In this article, we’ll look at two rifle cartridges: the .300 Winchester Magnum and .300 Winchester Short Magnum. Although their names are similar, they’re both different, with some interesting performance characteristics. We’ll delve into an extensive data set in this in-depth comparison.

The similarities in their names can confuse those not familiar with these cartridges. You can use both for the same shooting and hunting purposes. However, these two cartridges are not interchangeable. Here, we’ll highlight the differences and the similarities between the .300 Win Mag vs .300 WSM. We are not looking to crown one cartridge as superior to the other. Instead, we want to present an unbiased view of these two cartridges. We’ll do this so that you can have a better basis for deciding which one better suits your shooting needs.

First, we’ll take a look at some ballistics. Afterward, we’ll dive into the performance characteristics of these cartridges. Then, we’ll also try to tie everything back together at the end of the article. Finally, we’ll discuss which purposes are best suited for each of these cartridges.

.300 Win Mag and .300 WSM Comparison Summary

Test.300 Win Mag.300 WSM Average Recoil (ft.lb)27.625.43 Average Supersonic Flight Limit (Yards)27742799.3 Average Short Range Bullet Drop at 100 yards00 Average Ballistic Coefficient0.4860.483 Average Long Range Bullet Drop at 100 yards1.551.39 Average Supersonic Flight Limit (Yards)12551286 Average Kinetic Energy (fl. lb) at 100 yards3029.83114 Average Sectional Density0.2840.273 Average Bullet Momentum (lb. f/s) at 100 yards71.270.3

A Brief History

.300 Winchester Magnum

The .300 Win Mag takes a 30-cal bullet as does the .300 WSM. Winchester produced this cartridge in 1963. When compared to other popular hunting cartridges, it’s relatively new. Although, it’s older than the .300 WSM. This cartridge is also one of the most famous magnum cartridges worldwide when it comes to factory loads. In addition, it was the first cartridge designed in the magnum category. Similar to the popular 7mm Remington Magnum which was released a year earlier. Nevertheless, the .300 WM seemed to come out at the right time.

You can pack the .300 Win Mag with large amounts of powder giving it a huge advantage in velocity. Additionally, the cartridge can also take a variety of bullet weights. Most weights are within the 150-200 grain range despite the variety of lighter and heavier rounds available.

This round is popular for long-range shooters, including big game hunters and competitive shooters. In addition, snipers in special forces and military circles also use this cartridge. That said, the majority of its use is in the hunting world. Now, it’s all about matching the ammo style with the hunting situation when it comes to effectiveness.

.300 Winchester Short Magnum

Winchester introduced the .300 Winchester Short Magnum (WSM) to the public in 2001. It created a huge buzz in the hunting and shooting world. Winchester designed the magnum to provide power and speed while using lighter rifles.

The .300 WSM offered shooters the power of the popular .300 WM while using a lighter short-action rifle. Short magnums, which have a wider powder column, burn more uniformly and cleanly. In theory, this should provide more accuracy, though the significance of this can be argued and is not the subject of debate in this particular article.

The .300 WSM is one of the more popular short magnum cartridges that have come out in the last two decades. You can use it for both big game hunting as well as benchrest target shooting. Its bullet weighs from 125 to 200 grains. Although, most would agree that the 150-180 gr bullets often work the best with the cartridge.

Specs

.300 Win Mag.300 WSM Parent Casing.375 H&H Magnum- Bullet Diameter0.308”0.308” Neck Diameter0.339”0.344” Base Diameter0.532”0.555” Case Length2.62”2.1” Overall Length3.34”2.86” Case Capacity93.8gr80gr Max Pressure (SAAMI)64,000psi65,000psi

Just by looking at the bullet and casing specs of these two cartridges, we can begin drawing some inferences about how these two cartridges will perform. It also gives us something to look back on when we see the numbers and help us make more sense of them.

Both of these cartridges take a 30 cal bullet (.308”) but that’s about where the similarities between these two cartridges end. The WSM has a bit wider neck and wider base than the .300 WM. On the other hand, the .300 WM has a half-inch more in its case length and overall length. The increase in length of the .300 WM over the .300 WSM is greater than the increased wideness of the case of the .300 WSM. The difference in how low the bullet sits in the casing is negligible and results in the .300 Win Mag being able to hold a greater amount of powder through the case capacity does not represent how much powder is loaded into each cartridge. The .300 Win Mag also has a lower max pressure though only slightly.

Keep this information in mind as we start to look at the actual data comparing these two rounds. To make these comparisons, we selected ten rounds for comparison with five for each cartridge. There are obviously more options out there but ten felt like a nice round number that wouldn’t make things too cluttered. We also tried our best in selecting a sample that contained some different styles of bullet and bullet weights. The ten rounds we have graphed for this article are listed below.

Ammunition for Testing

If you already use one of these cartridge types, you might be wondering why we are not using your favorite, and undoubtedly the best, round in this comparison. It’s no sleight, and we have not made the statement that these are the best available rounds available. If it works for you, that should be all that matters.

Since this is a small sample size, we compiled the numbers for 15 extra rounds for each cartridge. This gives us a total of 40 rounds. At the end of several performances and ballistic sections, we created a table that includes the averages for those forty rounds. By doing this, we can present you with more information. We also hope that it can help it with your decisions, or help you learn more about a particular cartridge you like.

The Samples

All the selected rounds are factory loads and are widely available. In addition, factory loads tend to err on the side of caution when loading the casings with powder. We also want to note that all of the data here is computer-generated. We sourced the majority of the data from the manufacturer. For unavailable data, we relied on ballistic calculators from trusted sources. Additionally, we used ballistic calculators and kept as many variables the same between rounds of the same cartridge. We also made sure to clear our variables.

When it comes to this type of data, there is no concern with comparing cartridges, but you should be aware that these numbers can change when being fired from your rifle. Each rifle tends to have its own small differences in its profile, and this means some small differences in the ballistic output. As far as comparing the two cartridges go, computer-generated data has its advantages in that these small differences are negated as well as a lot of environmental factors.

So, with all of that out of the way, let’s jump into our comparisons.

Recoil

Looking at the recoil of the .300 Win Mag vs .300 WSM is important for understanding certain situations that you might favor one over the other. It is probably a bigger factor in selecting between one over the other for younger or inexperienced shooters. It’s still something to think about even if you do have a lot of experience. Recoil can influence shots, especially ones where you might not have much time to prep the shot, and it also influences your ability to make follow up shots.

We are looking at the energy that is generated when firing these rounds. Don’t confuse that with the “kick” that you feel when shooting. While this energy does translate to felt recoil, it is actually quantifiable. Felt recoil takes a lot of other factors into account that are difficult to put numbers with.

Recoil Data

We used a ballistic calculator to generate the recoil energy generated from firing these ten rounds (Graph 1).

Because propellant loads used by the manufacturer are not available, we went conservative with the loads using Nosler load data and kept the charge the same for each round within a cartridge.

We should also note that we used the same gun weight for all ten rounds. In reality, most rifles chambered for the .300 WSM are often a little lighter with them having a short action. And by lighter, it’s usually around half a pound to a pound difference in weight. Lighter rifles often mean a little extra recoil energy that is generated so the numbers might be a little higher for the .300 WSM rounds.

Looking at the graph, the first thing you’ll notice is that all ten rounds generate a significant amount of recoil with over 24ft. lbs of energy. The .300 Win Mag rounds generate over 26ft. lbs of energy with several in the 29-32ft. lb range. Meanwhile, the .300 WSM rounds are not too far off staying in the range of 24 to 26ft. lb range.

In general, anything over 20ft. lb of recoil is enough to impact shot placement, although that is pretty relative to who is handling the rifle. For inexperienced shooters, both of these cartridges are going to be felt when shooting and can easily cause flinching.

Below we have listed the average recoil energy from all forty rounds we have compiled.

Average Recoil (ft.lb)

.300 Win Mag.300 WSM 27.625.43

Once we add the extra rounds into the equation, we still see the general trend for the .300 WM with higher recoil energy than the .300 WSM rounds. The gap between the two is not as wide with the extra rounds. We can only see a little over two ft. lb of difference between the averages.

Both rounds produce a significant amount of recoil energy. In addition, you might see that shrink difference more if the .300 WSM rounds were to be simulated through a slightly lighter rifle.

Ballistics

When comparing two cartridges, the ballistics of each is always an important topic. Knowing how the round performs lets you understand if it will fit the situation at hand. In this section, we will look at velocity, trajectory, and ballistic coefficients of the .300 Win Mag vs 30-06. We do this to acquire the information necessary and draw some conclusions on which cartridge is best used.

Both of these are .30 caliber rounds. It would be easy to assume that a lot of their ballistic performances are similar. Remember that there are some distinct differences between the two cartridges. So it is important to take a close look at as many ballistic categories as we can.

In addition, it is important to note that though we are looking at these categories individually, that is only giving you part of the picture. All of these categories, including those outside of ballistics, go hand in hand and influence each other. We will attempt to bring all of this together when we get to the application section.

Velocity

Velocity is an important property of bullets for several reasons. For one, the faster a bullet is traveling, the less effect wind drift and gravity are going to have on the flight path. This is very important for long-range shots, which these cartridges are often used for. Once a bullet falls to a certain velocity, outside factors can greatly decrease the accuracy.

Velocity is also vital when it comes to stopping power. Most bullets designed for hunting expand on impact to create a more damaging wound. Hunting bullets also give optimal transfer of force to the surrounding tissue. These bullets need a proper amount of speed to get the correct terminal ballistics.

So whether you are hunting or bench rest shooting, velocity is an important characteristic to understand when choosing between two different cartridges. It influences just about every performance spec that is often discussed when looking at different cartridges.

We have compiled the velocity data for all ten rounds from the muzzle out to 500 yards and graphed them here (Graph 2).

Bullet Velocity Data

There are several conclusions we can draw from looking at this data.

First, these rounds have high velocities, both cartridges averaging nearly 3,000fps. At a distance of 500 yards, all rounds are supersonic with velocities above 2,000 ft.s. From the muzzle out to 200 yards, the .300 WMS has a slight advantage with a difference less than 100fps. Lastly, from the 300 to 500 yards, the .300 Win Mag has a slight advantage, but again, it is less than 100fps. At any range, both perform similarly.

The rounds for each cartridge are not grouping together. All of the ten rounds are interspersed in the graph. Upon looking at the muzzle velocities, three rounds outperform the others. Two of them from .300 WSM rounds and one .300 Win Mag round.

Below are the averages for all forty rounds we compiled for this article. Even with the increase in sample size, the general trend remains the same in regards to how close these two cartridges are to bullet velocity. One aspect that changed by adding the extra rounds is that the .300 WSM seems to keep its slight advantage over the .300 WM rounds out past the 200-yard mark.

Again, with the averages within 100 fps of each other, there’s a lot of overlap in performance between individual factory loads of these two cartridges. Both have potential for long-range shooting applications. For hunters, these rounds remain above supersonic speeds, looking from the velocity data above.

When bullets fall below supersonic speeds, the flight becomes less stable. Furthermore, the bullets become more susceptible to environmental factors. Understanding this allows you to take the necessary steps when calculating shot placement.

Average Supersonic Flight Limit (Yards)

.300 Winchester Magnum.300 Winchester Short Magnum 12551286

Both of these cartridges remain in supersonic flight out past the 1200 yard mark. While the .300 WSM has a slightly longer supersonic flight than the .300 WM, on average, it is only by thirty yards. If you look at the individual rounds (data not shown), you will see that the rounds from each cartridge mix thoroughly. If you want a round that remains supersonic, both the .300 WM and the .300 WSM have many viable options.

Ballistic Coefficient (BC)

The BC is important when you are looking at two cartridges designed to take larger game. It’s also essential for long-range shooting where the wind becomes more prominent. This is mostly the case when looking at the .300 WM and .300 WSM cartridges.

In the simplest of terms, the ballistic coefficient is a number that is derived from an equation taking into account a variety of bullet flight specs. The higher the ballistic coefficient, the less prone to wind resistance and drag the bullet is. In theory, a bullet with a better ballistic coefficient should be more accurate since it should be easier to stay on target after being fired.

If you’re never going to be taking shots out past 200 yards, the differences in the ballistic coefficients we are about to look at are negligible, but if you’re planning on getting any range on your shots, this should be an interesting section for you.

We have compiled each of the ten round’s BC and graphed them here (Graph 3).

In this graph, the rounds from each cartridge have high ballistic coefficients while some have excellent ones. If we look at the averages, the .300 Win Mag rounds have a slightly higher BC at .553 while the .300 WSM has an average of .520. Like any category when dealing with cartridges, we are not going to be shooting the averages. If we look at individual rounds, the .300 WSM has two rounds at .45 and below while the .300 Win Mag only has one that falls below .5. Both cartridges have options with .6+ BCs which are going to be intriguing for the long-range guys.

And this is only five rounds for each cartridge. We are not under the impression that all rounds available are going to fall within this range. Generally, for factory loads, they are going to hover around these numbers. However, if you need a high BC, there are rounds of both cartridges available out there.

To get a little better idea of how the two compare, let’s look at the averages for our larger sample set.

Average Ballistic Coefficient

.300 Winchester Magnum.300 Winchester Short Magnum 0.4860.483

One of the noticeable differences is that the BCs for both cartridges drop significantly compared to the smaller sample set. Still, for average ballistic coefficients, both have pretty respectable numbers. The difference here is nowhere close to say that one cartridge has an advantage over the other. Both have very high BCs and both have rounds on the lower end of the scale.

Trajectory

Trajectory is one of the most discussed ballistic properties when it comes to discussing the performance between different rounds as well as between two different cartridges. When we talk about trajectory, we are only referring to elevation and how much a bullet will drop as it moves downrange. A bullet’s flight path has a characteristic arc with the bullet dropping in elevation over time. A lot goes into a bullet’s trajectory including bullet specs as well as environmental characteristics. The velocity and BC both affect the trajectory of the bullet as does gravity and wind resistance.

Most hunters/marksmen want a flat shooting round. And by flat we mean there is a less pronounced drop in elevation over time. This flatter trajectory makes it easier to adjust for shots over longer ranges and gives you more room for error when trying to quickly judge a targets range.

When getting into trajectory with ten different rounds, all with different powder charges and bullet weights it can get pretty cluttered in the discussion. Because of that, we wanted to step back and take a broad look at two rounds, one from each cartridge, that are very similar. They are the same manufacturer, the same bullet design, the same bullet weight, and very similar BCs.

If we take a look (Graph 4) it’s difficult to tell if there are even two separate lines. Based on this, we can begin to see that the differences between these two cartridges, when just looking at the skeletal design, is not the determining factor for which cartridge is going to show a more pronounced bullet drop. The bullet design and weight, as well as the powder charge, are what will determine each rounds trajectory. And there are some differences in the cartridge specs as well as the types and weights of bullets more often used for each cartridge.

Both of these rounds show close to 45 inches of bullet drop at 500 yards. It is not too bad for factory loads that are more suited for hunting rather than extreme range shooting. Let’s take a look at our ten rounds and see how they compare.

Short Range Trajectory

Most folks won’t think of the .300 WM or WSM for short-range trajectory. However, you are likely to take shots within 300 yards, especially when it comes to hunting. Because of this, we wanted to take a look at the trajectories of these rounds with the rifle zeroed in at 100 yards (Graph 5).

