Earlier this year Leupold released a new reticle for their Mark5 HD scopes. The new PR2 reticle was developed in collaboration with professional shooters and was designed for speed and precision. It is a reticle that is perfect for Precision Rifle Series shooters. Leupold sent their Mark5 HD 5-25×56 with their new PR2 reticle in for review.

At SHOT 2018, I was having a blast looking through the Tikka/Sako wares.  The most eye-catching of these to me was their new (at the time) Sako 85 Carbon Wolf sporting a striking adjustable RTM carbon fiber “soft touch” coated stock, as well as a fluted and threaded barrel.

Good evening everyone and welcome back to TFB’s Friday Night Lights series. We are excited to announce that FNL is now sponsored by ATN Corp, manufacturers of night vision and thermal optics like the THOR LT. As with all of our sponsored series, Friday Night Lights will continue to bring you unbiased news and reviews from a variety of companies.

Thanks to my friend Jason for clueing me into Zaffiri Precision. They have been making their own custom slides and barrels for Glocks and last year branched out to SIG slides. Well, I got their ZPS.2-G43 slide and barrel to upgrade my Glock 43. I also got their SRC micro red dot which the slide was cut for.

Good evening everyone and welcome back to TFB’s Friday Night Lights series. We are excited to announce that FNL is now sponsored by ATN Corp, manufacturers of night vision and thermal optics like the THOR LT. As with all of our sponsored series, Friday Night Lights will continue to bring you unbiased news and reviews from a variety of companies. This week we just happen to start with ATN. Most night vision and thermal devices are somewhat expensive often costing well over $2,000. In some cases twice or triple that cost. I was curious to see how well their lowest-cost night vision monocular performs. One of the ATN NVM14 is just under $2,000 making it a bit more affordable.

I have used the Spuhr Fix It Sticks kit for years, and if I forget them I feel handicapped. It’s a small but great piece of kit for anyone who mounts and dismounts a lot of riflescopes, which you know I do for my reviews. But that kit is more or less designed and limited to scope mounts and therefore is too minimalistic if you run into other “obstacles” in your gunsmithing.

Last year Swampfox came out with their optics cut slide called the Wolverine. It is set up to fit their Liberty and Justice micro red dots. They sent Gen 3 and Gen 5 Swampfox Wolverine slides in for review along with Liberty and Justice micro red dots.

XS Sights has branched out beyond weapon sights and is now offering a Remington 870 2rd extension. They offered up one for review so I volunteered as tribute. I was curious to see if the 870 2rd extension would work with some outlier variants of the 870 platform. Specifically, my Remington Model 870 Express Tactical Magpul edition and an AOW built off an 870.

Last January, just after GunFest, James Reeves visited KelTec and Chad showed a new SUB2000 featureless kit. Well, it is out now and I bought it out to check it out. Let’s take a closer look.

When shooting or observing with night vision at longer distances, you might need to add some supplementary illumination. Carbines set up for night vision usually have a multi-function aiming laser (MFAL). In a previous Friday Night Lights, I went over the most popular full power MFALs. While these can work for long-range shooting with a clip-on, they are expensive and for the most part, you are using a scope to aim so you don’t need an infrared pointer. There are two standalone IR illuminators, the Luna Optics LN-ELIR-3 and the Steiner SPIR. We will take a look at both.

Ever since I picked up a pair of Arsenal’s Legion Izhevsk Saiga 5.45’s, I’ve quite enjoyed the 5.45×39 AK74 platform.  I’ve found my particular examples to be soft-shooting and accurate to boot.  The value-priced (at the time I bought it) 5.4×39 ammunition aids matters as well, as I don’t mind dumping mag after mag of steel-cased ammo.  Though I’ve got some Russian and Bulgarian AK74 magazines, I did not have a large quantity of them.  A few years ago, when I saw Magpul was putting out an AK74 version of their extremely popular and prolific PMAGs, I was enthused to give them a try.

