Wow, I’m actually moving on from last years thread while still in the first month of this year. That has got to be a first. As with the previous 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, and 2018 threads, the purpose of this thread is to provide a catalog of this years reviews and articles, give you a behind the scenes look at what I'm working on as I'm working on it, provide a place for input and comments, and, of course, give you something to bookmark that will ping you when a new article is done.
The majority of this years reviews are going to center around a 350 Legend rifle build. For those who do not know over the past few years a number of Midwestern states have changed their hunting regulations to allow straight walled rifle cartridges in areas where previously only slug shotguns were allowed for deer hunting. The purpose of that regulation was of course to limit the potential danger a hunter’s errant shot could do by limiting its range. Various forms of this type of hunting regulation exist in different counties, in different states, around most of the country. The most restrictive of these are bow only zones and these straight walled provisions are probably the least restrictive. As is often the case with regulation though, a little bit can go a long way. Straight walled cartridges are tremendously less ballisticly efficient than the specific bottleneck cartridges most popular for hunting these days. However, they are also a huge step up from a slug shotgun in pretty much every way. As such, I expect there will continuing expansion of these regulations to a greater number of states and counties in the future, as has been the pattern so far.
I want to thank Hornady for providing some information, ammo, bullets, and reloading dies for this 350 project. They were good enough to do this after I ambushed them with some technical questions when I was first assessing the project concept and viability. This is a tremendous help especially given the surprise ammo shortage we seem to have had crop up again just as I have been assembling the parts and pieces. The project will certainly be much the more informative for having their involvement.
Hornady 350 Legend care package
The Precison Straight-Walled Cartridge Rifle:
I have been interested in testing the limits of the straight walled concept ever since I first heard of the regulation change. So, when the PurePrecison guys asked me to review their new lightweight SKLTN action, I threw them the curve ball of wanting to put it on a straight wall build. After a little more research, I settled on 350 Legend as that straight-walled cartridge. Fundamentally, I want to see what kind of accuracy I can get out of this sort of cartridge, how far I can still reliably hit vital size targets, what the terminal performance of the cartridge looks like at different distances, and what oddities reloading a straight walled, case mouth head spacing, cartridge brings up. As such, my largest article this year will be an exploration of the precision straight walled cartridge rifle.
PurePrecison SKLTN Action and Altitude Stock:
Any rifle build is a great opportunity to test out a bunch of new components. PurePrecison’s new lightweight SKLTN action fits well the theme of a lightweight hunting rifle. PurePrecison has expanded a lot since I did the Crux rifle review and are now manufacturing their own actions haven taken on a partnership with an aerospace company. Whereas the Crux review examined PurePrecison as a small custom rifle builder, this one will show them as a larger component manufacturer making both actions and carbon composite stocks.
Proof:
I did an in-depth review of Proof carbon wrapped barrels a few years ago. That review involved data taken from two proof barreled rifles. I will be adding the data from the 350 Legend barrel in the straight-walled precision rifle article to that previous article. Hopefully, this will provide some more insight into the harmonic advantages of a carbon wrapped barrel. Unlike the previous two proof barrels, this one with also be a pre-fit drop in barrel. This has become a very popular way to build a precision rifle and Proof has become the leader in the practice.
XTSP MOD 22 Trigger:
X-Treme Shooting products has been the OEM for a number of high profile rifle projects. These include the Mk13 Mod 22 trigger used Mk13 Mod 5 sniper rifle, Accuracy international competition trigger, and the trigger in the Remington PSR rifle which won that solicitation and became the Mk21 before Remington blew the whole thing and went belly up. XTSP makes a 2 stage trigger for the 700 platform that is a two stage 4 lever design. I have been wanting to examine this trigger for a while and this year seems like a good time to do so.
Level use in Precison Rifle:
This one is a roll over from last year and is already half done. It will feature the different level types and mounting arrangements. I’ll also give some methods for properly mounting your scope and level so they are level with each other. Advice I have seen on this topic on the web has often been sub par. I’ll also talk some about the Pros and Cons of different arrangements, pitfalls to avoid in their use, and some numbers on how much error you can introduce by failing to have the scope level. I’ve assembled most of the relevant level types and arrangements. I just need to put it all together.