Short Range Trajectory Data

From this set of rounds, there’s no visible pattern regarding rounds from each cartridge grouping together. We also don’t think we would, even if we had twenty rounds from each cartridge. At the 200-yard mark, there is 0.14-inch difference between the two averages. The .300 Win Mag having the slight advantage. The flattest .300 WM mag round has a bullet drop of 2.2″ while the flattest .300 WSM round has a bullet drop of 2.6”.

At the 300-yard mark, we still see the rounds interspersed. However, we do see an increase in the difference between the averages of the two cartridges. The .300 WM has a bullet drop of 9.9 inches while the .300 WSM has an average bullet drop of 11.06″, still, less than two inches. That change in the difference is mostly due to the .300 WM Trophy’s bonded ammo from Federal which only has a bullet drop of 6.6”, which is several inches better than any of the other Win Mag and WSM rounds. It can skew the data a bit but don’t make the mistake of thinking that there are not other .300 WSM rounds out there that can give the same performance.

If we look at the rest of the rounds at the 300-yard mark, there is no difference in trajectory between these two cartridges. There are flatter and steeper rounds for each. Additionally, the steepest is only a little over 12″ at 300 yards. This is more than manageable with today’s rifle optics and a little hard-earned experience.

Again, even with more cartridges in play, we see the same trend pop up between these two cartridges. We have also added in a 400 yard marker for further comparison.

Average Bullet Drop (Inches) at Short Range

Yards.300 Win Mag.300 WSM 50-0.234-0.235 10000 200-2.88-2.9 300-11.12-11.4 400-25.6-24.9

From this standpoint of just looking at computer generated data, there is nothing really to discuss between these two cartridges are short range when looking at trajectory. The averages show the .300 Win Mag has around half an inch less of altitude loss at the 300 yard mark but when you look at all of the individual rounds, their distribution make all of them seem like the same cartridge type.

If you go out to the 400 yard mark, the .300 WSM rounds have an average of 0.7 inches of bullet loss. From this data, either of these cartridges are going to provide options for flat shooting rounds and probably isn’t the category you will need to focus on until you start trying to decide which round you are actually going to cycle through your rifle.

Long Range Trajectory

Most people might be more interested in how these two compare at longer ranges. So, we gathered the long range data and presented it here (Graph 6).

Long Range Trajectory Data

We measure the bullet drop (inches) out to 700 yards with the rifle zeroed in at 200 yards.

Before getting into the specifics, if we just look at the graph, several points of discussion come up. The first is that all ten of these rounds group together very tightly out to 500 yards. At the 600 and 700 yards, we start to see gaps form between the two rounds, but like the short range trajectory data, there doesn’t seem to be any pattern in how the rounds from each cartridge group together. All of the rounds also show less than 110 inches of bullet drop at 100 yards which is pretty impressive for factory loads, with the majority of them designed for hunting purposes.

There is never more than an inch of difference between the averages of the two cartridges at any point over the bullet’s range. If you look individually, there are better performing rounds for both cartridges. The two flattest shooting rounds are a .300 WM and a .300 WSM round while the two steepest rounds are also a .300 WM and .300 WSM round.

And again, you might look at the numbers on the graph and realize you have seen other trajectory data with much flatter trajectories but remember we are only looking at factory loads. Both of these cartridges can be hand loaded to give better performance specs.

In the table below, we have listed the averages of the forty rounds we compiled and their long-range trajectory numbers. We also have a 1,000 yard mark for further comparison.

Average Bullet Drop (Inches) at Long Range

Yards.300 Win Mag.300 WSM 1001.551.39 20000 300-6.8-6.3 500-39.45-38.8 700-102.5-101.9 1000-295.6-285.8

Here again, we do not see any significant difference in bullet drop between these two cartridges at the same yard markers that we looked at above. Interestingly, we do see a little more separation between these two cartridges at the 1,000 yard range. It is still less than 10 inches and when you look at the individual rounds, there are a number of .300 WM mag rounds that show trajectory perform as well or better than the top performing .300 WSM rounds.

Several rounds of the .300 WM have 190+ bullet weights category than the .300 WSM rounds. Those heavy rounds at 1,000+ yards appear to bring the average down a good bit at this range. And that is usually a tradeoff you get with heavier rounds. The physics just don’t allow them to stay flat while still being manageable in other categories.

For hunting purposes, which both of these cartridges are used for, all the ballistic data is important, but if they can’t bring down big and thick hided game, it isn’t going to matter if the bullet gets there. So with that, let’s take a look at the stopping power of these cartridges.

Stopping Power

In this section, we will examine our ten rounds and look at the kinetic energy they carry along a flight path from the muzzle to 500 yards for our .300 Win Mag vs .300 WSM comparison. We will also examine the sectional densities for each round we have selected to represent both cartridges to determine the amount of potential penetration. Both of these cartridges were designed to be able to reach out at far distances and be able to still carry enough kinetic energy and punching power to kill the target on impact and large targets at that.

While both of these cartridges are used at the bench, they are also popular big game hunting cartridges which require a lot of stopping power. This section is probably going to carry more weight for hunters rather than just competition shooters, but it’s never a bad thing to know as much about a cartridge as you can.

There is a lot of debate out there as to how we can accurately estimate the stopping power of a round. Some argue that kinetic energy is the most important, some argue for momentum, and some argue that neither give you useful information. We are in the party that all of this points of comparison play a role in stopping power. While we will look at each separate from the others, they should all be taken into account when determining which cartridge would be more advantageous in a certain situation.

Now, there are more factors that go into a bullets ability to drop animals cleanly, such as the bullet design and its ability to cause serious wounds based on how the bullet expands when it reaches the target. We can’t quantify this in our .300 Win Mag vs .300 WSM comparison. Because of that, we will strictly focus on energy that the bullet carries and will be transferred to the target and the potential amount of penetration you will get on the target.

Kinetic Energy

All bullets, once fired, carry kinetic energy that is generated by the force of the gunpowder being ignited and the weight of the bullet which is basic physics you learned in school. On impact, this kinetic energy is transferred to the target where it causes damage to surrounding tissue and organs.

As a general rule, you want at a minimum of 1,000 ft.lb force when trying to take down larger game, and probably more in the 1,500+ range when talking about bear, elk, and moose which these cartridges are often used for. We do think that the amount of energy a bullet is carrying is important to know and understand when using these rounds for hunting purposes, but we also know that those guidelines are arbitrary. Shot placement is equally if not more important than the amount of energy that the bullet is carrying.

This sub-category is going to cater more towards those looking for a hunting cartridge, but if you’re going to buy a rifle chambered for one of these cartridges, then there is no harm in understanding as much as you can about each.

And given that we are dealing with two cartridges that are known for their incredible knockdown power, this is an important section if your choice is coming down to these two cartridges.

We compiled the energy data from the manufacturers of these ten rounds and graphed them below (Graph 7).

Kinetic Energy Data

As we have seen with most of the other categories, there is a lot of similarity between these two cartridges. Though, we do see a little bit more of a distinction between the averages of the two cartridges.

Looking only at the averages, the .300 WM hold around a 50-100ft.lb advantage over the .300 WSM from the muzzle out to 500 yards. And while there are better performing rounds than others, there are options in both the .300 Win Mag and .300 WSM that will give you incredible bullet energy through 500 yards.

From the muzzle, all of these rounds show bullet energy levels greater than 3,400ft.lb with two of the Win Mag rounds showing greater than 3,700ft.lb of energy. With these two cartridges, we are more interested in the energy once we get out to the 100-300 yard range and beyond.

At these ranges, all ten rounds still carry more than 3,000ft.lb of kinetic energy, and all of them maintain this energy fairly well as they move to 200 yards where they all still have well over 2,500ft.lb of energy. From the muzzle out to 200 yards, all of the rounds group pretty tightly together but we do see the two .300 Win Mag rounds show slightly higher energy than the other eight rounds. From 300 to 500 yards, the difference shrinks between those two rounds and the other eight.

At 300 yards, all these rounds still have well above 2,000 ft. lbs. Several rounds, including both .300 Win Mag and .300 WSM, still, carrying more than 2,500ft. lb.

At 400 and 500 yards, we start to see the rounds begin to separate from each other. All of them still carry a tremendous amount of energy at these extreme ranges when it comes to hunting though with all of the rounds bringing more than 1,500ft.lb with two rounds still carrying over 2,000ft.lb, one .300 Win Mag and one .300 WSM.

Average Kinetic Energy (ft.lb)

Yards.300 Win Mag.300 WSM 03479.53580 1003029.83114 20026282673.4 3002299.62336.7 4001988.31989.7 5001741.31736.7

While the differences between the two cartridges are the same amount, the slight advantage in kinetic energy has flipped from the .300 WM to the .300 WSM rounds at the muzzle and 100 yards. And this is one of the reasons why we wanted to include the numbers for a larger data set in the event that something like this would happen.

Again, there is not really a significant difference and the rounds from each cartridge are interspersed pretty evenly if we were to graph them. And with the formula for kinetic energy and what we know of the velocity between these rounds from the muzzle to 100 yards, we would expect there to be a slight increase in KE for the .300 WSM rounds at these markers.

Penetration (Sectional Density)

When hunting larger game, you often need your round to be able to penetrate through thick skin and tissue to reach vital organs. One way to determine the amount of penetration two cartridges will have is to compare the sectional density (SD) of the bullets used.

The SD is derived from a calculation using the bullet’s diameter and weight. A bullet with a higher sectional density should have greater penetration than a bullet with a lower SD. The sectional density alone does not indicate penetration. The velocity as well as the design of the bullet factor in as well. Higher velocities increase penetration as does highly bonded bullets that will not fragment on impact.

Deeper penetration is not always an indicator of a better cartridge. In addition, it all depends on what you’re shooting at. We’ll discuss this more once we get to the applications of these cartridges.

We are not stating here that penetration depends solely on the sectional density of the bullet. Penetration is a factor for stopping power. The sectional density is only a piece of the larger picture when it comes to penetration.

We calculated the sectional density numbers for the ten rounds and listed them in graph form below (Graph 8).

From these numbers, we don’t see huge differences between the two cartridge types. Both cartridges have several rounds in the .25 to .3 range. Although, the .300 Win Mag has a slightly higher sectional density on average. While both cartridges use .308” bullets, the .300 Win Mag usually is loaded with heavier bullets than the .300 WSM.

In the table below, you will find the sectional density data from the larger data set.

Average Sectional Density

.300 Winchester Magnum.300 Winchester Short Magnum 0.2840.273

From this data, the .300 Win Mag still has a slightly higher sectional density than the .300 WSM rounds. Like most sections we have looked at, there is a lot of overlap in the rounds of both cartridges. In this case, with both of them having the same diameter, it’s just a case of which has heavier bullets.

Again, sectional density is only a part of a much larger equation that goes into stopping power. The momentum of the bullet is another indicator of penetration. It goes hand in hand with the sectional density and is the topic of the next section.

Penetration (Momentum)

Momentum simply describes the ability of an object in motion to stay in motion. The more momentum a bullet has, the more it is going to take to stop the bullet. For hunting large game, you want more momentum to push through thicker hide and bones, which are denser and provide more resistance. For home defense, you don’t need the same amount of momentum. Of course, bullet design, sectional density, and expansion also influence a round’s penetration.

Sectional density plays a role in momentum as more momentum is conserved when the projectile, a bullet in our case, is striking a smaller area. With a smaller area providing resistance, more momentum is conserved, and the projectile can drive further into the target.

We have calculated the bullet momentum by using the bullet’s mass and velocity for each round and graphed them below (Graph 9).

Again, like most of the other categories, there is a lot of overlap between the two cartridge types, at least with the rounds we have selected. Both of these cartridges have rounds that leave the muzzle in the 70-80lb/f.s range with the .300 Win Mag rounds having a slight advantage when looking at the averages. The .300 Win Mag rounds have an average of 80.0lb/f.s while the .300 Win Mag has an average of 77.12lb/f.s. The difference between the two averages remains just about constant as the rounds move downrange to the 500-yard mark where the averages for the WM and WSM are 58.2lb/f.s and 22.3lb/f.s respectively.

And again, while the averages give a slight advantage to the .300 Win Mag, there are several .300 WSM rounds that provide just as much or more bullet momentum than several of the .300 Win Mag rounds.

In the table below, we have listed the average bullet momentum numbers over a 500-yard range for the forty compiled rounds.

Average Bullet Momentum (lb.f/s)

Yards.300 Win Mag.300 WSM 075.875.4 10071.270.3 20064.964.9 30061.660.9 40057.256.2 50053.752.7

When we look at the full data set, we see that the .300 Win Mag rounds still have a slight advantage over the .300 WSM, though the difference between the averages has tightened. Is this difference significant in the relation of cartridge to cartridge comparison? Most likely not, but like every other category has gone, there is some variation between individual round. Not just .300 WM to .300 WSM round, but between rounds of the same cartridge type.

Accuracy

Anytime you bring up two cartridge types, the argument for accuracy eventually rears its ugly and opinionated head.

There is no doubt, that accuracy is incredibly important. What’s the point of using a round if it can’t be put on target? The issue that we think never gets discussed is that the cartridge itself is only part of the equation when it comes to accuracy. Perhaps more important is how well the ammo cycles through your weapon, which it is the case that some ammo seems to work better with certain rifles than others. And you can never minimize the impact the person holding the rifle has on accuracy.

While measuring MOA is a great way of comparing rounds for each person individually, it’s difficult for us to compare cartridges that way for several reasons. The first is that those numbers can change from day to day based on the environmental factors and even the person doing the shooting. And as we mentioned earlier, the rifle being used might give different results than what you are using.

And we are not discounting that method of determining accuracy. We just don’t think it’s the best method for looking at two cartridges with a broad view and being able to present you with data that remains consistent.

We can look back at some of the other ballistic characteristics we have already examined. That performance can give us some indication of how difficult it might be to place the bullet in the vitals or the bullseye. And of course, this is not taking into account the rifle or the user.

Accuracy and Velocity

We didn’t see any huge difference in velocity from the averages of the cartridges out of the muzzle. Velocity, when paired with the correct barrel twist can make the bullet more stable. So your rifle is going to be a major factor in the velocity of these rounds being a pro or con. Still, a lot of people like high velocity and feel that their rounds perform better with a little extra speed. While the averages were slightly in favor for the .300 Win Mag (around 50 more fps), there were individual rounds, for both the .300 WM and .300 WSM that outperformed the other rounds in muzzle velocity.

When we look at the trajectory, we still did not see a lot of difference between these two cartridges. In fact, when we look at the averages of these rounds we see that there was less was never more than an inch difference in bullet drop in the short or long range trajectory data. With that, in this set of ten rounds, the flattest round was a .300 Win Mag round, but we also saw a .300 Win Mag round that was the steepest in bullet drop. Both of these cartridges showed pretty impressive trajectories for factory loads with an average of 6.64″, 19.2″, and 100.9″ at the 300, 400, and 700-yard mark.