A friend of mine has a thermal spotter which he bought a few years ago. He was looking for an upgrade, and as he heard I had Pulsar’s brand new Helion 2 XP50 PRO he came by to have a look. It was a sunny spring day with a temperature of around +15°C (+59°F), pretty good conditions for any thermal device. I turned the Helion 2 on, white hot image and set the focus at a house about 160 meters away and gave it to him. He had a look and asked, so how do I put the thermal mode on to check the function? I said there is only one setting and it’s a thermal image, you’re looking at it! You can change some of the settings and the color palette, but everything is based on a thermal image of what you’re looking at. He couldn’t believe what I was saying, but the new Pro version delivers such a good representation of the surroundings that you think it’s a black & white movie or picture of reality. He ordered one the same day.

The Nightforce ATACR has made a name for itself as the tried and true optic for long-range shooters and military snipers.  Held to insane durability standards, and using a 34mm tube and multi-coated ED glass, the ATACR series is where quality meets durability.  I purchased this ATACR 5-25×56 SFP Enhanced roughly a year ago to see if the optic lived up to its reputation.

Truth be told, I am a bit of a hand cannon junkie.  I love going out to shoot my .44 Magnum wheelguns, and always appreciate a range session with a friend’s .454, .460, .480, .500 and so on.  While all these pistols are a hoot to shoot, they take a certain amount of finesse to properly control and get rounds accurately on target, especially with repeatable hits.

First unveiled at TFB’s GunFest 2021, the Zastava PAP M90 PS is the newest rifle from Zastava Arms that’s destined for American shores. The Zastava Arms M90 features a fully chrome-lined 18.25″ barrel that comes with an adjustable gas system from the factory.  All of this in a 5.56 chambering makes the M90 a very desirable option for fans of AKM pattern rifles. Zastava Arms USA CEO Ranko was kind enough to allow me to do this full in-depth review of this pre-production rifle. Let’s go over what sets the M90 apart.

On this week’s edition of Friday Night Lights, we bring you another Dual Tube Spotlight. This is where we review a binocular night vision goggle. This time we are looking at a newcomer to the night vision scene, Nocturn Industries. They are coming out with a 3D printed dual tube night vision binocular called the UANVB Katana.

It wasn’t long ago that if you wanted a light on your rifle, it was SureFire or nothing. With their company history stretching back nearly a half-century and key innovations in weapon-mounted flashlights beginning as early as the 1980s, it’s not hard to see why they were the kings of this particular hill for so long. In recent years, however, the market for tactical illumination has exploded. Usage and demand have soared, and as a result, many younger companies have arisen to challenge the SureFire giant. While this process has given us a veritable ocean of lesser products, it has also featured some phenomenal lights from other manufacturers. While SureFire still offers many excellent weaponlights, they no longer sit alone on the top shelf of this realm. For my money and from my experience, two companies, in particular, have emerged as the most capable direct SureFire long gun light competitors, in the majority of applications: the PLH and OKW models from Modlite, and the OWL and REIN lights from Cloud Defensive.

Over the last few years, SIG has come out with a number of variations of their P320 line. The beauty of the P320 system is the removable fire control unit, so you can really design whatever kind of handgun you want in a given situation. Whether it’s a full-size range gun, compensated project gun or a small carry handgun, the P320 can be turned into any of those. SIG’s newest addition is the P320 AXG Scorpion. Let’s take a deeper dive into this newest addition of the P320 line.

Have you wanted to stretch out the capabilities of your optics without holding over or adjusting elevation? Axeon Second Zero can extend your mean point-blank range with a simple flip of a lens. By doing so your optic’s zero shifts allowing you to engage targets further away than normal and you are still aiming center mass.

When the new automatic knives from Microtech called Scarab II and Mini Troodon were released last year we published an article to keep you updated. This is still The Firearm Blog, but from time to time we take the liberty to widen the subject and write about everyday carry knives and other objects that may be of interest for gun owners.

The micro-compact striker-fired pistol market just received its latest contender! Joining the ranks of Glock, SIG Sauer, and Springfield, the new Smith & Wesson M&P Shield Plus is the latest double-stack 9mm micro-compact pistol to put its name in the ring. Although Smith & Wesson is a little bit late to the game, I was more than excited when they sent me out one for testing and review as I have been impatiently anticipating the release of this pistol since the introduction of the M&P Shield 9EZ back in 2019. So is the M&P Shield Plus going to sink or swim in the waters of the micro-compact 9mm carry pistol arena? Let’s find out.

