Posted: 2/27/2025 4:11:07 AM EDT
[Last Edit: BigJimFish][Edited]
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2025 BigJimFish Review / Article blog: More 350L, Garmin and Athlon Chronos, Leopold Mark 4HD, BurstFire, Field Optics Research, videos and visits to Kelbly’s, SAC, and XTSP. As with the previous 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. Video Reviews and Company Visits The biggest change this year is that I will be doing video versions of my reviews along with the written versions. I just finished up the first one and it came out a good deal better than I expected. I even did some shiny video editing on it. To be frank, I still don’t love video as a format. It is very inefficient in data density as well as time consuming to produce and consume for that matter. That being said, lots of people seem to like them for some reason and they clearly monitize better. My intention is to make the videos shorter and lighter weight versions of my articles as I gather shorter videos are a great deal more successful and the constraints of video format are far less friendly to the consumer of informationally dense content than is a well organized article. My current plan is to do short video recaps of each review as I do the review and sprinkle in video recaps of my more recent past reviews as I go along. These will be sit at a table podcast type videos and not the high production value live action stuff Frank often does. I will also be doing some videos of site visits to some of the Ohio precision rifle related companies near me. I have spoken with a number of them about this including Kelbly’s, Short Action Customs, and XTSP. My original plan was to make these live but given YouTubes constraints on live videos I am reconsidering. If you have some questions, or comments you want me to take along with me to these companies, feel free to drop them here. If all goes well and I don’t totally suck at making videos I have a few other folks in the back of my mind for future visits. Probably just who your thinking.  Kelbly's Custom Rifles and Actions Factory Tour w/ BigJimFish Kelbly's custom rifles and actions factory tour  Talking Kelbly's Actions, Design Choices, and Models with Ian Kelbly Talking Kelbly's Actions, Design Choices, and Models with Ian Kelbly The Precison Straight-Walled Cartridge Rifle: As with last year, the biggest focus this year will be on the PurePrecison / Proof Straight wall 350L project. I knew going into it that it might be challenging to get good performance from the 350L straight wall cartridge rifle and that I would most likely never get it to group like my 6.5CM. The cartridge has that reputation. I want to be able to offer some well researched advice for getting good performance from this type of cartridge though as the relatively new straight wall deer hunting regulations have given many Midwesterners the ability to hunt at distances that were just not possible before with the inaccuracy of slug guns. I want to be able to deliver some well-researched advice in how to get the best performance out of these cartridges. I was certainly unprepared for the level of difficultly in achieving this though. I will continue to examine this subject this year, as I believe I have come a long way and have some viable theories that will help shooters of this and other similar cartridges to get better and more reliable performance. Expect articles this year on the general performance of straight walled cartridges and a little about their history, loading the 350L, and some sort of ammo guide. There may also be a terminal performance examination but I wouldn’t bet on that coming yet.  PurePrecision SKLTN 700 Footprint Lightweight Rifle Action & Altitude Carbon Composite Stock Review Thanks to PurePrecision, Proof, Hornady, Barnes, and Nosler for contributing both product and technical expertise to this project.  Nosler’s just introduced Whitetail Country 180gr 350 legend ammunition Garmin Xero C1 Chronograph Article  Garmin xero C1 pro chronograph review, one year in I have now used the Garmin Xero C1 Chronograph for an entire year and well over 1000 rounds from a wide variety of firearms and in a wide variety of situations. I guess I should probably write about it already. It is certainly a game changing piece of equipment and realistically I would not have been able to figure out some of the things I did without it as there was no way to use the old Oehler 35p on all the range trips I did for the 350L this year. Athlon Velocity Pro Radar Chronograph  Athlon Pro Radar Chronograph, first look with range comparison to Garmin Xero C1 First impressions of the Athlon Pro Radar Chronograph after a range session side by side with the Garmin  Athlon Rangecraft Velocity PRO radar chronograph review & too many comparisons to the Garmin Xero C1 The full Athlon Rangecraft Velocity PRO radar chronograph review video summary with too many comparisons with the Garmin Xero It is cheaper than the Garmin, and uses an always-on measurement technology like Garmin does. Can it hang? I have certainly seen some excellent things from Athlon in the past. The scopes they submitted to the Sub $1k long range optics series of reviews I did a few years back were, and are, some of my favorites in the category. Leopold Mark 4HD It is probably long past time that I looked at the new Leupold Mark 4HD line. The Mark 5HD 5-25x56 I reviewed a few years a go is a winner and that scope line is my favorite in the high end precision rifle / hunting scope crossover category. I am eager to see how the lower cost Mark 4HD line stacks up optically and mechanically, as it’s weight and features certainly indicate it will have similar crossover appeal.  Leupold Mark 4HD 4.5-18x52 Rifle Scope Unboxing Leupold Mark 4HD 4.5-18x52 Rifle Scope Unboxing  Leupold Mark 4HD 4.5-18x52 review and comparison to Mark 5HD Leupold Mark 4HD 4.5-18x52 rifle scope review BurstFire annealer article  BurstFire 2-in-1 Flame Annealer and Case Prep Center Review For some time I have been thinking I need to try stepping up my reloading game by adding annealing. Frankly, there was no way I was going to spend thousands of dollars on it though. After some research, I came to the Burstfire annealer. I liked the look of the design and the very clever torch adjustment system. It also features built in rotary tool attachments, and an affordable price, so I bought one. I’ll tell you what I think about it and also their military crimp cutting head. It won’t be 10 pages, I promise.  