Pardini is famous for making some of the most unique Olympic competition pistols and rifles. These pistols start at around $3000 and go up from there and their rifles start at over $10,000. In the atmospheric world of Olympic firearms these prices are unremarkable. But unlike other Olympic guns, Pardini ooze a signature high-design aesthetic of late 1980’s futurism.
New for this year, Pardini is offering extended magazines for Precision Bullseye and competitors. And a brand new laser gun. Seriously. A laser gun for Modern Pentathlon. https://www.pardiniguns.com/
At the Aguila booth at Shot Show 2023, they were excited to show me their newest pistol cartridge offering, a 124gr. 9mm jacketed hollow point round designed to offer greater energy on target than the usual 119gr. bullet. While the term “stopping power” is widely regarded as a marketing term, no one can argue with basic physics; the heavier the projectile, the greater the force imparted on the target. And that’s a good thing.
Fenix flashlights is known by first responders for offering duty quality EDC flashlights at a reasonable price. At their booth at Shot Show, they walked me through their new products for 2023. They offered incremental improvements on already solid products. They listened to complaints and critiques from their customers and addressed them which says a lot about the company.
They’ve already sent me a new flashlight to review, so they follow through with their promises and the want to get input on their products.
I’ve used various laser bore sighter devices to help me zero out a new scope but they can be a bit finicky and more than once, the battery died. Xaegis Tactical sent me a an traditional non-electronic bore sighter to test. These optical bore sighters sits on the end of your barrel and provide an alignment grid on visible when looking through your scope.
The kit comes with a 12 different caliber adapters, from .17 cal to .50 cal and a 20 ga-12ga shotgun bore adapter. These adapter arbor stems screw into the optical lens unit and are then fitted into your bore. Looking through your scope, you are presented with a 20×20 grid to help you align the reticle of your scope.
In my testing, using the kit on a Ruger 10/22 firing Aguila Super Extra High Velocity 40gr CPRN, was able to get on paper (30″x36″ paper target) at 100yrds. The impacts were low and to the left of bullseye by 15″-20″. This is not unexpected as target distance, barrel type, and bullet ballistics will alter the impact point from dead center of your bore. But being able to get on paper with my first shot meant I could easily make fine adjustments to zero out the scope.
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At Shot Show 2023’s Industry Range Day I had an opportunity to try Ruger’s new LC Carbine chambered in 5.7x28mm. This cartridge designed for the FN P90 and adopted by NATO and many European police forces. Much in the same way PCCs are hugely popular due to their magazine commonality with 9mm service pistols, Ruger created LCC to serve the same purpose for their Ruger 5.7 pistol.
At the range the LCC was light weight and even lighter to shoot. The 5.7x28mm round was designed a have a soft recoil, but this felt like a shooting .22LR due to the LCC’s design. It was fun to shoot and accurate but I’m not committed enough to invest into the 5.7 ecosystem. If Ruger would make a 9mm version of this rifle, they’d have my attention.
UTG makes a broad range of accessories for the AR-15 including hand guards, selector levers, charging handles, magazines, etc. But for the first time, they’re going to be producing billet milled AR upper and lower receivers. And as far as the ATF is concerned, the only part of the AR that is a “registered firearm” is the lower receiver, so technically UTG is making ARs for the first time.
These upper and lower receiver sets will be 100% made in the USA at their Michigan factory and headquarters. I got a chance to try out an AR almost completely built using UTG parts. The only thing not made by UTG was the BCG, barrel and gas tube, and trigger.
At SHOT Show range day I got a chance to try out the AR which functioned flawlessly. This despite being soaked from the rain blown sideways into the range lanes by 15-30mph wind. The UTG AR and the Integrix LPVO atop it let me easily engage plates 50yrds and 100yrds downrange.
The receiver has lot of useful features and cuts designed for ergonomics. It felt very natural and efficient, though I’m not a 100% fan of the style aesthetics which seem to be a little too Art Nouveaux and Futurist. But it’s not ugly but it’s just not for me. From a purely functional standpoint, if I were to build a new AR, I’d seriously consider using a UTG receiver.
Athlon Optics already had a broad line of rifle scopes from budget (Talos) to high end PRS (Cronus) and Tactical scopes (Ares), and hunter (Midas). So it was surprising to find that they were coming out with a whole new line called Heras named for the Greek god and wife of Zeus.
The Heras are being called “crossover” scopes because these scopes combine the reticles and glass found in their PRS scopes, hunting features from their Midas, but with a minimum focus distance of 10yrds. This close range usability makes the Heras appealing to precision rimfire, airgun hunters or even airsoft players. The Heras will occupy a mid-tier price point of with an MSRP ranging from $500-$700.
