We take customer polls and reviews and present certificates to vendors for certain winning categories and products. In the 2012 Leupold catalog on page 81 you'll see a thumbnail copy of our Brilliance Award that we presented Leupold for the "Best Premium Tactical Riflescope", which was the Mark 4 4.5-14×50 ER/T M5 Front Focal. It's great to know that they respect us and our award so much that they published it in their catalog. It's fun knowing that many retail locations that sell Leupold products give out their catalogs, and customers will see that OpticsPlanet is the place to buy them.

Continuing from SHOT Show 2012, Part One, with more memorable new products.

Enter Pelican, with the most exciting two new products for notepads and laptops in existence. The Travel Gear series. The U (Urban) 100 and 140 are soft backpacks that incorporate a hard shell inside that will accommodate a reader or tablet, or in the case of the U140 model, a full size laptop. Waterproof and durable with the very best thought out features possible. It will be hard to improve on these. Nobody make better travel gear than Pelican.

Click here to view the embedded video.

 Swarovski, typical of the cutting edge, spare no expense methodology they employ, showcased their amazing EL Range rangefinding binocular, and the CL and EL binoculars. The trend is to go smaller and lighter with glasses in the field, and these CLs and ELs fit the bill nicely. The CL and EL 8×30 and 10×30 models may change your thinking about what to bring in the field. I mostly carry a full size binocular and a pocket sized, but with compact glasses of this size, you may rethink and carry only the one. Swarovski binoculars and riflescopes offer ridiculously bright images that nobody in the industry can match. The new EL Range binocular incorporates a laser rangefinder and binocular into one superb unit that can reach up to 1600 yards on a reflective target. Out of the few others of this ilk on the market, none are this lively and compact in your hand. Home run for Swarovski again. And kudos for their new customer-orderable riflescope turrets matched to your ballistics. Just give them a call to order one or more for your selected new Swarovski riflescope.

Friend and hunting partner Iain Harrison showed 2012 Crimson Trace products, and the innovative company had loads of new releases this year. You may have seen him on the first season of TV's "Top Shot", which he won. He is not a poseur. Crimson Trace is the maker of the superb LaserGrips, and the Lightguard series of pistol lights.

With hunting partner Iain and cameraman Devin

Click here to view the embedded video.

Champion/ATK is offering a great new bipod with a horizontal swivel feature I've never seen before. Not just a pan, but a true horizontal swivel. I can't wait to get one. They didn't have one out of the package, so I opened one. I wasn't put together correctly, and while fixing it I opened up my thumb pretty nicely. My black pants didn't show blood, and my field expedient fix was crazy glue (I carry it everywhere), a plastic package from my Howard Leight foam earplugs (I carry them everywhere), and a piece of Gorilla Tape (I carry it everywhere).

The coolest overall product I saw at the show was the new Merkel Helix. It has a straight pull bolt like a Blaser, but it's twice as quick. What a delicious looking gun. Interchangeable calibers with a barrel, bolt head and mag change. Out of my price range, but so are old Corvettes and supermodels (besides My Shirley). I can still dream.

Sexiest gun at SHOT 2012, the Merkel Helix

Marlin had a 336Y (Youth) that looked great.

Great little Marlin 336Y youth gun

The high grade 20 gauge Parker at Remington would make you cry. Pictures don't do it justice.

High grade Parker 20 gauge. Pictures can't do it justice.

Lots of friends and hunting partners were there. I had a plenty of laughs with predator hunter and cowboy Byron South in Texas and Alaska.

Hunting partner Byron South with Mojo decoys

Armasight had a new PVS 14 attachment I tested on a favorite .22 magnum. It worked superbly.

Armasight PVS 14 attachment with OPMOD monocular on 22 magnum

Knives are coming to OpticsPlanet, and there's a lot to choose from. Keep tuned. Zombies were everywhere at the show. On sights, targets, clothing, guns, and everything else you could imagine.Leupold Zombie scope. Note the brain image on inside lens cap. Head shots only!

Leupold Zombie scope. Note the brain image on inside lens cap.

More OPMOD products are here now, and many more in the pipeline. Buy the OPMOD Professional Range Bag, you will love it.

Perpetually my favorite stop at SHOT

Our daily chartered bus picked up almost two dozen OP employees from three different rental houses and dropped us off in front of the Sands Convention Center where we hit the ground running in wildly diverse directions like dropping a handful of BBs on a countertop. The first day of SHOT was officially started. Most of our folks were there from our purchasing department, but others were from Merchandising and Marketing, with me alone representing Product Intelligence until Trevor got there the next day.

SHOT is a dealer only show swimming with professional gun and outdoor sports monkeys. Some swim upstream, some down. It’s just plain hard to walk a straight line. I usually start at a least crowded place on the bottom floor, go fast and straight, then turn right, go fast then left, and repeat hundreds of times until both floors and all auxiliary rooms are covered. I take notes throughout all and stop often. When I’m done I do it again but more focused, then again and again. Many miles are walked. My heavy backpack straps usually don’t remove any skin, but my shoulders do stay red for a few days afterwards.

Leupold not only had the coolest new product that we’ll sell this year, but the THREE coolest products we’ll sell. Those three are the new Mark 4, Mark 6s, and the incredible new Mark 8 3.5-25×56 M5B2. Yow! What a scope. This new Mark 8 gets my vote for the coolest new product at SHOT that we sell. It had a 35mm tube, Horus H58 reticle, and the superb pinch and turn turrets. This is the most awesome scope I know of, period. It gets my “2012 Best at SHOT Award” this year. In second place is the new Mark 4 6.5-20×50 ER/T with M5A2 push button turret has a 34mm tube, Horus reticle, and is the optic on our newly adopted XM1200 sniper weapons system. Third place goes to the new Mark 4 3-18×44 with 34mm tube, M5B2 pinch and turn turrets and Horus reticle. These three scopes represent the pinnacle of cutting edge riflescope technology available today from any manufacturer, bar none. Of course, you gotta pay the man for what you get. These are not price point optics. Quality control at Leupold is as good as a company gets. I personally saw it in Beaverton when I toured the facility and shot in their tunnel.

The next manufacturer’s product that I was especially enamoured with this year was the new Bushnell Elite Tactical DMR 3.5-21×50 with the excellent new G2DMR ranging reticle. It’s only 13.2″ overall in length with a 34mm tube. The Elite Tactical 1-6.5x CQB was also a real winner.

Burris has the Fastfire III this year, with an easily changed battery and adjustments that don’t require a special tool. The Fastfires are maybe the best value in a upper quality mini red dot on the market. I really like them a lot. Burris also has the new AR-536 and AR-132 prism sights that will fill a niche. Kudos to Burris.

ATN had a good amount of new thermal products.

One of the many new thermal devices from ATN

Nikon had a load of new M-223 scopes including a new M-308 scope. Some great new mounts, too.

Nikon's new P223 3x32 carbine scope

EOTech’s Zombie Stopper was a big hit. The new G-33 Slap to Side magnifier will automatically be included in our OPMOD MPO II and MPO III kits when they become available. The new IFL (Integrated Forearm Light) is a great product at a never before seen price.

New G-33 Slap to Side magnifier

The Streamlight TLR 4 is finally here. A compact weapons light with integrated laser and light that will even fit on a Walther P-22 or Sig Mosquito.

Streamlight's new TLR4

Trijicon’s new TAR (Trijicon Advanced Riflescope) is a 4-15×50 riflescope with the latest technology and typical Trijicon quality. I got to shoot with one mounted on a Steyr SSG-08 at media day.

Vortex is a company that in just a few short years has reached a level of quality on par with the best in the business. The Viper PST scopes are top notch. They have a new mini red dot that looks like it will compete with any existing MRD on the market.

More to come, stay tuned.

OpticsPlanet @ SHOT Show 2012 Media Day from Steve Ledin on Vimeo.

Involuntary facial expression when burning buckets of free ammo

The 2012 SHOT (Shooting, Hunting, Outdoor Trade) show media day event is held annually the day before the actual SHOT SHOW convention starts. It was held 20 miles outside Las Vegas again this year, at the Boulder Pistol and Rifle Club in Boulder City, Nevada. The media day event invites bona fide gun writers from around the world to fondle and learn about new products, and most importantly to us, burn truckloads of free ammo of every kind imaginable out of every kind of gun and optic system that is new and innovative and cool. Some of our marketing department tagged along with cameras to share the fun with you.

I’ve been to 20 or so SHOTs, but never to media day. Riflescopeblog.com gave me legitimate entry this year for the first time. It’s something that makes me smile.

Driving through the parched, post-apocalyptic looking burnt terrain of Nevada made you yearn for eye drops, and the fine airborne dust invaded everything, including firearm operating systems. BTW, black piston guns ran no better that black gas guns. Leave this alone.

Snuggle into expensive guns. Press trigger. Repeat.