The first batch of 350L brass I annealed on the Burstfire annealer Field Optics Research Tripods This was another shooting accessory that I had been meaning to pick up for a while. 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. Field optics research Hunter 32DTC3 tripod holding a Kelbly’s .308 and Pro39TC3-MIL ASFPL with FM570B gunvice holding the 6.5CM PurePrecision Crux. 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. Titans of Applied Ballistics, the Leica Geovid Pro, Sig Kilo 10k, and Vectronix Vector X laser rangefinding binoculars shootout video I did a shootout video with the big three Applied Ballistics laser rangefinding binoculars. The Leica Geovid Pro, Sig 10k G2, and Vectronix Vector X. People seem to love this type of video so I thought I would try one. We will see how much people like it and I might consider doing another on scopes at different price ranges or something.  Applied Ballistics laser rangefinding bino scrum Vectronix Vector X, Leica Geovid pro & Sig Kilo 10k Titans of Applied Ballistics, the Leica Geovid Pro, Sig Kilo 10k, and Vectronix Vector X laser rangefinding binoculars shootout video |
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Update 3-20-2025 Did a range day with the 350L, new Nosler 180 grain whitetail country ammunition, and a number of handloads. The wind was downright atrocious, super gusty and variable between 0 and 30mph. It was so strong that two targets blew off the board and the rocking of the target board may have added as much as 5/8 inch in vertical movement. Still, it was one of the first sunny warm spring days and the first that I have had the day off on. So, I was going to enjoy it and I sure did. It felt great to be outside at the range.  Out shooting for the first time this year with the PurePrecision / Proof 350L rifle, Noslers new 180gr whitetail country ammunition, and some handloads. To be frank, I thought it pretty likely that all my groups today would just suck and I might not learn anything because of the wind. If it hadn’t been my first nice warm chance to be out and I wasn’t so pumped I probably would have stayed home. My calculator said I could see as much as 4” of horizontal from the wind and I could see the 5/8” of vertical from the target flopping as well. I was not overwhelmed with confidence looking through the scope and watching the target flopping up and down more than half an inch. Big groups on a day like today just don’t tell you a whole lot about how your ammo is performing. Much to my surprise, the groups weren't uniformly bad though. I got some pretty decent performance with some Hornady 165gr FTX handloads. I seem to be in a range of seating depths that this bullet is OK with and I may be nearing an end point with what I think I can get with it. I expect I will be able to put together a set of groups that average better than 1” before too long.  Handload groups with the Hornady 165gr FTX bullet and VV N-110 powder (not a load recommendation) I also shot a box of the new, hot off the presses, Nosler 180gr whitetail country ammo. This ammo got the worst of the wind conditions. Both of the targets that blew off the board did so while I was testing this ammo. Fortunately, this target wasn’t one of the liberated ones and a few of the groups came out pretty decent. I won’t be surprised if I can actually average better than 1” groups with this Nosler. It’s SD was also pretty reasonable at 12.9fps. As for the one giant group, I’m surprised more groups didn’t get blown open today.  The first groups shooting the new Nosler 180gr whitetail country ammo Anyhow, I hope to have the video version of the Vectronix review up soon and perhaps do a company site visit in the next couple weeks. |
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Update 4-6-2025 First off, I made it back to the range on a day when the wind wasn’t gusting to 30mph and Nosler’s new 180gr 350 Legend offering performed as expected in the PurePrecision 350L coming in at an average 5 shot group size of 1” and average mean radius of .38. I did not shift the turrets during these groups so the software also allows them to be combined. This results in a 20rd group size of 1.49” and a mean radius of .397”. I’m pretty happy with that. It’s velocity SD of 24.6fps and ES of 85.2 fps weren’t great though. I thought I might look through the individual shots and find one really light throw to explain this as volumetric powder dispensing sometimes gets sticky and throws a really light one but that wasn’t the case. There were a number of shots on the far edges when it came to the velocity spread and the ones on the high side were actually early in the shot string so cooking the rounds in a hot chamber wasn’t the cause either. Whether it be due to charge weight variance or some other factor such as case fill or the powder simply being a bit erratic, velocity just isn’t great on consistency. It could be worse for sure, but it’s not great. Still, I think this Nosler stuff is good ammo all around and it joins the Hornady 165gr custom and Barnes Vor-tx on my recommended list. Through the course of my ammo testing in 350L I have found most of the factory ammo offerings to be pretty terrible with many products producing occasional groups over 3”. These three have been the exception to that.  Shooting the new Nosler 180gr Whitetail factory ammo in the PurePrecision SKLTN 350L on a day when the wind wasn’t blowing the targets right off the backer. Speaking of the PurePrecision SKLTN 350L action, the review I did of it and the altitude stock I did last year will be next up for the video treatment. The Vector X binoculars were on the list for that, and I had actually filmed that review, but it is now delayed because Vectronix is recalling the engineering sample that I had and replacing it with the production version. This will give me a chance to compare the performance with the final FPGA settings between the Vector X and the Sig 10k’s and I want to do that before filming either the Vector X or Sig 10k video reviews. Lastly, I had a chance to go up and do a site visit video at Kelbly’s last Friday. This includes a walkthrough of the factory as well as a sit-down talk about the actions they have released in the last few years as well as the changes since I did a review of their Atlas tactical action in 2018. It has been a while since I had been able to go up and see Ian and it was great to see how things are going at Kelbly’s. I think they more than twice the machines that they did the last time I was up. They have so many more machines that they have now actually outgrown the main factory building and kicked the 4 wheelers out of what used to be the garage to fit some in there. Hopefully the video has turned out well as this was my first attempt at this type of content.  Old (left) and new (right) versions of the bolt from a Kelbly’s Atlas Tactical action. |