Other Factors Affecting Accuracy

Besides trajectory, the bullets ability to resist drag and wind resistance is also a factor in helping accuracy. We looked at the ballistic coefficients for all of these rounds and saw that the .300 Win Mag had a slight increase in their average BCs over the .300 WSM. With that, there were several .300 WSM rounds with BCs from .5 to over .6. So, we don’t think one cartridge has an advantage over the other. .300 Win Mag rounds are often a bit heavier than the more popular .300 WSM rounds. This is mainly due to feeding issues with the shorter actions of .300 WSM chambered rifles. If there is no issue with the rifle, there are several 190+ grain weight WSM cartridges out there that give higher BC’s than the 185grain and lighter rounds.

Finally, we did see some differences in the recoil energy that is generated between these two cartridges. Both produce enough recoil to influence a shot, especially when you have been shooting for several hours where fatigue can set in and especially if a less experienced marksmen is holding the rifle.

There was a trend for more recoil energy with the .300 Win Mag rounds, and we also have to take into account the difference in rifle weights between these two cartridges. Rifles chambered for the .300 WSM are lighter than rifles chambered for the .300 Win Mag and this reduction in weight often means a bit meaner kick. It’s still relative though, and might not make much of a difference to a lot of you reading this. So while both cartridges have a good amount of recoil, it’s still not something that is going to make you miss a lot of shots once you have put some time in with handling the rifle and the round.

Barrel Length

And one final issue that we want to bring up is the barrel length. We mentioned that the .300 WSM is often used in shorter, lighter rifles. Some of this reduced weight often comes from using a shorter barrel, and there are a lot of arguments out there for longer barrels increasing the accuracy of the round. Now, it’s not directly correlated such as an extra inch of barrel gives you a certain amount of tighter groupings, but the physics behind a longer barrel and the impact it has on a bullet’s velocity and stability when leaving the barrel implies that accuracy would be positively affected. It’s nothing we can look at with these ten rounds under our criteria, but it’s something we thought you would like to take into consideration and research a little more on your own.

Price & Availability

The ongoing ammo shortage is affecting the .300 as well. While you can find both the .300 Win Mag and the .300 WSM can in major retail stores, there are usually more options for the .300 Win Mag. It is an older round with a much larger following. In addition, the WSM and the manufacturers know this. It’s not that you can’t get what you want of the .300 WSM, but you might have to shop around more for it.

As far as price goes, it depends on the individual round. If you were to take the price of every round for each cartridge and average it, the .300 Win Mag might be a couple dollars more expensive. However, most folks are more concerned with the performance of the round. If it gives you the performance, a few extra dollars per box is not going to be an issue. Both of these cartridges are a bit more expensive than other centerfire cartridges. However, they also bring a lot more to the table regarding stopping power and ballistics.

AmmunitionPrice (20 Rounds) .300 Win Mag Federal Vital-Shok Trophy Bonded 180gr$50 300 Win Mag Federal MatchKing BTHP Gold Medal 190gr$50 .300 Win Mag Nosler Trophy Grade AccuBond Long Range 190gr$55.20 .300 Win Mag Barnes Precision Match OTM 220gr$43.80 .300 Win Mag Hornady Superformance SST 180gr$42.47 .300 WSM Winchester Expedition Big Game 180gr$35.82 .300 WSM Federal Vital-Shok Trophy Bonded Tip 165gr$57.99 .300 WSM Federal Edge TLR 200gr$44 .300 WSM Hornady ELD-X Precision Hunter 200gr$57.99 .300 WSM Barnes VOR-TX TTSX Boat Tail 165gr$46

Applications

Just from looking at these factory rounds, there is no difference in velocity when looking at the averages. The .300 Win Mag rounds do have around an extra 40-50fps at each range marker. How much this extra velocity aids in accuracy isn’t something we can adequately determine in this article. Some people like a little extra velocity out of the muzzle, especially long-range shooters, and there are .300 WM and .300 WSM rounds that give you that.

These high-velocity rounds also means a little extra kick. For most people, this recoil is manageable especially given the extra stopping power and trajectory you get from it. Both hunters and target shooters use these two cartridges for long range shots. For factory loads, both of these cartridges bring pretty impressive trajectories. They are not as flat shooting as hand loads, but for those looking to get into one of these cartridges and then move on to handloading, they are going to do well on the range. Both also have round options with very high ballistic coefficients which is always beneficial when you start dealing with higher wind speeds and 500+ yard shots

These characteristics are also advantageous to hunting large game where shots greater than 300 yards are common. Both of these cartridges carry well over 2,000ft.lb of energy at 300 yards with several from both cartridges carrying over 2,500ft.lb. If we take it out to the 400-yard mark, we are still talking about an average right at the 2,000ft.lb mark which exceeds the general limit you need for big North American game. While bullet energy isn’t everything you need for stopping power, it is still an important part, and these numbers should make you feel more comfortable when taking a shot.

Big Game Hunting

When it comes to hunting big game, there is one advantage for the .300 Win Mag, and that is the bullet size. These heavier bullets provide more penetration and stopping power that is always appreciated when taking down large game. And as we mentioned before, there are .300 WSM rounds that use the 200-grain bullets, but we have come across a lot of problems that people have when feeding these large bullets through short action rifles.

If your particular rifle can handle them, then it’s not an issue at all. While we saw slight increases in the averages for SD and bullet momentum for the .300 WM, the .300 WSM were not far off at all and there are rounds that provide high performance in both categories. As far as being able to get deep penetration, both of these cartridges are well suited for the job, based on the data presented here.

Best Rounds

Top Hunting Round

The .300 Win Mag Nosler Trophy Grade, AccuBond Long Range 190gr round, stands out to us from a hunting perspective. For large and even dangerous game this is an excellent round. The Accubond bullet design gives you deep penetration on large game with controlled expansion to provide a lot of damage. Even at 500 yards this round still carries 2,016ft.lbs of energy, so range and stopping power is not an issue even for larger game. It has an incredibly flat trajectory out to 300 yards and is even manageable at the 400-yard range when the adrenaline is pumping with a ballistic coefficient of 0.64. For a large game hunting round, this one has all the characteristics you look for.

For big game hunting, the Hornady 200gr Precision Hunter is a great choice. Outside of the bullet design, which is going to provide controlled expansion to deliver penetration as well as deliver the huge amount of kinetic energy this bullet carries, it also carries a ton of momentum. With all of these factors, you are going to get the needed penetration for large and tough game. On top of that, this round has an incredibly flat trajectory at 300 and even 500 yards and a BC of .597 which will make things a bit easier when dealing with less than ideal wind conditions in the field.

Looking for the best budget hunting rifles, check out our guide.

Top Range Round

For the .300 Win Mag, the Hornady Superformance SST 180gr stands out to us as an excellent round to bring to the range. This round offers a decent ballistic coefficient though not as high as some of the others, but it is also one of the least expensive .300 WM we have examined. Even so, it offers the highest velocities and the flattest trajectory than any other round with less than 100 inches of bullet drop at 700 yards which is very impressive for a factory load.

If you are on the range, we like the .300 WSM Barnes VOR-TX TTSX 165gr round. It holds off on the recoil energy just slightly compared to the other rounds but still provides one of the flattest trajectories compared to the other .300 WSM rounds that we have discussed and used in our average tables. This round is also top of the list when it comes to muzzle velocity. It doesn’t have the highest BC compared to the other rounds, but it is still fairly high, and users seem to be very happy with its performance at long ranges.

Conclusion

After looking at the data for this sample of rounds from the .300 Win Mag and .300 WSM, we have seen that there is not much difference when looking at the cartridges. You get changes in performance from the individual rounds, but it’s tough for us to say which cartridge gives you more of a certain ballistic or other performance component.

The biggest difference between these two cartridges is not the ballistics, but in the rifle platforms they can be used. It’s always good to look into the similarities and differences of two cartridges, but at times, your decision really should be made based on other factors. That just happens to be the case when looking at the .300 Win Mag vs .300 WSM.

What it all comes down to between these cartridges from a ballistic/performance standpoint is personal preference, in our opinion. For long range shooting or chasing a bull moose, both of these cartridges, when shot with confidence and skill, are going to put meat in the freezer.

Ammunition List

AmmunitionPrice (20 Rounds) .300 Win Mag Federal Vital-Shok Trophy Bonded 180gr$50 300 Win Mag Federal MatchKing BTHP Gold Medal 190gr$50 .300 Win Mag Nosler Trophy Grade AccuBond Long Range 190gr$55.20 .300 Win Mag Barnes Precision Match OTM 220gr$43.80 .300 Win Mag Hornady Superformance SST 180gr$42.47 .300 WSM Winchester Expedition Big Game 180gr$35.82 .300 WSM Federal Vital-Shok Trophy Bonded Tip 165gr$57.99 .300 WSM Federal Edge TLR 200gr$44 .300 WSM Hornady ELD-X Precision Hunter 200gr$57.99 .300 WSM Barnes VOR-TX TTSX Boat Tail 165gr$46

More .300 articles:

• .300 Winchester Magnum: A Brief Guide
• .300 Win Mag vs .308 Win – Cartridge Comparison
• .300 Win Mag vs .30-06 Sprg – Cartridge Comparison
• .300 Blackout vs .308 Win – Cartridge Comparison
• Best Concealed Carry Insurance
• Beginner Firearm Safety, From Safe Storage to Safe Shooting

Updated July 2021: Prices and availability

What’s the best low light hunting scope you should take afield?

I think most hunters can likely agree that choosing the best low light hunting scope can be pretty tough, especially for those who are new to hunting or just don’t know a lot about optics in general.

It’s easy to get overwhelmed when searching for hunting scopes on the internet or when browsing the optics section of a sporting goods store. Even if you get past that initial overwhelming shock of seeing the sheer variety of optics choices billed as “low light hunting scopes,” cutting through the marketing jargon optics companies use to sell their products is a massive task itself.

I know how you feel and I’ve experienced much of that same frustration myself.

Though I’ve never owned a truly bad scope, I freely admit that I’ve purchased a few models that I wasn’t happy with and would not recommend to others. Nobody likes wasting money on a product that doesn’t live up to expectations and finding out you bought a sub-par rifle scope after having high expectations about how it would perform will definitley leave a bad taste in your mouth.

The good news is that we’re living in something of a golden age for hunting optics and the best scopes today are much better than was the case even 10 years ago. Indeed, there is a plethora of quality hunting scopes on the market today that provide exceptional performance at the range and afield.

In this post, I share my picks for the best low light hunting scopes. None of them are perfect, but the right scope can provide a vital edge when you need it most.

This is especially true during low-light conditions when many species of big game are most active. A scope with good low light performance can mean the difference between going home empty handed and punching your tag on the buck or bull of your dreams in a situation like that.

Before we get started, here’s a disclaimer: some of the links below are affiliate links. This means I will earn a small commission if you make a purchase.

This commission comes at no extra cost to you. This helps support the blog and allows me to continue to create free content that’s useful to hunters like yourself. Thanks for your support.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s get started.

Feel free to scroll straight through the article, or click one of the links below to jump straight to the best low light rifle scope in the specific category you’re looking for.

Best Value Low Light Hunting Scope

Best Low Light Hunting Scope Under $200

Best Low Light Hunting Scope Under $1,000

Best Low Light Hunting Scope Under $2,000

Best Low Light Hunting Scope Under $3,000

Best Overall Low Light Hunting Scope

Best Leupold Low Light Hunting Scope

Best Vortex Low Light Hunting Scope

Best Long Range Low Light Hunting Scope

Best Value Low Light Hunting Scope

Leupold VX-5HD 3-15x44mm

I’ll cut straight to the chase: I think the Leupold VX-5HD is the best value low light hunting scope currently available on the market. Not only that, but this is my favorite hunting scope in general. Period.

Why? Well, the VX-5HD has fantastic glass with special anti-reflective coatings to provide outstanding light transmission. Plus, this particular model of the VX-5HD I’m recommending here also uses an illuminated FireDot Duplex reticle. Basically, it’s a standard duplex crosshair with an illuminated red dot in the center that you can turn on and off.

It works just like a typical scope during the day, but you can turn on that illuminated reticle to aid in aiming during low light conditions. I’ve been in several situations where I had game come out during legal shooting light, but it was dark enough that I had trouble seeing the animals with my naked eye.

Fortunately, the light gathering capabilities of the VX-5HD are so fantastic that I could see much better while looking through the scope.

For example, I successfully and cleanly took a big blue wildebeest with my VX-5 on a recent hunt in Africa at dusk when it was dark enough that I could not see the black crosshairs on his dark body. However, I just turned on the illuminated reticle, put the dot where I wanted to hit, squeezed the trigger, and he dropped at the shot.

There’s no way I could have ethically or practically taken that shot with a scope without that fantastic light transmission and without the illuminated reticle.

It’s also really easy to adjust the brightness of that FireDot reticle as well to turn it up for use during the day if desired, or turn it way down to minimize glare inside the scope for use in low light conditions.

The Leupold VX-5HD also comes with Leupold’s CDS-ZL system and a side focus parallax adjustment dial. Additionally, it has a wide zoom range from 3x all the way up to 15x on the high end that make it well suited for basically any hunting situation you can think of from whitetail in thick timber to open country pronghorn hunts.

This scope is also really well built, tracks beautifully, and holds a zero exceptionally well.

To be fair, the Leupold VX-6HD line has a few additional features that some hunters really like, but I own and have hunted with both. In my opinion, the VX-5HD provides the best balance of size, weight, price, and the features that are most important to me.

And yes, a couple of other scopes on this list provide even better low light performance, but all are considerably more expensive than the Leupold VX-5HD.

All in all, this is a fantastic low light hunting scope that provides high end performance at a surprisingly reasonable price. If that big buck or bull of your dreams steps out of the woods right at last light, you want a scope like the VX-5HD on your hunting rifle so you can make that shot when it counts.

Key Features

• Weight: 19.7 ounces
• Magnification Range: 3-15x
• Objective Lens Diameter: 44mm
• Exit Pupil (low magnification): 14.67mm
• Exit Pupil (high magnification): 2.93mm
• Tube Diameter: 30mm
• Field of View: 38.3-7.7 feet at 100 yards
• Turret Click Values: .25 MOA
• Reticle Focal Plane: Second
• Parallax/Focus: Side adjusting parallax/focus knob
• Knob Style: Capped Windage & Custom Dial System-ZL Elevation (CDS-ZL)
• Illuminated Reticle: Yes

Pros

• Wide magnification range
• Excellent quality glass
• Great low light performance
• Illuminated reticle is perfect for low light situations
• Great balance of useful features without too many unnecessary “extras”

Cons

• On the heavy side
• Lacks throw level on magnification ring
• Higher price point

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Best Low Light Scope For Hunting Under $200

Vortex Crossfire II

The Vortex Crossfire II is a great entry level rifle scope and is exactly what you need if you want a no frills low light scope under $200 and don’t want to do a lot of shopping.

Let’s be realistic here: the Vortex Optics Crossfire II does not provide light transmission or image quality on par with some of the more expensive optics on this list. However, it’s still a capable low light hunting scope for those who don’t need a high performance optic and is a big step up over other lower price point scopes like the Bushnell Banner Dusk & Dawn.

This is because it has multi-coated lenses that facilitate light transmission and clarity under a variety of circumstances. It’s also available with a V-Brite Illuminated reticle as an additional option for those who want a more clearly defined aiming point at dawn or dusk.

Make no mistake: it’s more than adequate for many hunting situations, especially for hunters on a tight budget. I’d recommend moving up to something a little nicer if your budget allows though.