It wasn’t what I thought it would be. I expected many vendors at tables and booths displaying their wares, and a fair amount of sequestered ranges for new guns. Nope. There were actually very few stand-alone booths (that mattered, anyway), but instead there were hundreds of yards of firing lines for pistols, rifles, and shotguns of every kind, with ranges for clays games, pistols, and targets up to 1000 yards.

We saw friends and compatriots and familiar fellow gun monkeys right away.

The inimitable Gunny, Mr, R. Lee Ermey

I’ve met the gunny a bunch of times over the years, but you really can’t imagine what a patient and gracious gentleman he is. He is bombarded with picture takers and hand shakers from the early morning until he’s ready for bed after playing slots. I don’t know how he does it. The ranges were set up exceedingly well and the layout was very user friendly. We started arbitrarily at one end: the shotgun section.

I love Browning products in general. A lot of people say you pay for a name. No kidding. They worked to get that name. Pay it, it’s worth it. Growing up in the upland bird fields, my dad always used one of his several Auto 5s. He shot them faultlessly and fast. I own a pre-WWII internal trigger guard safety example myself. I never shot them so well, and they kick the heck out of me. I always used Remington gas guns. This year, Browning introduced their NEW A5! Retro-looking products are popular with cars and coffee machines, but this A5 is completely redesigned mechanically with a short-recoil Kinematic drive operating system as opposed to a long recoil operating system like was popular for almost 100 years since the genius John Browning designed the gun in 1898.

I stepped to the 5 stand line and shot a series of flurries, which is a whole bunch of targets coming out from all angles that everyone gets a chance to shoot at. The birds never stop flying. After a while we got a chance to shoot a single fast low left to high right crosser for a prize. Somehow, my muzzle was ahead of the bird enough to dust it, and I won some stuff! I like when that happens.

After the shotgun area we navigated to a long line of ranges with guns and unlimited ammo and targets and started with getting our first look at the new EOTech Zombie Stopper (HWS)  Holographic Weapon Sight with the G33 Switch to Side magnifier . The previous FTS (Flip to Side) mount on the G23 magnifier was and is superb, but EOTech got the mount from Sampson. It had a lot of parts, and if you for some reason removed the wrong screws it would shoot apart like a bucket of parts in a tornado. If you were actually able to retrieve all the parts and springs, you needed three hands to reassemble it. Not that I would be so inept as to remove the wrong screws…. The new G33 promises to be a simpler, more robust unit that will actually improve on one of the best designs ever made.

Throughout the whole range there was the staccato resonance of machine guns and submachine guns. The Kriss guns have been known in the law enforcement field for a few years, mostly by really cutting edge go-fast people. They are delayed blowback .45 ACP Swiss designs made in our own Virginia Beach, South Carolina. A great place to visit. The design of the gun lets the recoil flow relatively straight back into you, allowing for noticeably more control than a similarly sized Uzi or MP5. Typical Swiss workmanship and innovation. The worst thing about shooting buckets of ammo out of them at the show was the poor gal stuck with loading magazines all day.

1450 + RPM from Kriss .45 ACP squirtgun

Colt Law Enforcement had on display their new select fire Colt CM 901 battle rifle. It may not have crossed your mind that .5.56×45 and .7.62×51 have the same action size: short. Why can’t they have interchangeable lowers? Answer: The magazine well is too small (read narrow) for the 308. Colt addressed this issue by making the lower’s mag well large enough to accept both cartridges.

Colt also had on display one of the most beautiful firearm systems in existence, the 1877 Bulldog Gatling Gun. Standard 45-70 caliber, only 17 were delivered in 1877. The new guns, 50 a year to be produced and just under 50 grand each, are made from the old schematics and have parts interchangeable with the originals. When this puppy barks it sounds like a series of loud fast farts and leaves a satisfying tingle of expensive brass in a gleaming pile on the dusty ground. Glad I didn’t have to pay for even one turn of the classy handle.

The FN Scar (Special Operations Forces Combat Assault Rifle) heavy (7.62×54) was fun to shoot with an EOTech Zombie Stopper sight, and it was easy to spank 50 yard poppers quickly and regularly.

I burned lots of pistol ammo, including in the Sig 226 Navy, the HK 45, and others. Plates and zombie targets were eveywhere waiting for bullets.

HK 45 in full recoil

I like shooting long range, and a Steyr SSG08 was a similar rifle to my own SSG69. I have always loved Steyrs, and this gun at the range was topped with the new Trijicon 3-15×50 TARS (Trijicon  Advanced Riflescope System). 900 yard shots were like a bad habit. Too easy. Eminently superb combination of products.

We shot the new Winchester RazorBack ammo in 150 grain .308, with projectiles made from 95% copper and 5% zink for toughness enough to penetrate tough targets like hogs with gristle plates. Also available in .223, which from experience is lighter for pigs than you would like if you had your choice.

The Armalite SASS (Semi Automatic Sniper System) was topped with one of the stars of the show, the new Leupold Mark 4 6.5-20×50 ER/T with 34mm tube and new M5 locking turrets. There’s also new Armalite versions that take standard DPMS/Magpul magazines instead of proprietary Armalite mags.

My favorite toy of media day was a standard Remington 700 M24 in an Accuracy International chassis, suppressed with an Advanced Armament can, shooting the amazing new PCP polymer cased ammunition.

STEYR SSG08 with Trijicon TARS 3-15x50

Rem 700 with Accuracy International stock, Leupold Mk 4 with Horus reticle and AAC can shooting .308 PCP Polymer cased ammo at 1000 yards

1000 yard shots with a Leupold and a Horus reticle made it ridiculously easy. Not a lot is known about this new PCP Ammunition, but I will be keeping an eye on it from now on. This may certainly be the most exiting development in ammo in DECADES. So far I’m sold, but there’s a lot to be learned, including reloading requirements, case life, potential accuracy improvements, weight savings, and lower CUP (Copper Units of Pressure). Very, very exciting ammo, available soon in popular calibers.

My cut eyeball wan’t too much trouble but I did have an issue with it so I removed the plastic sheath over it. I play a doctor on TVand sometimes at home. Some of us jumped off the Stratosphere Sky Jump. It was fine and worth the 83 bucks, although you do have a brake on you so it’s not a free-fall. Fun, though, jumping off a 106 story building.

Only the first step off the 106 story Stratosphere is scary

We and our new doggie are learning about each other every day and having fun. Thank God for the knowledgeable and judicious use of E-Collars for loveable but schizophrenic rescued pit bulls!

More to come about the SHOT show itself soon!

This whole week I’ll be wearing 5.11 Taclite Pro shirts and pants with 5.11 Tactical Trainer boots and a Galco SB3 leather dress belt. It’s not that I’m a spokesperson for 5.11, but they make my favorite clothes for a working trip of this kind. The shirts and pants are airy and comfortable, and the boots have been favorites for a few years when I’m not wearing dress shoes. I’ll walk lots of miles carrying plenty of weight, and my backpack of choice is also from 5.11 Tactical, the excellent Rush 12, which is also my every day pack. I use some lightweight BLACKHAWK!, and Propper clothing, as well. It’s gonna be a ton of work, and much of it will be fun. A bunch of us are also looking forward to the Sky Jump from the top of the Stratosphere. It is the highest controlled free fall in the world, at about 855 feet or the equivalent of 108 floors! Yow!

A piece of plastic I was prying on in the kitchen shot up and caught me in the eye. It cut my cornea and the white of my left eye in several places. They put a giant protective contact lens type cover over it while it heals. It will stay in for over a week until I get back. If you’re looking for fun, this is not it. The last couple of days were brutal, but today it’s a bit better. It won’t make anything easier. I’ll be playing hurt again with a trashed right elbow and shoulder, also. Could be worse.

We got a new doggie! A new daughter in our home! This is My Shirley’s dog. She really misses Rad. Shirley named her Tinker Bella. She’s a pit bull we got from a local rescue center taken from a family for neglect. She’s got some fighting scars, but a great disposition and is full of love. She will certainly act as a crime deterrent. Her head is giant and thick, and full of intimidation. I startled her when I went to the bathroom without the lights on early in the morning and she came at me like a bulldozer until she realized I was Dad. We both love her immensely already.

I hope your new year is going well for all of you! I’ll report on SHOT in a week or so, but you’ll be able to see some films taken there almost in real time!

Dad and Rad

We had to put our boy Rad down Saturday. He was 100 years old and just used up. All three of us were ready for it. He was my and My Shirley’s only son, best friend, great protector, and bird dog extraordinaire.  He’s playing catch with his floppy disc with Jesus now, and no longer in pain. Rad caught 15 floppy discs in a row in the air one time, although the pairing of Rad with Jesus might even better that record. Our house certainly will never be the same without him. For almost 16 years we three were intimate through good and bad, surgeries for me and him, and well over a thousand birds of all kinds. He’s young again in heaven.

Here’s a poem he wrote for me:

Ode to My Father

Why did you pick me, Dad,
Among all my other siblings?

I was too young to guess at the time,
Or even know what was happening,
When you tested us
With pinches,
And smiles,
And shouts of encouragements.

