GunsAmerica Blog Product Reviews – Accessories and Gun Related items

This week we are giving away a choice of two optics from Swarovski Optik – a Z5 riflescope and a 65 HD spotting scope. If you haven’t entered the giveaway, it’s easy. Just “like” Swarovski Optik North America Hunting on Facebook and look for the instructions to enter. The full explanation was emailed earlier in the week and is here. As promised, this is an overview of Swarovski products, and our two giveaway scopes.
Quality is not something you can fake with optics, and learning how to buy quality optics isn’t as hard as you might think. There is a boatload of technology behind great optics: patents, design trials, and research and development, but you really don’t need to know any of that to choose an optic that outperforms the rest of the field.
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Value means getting more than you paid for, and that’s exactly what you get with Vanguard’s Endeavor ED binoculars. For binoculars with the performance and features they offer, you would typically pay 50% to 500% more.

The MRSP on the Vanguard Endeavor ED 1045 is $499, but I found them on Optics Planet for $399 and on Amazon for $379. Until November 30th there is also a special running from Vanguard that you can get a shooting stick or other accessories free when you buy a pair of these great binocs. The direct link to the promotion is: https://www.vanguardworld.com/index.php/en/os/component/content/article/6-other/137-free-shooting-stick-with-binoculars-purchase.html

The Endeavor provides 10.5 x magnification with 45 mm objective lenses. Typical sport binoculars in this power range have 42 mm lenses. The larger 45 mm objective lenses gather more light with an inconsequential trade-off in weight and size. Compared to the Vanguard ED 10 x 42 binoculars, the 10.5 x 45 add a little more than an ounce in weight and 2 mm (less than eight hundredths of an inch) in width. The added brightness is well worth the minimal weight penalty.

To get the best image quality, binoculars have to basically do two things well: transmit as much light as possible, and focus the image clearly. Glass lenses reflect some of the light from their front surfaces and the inside of their back surfaces, anyplace that glass and air touch. That’s the flash you see if you happen to be in front of someone using binoculars or a telescope. Anti-reflection (AR) lens coatings assist in light transmission and also reduce ghosting and flare. Binoculars designated as AR “Coated” have a single layer of coating on at least some of the lens surfaces. This helps but multiple layers are much more effective. You’ll know if they have multiple layers if they say “Multi Coated.” “Fully Coated” means that all glass to air surfaces are coated, and the very best binoculars have “Fully Multi Coated” lenses, like the Vanguard Endeavor.

The second problem area for light transmission is the prisms. Quality binoculars generally use one of two types of prisms: poro prisms or roof prisms. You can tell if a pair of binoculars uses poro prisms because the objective lenses are wider than the eyepieces; the prisms are mounted side-by-side inside the binoculars.

Roof prisms are mounted in-line, making the binoculars sleeker and more compact, however roof prisms require better coatings and more precise manufacturing than poro prisms, which is why roof prism binoculars typically cost more. The Vanguard Endeavor uses a combination of roof prisms, BaK4 prism glass (which is superior to BaK7 glass used in cheaper binoculars), and special phase coatings, for optimum performance.

Of course, the quality of the lenses is responsible for the quality of the image, and the Endeavor uses ED or extra low dispersion glass which makes the very best lenses. Binoculars with ED lenses actually use a pair of objective lenses, or a lens couplet, in each tube to reduce chromatic dispersion. Chromatic dispersion stems from the fact that the different colors or wavelengths of light which make up white light (think rainbow), focus at slightly different points, creating a slightly fuzzy image. The second lens in the ED couplet corrects the dispersion created by the first lens, resulting in a sharp, clear image with fine detail resolution. That’s important if you’re trying to count the points on a deer at 300 yards or to see anything in low light conditions.

The Endeavor utilizes a magnesium alloy body for lightness and strength, rubber cladding to ensure a secure grip, and is nitrogen purged to eliminate fogging and protect the internals from oxidation. They also incorporate O ring seals to make them waterproof. That doesn’t mean you can take them to 90 feet on your next diving trip. They are guaranteed waterproof to 3.3 feet, which is more than enough to keep the rain out and provide a little insurance in case you drop them in the water at your duck blind.

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Try to quick calculate the “minutes of angle,” or MOA adjustment, for your riflescope on an big bull elk 435 yards away. Go ahead, try it, with the ammo you plan to use this hunting season. Some of you will say “no problemo” and easily be able to calculate the correct click adjustment or holdover quickly and quietly in your head.