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Update 5-3-2025 I have a couple of big things today. First up, I finished up the editing on the PurePrecision SKLTN review video. As with my other video reviews, this is a condensed video version of the full written PurePrecision SKLTN review. PurePrecision SKLTN 700 Footprint Lightweight Rifle Action & Altitude Carbon Composite Stock Review PurePrecision SKLTN action and Altitude composite stock video review Next up when it comes to videos will be the two Kelbly’s site visit videos I shot a few weeks ago but haven’t yet had a chance to edit. I don’t think these will require a ton of time to edit though so I don’t think it will be long. Yesterday the Athlon Rangecraft Velocity Pro Radar Chronograph arrived. I should have a chance to some initial testing with this on Tuesday but for now I will give you some first impressions and photos. I was quite pleased when I opened the chrono to discover it comes in with a nice, snug fitting, protective case that fits the Chrono along with it’s tripod , charging cable, and manual. This is a big win over the complete absence of a case with the Garmin. The chrono itself is very similar to the Garmin in a lot of ways. Obviously, the form factor is quite similar if slightly larger. The menu system is also quite reminiscent and both mount to tripods using the same ¼” standard studs. They even both include a perfunctory tripod of which the Athlon unit is weighted metal and so significantly heavier. I recall the street prices were expected around $350 at announcement. Unsurprisingly, tariffs have added some to this and I see current advertised prices of $399 at a variety of sites. This is still a huge amount less than the $599 the Garmin C1 goes for. I’m climbing the walls a little for range time to see how things go especially since I have seen good things from the reviewers who had units arrive a day or two before mine and already have posted reviews. Obviously if performance is comparable with the Garmin this is a huge win at 2/3rds the price and with a nice case. Anyhow, I’ll leave you with the spec sheet, a nice unboxing pic, and a side by side with the Garmin C1.  Athlon Rangecraft Velocity Pro Radar Chronograph ad and spec sheet.  Athlon Rangecraft Velocity Pro Radar Chronograph unboxing  Athlon Rangecraft Velocity Pro Radar Chronograph size comparison with the Garmin C1 |
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Update 5-5-2025 It rained me out half way through work today so I decided to jump ahead and do an indoor range run with the new Athlon Chrono today instead of waiting. Of course, I set it up side by side with the Garmin for the comparison. Boy was I in for some big surprises.  Side by Side at the range with the Athlon Rangecraft Pro Radar Chronograph and the Garmin Xero C1 Pro Chronograph First off, the Garmin with software version 3.27 was not near as cooperative as it was the last time I was on a crowded indoor range with it back when I first got the chrono. The Garmin was missing shots left and right while also picking up other folks shots occasionally from as far as two lanes over. The Garmin even missed some 9mm shots. This is something it has never done before. Perhaps it was getting some signal interference from the Athlon when it comes to missing some shots. I don’t really know how close the operate to each other. I doubt that would explain the problems misidentifying others shots though. That is not a problem the Garmin had with it’s original firmware. Hopefully updating to the current 3.32 firmware fixes things but really I would just like to have the original Garmin firmware back. Things worked well on day one. Clearly I need to spend some time with that new firmware testing function both with and without the Athlon present. Today was a mess for the Garmin for sure. On the other hand, the Athlon did not miss a single one of my shots despite sitting just a bit further from the barrel than the Garmin was. The Athlon did pick up two shots from the adjacent lane at the very beginning which lead to it being moved a bit to the left side of the table as the lane to the right was empty. After that point it caught no neighboring lane shots for the rest of the day. A far better performance than the Garmin both in terms of what it picked up and what it didn’t. I should also note that the Athlon displays fresh shots quicker than the Garmin. This could just be that the time to display is quicker but it also may mean that the unit can pick up shots in quicker succession. The difference was clearly noticeable though.  Summary of the data taken by the Athlon and Garmin chronographs for the same shot strings Lastly, I had heard some folks speculating on the accuracy (more properly precision) of the Garmin vs the Athlon. As such, I compared some strings side by side on both chronos. With the Garmin dropping quite a few shots or sometimes including other folks, I only managed 3 strings where I think all the shots were the same for both chronos. In all three the Athlon showed slightly better SD and ES numbers. This bodes well for it’s precision vs. the Garmin as it should be expected that better precision on the part of the chrono would translate into lower SD and ES numbers as errors in chrono readings would stack with true velocity variance to result in bigger numbers. Of course, this is a very small amount of data in only one velocity range but it does bode well for the Athlon so far. It certainly doesn’t look like it will end up being a bunch less accurate than the Garmin. |