You carried me into your sterile home,
And let my dander settle
On everything,
And let me change your life.

You are my Taskmaster,
And my teacher,
And my True Love.

I adore you, my Father.

You give me food,
And a warm place to sleep.
And scratch my belly,
And let me hunt BIRDS with you,
And FETCH things for you,
And let me act goofy,
Until the belly laughs pour freely from your soul.

What a fine sight!

You make me wag!

My God says there are no humans in heaven,
Just kibbles,
And scents,
And holes to dig,
And things to chase.
But if I can’t be there with you eventually, Dad,
Just bury me in the garden with the stupid cats,
So at least I can push up some vegetables,
And my dust will kiss your mouth again.

Love,

Your son,

Radical Lee von Dundee Ledin

Hope you’re all enjoying the new year, and good luck!

Last year was another great one for my family and me, as well as for OpticsPlanet! I was fortunate enough to take lots of trips and a few hunts, including to Alaska for bear.  

I created plenty of sumptuous home-cooked meals using great equipment, and enjoyed a goodly number of fine restaurants. One of my favorite meals ever was superb sushi with great company at Cirella’s in Melvile, NY, where a few of us visited our Nikon Sport Optics friends in their corporate offices. 

Of course, the title holder for my favorite restaurant is still John and Emerald’s “Italian Kitchen” in Deerfield. Indulge yourselves there sometime and be happily amazed.

Burned lots of ammo, got some new guns. Turned 50. Lost weight. Wrecked my shoulder and elbow somehow. Learned a lot about business from my friend and latest mentor Mark, and about life in general from so many. My Shirley and I are blessed and healthy otherwise, and Rad is still with us, as are our families.

Young and innocent Steven

Our Western-themed OP Christmas party was a wild success, with contests in bull riding, roping, fast draw, and literally a smashing success, especially in the context of whiffle-bat-wielding mobs thrashing, destroying my hand made pinatas with abandon. They bashed 11 of them, and a more wild melee hasn’t been seen. I may have overbuilt them just a bit, but they had to hold a dozen pounds of loot or so from vendors. Nobody got hurt, and the vendor loot that spewed from the violently busted mache containers was often expensive and cool, like Surefire 6PX flashlights and Sonic Defender hearing protection, Browning pocket knives (coming soon),  and Serengetti and Bolle sunglesses, all wrapped in OP t-shirts to prevent cuts and contusions as they shot over the heads of the crowd like stinger missles. I also made a couple dozen splats of cow poop out of painted foam insulation with corn and peanuts and a smooshed boot heel print or two.

Took 5 friends to my favorite range last week, G.A.T. Guns, in Dundee, IL. Certainly one of the busiest weeks of the year to go, but our combined schedules made it necessary to go at that time. There was a short waiting list, and eventually we all got in. Most of the 5 were new shooters, or had little experience except Tony the Fireman from Florida. He did great, and I didn’t have to watch him. He was a big help and a very good shooter and shot.  G.A.T. has 3000 different firearms on display, and 24 individual, 25 yard shooting lanes for pistol calibers only. They have a large selection of rental guns if you have an Illinois FOID card.

Hot bullets and money shot out of a couple 1911s, a .40, a few 9mms, .38s, .357s, and several .22s. The ammo bags and the wallet got lighter quickly. Again the new girls did better than the new boys. As an instructor for over 20 years I can tell you that this is the case the majority of the time. I have a curious philosophy about this. I used our new OPMOD range bag prototype and it was superb again. Coming soon… we all need one or more, and they’ll be great gifts.

Completed another mannequin project, with four baseball players. It was my most challenging yet,  using marine bondo, steel exoskeletons, and balance.

Got steered into social media a lot this year, with many filmings for Youtube, and a few for Midwest Outdoors TV show, and a couple of interviews with Jim Slinsky with the Outdoor Talk Network. And a bit in print here and there.

I wish you all the very best and healthiest and most prosperous new year ever, and especially to our soldiers away from home during the holidays. I was there, I remember the feelings.

Once I tried to look a little like Santa by spraying my big red beard with the aerosol snow that you use for windows. Problem was, when I tried to wash it off it melted into an epoxy that was impossible to remove. I had to shave the whole beard off. Good times.

I took Rad’s first gun down from its plaque the other day, oiled it up and shot it a few times. It’s a commemorative Daisy Red Ryder with walnut furniture. The brass plate proclaims it as Radical Lee von Dundee’s first gun. We are both proud of it. Lacking opposable thumbs, though, it’s hard for him to load.

Our Christmas gala is tonight and we’re renting the Chevy Chase country club. It’s a Western-themed ho-down. Yeee haw! I made 11 pinatas and filled them with lots of great loot given to us by vendors. Should be a lot of fun.

Merry Christmas, and Happy Chanuka. Have a blessed season.

Nikon Monarch 6-24x50SF

The weather was pretty good for New York’s Long Island, where Nikon keeps its corporate offices. We’ve known the good folks there for quite a while and have a great working relationship with them, besides being friends. This trip was to pick our brains as one of their most strategic partners, and to talk about products to be introduced at this year’s SHOT show. I’ve hunted with some of these folks in Africa and Iowa, and the informality of the meetings keeps conversations interesting and honest. The new sport optics products for 2012 are as exciting as any company has ever done. Still top secret stuff and I gave my word I wouldn’t speak of them until they give me the okay. Suffice it to say that I am extremely excited for the new offerings.

OPMOD products are taking off like crazy, and justifiably so. Our binoculars are truly the best value on the market. Great products with a lifetime warranty.

OPMOD 8x42 waterproof binocular

Christmas is right around the corner! Check out our riflescopes page and peruse our offerings by brand or price! There’s something for everyone, and almost 50 manufacturers to choose from! Share the riflescope landing page with your loved ones along with some hints!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Here’s a couple of videos we just filmed, giving a shout out to our latest OPMOD binocular and OPMOD spotting scopes.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Wheeler 89 piece deluxe Gunsmithing screwdriver kit

You had better start giving suggestions if you want some useful gifts for Christmas. Here’s some I rely on regularly….

The above picture is the Wheeler 89 piece deluxe gunsmithing screwdriver kit that includes bits for getting deeper into guns than most folks will ever go, so a better choice may be the Wheeler 72 piece kit. It may be more practical for you and is a bit less money. These bits are made for gunsmithing and have the proper flat ground profile to preserve every sharp screw edge you start with. Hardware store screwdrivers are ground at an angle and don’t fill the screw slot properly.

Hoppes green rifle cleaning mat

For stocking stuffers grab a few Hoppes rifle and shotgun mats. They have a fluid-proof backing to prevent oils and solvents from soaking through onto your kitchen table, ensuring that your wife won’t have to bonk you with a rolling pin for ruining the woodwork. They are machine washable.

Tipton gun vise

You need a stable platform for working on your guns, and the best I have found is the standard Tipton gun vise. It is impervious to chemicals, has very functional padded vise jaws and places to put your screws and tools while working. There is a deluxe version also that is called the Tipton Best gun vise that I find useful mostly for double guns and AR types.

Leupold Mark 4 torque wrench

If you use 1913 style rings or mounts with 1/2″ nuts, do yourself a favor and invest in the Leupold Mark 4 65 inch pound torque wrench. With this and your favorite 1/2″ socket (not included) you can instantly remove and install your parts tightened to the exact specifications that manufacturers require, and as long as you replace the optic in the same place it came from you will ensure that your return to zero will be as close as possible.

Wheeler Fat torque wrench

For other screws and nuts to be tightened to the proper specifications, the Wheeler Fat torque wrench comes with 10 bits and can be adjusted for the proper torque for anything from aluminum rings to stock bolts.

We at OpticsPlanet.com offer about 600,000 different items for sale. There’s something for everyone! With all orders receive a free Maxpedition all weather notebook from Rite in the Rain while supplies last!

For a rimfire, my latest favorite is the Nikon Prostaff Rimfire 3-9×40 with the BDC 150 reticle. I like the magnification range and size of this scope for 22s, and the BDC 150 reticle, inconjunction with the Spot On Technology website makes for great long range targeting without moving your turrets.

If you’re tired of flashlights that have a hundred different settings and want something more simple, try the Browning Tactical Hunter. I’ve been using one for a couple of years and it’s one of my favorites. It does one thing…turns on to maximum 210 lumens with one click of the tailcap. It lasts a long time and comes with three colored lenses. I use the red one almost exclusively. A great and powerful flashlight in a compact package from a quality company at a remarkable price for what you’re getting.

Our OPMOD 10×42 and 8×42 binoculars have quickly become customer favorites. I filmed a short spot this morning showcasing some of its features. It is the best value on the market in a medium priced quality binocular with a lifetime warranty, developed with substantial customer input. We know you’ll love them.

Happy Thanksgiving! I have a lot to be thankful for. I’ll start brining my bird tonight, and maybe make my Bohemian dressing early. I’m already looking forward to leftovers. My best to you and yours! Enjoy the holiday!

