Shooting Sports

SHOT 2025 New Athlon Optics Scopes

Athlon Optics is known for making a wide range of high-quality scopes on par with other Leupold, Vortex, and Burris at a more reasonable price. At SHOT Show 2025 the displayed design and packaging updates to their entire scope line. They have enlarged turrets to allow more visible markings, added screw-on throw levers, and added sunshades.

Like Vortex and other brands, I suspect Athlon is addressing competition from new Chinese-built budget scopes like Discovery and Vector, and even budget US brands like Monstrum. Those new brands include high-quality accessories with their scopes such as flip-up covers, sunshades, throw levers, and even scope mounts and rings.

As Dustin said, Athlon has been offering shooters great value, and with these updates, even more so. I look forward to trying out all of these new products in the coming year.

BUY

Amazon https://amzn.to/3Eh96p3

Shooting Sports

TMI Live 250319

*CORRECTION* The co-host of The Dark Horse Podcast is Brett Weinstein, not Eric Weinstein as I mistated on the show. Eric Weinstein is a Mathematical Physicist and older brother of Brett Weinstein. My apologies to Dr. Brett Weinstein.


Too Much Information live chat show with special guest Allan from the YouTube channel @benchrestmarksman. We’ll be talking about growing up in Queensland, Australia. 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. Read my notes https://moondogindustries.com/tmi-live-250319/

SPONSOR

Aura https://aura.com/moondog

EARLYBIRD Clue: logo

THIS WEEK

Moondog2A

Moondog Reviews

Moondog Go

NAME THE BRAND CLUE

Founded in 1920 this brand is one of the oldest airlines in the world. It was featured in a memorable scene in the movie “Rainman” where Dustin Hoffman’s character Raymond identified this brand the only airline that has never crashed.

THUMBNAIL THIS

DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE

Queensland
Queensland is an Australian state covering the continent’s northeast, with a coastline stretching nearly 7,000km. Its offshore Great Barrier Reef, the world’s largest coral reef system, hosts thousands of marine species. The city of Cairns is a gateway to the reef and tropical Daintree Rainforest. The capital, Brisbane, is flanked by the surfing beaches of the Gold and Sunshine Coasts. 

CONTESTS

NAME THE BRAND CLUE:

This airline is the official national airline of Australia and a founding member of the Oneworld airline alliance,[18] it is the only airline in the world that flies to all seven continents.

HASHTAG DRAWING #bitcoin

Multixel Travel Charger Contest

Next Livestream Wed March 26

Shooting Sports

Discovery Scope Bubble Level

It’s hard to believe, but you can improve your long range accuracy for less than $20 by simply attaching a spirit bubble level to your scope. Discovery Optics makes such an accessory. It’s a spirit level mounted in a metal ring which you can clamp onto your scope tube to you can read the angle and levelness of your scope and rifle setup.

If your scope is not 100% directly above your rifle bore, which can happen as you press your cheek to your stock or simply adjusting your shooting position, or when setting up a hasty shooting position, this can create a slight canted angle either to the right or left of center. This will in turn can make your shot land ever so slightly to the right or left of your aim point. By assuring your scope is level to your bore with a spirit level, you can avoid this simple mistake.

This scope level is made of aircraft grade 6061 aluminum alloy with an easy-to-read bubble bead in the spirit tube. It comes with two ring adapters allowing the bubble level to be mounted on either 1″ (25.4mm), 30mm, or 34mm scope tubes. It is probably the best $20 you’ll spend on your scope set up.

BUY

10% discount code Moondog7075

Amazon https://amzn.to/3D8MfvD

Discovery Optics website https://discoveryopt.com/ 

Shooting Sports

SHOT2025 Primary Arms HTX-1

Like many Americans, I’ve always been conflicted when buying products made in China because of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party). The sad reality is that most red dot optics are made in China. I was surprised to learn that Primary Arms was producing a US-made micro-reflex sight.