Riton Optics 3 Primal 3-18x50mm Crossover scope
Riton Optics 7 Conquer 4-32x56
Another roll over from last year, this one wasn’t added to last year’s reviews until near the end and so was probably always going to be this year. Frank has been quite pleased with his experience with Riton optics and asked me to take a look at a couple of their new offerings. The 3 Primal 3-18x50mm is a crossover hunting / precision rifle scope that has the zero stop, exposed turrets, FFP, and mil/mil (or MOA/MOA) of a precision rifle scope but in a smaller form factor and sub 30oz weight suitable for hunting. I’m a big fan of this concept as I have encountered at least some optics light enough to be of hunting use that really don’t give up any important long range features or even optical performance to get there. I also see the added distance compensation potential of scope with precision rifle features as a huge benefit for hunters allowing them to greatly extend their ethical kill range. The second scope, the 7 Conquer 4-32x56 is a high end Japanese made optic in the ~$2k price range with a huge magnification range and fairly high 32x max magnification. This is very much in the current higher magnification trend popular amongst competitive shooters.
The Hi-Lux was tested with the other sub $1k scopes last year but had to be sent back to the manufacture at the end of the testing for evaluation because the example I had was not behaving to spec. There will be a resolution to this sometime this year.
That should be it for the scheduled articles and reviews. I am also going to start doing some shorter format pieces on products I have thoughts on but don’t want to do a full review of. I’m going to keep these to under a page in length and put these in this thread instead of on the home page. Most of these will be on products in classes that I don’t feel qualified to do a full review of. I have some tripods coming and a few nice bipods for instance. I have, or will have, opinions on these but, not being a competitive PRS type shooter, I don’t feel my opinions are particularly well informed. I also don’t have a lot of experience with the alternative options in this field. Some of the short format smaller pieces will also be on products that I am using but are just simple and I have a little to say on them but not a ton.
Lastly, if you were looking for my ShotShow 2024 reporting thread, you won't find it. I had enough stuff pending in the que to work on this year that I decided to save the time and money this year and skip the show. I typically only attend every few years to refresh contacts and catch up on new products so this isn’t really unusual.
Garmin Xero C1 Chronograph
It’s confession time. I hate my chronograph and basically only take it to the range if I’m developing a new load or specifically need the data for a review or article. The rest of the time, it sits at home. It’s not that the Oehler 35P I use is problematic. For a light based chrono, it is the best from both an accuracy and usability standpoint. It’s just still a huge PITA to lug it to the range, set it up, and align it so that I don’t shoot the thing. A few years back, I thought the magnetospeed might be the answer but after trying a buddies out I gave up that idea. It certainly effected the harmonics when on the barrel, was actually a little fiddly to set up and not shoot itself, and required a lot of effort, aftermarket parts, and a rifle with side rails if you wanted to set it up not on the barrel. I also thought the price was way high both for what it was, and for what it required you to add to it to not mess with your harmonics. So, I basically sat on the sidelines with the already paid for Oehler missing out on data on a whole lot of shots because I almost never used it. This year the Garmin came out and is supposed to be the greatest thing ever. Given how much data I need to take for articles this year I figured I would try out the Garmin and write something about it. Who knows, maybe it will be great enough I will regularly take it to the range and have a bunch more data on my shooting.
Doing the PurePrecision Crux review with the Oehler 35P back in 2018
Safran Vectronix Vector X laser rangefinding binoculars
I’ll be continuing my series of reviews on electro optics this year with the new Vector X lrf binos from Vectronix. These should be the first 905nm rangefinders to be competitive with the 10k’s in laser performance. The Vector X binos have been designed as dual use for hunting and competition. To facilitate this they have optional 1.4x “range enhancers” that screw in and a tripod mount from RRS to allow them to essentially be converted into a spotting scope replacement. The Vector X binos also feature glass etched reticles. One of these reticle choices features a milling section for use with the 1.4x enhancers and a second for use without the enhancers. Other standout features are a full D pad control system and integrated AMOLED display for what should be best in class user interface. The Vector X’s have full onboard AB elite and will interface with the full AB suite of products including the AB calypso wind meter, which should be ready to go with the Vector X at time of shipping. The Vector X binos will also interface with a number other products such as the Garmin watch, DRS gun mounted display, and Hornady’s 4DOF as well as Desert Tech’s Trasol. The glass in these binos is also expected to be quite good. Good enough that they are even releasing a model without the laser rangefinder. It certainly looks like Vectronix has spent a good deal of time and effort on the fine details of this product and I’m excited to give it a look.
