Riflescope Blog: Expert's reviews, news, notes on rifle scopes, hunting optics, shooting, binoculars, night vision sights, gun accessories, and more

Riflescopeblog is written by Steven K. Ledin, OpticsPlanet’s Director of Product Intelligence. Follow Steve’s daring exploits as he shoots, travels, hunts, tests, teaches, modifies, and breaks the latest rifle scopes, red dots, lights, lasers and more. Get an insight into the corporate world of a professional gunbitch with a dose of his philosophical insight.

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30 May

>Safari

Steven K. Ledin,

Today is my last day at work for a couple weeks. Safari time. I’m going with some heavy hitters. Nice to be included in their group. My Pelican case is cut and filled, and got my Accubond ammo from Winchester to sight with. I’ll do it Saturday at a friend’s place where I can get a good long zero and check the BDC circles in my Nikon Monarch. Several guys hunting cape buffalo, another for leopard. We’ll all shoot birds.…

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28 May

>Scope Mounts and Mounting

Steven K. Ledin, >Scope Mounts and Mounting

Here’s the handout I gave the class during the last basic training session, here shown optimized for web use:

Choosing and Installing Bases, Rings, Mounts, and Scopes

The bases and rings used to connect a riflescope to a firearm are often the weakest link in a shooting system. Without a properly fitted connection, the very best scope and rifle combination is rendered useless. Often it is impossible to tell if you have an unsecure or ill-fitting connection until you’re at the shooting bench or in the hunting field, where a poor mount or installation may show itself as inconsistent at
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23 May

>Getting Close to Africa

Steven K. Ledin, >Getting Close to Africa

Only about 10 days left until safari. Scrambling. The folks I’m going with had two years to prepare. I got three weeks. Had three more training sessions for the crew this week. About 50 people. Scope mounts and mounting. Lots of visual aids and guns everywhere.

Gotta get a rough 100 yard zero this weekend with whatever ammo I have. Next weekend I’ll go long. Leave Tuesday morning. Winchester is one of the sponsors, and I’m waiting to see what kind of ammo they send for me to use. Should’ve been here already, but that’s the way it goes. I’m
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07 May

>Guatemala or Africa

Steven K. Ledin, >Guatemala or Africa

Early last month I was invited on a bird watching expedition to the cloud forests of Guatemala in early June. I was learning Spanish through discs in my Jeep on the way to and from work. They were pretty useful and were working well. My new trail boots are comfortable and were waiting to walk on Central American soil. I actually watch birds for Cornell university every year. I don’t just watch birds through my oven window. I was very much looking forward to the trip. Then a strange thing happened. I got invited to Africa on safari at the
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28 Apr

>New Nikon Rangefinders

Steven K. Ledin, >New Nikon Rangefinders

I did some filming last week for our site as well as YouTube. New Nikon products represented were the Riflehunter 550 (one of the very best new laser rangefinders on the market), the Nikon Monarch binocular, and the most technologically advanced binocular available, the Nikon EDG (pronounced EDGE). Nikon’s introduction of the EDG is going to reset the optical standard of high-end glasses, and the Europeans had better be well aware of the capabilities of this new offering. I have never tested optics that rated as high on a resolution chart. My normal go-to binocular is a Monarch, and
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