Elk meat from heaven!

I’m having a fun day today at OpticsPlanet on this chilly Friday in Northbrook. Our weekly staff meeting was even more delicious than normal, with lots of great news from various departments. Lots of continued growth. This is truly a dynamic place to work. At all levels you had better be on your toes and not rest on your laurels. Not what have you done for me lately, but what are you doing for me now. And it’s Christmas! Our time of the year!

My first meeting had to do with a project regarding SHOT show and all the people going. We are renting three separate houses this year to accommodate all of us. We’re about two dozen strong attendees so far. Every single person is so valuable to us.

My second meeting was with our Social Committee regarding our Christmas party. Fun projects posed to me earlier have already cost me about a week’s worth of extracurricular activities in my garage and basement with paper mache and balloons.

 My third and fourth meetings were with vendor services and purchasing, and here I am back at my desk deciphering potential OPMOD products and directing my great soldiers from Product Intelligence.

 Last night was a great meeting with a particularly favorite vendor, and the night before was a great dinner with the new cheese from Zeiss. Look for a completely exciting and new look from this company, traditionally underappreciated by the middling income spending public.

 I had another hour long interview with Jim Slinsky from the Outdoor Talk Network this week and it will be aired Saturday. Take a listen. Jim is a kindred outdoor spirit and easy to talk to. His show is the longest running and most widely distributed radio show in the country. Click on this link to find the stations and times for your listening pleasure.

 Christmas time is about here, which is superbowl time for OP. We are now a full-fledged campus, with three separate buildings. The latest move went extremely well. We’ve been growing so fast for so long, we simply get better every time.

 I’ve been using my new favorite headlamp for grilling, the Coast LED #19273. It has a rear battery box, small and light, that holds three AAA batteries and has a lever to easily adjust intensity. The on/off switch is on the front and accessible even with frozen gloved hands. The beam is adjustable in intensity. It has a working battery life of up to 15 hours. I used one in Alaska on my last hunt and is now my go-to headlamp. I highly recommend this light, and I’ve been using it for grilling for the last few weeks.

 My cooking lately has been grilled Cuban pork chops with cumin, olive oil and lime zest, and I just made one of My Shirley’s favorites, goosekabobs marinated in light teriaki with bacon, fresh vegetables and wild rice. I also smoked some goose breasts with red wine, cider, cloves and cinnamon sticks in the water pan, and basted the breasts with honey and cinnamon. I used apple wood this time. Last night was Swiss elk sirloin tips with lots of mushrooms. We eat a lot of God’s creatures.

Elk Swiss steak with fresh spuds and lima beans

Enjoy your weekend!

Ketchikan, AK

My God was drunk and delirious and flailing when His Paintbrush spewed forth the colors and medium to make this part of our planet. Ketchikan (Kehi to the locals) was the first city in Alaska I’d ever landed in, and the terrain and scent of it is something I had always hoped I would experience sometime in my life. It didn’t disapoint. I was with JB from EOTech, the inimitable predator hunter Byron South, and his camera man Sammy. If Byron is Cisco, Sammy is his Pancho. A good working pair.

JB and I stayed at the Best Western and had a nice meal and were already fairly well lubricated in the late evening when Byron and Sammy showed up. Our plans were to take a ferry to Prince of Wales Island, about 4 hours away the next afternoon. We saw some of the town the next morning. The sports fields for the local schools used pea gravel instead of turf or grass, and the indigenous tribes were apparent by their totems and speech. We got our extra licenses and tags and I bought a cool brimmed hat that I thought that I needed. I recommend you buy stuff you don’t need in far-away places because the cachet makes them even more valuable to you in the future. We saw the preserved whore-houses and saloons that were a staple there 175 years ago. A very friendly city. People don’t take fresh fruit and vegetables for granted in Alaska, and they are a hardy folk with a lot of sand in their craw.

Ketchikan

 Such geology I have never seen before, not from the North Atlantic to the East or West or bottom of Africa, or even in the Mediterranean, although if some coasts and cliffs of Spain were cold and had black and sharp volcanic gargantuan boulders with coniferous trees poking out like porcupine follicles everywhere and had all other inches covered in moss and lichen and it was always saturated and rainy and uncomfortably frigid you would get an idea.

We met our friend Dick in Hollis and barely managed to stuff our gear into his truck for the couple hour drive on the immaculate two lane pool table straight blacktop roads to Coffman Cove, where we would be staying overnight in a comfortable travel trailer bunkhouse until we left via boats to our final destination. The roads were like traveling through a virginal and old growth forest artery, with trees so hearty and healthy and huge, and rivers sliding under the road at every opportunity, always a unique and noisy waterway, completely wild and different from the last one. They appeared like thick pencil marks on a map every quarter or half mile. Virginal rivers and creeks and streams that hold every kind of creature in its lure, including humans. Salmon are born here and make their way to the sea from underneath our truck as we pass. You see these places on the Discovery channel when bears gorge themselves on fish during spawning season.

On the way to the cabin we stopped and pulled crab pots from the cold waters of the Pacific ocean. Heavy crab pots. We were acting like in a mini version of “Deadliest Catch“. I learned to tell the difference between males and females by the flap on the bottom of their shell, and you can keep only males over 6 1/4″ wide. Their claws would vise grip your anything if you picked them up wrong. You have to pick them up from the back only. Some of these crustasians weighed several pounds and had the most beautiful purpled colors and were prehistoric and arachnid-like and grotesque and sturdy and multi-jointed.

We steamed 18 crabs for our first dinner on Barnes lake. Dick told me what to do and I ended up putting our stock pot on the fire for the allotted time after the boil started until the crabs were done. The five of us gorged ourselves on ridiculously exquisite giant male dungeness crabs just two hours out of the Pacific, steamed over a rainforest red cedar campfire. We ate them like seals, breaking the shells with our teeth and sucking and picking out the meat with wrath. I think I may have involuntarily barked like a seal a few times from shock and delight while swallowing . The stick of butter I melted over the fire in an impromptu tin foil gravy boat helped augment the flavor and visual decadence and mess of the experience. These pieces of meat pulled from freshly dead crabs were some of the best pieces of flesh I will ever eat and enjoy. Ever.

Magnificent bald eagles, seals, glass clear water 20 feet under your boat, magnifying decades of mussels on the sea beds, rainforest mountains covered in lichen and moss and cedars and all types of coniferous old growth trees with canopies so thick that rain often doesn’t reach the ground, and volcanic black boulders with sometimes craggy and grotesque faces, and sometimes smooth like a river pebble. God was truly drunk and euphoric while making this, with love and ingenuity, and maybe vodka.

The second day promised to be The Day Of The Bear! Rain was constant, but my gear was perfect again, chosen and researched for previous hunts with the zeal of a potentially frozen and uncomfortable hunter with a credit card not yet maxed out, and an understanding wife. Today was the day to fulfil promises and expectations with bears in Alaska!

More shenanigans with the up to 22′ tide swings and bottoming boats on gravel bars. Refreshing sea spray and a long, hard hike through the thickest wet old growth temperate forest in the world. So thick and impenetrable it was normal to slither and climb 20 yards, just to backtrack and try another direction for another 20 yards. I was soaked from in the inside out. Another great day in my life, but no bears or deer.

The trail to our outhouse cut through a rainforest path thick like sponge,  green and wet. Always wet. A very nice outhouse, as crappers go. It had a window on the upper half of the door so you could see the splendor of creation as you had your movement. It behooves you to be regular on trips of this ilk. Don’t back up traffic during rush hour. Toilet paper in its many guises on a hunt is at a premium. God forbid you get it wet. Just run out of it and see what else you can use. Napkins, newspaper, unfilled deer tags, dollars (not three quarters and two dimes and a nickel), kelp, moss, bark, corncobs, and the list goes on. I’ve never had a bowl movement with such beautiful scenery. Watch for spiders, and don’t drop your camera. Cold seats make your sphincter tingle.

Another successful hunt! I loved the impromptu planning  of it, the importance to me of it, the chance to do something that I’ve wanted to do most of my life. I needed to to this. I wanted to do this. I can hardly wait to go again, and do it better.

I had nothing left to do but scramble to get back up equipment. I grabbed my Freedom Arms 454 with my EOTech OPMOD EXPS2 HWS mounted on two piggybacked modified mounts to make it work. I successfully used this combination to take a nice hog earlier in the year, was still sighted in, and I still had 40 handloads for it. I stuffed this in a hard case, locked it and buried it in my rolling duffel. I had an extra sleeping bag, an old Montgomery Ward’s down filled mummy bag that would have to do. An extra Stony Point Explorer tripod, Gerber knife and saw. I grabbed an extra Zeiss Conquest 8×30 binocular. I didn’t have a spare mattress. I had a UPS call tag sent the next morning to get the gun shipped to Frontier Shipping and Copyworks. Use these excellent folks next time you have needs in Ketchikan. Couldn’t have done it without them.