Safran Vectronix Vector X
Sig Kilo 10K-ABS HD Gen II laser rangefinding binoculars
It’s been a couple years now since Sig set the new standard for consumer laser rangefinding by releasing their Kilo 10K-ABS HD binoculars. These rangefinding binos at least doubled the effective range that any particular target could be ranged at in any particular conditions with the best 905nm rangefinders of the time. On top of that, in some conditions, or with some targets, the 10k’s far exceeded an effective doubling of range such as with large, highly reflective, targets or with any targets in snow or fog. They did this while still being a class 1 laser product and without using substantially more battery. In fact, given their low energy AMOLED display, they used far less overall energy than most, if not all, competing products. That AMOLED display also offered excellent in-bino menu navigation, full rangefinding and ballistic solutions on one screen, and the ability to precisely align the laser with the reticle (a general issue laser rangefinders have.) The 10k’s also included Applied Ballistics Elite as well as the ability to be used in Sig’s BDX Smart Scope ecosystem which I did a review of at the same time I reviewed the 10k binoculars in 2022.
Sig KILO10k-ABS HD Gen I (left) and Gen II (right) laser rangefinding binoculars
This year Sig has released the second generation of the Kilo 10k’s. The principle changes in this generation are the removal of the noticeable blue tint that users found objectionable in the first generation units and faster access to manual wind entry with direct wind input buttons allowing users to quickly change wind direction and speed. The Weatherflow wind meter included with the first generation 10k has also been removed from the Gen II unit. I expect this may have a lot to do with the upcoming Applied Ballistics Eite ultrasonic wind meter integration at that will be a substantially better wind metering solution than prop type wind meters were and it is my understanding it will be supported on all AB elite devices.
The majority of this years reviews are going to center around a 350 Legend rifle build. For those who do not know over the past few years a number of Midwestern states have changed their hunting regulations to allow straight walled rifle cartridges in areas where previously only slug shotguns were allowed for deer hunting. The purpose of that regulation was of course to limit the potential danger a hunter’s errant shot could do by limiting its range. Various forms of this type of hunting regulation exist in different counties, in different states, around most of the country. The most restrictive of these are bow only zones and these straight walled provisions are probably the least restrictive. As is often the case with regulation though, a little bit can go a long way. Straight walled cartridges are tremendously less ballisticly efficient than the specific bottleneck cartridges most popular for hunting these days. However, they are also a huge step up from a slug shotgun in pretty much every way. As such, I expect there will continuing expansion of these regulations to a greater number of states and counties in the future, as has been the pattern so far.
I want to thank Hornady for providing some information, ammo, bullets, and reloading dies for this 350 project. They were good enough to do this after I ambushed them with some technical questions when I was first assessing the project concept and viability. This is a tremendous help especially given the surprise ammo shortage we seem to have had crop up again just as I have been assembling the parts and pieces. The project will certainly be much the more informative for having their involvement.
Hornady 350 Legend care package
The Precison Straight-Walled Cartridge Rifle:
I have been interested in testing the limits of the straight walled concept ever since I first heard of the regulation change. So, when the PurePrecison guys asked me to review their new lightweight SKLTN action, I threw them the curve ball of wanting to put it on a straight wall build. After a little more research, I settled on 350 Legend as that straight-walled cartridge. Fundamentally, I want to see what kind of accuracy I can get out of this sort of cartridge, how far I can still reliably hit vital size targets, what the terminal performance of the cartridge looks like at different distances, and what oddities reloading a straight walled, case mouth head spacing, cartridge brings up. As such, my largest article this year will be an exploration of the precision straight walled cartridge rifle.