Key Features

• Weight: 14.3 ounces
• Magnification Range: 3-9x
• Objective Lens Diameter: 40mm
• Exit Pupil (low magnification): 13.33mm
• Exit Pupil (high magnification): 4.44mm
• Tube Diameter: 1-inch main tube
• Field of View: 34.1-12.6 feet at 100 yards
• Turret Click Values: .25 MOA
• Reticle Focal Plane: Second
• Parallax/Focus: Fixed at 100 yards
• Knob Style: Capped
• Illuminated Reticle: Yes (optional)

Pros

• Light and compact
• Very reasonable price
• Perfect for a budget conscious deer hunter
• Good glass

Cons

• Lower image quality than the higher end scopes
• Restrictive eye box
• No parallax adjustment dial

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Best Low Light Hunting Scope Under $1,000

Zeiss Conquest V4 3-12x44mm

European companies like Zeiss, Schmitt & Bender, and Swarovski (more on the others in a minute) are all known for producing outstanding quality optics in general. You tend to get what you pay for with that stuff though and European optics are also generally very expensive.

Fortunately, the Zeiss Conquest V4 is a great way to get a high quality European rifle scope with excellent light transmission capabilities for less than $1,000. This scope does not have a lot of “bells and whistles”, but it’s still an excellent German scope with great low light performance. Indeed Zeiss advertises that it uses six-layer multi-coated lenses to offer exceptional 90% light transmission and a clear sight picture.

This is not billed as an extremely lightweight hunting scope or one that’s ideally suited for long range hunting situations (look at something like the Zeiss Victory V, Victory HT, Conquest V6, or V8 if you want something along those lines). However, the Conquest V4 is an outstanding choice for a hunter who wants a good low light scope without paying for a bunch of extra features.

Key Features

• Weight: 22.5 ounces
• Magnification Range: 3-12x
• Objective Lens Diameter: 44mm
• Exit Pupil (low magnification): 14.66mm
• Exit Pupil (high magnification): 3.66mm
• Tube Diameter: 30mm
• Field of View: 19-4.8 feet at 100 meters
• Turret Click Values: .25 MOA
• Reticle Focal Plane: Second
• Parallax/Focus: Fixed at 50 yards
• Knob Style: Capped
• Illuminated Reticle: No

Pros

• Excellent light transmission at a reasonable price
• Very good quality glass
• Perfect for a hunter who wants a good scope without a bunch of “extras”
• Very durable

Cons

• Physically on the large and heavy side
• Smaller field of view
• No parallax adjustment dial
• No illuminated reticle

BUY A ZEISS CONQUEST SCOPE FROM AMAZON HERE

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Best Low Light Hunting Scope Under $2,000

Schmidt & Bender 3-12×50 Klassik

The Schmidt & Bender 3-12x50mm Klassik rifle scope is yet another great low light hunting scope from a European manufacturer. Closely related to the 3-12x50mm PM II USMC model the United States Marine Corps used on their sniper rifles for years, the Schmidt & Bender Klassik delivers a great balance of incredibly clearly glass, exceptional light transmission, and outstanding durability.

Don’t let the price of relative lack of marketing for this scope in the Untied States fool you: this is definitely one of the best low light hunting scopes available and has light gathering and transmission capabilities that perform right up there with some higher end (and much more expensive) models also on this list. Plus, it also has an illuminated reticle to further facilitate precision shooting under challenging lighting conditions.

To be perfectly honest, this scope is so good under low light conditions that it could even potentially get you into trouble by allowing you to take a shot outside legal shooting hours if you’re not careful!

All things considered, the Schmidt & Bender 3-12x50mm Klassik rifle scope is the perfect low light hunting scope for someone who wants the best possible light transmission and incredible durability without any extra or unnecessary features and without spending over $2,000.

Key Features

• Weight: 21.8 ounces
• Magnification Range: 3-12x
• Objective Lens Diameter: 50mm
• Exit Pupil (low magnification): 14.4mm
• Exit Pupil (high magnification): 4.2mm
• Tube Diameter: 30mm
• Field of View: 11.1-36.4 feet at 100 meters
• Turret Click Values: .25 MOA
• Reticle Focal Plane: First
• Parallax/Focus: Fixed
• Knob Style: Capped Windage & Elevation
• Illuminated Reticle: Yes

Pros

• Extremely durable
• Outstanding glass
• Illuminated reticle
• Great for a hunter who wants an outstanding good scope without a bunch of “extras”

Cons

• On the heavier side
• Higher price point

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Best Low Light Hunting Scope Under $3,000

Swaroviski Z6i 2-12x50mm

We can’t talk about low light hunting scopes without mentioning Swarovski. Specifically, I think the Swarovski Z 6i 2-12x50mm scope is the best low light hunting scope under $3,000.

Swarovski optics are known for having some of the absolute best quality glass in the business. Well, the Z6i is one of their higher end scopes and uses incredible glass that provides outstanding transmission while at the same time minimizing glare and reflection.

The Swarovski Z6i also has an illuminated reticle that also facilitates aiming under dim lighting conditions. Users also have the option of adding a custom elevation turret for use at longer range. The wide zoom range combined with the with the large 50 mm objective lens also makes this a very flexible scope with a large exit pupil across a wide magnification range.

Plus, this scope is surprisingly lightweight considering its overall quality and the extra features it comes with.

All things considered, it’s tough to argue with a combination of crystal-clear images, incredible light transmission, moderate weight, and those additional features that make the Swaro Z6i such an excellent hunting scope both for use during the middle of the day as well as at dawn and dusk when things are so challenging.

In fact, someone could definitely make the argument that the Swarovski Z6i is the top overall pick on this list of the best low light rifle scopes.

Key Features

• Weight: 18.3 ounces
• Magnification Range: 2-12x
• Objective Lens Diameter: 50mm
• Exit Pupil (low magnification): 25mm
• Exit Pupil (high magnification): 4.16mm
• Tube Diameter: 30mm
• Field of View: 63-10.5 feet at 100 yards
• Turret Click Values: .25 MOA
• Reticle Focal Plane: Second
• Parallax/Focus: Fixed
• Knob Style: Capped Windage & Optional Custom Elevation Turret
• Illuminated Reticle: Yes

Pros

• Reasonable size and weight
• Outstanding quality glass
• Illuminated reticle
• Excellent image quality

Cons

• Higher price point
• No parallax adjustment dial

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Best Low Light Hunting Scope

Tangent Theta TT315 3-15x50mm

If price is no option in your search for the absolute best possible low light hunting scope, then the Tangent Theta TT315 is what you need. A word of warning though: there’s a good chance you’ll never want anything else after you try out a Tangent Theta TT315.

This scope is specifically designed for professional marksman and incorporated all the features most useful in that role. Since those marksmen must look through their scope for long periods of time and depend on that scope to see minute target details, the TT315M has unsurpassed image quality and light transmission capabilities that allow the shooter to see the tiniest details of their target without eye fatigue and under periods of low light.

There are two downsides of this scope though: it’s very heavy and it’s very expensive.

To be perfectly honest, the vast majority of hunters do not need the low light performance of the Tangent Theta TT315 and there are plenty of other great low light scopes that aren’t quite as heavy or expensive. However, this is definitely the best low light rifle scope for those who do want/need that performance and who don’t mind shelling out a bunch of cash for this scope or lugging it around.

Key Features

• Weight: 36.15 ounces
• Magnification Range: 3-15x
• Objective Lens Diameter: 50mm
• Exit Pupil (low magnification): 11.5mm
• Exit Pupil (high magnification): 3.5mm
• Tube Diameter: 34mm
• Field of View: 12.8-2.8 meters at 100 meters
• Turret Click Values: .1 Mil
• Parallax/Focus: Side adjusting parallax/focus knob
• Knob Style: Non-translating knobs with elevation zero-stop & mechanical windage direction indicator
• Illuminated Reticle: Yes

Pros

• Wide magnification range
• Optimized for long distance performance
• Illuminated reticle
• Exposed elevation turrets facilitate rapid adjustments
• Side focus parallax
• Unsurpassed low light performance
• Excellent image quality

Cons

• Large and heavy
• Expensive

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Best Leupold Low Light Hunting Scope

Leupold VX-6HD 3-18x50mm

The Leupold VX-6HD product line is Leupold’s top end hunting scope lineup and the 3-18x50mm version of the VX-6HD is definitely the best Leupold low light hunting scope. I also think this line contains some of their best rifle scopes overall as well.

This is because it uses outstanding glass with superior coatings that facilitates excellent light transmission. Plus, this particular scope also has an illuminated FireDot Duplex reticle. Just like the VX-5HD I mentioned earlier, the FireDot Duplex reticle is a standard duplex crosshair with an illuminated red dot in the center that you can turn on and off.

The VX-6HD is basically an upgraded VX-5HD with a wider zoom range (6x instead of 5x), a little bit better quality glass, and a couple of other extra features many hunters like having like a reversible throw lever, an electronic reticle level, and flip up alumina lens covers.

While I think the VX-5HD is the best value low light hunting scope, those extra features and capability of the VX-6HD make it a better choice for other hunters who want a little bit better scope with slightly better low light performance, a couple of extra features, and who don’t mind spending a little bit more.

All things considered, the Leupold VX-6HD is an outstanding low light hunting scope. This scope provides a substantial improvement in low light performance over the VX-Freedom and VX-3HD scope lines as well as a modest improvement over the VX-5HD both overall and in the role of a low-light scope.

The VX-6HD definitely won’t let you down if you need to make a shot under low light conditions.

Key Features

• Weight: 22.9 ounces
• Magnification Range: 3-18x
• Objective Lens Diameter: 50mm
• Exit Pupil (low magnification): 16.67mm
• Exit Pupil (high magnification): 2.77mm
• Tube Diameter: 30mm
• Field of View: 38.3-6.4 feet at 100 yards
• Turret Click Values: .25 MOA
• Reticle Focal Plane: Second
• Parallax/Focus: Side adjusting parallax/focus knob
• Knob Style: Capped Windage & Custom Dial System-ZL Elevation (CDS-ZL)
• Illuminated Reticle: Yes

Pros

• Wide magnification range
• Excellent quality glass
• Illuminated reticle is perfect for low light situations
• Just about every feature you could want on a hunting scope

Cons

• On the large and heavy side
• Higher price point

BUY A LEUPOLD VX-6HD SCOPE ON AMAZON HERE

BUY A LEUPOLD VX-6HD SCOPE ON EURO OPTIC HERE

BUY A LEUPOLD VX-6HD SCOPE AT OPTICS PLANET HERE

Best Vortex Low Light Hunting Scope

Vortex Razor HD LHT 3-15×50

Look no further than the Vortex Razor HD LHT if you want the best Vortex low light hunting scope. This scope uses high quality glass, has a reticle with a center illuminated dot, a side parallax knob, and an exposed elevation turret with Vortex’s RevStop Zero System (their version of a a zero stop).

There’s a reason why Vortex Optics markets the Razor HD LHT as “one scope to rule them all” and this scope has much improved low light performance over their lower tier Crossfire, Diamondback, and Viper lines. Not only his the Razor HD LHT a better low light hunting scope, but it’s also just a better performing rifle scope overall.

Indeed, it’s well suited for use in dark-timber on whitetails as well as for open country antelope or elk hunts where precision long range shots may be necessary.

The Razor HD LHT also comes with a coupon you can redeem with Kentron Industries to receive a custom elevation turret matched to your favorite hunting load to assist with making long shots on game and at the range.

Finally, the illuminated reticle is especially nice for use in low light conditions where there’s still legal shooting light, but it may be too dark to see the reticle. Just turn on the illuminated center dot, place that red dot where you want to hit, and squeeze the trigger. The reticle also works just fine during the daytime when illumination is turned off.

If you want the absolute best Vortex low light hunting scope, then the Vortex Razor HD LHT is just what the doctor ordered.

Key Features

• Weight: 19.1 ounces
• Magnification Range: 3-15x
• Objective Lens Diameter: 42mm
• Exit Pupil (low magnification): 14mm
• Exit Pupil (high magnification): 2.8mm
• Tube Diameter: 30mm
• Field of View: 35.3-7.0 feet at 100 yards
• Turret Click Values: .25 MOA
• Reticle Focal Plane: Second
• Parallax/Focus: Side adjusting parallax/focus knob
• Knob Style: Exposed elevation turret (MOA)
• Illuminated Reticle: Yes

Pros

• Can order a custom elevation dial
• Excellent glass quality
• Illuminated center dot
• Well suited for a variety of deer hunting situations

Cons

• Busy reticle
• On heavy side

BUY A VORTEX RAZOR SCOPE ON AMAZON HERE

BUY A VORTEX RAZOR SCOPE ON EURO OPTIC HERE

BUY A VORTEX RAZOR SCOPE AT OPTICS PLANET HERE

Best Long Range Low Light Hunting Scope

Nightforce ATACR 5-25×56

With a gigantic 56mm objective lens and fully multi-coated ED glass, the Nightforce ATACR is another excellent addition to this list of low-light scopes. This scope also has a large 34mm main tube and a zoom range from 5x all the way up to 25x on the high end that facilitates use at longer ranges.

It also provides over 35 mils of elevation adjustment. This scope is also available in first focal plane and second focal plane configurations. For those reasons, I think the ATACR is the best long range low light hunting scope.

So, this is the best rifle scope for you if you’re looking for something with excellent low light performance that you can also use to reach out to extreme ranges with.

Key Features

• Weight: 39.1 ounces
• Magnification Range: 5-25x
• Objective Lens Diameter: 56mm
• Exit Pupil (low magnification): 10.5mm
• Exit Pupil (high magnification): 2.2mm
• Tube Diameter: 34mm
• Field of View: 18-4.9 feet at 100 yards
• Turret Click Values: .25 MOA or .1 MRAD
• Parallax/Focus: Side adjusting parallax/focus knob
• Knob Style: Capped
• Illuminated Reticle: Yes

Pros

• Wide magnification range
• Optimized for long distance performance
• Illuminated reticle
• Exposed elevation turrets facilitate rapid adjustments
• Side focus parallax
• Unsurpassed low light performance
• Excellent image quality

Cons

• Large and heavy
• Expensive

BUY A NIGHTFORCE ATACR SCOPE ON AMAZON HERE

BUY A NIGHTFORCE ATACR SCOPE ON EURO OPTIC HERE

BUY A NIGHTFORCE ATACR SCOPE AT OPTICS PLANET HERE

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NEXT: BEST HUNTING EAR PROTECTION FOR SPORTSMEN

After being diagnosed with cancer in 1988, Forrest Fenn, a retired Air Force Pilot and gallery owner, was inspired to hide a treasure chest in the Rocky Mountains of the United States. It is to this treasure chest that’s filled, supposedly, with jewels and gold, that this poem leads. Fenn intended for the treasure to inspire a public search. He claims that the treasure is hidden in a medieval bronze box featuring relief scenes of knights and maidens with flowers.

The search is detailed in a memoir he self-published in 2010 titled, The Thrill of the Chase: A Memoir. In it, Fenn tells stories from his life which supposedly also contain clues to the location of the gold. It’s in the chapter “Gold and More” that this poem is found. In the six stanzas of this poem, there are supposedly nine clues that together will lead a searcher to the buried treasure.