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Update 5-7-2025 I have uploaded a video with my initial thoughts on the Athlon Chronograph after one range trip side by side with the Garmin. Athlon Pro Radar Chronograph, first look with range comparison to Garmin Xero C1 First impressions of the Athlon Pro Radar Chronograph after a range session side by side with the Garmin This video is an experiment. YouTube is, of course, algorithm driven when it comes to what video options it shows people. So far I’m not getting many views. It’s algorithm doesn’t like me near as much as goggle’s does when it comes to my written reviews and articles. As such, the viewing numbers are pretty bad. I’ve heard that the flavor of the day for the YouTube algorithm is completely unedited low production value stuff. Perhaps so, it certainly keeps trying to force feed me videos of Gen Z crying in their car about how hard working in the real world is. As such, I shot a video, in my truck, with no edits, in portrait, and uploaded directly from my phone. I haven’t even changed it’s thumbnail shot, which is terrible. Some genius AI went in to that for sure. I am also putting this first impression video up within a week of the product launch so it should get some play from a newness factor. We will see if it gets any traction. Anyhow, the full written review will come in while after a lot more range sessions to test things out as per usual. |
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Update 5-14-2025 As mentioned, I am planning to do a number of site visits to some of the Ohio based manufacturers of precision rifle products this summer. The first of these is with Kelbly’s who I have known for 15 years dating back to a review of a March 1-10x rifle scope I did back when Kelbly’s was the March U.S. distributor. Of course, later I also did a review on the Kelbly’s Atlas Tactical rifle action. On my visit a month or so ago I shot both a factory tour video and a video where we sit and discuss action models, features and design choices. This first video is the factory tour. I should have the second up in a couple days or so as well. Enjoy. Kelbly's Custom Rifles and Actions Factory Tour w/ BigJimFish Kelbly's custom rifles and actions factory tour |
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Update 5-15-2025 Here is the second video I shot on my trip to Kelbly’s last month. In it Ian and I talk about the different Kelbly’s action models. We discuss some of the specific design decisions that go into making an action and the reasoning behind those. We also talk about the changes the design of Kelbly’s actions that have taken place over time, the reasons for those changes, and the way in which backwards compatibility was maintained despite the changes. Talking Kelbly's Actions, Design Choices, and Models with Ian Kelbly Talking Kelbly's Actions, Design Choices, and Models with Ian Kelbly |
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Update 6-16-2025 The Leupold Mark 4HD 4.5-18x52 arrived a couple days ago for review. I have been thinking about doing an unboxing video more or less as content padding for YouTube. Since I wanted to talk a little about my thoughts on the Mark 5HD I reviewed a few years ago relative to this newer and less costly Mark 4HD, I decided to try that out on this project. We will see how the YouTube numbers react as these unboxing videos intrinsically don’t have much content to them so I am weighing the value of producing them generally. Anyhow, I am very interested to get a look at the Mark 4HD optical performance as I find the price point, features, and specs on series very appealing. Leupold Mark 4HD 4.5-18x52 Rifle Scope Unboxing Leupold Mark 4HD 4.5-18x52 Rifle Scope Unboxing |
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Update 9-8-2025 I have finished up my review of the BurstFire 2 in 1 flame annealer. I have sent the draft to the company for them to have a look at and make any comments or responses. I should have their response and be posting the review shortly. I am pleased with the units function and value proposition. It looks like I will be also doing a review of their upcoming induction annealer model next year as well.  View of the target through the Leupold Mark 4HD 4.5-18x52 Rifle Scope I have also been finishing up testing and analysis for a number of other reviews. Its looking like instead of the reviews this year being a once every couple months or so trickle they are going to all come in a flood in October and November. The timeline seems to have ended up that way because so much of the fieldwork was done at the same time as I am reviewing mostly complementary products this year and not ones that compete with each other. The testing for the Leupold Mark 4HD, Athlon Velocity Pro Radar Chronograph, and the Field Optics Research Tripods should all finish up Wednesday. After that, I will work to get those reviews written up as soon as possible. I am also ready to do a few more segments on the straight wall precision project. This will consist of a general background article and a factory ammo article. I’m a good bit of the way through the work for the reloading article as well. I feel like I’m getting a handle on both the limitations and the nuances of loading for a high-pressure straight wall cartridge that headspaces off the case mouth. It has been more different than I expected.  Latest handload results using Hornady 165gr FTX bullets and N-110 powder in the Pure Precison SKLTN Proof barrel 350L rifle. |
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Update 9–12-2025 I did an all day range day at the long-range facility Wednesday. Part of this was slated to be tripod shooting practice with the 350L to get a better handle on what I think is reasonable for ethical deer kill distance all factors, including myself, considered. Since I brought my dad along, I also planned to get a lot of photo and video for upcoming 350 articles including as much through the lens trace video as possible though the Vector X binos. Boy did we get some good video of that. There aren’t many trace videos on YouTube and the ones I have seen are generally so bad that you can’t make anything out. We got some good ones though and I plan on making up a good compilation video. People are always asking me what trace looks like and how to spot it. This should be of help both for that and for seeing the bullet itself as many of the videos show the fat, fairly slow, 350L bullet pretty clearly whereas other show the trace disturbance from a faster, smaller, .223 as well. I also got some video of .223, .308, and 350L on the same targets under the same lighting conditions. It’s pretty interesting to see the trace difference and the huge difference in splash on the target.  