I really was going to miss my new Remington R-25 with my EOTech OPMOD MPO II sight and magnifier, and the new OPMOD 10×42 binoculars I designed. I was looking forward to seeing how they would hold up under a proof test. We just got them in and I couldn’t wait to abuse them.

I can’t ever sleep before a big hunt anyway, and it would do no good to cry about this situation. It would be criminal for me to whine, and I certainly wouldn’t bring this to the table with my hunting partners, so I grilled some chicken. Good therapy and great chicken.

I’m back from my hunt now and still have not received my gun case. No fault whatsoever of Frontier Shipping.

Dad looks for golf balls every day. He donated 12,000 golf balls to his church last year, and finds more than that annually. He keeps a bucket filled by the fourth hole so his cronies can pick out their favorites. He gives many friends boxes of balls of their choice. His 86 year old body gets daily morning exercise by climbing up and down precarious and rocky ravines, through thorns and over beds of leaves that hide snakes and walking sticks and armadillos. He’s like an octogenarian spider monkey, or maybe more like a billy goat. He has superhuman golf ball finding skill. The morning I went out with him I thought I did pretty well and found 12. He found 39. I can’t remember getting beat so badly at anything. He doesn’t only find golf balls, he golfs like he knows what he’s doing. He shot a 35 on the back nine the other day, and regularly beats his age.

Our last batch of venison peppers showcase God’s bounty with five kinds of tomatoes reduced to sauce, mixed with our best batch of green peppers and lots of homegrown herbs. Prayers to our recently passed friend, Judy, and her loved ones. God bless.

I had a few friends over to shoot for their first time, and Liz and Stacy are truly lovely creatures that make your heart bang out loud. Andre a bit less so, for my tastes, anyway. They all did great and we all had fun.

Our OP party was a big sucess with about 400 folks in attendance, and simply for the gratuitous sake of posting another picture of cute gals, here it is, with Liz and Nancy and me with the face paint around my eyes. My dog really closes his eyes when we kiss. Hilarious, but I feel the same way.

So many OPportunites here. Yesterday my team and I filmed some more videos in-house, showcasing our favorite holsters. Each of my guys chose several of their favorites and gave a quick synopsis of why they liked them. These guys have different backgrounds, and therefore, different products that fit their lifestyles best. Sgt Bending likes military products that he is familiar with. His brother Trevor is a hunter and a shooter and likes his certain genre. George is an old school police officer and swings that way. Team leader Mark has been shooting since kindergarden, is a pupil of Thunder Ranch, and practices semi-ridiculous scenarios on his 100 acre farm in Tennessee using everything the Technical Sales department at OpticsPlanet has to offer, including camo, tactical vests, footwear, communication, night vision, optics, and countless other gun accessories. Of course, I have been a severe GunBitch for pushing 50 years. Videos will be uploaded soon.

Regarding filming, our videographer extraordinaire Devin and I filmed in a “secret” off-campus location for our latest E-newsletter with the emphasis on the upcoming hunting seasons and products that I like to use. The background wall had a couple of beer signs that had to be removed because of branding issues, so I replaced them with some more dead animals. I had to “Move the Pheasant”.

The pheasant was my boy Rad’s first point. It was not his first point in the field, but instead out my bedroom window when he was just a few months old. He was sitting next to me on our bed with my arm around him curiously scrupulizing the outdoor arena he calls his own when a beautiful long tailed cock pheasant strutted by in full color. He saw him first. He stood on the bed like a statue, locked like steel, tail up, intelligent eyes focused like laser beams. I opened the window and took action, and later the bird ended up on my bedroom wall in a testament to Radical Lee von Dundee’s skillful prowess as a baby. When I needed to fill the hole for filming left by a beer sign, the flying stuffed ringneck accomplished that task with aplomb.

Rad is a German Shorthaired pointer, and he’s 15 1/2 years old, which is much older than most of his breed live. I recently had to drug him pretty hard with the help of my vet and hunting partner Chuck to surgically remove a couple of his nails that were preventing him from getting appropriate traction to enable him to get up from our slippery polished wooden floors. His age and past cancer are tolling on him, and he’s about used up, and the several pound tumor sprouting from his chest doesn’t help. My Shirley and I sure love our boy.

I took my Harley Sportster to work today, it was his turn. My Kawasaki KLR was looking at me longingly, but I have to share, just like you have to do with two women (back in the day) or two favorite carry guns. Women and bikes and guns need equal time so you keep familiar and intimate with them and don’t piss either one off. Don’t try to do with one what you do with the other (too hard or often). The girls were greatly different, as are the bikes, but my two favorite carry guns are Glocks of different calibers and sizes, so the controls are the same, unlike the bikes and the gals.

I almost got a moving violation for driving with no hands last week. On a motorcycle. That would be unique.

My octogenarian father lives on a golf course with his lovely wife in a nice house in Arkansas in a community saturated with a hundred other Q-tips. I call them Q-tips because that’s what the top of their heads look like over their seats when you’re driving behind them waiting to pass. He gets his exercise by walking a few holes looking for golf balls in the early morning. The other day he found 172 balls on the 14th hole, and he didn’t even finish looking. He just couldn’t carry any more. Wow. Dad is pretty anal, and that’s why my garage has every screw and tool in its own place, scrupulously organized. The apple doesn’t fall too far. He has plastic tubs filled with balls, sorted by major types and colors. He donates them to his church and other groups, as well as friends. Once he put a huge box of balls on a friend’s front porch, and when the friend picked the box up all the balls ran out. Dad had cut the bottom of the box out. HA. The apple doesn’t fall too far….

OPMOD is progressing with the promise of our own branded goods made to our own specifications. We have been sourcing directly, and our offerings will continue to grow. The top photo is of our new EOTech OPMOD MPO II.

My doctor said my blood work was bad and if I come in again in three months with the same readings I may have to start taking drugs for diabetes. Horse hockey. He suggested the South Beach Diet, which I have adhered to (almost) religiously for almost a month now. I haven’t had a piece of freaking bread or a beer since then. Rabbit food and cheap wine hangovers are not my norm. The book is great, and now I understand a lot more. I will adhere to a better diet for the rest of my life. Everything is an OPportunity. My cup surely runneth over.

My Shirley and I are so fortunate in so may ways.

After work today I have the honor of introducing a few more of the several hundred OpticsPlanet employees in the art of pistolcraft. I never start teaching by cheating with lasers, and it is imperative that the 22LR cartridge is utilized to its fullest before any thing else. Start slow and correctly. Larger and faster comes later. Boys don’t realize that guns are really heavy for a lot of girls, and weaker folks tire quickly. An hour long shooting session is plenty. Just like training a puppy. Short and fun with success keeps them wanting more and entices them to listen to instructions. Much later on you can go ballistic.

Enjoy this important holiday, wear your American colors, and appreciate the country you live in!

The night I came back I was treated to Obama’s news about Bin Laden. As a former U.S. Navy sailor I couldn’t have been more proud. My friend George snapped this picture for posterity:

All is well on the home front, except My Shirley has been absolutely kicking my ass in darts lately. I’m not very proud of her.

The hunt this time was sponsored by the famous laser company Crimson Trace, and with me were my Team Leader Mark from Technical Sales, Tony from Purchasing, and Kelly from Marketing Services. Mark is a shooter but hasn’t had a hunting license for decades. Tony and Kelly hadn’t hunted or shot a gun before.

The ADL7 Lodge is opulent with mounted animals from around the world. Not like the dinky ones in my house, but really enormous examples. Some of the animals were approaching world records. The lodge slept two to a room with separate showers and toilets for each, and the beds and pillows were the nicest I can remember sleeping on for a long time. The rooms had no windows, so the place was black as night should be, and it was pretty soundproof. This related into some of the best Zs I can remember. If it wasn’t for the clock, you wouldn’t know if it was night or day, and since most of the hunting was done at night, that was certainly a question when you woke. The lodge was immaculate and spacious, with gracious hosts Adam and Dusty and posse friendly and likable. The large bar area was well used, but the pool tables were not used well. We all kind of sucked at billiards. The food was excellent, including the breakfasts.

I saw more exotic game at the ranch than I’ve seen in several trips to the dark continent. For a price you can hunt them, but we were there for pigs.

The pickup beds were mounted with tall metal crow’s nests that sat two hunters, and another two that could stand. From this vantage point you could see for miles in some directions. The base of this crow’s nest was about 10 feet high, so your head was maybe 16 feet above the ground. A great view, and as far as I know, nobody got seasick.
Iian Harrison, the winner of the first “Top Shot” TV show is a good egg and now the Public Relations manager for Crimson Trace, and he was nice enough to take our three guys to the rifle range on the grounds for some rudimentary safety and shooting instruction. From what I hear, he did a great job, and the guys were pretty comfortable with the firearms when he was finished. I was on another project at the time. Thanks, Iian. My first time to shoot came the next night, when we spotted hogs in the road a couple hundred yards ahead of us. We stalked and got to about a hundred yards. Everything is different in the dark. I glommed onto a Sako A7 in .270 WSM with one of the new Leupold VX-R 3-9×50 riflescopes that I knew was sighted in. Nice gun. Light enough for me to carry all day, and put together well. I sat in the scrub, ignoring the ubiquitous cactus needles and other pokey things piercing my knees and rump, and adjusted the illuminated point in the reticle to as low as it would go. When our guide Scott shone his spotlight’s red beam on the pig I squeezed the trigger and it dropped. The giant hog was maybe big enough for a large hoagie roll. Hard to tell how big the buggers are in the dark with no other pigs around. I tossed the maybe 50 pound pig in the back of the truck and off we went on further adventures.

