Posted: 2/10/2026 3:20:12 AM EDT
[Last Edit: BigJimFish][Edited]
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As with the previous 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, and 2018 threads, the purpose of this thread is to provide a catalog of this years reviews and articles, give you a behind the scenes look at what I'm working on as I'm working on it, provide a place for input and comments, and, of course, give you something to bookmark that will ping you when a new article is done. Here is what I am working on this year. More company visits Last year I did both a factory tour and a sit down video with Ian at Kelbly’s. I plan to do a few similar visits this year if I can get them in before the busy work season starts. The list of possible companies at this time includes Short Action Customs, XTSP, Area 419, and the Applied Ballistics folks Ohio locations.  Short Action Customs factory tour, home of the Nexus reloading press and modular dies W/ BigJimFish Mark, the owner of Short Action customs, gives me a tour of their factory in northern Ohio. We see the manufacture of Nexus press components in process and all the machines and people that make their extensive line of top quality reloading equipment and dies as well as their well respected custom rifle building business. We also take a look at their substantial on-site long range test facility where they can test their stuff out to 850 yards.  Talking Short Action Customs Product Line, Nexus Reloading Press, Modular Dies etc. with Owner Mark Talking Short Action Customs product line with owner Mark Gordon  Inside Area 419. Zero Aliens, Zero Reloading Press. Factory tour two dies for! Craig, Area 419s VP of sales and marketing takes me on a tour of their state of the art factory. We talk a good deal about the considerations of running a state of the art manufacturing facility in the firearms industry, product design, customer relations, working conditions, and planning for expansion.  Talking Precision Rifle and Reloading Products with Craig Arnzen at Area 419 Talking Area 419 product line with Craig Arnzen The Precison Straight-Walled Cartridge Rifle Series: Lets start this out with a bang as I have the first of the Straight-Walled Cartridge articles done and up today. This one is on how special status for Straight-Walled Cartridges in hunting regulations came to be and if they make any sense with some actual numbers on the ballistics. While I did a ton of work with the PurePrecison / Proof 350L last year, little was written. The years output ended up mostly learning to do video production and putting out a bunch of videos. Not so with this year. I will be doing at least four straight wall articles and videos. These will be: 1) Straight-Walled Cartridge Midwestern deer rifles, what, why, and do they make any sense?  Straight-Walled Cartridge Midwestern Deer Rifles: What, Why, and Do They Make Any Sense? 2) 350L, can the ultimate cartridge by committee be the answer? 3) Factory ammo for the 350L, what is worth trying and what to expect. 4) Reloading the 350L and the peculiarities of reloading straight wall cartridges. Thanks to PurePrecision, Proof, Hawkins Precision, XTSP, Hornady, Barnes, Cutting Edge, Bear Creek, and Nosler for contributing both product and technical expertise to this project.  Bear Creek Ballistics 140gr HV 350 Legend loaded ammo and corresponding component bullets arrived a few days ago Proof Carbon Fiber Wrapped Barrels review video A few years back I wrote the Proof Carbon Fiber Wrapped Barrels review. Since then I have added a number of years experience with those barrels as well as a third Proof Carbon Fiber Barrel. I also obtained a bore scope and did some chamber and barrel casting on that newest barrel. I have rolled this all into an updated video review of these Proof barrels. I'm really happy with this and think the bore scope video adds a lot so I don't think I will revisit the written review at this time and will instead let the video be the update. It's one of the best videos containing borescope footage I have seen as I also have some footage in it comparing some lesser barrels as well. Really good stuff.  8 years in, a review of Proof Research Carbon Fiber Barrels. Three barrels and lots of bore scope.  Vudoo V-22, PurePrecision Crux, and PurePrecision SKLTN all with Proof carbon barrels Field Optics Research Tripods I didn’t get the Field Optics Research Tripod review done last year and so it’s top of this list this year. I spend a good bit of time a few years ago at ShotShow looking at different makers products and decided that I thought the design of the DomeTOP Field Optics Research models was pretty clever. I picked one of those up as well as a bowl top. I also very much liked the design of their FlexLite GunPOD rifle vice and will be looking at their gun vices as well. I am no guru of competitive rifle shooting off of a tripod, but I’ll give you my opinion and not pretend it’s worth more than it is on the subject.  Shooting the Leupold Mark 4HD 4.5-18×52 400yards with the Pure Precision SKLTN 350L off a Field Optics Research Pro39 tripod BurstFire Induction annealer A couple years ago I bought the BurstFire flame annealer and case prep center and have been quite pleased with it’s performance in both it’s roles. After some use I wrote a review of the BurstFire gen2 2-1 flame annealer did a video as well. BurstFire has asked me to take a look at the shiny new induction version and I’m interested to do so.  