The rest of us are a little too excited about the elk to have a clear enough head to do that. And many of us have little if any ability to calculate these kinds of things in our head on the fly even on our best day with no elk in the picture.

This has led to the advent of what I call “Zero Math Riflescopes.” With a Zero Math Riflescope, the lines in the scope reticle have already been pre-calculated at given distances for the ballistics of the load you are using. We’ve already covered this somewhat on the Nikon .223 series, but those scopes are really for only one load of one caliber. The lines in the reticle, or the clicks on the turrett, match the distances if your velocity matches the standard value for that caliber, in this case 2340fps. for .223. But what if you have a shorter barrel than the test barrel on the ammo, or your handload doesn’t match the published numbers for factory ammo velocity?

The Zeiss Rapid-Z Reticle series, tested here on their Victory FL and Conquest riflescopes, calculates these numbers (click here to log in to the calculator) for any big game hunting caliber, and provides you with easy holdovers for distances from 100 to up to 1000 yards. The scope does this with no math whatsoever, and the online calculator explains how to make sure you scope is set correctly so that the 100 line hits at 100 yards, the 200 at 200, the 300 at 300, all the way up to 1000 at 1000 with the Rapid-Z 1000. Check out the pictures of the reticles here on the side. As you can see, they all have these what seem arbitrary lines, but they aren’t so arbitrary. The Rapid-Z calculator on the Zeiss Sport Optics website calculates the correct power setting on your riflescope to match these lines to actual distances downrange based on your ammo.

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The idea of aesthetics is a bit of a strange concept for people who think of guns solely as tools to hunt with or protect yourself. But going all the way back to Sam Colt when he introduced his first revolver, the Colt Patterson, in 1836, the way a gun looks has always been almost as important to the owner as how well it can do its job.

If you are a fan of another famous Colt, the 1911, the aesthetics and look of the gun are part of what you love. Custom grips have always been a booming side industry in the 1911 community and everyone from rock stars to presidents to Nascar drivers have commissioned custom 1911s to both treasure and carry. Crimson Trace, maker of the world’s leading lasergrips, has recognized this market for some time and we have heard for a while that a custom, high-end series of grips was on its way for this class 100 year old and still popular pistol, the 1911.

If you aren’t familiar with Crimson Trace Lasergrips, you have probably been hiding in a cave for ten years, but I guess you could also be new to guns and shooting and not have encountered them yet in your travels. The Crimson Trace system is the most unobtrusive and professional of all the handgun laser devices. A Crimson Trace replaces the factory grips of the gun, integrating a red laser on the side of the grip that is activated by your fingers around the front of the grip. Several firearm manufacturers now even offer Crimson Trace lasers standard in many of their models. Crimson Trace Lasergrips are pricey, but they are the choice of most professionals.

The Master Series from Crimson Trace, MRSP $399, was created so that you no longer have the choose between aesthetics and function with your favorite 1911. These gorgeous rosewood grips that you see here on an STI Shadow have a Crimson Trace laser in them. The two 2025 Lithium batteries for the laser fit into both sides of the replacement grips and are protected from electrical connection by plastic panels on the frame. For those who carry a 1911 this was a long time coming and it is no surprise that they are listed as “Out of Stock” on the Crimson Trace website at present. I’m sure if you look around you can find them, but you may have to wait in line.

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LaserMax Guide Rod Lasers https://www.lasermax.com/ by Thoughtful Reader Let’s just get something out of the way. I’m not a “gun guy”. I don’t frequent forums and discuss the finer points of this firearm or that, nor am I concerned with the incessant caliber debates. To me, the gun I carry is just a tool, like [...]

The hardest thing in the world is to be the only one out there with a new product that people don’t understand. That is the challenge that Brian Hallam of Glow Ammo faces with his cold tracer, trajectory marking technology that is unlike anything else on the market.

“Most people don’t understand Glow Ammo,” explains Brian. “They think you can only see it at night like standard hot military tracers, but you can see our tracers under normal range lights, and outside at dawn and dusk, not just at dark. Our cold technology is also much less dangerous than hot tracers and ranges that won’t allow hot tracers allow Glow Ammo. ”

“We call Glow Ammo trajectory markers, not tracers, because it opens up a whole new aspect to shooters. You get to see your bullet leave the barrel and hit the target. In the video game generation this is a whole new dimension that people really enjoy. It is like a laser beam in a video game.”