The story, book, and poem have inspired a search for the treasure across four states through which the Rocky Mountains reach. Since the book was published and Fenn began speaking about the treasure, five people have died while searching for it. Additionally, there are have several controversies related to the treasure. These include arrests for digging in state parks and lawsuits against Forrest Fenn.

Structure of the Forrest Fenn’s Treasure Poem

The Treasure Poem by Forrest Fenn is a six stanza poem that follows a simple rhyme scheme. This is something that should be taken into consideration when unpacking what might be a beneficial clue what might simply be a rhyming word. There are in total, supposedly, nine clues hidden within the six stanzas. This can be thought of in several different ways. First, that each sforrentence is a clue. There are a total of nine sentences in the poem but some seem to be much more important than others.

The first stanza is a single sentence and is supposedly one of the least important stanzas of Forrest Fenn’s Treasure Poem. The second speaks of “warm waters” a “canyon” and walking. In the third sentence, Fenn discusses the “Home of Brown” which is undoubtedly important. Then the fourth sentence mentions words like “Meek” and “loads” which are likely part of a clue.

The fifth sentence is about the blaze and how fast one must look for the treasure. The six mentions the unusual word “trove”. In the eighth Fenn speaks of listening closely to his words and it being “worth the cold”. Then, in the final sentence, he uses the word “brave” and says that you have to be “in the wood”.

Alternatively, one might consider the nine clues as going from start to finish, beginning with the word “Begin” in the second stanza. This leads one to the canyon down that’s too far to walk. Then, onto the home of brown and no place for the meek. Next, there is the end which is coming closer and the creek up which one can’t go with a paddle. Then there are the waters, the heavy loads and the blaze. Finally, the ninth clue is to move quickly down.

Analysis of the Forrest Fenn’s Treasure Poem

Stanza One

As I have gone alone in there

And with my treasures bold,

I can keep my secret where,

And hint of riches new and old.

In the first stanza of the Forrest Fenn’s Treasure Poem, the speaker, who is Forrest Fenn, begins by describing his treasure and the initial process of hiding it. The first stanza is commonly believed to be less important than the second or third, but its existence at all makes it necessary to consider. These lines might also contain some hint as to which “warm waters,” mentioned in the second stanza, one should start at.

The first line references travelling somewhere alone. Fenn was supposedly alone when he buried the treasure and perhaps he was thinking while writing that the person who found his treasure would be too. Or, maybe the word is hinting at the location being a lonely one. It could be a solitary natural element like a peak or outcropping.

He speaks in the second line of this being a “bold” act, or of his treasures as a “bold” thing to possess or find. It could be that the steps he took to hid it were “bold,” perhaps there was something risky about what he did, despite his age or due to it. The word “bold” might also refer to the name of an element of the landscape.

The third line is very vague, as is the fourth. It reads very much like a line added to rhyme with “there” at the end of the first line. The “riches” are spoken of as “new and old” in the fourth line. Again, very vague. There is not much to go on here. Perhaps there is some “old” yet still valuable in the place where he hid the treasure. Some have drawn connections between this line and Fenn’s past as an acquirer, and some would say, thief, of Native American art and artifacts.

Stanza Two

Begin it where warm waters halt

And take it in the canyon down,

Not far, but too far to walk.

Put in below the home of Brown.

Fenn has hinted at the fact that searchers should begin with the phrase “Begin it”. It is the first clue in the poem. This is why the first stanza is often ignored. The first phrase alludes to a place where “warm water’s halt”. This is often taken to mean a hot spring, maybe the last in a series or the last place where one can find warm waters before descending down into a canyon.

Water is one of the most important images in this poem, made even more so by Fenn’s assertion that the treasure is “wet”. Searchers are meant to take the canyon down, maybe by boat or car as it is “too far to walk”. But, it isn’t that far. It is important to keep in mind Fenn’s age when he hid the treasure. It wouldn’t have been possible for him to hike tens of miles into the backcountry.

One of the most interesting hints in the poem, “below the home of Brown” is in the fourth stanza. Could this be a real home of someone named Brown? A building that looks brown? The home of something that is brown? Forrest Fenn is quoted as saying that the “brown” clue is one of the most important. If one can decipher what it is referring to, the treasure is within reach.

As with the other stanzas, connections can be made with both locations and names. For example, canyons like “Downtown Canyon or “south Canyon” have been mentioned in regards to the second line. The word “Brown” has spawned the consideration of places like Brown Mountain Campground and Browns Canyon National Monument in Colorado. The former is connected to one of the most promising locations, Kirwin, Wyoming.

Stanza Three

From there it’s no place for the meek,

The end is ever drawing nigh;

There’ll be no paddle up your creek,

Just heavy loads and water high.

The third stanza is also considered to be quite important. It alludes to something dangerous (perhaps) about the location. It is “no place for the meek”. But, this by no means is clear cut. It could refer to a place name or the name of a person like Joe Meek who was run off by Blackfoot Native Americans. This is one of the more promising connections in Yellowstone National Park. He wandered off and ended up discovering a hot spring. This connects back to the second stanza as it is the last hot spring at the base of Cinnabar (brown colour) Mountain. There are also connections to Sphinx, Montana and a specific creek that runs through lands that also relate to this stanza.

The next lines refer to “your creek,” another mystery that includes the searcher in the poem. A reader might also interpret these lines to refer to a waterfall. This makes sense with the last line of the stanza and the reference to “water high”. There is something about the creek that leads there that is difficult. There will be “no paddle up your creek”. Is it impossible to paddle up?

Stanza Four

If you’ve been wise and found the blaze,

Look quickly down, your quest to cease,

But tarry scant with marvel gaze,

Just take the chest and go in peace.

The fourth stanza of Forrest Fenn’s Treasure Poem alludes to the end of the quest. While travelling along this river “you” have to be looking for a blaze. This immediately connects to trail blazes but nothing is quite that simple or the treasure would already have been found. Fenn has alluded to the “blaze” as something solid that one can’t remove. It is something permanent that one would be unable to tamper with. Other clues from Fenn include its colour. He has stated that it’s white, such as a rock or tree, something impossible to carry away. There might be other connections to events, place names, and people.

Once you find that place then you have to quickly look down and it’ll be there, the quest will be over. It is below the surface of the water and if you waste time you won’t be able to grab it or see it.

This stanza provides what appears to be the last most important clues of the poem. As with the other sections, these lines would appear less vague and mysterious if one were in the right location.

Stanza Five

So why is it that I must go

And leave my trove for all to seek?

The answers I already know,

I’ve done it tired, and now I’m weak.

Fenn asks a question in the first lines of this stanza. The word “trove” sticks out as an alternative to treasure. As usual, the word “trove” might relate to a place name or a person. It could also speak to the nature of the hiding place.

The last line “I’ve done it tired and now I’m weak” might contain some clue as to the location of the hiding place. It could reference the effort it took for him to get there and get back or the words “tired” and “weak” might have an alternative meaning entirely.

Stanza Six

So hear me all and listen good,

Your effort will be worth the cold.

If you are brave and in the wood

I give you title to the gold.

The sixth stanza acts as a conclusion to the previous five but that doesn’t mean that it should be disregarded. The first lines draw the reader’s attention, perhaps for the last clue. There are also place names that are connected to listening and hearing.

In the second line, he refers to the “cold”. This is most obviously related, (possibly), to the cold of the water one has to reach into to get the gold. The last lines speak of the woods and of bravery. Some believe the word “brave” might relate to a Native American brave rather than to the act of bravery. The word “wood” is also interesting. It could refer to a river of that name.

Possible Locations Related to Fenn’s Treasure, from Poetry Experts

We asked three of our writers, who have interesting takes, following the analysis, where they think Forrest Fenn’s treasure is:

• Emma (poetry expert and author to this analysis)
• LJ (poetry expert and actor who portrayed a pirate, and therefore knows a bit about treasure)
• Jack’s thoughts on where the (poetry expert on Poem Analysis):

Forrest Fenn Treasure Found

On the 6th June, according to Forrest Fenn’s official website, Forrest Fenn’s treasure had finally been found.

Forrest Fenn stated:

It was under a canopy of stars in the lush, forested vegetation of the Rocky Mountains and had not moved from the spot where I hid it more than 10 years ago. I do not know the person who found it, but the poem in my book led him to the precise spot. I congratulate the thousands of people who participated in the search and hope they will continue to be drawn by the promise of other discoveries. So the search is over.

Did Poem Analysis Contribute to the Treasure being found?

At Poem Analysis, we are over the moon one lucky explorer has finally found Forrest Fenn’s treasure. However, it did make us wonder…

Did we help the explorer find the treasure?

Here’s what we know so far:

• We have a dedicated team of poetry experts, that have analyzed over 4,480 from 1106 different poets. We like to think our team knows a thing or two about poetry!
  • Three members of our team, taking into consideration their poetry expertise and experience, made educational guesses as to where the treasure was located.
• We published this article on the 15th May 2020, 22 days before Forrest Fenn releases news of the treasure being found.
• As soon as we published our article, we ranked top spot for some crucial search phrases relating to the poem.
  • “forrest fenn poem analysis”
  • “forrest fenn poem meaning”
  • “forrest fenn poem deciphered”

We cannot confirm definitively that our article helped find the treasure. However, putting the crosses together, that we analyze thousands of poems, contributed with three objective guesses from our team where the treasure was, ranked highly for people to see the article, and the treasure was found a mere 22 days later, when it had not been found for over 10 years, it could suggest our analysis helped!

An important point to remember is that Forrest Fenn’s treasure map gave people the opportunity to explore the wilderness. Reconnect with nature and have an adventure with friends and family. Although there was a treasure that was found, it does question, ‘what is the real treasure?’ Is it materialistic things such as the actual treasure, or is it the journey?

Congratulations to whoever found the treasure – @Forrest Fenn, we are ready with your next challenge!

For those of us who are into handguns and have not been living under a rock for the past 3 decades or so, the name Glock has come to be a household word in the shooting universe. People who may have never held a gun (let alone a Glock) recognize the name. It is estimated that 65% of U.S. police agencies use some form of Glock or another. It is time for us to take a deep dive into all you need to know about the Glock 9mm and the various models. We’ll look at:

The Glock story is quite remarkable considering that the man who designed the gun knew next to nothing about pistol design. Gaston Glock sold curtain rods and knives to the Austrian military, and was familiar with injection-molded parts. His team designed the Model 17 pistol to help the Austrian military who needed a new sidearm, and a firearms legend was born. An interesting tidbit is that the “17” represents the 17th patent issued to the Glock corporation, and this numbering sytems continues to this day.

Love ‘Em Or Hate ‘Em

Shooters tend to either be Glock fans or detractors – not much middle ground there. I am one of those rare birds who is in the middle with my opinion of Gaston’s wunderkind. I owned a Model 30 .45 ACP for a good while and had an aftermarket barrel for it so I could shoot my cast bullet handloads. It performed well without being overly showy. Gun eye candy it wasn’t. I called Glocks in another article I’d written the Chevy Impala of the pistol industry. The Impala is a good, mid-price car that is a popular choice among car buyers – reliable and well-designed without being overly showy.

The Glock, just like the Impala, gets the job done in a utilitarian manner. It gets the job done without costing an arm and a leg. And, they tend to be very reliable. All those police agencies buying into the Glock system is a pretty good testament to this.

Let’s Get Specific – the best sellers

Narrowing it down a bit, let’s look at Glock’s best sellers. In terms of caliber, the 9mm rules the roost for Glock. And, of over fifty pistol models Glock sells, their very-best-seller is the 9mm Model 19. This compact pistol packs 15+ 1 rounds in a smallish package. I know of many people who carry this model, as it seems to hit the optimal middle ground between concealable size and capacity. Now if that one isn’t for you you got another 19 main 9mm Glock models to chose from.

I put together a chart comparing specifications for the most popular models as well as an extended version comparing all twenty, for all you detail-oriented shooters. To be sure, some of these models are pretty scarce in gun shops as they tend to fulfill a very specific purpose (example: long-range competition, which the Model 34 excels at). So, before we crunch all the chart’s numbers, let’s look at the most popular Glock 9mms in some detail.

The Breakdown

In general, here is a quick, condensed listing of most of Glock’s models.

That’s the condensed list. Are you a numbers guy? Here is the extended version of all the 9mm Glocks available and you can click on the header to sort them (Table is best viewed on PC or Tablet):

Some Definitions, Please

Now, let’s look at the individual models, but before that, a little explanation is needed. If you glance at the table above, you will see “MOS” and “FS” listed after some models. MOS stands for Modular Optic System. Glock modified the frame on these guns by milling a slot in front of the rear sight to accept a red dot or other sight’s mounting plate. This is covered with a filler when not being used.

FS means the guns include Front (slide) Serrations. Those pistols marked FS have serrations on the front part of the slide to aid in manipulating the slide, in addition to the standard rear serrations. Many shooters asked Glock to include front serrations on all their newer guns. So far they only applied them to those guns that are marked FS.

Gen What? What’s The Difference?

An explanation of Glock’s generations is in order, if we are to keep this article as helpful as possible for those of you considering the purchase of a Glock. A “Generation” in Glock terminology equates to other companies coming out with “Mod 2”, “2.0”, etc. It basically designates a major overhaul of features on their guns. The feature changes (usually referred to as upgrades) could be several smaller ones, a few “big” important ones, or a combination of both in order to qualify to become the next generation. So, here we go, from the original Glock (now called Gen1) through the newest generation as of this writing, the Gen5.

Gen1 – Introduced in 1982

This is the original, bare-bones Glock Model 17. We can identify this gun by its relative lack of stippling or texturing on the frame and no finger grooves. This is the Glock that originally equipped the Austrian military when they placed an order for 25,000 pistols in 1983. Here’s an interesting note: In addition to the Model 17 pistols sold to the military were Model 18s – a Model 17 with selective-fire capability that fired between 1100-1300 RPM. Glock also offered a compensated version of this gun (Model 18C). This was technically a machine pistol and as such, was subject to the regulations and fees imposed on the ownership of machine guns as those individuals found out who attempted to buy one.

Gen2 – Introduced in 1988

Gen3 – Introduced in 1998

They gave the Model 22 RTF2 (.40 S&W) a rough, textured finish and fish-gill-shaped slide serrations and new checkering around the grip in 2009. Other models made available with the RTF2 treatment included the 31, 32, 23, 21, and 19, although not all had the fish-gill-shaped serrations.

Gen4 – Introduced at the SHOT Show, 2010

Gen5 – Introduced in August, 2017

OK…Got it? Now let’s look at some of the more common, readily-available models…

The 9mm Glock lineup

Glock 17

Starting with Model 17, we see a full-size frame and a longer barrel than the smaller models. This gun was the first Glock to go mainstream. This was mainly down to the adoption by the Austrian military and some police units starting in 1982. I remember when the gun came out – the first “plastic pistol” to go worldwide (the H&K VP70 technically was the first polymer pistol, introduced in 1970 for the German market).

The anti-gunners were all worked up that this “plastic gun” would be invisible to airport metal detectors, and some in the shooting community thought the gun would fail because of concerns they had as to the durability of the gun’s frame. Neither concern amounted to anything – they simply did not happen. Instead, the pistol’s reliability and innovative design endeared it to not only military and police units but to civilians as well. The gun has, on average, only 35 parts…talk about simplicity! My brother has a Gen 4 Model 17 that he really likes. I have shot it and was impressed. Due to its size, the 17 is not really made for concealed carry. It is more at home in a police officer’s Level 3 Retention holster, or in a tactical rig on the leg of a military SOE operative.