Syncing up the Calypso AB mini ultrasonic wind meter and the Vectronix Vector X binos to base the windage calculations in applied ballistics on live wind readings In a big surprise, when I was setting up software for the range trip, I updated the Vectronix Vector X, the AB Quantum app, and the Calypso AB ultrasonic wind meter and found that the wind meter now pairs with the Vector X binos and works as more than a stand alone wind meter. When paired with the binos the Calypso wind readings are used as the basis for the windage calculation and the output updates each time you range the target. I have had this wind meter for around a year now as I was sent one in beta. It was a while before the first iterations of the supporting software (early april for AB Quantum with that functionality) were released and I did not have luck in getting the AB meter to work at that time with any of my AB binos though I recall it saying it paired with the Sig binos at that time. That pairing didn’t seem to actually work to produce calculations based on active wind readings and the wind meter didn’t even pair with the Vectronix or Leica binos at that time. Every once and a while I have tried it out wind meter again but this was the first time all the software and hardware clicked. Not only did it work, but it was also seamless and easy. The binoculars ever re-acquired the calypso wind meter without issue each time they were awakened from sleep mode. It was pretty exciting. Now I need to dig into the specifics of exactly if/how all of this works with multi-target range cards for competitive shooters. For someone looking to range a target with an AB equipped rangefinder and then shoot it using AB calculated data based a wind reading captured at the time of ranging, the system is very easy and simple to use though.  The view through the Vectronix Vector X binos while connected to the Calypso AB miniultrasonic wind meter. The binoculars display “CLPS” for the wind source. |
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Update 9-22-2025 Just posted the written review of the BurstFire Gen2 2-in-1 flame annealer and case prep center. This was a unit I bought partially to dip my toe into annealing and partially because I was looking at few hundred 350L cases that I needed to remove the crimp from to use in the 350L project, my old crimp remover was not getting that done, and I wanted a nice case prep center to do the job on. I’m very happy with the performance and value of the BurstFire. It’s a lot of machine for less than $300 in a world where a crappy plastic case prep center runs almost $200 and it has done a good job at everything I have done with it.  Part way though annealing the most recent batch of cases on the BurstFire 2 in 1 flame annealer and case prep center In other news, the Leupold Mark 4HD 4.5-18x52mm review is almost done so it won’t be long before you see that as well. While I was doing the review my buddy bought the 6-24x52mm as well so I effectively got to examine the optical and mechanical performance of two examples for this review. That is something I have only had the opportunity to do a few times over the years. |
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Update 10-12-2025 The review of the Leupold Mark 4HD 4.5-18x52mm is now up. This review also effectively includes the Mark 4HD 6-24x52mm as well as my buddy purchased one of those at the same time and I did all the mechanical and optical testing on both models. As you can probably guess, I really liked the Mark 4HD scopes. I am a big fan of the Mark 5HD 5-24x56mm that I reviewed a few years back and these are lighter, less expensive, and have a few nice feature updates such as the 25yd close focus distance. Of course, there will also be a video summary of this review on YouTube when I get to filming and editing it.  The Leupold Mark 4HD 4.5-18x52 on the Pure Precision SKLTN 350L shooting off a Field Optics Research Pro39 tripod I expect you will probably see the Field Optics Research tripods review as the next article. I have been using these now for two years and have a lot of time using both for a wide variety of applications such as spotting, shooting, and even recording YouTube videos. I think it’s time to write it all up. |
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Update 10-17-2025 A couple weeks ago I got a product announcement e-mail from Grayboe about a new stock called the Core. The geometry looks nice to me and it looks like Grayboe may be using a slightly different molding process from the previous stocks that I reviewed from them such as the ultralight Phoenix that I like so much. The core also features a new universal mini-chassis system that basically replaces both a bedding block and bottom metal but which can be swapped from stock to stock attached to the action allowing the sharing of stocks between different rifles even if they have different actions such as Savage vs. Remington. The features, technology, and materials science on this stock all interest me so I’m going to take a look at one. Also, it’s still significantly cheaper than a comparable hand lay up composite stock. I also want to give an update on the Athlon Radar Chornograph here. I think I’m just going to write this review soon. What has happened is that I have ended up learning a lot about how much effect firmware changes have on radar chronographs. As most know, just about the time the Athlon came out Garmin updated their Xero C1 and significantly decreased it’s performance such that it both picked up more shots from adjacent shooting lanes and somehow also missed more of your own. This was great timing for Athlon, not so much for Garmin. So far as I can tell, Garmin has since rectified this and have not had a repeat of the awful performance I had with that update. Athlon on the other hand has basically steadily improved the performance of their Radar Chronograph. This is great but also has the effect that I never have as many shots as I would like through the newest versions of firmware and these firmware changes do noticeably effect performance. The firmware improvement process is never ending but I do think I am coming to a set of thoughts and opinions on the devices performance both generally and with respect to the Garmin Xero C1 so I’m going to start the write up. |