I was excited to see it firsthand. It promises to be a very advanced design with one of the lowest bases of any MRD. This one is low enough to use factory iron sights on a MOS cut Glock slide. It is also one of the more expensive MRDs on the market at $650. It will be available on the Primary Arms website later in April

BUY

Primary Arms website https://alnk.to/1C8yIFX

Shooting Sports

SHOT 2025 Arken Outlier Micro-Action Rifle

At SHOT Show 2025 Outlier Micro-Action rifle won “The Most Innovative Rifle” award. I stopped by the Arken booth to see it. Bobby, one of its principal designers, walked me through the features.

Outlier started with a Mini-Action receiver, which allows for left or right handed loading of cartridges into the chamber, and minimized it even further to a 1″ wide arch that holds the 3-lug bolt to the chassis. This reduces the cost and weight of the rifle by removing unnecessary parts. Moreover, they added their patented Backdraft suppressor barrel which uses the barrel sleeve as the primary dissipation chamber for the suppressor can.

The entire rifle weighs less than 6lbs yet provides the stiffness of a standard rifle system. Perfect for backcountry hunters or military sniper units. My only concern was the possibility of building up heat in the barrel which Benchrest and F/Class shooters avoid but Outlier promises a sub-MOA rifle or your money back.

BUY

Outlier https://www.getoutlier.com/search-products

Social

TMI 250312

Aura https://aura.com/moondog

EARLYBIRD Clue: logo

THIS WEEK

Moondog2A

Moondog Reviews

Moondog Go

NAME THE BRAND CLUE

This brand is the first decentralized digital cryptocurrency

THUMBNAIL THIS

DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE

Crypto
A cryptocurrency, crypto-currency, or colloquially, crypto, is a digital currency designed to work through a computer network that is not reliant on any central authority, such as a government or bank, to uphold or maintain it. As of June 2023, there were more than 25,000 other cryptocurrencies in the marketplace, of which more than 40 had a market capitalization exceeding $1 billion.

Currency Exchange fluctuations https://www.westernunion.com/blog/en/us/what-causes-exchange-rates-to-change/?cust_src=organic_search

CONTESTS

NAME THE BRAND CLUE:

This cryptocurrency was invented in 2008 by an unknown entity or programmer under the pseudonym, Satoshi Nakamoto[5] It is the most widely traded and held cryptocurrency.

HASHTAG DRAWING #bitcoin

Multixel Travel Charger Contest

Next Livestream Wed March 19

Shooting Sports

SHOT 2025 March FX PRS 5-42×56

March Scopes makes some of Japan’s highest-performance competition rifle scopes and true World Beaters. At SHOT Show 2025, they showed off a refinement of their flagship PRS scope and a new concept prototype, the March Tracking Scope.

The PRS has been updated with a PRS-specific reticle and new turrets. A brilliant and practical feature is the writable white-board surface treatment allowing competition shooters to write notes and symbols onto the turrets using pencils or erasable markers. Shooters no longer have to mess around with attaching masking tape to their turrets before each match.

MARCH SCOPES

https://marchscopes.com

Shooting Sports

CVLife Eagle Blaze 5-25×56 FFP

Before I knew anything about high power scopes, I purchased a CVLife 6-24×50 AOR scope for my AR15 and happily used it at 100 yard targets. It was basic, out-dated, but cheap, and surprisingly reliable. “Walmart” quality is where I’d position their scopes, but recently they’ve attempted to bring themselves up to the level of “Target” or “Sheels”.

The Eagle Blaze is CVLife’s most ambitious attempt to date to put out a true long-range optic. The scope has 5-25x magnification range, a usable first focal plane (FFP) Christmas tree reticle, a zero stop, and using Japanese ED glass. On paper this looks like a legitimate PRS-style scope with an eyebrow raising $299 street price.

To achieve this low price, there must be compromises. The turrets are user resetable with a coin, come with a zero-stop ring lock, and have audible and tactile positive clicks. But they have a flaw. Unless the turret top is insanely cinched down, the turret will turn lose after locking down losing, rendering its push-to-lock feature useless.

In my testing I found that twisting free a “locked” turret does not move the reticle. It essentially makes the turret free floating. You are better off leaving the turret in the up-position at all times, otherwise your numbers will not sync to your zero.