The first batch of 350L brass I annealed on the Burstfire flame annealer Grayboe Core stock with Universal Mini Chassis It has been a couple of years since I last reviewed a Grayboe stock. I first took a look at the Ridgeback in 2018 and then the ultralight Phoenix in 2021. Both of these featured Grayboe’s non-directional molded composite technology with molded in place aluminum pillars. These stocks were essentially usable either as a drop in stock or you could pretty easily Dremel out a little paint and material around the pillars to traditionally bed them. Market wise they offer most of the features and advantages of traditional hand lay up composite stocks as well as a few advantages such as generous M-Loc attachment points for a significantly lower cost. The core is a significantly different product. Instead of molded in pillars it has an interface of a machined mini-chassis that replaces the M4 type bottom metal (it costs about the same) and contains the functions of both bottom metal and a bedding block. This UMC can also be detached and swapped from stock to stock without changing zero so you could share a few different model stocks between a number of rifles for instance. These rifles could even include those of different action pattern such as Savage vs. Remington. The stock looks pretty interesting to me so I thought I would take a look at one.  Grayboe Core stock with UMC unboxing  A look at the Grayboe Universal Mini-Chassis system concept & review of the Core forged carbon stock Magna Lens: Most folks don’t know that my day job is running a lawn care company. Between that, the shooting sports, and other handy hobbies, I spend half my life in PPE. The headache from earmuffs over glasses can be brutal after 12 hours on the job. Lately, glasses also aren’t what they used to be as far as durability goes. Those plastic nose pieces just disintegrate after 3 months or so and the lenses are softer than ever and somehow scratch up despite careful storage. This year one of the product release announcements I got from ShotShow was on Magna Lens magnetic eye protection. These are safety glasses that attach to your earmuffs using neodymium magnets instead of hanging on your ears. They have their own ear muffs as well as adapters for pretty much anything out there. I will be trying both out and I am frankly super excited. I’m loving the idea of better sound muffling, higher quality glasses, and most of all, finishing a long day at work without a headache. I’m really hoping these deliver on their promises. Nightforce NX6 3-18x50mm F1 My love for lightweight crossover scopes with precision rifle features is well known as is my distain for setscrews. The new NX6 line from Nightforce scratches both those itches. The 3-18x50mm comes in at 27.1oz and has a semi-toolless elevation turret. It even has a close focus at 11yds and a smaller size 50mm objective. I love the concept, lets see how it’s optics stack up to the Leupold Mark 4HD and Mark 5HD lineup that has owned this market unopposed for some time.  Nightforce NX6 3-18x50mm F1 First Impressions  Nightforce NX6 3-18x50mm F1 full review Meprolight MVO 3-18x44mm Last year at ShotShow 2025 Meprolight released a new MVO line of magnified optics. They are sending a few over this year for review and I’ll be taking a look at the 3-18x44mm precision rifle offering. I don’t have any preconceptions one-way or the other about these so I’ll be very interested to see how they perform.  MeproLight MVO 3-18x44mm rifle scope review. New scope, new line, even a new factory. Vortex Razor HD Gen III 6-36x56 I’ve wanted to do a review on this scope for a while. It’s certainly anything but new now. I did a review of the Razor HD gen II when it first launched during the Scout.com SnipersHide exile many years ago now. Anyhow, for whatever reason, Vortex never sent me a loaner of the Gen III or gave me the time of day after that review. My buddy has bought one now though so I ran it though the mechanical testing and an abbreviated (just one day) optical testing regime and I’ll write it up.  Vortex Razor HD Gen III 6-36x56 scope review Short Action Customs Nexus Press After filming the factory tour and product line discussion videos with Short Action Customs, they gifted me a Nexus press as a thank you. I am over the moon about as it has been on my wish list since I first saw the hard stop shoulder setback concept in the design when it was released a couple years ago. I’ll be doing a review of this later this year after I have had a while using it. For now, here is the short unboxing video I shot of it titled using the immature vernacular YouTube seems to like in hopes it improves my content visibility instead of just offending my artistic sensibilities.  OMG, Short Action Customs gave me a Nexus Press! Lets unbox it. So, that should wrap it up for all the stuff I hope to write about and review this year. I’m sure I have bitten off more than I can chew as I usually do but we will see how it goes. Sure looks like fun. Colt Optics VMR 3-18x44 This year at GunCon 2026 I met with JR Vela of the newly formed Colt Optics Company. We spoke about their goals as a new company, their new product lines, and the important industry people they brought together to make it a success. Here is that interview for your enjoyment.  