February. A cool and relatively damp month for us - 2.5” of rain thus far. It may not sound like much, but it’s a good amount for an area festooned with both forest fires, landslides, and the occasional earthquake. 

February also saw a number of new releases among our scope lineup: the new Sporter 3-12 and M40 Mk2 are hitting the shelves. We've put up some videos about the scopes after taking them out for a nice range day in the desert, which also yielded some fun photo opportunities. 

Check out all the details below.

This page last updated Feb 21st. 

New Scopes

The Sporter 3-12X44 went up for preorder towards the beginning of the month. This is a new addition to our hunting lineup, and has been designed to do exactly what is needed and nothing that isn't. My favorite feature, and the one that led me to mount it atop a Daisy 853, is the close focus down to 10 yards. Even so, I made sure to also give it some time atop my Remington 700 in .30-06, just because of how well the rifle and scope agree on hunting as a purpose. 

The new M40 Mk2 is shipping out. A step up from both the original M40 and our previous version, the new Mk2 has been overhauled with stainless steel internals. Brass has been the name of the game for scope internals for quite a while now, and we felt it was time to add a hefty amount of durability by swapping that out for stainless steel. The glass is secured with increased threading, protecting against heavier recoil. Other improvements, such as tighter tolerances and superior lens coatings, are more difficult to see and no less important. From tip to tail, the M40 Mk2 has been redesigned with the competitor in mind.

New Videos

Off the chopping block are two new videos in the month of February. One is the overview for the Sporter 3-12, while the other is the overview for the new M40 Mk2. 

Cool Photos

New Blog Posts

The third and (for now) final post in the Daisy 853 saga is out. Part 3 takes the rifle and scope to the range for pellet group testing and penetration testing. As it turns out, I still haven't found the perfect pellets. Group sizes were not what I expected after all I've heard about this air rifle's barrel. Penetration seemed just about right with its 4 ft-lbs of energy. Paper and thin slats of dry wood stood no chance, while PVC pipe stopped the pellets completely. 

A guide to red dot essential features is also out. This is more of a general guide on what to look for in a red dot. There are many purposes for mounting a reflex sight on a firearm, so the first step is always to decide your purpose. All other details fall in from there. 

This post details the replacement reticles for the 6X Long Malcolm Gen ii. Previous versions of the 6X Long did not have the ability to easily replace the reticles. That has changed. If you really wanted to, you could even use the frame to stretch your own reticle the old fashioned way - spider silk.