Further Information

The solution was easy ... simply going to one of the toughest and most reliable electronic reflex red-dot sights available today - the Hi-Lux Optics MAX-TAC Dot sight. Thanks to the forgiving unlimited eye-relief of this sight, it has allowed me to turn a Traditions VORTEK Rifle & VORTEK Pistol combo into one extremely versatile muzzleloading modular shooting system

Patterned after the early Unertl Target Competition long tube scopes of the 1940s, which were employed by the Marines from WWII through Korea and Vietnam, the Leatherwood Wm. Malcolm USMC 8x Sniper Scope reproduction is every bit as stunning and useful as the old Unertls, only it is built with modern tolerances, really good glass and is something a person can afford, with an MSRP of $549. By comparison, a genuine Unertl—if you can find one—will set you back a grand or more. And most originals are in tough shape...

Check out the full article on GunDigest!

Last November, I put in a lot of time looking for a decent buck. Most of it, I didn't spot any horns at all. An end of the season muzzleloader hunt for either mule deer or whitetails, took me into the Missouri Breaks country of central Montana. The first three days, I concentrated on mule deer, and spotted several true "Monster Bucks", but could not manage to get within range.

What really sets the newer versions of the ART system apart from the military ART models of the 1960's is the cam system which automatically allows for the trajectory of the round being shot.  Let's face it, the original ART scopes were set up to allow tactical shooters to keep hits on a man-sized target out to around 600 yards ... shooting rifles chambered for the U.S. military rifle cartridges of the time - the 5.56x45mm NATO (.223 Remington) and the 7.62x51mm NATO (.308 Winchester).

The 3-9x40mm hunting scopes have traditionally been the best selling scopes on the market. The Hi-Lux Optics "Buck Country" scope in that magnification range is one of the best moderately priced scopes available today. This scope is built with features, such as fully multi-coated lenses...and Tri-Center coil spring tension on the internal erector, which make it comparable to scopes costing $300...$400...or more.

... That next year, I drew an antelope tag and was lucky enough to find a Boone & Crockett buck...but he was 501 yard away.  I had the confidence in the gun and your scope, so I dropped the big boy! Next was my wife's hunt where she took a Coues-Whitetail buck at 584 yards...with 7 of family and friends watching...she dropped the buck!   Everybody couldn't believe it!   That's the day the rifle got its neck name "Freak Nasty"! That year I also took a 3x3 desert mule deer buck at 375 yards...

Iowa resident Mike Ross, hunting the late muzzleloader season this past January, pulled off a great 242-yard off-hand shot with his Knight .50 caliber Long Range Hunter, taking a nice buck with a single bullet centered through the chest cavity.  He attributed the success of that shot to spending a lot of time on the range with the rifle and the Hi-Lux Optics multi-reticle TB-ML scope - and to the precise placement of those reticles in the scope.

This past week, this particular Hi-Lux Optics TB-ML scope, with a bullet drop compensating BDC reticle, surpassed having 12,000 rounds fired under it.  These weren't low recoiling target loads either, but rather stiff hunting loads.  Easily 75-percent of the shots fired under this scope were with my favorite hunting load - 110-grains of Blackhorn 209 and the Harvester Muzzleloading saboted 300-grain Scorpion PT Gold.  

When it comes to recreating older style rifle scopes from the past, Hi-Lux Optics has done an outstanding job of maintaining the "Old School" look, while also incorporating modern up-to-date optics and internal construction to make the company's contemporary copies of older rifle optics far superior to the originals.  One such "re-introduction" that has gotten a lot of attention, especially from "Old School" Marines, has been the re-make of the M40 USMC sniper scope - the original of which dates from the Vietnam era.  

Recently, the Davide Pedersoli arms making firm of Brescia, Italy shipped me one of the coolest looking modern in-line ignition muzzleloading rifles I've ever seen for test shooting.  What makes this rifle so different from other No. 209 primer ignition in-line rifles on the market is that it is actually built to look like something that "could have" existed back in the 1860's.  This .50 caliber modern muzzle-loaded big game rifle is being built on a modified variation of the old Remington Rolling Block type of action.  In fact, Pedersoli refers to the rifle as their "Rolling Block Muzzleloader".

The Hi-Lux M40 scope is very true to the original scope used by the Marine Corps. For years, many tactical shooters have wanted to build a clone of the 1960's M40 sniper rifles. Remington even came out with an M40 version of the Model 700 center-fire rifle, in .308 Winchester, a few years back ... but there simply was not a proper scope in production.

This year, we used two .50 caliber No. 209 primer ignition in-line muzzleloading rifles for conducting the test - one of the exquisite Model 22 ML rifles produced by Cooper Firearms of Montana - and one of the .50 caliber Strike models now offered by Thompson/Center Arms.  The Cooper rifle sported one of the Hi-Lux 3-9x40mm TB-ML model scopes...