Optically, the ED glass did reduce chromatic aberration. But in low light (in a shaded target cove), the scope lost a lot of detail and contrast. While this is a liability to hunters who need the ability to take game after sunset, the Eagle Blaze is a surprisingly good scope in broad daylight.

CVLife continues to improve the quality and features of their long-range optics line. This scope fumbled the execution but the play was solid. I look forward to a correction and improvement soon.

BUY

EagleBlaze 5-25×56 FFP Rifle Scope: https://bit.ly/3EHVhQG

15% discount code: UNBWS5AV

Amazon https://amzn.to/4kxDxHX

RESOLUTION

Group -1 / Element 3

SPECS

EAGLE BLAZE FFP

Magnification: 5x-25x

Objective: 56mm

Tube: 34mm

FOV: 26.2′-5.24’@100 yds

Eye Relief: 3.6”

Wind Adj: 160 MOA

Elev Adj: 160 MOA

Click Value: 1/4 MOA

Parallax: 30 yrds – Infinity

Length: 14.6″

Weight :32 oz

Gadgets, Product Reviews

Fenix SW05R Clip-On EDC

The Fenix SW05R is a compact wearable flashlight with a flat form factor It has a lightweight polymer body, with a magnetic tail, a broad belt clip, and a rotating emitter head. The head can turn over 180º to aim the beams giving the user flexibility in aiming the beams depending on where the flashlight is attached.

The unit is recharged via a USB-C cable and activated by pressing either the grey main button on the back or the red side-button. This flashlight comes in two versions, a red light and UV flashlight. To activate the flashlight, the button must be pressed for over a second, which prevents accidental activation.

The belt clip is a split design. The wider outer section is nearly the width of the flashlight (over 1″) and the thinner center clip is small enough to fit into a pen loop. The flashlight can be clipped onto a hat brim, backpack strap, or pocket.

The maximum beam output is only 150 lumens but its beam has a surprisingly long throw of over 120 ft. While wearing the SW05R, the 150 lumens is ideal for illuminating most objects being manipulated within arm’s reach. The flashlight has a secondary red LED light which is useful for preserving natural night vision, desired by astronomers, naturalists, and night hikers.

BUY

Get 10% off use code: AF-MOONDOG

Fenix https://alnk.to/eDSFSD5

Amazon https://amzn.to/4bcm4Ri

SPECS

SW05R / UV

Max Lumens: 150

Max  Throw: 128 feet (39m)

Max Runtime: 49 hours

Modes: Low, med, high, red, red flash

Lens Material: Polycarbonate

Color Temperature: ~6500K

Size: Length: 2.72” (69mm) 

Width: 1.14” (29mm) 

Height: 0.63” (16mm)

Weight: 1.90 oz. (24g)

Battery: 700mAh battery

Power Input: USB-C

Warranty: Limited Lifetime

Shooting Sports

RPR Ammo Test: Fiocchi Range Dynamics vs CCI Standard

https://youtu.be/PYx6Z7e28iQ

Founded in 1876 in Lecco, Italy, Fiocchi is one of the oldest ammo brands in the world. Range Dynamics (RD) is their everyday ammo line intended for training and target practice. Their 22LR cartridge is loaded at the Fiocchi USA plant in Ozark, Missouri.

Testing both in my factory Ruger Precision Rimfire Rifle (RPR), Range Dynamics zero’d out quite easily. RD grouped quite well, but not as tightly as CCI Standard.

BUY

Discovery Optics LHD

Discovery Optics website use 10% Off code Moondog: https://www.discoveryopt.com/DISCOVERYOPT-LHD-8-32X56SFIR-FFP-Z-optics-Scopes.html

Amazon 10% discount code: Moondog832 https://amzn.to/3Ck6nu2

RESULTS

CCI Standard Velocity V
Avg. Group Size: 1.52″
Average: 1.45 MOA
Mean Radius: .49″ / 0.46 MOA

Fiocchi Range Dynamics
Avg. Group Size: 2.07″
Average: 1.97 MOA
Mean Radius: .76″ /.73 MOA

Gear Reviews, Education, and Adventure