So, I've talked to Logan a bit about doing some "content' for the OB. I get a lot of cool stuff in and I love being able to share it. Keep in mind, I am not doing this to advertise these products. I pay for advertising for Texian and am glad to do it, but I'm going to keep these field tests as honest as I possibly can. The point of these posts isn't to sell anything so if you have questions on anything please, do ask but if it involves buying it, try to post that on the Texian Thread or contact me directly and realize that some of the things that I'll be reviewing won't be available for sale and such, it's just me sharing some cool guns/tech/products.
Ok, now that that is out of the way. Last week, I was in a bind. My 6.8 SPC (Texian Serial number 0001) was at cerakote and since I still have some stuff for posters that are outstanding, my stuff gets moved to the back of the line. It should look absolutely badass when it's done though! Well, with that being as it was, I had to do something to get a rifle to hunt with because my 6.5 Creedmoor was also still at cerakote. Was going to just load up a bolt gun and be done with it when I saw a barrel chilling on the "Shelf O' Random Parts." It was a Grendel barrel that was a little rough around the edges aesthetically but was still in great shape for shooting. Then it clicked. I had been moneywhipped into selling Texian Serial 0005 to a customer for an pistol build but he asked me if it would be ok to trade it towards one of our ultralight builds. I didn't really want to part with 0005 anyways (my year) so I was ecstatic to get it back. But it had been chilling in the safe waiting for me to figure out what to do with it. Now I knew what to do.
When I first wanted to build an AR for deer hunting, I originally wanted to go with a Grendel. After researching the heck out of it, I felt that a 6.8 was more of what I needed so I went with that. In the back of my mind, I always still wanted a Grendel. Now I'd get one.
Parts list:
Texian Armadillo Lower Serial number 05 (Whoop)
Texian Armadillo Gen 2 upper
Odinworks matched 20" stainless Hbar with matching bolt in 6.5 Grendel
ALG ACT
16" keymod full profile handguard
Magpul STR stock (will be changed to a UBR probably but this is what I had chilling)
Texian Overmold Grip
Ambi Charging handle
Optics:
Vortex Razor LH 3-15x42
Burris PEPR mount
Suppressor:
Griffin Armament Optimus
Before anyone gripes... Rule 1:
Got it out to the range and it performed better than I expected. At 100yards all shots were touching and at 200 yards, I was consistently getting 1 1/2 -1 3/4 groups. In retrospect, I really wish I had bumped the trigger up to my CMC that I have on my AR10, but it was already installed and I didn't really have time to switch it out. I'm super picky about triggers and would definitely have been happier with a lot nicer one, but it did the job well. Only other issue was overall length. I'm running it with a suppressor so it's a pain moving it around in a deer stand. It was a bit heavy with suppressor but that was expected and I like heavy guns.
Optics wise, I am absolutely in love with the Razor LH. It's light weight, has a very usable reticle, and a stupid wide field of view with very crisp optics. Similar to the Leupold VX-6 in that regards. Personally, I would love for it to have a larger objective and target turrets. Once I get another Sightron 6-24x and Rudolph's new FFP 6-24x, I'll do a comparison on those and choose my favorite. For hunting use, I definitely love the better optics of this unit over the Vortex Viper series, though.
Here's a view through the scope:
Suppressor - The Optimus is a mutli-use system that works on both rifle and pistol platforms. It performed exactly as I expected it to. The Grendel round is supersonic so I was not expecting to get a crazy quiet shot. However, it was impressive just how much it dampened the sound, even on a super sonic round. I had to take some time to explain to my dad just what to expect with a suppressor. That being said, being able to shoot this without hearing protection is worth it enough especially when I was in the stand. Shooting a rifle in a mostly enclosed box is not good for the hearing and the Optimus performed beautifully when I tapped a spike on Black Friday morning. Plus, even though there was a sonic boom, it was a close shot so it didn't last long. Two does about 150 yards from me barely even acknowledged the shot.
New Binocs:
Recently, I pulled a new line in the store that I have been very happy with. Rudolph Optics is fairly new but they have some really cool products. One of my favorite scopes for ARs right now is their Front Focal Plane 1-4x scope. Better optics than the Viper PST that is Second Focal Plane. However, I'm not talking about their scope here, I am doing a field test on their Range Finding Binoculars.
All in all, I really liked using them, especially with a new gun that I haven't gotten a chance to get used to. They have a nice rubber coating on their housing and the controls are VERY simple. Through the right lens, there is a small black circle that is used to mark the target. After that, a quick button press and the range is displayed at the bottom of the lens. To say the operation is simple is really understating it. This is one of the most intuitive pieces of tech that I have taken to the field. These are 8x with a 42mm objective. Oh and they have a range of over 2,000 yards.
There are, however, some drawbacks. For one, these are heavy and definitely not something to lug around the mountains in Colorado, where combining a range finder and binoculars would be an amazing combination. It did work well for me sitting in a deer stand on a big hay meadow, however. The other thing I didn't like has to do with the range finding display. Rudolph uses an old school backlit LCD placed in the bottom of the right lens. They had to cut out part of the lens to put it here and it was fine but the cut wasn't as clean as I'd like it to be. Nitpicky, I know but it is what it is. The other thing didn't pop up until it was getting dark--when it was dusk and I was trying to range where some hogs might be popping out, the light on the LCD was way too bright. It was distracting and messed with my low light vision.