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Update 11-10-2025 BurstFire 2-in-1 Flame Annealer and Case Prep Center Review The Burstfire 2-in-1 flame annealer and case prep center video review is now live. This is a shorter video version of the written review that I posted at the end of September. It is also the first video that I have added live embedded videos within the sit down talkie part. So, it has video of me using the annealer and case prep center over my discussion of it as well as the occasional still image overlay. I think it worked out well. It sure takes a long time to edit video. I can’t imagine what it takes to do some of the shiny ones Frank puts together. Anyhow, hope you enjoy it and if you do be sure to like it and subscribe so youtube hates me less. I expect I will shoot the Leupold Mark 4HD video summary of that review next before finishing up writing either the Athlon chrono or Field Optics Research tripods reviews. I have been writing on both of those reviews lately. I’m not sure which will finish up first at this point. |
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Update 11-19-2025 I finished up the video version of the Leupold Mark 4HD 4.5-18x52 rifle scope review today. Leupold Mark 4HD 4.5-18x52 review and comparison to Mark 5HD Leupold Mark 4HD 4.5-18x52 rifle scope review As you probably noticed, I’m trying to add a little to my video editing repertoire each time. This one adds an inset with close up camera angle on the scopes as I explain the features. That was interesting to do and ended up being more work than anything else in the video because when I broke out the Nikon N1 camera I used for years to shoot it, I found all it’s lenses had broken themselves just sitting in the cabinet. I learned they always do that as they have a microscopic plastic gear that controls the aperture that breaks every 5-10 years or so. You basically have to completely disassemble the lenses to get to that gear and my that was awful. Why can’t everything be built like riflescope with a lifetime warranty? |
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Update 12-6-2025 First off, the PurePrecison 350L got it’s first deer this week. I loaned it out to my brother this week along with the Sig 10k binos, Field Optics research 32DTC3 tripod, and some of the Hornady 165gr FTX handloads using the recipe I have become very happy with. Last year my brother came up empty during deer season as the only shots he had the option to take were too long for the rifle system he was using. The 350L ended up being just the ticket as he took his doe this year off of the tripod at 230yds with what looks like a clean double lung shot. The deer got about 30 yards after the hit. I think it’s a very good example of a shot that would have been too much in the past with slug only rules but is easily done with proper ballistic information, a good scope, and the straight walled rifle cartridges now legal in much of the Midwest. The deer have not really adjusted. He was not so stealthy setting up the bipod and taking aim and it wasn’t paying him any mind.  The PurePrecision 350L’s first dear taken at 230yds with the Leupold Mark4 HD 4.5-18x50mm scope off of the Field Optics research 32DTC3 tripod In other news, I finished the first draft of the Athlon chronograph review but need to rewrite a bit technical information due to erroneous hypotheses on my part about how aspects of the technology work. I’ll get it put together soon and by the end of the week it should be up. I’m also about half way through the Field optics research tripods review. That will be the last review this year but I expect there will be at least one straight walled cartridge rifle article at least in January. |
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Update 12-12-2025 Athlon Rangecraft Velocity Pro radar chronograph review is now up. This is a bit of an unusual review as it ends up almost being a full on side-by-side comparison between the Athlon and Garmin units. They are just so similar in function that this ended up happening even though it was not my initial intention. Anyhow, my findings were a little different than a lot of what I have seen about the web. I’ll be filming a 3rd shot at the video summary of this review today as the first two ran too long and I wasn’t happy with them. I’ll get that up as soon as possible. |
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Athlon Rangecraft Velocity PRO radar chronograph review & too many comparisons to the Garmin Xero C1 Athlon Rangecraft Velocity PRO radar chronograph video review with too many comparisons with the Garmin Xero |
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Update 12-17-2025 Today the Grayboe “The Core” stock with Universal Mini Chassis arrived (UMC). They advertise this as “the strongest carbon fiber rifle stock ever built, by far.” I believe it. As I expected based on the photos, this stock uses a different manufacturing technique than their original line of stocks such as the Ridgeback, and Phoenix, that I reviewed a few years back. Like those products, the material in “the Core” appears to be non-directional and uniform. However, it is much, much, denser. The appearance reminds me most of the carbon wrapping on Proof barrels and I expect it is similarly strong. It is certainly stiff enough. While the total amount of material appears to be perhaps 15% lower than the Ridgeback due to contour differences, a larger inlet for the universal mini chassis, and a few cutouts in the butt area of the stock, the weight without chassis is 73.6oz vs. 58.3 oz for the Ridgeback. Unsurprisingly, the UMC is a good bit larger than conventional M5 pattern bottom metal in footprint and weight as it includes the bedding areas, extends beyond the M5 footprint for attachment to the stock, and is large enough to accommodate the footprint of actions with a lot more bedding area than a short action Remington 700. As such, the UMC weighs in at 15.1oz vs. 4oz for M5 bottom metal. The total “The Core” weight when ready to have a barreled action bolted in is therefore 88.7oz or 5.54lbs. This is right around the weight of many of the Foundation competition focused stocks or the large tactical McMillan models such as the A4 with sniper fill. This is a competition-focused stock for sure.  