Interviewing JR Vela of Colt Optics at Guncon 2026 As I have recently done so many reviews of mid cost, mid magnification, lightweight crossover scopes, JR sent me over a VMR 3-18x44 for review. It will be a fun one to look at as this is one of my favorite categories of scope. RCBS MatchMaster precision case trimmer RCBS recently had what I believe is the good fortune to be acquired by the family owned Hodgdon powder company following the disillusion of Vista outdoor. The new ownership has done a good deal of expansion of the premium MatchMaster line of which I had reviewed the dies and powder dispenser a few years back. I particularly like the Matchmaster dies and have purchased a number of sets post review as well as recommended them to others. One of these new products is the MatchMaster precision case trimmer. The MatchMaster case trimmer is designed and manufactured in partnership with Henderson Precision and is basically an updated Gen 3 Henderson trimmer that combines some of the Gen 3 features with some of the new Gen 4 features at a price substantially lower than either. This will be the first Henderson type trimmer I have used and I’ll be comparing it to the Giraud I have been using for about 20 years. I think it will be an interesting exercise as there are aspects of both trimmers designs that appeal to me.  RCBS MatchMaster Henderson case trimmer. Live assembly, setup, and first case batch reactions.  The Accidental Mid Weight, Mid Priced, Mid Power Crossover Scope Shootout |
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Update 2-21-2026 The Meprolight MVO 3-18x44mm came in Tuesday and I have done a little unboxing and first impressions video.  Unboxing and first impressions of the Meprolight MVO 3-18x44mm rifle scope Unboxing and first impressions of the Meprolight MVO 3-18x44mm rifle scope |
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Update 2-18-2026 So, my buddy picked up a Razor HD Gen III 6-36x56 the other day. I had the test target set up Monday for the MeproLight MVO 3-18x44mm and went ahead and also ran the mechanical testing on the Vortex as well as a Minox ZP5 that my dad picked up on the huge Eurooptic 40% off sale. I reviewed the Minox ZP5 a few years ago. I should add a few updates to that review as this slightly (still had a 2022 construction date) newer scope did not have the spline slop of the review examples. That was probably the biggest issue the review scopes had as it is unusual and a bit annoying to deal with. Otherwise, the new scopes mechanical testing was also good enough. 100% on reticle size, 99% on adjustment magnitude, and a reticle cant of .05 mils in 10 mils traveled. The adjustments still feel ick but the optics continue to be truly alpha. Were talking ZCO and Tangent level optical performance. Crazy it was only $1.8k. These are better than used prices. Anyhow, on the Vortex, I went ahead an did an optical comparison as well. I was not quite as thorough as usual as I did it all one day instead of in a variety of conditions but I was still pretty detailed in my evaluation and it’s certainly good enough to do a write up so I will add that to the years review list.  Optical test lineup left to right: Minox ZP5 5-25x56, Sightron S6 5-30x56 ED FFP, Leupold Mark 5HD 5-25x56, Vortex Razor HD GenIII 6-36x56, Sig Tango6 5-30x56 Big things planned in the near future. I have a site visit scheduled to Short Action Customs and a range day coming up to test out the factory ammo from Bear Creek Ballistics and some reloaded bullets from them and some from Cutting Edge. It also looks like Norma is going to send me some of their new factory 155gr 350L ammo. Were coming down to the line on the factory ammo 350L article. Maybe I have 2 products left to test and that is about it. |
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Update 2-25-2026 Last week I went on a long awaited visit to Short Action Customs a few hours from me in northern Ohio. They have been on my radar for some time since I saw their successes as a rifle builder in the PRS in Cal’s 2019 Who the Pro’s use article on gunsmiths. When the released the Nexus press in 2024 and I absolutely loved the design, they went to the top of my list to do a site visit of for the video work I was concurrently in the process of starting. Between getting video work up and running myself and Short Action Customs building a massive expansion to their factory, a bit of time past and here we are. In this video, the owner, Mark, takes me on a factory tour showing where and how all their products are built. We also took a look at their on site shooting range for testing products and practicing for competitions. Enjoy. Short Action Customs factory tour, home of the Nexus reloading press and modular dies W/ BigJimFish |
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Update 2-26-2026 After shooting the factory tour video at Short Action Customs, me and Mark sat down and discussed the design and features of each of the major products in their product line. Talking Short Action Customs Product Line, Nexus Reloading Press, Modular Dies etc. with Owner Mark Here is an index of when we start talking about each product: :32 Modular Sizing Die 3:36 “The” Seating Die 7:59 Nexus Reloading Press 17:34 Infinity Arbor Press Seating Die 21:48 Modular Funnel 24: 46 Modular Comparators for headspace and bullet seating depth 31:51 Modular Action Wrench 34:52 Bravo Barrel Vice 35:49 Final Scope Level |