Some folks missed shots through the next few days, some folks combined for kills. There were some good one shot kills, including Iian with his single shot BMG taking off half a hog’s head at about 200 yards. Wish I would’ve seen that one.

There were lots of cool guns provided by Crimson Trace to choose from, and Tony grabbed a DPMS heavy .308 and slayed a couple pigs nicely during our few days there. His last chance came the early morning before we left. He had a chance at the last pig we saw, and as excited as he was, calmed himself after a short stalk, knelt, sat, and then went prone and blasted a 168 grain Sierra through his boiler room. Nice shot, and the pig went down in its tracks. It couldn’t have been done better. Now we have a bloodthirsty pig killing machine in our purchasing department, and Kelly slayed his share, also. My God, we’ve created monsters. Bwahahaha!

One night by myself I thought I heard some hogs. My ears were straining to find out from where. They were coming closer. I heard them grunting, coming fast! Then two Mexican eagles (Cara caras) flew by and the grunting noise was coming from them. When pigs fly.

I shot my second pig with an AR type DPMS in .308 with another 3-9 x50 Leupold VX-R. I shot him quickly several times, the guide noting impact and calling him down, but the hog got up and kept going. These swine can be bullet traps, with the hard and thick gristle plates sucking up a lot of lead. I was using my new favorite flashlight, the amazing Insight Technology HX150 (soon to be available at OP), and if it wasn’t for the superb long lasting performance of this incredible flashlight with programmable brightness, my guide Oscar may not have been able to track the pig the last hundred yards or so, finding just the tiniest spots of blood. When Oscar spotted him he was facing us on all fours, and the fight was not yet out of him. When he was being dressed, we dug out a couple of pieces of bullet jackets close to the surface. The bullets just spun apart. The 168 Sierra Match Kings are not the best projectiles to be used for this application, for sure, but that’s all we had besides ball.

One night I was dropped off in a metal blind next to a pond. I was about 125 yards away from a feeder that dropped corn every hour. I’ve never been so comfortable on a folding chair. The blind was above ground maybe 6 feet, and the inside was carpeted and about 5 feet square and plenty tall enough to stand in. There was a window on each side about 3×1 feet that quietly folded down, leaving you plenty of room to shoot out of, easily able to cover 360 degrees. It was about 4:30 in the afternoon, and sunset wasn’t for hours yet. I read a book, drank some water, took off my boots, took off my shirt, and considered taking a lot more off, but didn’t, as far as I will tell you. Lots of whitetails, gazelles, and other common African plains game animals got into bow range if I wanted them that way. But I was after pigs with a rifle.

Just as all light was gone the hogs came. I set the VX-Rs illuminated reticle dot as low as it would go, which was just perfect. Just a pinprick of light. I was using a Remington 700 in .300 Winchester that night, and I took the shot. The pig bolted. I didn’t hear the bullet slap, so I waited a while then went to look for blood. None. I looked further. Nope. And further. Nope. It’s hard to shoot in the dark, but I didn’t think the shot was that hard. I kept looking. A bit farther and a bit farther, until I lost my bearings and didn’t know where I was. What a jackass. I got turned around in the middle of a high fence hunting area. Typical. Leave it to Stever. There was an oil well lit up in the surface, but being as painfully dense as I often am, I didn’t realize what direction it was when I left the blind. About a half hour after losing the feeder, blind, and any sense of direction I decided to just turn my light off and conserve my batteries and wait and listen for the pickup to come get me. I kind of kept walking anyway, and saw a telephone pole. Followed it to a road and found my way back. I am so inept at this I couldn’t believe how far off course I was. Call me Magellan. All good, and good fun, but never saw a sign of a hit. I did take a jackrabbit later that night with that .300 at a good couple hundred yard poke. His left rear foot is stewing in formaldehyde and borax as we speak. Lucky for one of us.

CEO Lew and the rest of the great folks from Crimson Trace were fabulous hosts of our hunt, and we used their quality lasers on handguns and long guns. We even used some infrared lasers developed for the military, and we viewed these otherwise invisible beams with night vision that Crimson Trace purchased from OpticsPlanet. And I had my own fourth generation ATN NVM-14 with me also, of course.

The ADL7 Ranch is a high class facility that I recommend to everyone. The plethora of game abounds, and it’s a great place for photographing exotic animals as well as hunting them. I didn’t see any snakes, but they’re there, too. It really is a place to forget about work and enjoy the company of fellow hunters. Bring a wife and/or girlfriend and play in the bush!

My thanks to everyone involved, it was great fun, and I once again learned a lot, but now our Purchasing and Vendor Services offices have an aura of porcine death.

Seven guys from L-3 EOTech were here last Tuesday. A few of us from OP had productive meetings with them most of the day. These were to be our hunting partners for Texas hogs. After work we went to my favorite restaurant in the whole world, the Italian Kitchen, where we feasted like kings until the wee small hours of the morning. John and Emerald really outdid themselves this night above all others. Incredible. I especially enjoyed the buffalo steaks, raspberry chicken, and Australian high jumping rabbit among the dozen or more courses they brought out, and the Kentucky molasses custard was one of the most exquisite desserts I have ever had in my mouth. Too complex and layered with flavors to be described in words. Otherworldly and I felt unworthy. Great job again, thanks.

I started thinking, then whittling on my expensive SSK mount. I sanded off the top about 1/8″ with a belt sander like a shade tree mechanic, then started to change the angle of the sides. I was able to eventually make it accept one of the very nice Weaver flat top riser rails, after cutting two .206 (pic spec) recoil grooves into the SSK mount. I was more comfortable installing the OPMOD on the harder and more uniform Weaver mount than the softer aluminum of the SSK. The OPMOD has a grabbing surface that isn’t very big, and it’s not made to withstand recoil of this magnitude. The whole package went together perfectly, and completed with the OPMOD and a Streamlight TLR2 is just another example of a gun monkey gone mad. And I got to use power tools. I shot the gun with healthy loads at 50 feet without the light and laser. What a hoot. Good times. If you are comfortable with yummy dangerous explosions at wrist’s ends, this is for you.

God Bless America.

The SHOT (Shooting, Hunting, Outdoor Trade) show was in Las Vegas again this year at the Sands convention center. OpticsPlanet brought more employees than ever with us this time. Seventeen people went, and about half of them had never been there before. It’s a real eye opener. It’s always exciting to me, still, even though I’ve been to over a dozen. This year there were over 57,000 attendees, and over 1,600 companies represented. It is the largest show of its kind in the world. For folks like me that are veterans of the show, it’s always nice to see old friends and compatriots that I may now see only once a year. Many of these gun people have been in my basement for libations and have kissed my wife and petted my dog, or vice versa. Gun people are generally in a kind of incestuous relationship with the industry. Someone may be with Glock for a few years, then the next time you see them they’re with Beretta or Taurus, then Springfield or H&K. We all seem to move laterally.

The coolest product that I saw this year for OpticsPlanet was the new VX-6 from Leupold. Finally, a 6x magnification range scope from the Beaverton company. Outstanding. Leupold also introduced the VX-R, which has a lit reticle, but the switch has been moved from the ocular bell to the left side of the turret housing. Much cleaner looking. I had a sneek peek at this one on a recent antelope hunt sponsored by them. Leupold also introduced some new trail cameras, and the HAMR, which is an acronym for “High Accuracy Midrange Reticle“. It’s a fixed 4x made for AR type platforms, and may be purchased with or without an included Deltapoint mini red dot. The reticle is lit via LED. There’s also an incredible new 1.1-8x scope called the CQBSS (Close Quarter Battle Sniper System) with an amazing 8x magnification range, and the reticle lit holographically. The Leupold trail cameras promise to be great sellers, also.

In second place for cool OpticsPlanet-type stuff is Nikon. Go to their “Spot On Technology web page and you’ll find a place to order a custom elevation turret for most of their Monarch and newly redesigned Prostaff lines. Enter your factory load number and other specifics and get a new dial in the mail. They hope to have this delivered to your door in one week for under a hundred bucks. This is a steal.

Lasermax has a new rechargeable green laser that looks good. Charged via mini USB.

Guns are always cool, and I have to look at them not only because I love them, but because I need to check compatibility with so many of the products we sell.