Here's a pic of them next to the new rifle:
So, definitely had some fun with some new toys this weekend. Originally planned on breaking out the Desert Tech as well, and may still do so if I have time before leaving tomorrow, but it may have to wait until Christmas. Plus my Razor Gen II isn't in yet so I kind of want to wait in it instead of tossing on an extra PST I co-opted out of the break in stuff.
Ok, now that that is out of the way. Last week, I was in a bind. My 6.8 SPC (Texian Serial number 0001) was at cerakote and since I still have some stuff for posters that are outstanding, my stuff gets moved to the back of the line. It should look absolutely badass when it's done though! Well, with that being as it was, I had to do something to get a rifle to hunt with because my 6.5 Creedmoor was also still at cerakote. Was going to just load up a bolt gun and be done with it when I saw a barrel chilling on the "Shelf O' Random Parts." It was a Grendel barrel that was a little rough around the edges aesthetically but was still in great shape for shooting. Then it clicked. I had been moneywhipped into selling Texian Serial 0005 to a customer for an pistol build but he asked me if it would be ok to trade it towards one of our ultralight builds. I didn't really want to part with 0005 anyways (my year) so I was ecstatic to get it back. But it had been chilling in the safe waiting for me to figure out what to do with it. Now I knew what to do.
When I first wanted to build an AR for deer hunting, I originally wanted to go with a Grendel. After researching the heck out of it, I felt that a 6.8 was more of what I needed so I went with that. In the back of my mind, I always still wanted a Grendel. Now I'd get one.
Parts list:
Texian Armadillo Lower Serial number 05 (Whoop)
Texian Armadillo Gen 2 upper
Odinworks matched 20" stainless Hbar with matching bolt in 6.5 Grendel
ALG ACT
16" keymod full profile handguard
Magpul STR stock (will be changed to a UBR probably but this is what I had chilling)
Texian Overmold Grip
Ambi Charging handle
Optics:
Vortex Razor LH 3-15x42
Burris PEPR mount
Suppressor:
Griffin Armament Optimus
Before anyone gripes... Rule 1:
Got it out to the range and it performed better than I expected. At 100yards all shots were touching and at 200 yards, I was consistently getting 1 1/2 -1 3/4 groups. In retrospect, I really wish I had bumped the trigger up to my CMC that I have on my AR10, but it was already installed and I didn't really have time to switch it out. I'm super picky about triggers and would definitely have been happier with a lot nicer one, but it did the job well. Only other issue was overall length. I'm running it with a suppressor so it's a pain moving it around in a deer stand. It was a bit heavy with suppressor but that was expected and I like heavy guns.
Optics wise, I am absolutely in love with the Razor LH. It's light weight, has a very usable reticle, and a stupid wide field of view with very crisp optics. Similar to the Leupold VX-6 in that regards. Personally, I would love for it to have a larger objective and target turrets. Once I get another Sightron 6-24x and Rudolph's new FFP 6-24x, I'll do a comparison on those and choose my favorite. For hunting use, I definitely love the better optics of this unit over the Vortex Viper series, though.
Here's a view through the scope:
Suppressor - The Optimus is a mutli-use system that works on both rifle and pistol platforms. It performed exactly as I expected it to. The Grendel round is supersonic so I was not expecting to get a crazy quiet shot. However, it was impressive just how much it dampened the sound, even on a super sonic round. I had to take some time to explain to my dad just what to expect with a suppressor. That being said, being able to shoot this without hearing protection is worth it enough especially when I was in the stand. Shooting a rifle in a mostly enclosed box is not good for the hearing and the Optimus performed beautifully when I tapped a spike on Black Friday morning. Plus, even though there was a sonic boom, it was a close shot so it didn't last long. Two does about 150 yards from me barely even acknowledged the shot.
New Binocs:
Recently, I pulled a new line in the store that I have been very happy with. Rudolph Optics is fairly new but they have some really cool products. One of my favorite scopes for ARs right now is their Front Focal Plane 1-4x scope. Better optics than the Viper PST that is Second Focal Plane. However, I'm not talking about their scope here, I am doing a field test on their Range Finding Binoculars.
All in all, I really liked using them, especially with a new gun that I haven't gotten a chance to get used to. They have a nice rubber coating on their housing and the controls are VERY simple. Through the right lens, there is a small black circle that is used to mark the target. After that, a quick button press and the range is displayed at the bottom of the lens. To say the operation is simple is really understating it. This is one of the most intuitive pieces of tech that I have taken to the field. These are 8x with a 42mm objective. Oh and they have a range of over 2,000 yards.
There are, however, some drawbacks. For one, these are heavy and definitely not something to lug around the mountains in Colorado, where combining a range finder and binoculars would be an amazing combination. It did work well for me sitting in a deer stand on a big hay meadow, however. The other thing I didn't like has to do with the range finding display. Rudolph uses an old school backlit LCD placed in the bottom of the right lens. They had to cut out part of the lens to put it here and it was fine but the cut wasn't as clean as I'd like it to be. Nitpicky, I know but it is what it is. The other thing didn't pop up until it was getting dark--when it was dusk and I was trying to range where some hogs might be popping out, the light on the LCD was way too bright. It was distracting and messed with my low light vision.
Here's a pic of them next to the new rifle:
So, definitely had some fun with some new toys this weekend. Originally planned on breaking out the Desert Tech as well, and may still do so if I have time before leaving tomorrow, but it may have to wait until Christmas. Plus my Razor Gen II isn't in yet so I kind of want to wait in it instead of tossing on an extra PST I co-opted out of the break in stuff.