“It also has a lot of practical and defensive applications as well. Only you can see the trajectory marker as the shooter. When you get more than about 15 degrees off of the bore axis you can’t see the flash of the Glow Ammo marker, and from the front, downrange, it is not visible at all. This means that your enemy can’t see your shots but you can. Whether your eyes are on your sights or not, you can see where your shots are hitting, and there is no disadvantages like you see with lasers and standard hot tracers.”

Police and Military Applications
Brian’s vision for Glow Ammo is more far reaching than a range novelty or even simple self defense, and if you think about his points, he’s kinda right. He has a long way to go before people understand and accept what he has to say, but hopefully this article will start opening people’s minds. He explains the police and military potential like this:

“Think about a classic police shootout. The first officer on scene is forced to engage in a gunfight and calls for backup. With Glow Ammo, as soon as the backup arrives on scene, they immediately see where the shots of their fellow officer are going, and the bad guy on the receiving end can’t see them. The dangers we all know that exist with lasers for the shooter, that the bad guy can see where the laser is coming from, doesn’t exist with trajectory identification technology. It is a different way to think about gunfight dynamics. ”

“It is the same thing with the military. Right now there is only red colored Glow Ammo, but soon we will have other colors. This way a team leader can carry one color marker and the team members a different color, so that in a firefight, the team sees where the team leader is directing fire, and they know it is him because of the different color. The potential is limitless for trajectory identification, and because it is a cold technology, there are no adverse side effects or potential collateral damage. It just works. ”

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Gunsmithing is not something you can just sit down and teach yourself through trial and error. Guns are a high ticket item, and a little too much sanding here or a little too much pressure in a vice there and your treasured and expensive firearm could be destroyed. The destruction of the American family has produced a difficult byproduct in our generation. Skills that should have been handed down from father to son weren’t, and as the last generation passes on, the next generation doesn’t know how to do stuff that the previous generation did. Now, at 30 and 40 plus years old, a lot of us wish we could do some of that stuff, yet sadly we have nobody to teach us. Everything from electronics, to woodworking, to leatherwork, even sewing, are falling away as things that hobbyists know how to do. In gunsmithing, for someone who has never been taught, even taking apart the guts of a 1911 slide can be mind boggling.

The American Gunsmithing Institute, or AGI, has tried to fill this generational gap by producing a series of extremely good videos on the disassembly and reassembly of most popular firearms, gunsmithing basics, and even advanced gunsmithing courses. Some of them are so advanced that you would expect to have the mechanics of a gunsmithing degree in place before ever having access to such advanced skills. Believe it or not, there are still physical gunsmithing schools in the US (very few), but for those of us who don’t have the time or freedom to go to school, with AGI you can get a real gunsmithing education in your own home, right on the screen, as you have time or it. Depth is optional. Just an armorer’s course at $39.95 might be all you need.

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If you love to shoot it can get expensive. Factory ammo is not at its peak that it was during 2009 into 2010, but even cheap 9mm is still upwards of 30 cents per round. If you reload, you save the cost of the brass, and the savings are huge over factory loads, but you still have to buy the bullets. And while bullets have improved drastically over the last ten years in consistency and quality control, with these improvements have come higher prices. Spot metals on the commodity market have spiked as well, sending prices even higher. Bullets aren’t cheap anymore. You may pay almost as much for the box of bullets as you used to pay for the box of loaded ammo.

I started bullet casting about 15 years ago, and initially I treated it like some sort of black art, that only the gurus could get right. Back then you could get lead for next to nothing. Pipes were still being torn out of old houses that were made of lead, and every junkyard and tire shop had a good supply of used wheel weights, the kind with the steel clip. I tried my best to make perfect bullets with no lines in them, that all weighed the same, and I had some moderate success. But I can’t say I ever mastered that, and if I ever get back into being able to shoot BPCR (black powder cartridge rifle), maybe I’ll try again.

Recently it occurred to me that I don’t hear as much about bullet casting as I should these days. Did everyone forget about it? Jacketed bullets are too darned expensive to shoot all the time, but I like to shoot all the time, and I’m not alone. Once you start asking around, stopping in at tire places and developing a hawk eye for lead at the junkyard and flea market, you can usually get lead for free or extremely cheap. Once you buy the tools, you have them for life and they last. If you learn the basic skills of bullet casting, it could amount to a lifetime of free bullets.

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A new 30mm tube riflescope from Zeiss with a retail street price around $1,000-$1,300 for illuminated and non-illuminated versions. Before you buy another rilfescope, make sure you check out the Zeiss.