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Update 3-12-2026 First up, I’m still playing, rather unsuccessfully, with trying to figure out what the YouTube algorithm likes as well as trying out some different video formats. I did a short unboxing video of the Short Action Customs Nexus press that is an experiment in both regards. I shot it in a sort of point of view format and then titled it with exclamations excited juvenile language choice like all those secret room videos YouTube tries to force-feed everyone. Maybe I should have also added a thumbnail with a multicolored background and me shouting excitedly with a surprised look on my face. Nope, I’d probably vomit. Anyhow, the press is working out great. I shot some reloading the 350L videos last week with it and it was a dream. I’ll do a review later on this year after I do some bottleneck reloading and test out the shoulder setback system that I consider it’s biggest killer feature. Also, if you like priming on the press, as I do, the Derraco PCPS seating tool works very well with the Nexus. Here is a little image on how to make an anvil for the seating stem from a cut off case head and how to keep the primer seater from rotating and hitting the press deck. There are two versions of this primer system. The full version has a micrometer stem for doing the primer crush thing and the “Lite” does not for seating by feel. OMG, Short Action Customs gave me a Nexus Press! Lets unbox it. An experimental unboxing video on the Short Action Customs Nexus press.  Setting up the Derraco PCPS-Lite to be able to prime on the Nexus press. In other news, I took a trip up to Area 419 last week to visit the other Ohio maker of reloading press, dies, and other cool things. As with Short Action Customs, we did a factory tour video as well as a product table talk video. I’ll be editing these soon. In optics, I have finished writing both the Vortex Razor HD Gen III 6-36x56 review and Meprolight MVO 6-36x56 review. Wifey is editing these for spelling, grammer, and to make sure I am not to indecipherable. They will be up soon. Lastly, I finished up the Field Optics Research Tripods article. They released a new tripod head, the I-Ball45, in the time since I started it and I really wanted to include all three heads so I ordered the Pro35TFTC3 tripod with that head. This will delay the article a month or so. In the mean time, buddy also picked up an RRS tripod and anvil 30 so we will have some fun comparing. I also thought of a fun test to run on all the tripods so I’m totally going to do that as well. The tripod journey has been super fun and kind of amazing. The capability that the rise of high quality shooting tripods has given us is shocking. I’ve gone a little hog wild on the arca plates for different rifles as well. |
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Update 3-16-2026 There must be something in the water here in Ohio as just in the last few years two different companies have begun manufacturing high end reloading presses and reloading dies in the state. Last month I did a factory tour video and product talk video at Short Action Customs and this month I am doing the same at Area 419. I’ll start out with the Factory tour video. In it, me and Craig go through their remarkable factory and we talk a good deal about the considerations of running a state of the art manufacturing facility in the firearms industry, product design, customer relations, working conditions, and planning for expansion. Inside Area 419. Zero Aliens, Zero Reloading Press. Factory tour two dies for! Here is an index of what we are doing when on the tour video. 0:00 Intro, building and range 2:25 Studio, offices, vault 6:14 Shop floor, gunsmithing 9:32 Milling machines, rings, zero press, rails 18:25 Lathes, brakes, dies, maverick 27:00 Assembly, packaging, shipping 35:18 Toy barn and party room |
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Update 3-19-2026 First up, here is the second of the videos I made of my visit to Area 419’s factory a couple weeks ago. Talking Precision Rifle and Reloading Products with Craig Arnzen at Area 419 This one is a table talk where me and Craig sit down and talk about a number of the many products in their product line including their HellFire self-timing muzzle break system, ArcaLock system, S-series and M-series sizing dies, Zero reloading press, and scope rings and one piece scope mounts. 0:17 HellFire muzzle break system 7:47 ArcaLock system 14:43 S-series sizing die 21:40 M-series sizing die 26:36 Zero reloading press 37:54 Scope rings and mounts As if dropping that content wasn’t enough for one day, for the first, and probably last time, I’m going to drop a second. Here is the written Vortex Razor HD Gen III 6-36x56 scope review as well. Plenty of content for you to pass the time during those endless NCAA basketball commercial breaks with.  Vortex Razor HD III 6-36×56 on the mechanical test fixture |
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Update 4-9-2026 I have finished and posted the MeproLight MVO 3-18x44mm rifle scope review. This was a fun one for me as this is a new scope from a new scope line from a brand new to magnified optics that is being made in a new factory owned by another company new to magnified optics. So pretty much everything about the product is new and it’s optical design is not really similar to anything I have looked at before. As I have been doing recently I also put together a video version for those who can’t get enough of my handsome visage or my commanding voice. MeproLight MVO 3-18x44mm rifle scope review. New scope, new line, even a new factory. In other news, I finished up the GrayBoe Core stock and UMC system review. I will get that up after I have given this a little time on page 1. I’ll also try to shoot the video for the Vortex Razor HD III review that I have been putting off because shooting review videos is boring and would rather be testing something or writing something. I have continued to do handloading tests and factory ammo tests with the 350L as well. I believe I am done with the factory ammo testing and will be writing that up soon and I am almost done with the handloading as well. I think I have just two bullets left to test.  Some Handloaded groups with the Bear Creek Ballistics 140GR HV .356” bullets |