PurePrecison SKLTN Action and Altitude Stock:
Any rifle build is a great opportunity to test out a bunch of new components. PurePrecison’s new lightweight SKLTN action fits well the theme of a lightweight hunting rifle. PurePrecison has expanded a lot since I did the Crux rifle review and are now manufacturing their own actions haven taken on a partnership with an aerospace company. Whereas the Crux review examined PurePrecison as a small custom rifle builder, this one will show them as a larger component manufacturer making both actions and carbon composite stocks.
Proof:
I did an in-depth review of Proof carbon wrapped barrels a few years ago. That review involved data taken from two proof barreled rifles. I will be adding the data from the 350 Legend barrel in the straight-walled precision rifle article to that previous article. Hopefully, this will provide some more insight into the harmonic advantages of a carbon wrapped barrel. Unlike the previous two proof barrels, this one with also be a pre-fit drop in barrel. This has become a very popular way to build a precision rifle and Proof has become the leader in the practice.
XTSP MOD 22 Trigger:
X-Treme Shooting products has been the OEM for a number of high profile rifle projects. These include the Mk13 Mod 22 trigger used Mk13 Mod 5 sniper rifle, Accuracy international competition trigger, and the trigger in the Remington PSR rifle which won that solicitation and became the Mk21 before Remington blew the whole thing and went belly up. XTSP makes a 2 stage trigger for the 700 platform that is a two stage 4 lever design. I have been wanting to examine this trigger for a while and this year seems like a good time to do so.
Level use in Precison Rifle:
This one is a roll over from last year and is already half done. It will feature the different level types and mounting arrangements. I’ll also give some methods for properly mounting your scope and level so they are level with each other. Advice I have seen on this topic on the web has often been sub par. I’ll also talk some about the Pros and Cons of different arrangements, pitfalls to avoid in their use, and some numbers on how much error you can introduce by failing to have the scope level. I’ve assembled most of the relevant level types and arrangements. I just need to put it all together.
Riton Optics 3 Primal 3-18x50mm Crossover scope
Riton Optics 7 Conquer 4-32x56
Another roll over from last year, this one wasn’t added to last year’s reviews until near the end and so was probably always going to be this year. Frank has been quite pleased with his experience with Riton optics and asked me to take a look at a couple of their new offerings. The 3 Primal 3-18x50mm is a crossover hunting / precision rifle scope that has the zero stop, exposed turrets, FFP, and mil/mil (or MOA/MOA) of a precision rifle scope but in a smaller form factor and sub 30oz weight suitable for hunting. I’m a big fan of this concept as I have encountered at least some optics light enough to be of hunting use that really don’t give up any important long range features or even optical performance to get there. I also see the added distance compensation potential of scope with precision rifle features as a huge benefit for hunters allowing them to greatly extend their ethical kill range. The second scope, the 7 Conquer 4-32x56 is a high end Japanese made optic in the ~$2k price range with a huge magnification range and fairly high 32x max magnification. This is very much in the current higher magnification trend popular amongst competitive shooters.
Hi-Lux PR5 5-25x56 FFP:
The Hi-Lux was tested with the other sub $1k scopes last year but had to be sent back to the manufacture at the end of the testing for evaluation because the example I had was not behaving to spec. There will be a resolution to this sometime this year.
That should be it for the scheduled articles and reviews. I am also going to start doing some shorter format pieces on products I have thoughts on but don’t want to do a full review of. I’m going to keep these to under a page in length and put these in this thread instead of on the home page. Most of these will be on products in classes that I don’t feel qualified to do a full review of. I have some tripods coming and a few nice bipods for instance. I have, or will have, opinions on these but, not being a competitive PRS type shooter, I don’t feel my opinions are particularly well informed. I also don’t have a lot of experience with the alternative options in this field. Some of the short format smaller pieces will also be on products that I am using but are just simple and I have a little to say on them but not a ton.
Lastly, if you were looking for my ShotShow 2024 reporting thread, you won't find it. I had enough stuff pending in the que to work on this year that I decided to save the time and money this year and skip the show. I typically only attend every few years to refresh contacts and catch up on new products so this isn’t really unusual.