Variations

The Model 17 comes in Gen 3, 4 and 5 versions. Therefore, if you like finger grooves (or not), you are in luck – just buy the generation that has what you want. Need a competition gun? Pick up a Gen4 or Gen5 MOS and mount a red-dot sight on it. Want a plain-jane all-around shooter? Get a Gen3 and save some money (if you can still find one). The Model 17, as stated above, started it all.

Model 19

OK…now let’s look at a compact 9mm. Being the best-selling Glock make, the Model 19 has its share of enthusiastic users out there. Also, let’s not forget the after-market parts industry. The Model 19 probably has more third-party parts available than any other Glock. That said, the Model 19 is just about perfect for IWB- or OWB-concealed carry with its 4-inch barrel, slim inch-and-a-quarter width, and 15 rounds in the magazine. As I have written about before, this pistol is the benchmark other compact 9mms are judged against.

I know several people who carry a Model 19 and love it. It is no coincidence that Glock chose to release the Model 17 and the Model 19 first in their Gen5 configuration. The 17, with its law enforcement following, and the Model 19, being the best-selling Glock.

However…

The Gen5 Model 19 was generally well-received. The only complaint I’ve heard about the Gen5 Model 19 concerns the cutout at the front bottom of the frame. Some shooters say it hurts their hand, as it lies at the point where their hand’s heel and palm meet the frame. The sharp edge is the culprit, they say. This doesn’t seem to be an issue with the Model 17 due to its longer grip frame. Fortunately, they also addressed this issue in the new Model 45 (below).

Variations

Just as with the Model 17, there are several variations available for the Model 19. Depending upon your need, there is a configuration that should work for you. For competitors needing a red dot sight, the MOS models are indicated. You get the added benefit of forward slide serrations with those models, as well.

In addition to the availability of Gen3, 4, and 5 Model 19s, the fairly new 19X is now available as well. I think this one is worthy of a write-up here, and we’ll get to it next. You can also read my full Glock 19X review.

Glock 19X

To begin, it’s important to grasp what the Glock 19X is. It’s a G19 slide mounted on a G17 frame. Shorter barrels and longer frames are the current trends in weapons. That is precisely what the Glock 19x is all about. What’s the advantage of that? It provides a well-balanced and easy-to-control blasting experience. The redesigned Marksman barrel, paired with modifications to the handgun’s exterior frame, Glock claims, increases accuracy, longevity, efficiency, grip, and flexibility. Recoil management, on the other hand, was a piece of cake. Of course, there are still Glock haters and people who don’t like the adjustments. But for some shooters, as long as it is a ‘Glock’, it will be a fine gun.

What are the differences? With this version, you’ll get two reversed 19-round magazines and one 17-round magazine. The trigger pull is lighter than a standard 19. There’s also a lanyard loop and standard night sights. The most noticeable difference is the color, which is now coyote tan. The Glock 19x is bulky and difficult to conceal. Yet, the Glock 19x is still a competitive firearm and is useful for a variety of purposes.

When it comes to shooting, there are a few things to keep in mind. I fired a couple of different 9mm rounds through the 19X, and let me tell you, it’s a very accurate gun. The G19x could handle a wide range of bullet types, including hollow tips.

The snappy and smooth Gen 5 trigger is perhaps the G19X’s standout feature. The Gen 5 trigger incorporates a dual lock block pin assembly and a modified trigger bar. They altered the safety plunger on the Gen 5 to allow for a smoother trigger pull.

Glock 26

Here we have Glock’s double-stack subcompact 9mm. The Model 26 is a favorite backup gun among law enforcement officers and a prime candidate for purchase by civilian concealed carriers. At only a little over four inches high, this gun disappears in an IWB holster. When you carry a gun concealed, especially inside your waistband, the height of the gun is important.

The higher (or taller) the gun is, the harder it is to hide the grip frame as it tends to stick out and print under your garment. That’s why compact and subcompact guns usually come with a flush-fit magazine and sometimes an extended one as well. Most folks carry the flush-fit magazine in the gun with the longer one as a spare. The shorter the height of the gun, the easier it is to conceal, generally speaking. That’s why the Model 26 is so popular, being only a shade over four inches in height.

Glock still makes the 26 in Gen3, along with Gen4 and Gen5. This model is also able to use the greatest number of Glock 9mm magazines, eight. This gun’s standard capacity is ten rounds, but it can use all the Glock magazines up to thirty-three rounds. That’s versatility! Many people will buy a Model 26 in order to get the concealability it offers, and they also realize that they have the ability to use up to a thirty-three-round magazine. This is the best of both worlds for them.

Glock 34

The long-range specialist…the Model 34 was designed to be accurate “way out there.” It uses the longest barrel that Glock puts in a 9mm pistol, a 5.3-inch tube. This gun is a mainstay at competitions that require longer-range shooting. It is also a favorite of SWAT teams. What makes it so accurate? The longer barrel? The barrel length helps by ensuring that velocity is kept up. The main factor that aids accuracy is the approximate 7.5 inches between the front and rear sights. The further apart the sights are, the greater the chances of increased practical accuracy. Sights are about 5.3 inches apart on a Model 26 – that’s a pretty big difference.

The guns, obviously, serve two different purposes but I use the shorter-barreled gun as an example to point out just how long the barrel on the Model 34 is and how much different the sight radius is. Generalizations are difficult to make, but all else being equal, most shooters would be more accurate from 50-100 yards with the Model 34 than any shorter-barreled, shorter-sight-radius gun.

The fact that Glock sells a goodly amount of these pistols testifies to the fact that it works. Now…if we talk about intrinsic accuracy (the ability of the gun by itself to shoot accurately without human intervention), a lot of Glock 9mms would show they could be accurate at distance. Put a Model 19, say, in a Ransom Rest and see what it does at 50 yards. As for practical accuracy (a shooter holding the gun and shooting the best that he/she can), that’s where the longer sight radius comes in. Generally speaking, as stated above, the further apart the sights are, the better the gun’s practical accuracy.

The Model 34 is not made as a Gen3 gun, only a Gen4 and Gen5. With either of those, however, you can get the MOS version that really brings out the tack-driving accuracy these guns are capable of. Put a good optic on the gun and you’re good, as I said earlier, “way out there!” Such is the Model 34.

Glock 43

Now we come to the only single-stack 9mm that Glock makes. Here we have a gun that will just about fit in your pocket yet has the ability to put 6 + 1 rounds on a target very quickly and accurately. With a loaded magazine aboard, the gun only weighs about 21 ounces. This is a gun you can carry all day and forget that it’s there.

I have a friend on a local police force who traded a Beretta to acquire a Model 43. He told me he’s had a little trigger work done on the gun, but that’s the extent of his mods. He carries it daily. I’ve had the chance to shoot with him and his partner at my backyard range and well, let’s just say that I wouldn’t want to be on the other end of his Model 43’s muzzle. He is good with it, to put it mildly because he practices with it a lot.

If you are looking for either a primary concealed carry weapon or a backup, the Model 43 is a good choice. It only comes in one flavor right now – you can’t get a Gen5 version – but the one is good enough. A Model 43 and a couple of extra mags will make you good to go. I mentioned carrying this gun in your pocket. This is feasible, and a viable way to pack the 43. This is the only 9mm Glock that I know of that will fit in a pocket. The Model 42 .380 will ride in your pocket, but it’s not a 9mm.

My police officer friend Austin tells me he loves the little gun, as do many police officers who carry them in pockets, on their ankles, inside their waistbands, or anywhere else. It’s the de facto designated go-to

The Polaris Ranger 900 may very well be the most popular UTV of all time. Polaris sold so many of them that when they made the jump to a Ranger 1000 XP, they kept the 900 in the lineup as a lower cost alternative. The continued strong sales of the machine made it clear that the company needed to keep a machine in that slot, but the 900 was in desperate need of some updates, especially when the 1000 XP had a major revision that carried it to the top of the class. The answer is the 2021 Ranger 1000, one of the smoothest UTVs we’ve driven.

Clearing up the confusion

When Polaris unveiled the Ranger 1000, it caused some serious confusion as to what was going on in Minnesota. They had the Ranger 1000 XP, but now there was a new Ranger 1000 with less horsepower, a lower price and not as many variations as before? We asked a Polaris representative and he described it like a truck. You have one version of a truck with a basic setup and a smaller engine, and then you have the same truck that comes with more features, a bigger engine and a higher price. There’s a demand for both kinds of trucks, and there’s a similar demand for two versions of the Ranger.

The two Rangers share the same frame, have similar bodywork and a similar suspension design. In fact, much of the machine is similar to its big brother. But the engine is different. The Polaris rep added that they setout to see how they could retain aspects of the 900 engine but ended up creating a completely new motor. The Ranger 1000’s motor, like the XP version, is a 999cc Prostar twin, but the internals are different. The major thing you’ll notice is that the 1000 produces 61 horsepower compared to the XP’s 82 horsepower. Delivery is also strikingly different. While the XP delivers a snappy power curve that makes it fun to trail ride with as well as work, the Ranger 1000 motor feels almost electric. It is very smooth with the power delivery and it is perfect for work around the farm or property, while still being perfectly suited to cruising the trails.

One other thing about the difference between the two machines that will surprise you. Anyone who has ever ridden in a Ranger 1000 XP knows how quiet it is. It is so legendary for how quiet it is that other manufacturers use it as the benchmark for how quiet they try to get their machines to be. The only one we’ve known that came close is the Yamaha Wolverine X4, that is, until now. The Ranger 1000 is even better than the XP at being a quiet riding machine. You can set off on a trail ride and have a pleasant conversation with your passengers without trying to compete with the volume of the machine.

In the field report

To test out the machine, we set out to find as many scenarios as we could to try it in a real setting where you’d find it. We headed over to a farm and got to work to start things off. We loaded up some feed bags and set out to take care of the animals. We didn’t come as close as we would have liked to meeting the Ranger’s 1,000-pound bed capacity. What we did load up didn’t tax the machine in any way. Like we said before, the machine is super quiet too, so no stampedes were caused. We hooked up a trailer to the machine’s 2-inch receiver hitch and actually towed a small tractor that brought us right to the 2,500-pound towing capacity with the trailer counted in too. The added tongue weight had us grabbing the spanner wrench for the rear shocks, but a few clicks and we were all good. You do feel the weight behind you when you’re trying to power along, but it handled it without causing us concern. A word to the wise, never tell a farmer you really want to see how a machine handles doing a day of normal farm chores. In the end, we got a good idea of how well the Ranger 1000 could handle the work, the farmer got a free day’s labor for us and we slept really well when we got home.

Next up, we set out for a combined trail ride and to check out some spots for hunting season. We had a chainsaw and some other gear we threw in the bed to clean up some brush but ended up using it to clear the trail from a downed tree. Now, we’ve actually used a couple of different Ranger 1000 models, and one came with a Polaris Pro 4,500 winch. If you buy a Ranger, make sure you get one of these. The pro model comes with synthetic rope and they have a rapid return function that reels the line back in super fast after you’re done with it. We winched the tree out without any issues, and the wireless remote is a big help, too.

While on the trail, we did notice that if you want to take the speed up a bit, you’ll find yourself wanting the XP model. The upper range of the power of the Ranger 1000 feels almost governed. It doesn’t cut out or anything, it just reaches its limit, and the machine is so smooth that as you’re hauling along, you’ll run out. It’s the side of us that loves speed and going fast down the trails. We know that there will be those of you that are attracted to the lower price tag and feel of the machine but will find yourself wanting more ponies when you initially thought you’d be happy with what the machine has to offer. That’s a small group of you, but you’re out there. We get it.

One really fun feature, and this is the same with the XP, too. If you plan to or need to use the machine to plow snow, you’re in for a treat. Polaris’ plow system connects right to the frame and can be driven on to. From there, plowing is so easy that it’s fun. You’ll be impressed with how much snow you can push, and the stock 26-inch Polaris PXT tires are pretty basic but get pretty good traction.

Should you buy one?

If you don’t need the added horsepower and/or package offerings of the XP 1000, the Ranger 1000 is a great machine. It is leaps and bounds better than the 900 it replaces and fits it’s intended audience perfectly. It is such a smooth machine that you’ll find yourself truly enjoying it and using it more than you even intend to. If you ae looking for a new Ranger, ask yourself what you need, because the answer may very well be the 2021 Polaris Ranger 1000.

Today I’m going to show you the best sights for Glock 34.

In fact:

I’ve hand- tested over 10sights alone for this review.

The best part?

I’ve sorted the sights by use. So whether you’re on a budget or need the best Glock 34 sight, you’ll find it here.

Let’s dive in!

The Best Sights for Glock 34

If you’re pressed on time, here’s a quick list of the best Glock 34 sights:

1. TRUGLO TFX Pro Tritium and Fiber Optic: Best Competition Sights for Glock 34
2. TRUGLO Tritium: Best Budget Sights for Glock 34
3. Trijicon HD XR Night Sight Set: Best Night Sights for Glock 34
4. AMERIGLO GL-125 Ghost Ring Green: Best Ghost Ring Sights for Glock 34

1. TRUGLO TFX Pro Tritium and Fiber Optic: Best Competition Sights for Glock 34

The TRUGLO TFX Pro Tritium Fiber Optic Sight is the best competition sight for Glocks.

In fact:

TRUGLO TFX Pro has completely transformed my results in short-range competitions. Since I began using them, my shot groupings are tighter, and my accuracy improved.

Sound like something you’re interested in?

Keep reading…

Tritium and Fiber Optics

One of my favorite features about the TFX Pro is the combination of tritium and fiber optics.

While tritium continuously glows, it’s best suited for night and lowlight because its luminescence isn’t noticeable in bright light. The fiber optic compensates for tritium’s daytime dullness because it absorbs ambient light, enabling it to glow in bright settings.

While I use these sights mainly for competition—usually in well-lit ranges—being able to rely on the tritium fiber optic combo assures me that I’m well-equipped to handle any self-defense scenario in all lighting conditions.

Eye Relief & Eye Box

The eye relief is unlimited.

This is great because—in addition to keeping both eyes open—I can get a sight picture from various distances and at different angles.

This is especially useful for self-defense, as these scenarios often unfold quickly with little time to aim.

Durability

The TFX Pro is built like the Titanic.

The rods are made from CNC machined steel coated with TRUGLO’s Fortress Finish, making it wear-resistant.

Unlike older TRUGLO sights, the tritium and fiber optics are hermetically sealed in the TFX Pro. This is great because it prevents damage during usage and also protects the tritium and fiber optics from oils, chemicals, and cleaning solvents.

While this means that the front sight is a bit longer, it ensures that your tritium and fiber optics are protected.

I don’t get hung up with the longer front sight, but I can see how it might be a hassle if you’re using a holster. So make sure to assess whether adding these sights impacts the ease with which you draw your weapon.

The rear sights come with a tensioning screw for the dovetail, so they don’t budge—even if you hit them. I appreciate the added security because it ensures that your rear sights stay put when doing one-handed manipulations.

A perk to the tritium and fiber optics is that it’s battery-free and long-lasting since tritium and fiber optics have a half-life of 12 years.

Front and Rear Sights

The contrast between the orange ring and the three green dots in the sight picture makes acquisition seamless and improves accuracy.