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Update 4-14-2026 A couple of days ago Vectronix sent a production set of the Vector X LRF binos to me and recalled the pre-production version I used in my Vector X Review that had a little different settings in the FPGA. Before sending back the original unit I tested the sets side by side today to see if the production version ranged notably less far due to tuning the signal – noise a little less aggressively to avoid the occasional hallucinated range. Bottom line, there really wasn’t any noticeable difference. I got one range with the pre-production that I didn’t with the production and that was a 1/10 attempts hit. Otherwise, both were hitting and missing with about the same frequency at the same distances. I had a new cell phone binoculars photo rig so I took a bunch of through the binos video while doing this that I put together into a rangefinder review update video. The main object of this is to give you guys the opportunity to see exactly what you can expect with 5+ min of uninterrupted ranging of tree lines from 1k to 3k yards. You can see where it hits every time and also where it caps out altogether and see how frequently you gets hits and failures to read. I also talk a little about Sig 10k comparisons, tips on how to get more hits ranging, the Calypso mini AB weather meter, and the effect of the “range enhancers on rangefinding performance.  Vectronix Vector X laser rangefinding binoculars update with 5 min of live 1k-3k ranging |
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Update 4-20-2026 The Grayboe Core forged carbon stock and UMC system review is now up. This review is really two part. I first talk about the interesting Universal Mini-Chassis concept from Grayboe that allows you to play musical chairs with a variety of rifles and a variety of stocks without loosing zero. It’s pretty neat. The second part is a look at one of Grayboes new stocks, the Core, that is designed to work with the UMC system. They have made this stock from “forged carbon”. This is a material used in the automotive and aerospace industries and I believe Grayboe is the first to apply it to rifle stocks. I do not yet have the video version of the review up but I shot it yesterday and should have it edited and posted in the next few days. I also shot the Vortex Razor HD III video review yesterday and should have that one up soon as well. |
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Update 4-23-2026 And here is the short video summary of the article on the Grayboe Universal Mini-Chassis system and Core stock A look at the Grayboe Universal Mini-Chassis system concept & review of the Core forged carbon stock |
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Update 4-30-2026 I finally got around to shooting the short video version of the Vortex Razor HD Gen III 6-36x56 scope review. Vortex Razor HD Gen III 6-36x56 scope review |
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Update 5-15-2026 A couple days ago the NightForce NX6 3-18x50mm F1 scope arrived for review. I have shot a short first impressions video for that that is linked below. I really like the “FieldSet” turret design. I wasn’t sure if it would prove to be basically toolless or if it would just need a tool that isn’t as much of a pain in the ass as a little hex wrench for a set screw. In practice, it is very easy to reset the zero with no tool at all so I would call it totally toolless. Additionally, they have done a great job with feel on this turret. It has nice, firm, distinct clicks, with no skipping past and loosing count problems. The NX6 is also small and light, very much a form factor I like and it focuses close as well. I hope it proves to have optical performance commensurate with it’s feature set and worthy of the $1.9k price because so far it’s an optic with a lot to like but, as you know, optical performance is a big deal to me. Nightforce NX6 3-18x50mm F1 First Impressions You might also note on this video that I have collaborator links for the NightForce YouTube channel as well as the official SnipersHide channel. This is a new feature that YouTube started last year to allow creators to share content, link to companies involved in content about them, share reach, and help the new algorithm screen and categorize content as it is mostly designed to shut down AI slop and is designed so poorly that it basically shuts down any newer channels. So, I’ll be watching this video closely to see how this new feature functions as it’s the first video to be uploaded since I discovered the feature. In other review news, I think I’m going to try to put out the long awaited Proof carbon wrapped barrels video and update the Proof carbon wrapped barrels review next. It has taken a while to do this update because the 350L has proven a very difficult cartridge to get performance out of. I was warned about this, several times, but had to test the limits myself. Anyhow, I have shot a bunch of bore scope footage on all 3 Proof carbon barrels that I have, cast the chamber and muzzle of the 350L barrel proof chambered for me, and shot a bunch with all 3 barrels so this should be pretty comprehensive. After that I expect it’s likely that the factory ammo 350L article and video will be next as I have completed that testing. I am nearing the end of the testing on the reloading article as well with likely only one bullet to go before writing it though there is a second bullet 4 or so months from completion I may wait for as I have had good results from that maker in the past as well. I have reasonable hopes for these last two bullets. I think they will perform with some of the best. Anyhow, the year of an insane review and article schedule continues. |