Garmin Xero C1 Chronograph
It’s confession time. I hate my chronograph and basically only take it to the range if I’m developing a new load or specifically need the data for a review or article. The rest of the time, it sits at home. It’s not that the Oehler 35P I use is problematic. For a light based chrono, it is the best from both an accuracy and usability standpoint. It’s just still a huge PITA to lug it to the range, set it up, and align it so that I don’t shoot the thing. A few years back, I thought the magnetospeed might be the answer but after trying a buddies out I gave up that idea. It certainly effected the harmonics when on the barrel, was actually a little fiddly to set up and not shoot itself, and required a lot of effort, aftermarket parts, and a rifle with side rails if you wanted to set it up not on the barrel. I also thought the price was way high both for what it was, and for what it required you to add to it to not mess with your harmonics. So, I basically sat on the sidelines with the already paid for Oehler missing out on data on a whole lot of shots because I almost never used it. This year the Garmin came out and is supposed to be the greatest thing ever. Given how much data I need to take for articles this year I figured I would try out the Garmin and write something about it. Who knows, maybe it will be great enough I will regularly take it to the range and have a bunch more data on my shooting.
Doing the PurePrecision Crux review with the Oehler 35P back in 2018
Safran Vectronix Vector X laser rangefinding binoculars
I’ll be continuing my series of reviews on electro optics this year with the new Vector X lrf binos from Vectronix. These should be the first 905nm rangefinders to be competitive with the 10k’s in laser performance. The Vector X binos have been designed as dual use for hunting and competition. To facilitate this they have optional 1.4x “range enhancers” that screw in and a tripod mount from RRS to allow them to essentially be converted into a spotting scope replacement. The Vector X binos also feature glass etched reticles. One of these reticle choices features a milling section for use with the 1.4x enhancers and a second for use without the enhancers. Other standout features are a full D pad control system and integrated AMOLED display for what should be best in class user interface. The Vector X’s have full onboard AB elite and will interface with the full AB suite of products including the AB calypso wind meter, which should be ready to go with the Vector X at time of shipping. The Vector X binos will also interface with a number other products such as the Garmin watch, DRS gun mounted display, and Hornady’s 4DOF as well as Desert Tech’s Trasol. The glass in these binos is also expected to be quite good. Good enough that they are even releasing a model without the laser rangefinder. It certainly looks like Vectronix has spent a good deal of time and effort on the fine details of this product and I’m excited to give it a look.
Safran Vectronix Vector X
Sig Kilo 10K-ABS HD Gen II laser rangefinding binoculars
It’s been a couple years now since Sig set the new standard for consumer laser rangefinding by releasing their Kilo 10K-ABS HD binoculars. These rangefinding binos at least doubled the effective range that any particular target could be ranged at in any particular conditions with the best 905nm rangefinders of the time. On top of that, in some conditions, or with some targets, the 10k’s far exceeded an effective doubling of range such as with large, highly reflective, targets or with any targets in snow or fog. They did this while still being a class 1 laser product and without using substantially more battery. In fact, given their low energy AMOLED display, they used far less overall energy than most, if not all, competing products. That AMOLED display also offered excellent in-bino menu navigation, full rangefinding and ballistic solutions on one screen, and the ability to precisely align the laser with the reticle (a general issue laser rangefinders have.) The 10k’s also included Applied Ballistics Elite as well as the ability to be used in Sig’s BDX Smart Scope ecosystem which I did a review of at the same time I reviewed the 10k binoculars in 2022.
This year Sig has released the second generation of the Kilo 10k’s. The principle changes in this generation are the removal of the noticeable blue tint that users found objectionable in the first generation units and faster access to manual wind entry with direct wind input buttons allowing users to quickly change wind direction and speed. The Weatherflow wind meter included with the first generation 10k has also been removed from the Gen II unit. I expect this may have a lot to do with the upcoming Applied Ballistics Eite ultrasonic wind meter integration at that will be a substantially better wind metering solution than prop type wind meters were and it is my understanding it will be supported on all AB elite devices.
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