Grayboe “The Core” rifle stock in carbon with universal mini chassis The interesting part of the new UMC system that this stock is part of is that it’s designed to be mixed and matched so easily. The UMC that fits in “The Core” competition styled (5.54lbs with UMC) stock unbolts without removing the barreled action and bolts right into the very low cost and lightweight (2.5lbs with UMC) flagstaff hunting stock. There should be very minimal, probably negligible, point of impact shift with this transition, as the rifle is not being removed from the bedding block in the process. It’s an interesting new way to switch stocks on a rifle for different purposes that should come with a lot less disturbance to point of impact than switching stocks when the bedding is part of the stock and also allows the stock to be shared with different action patterns in a way that was not previously possible. The rest of my initial impressions are that the fit and finish of this “The Core” stock are very well done. The UMC fit to the stock is very even and tight with no play at all. That area of the stock appears to not just be molded but have some dimensions machined. Whatever molding technology they are using on this stock is capable of a pretty good degree of dimensional tolerance itself though. There are a lot of relatively sharp contours molded in. The overall quality appears quite high and the exposed carbon pattern is attractive. I’m interested to take this beast to the range and see how it balances and how it feels with some recoil. I've been wanting to do some bullet trace photography through the Vector X binos using the old 5R from the early days of SnipersHide. I think this is the stock to do it in. I probably need to make up some fresh hand loads for that. I think I’m running a little low on the ones from 2013. I wonder what components I have lying about. It’s been a minute. |
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Update 1-4-2026 I’m catching up a bit on doing video versions of a couple of reviews from last year that I had always intended to do videos of. Today, I did the video for the Sig 10k binoculars.  Sig Kilo 10K –ABS HD Gen II laser rangefinding binoculars review W/ Gen 1 Leica Geovid, & Vectronix Sig Kilo 10K –ABS HD Gen II laser rangefinding binoculars review I have already shot the video for the Vectronix Vector X binoculars and should get it up tomorrow. At that point I will be making the 2026 blog thread and switching things over to that. Expect the first article on there to be one of the 350 Legend straight wall hunting cartridge articles or a site visit to one of the Ohio Precision rifle companies. |
Update 1-5-2026 Vectronix Vector X laser rangefinding binoculars review W/ Leica Geovid, & Sig 10K Vectronix Vector X laser rangefinding binoculars review video As promised, I edited the Vector X video review today and it is now posted. Interestingly, this video was actually shot a few months back. It ended up getting delayed for other projects and because I thought I might have data from a second unit to add in. That never happened so I decided not to delay it any further. I may wrap up this round of rangefinder stuff with a 3-way comparison video with all these applied ballistics laser rangefinders. Talking about particular strong points with each unit and weak points as well. That might be fun. I also ordered that Nitecore NL169R rechargeable RCR123 battery for the Vector X binoculars that has the 3.6V chemistry of the 18650’s but should fit in the small battery cap. It’s pretty cold now so I should be able to test it out and make sure it does what I expect which is to give you the rechargeable and cold weather advantages of the 18650 but without the dildo sticking out of the front of the binoculars. I’m also following up to see if MKMachining is making the Vector X caps yet that have an ARCA rail and also allow you to screw in the range extenders without removing that caps. Those look to me like the solution both for the ARCA rail mount and to be caps that don’t frequently catch on the case and pull off the binos. Lastly, I have a favor to ask. If you have a YouTube account, paid or not, please subscribe to the channel. This costs nothing beyond increasing the likelihood one of my videos shows up in your suggested play list. YouTube unlocks different capabilities at different milestones. The one I am lagging most on is subscribers and I need another 300 to unlock the developer tools that allow me to put chapter markers in the video. I know you want the ability to skip around in my videos don’t you? It’s interesting. Prior to having a channel I never much hit the like or subscribe button on videos I watched. Maybe this is a generational thing. I find the whole social voting thing juvenile and distasteful. I hit the button now though. I even throw in a few comments from time to time. The algorithm eats that stuff up. Ironically, what it seems to like best is nasty inflammatory comments. One nasty comment about either my, or Ian’s appearance in the Kelbly factory tour video was worth about 10k views worth of exposure boost. So give a video a Mike Tomlin should be fired or Saquan should have won MVP or something else innocuous and clickbaity if you really like a video. Don’t say anything about Epstein though. That shit will get you shadow banned quicker than you can say deep state. We are living in strange times my friends. |
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Update 1-9-2026 First up, I did a shootout video with the big three Applied Ballistics laser rangefinding binoculars. The Leica Geovid Pro, Sig 10k G2, and Vectronix Vector X. People seem to love this type of video so I thought I would try one. We will see how much people like it and I might consider doing another on scopes at different price ranges or something. Applied Ballistics laser rangefinding bino scrum Vectronix Vector X, Leica Geovid pro & Sig Kilo 10k Titans of Applied Ballistics, the Leica Geovid Pro, Sig Kilo 10k, and Vectronix Vector X laser rangefinding binoculars shootout video That is probably the last video for the blog year. I plan to get the next years blog up a couple weeks or so after ShotShow as I’m sure there will be some products announced there that I will want to include. I’m a little sad that I’m not attending this year as I keep getting invites from folks I want to hang out with. Perhaps, next year finances and schedule willing. I’ve been getting my feet under me this year with doing the video thing and a few videos from the show might be interesting. |