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Update 6-24-2025 This week I attended the GunCon. This turned out to be much more interesting than I expected and I’m bummed that I wasn’t able to attend more days of it due to work. Going into the conference, I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I watched a few videos of the 2025 event in Cleveland and it hadn’t gone down without a hitch. The owners of the event venue had surprise banned some of the attendees on the day of the event including YouTuber Johnny B and the Attorney General of Missouri. This was purportedly due to their stances against surgical child mutilation for “transgender sex reassignment.” That venue also ended up having a problem with number of folks that were attending and maybe had not been totally honest about their capabilities for occupancy. It was the first and (obviously) only year GunCon was held at that venue. This year GunCon was moved from downtown Cleveland to a suburban location in Niles Ohio near Youngstown. The new location is a large event center located in a big suburban shopping mall. There were no parking, accessibility, lodging, or space difficulties this year and proximity to limitless sustenance options was a huge bonus as well. It’s a little surprising I haven’t seen more of these mall attached event spaces as the arrangement was quite effective. All that said, I had looked up the location before and seen that I didn’t expect any logistical problems and still wasn’t really sure what to expect. People seemed to talk glowingly about GunCon but it just looked a lot like a very small trade show with perhaps 25 booths. Ian Kelbly said it was his favorite event and I was curious why. It comes down to GunCon not primarily being about the trade show part. This is very different than a lot of other shows. ShotShow for instance is mostly about the trade show with relatively (to the size of the event) little attendance at most of the different speakers and classes that go on. GunCon is much more about the panels and the networking. During the show day for instance, there are panels on different topics pretty much continuously throughout the day with opportunities to ask the participants questions in basically every session. This is a lot of two way interaction between industry people, creators, and the public. Building the gun community is billed as the purpose of GunCon and Jon is very focused on that. Behind the scenes there is even more of this interaction with dining and events set up to encourage social mixing to a much larger extent than other events I have been a part of. I appreciate what he is doing and found it worthwhile and enjoyable. Anyhow, on setup day I had a lot of opportunity to talk to different companies and shoot a few videos. First I visited with JR Vela of Colt optics about their newly formed optics company. It’s an interesting interview especially when it comes to what key industry people they have brought onboard. Interviewing JR Vela of Colt Optics at Guncon 2026 After that I ran into a suppressor company I had not heard of before called Unorthodox Suppression that had a very unique 3d printed titanium .22lr can made by the same guys who make stuff Cabot guns. This can actually splits length wise for really good cleaning access. I found this a very interesting product design as cleaning cans, especially .22lr cans is one of the biggest problems with them.  An unorthodox solution to dirty .22lr cans from…. Unorthodox Suppression interview at Guncon 2026 Later in the day I came upon a super fun novelty knife gun from MeliGun. It’s a 6 shot .22lr revolver built into the grip of a big bowie knife. It’s quite well machined. It’s not exactly a long range firearm and doesn’t even have sights, but I was so amused by it I shot a video.  The gun that brought itself to a knife fight: Interview with Meligun about the MG-22 at Guncon 2026 I shot a short entering the facility as well. It’s the first short I have ever shot.  Apple maps tried to send me to a manure store instead but I made it to Guncon 2026 eventually Outside of the product folks, GunCon gave me the opportunity to talk to a lot of other content creators especially in the video sphere who have far more experience than myself. This was quite interesting. The degree to which platforms constantly attack even the tamest gun related content with demonetizations and bans is far more than I expected. This is quite meaningful as many people derive significant income, or all the income from the content they create. “Canceling” or the total destruction of both the income stream and subscriber base capital of a hardworking and successful human being is widespread, constant, and alarming. It’s not even just the Gun folks who are so cavalierly canceled. Creator dependent content hosts simply don’t work in the way I, and probably also you, think they do. Although I still think it is strange that when you start a channel on YouTube you receive no contact person within the company, I had assumed that changed at least by the time you built a degree of success wherein you began to be actually paid for your content. This is not so. None of the people I spoke with had an assigned contact person or even a general official contact e-mail address at YouTube despite some being around the 500k subscriber mark and clearly doing content creation for a living. Imagine not even being able to e-mail your fucking boss. It’s pretty weird shit. This is insanely unprofessional and is coming from the 3rd largest company in the world. I understand from tech influencer videos that having such a