Although the orange ring dims in low light, it didn’t stop me from getting a good sight picture.

The rear sights’ U-notch design also promotes quick acquisition, and its elevated ledges make for easy one-handed manipulations.

I find that the U-notch’s width also provides adequate spacing between the rear and front sights in my sight picture, which helps accuracy.

Installation

Both front and rear sights are easy to install.

The sights come with an Allen wrench and tensioning screw, but I also used a

TRUGLO front sight tool:

A sight pusher:

And 242 Blue Loctite:

Just make sure that the front sight is installed tightly. Otherwise, it’ll be wobbly.

If you don’t want to install it on your own—or don’t own tools and don’t want to buy them—drop by your gunsmith for an installment.

Is the TRUGLO TFX Pro worth it?

If you want to compete with a Glock, or want sights that are optimal for self-defense, get the TRUGLO TFX Pro.

It’s got:

• Strong build
• Easy one-hand operation
• Around the clock visibility
• Quick focus and accuracy

You should know that TRUGLO only honors the 12-year warranty if your sights are installed by a licensed gunsmith. So if it’s detectable that you installed them, the warranty is voided.

Honestly, for the price, I think these are great sights. They’re made with quality material, and the Fortress Finish provides excellent protection, so you shouldn’t run into any longevity or functionality issues.

So if you’re looking for simple, but accurate and easy to use sights that are always ready to go, I would definitely buy the TRUGLO TFX Pro.

2. TRUGLO Tritium: Best Budget Sights for Glock 34

TRUGLO Tritium Night Sights are the best budget sights for the Glock 34.

In fact:

I used to have these mounted on my home defense and concealed carry pistols because of their unparalleled performance and price.

Here’s what I like about them…

Sights

These sights use the familiar three-dot design: two glowing green dots on the rear sight and one green dot on the front.

In the brighter lighting, the rear sights turn black while the front sight turns white to match the large focus and lock ring.

So, even in the daylight, these sights are guiding my eye for faster, more accurate target acquisition.

Tritium And Fiber Optics

What really makes these sights stand out is the dual tritium and fiber optic feature.

The tritium green dots glow at night without batteries, while the fiber optic white sights gather and magnify the light from the surrounding area. So they’re good in daylight, low light and no light situations.

I can use them while hunting day or night, but I also like having them for home defense.

You never know what the situation could look like, so knowing that I can use them in dim or no light situations puts me at ease.

Notch Style and Design

I have these sights on a couple of different guns, but I prefer them on my Glock 34.

I test and work with a lot of different pistols, so switching to the Glock with a heavier barrel always throws off my accuracy. Using sights, especially ones that perform to the caliber that these do, help me.

The U-Notch rear sight is designed for fast accuracy, not beauty.

The rear sight doesn’t blend well with the slide. It’s ugly to say the least, but it’s more than functional.

The angled rear sight also lets me rack the gun with one hand right off my belt — another great feature for home defense.

Durability

The TRUGLO Tritium is far more durable than any other sights in their price range, but they’re not indestructible.

I’ve shot hundreds and hundreds of rounds with these sights on my Glock 34. But, I noticed that after maybe 500 rounds, the front sight had come loose.

So if you intend on putting thousands of rounds through your gun, I’d go for a higher end glock 34 sight, like the TFX Pro.

Speaking of sights, if you’re looking for a high-end, mid-level priced optic, check out my review on the Leupold VX-R.

Mounting & Installation

You don’t have to make a special trip to a gunsmith to have these installed.

It took me less than 10 minutes to install these on my Glock 34. The front sight takes a hexagonal screw, while the rear sight is installed with an allen screw.

The drawback to the longer front sight is that it sticks out over the cutout on the top of the slide on the 34 (and 35) Glock. Not only does this not look as clean, but it can also compromise the sight’s lifetime.

What I did to fix this was to use some Loctite Threadlocker Blue 242 to prevent the screws loosening over time. I haven’t had an issue since.

Is the TRUGLO Tritium worth it?

Because of their performance in low-light and no-light situations, I love these sights for my home and self-defense Glock 34. The snag-resistant design gives me a clean draw every time, so I’m ready faster.

If you’re looking for an affordable sight that outperforms its cost, these are the sights for you. Here’s why:

• Affordable
• U-Notch rear sight
• Tritium and Fiber Optic
• 12 year, limited warranty
• Unmatched visibility in all light conditions

In other words:

These sights have all of the premium features at half the cost. That’s why they’re my go-to for home and self-defense pistol sights.

With all the money I save, that’s more that I can put toward buying ammo and more time shooting.

So if you’re looking for the best night sights for your Glock 34 that won’t break the bank, I wouldn’t think twice about getting the TRUGLO Tritium Night Sights.

3. Trijicon HD XR Night Sight Set: Best Night Sights for Glock 34

The Trijicon HD XR Night Sight Set is a fantastic set of self-luminous iron sights for use in all lighting conditions.

In fact, I think they are the best night sights available for the Glock 34.

Let’s find out why…

Visibility

Hands down, these are the most visible pistol iron sights I’ve ever used. And I’ve tested them in all lighting conditions.

Sight acquisition during low light and night conditions is fantastic. The green lamp tubes in the sights glow very brightly in the dark. I really like this feature on my home defense Glock, because if I need it, odds are I will need it at night!

But these sights are also great during the daytime. The lamp tubes are housed within an orange outer ring which is insanely easy to see in the light.

In fact, even if you don’t plan on doing much night shooting, I still recommend these sights just for the orange ring alone. It’s that good.

Accuracy

Simply put, these iron sights are very accurate.

I mounted them on my Glock 34 and the point of impact is right above the front post.

And after months of regular shooting, I haven’t noticed any shifting at all.

I also noticed that the HD XR has a thinner front post than most other iron sights.

The thinner post doesn’t obscure your target. This is great for shooting at longer ranges, and allows for better target identification at any distance.

Durability

The HD XR Night Sights are very durable.

This is because the lamp tubes are held in an anodized aluminum frame.

This makes them much stronger than standard plastic Glock sights, but still keeps them very light.

Mounting

You’ll want to have these installed by a professional using proper gunsmithing tools.

So take a quick trip to the gunsmith, and you’ll be all set to shoot in any light conditions.

Is the Trijicon HD XR Night Sight Set worth it?

Overall, the Trijicon HD XR Night Sight Set is a fantastic set of high-visibility, durable iron sights for your Glock 34.

They’ve got:

• Durable metal frame
• Bright green lamp tubes for night shooting
• High visibility orange ring for daytime shooting
• Slim profile front post that doesn’t obscure your target

Plus, the sights are covered under Trijicon’s Limited Lifetime Warranty.

So whether you want to shoot during the day, the night, or somewhere in between, the Trijicon HD XR Night Sight Set is your best bet.

Looking for an optic for your 7.62×39? Check out our guide to the top choices.

4. AMERIGLO GL-125 Ghost Ring Green: Best Ghost Ring Sights for Glock 34

The AmeriGlo GL-125 Ghost Ring is a highly accurate, highly visible ghost ring custom tailored for Glock pistols.

In fact, it’s the best ghost ring you can buy for the Glock 34.

I don’t make this claim lightly. Read on to find out why the GL-125 is the best Glock 34 ghost ring on the market.

Accuracy

The GL-125 is incredibly accurate.

This is due to the design of the ghost ring, which uses an aperture instead of a traditional notch for the rear sight. Basically, it’s a circle, so it draws the eye naturally to the center while allowing you to focus on the front post.

This helps you level your pistol both correctly and quickly, which makes for accurate shots. Target acquisition is quicker with a ghost ring too, which is great for use with a defense weapon.

In fact, since using the GL-125 on my Glock 34, I’ve noticed that my shooting with all pistols has improved. The skills I’m perfecting by using the ghost ring transfer well even to the standard notch-and post sights on most of my other handguns.

Visibility

This ghost ring shows up perfectly well in any lighting conditions.

The tritium lamps glow a very bright green, which is easy to see in low-light or even total darkness.

And the white circle around the lamp on the front post is very easy to pick up in the daylight.

This means that day or night, you’ll be able to reliably put shots on target.

Durability

This ghost ring is insanely durable.

The ghost ring and front post are both made with a steel frame, so they can take all kinds of abuse.

I’ve even practiced racking the slide on my Glock one handed, using the sights and my belt, and they didn’t budge. Hopefully I’ll never need to use that skill, but it’s good to know I can do it in an emergency!

Mounting

Installing the GL-125 was a breeze. I didn’t even have to take it to the gunsmith.

Just snap them in place, and get to shooting.

Is the AMERIGLO GL-125 Ghost Ring worth it?

Overall, the AmeriGlo GL-125 Ghost Ring is a fantastic all-purpose Glock sight suitable for all shooting conditions.

It’s got:

• High durability
• Easy self-installation
• Aperture-style rear sight
• White circle for day shooting
• Bright green tritium lamps for night shooting

And if all that isn’t enough, the ghost ring is covered by AmeriGlo’s standard warranty.

So if you’re looking for a good alternative to traditional notch-and-post pistol sights for your Glock 34, look no further than the AmeriGlo GL-125 Ghost Ring.

Need an optic for your AR-15? Check out my guide to the 7 Best AR-15 Scopes and Optics.

Now It’s Your Turn

I hope you enjoyed my best sights for Glock 34 guide.

So as a recap:

If you’re looking for the best competition sights for Glock 34, get the TRUGLO TFX Pro Tritium and Fiber Optic.

Looking for the best sights for Glock 34 under budget? Choose TRUGLO Tritium.

How about the best night sights for Glock 34? Then opt-in for Trijicon HD XR Night Sight Set.

Lastly, if you are looking for the best ghost ring sights for Glock 34, I’d recommend AMERIGLO GL-125 Ghost Ring Green.

That said, you can’t go wrong with any of these options. After all, I have hand and torture tested all the above sights, and proved to be reliable.

Now I want to turn it over to you:

Which scope will you pick for your Glock 34?

Let me know by leaving a quick comment down below.

As a fuzz-cheeked sports reporter many years ago in Martinsville, I asked the sports editor if I might write about outdoors events in Bulletin Country.

Anxious to keep me around because of a paltry salary, he agreed (and I needed the writing experience). That fall and winter I was stunned by the wall-hanger bucks local deer hunters brought to the office on Broad Street.

Because Commonwealth whitetails weren’t publicized and almost none lived where I was raised in central North Carolina (the Dixie Deer Classic wouldn’t appear for eight years), southern Virginia’s Blue Ridge bucks looked like they’d stepped out of Midwest hunting magazines.

The lack of trophy-deer publicity may have held back its reputation, but it’s been rising each year, currently rated 20th to 27th by national hunting magazines.

With 1 million deer and just 75,000 hunters, Virginia today leads the Southeast in impressive whitetails.

The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries helps by wisely managing the state’s herd for quality rather than quantity, with two distinct regulations areas (east and west) and different bag limits at each region.

Challenges remain, from deer diseases (chronic wasting disease has crept into a few northwest counties and EHD outbreaks that periodically occur) to decreasing habitat and coyote predation. But three monster bucks from 2016 show the overall state of deer affairs is healthy in the Old Dominion.

BEAUTY OF A BEAST

Brent Boney, 42, works for Greensville County Water and Sewer near Emporia and belongs to the Round Hill Hunting Club of Skipper.

“We’ve got 15 members and 20 Walker hounds,” he said. “We lease 600 acres where we still- and dog-hunt. We take more deer while dog-hunting, but still-hunters kill bigger bucks.”

He should have added “usually” because that didn’t happen Nov. 16, 2016, when Boney dropped a 210 6/8-inch 25-pointer, the top-scoring southern rack at the 2017 Dixie Deer Classic and a Boone & Crockett qualifier.

“We use dogs exclusively during the two big winter holidays, Thanksgiving and Christmas,” Boney said.

The club has an agreement with an adjoining landowner, who only allows still-hunting.

“The deer know they’d be safe if they can make it to his land,” Boney said. “The ones we jumped always went to a certain section near the back of our lease (to enter the de facto sanctuary).”

Club members draw for stand sites. In 2015 Boney picked a zone near the sanctuary because he’d seen a handful of small trees destroyed by a big buck’s rubs. During November 2016 the hounds jumped a rocking-chair rack deer, and it ran within 40 yards of him, but Boney couldn’t get a clear shot in the thick 6- to 7-year-old cutover. Unluckily, a holly bush absorbed most of the 00 buckshot.

“I told the other club members what happened, and they laughed,” he said. “I don’t know if they believed me. No one had seen a deer like that.”

In February 2016, Boney returned to the area and brought a machete. He used it to clear several shooting lanes off a main trail he walked to reach his spot.

“I was gonna be ready if I got a chance at him again,” he said.

Opening day of 2016 gun season Boney once again pulled a number that allowed him to hunt the same region. His 18-year-old daughter, McKaley Boney, was one of several designated dog handlers.

“I sat and listened to dogs for two hours and was about to give up when she called me (with a cell phone),” he said. “She told me to sit tight because she’d just caught four hounds crossing a road onto someone else’s property. She planned to drive near me and release the dogs.”

A minute or two later, Boney heard the hounds open up on a deer that seemed headed straight for him.

“He was about 100 yards in front of the dogs when he came through one of the shooting lanes,” the hunter said.

Boney put his Remington 870 Magnum Wingmaster shotgun, loaded with 00 buckshot, to his shoulder and fired when the buck trotted into a shooting lane. The deer stumbled, fell, and didn’t get up.

“When I walked to him and saw his antlers, I said, ‘Oh, my Lord,'” Boney said. “I had never seen anything like this deer.”

Its 5×5 mainframe rack had 25 scoreable tines and points, including nine abnormals on the right main beam and six on the left beam. Officially scored after 60 days, it had a right main beam of 26 6/8 inches and the left taped 26 3/8 inches. Brow tines were 5 3/8 and 7 0/8 while G2s were 11 6/8 and 11 7/8. G3s were 10 4/8 and 11 7/8 inches with G4s at 2 5/8 and 6 4/8 inches. The circumference numbers ranged from 5 0/8 (H1) to 3 1/8 (H4) inches. The inside spread totaled 18 1/8 inches while the outside spread was 21 4/8 inches.

The Virginia record non-typical buck, a 31-pointer killed by muzzle-loader hunter Jim Smith of Chilhowie in Warren County during 1992, taped 257 4/8 inches.

BATTERY-POWERED BUCK

Rodney Wingfield barely contained his excitement Oct. 1, 2016, the first day of archery season in Virginia.

“A trail camera I had put up near a Franklin County field got some pictures of a big buck before the season opened,” said the 42-year-old Martinsville resident, who put a crossbow bolt through a B&C qualifier (177 7/8 net typical inches) that day.

Henry County, with Martinsville at the center, borders Franklin County on its northern boundary.

Wingfield, 42, and a self-employed IT technician for a Greensboro (N.C.) company, had secured a Leaner Deluxe two-person 18-foot ladder tree stand against an oak beside a 10-acre field.

“It’s a big grassy field out in the middle of nowhere and is too big to hunt with a regular bow, which is how my dad, Raymond, and my brother, Elan, hunt,” he said. “But the field, ringed by some hardwoods and pines, is considered a high-traffic (deer) area.”

Wingfield admitted he’s not a hard-core hunter, but he was confident in his ability to shoot a Barnett Quad 400 crossbow he’d purchased from a friend seven or eight years earlier.

