video in the 1980’s and was blown away by the animation. Super ambitious and lush world-building film that rivals Dune in the original manga.
Castle in the Sky: One of Studio Ghibli’s oldest films and carries themes about technology, greed, and warfare that are more approachable than Nasucaä. It influences many of Ghibili’s later works like Howls Moving Catle and Princes Mananoke.
Princes Mananoke: One of the films I took my wife to see when we were dating. Our mutual love of anime was a strong indication to me of how compatible we were. This is an amazingly animated action film, fantasy, and historical drama.
Porco Rosso: A film about an alternative 1930’s universe where airplane designers and pilots compete in races and smuggling and the main character was inexplicably been transformed into a man-pig.
Pom Poko: A fantastical film about magical Japanese badgers and their attempts to adapt to human developers building modern homes in their forest.
Romantic Ghibili Films to see with a date
Whispers of the Heart
From up on Poppy Hill
When Marnie was There
The Wind Rises
CONTESTS
NAME THE BRAND CLUE: This brand is also known for selling the first Synthetic motor oil in the US: Mobil 1.
Last October, I competed in an NRA Falling Plates match at the Coyote Point Rifle and Pistol Club. I had a really good run through the match until the last rounds when I missed a string of plates. For most of that match, I was able to use my new ED-AR LPVO at 1x due to its clarity. But in the last stage, I increased the magnification to 3x and wasn’t used to the reticle change on this first focal plane (FFP) optic and that made me panic a bit and rush through my round. I choked and ended up blowing my tie for the lead.
Three months later, I’ve had more experience with this scope. I took the same rifle and scope to the January 18, 2025 match to see if I could redeem myself. This time there were 20 contestants. This year, we added a 5th stage to the matches, ending at a distance of 50 yards, which makes a magnified optic almost necessary to aim at 6″ plates.
We start from a distance of 30 yards with a 10-second time limit to shoot down 6 steel plates, limited to 6 rounds of ammo. Each shooter gets 2 attempts per stage. After all competitors have shot, the stage position moves back 5 yards and the time limit is increased by 1 second.
I did well through the first 3 rounds only missing 1 plate out of 18. But moving out to 40 yards, the plates were harder for everybody to hit. I moved my magnification up from 1x to 2x and then to 3x. I still prefer a SFP for an LPVO in action shooting. But unlike my previous attempt, I had a few months of range practice getting used to this scope.
I honestly did not think I did that well. So I was frankly surprised that I came in 4th place but only 3 points behind the 1st place shooter. If I’d only slowed down on hit 3 or 4 more plates, I could have won it. Maybe next time.
Win a Multixel 240w travel charger. Entries must be received no later than 12pm EST on 3/31/2025.
CONTEST INSTRUCTIONS
1. Subscribe to my travel channel on YouTube: Moondog Go to show you have the skill to navigate YouTube and prove you’re not a bot.
2. Take a screenshot of the SUBSCRIBED button for Moondog Go .
BONUS ENTRY: Make a donation (any amount) to the SHC High School National Youth Choir Festival fundraiser and upload a screenshot of your donation confirmation email.
3. Prove you have the skills to fill out a form and upload screenshots. 1 entry per social platform or donation (2 max).
PRIZES ARE AWARDED BY THE SPONSOR AT THEIR SOLE DISCRETION. NO PURCHASE OR DONATION IS NECESSARY TO ENTER. YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING DO NOT INCREASE WITH A PURCHASE. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED.
1. Eligibility
Void where prohibited by law. Must be a legal resident in the USA. Moondog Industries employees, subsidiaries, affiliates, suppliers, advertising and promotion agencies, and employees’ immediate family members, are ineligible to participate in the contest/giveaway.
Entrants must be willing and able to appear on YouTube to discuss the contest and post images of the prize on their social feed should they win the contest.
2. Sponsors and Platforms
Multixel (known as the SPONSOR) is a US-based company that sells on Amazon. Moondog Industries (known as the CO-SPONSOR) is a video Edutainment producer and game promotor based in San Francisco, CA. YouTube, TikTok, Rumble, X and online video platforms (known as PLATFORMS) are not SPONSORS or in any way affiliated with the contest or content.
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By entering your contest, participants agree to abide by the SPONSOR’s Official Rules and decisions. The SPONSOR retains the right to refuse, withdraw, or disqualify entries at their sole discretion. By submitting an entry, the participant agrees to accept the decision of the SPONSOR as final and binding.
4. Entry Period
Contest email entries must be received between: 12:00pm EST 31 January 2025 and 12:00pm EST 31 March 2025
5. How to Enter
This contest requires your skill in navigating your phone or computer controls to screen capture an image of the following YouTube channels/Social Media accounts. Subscribe or Follow and make a screen capture of those pages showing a greyed-out Subscribe button or indicator that your account is Following that page. Send a screen capture image file of any of those sites to contest@moondogindustries.com . One entry per person or per Social Media account. Fraudulent methods of entry, photo retouched, or other methods of circumvention of the rules may result in the SPONSOR invalidating a participant’s entries.
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Winner must be able to receive the prize by e-mail or by physical mail. Prize may be substituted at the sole discretion of the SPONSOR. Acceptance of the prize grants SPONSOR permission to use the Winners entry, name, and likeness for advertising, promotion, and trade without further compensation or remuneration unless prohibited by law.
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The winner will be chosen at random by the SPONSOR from among the entrants that demonstrated the skill to navigate the electronic entry and have met the minimum requirements. Winners will be contacted via the email used to enter the contest no later than February 25, 2025. Winner must have a legal address within the US to ship the prize.
SPONSOR is not liable for the winner’s failure to receive notification of winning if he or she provided the wrong email address or if their email security settings caused your prize notification to go into the spam or junk folder. If a winner does not respond within 24hrs of sending a notification, the SPONSOR will select an alternate winner. Receipt of the prize is upon the condition of compliance with federal, state, and local laws.
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The SPONSOR, upon submission of an entry into the giveaway or contest, has the right to use the participant’s submission, voice, likeness, image, statements about the contest, etc., for publicity, news, advertising, promotional purposes, trade, and so forth, without any further notice, review, consent, compensation or remuneration.
Participants shall defend or settle against such claims at their sole expense, and shall indemnify, defend and hold harmless the SPONSOR from any suit due to damage of or by the prize.
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The SPONSOR reserves the right to modify, suspend, cancel or terminate in the event that non-authorized human intervention, a bug or virus, fraud, or other causes beyond your control impact or corrupt the security, fairness, proper conduct, or administration of the contest/giveaway.
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Entry into this contest constitutes the participant’s agreement to release and hold harmless the SPONSOR and PLATFORMS, subsidiaries, affiliates, employees, etc., against all claims liability, illness, injury, death, loss, etc., that occurs directly or indirectly from participation in the contest or use/misuse of the awarded prize.
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As a condition of participating in the promotion, the participant agrees to resolve all disputes with an arbitrator designated by the SPONSOR in the state of California, without resorting to any form of class action. Entrants waive all rights to punitive, incidental, or consequential damages, and waive all rights to have damages multiplied or increased.
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Participants may request a list of winners by submitting a request in writing to Moondog Industries for up to 30 days after the contest ends.
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Winners will agree to post a photo of the prize on their social media channels in such a way as does not violate any rules of that platform. The winners also agree to appear for an interview where they will discuss the prize and its performance. If there are functional problems with the prize, the winner agrees to make a good-faith effort to resolve all issues with the SPONSOR prior to posting reviews or opinions about the prize.
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