Shockwave Technologies have introduced their Raptor F1 shotgun furniture kits for the Mossberg 500/590 and Remington 870 shotgun models. These furniture sets include the forend and heat shield, and a bird’s head pistol grip. Shockwave Tech was nice enough to send a sample of each to review. Bird’s head shotgun grips have become wildly popular of late since the release of the Mossberg Shockwave, and Remington Tac-14 and Tac-13 shotguns. Shockwave Tech’s shotgun forearm furniture is a new, modular take on the forend with a twist. The optional top cover to the Shockwave Technologies forearm attaches to the slide action and acts as a heat shield, and also incorporates a front and rear sight.

Hello everyone and welcome back to TFB’s Silencer Saturday brought to you by Yankee Hill Machine, manufacturers of the YHM Turbo K rifle suppressor. Last week we shared some upcoming reviews and I thought we could kick the season off with a look at the CGS HELIOS QD – a suppressor marked as 5.56mm but is capable of handling almost any caliber you can throw at it. Full-auto rated and without any barrel restrictions, the CGS HELIOS is billed as the pinnacle of hard use silencers with features not found anywhere else. But how does the HELIOS sound? Let’s take a look.

Back in the summer of 2019, I reviewed the ATN Corp ThOR4 thermal scope. I tested and evaluated the ThOR4 from behind a bench, not so much as a hunter. Well, an opportunity arose to further test the ThOR4 but in a more practical scenario, such as hog hunting. I will admit I was not overly impressed with the ThOR4 the first time I reviewed it. However, Adam S. and I went on an ATN ThOR4 hog hunt down in South Texas at Mellon Creek Outfitters and the experience changed my mind about the ThOR4.

Built around the legendary HK416 platform, the Heckler & Koch MR556A1 is the newest variant available to the commercial market.  This newest model carries over tried and true features like HK’s short-stroke gas piston system with some new refinements like an M-LOK rail.  Built using a combination of both German and American parts I was curious to see how this new variant performed. H&K was kind enough to send over this review MR556A1 with an EOTech VUDU 1-6 in their new mount.

Over the years, 2011s have grown significantly in popularity among shooters in the gun community. There’s a number of companies who make them from Staccato, Infinity, Atlas along with other manufactures. I was always extremely curious what the reliability of them would be in the long term. I teamed up with my buddy Tommy who is boom_stick03 to test the reliability and longevity of the STI Tactical handgun. During the covid shutdowns, I borrowed his 2011 for 3 months to determine how it’ll hold up after being shot 15K rounds. I decided to put 2,500 rounds through to get an overall idea of how accuracy is after being shot a fair amount over its lifetime. Let’s dive into the Staccato Tactical DS H.O.S.T 4.0 and how it does after a high round count.

Last year Taurus released their freshly updated G3C compact 9mm pistol. Being the successor of the G2C, the G3C (and by extension the G3) received some upgraded features and a new look. I reviewed the G3C upon release last year and if you want my review of the full pistol without the optics cut then you can read that here. Today we’ll be discussing the Taurus G3C TORO (Taurus Optics Ready Option) pistols that have just been made available.

Over the years I have used several different brands and models of red dots. They all have their place and uses and so far I have not found the perfect red dot sight. The Trijicon MRO is my first reflex sight from them and the first Trijicon product I have ever owned. The reason why I bought it was to see if my competition shooting results could improve in PCC (Pistol Caliber Carbine) overall and Steel Challenge (PCC) specifically. Not that I have a huge amount of experience with PCC and Steel Challenge yet, but shooting is shooting.

The NIVISYS TACS is chunky compared to other clip-on thermal devices. Take a look at how big it is compared to the Jerry-C.

Looking to transform your high-quality AR-platform or bolt-action rifle from being reasonably accurate to a precision instrument? Then the ultra-compact Schmidt & Bender 5-20×50 PM II Ultra Short might be the answer. This review is also another important piece in the puzzle in TFB’s quest of reviewing all of the PM II series of riflescopes made by the German company.