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Update 1-15-2026 Another big update already.I have been busy. First off, the Cutting Edge Raptor bullets arrived for the 350L in a fancy box. I have high hopes for these when it comes to both grouping and down range performance. They don’t list a BC value but based on the very similar .358 35 Whelen bullet they also make, the G1 should be about .33-.34. With most bullets for the 350L being under .25, that is a big difference. I have a few more bullets and loaded ammunition coming for the 350L as well. These include both bullets and loaded ammo from Bear Creek as well as some of the 180gr bullets from Nosler that were part of the loaded ammunition last year but I have not yet had bullets to load from. There is also one more coming whose existence has not yet been announced but I hope makes it in time for the reloading the 350L article.  Cutting Edge Rptor .355 160GR ER bullets There is also some more stuff on the Vector X binos whose video review I just did as well as the 3 way comparison video with the Sig 10k’s and Leica Geovid pros. First off, I finally bought the Nitecore NL169R battery to try out. This is a USB rechargeable battery close in size to a CR123A battery but having the 3.6V chemistry of an 18650. These are a little longer than a normal CR123a but can fit in that cap on the Vector X binos. To use these set the battery type to 18650 in the menu but use the short cap. The NL169R is also working fine in sub 0 temperatures as an 18650 does. Obviously, it will have a lot less battery life on a charge than an 18650, but I like the smaller form factor and this will be my go-to battery. It is so nice to have so many good battery choices when so many devices now have only a built in rechargeable you can’t even easily replace.  The two rechargeable choices for Vector X rangefinding binoculars battery, an 18650 and a smaller Nitecore NL169R that is near CR123a size but is rechargeable with 3.6V chemistry. Also on the Vector X binoculars today, they put out a big firmware V220 update. I’ll give you my takes on some of this. The firmware addition is better 2-way data sharing with Kestrel and Garmin. It can now draw data from a Kestrel when calculation a firing solution itself as it does with a Calypso. It can also share it’s direction of fire with 3rd party devices. I haven’t tried these features out yet but it looks like a big step in wind meter integration. Some of the other new features that I have tried out are a new, smaller HUD display option, HUD3 velocity / energy option, movable illumination aiming mark, enhanced mapping function, manual dope calcualtion. I have switched to the smaller HUD. This is a very minor change and I had to switch it on and off a few times to figure out what changed. The HUD is only about 10% smaller and looks the exact same. It does keep the text a little further from the etched milling markings though. It’s pretty minor but I do think I prefer it. The HUD3 velocity at target / energy at target option is a bigger deal to me. I like being able to see that velocity number especially as my .223, for instance, does not weather transonic velocities well and now I will know just when I get into that area and can expect my accuracy to fall apart. No more shooting at smaller higher point plates and missing at those ranges. I’ll go for the meatball and still be praying instead. Now about that movable illuminated aiming mark that you can place this update. It is as good as it can be given the long ago design decision not to overlap the AMOLED screen with the aim point. I have added this mark to my reticle in the below picture. It is just below the reticle and slightly to the right. You can position this mark left or right based on where your actual laser aim point is relative to your reticle. Mine is offset a half mil or so right, which is where my actual laser aim point is. However, you can’t move the mark up onto the actual reticle area to fully coincide with your true aim point as there is no screen there so I can’t indicate that my actual aim point is also around .3 mil high. Putting an illuminated tick mark close to the reticle most importantly helps some in low light aiming which is one of the Vector X’s biggest drawbacks as the small etched reticle is very hard to see in low light. It’s a nice feature and as good as can be done in software but obviously not what could have been had the display overlapped the etched reticle. Next, lets talk about the mapping function. The Vectronix version of Applied Ballistics is my favorite overall of the four Applied Ballistics app flavors I have tried. Part of this is a preference for the more traditional linear style menu layout but part of this is also that it has by far the best free mapping function built in. Most AB apps do not have this function at all and the Leica has a sort of hinky one that pulls you outside the app to one of a number of other apps when using it. This change to the mapping function allows you to store a lot more points, move them around, and name them. These are very nice changes to an already nice feature and they are integrated in an intuitive way. Lastly, the new manual dope calculation is pretty minor. I believe you could already do this using the target card function but now you can just type a quick range into the main HUD as well if you want to see a hypothetical range without having to have that target and range it. This is a little faster I guess. I do always like features that give me more control to spitball things.  Vector X HUD3 set to the new velocity / energy option and also showing the new “aiming mark assist” and reduced sized HUD. Sorry about the bino focus in the photo. It is set to... nothing in the photo. Lastly, ShotShow time is coming around and boy there are already some interesting things to look at. I’ve already sent out a number of potential review e-mails for scopes, shooting glasses, and probably something I’m forgetting as it’s the middle of the night here and I’m doing the insomnia thing, but if you guys see something interesting, don’t hesitate to point me to it as I may have missed it and find it interesting as well. |
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Update 2-10-2026 Last post on this thread guys. The BigJimFish 2026 article and blog thread is up. Also, there is a new article on there about straight walled cartridges for you to find. |