contact can exist but those guys are well in the millions of subs (and even, cringe, private jets). Only a handful of such creators exist. Such a contact is of the utmost importance because banning monitized channels on YouTube that are successful enough to make living wage amounts of income does not even appear to rate oversight by a minimum wage employee and seems to be quite common. This banning appears to be often done by AI with only vague references to even vaguer YouTube policies sited in canned dismissal missives that often do not even reference the specific offending content. The appeals to this appear to also often be handled by AI. Keep in mind that this is AI that is so bad it often appears to malfunction and ban entire categories of content as it looks to have accidentally done with 2d carton channels recently due to it’s flagging all such videos as artificially generated (AI). Writing about all of this I find myself endlessly dropping words such as “appears” because all of this must be pieced together by creators as YouTube does not issue statements or answer questions about basically anything. The degree of ineptitude, opacity, and unprofessionally from YouTube is so great that I’m actually not even sure much of it is about anti-gun stuff. From the standpoint of professional Creators, the obvious solution for this is not actually new though I didn’t actually hear anyone at GunCon talking about it. It’s called a union. Interestingly, I searched for unionizing content creation on YouTube and not a single video came up. Such videos do exist; forgotten weapons did one a few years ago for instance. It appears that the search function is just completely unable to find any of these videos despite the “FairTube” movement being pretty large. I’m sure this is a bug. Honestly, I could not be more happy that I don’t do content creation for a living though it continues to be a fun and rewarding hobby. I do worry that the whole of our democratic society is basically structured to essentially rely on a combination of hobbyists and paid propagandists for the entirety of its information. Democracy has little meaning in an epistemological crisis. |
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Update 7-6-2026 As many people know, Hodgdon Powder Company recently purchased RCBS from the self disassembling Vista Outdoor which had been formed from the self disassembling ATK. I am pleased with this outcome of a situation I was worried about. The Hodgdon family, who has been supplying the shooting industry with powder for generations, owns the Hodgdon Powder Company. This is not a private equity firm based in New York with a two year turn around time and exit plan in mind. This is a family building a generational business as are many of our other great gun companies such as it’s direct competitors Hornady, Lee, and Dillon. All of these make the majority of their products in the U.S. as well. This is the type of commitment and long term thinking I like to see. The Hodgdon family knew well the Huntington family that founded RCBS and have a relationship far longer than the era in which RCBS was a publicly traded company. There were times during the Vista era that I thought investment was being made RCBS and compelling new products were being designed. This was certainly the case around 2019-2020 when they came out with the MatchMaster dies and powder dispenser I reviewed at that time. Those dies continue to be my favorite rifle dies for their combination of features and cost effectiveness and I have purchased several since that review. Incidentally, one of the first new products added since Hodgdon’s acquisition is the MatchMaster Duo set which is a standard resizing die coupled with a MatchMaster seater die for those who just want the standard resizing die instead of a bushing type but still want the universally better MatchMaster seating die. This makes a lot of sense as there is a lot of disagreement in which type of resizing die is the best concept between neck bushing, shoulder and neck bushing, and non-adjustable. I do not believe that all the ATK / Vista time was as productive though and I am happier to see this new leadership situation at RCBS. I mention all this because a few weeks ago Joel Hodgdon contacted me to talk about the transition, new products, and future plans. This week one of those new products arrived for me to take a look at. The MatchMaster case trimmer is designed and manufactured in partnership with Henderson Precision and is basically an updated Gen 3 Henderson trimmer that combines some of the Gen 3 features with some of the new Gen 4 features at a price substantially lower than either. This will be the first Henderson type trimmer I have used and I’ll be comparing it to the Giraud I have been using for about 20 years. I think it will be an interesting exercise as there are aspects of both trimmers designs that appeal to me. I expect I’ll be getting started later this week. A buddy of mine has a new 6GT rifle coming in and I’m going to be teaching him how to load for it. It will be a MatchMaster party as those were the dies I recommended for him, we will by trying the trimmer for the first time, and also using the powder dispenser.  RCBS MatchMaster precision case trimmer Also this week, the Colt Optics VMR 3-18x44 arrived for review. This is great timing as I still have the Nightforce NX6 3-18x50mm F1 around. It appears that over the last year I have accidentally, and one by one, done a whole series on mid power, mid priced, crossover scopes with the Leupold Mark 4HD, Meprolight MVO, Nightforce NX6 and this Colt Optics VMR. Crossovers are one of my favorite topics in scopes so this has been a lot of fun. Also, if you haven’t seen it already be sure to check out my GunCon 2026 interview with JR Vela of Colt Optics about the new company and product line.  Colt Optics VM R 3-18x44 Lastly, the video version of the Proof Research Carbon wrapped barrel updated review has been shot and is being edited and I’m continuing work on the Nightforce NX6 review. |