The new Browning 1911-.22 was my favorite new introduction this year. Colt has one, also, but the Browningis not an Umarex-made gun, and it fits my hand like a glove. It promises to be a great one if she runs okay, although a bit pricey. They have a full size and a commander size. They are about 80% the size of a standard 1911.

Springfield, Kimber, Remington, and others all have new versions of 1911s, and Colt has a newly roll marked 1911-2011 version. 100 years for the old warhorse. The Colt Mustang is back, too! Dan Wesson has some race guns to make anybody’s blood boil, and CZ pulled out all the stops again for competition guns. Kel-Tec’s new .22 mag rifle looks interesting, and Hi-Standard had ARs and AMTs and even a version of the old HD military pistol.

Ruger had their new 77 Scout rifle there and I fell in love with it. It’s a .308 with a 10 round detachable magazine. It has a 1913 rail on it, comes with Mini-14 type sights, and the rear sight is removable so you can still mount a standard eye relief scope on it with the included rings. I really like this gun a lot. It’s going to be a great seller.

Springfield XD(M) compact. Nice gun. I kinda hate them at the same time, though. I’ve been shooting and carrying and competing with Glocks since the late 80s, and I’m very loyal to them, but I shoot the XDs a bit better. M&Ps, also. Maybe the Gen 4 Glocks will change that, but I haven’t gotten the chance to play with them yet.

Taurus has a new 9mm carbine out. S&W has a new .410 revolver out called the Governor. I liked everything about the Rohrbaugh R9 except for the price and the reviews. There are extended mags available for the whole Saiga line, including for mine chambered in .410.

Burris introduced a new QD P.E.P.R. mount that should sell like hotcakes, and Steiner has a new line of high end tactical scopes. Swarovski has a new BRT reticle that will work well. BRT is Ballistic Ranging Tactical. Tactical was formerly a dirty word in Swarovski-speak, but they’ve come to their senses, apparently.

The finest food in the best restaurants came after the show. Sushi one night, steak another, Italian and Spanish also represented. I don’t gamble, so after dinner and drinks I went back to my room at the Paris and got ready for the next day. As I closed my eyes before sleep I had guns on one eyelid and long stockinged legs on the other. Nothing wrong with either. Plenty of both to be seen in Vegas.

I’m looking forward to the addition of lots of new brands this year, and we get better at it all the time. We went for the company, but ultimately for you, the customer. We really try to keep abreast of the latest trends and products and try to cover all the bases to include everything in our offerings you may want (or need) to buy.

Lots of good food at home lately. Decadent blue cheese venison tacos last night, and elkalope stuffed peppers the night before. No wonder my pants are tight.

Been making rings and jewelry for friends lately out of ivory and deer bones. Glad to make a wingbone turkey call for a friend from a turkey he shot.

OPMOD double gun cases are now available. Tell me how you use yours!

Leaving for SHOT in a few hours. Pregame jitters, like before all the fifteen or so SHOTs I’ve been to. Lots of intensity for a long time. Lot of good work will get done.

The full size 10/22 for her dad required some good glass with magnification to wring out most of the performance available from this superb platform. I had in mind from the beginning to mount one of the outstanding Leupold VX-II 3-9×33 Rimfire EFR (Extended Focus Range) scopes. This is the finest small rimfire scope I am aware of, and it has been for decades. It is simply flawless. It comes with the fine Duplex reticle, and such small subtension allows for precise bullet placement at longer ranges. For a mount I again used the provided Ruger rail, and I decided to use the good looking Medium Weaver Steel Cross Lock rings. The height was perfect, being just a few 16ths off the barrel. I tapped out the rear sight to fit the scope. Unfortunately, when I mounted the scope, I was unable to boresight well enough with either boresighter. My windage was almost at its maximum. This could mean that the rings were off center, and as a matter of fact, the ring halves didn’t match up very well and I would’ve swapped them anyway. It could also mean that the base holes were drilled a bit off center, or the gun itself was tapped a bit crookedly. These things happen sometimes.

It was a moot point to discover which one or more of the three problems was affecting this, so I decided to go with the great Millett Angle-Loc rings because they are windage adjustable. I don’t like inserts like the Burris Signature rings offer, because then you have four more parts (the insert halves) to worry about. The fewer the parts the better is how I like to work. I installed the Millet medium matte rings, and they would have boresighted perfectly, but the Millett ring heights are different than the Weavers, and it put the scope too high for me to live with. Besides, the matte finish was boring and detracting from the beauty of the whole package. So again I chose new rings, this time the low blue Milletts, and they were perfect. They were just the right height to clear the rear sight by a few thousandths, so I tapped the sight back in. Now the package was complete, and gorgeous, and boresighted perfectly. Done. It just goes to show you, even with all the resources at my call, sometimes you just have to physically mate the parts to check compatibility.

I got a rudimentary zero on both guns in my basement range with some Remington Golden Bullets, gave them a quick clean, and nestled them in their respective cases I got for them. Both were Ruger-embroidered cases by Allen, order numbers 27140 and 27540.

I was also tasked with supplying a pistol they both could shoot. I thought my pink Sig Mosquito might be a bit large, so I picked up a cute little Walther P-22 with the factory laser. These are quality guns, and the laser adds a bit of fun and curiosity. It is easily adjusted and removed and reinstalled with a minimum of loss of zero. It comes with four different front sight heights and two backstraps. Cute little bugger.

Father and the birthday girl came over to my house and I had everything ready for them, including a 5.11 Range Ready Gear Bag filled with all the goodies they would need to shoot and maintain these three guns. In this excellent quality 5.11 range bag, large enough for lots of guns and ammo, were matching Howard Leight electronic hearing protection, inexpensive clear eyewear from Browning and Radians, a Hoppes cleaning mat, a Boresnake, Elite oil and solvent (I like the Elite products because they are non-hazardous, biodegradable, and have no fumes), brushes, bulk patches in .22 and 12 gauge (the 12 gauge patches make good wipes), silicone cloths, and lots of various targets. The bag fit everything easily, plus the bricks of ammo I procured for them. I particularly enjoy using the Howard Leight electronic muffs in indoor ranges because you may speak and be heard clearly and still cancel harmful noise levels from gunshots.

At the range, the kid’s first 10 rounds through the 10/22 Compact with the SPARC all went into a neat group a few inches across. SCORE! She was having fun, and this is maybe the most important aspect of introducing a new shooter to our sport, besides safety. Immediate success for the new shooter is crucial to keep their interest and leave them wanting more. She was an excellent student. I wondered if she was really 10, or a full grown person in disguise. The full size 10/22 with the 3-9x Leupold scope easily put a magazine into a rapid fire one inch group at 25 yards off an impromptu rest, and the Walther shot good but a bit low, easily fixed by exchanging the front sight for a lower one. We shot for an hour or so, then the young lady started to get a bit tired. I also brought some other guns, including an Olympic Arms AR-15 upper on a Colt lower with a Ceiner .22 conversion kit under an OPMOD sight, and a bunch of handguns in different calibers. Her dad and I got a few of them hot and dirty.

After shooting, we spoke about hygiene and lead dust, cleaned up and had a nice lunch, then went back to my house to clean guns, certainly my least favorite part. The whole day was a big success, and I’m always proud to help introduce any person to responsible firearm use and fun!

Lots of good cooking around my house lately using deer and elk venison I bagged in Iowa and Colorado, including a fabulous garlic and wine braised elk backstrap with red potatoes, parsnips, onions, celery, rutabagas, carrots, mushrooms, our own vacuum sealed garden tomatoes, and lots of fresh herbs from our garden! I first prepared the roast with 5.11 rub given to us as a Christmas gift by Dan Costa, CEO 5.11 Tactical, as well as an accomplished chef. Very nice flavor.

Christmas was great to My Shirley and me. Santa brought me a 12″ All-Clad fry pan with lid and some new Superman boxer shorts. SCORE! I also got a battery powered potato peeler that would be perfect for the repeat convict on your Christmas list, since it conveniently removes potato peels as well as finger prints with ease. My god, this thing is scary. You could shave a gorilla with this sucker. It should come with a box of bandages and Quick Clot. My Shirley got an Ivory necklace and earrings I made for her, and some clothes and chocolate and computer stuff and lots of other loot. I made a nice smoked ham for dinner, and tonight we’ll enjoy decadent eggs Benedict and hash browns! Leftover ham gets put into casseroles and omelets, and the bone is for split pea and navy bean soup. My poor Jewish friends miss out not only on Christmas, but also consumable dead pig parts. Yum!
Our OpticsPlanet Holiday Gala was the most extravagant ever. It was OpticsPlanet’s 10th anniversary, and we rented out the whole Field Museum of Chicago. Still waiting on a head count, but it was somewhere North of 400 people! Great food and dancing, and my team won second place in the scavenger hunt. Recount! A fine formal time was had by all. Most of the guys wore tuxedos, and the gals wore Renaissance ball gowns. My Shirley was the most beautiful creature there. How will we top this next year?