Lavalier or Lav mics for short are a mainstay of film and video audio. They allow you to record a subjects voice or dialogue while helping to isolate their voice from background noise. This isn’t always fully achievable in a noisy environment but its results are generally much better than the audio from the camera’s built-in microphone.
Microphones generally come in two audio pickup patterns: omni-directional and cardioid. Cardioid patterns are more sensitive to sound directly in front of the microphone and less sensitive to background sound. But cardioid lav mics generally require an outside power source (Phantom Power) to drive their electronics. And cardioid lav mics are also generally more expensive.
I was surprised and a little dubious when I found that a company named Fulaim sells a microphone that they claim has a cardioid pattern that can be plugged directly into a camera or 3.5mm jacked phone without the need for Phantom Power from a mixer. I was even more incredulous when I saw the price. At the time I purchased it, I paid $12.99 on Amazon and it has since dropped to $9.99!
The Fulaim lav mic has a very long 19.7″ cable. The Fulaim unit uses a standard 3.5mm audio jack with a control switch can be selected for either TRS (camera or stereo audio) or TRRS (phone) connections. The control panel also contains a switch to select for either Omni or Cardioid polar patterns.
For the audio testing, I went to the Stonestown Shopping Center the weeked after Christmas when I knew the mall would be full of shoppers. This presents a difficult challenge for any video audio on the best of times, with crowds of people walking, talking and plenty of reflective surfaces to create echos and amplify and the background clutter.
I connected a Rode Wireless Go II unit to my Samsung Galaxy S22 phone. One transmitter picked up raw audio through its built in omni-directional microphone. I plugged in the Fulaim lav mic to the other transmitter. Each transmitter was on its own split audio channel so I could hear the difference.
I tested the Fulaim in both omni and cardioid modes. I could clearly hear a difference when using the Fulaim in cardiod mode vs the Fulaim in omni mode or the raw sound from the Rode transmitter. The Fulaim in cardioid did not isolate my voice from the background noise but it was noticeable though subtle improvement. Overall sound quality was typical for a budget lav mic. Useable but not anything as true or rich as a professional lav mic.
I also compared this to a $36 Comica cardioid lav mic which had with slightly lower audio pickup. After adjusting the gain in post, the Comica and Fulaim sounded identical in terms of voice isolation. The Fulaim had slightly more bass response and was a 1/3 the price of that budget lav mic option.
For serious videographers and film makers, the Fulaim will not replace your hundred dollar Shure or Sennheiser lav mics. But for budget vloggers and content creators, the Fulaim lav mic at under $15 is a no brainer. Buy it and use it so we don’t have to hear the distractions.
If Variety is the Spice of Life then Palmetto State Armory (PSA) is the 11 Herbs and Spices of US gun makers. PSA used to be known as a maker and retailer of budget AR components from small regional manufacturers but in the last few years has branched out into becoming its own legitimate gun brand. This year they’re debuting their new Sabre line of budget premium build ARs.
The Sabre ARs come factory pre-installed with upgrade components like Ambi selector switches, 3.5lb duty trigger, Ambi charging handle, and a tuned barrel nut that allows for an extremely low profile hand guard without the usual bolt tabs. It’s everything most custom build AR makers would drop into their ARs but the whole rifle is planned to have a street price under $1000!
PSA is releasing a half-dozen different variants. If that wasn’t impressive enough, this same year they’re also releasing a similar number of new AK rifles under their Soviet Arms brand. These are clones of historic and current model ComBlock AKs including clones of Chinese and Soviet Era rifles. They’re also releasing historical clones of the M16A1 and the Stg44. It’s going to be a busy year for PSA.
The first thing most experienced shooters remark on the Arken EPL-5 and SH-4, apart from the low price, is the weight. For all the features you get in a sub $600 scope, the one thing you don’t want more of is weight. Compared to a similar magnification Vortex, Athlon, or higher end scope, Arkens are heavier. This isn’t much of an issue for benchrest or even NRL or PRS shooters but it certainly was a deal breaker for most hunters.
Arken listened to the feedback and came up with a new line of scopes with an “L” in their name for “light weight”. The new 6-24×50 EPL-4 shaves off 16oz of weight compared to a 5-25×56 ELP-5. That weight savings comes with a trade off a smaller range of adjustment due to its smaller objective lens and tube. But along with its capped windage turret, this 1-pound weight saving should make this new scope attractive to back-country hunters and most competition shooters alike.
I look forward to testing the EPL-4 later this year.