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Update 7-8-2026 I have finished up the Proof Carbon Fiber Barrel review video. This is essentially an update to the written Proof Carbon Fiber Barrel Review from a few years back. It contains my experiences with a 3rd barrel as well as a few more years worth of experience with the first two. I also obtained a bore scope and did some chamber and barrel casting on that newest barrel. I have rolled this all into an updated video review of these Proof barrels. I'm really happy with this and think the bore scope video adds a lot so I don't think I will revisit the written review at this time and will instead let the video be the update. It's one of the best videos containing borescope footage I have seen as I also have some footage in it comparing some lesser barrels as well. 8 years in, a review of Proof Research Carbon Fiber Barrels. Three barrels and lots of bore scope. |
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Update 7-17-2026 I decided to try out a new type of video with the RCBS MatchMaster / Henderson case trimmer. This is a recording of my first assembly, setup, and first batch of cases with the trimmer. I trimmed and sped up a few parts for time but this is a real recording of the first time I actually assembled and used the trimmer. It’s not a scripted reenactment and I didn’t write any teleprompter reminder notes for myself as I normally do on reviews, as I wouldn’t have known what to write. Let me know in the comments if the live first impression format appeals to you or if you prefer more polish, staging, and editing. RCBS MatchMaster Henderson case trimmer. Live assembly, setup, and first case batch reactions. I expect to do more content on this trimmer in the future. At the very least I will do a compare and contrast between it and the Giraud I have used for about 20 years. The two products both work very will but are also substantially different in their function and individual strengths. |
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Update 7-30-2026 I have finished up the written NightForce NX6 3-18x50mm F1 scope review. I expect to have the video version filmed and up sometime next week as well. This is the first scope I see as meaningful competition for the Leupold Mark 4HD and Mark 5HD as a mid cost scope with excellent crossover appeal. I don’t see it as either superior or inferior but rather very different in it’s specific strengths and weaknesses both in terms of features and optical performance while being competitive overall. 
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Update 8-16-2026 I have posted video version of the review of the Nightforce NX6 3-18x50mm. I linked it here instead of posting a live thumb of it so that your view will count on the YouTube ticker as videos watched outside of YouTube don’t. I spent a good bit of extra time on the editing and B-roll on this review to bump up the production quality and satisfy the shortened attention span of viewers in the reels era. I’ll be interested to see if that helps with the YouTube algorithm as it takes a lot of extra time to do these things without resulting in any more useful information to the viewer. I expect this will be one of the more popular videos this year. I would love some comments on YouTube if you have the time as well. Before too long I also plan to do a shootout video comparing and contrasting all the mid price, mid power, crossover scopes the last few years. This will include the Mark 4 and 5HD, this NX6, The Meprolight MVO, and the Colt VMR. I’m about ¾ of the way though writing the Cold VMR 3-18x44 review at the moment.  |
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First up, I made a video comparing each of the mid weight, mid priced, mid power crossover scopes. I've also finished up the Colt Optics VMR review and that should be up soon. Here is the shootout video. The Accidental Mid Weight, Mid Priced, Mid Power Crossover Scope Shootout In other news, the Magna Lens PPE arrived last week. I'll be testing out the ML Pros, ComfortSafe Pros and the Magna Lens Premium electronic earmuffs (the AKT1 set). This is something I am very excited about because I own a lawn care company as my day job. Between work and the shooting sports, I spend most of my waking hours in PPE. The quality of that PPE, especially the eyewear, has declined rapidly over the years. When I started, AO safety made safety glasses that were very high quality optically, and also scratch resistant enough to last years. Since 3M purchased them they have become so soft that tree branches scratch them and the nose pieces turn to jelly in a couple months. Also, wearing eyeglasses under headphones can give you some pretty monster headaches when you do so 12 hours a day and you can easily get sound leaks when doing so on the rifle range. So far so good on the Magna Lens product. The lenses are optically excellent and seem to be well coated to resist scratches as well. I haven't gone shooting yet, but I'm a week in using the products at work and very happy. It was also very easy to adapt my worktunes headphones to work with the glasses using the adapter kit and their instructional video. 
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