God bless you and yours this holiday season, and my very best wishes for a happy, healthy, and prosperous new year. Peace, good shooting, and AIM HARD!

I had six boxes of 20 gauge Remington Accutips for my new Savage 220F that I’ve been excited about shooting. The hype on these guns is tremendous. I know that every gun is an individual, but this gun is a piece of crap. Absolutely would not feed from the magazine. Absolutely would not eject. I also had one misfire because of a light hit. And to top it all off, it shot poorly, at least with the recommended Accutips. I got one group of three inches, but most were all over the place. I have six slugs left to bring with me if I decide to hunt with this gun as a single shot that does not eject. It’s a light and handy gun to carry around though, and the Accutrigger is excellent. Maybe I’ll shoot a doe with it.

The Winchester SX3 cantilever deer gun I set up for my friend Tom was great. First shot was on paper, and the adjustments were precise on the Nikon Slughunter 3-9×40. No wasted slugs, and Tom was able to group within a few inches immediately. Nice gun.

I also brought along a new pistol I bought, a Sig Mosquito that I’ll use to train folks. You can’t have too many .22s. Although this is one of the bright pink Sig Mosquitos, I’m still reasonably secure in my manhood. The gun ran great with some CCI Mini Mags and is going to be a new favorite for some of the smaller-handed shooters and gals.

So Saturday night I installed a 3-12×42 Nikon M-223 scope with the BDC reticle on my H&R Ultra Slug gun in Leupold QRW rings, and mounted a 3-9×40 Nikon Omega muzzleloading scope on my T/C Omega .50 caliber smokepole. As long as I was puttering in the gun room, I also mounted another M-223 with the RAT (Rapid Action Turret) turret in the Nikon M-223 mount on top of my Colt Competition II H-Bar. I may need it for coyotes if I fill my deer tags and have time. I cased up an old favorite 22-250 Remington 788 under a discontinued Simmons 6-24×44 SF Prohunter.

The 3-12×42 M-223 may seem like an odd duck for a 12 gauge slug gun, but it is a perfect fit, especially with the use of Nikon’s superb SPOT ON TECHNOLOGY website. This website will tell you the trajectory of anything in any environmental conditions, and even tell you the distances the BDC circles will be set for as long as you input your cartridge specifics. Get the Nikon Spot on Technology iPhone app also. It is the most useful program I have ever seen.

I had quite a few boxes of Lightfield EXP slugs that I use in my Remington 1100, so I brought those to the range, along with two boxes of Hornady SSTs that I wanted to shoot throught the H&R. I stopped at my local gun shop and bought two more.

Sunday at the range I started off by sighting in the H&R. First shot, light hit. And again, and again, and again. The primers were hardly touched. Both of my old boxes of SSTs had sunken primers. Would not shoot. The two new boxes I had shot well enough, but now I used them to sight in and needed more ammo. I bought three more boxes of the same lot number when I got home. Hopefully I’ll have some time to check zero before I hunt Friday. The Lightfields would not extract and were blowing primers. I’ve never had a problem with them before, but this gun just didn’t like them. The SST slugs were only grouping around three inches, so that’s what I have to live with.

I then tried to sight in my muzzleloader. The first shot was on paper. I was using two 50 grain Triple Seven pellets under a T/C 250 grain ShockWave sabot. I clean between every shot with this gun, and while swabbing the bore my ramrod broke off in my barrel. Disgusted, I went home and watched the Bears kick the Eagles’ ass.

I’m looking forward to this hunt a bunch. Tom’s a great guy and we’ll have fun

Tom and I will be going out this Saturday to shoot our guns for the first time. I will be more specific with group sizes. We have Sunday if we run into problems, then we leave. We’re driving, so we get to bring critters home if we get lucky.

I have another procedure on my back the day before we leave, so driving instead of flying and dealing with luggage and airports is a Godsend. This is already a really stupid thing I’m doing healthwise and could backfire, but a couple of folks are counting on me to go, the tags have already been received, nobody can take my place, and selfishly, I’ve never killed a really big whitetail. I need one.

Vicodin and whiskey and ice packs notwithstanding, motorcycles need love too, and cold weather riding is easier with good camo hunting clothing. I recently gave my compatriot Al a leather jacket that my dad gave me decades ago. I gave up waiting for it to grow to fit me. Al is one of the biggest people I know, but he’s physically a diminutive creature. The jacket fits him great and now I think of him as a miniature Marlon Brando. “He could’a been a contenda….”

The decaying animal parts in the title refer to a few heads from geese that my friend Mark killed while on his last trip, and I’m fleshing them out to mount for him. I’m also making him a wingbone call from one of the turkeys he killed the time before. And to believe I wanted to be a taxidermist. I’ve mounted a handful of creatures before and I’m glad that it’s pretty much out of my system.
Hope your hunting season is turning out great, and God bless you and yours this Thanksgiving day!

Lapped the factory Ruger rings and installed my new VX-3 4.5-14×40. Sighted in a bit high at 100. Screwed on my Shooter’s Ridge swivel bipod, slipped an Uncle Mikes buttstock shell carrier on the stock, and installed my Butler Creek Comfort V-Grip sling. I like this sling because it is easily adjustable with one hand, and the design and the rubber material keep it from slipping from any shoulder and any clothing material.

I’ll be bringing my Leupold RX-1000 TBR laser rangefinder, and my excellent Leupold 8.5×45 Northfork binocular.

Had a series of shots in my spine yesterday, and hopefully this will help me get through this hunt okay. I’ll be carrying my Pelican 1750 gun case, my BLACKHAWK! Blackcliff pack, and my Uncle Mike’s Wheeled Duffel bag. Lots of stuff to lug around. Leave early Monday.

After lunch we drove to another vendor and had an exciting and productive meeting.

Dinner that night consisted of giant heaping tables of communal meats; spicy, hearty, and piled high. Lots of libations to cool the heat. Heated discussions of business and pleasure took turns. Hunting war stories took top honors, especially since the next day was a scheduled dove hunt we were all fervently anticipating.

The morning broke clear and warm. Lucky, since the forecast was dicey. The day before we got there there were 8 tornadoes downtown and in the surrounding areas. Compatriots Mark and Yuri participated in their first dove hunt, and we all had high expectations. Our 5.11 Tactical Trainer boots were perfect for the application. We dosed them and our pants legs liberally with bug dope to prevent chiggers, which were expected to be bad.

A variety of guns were used by the bunch of us, including a Benelli Super Black Eagle, a couple of Novas, an 11-87, an 1100 12 gauge and 20 gauge, a Browning BPS, and even a couple of old Remington Sportsman 58s. One of the Sportsman 58s was mechanically locked up, so I took out the trigger assembly and when I reinstalled it, it worked. I used the palm of my hand to bash in a stubborn trigger assembly pin and damaged my hand for the rest of the trip. I’ve done this same dumb operation dozens of times and always hurt myself. What a boob. Loads were 3 dram 1 1/8 ounce of #8s.

We were in the field and ready, and our Mojo doves were set up pretty well. They’re able to be spotted from hundreds of yards away. Area looked good. Sunflowers, wheat, milo, grit, and water. Problem was, no doves. One guy shot one dove all morning. Then we went back to the hotel for lunch and a nap before the evening hunt. I had rocky mountain oysters for the first time. Not bad, kind of like chicken gizzards. My country meatloaf and beers tasted good, made a bit better by the wait staff, who almost dressed for the occasion. Kind of like a Hooters for the whole family.

The evening hunt started off promising. Driving into a field we busted a hundred doves, but the land wasn’t ours. None of them flew onto our land. I shot one while walking down a fence lined with hedge apples. Yuri slayed a lot of hedge apples. They make shotgun shells every day. He tried to do his part to keep the ammunition manufacturers in business.

We used some Howard Leight Genesis clear safety glasses when the sun wasn’t too bright, and some Pyramex Rendezvous Ducks Unlimited grey glasses when we needed to. Mark used his Zeiss Classic 8×22 pocket binoculars, and I used my superb Swarovski 8×20 pockets that have travelled many thousands of miles with me over the years. Boonie caps and BDUs were from Propper. Our Surefire Sonic Defenders worked well, as did our Icon Rogue flashlights.

Dinner that night included liberal ingestation of Patron Silver, followed by breaking and entering into the hotel pool that hotel management thought should be closed. A bunch of sweaty dove hunters in their underwear dove into the water, and heated discussions and more hunting war stories followed. Nobody died, as far as we know, but there were a couple of missing people the next morning.

All told, a great business trip and a lot of fun dove hunting in a great state with some great business associates!

Joe played football in grade school and rode lots of minibikes and he came with Dad and me often into the bird fields with our dog at the time, Sport.

He had it rough, physically, for most of his life. He is now at peace with God.

I love you and will miss you, little brother, Joey.

A full dozen OP employees will be there this year, the most ever. Buyers, merchandising, executives, and gun monkeys like me.

We’ll do our best for the company and for you! I’ll fill you in when I get back.