“I can hit a (dinner) plate (target) at 50 yards pretty regular,” he said. “The crossbow shoots flat, out to 50 yards. It has a red-dot scope on top. But I didn’t get up early on opening day to hunt in the morning and that afternoon I wore blue jeans, a camouflage t-shirt and didn’t use an scent-blocker or face paint.”

Wingfield, who had two crossbow whitetails to his credit, had hunted from the tree stand in the past and knew where deer likely would enter the field.

“They always seemed to come from off my right shoulder, so that’s where I was watching,” he said.

But he discovered when he picked up the crossbow that its battery-powered scope had been left in the “on” position and might lack power.

“I wasn’t too worried because I got into the stand about 4:45 p.m., and there should be plenty of daylight,” Wingfield said. “But if deer didn’t move until available light got low, I turned the scope off and hoped I could put it on high power and maybe make the dot glow when I needed it. Otherwise I’d guess about an aim point.”

Farms surrounding the Wingfields’ land had been leased and planted in soybeans, so the field was a crossing area for whitetails.

He’d already decided he wouldn’t take a chancy shot because he’d learned during preseason practice that 50 yards was his accuracy limit.

After a few minutes passed, a small six-pointer walked into the field and began sniffing the ground about 40 yards from Wingfield’s stand.

“He came from behind me,” he said. “No deer ever had come from that direction. Then I heard something else back there and figured it was a coyote.”

But the sound wasn’t a coyote. Instead the buck with 189 4/8 gross antler inches appeared 20 yards to Wingfield’s right. He put the faint red dot on the deer’s left shoulder and squeezed the crossbow’s trigger.

The deer never knew what hit it as the broadhead, pushed at 345 feet per second, sizzled through both lungs.

“He took five steps and fell over,” said Wingfield, who waited until dark before climbing down from his stand.

“I got my truck and drove to him, but I couldn’t lift him into the bed,” he said. “I had to drive home and get my brother and his girlfriend. They helped load the deer.”

The buck only weighed 120 pounds, but the experience — and seeing the massive headgear — drained Wingfield.

“My dad said he’d never seen a buck like this one in 40 years,” the hunter said. “All my brother could do was shake his head.”

Virginia’s non-typical deer archery record is shared by Clifton Forge’s John Feazell, who downed a 22-point Botetourt County trophy in 2009 that totaled 221 2/8 Pope&Young inches while Jimmy “Bo” Sturgill of Pound shot a 27-point, 221 2/8 buck in Wise County during November 2011.

BROOMSTRAW BOOMER

Jason Hazelwood, who drives a cement truck for Felton Brothers Transit Mixes of South Hill, put his fingerprints in Old Dominion hunting records Nov. 6, 2016.

That’s when his .50-caliber CVA in-line muzzleloader rifle dropped a Mecklenburg County buck with a nearly perfect rack that totaled 165 net Boone & Crockett inches, 5 inches shy of qualifying as an all-time B&C buck. It earned entry into the organization’s Awards category and its gross score totaled 172 6/8 inches.

It was likely Virginia’s top typical muzzleloader buck of 2016.

“We were hunting a farm with 270 acres that had a 3-acre broomstraw field,” he said.

“It was a spur-of-the-moment thing (to hunt for the field). It had a stand that had been there a couple of years before, a 12-foot-tall buddy stand.”

Although Hazelwood hadn’t seen the big whitetail and had no trail-cam photos, he was confident through second-hand information a large buck lived in the area.

“Some other people had photographs of him,” he said. “I knew there was a possibility he was there.”

The 37-year-old had hunted unsuccessfully during archery season, but those excursions gave him confidence he wasn’t wasting his time.

“I didn’t see him during bow season, but I did find scrapes along the edge of the field and some nice (tree) rubs.”

Virginia allowed Sunday hunting in 2014 when Governor Terry McAuliffe signed a bill that gave property-owners the right to hunt big game, including deer, on their own land. It also gave visitors the right to hunt with a landowner’s permission.

Certainly that ruling helped Hazelwood bag his trophy Oct. 1, 2016, which was a Sunday.

“I got into the stand about 4:15 p.m.,” he said. “It was on the edge of the broomstraw field.”

After he waited a few minutes, three does came into view.

“A little while later, another doe ran into the field, chased by the buck,” Hazelwood said. “The rut was on, and he had his neck stretched out and his nose down. Then he must have scented one of the other does and started to chase her.”

When the hunter saw the buck’s rack, he admitted he caught a case of buck fever.

It helped to settle his muzzle-loader’s barrel, holding 100 grains of black powder and seated underneath a 280-grain Sabot bullet, on a rail around the stand.

“I watched him chase that doe for 3 minutes and felt like he was going to run her out of the field, so I took the shot at about 75 yards,” he said. “I was looking through a 3x9x50 scope, aimed at his front shoulder but hit him a little farther back.”

When the buck left the field, the hunter burned the spot in his memory. Hazelwood couldn’t find any blood sign but walked to his last sighting of the wall-hanger and found the beautiful deer piled up a few steps into the woods.

The rack’s main beams were 24 3/8 and 25 3/8 inches, with G2s of 10 3/8 and 10 6/8 and G3s of 9 4/8 and 10 4/8 inches. Only one 2-inch abnormal point, 3 inches of total asymmetrical tine length and 5/8 inch of circumference difference marred its 5×5 main frame antlers.

2017 Southern Deer Forecast

The vast majority of Eastern bowhunters hunt from trees, but rarely do they practice from them. Before you ascend, it’s important to understand the ins and outs of treestand trajectory.

The force of gravity upon a traveling object is strongest when parallel to the Earth. Therefore, if your sights are zeroed at ground level, your arrow will impact slightly higher when shooting at both upward and downward angles. Here’s how to maximize accuracy and become more deadly from above.

Prevent Form Breakdown

Many golfers are PGA-caliber players from the friendly mats of the driving range, but out on the course, the fairways are uneven and footing is shaky. Form breaks down. This is the same with treestands.

Travis “T-Bone” Turner of Bone Collector fame first gained notoriety as a tournament archer. He competed professionally from 1989 to 2002 and won the world championship in 1991. He’s also a hunter who’s taken hundreds of deer from treestands.

“Some people drop their bow arm when shooting down, but that changes the geometry of their form and causes missed shots,” Turner said. “It’s important to bend at the waist.”

To do this correctly, draw and aim as if the target is at your height level, and while holding that form, bend at the waist until your pin is on target.

T-Bone also suggests adding a kisser button to your bow. He says it’s particularly valuable when shooting from a stand, as it forces you to align not only your eye, but also your arms, head, and body properly. It’s a blatant fact that poor and inconsistent form will lead to bigger groups and more wounded deer.

Consider a Specialized Sight

While they have faded in popularity, pendulum-style sights work wonderfully when shooting from treestands at modest distances. They work on a trigonometric function based on the fact that your bow, the target, and the ground form a triangle whose unknown variable (the distance to the target) can be deduced. In layman’s terms, the sight uses gravity to automatically adjust to the correct range.

Once dialed-in for your bow, the sight stays on-target from about 5 to 35 yards or farther, depending on your arrow speed and your height above the ground. The higher you go, the more room the sight has to work before it “bottoms out,” thereby establishing the sight’s maximum distance. For hunters who always shoot from treestands and keep shots under 35 yards or so, pendulums are deadly.

TruGlo’s Pendulum One-Pin adjustable model works amazingly well, plus it can be dialed for ground shooting. That said, any sight you use will work just fine as long as you understand the effect of elevation and master your technique.

Consider Stand Placement and Angles

Of course, you must weigh the height at which you place your stand against the wind and how important it is to get up high to avoid being detected. As a general rule, the higher you go, the tougher the shot. While a deer and its vitals are three dimensional, the backbone can shield arrows. So the greater the angle, the smaller the margin for error in making a double lung hit.

Combine that with the fact that there is often more foliage from the tree canopy to contend with and that it’s rarely practiced, shooting at a downward angle is harder than shooting from the ground. Many bowhunters prefer climbing 20 to 30 feet, but I prefer 12 to 20 feet in typical good-wind situations.

That being said, you must also consider extreme angles. Plenty of deer have been taken while walking directly under bowhunters’ stands, and some actually like the “straight down through the shoulder blades” shot. A matador kills the bull at the end of the faena by threading a sword just by the spine, down through the shoulder blades between the neck and the back, to reach the heart. When done perfectly, it’s poetry. But when missed by a fraction, it’s appalling. It’s the same for bowhunters.

If you miss the heart, you’ll hit one lung. A deer can go a long way on only one lung. If you center the spine perfectly, you’ll paralyze the deer and have him, but if you don’t, it can glance. If there is little chance of the deer entering cover in the next few yards, it’s probably best to wait until the angle becomes less extreme.

Practice From Above

No matter where you set your zero, or what sight you choose, the key to accurate shooting from a treestand is to practice from a treestand – while wearing your hunting gear. All of it.

Get a feel for where your arrows strike in relation to your sights at various heights and distances. Certainly it takes more effort going up and down the tree, but it’ll make you a more efficient bowhunter. Bribe a helper to pull arrows and send them up.

If you hunt more from treestands, consider zeroing your pins from an elevated position. It’s better to be slightly off on the practice range than slightly off while actually hunting.

Tech Tricks

To truly comprehend treestand trajectory, let’s take it back to the beginning. Before rangefinders existed, most hunters would take a length of rope and stretch it from the base of the tree from which they were hunting to various distance markers – trees, bushes, or whatever was available. If the length of rope stretched for 15 yards to the base of a tree inside your shooting lane, you set your pins and shot accordingly. There was just one problem: Picture trying to climb 15 feet to set your stand while holding that rope. Eventually that rope will run out of real estate, hence the difference in true horizontal and linear distance.

Comprehending that equation is, quite simply, a critical part of under-standing arrow flight.

Nowadays, though, any bowhunter with a rangefinder in hand can instantly solve said equation. Bushnell’s Angle Range Compensation (ARC) system is just one example of this technological application. All Bushnell units equipped with ARC will calculate the angle at which you are shooting, then determine how much that angle affects the true horizontal distance to the target. In a blink, the rangefinder displays the actual linear distance, so you can adjust your point of aim. (See Figure 1, above)

But technology doesn’t stop there. Bushnell’s newest innovation for treestand hunters might change the game. The company’s ClearShot system, given proper calibration using two different pin distances, will show you the highest point of your arrow’s trajectory compared to straight line of sight. (See the small line above the crosshairs in Figure 2.) This illustrates that not only is the horizontal distance different from the linear distance in a treestand, but also the angle is not always true. Your arrow flight has an arc. Knowing that arc will allow you to thread the needle between branches and other obstacles when shooting from above interesting.

Updated, Aug. 2 | The Canada goose, according to those in the know, tastes like a dark, tender cut of smoked chicken.

That’s Canada goose from elsewhere in the country, mind you, where birds killed as part of government plans to shrink the goose population are plucked, frozen and distributed to food pantries. Food banks in Pennsylvania, for example, received 900 pounds of goose meat this year. Geese were also donated this summer to food banks in Maryland and Oregon.

But in New York State, geese that were killed this month were double-bagged and thrown in landfills. Among them – the total numbers have not yet been released – were nearly 400 geese from Prospect Park in Brooklyn.

The mass goose kill in Prospect Park — the idea is to keep them from flying into the engines of jet planes — set off outrage on City Room, where many comments railed against the killings, but others wondered: If we must kill them, why don’t we feed them to the homeless?

Update, Aug. 2, 11:18 a.m. | The official answer to that question came from Farrell Sklerov, a spokesman for the city’s Department of Environmental Protection. He said that the state doesn’t have a protocol for testing the geese for toxins and has not figured out how best to process the meat.

New York, Mr. Sklerov wrote in an e-mail, doesn’t have “sufficient guidelines that pertain to the oversight of the safe preparation or donation of geese to food pantries or soup kitchens.”

A high-level official at the federal Department of Agriculture elaborated, saying that city and state officials have waited six years for the New York State Department of Health to report on the safety of New York bird meat.

“We’re looking for a letter somewhere along the lines that says Canada geese are safe to eat, or that one should consume only a certain amount of Canada goose a month, kind of like the state does with fish,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Other states, however, haven’t had a problem with slaughtering the geese for food.

In central Oregon, the Bend Park and Recreation District convened public meetings on ridding Canada geese from city parks.

There, officials ultimately decided to kill 109 geese with carbon dioxide, which is how New York geese were killed this month. The gas doesn’t make the meat unsafe, according to a spokesman for the American Veterinary Medical Association, who said it was often used to stun poultry.

Don Horton, the executive director of the Bend park district, said the geese were sent to a slaughterhouse, where they were processed and smoked, at $15 a bird.

“For us, the cost was not exorbitant, but if you’re killing 2,000 birds, the cost gets interesting,” Mr. Horton said.

He said he was confused by New York’s stated concern that the birds might not be safe to eat. “These are the same geese hunted by hunters all the time,” he said.

In Pennsylvania, wildlife killed because it has been deemed a nuisance to crops or parks must be donated to food banks.

“The state permit states that the geese shall be donated to a food bank or a shelter – that is a requirement of the permit itself, so they have to abide by that, or they lose the permit,” said Jason DeCoskey, who oversees special permit enforcement for the Pennsylvania Game Commission.

Mr. DeCoskey said the Department of Agriculture had a contract with a plucking house in southern Pennsylvania.

Deer make up the bulk of wildlife killed, he said, and when they are, “the U.S.D.A. will automatically call to find out if there are any needy families nearby to get them the meat.”

But for some, donating the geese to food banks doesn’t make up for their deaths.

In central Oregon, where the killed geese provided more than 1,000 hot meals, residents lashed out against the food bank director for accepting the meat.

Patrick Kwan, the New York State director for the Humane Society of the United States, also disagreed with the gesture. “What they are trying to do is make an unnecessary act seem charitable,” he said.

In Oregon, Mr. Horton saw it another way.

“We knew all along that there was a lot of opposition and that taking the meat from the geese and using that meat to feed the hungry by donating it to these two food banks would temper the opposition,” he said.

As a huge fan of Glocks I am excited to write this post about the Glock 43X MOS and the G48 MOS. If you purchased one or are thinking of purchasing one, they are one of the best sub-compact optics ready pistols you can get your hands on.

What you are probably wondering is which red dot and green dot optics fit it and which are the best to put on it. Well in this article I am going to explain everything you need to know so keep reading.

What’s the difference between the Glock 43X MOS and the G48 MOS?

I want to quickly mention that the only difference between the Glock 43X MOS and the G48 MOS is the length of the slide. The G48 is longer. The optics footprint for both is exactly the same so all the optics and adapter plates mentioned in this article will fit both the G48 and G43X the same.

What footprint is the Glock 43X MOS and G48 MOS?

The Glock 43X MOS and G48 MOS have an RMSc footprint. This means it has four recoil lugs, two in the front and two in the rear. The optics we recommend are the Holosun 407K, 507K, and EPS Carry. The only issue is these optics have a “modified RMSc” fooptrint which means they have spots for recoil lugs only on the front. This means you will need to use an adapter plate or need to file down the rear lugs (which we will explain below) in order to fit these Holosun Optics.

Learn more about Holosun’s Modified RMSc footprint here.

Why do we recommend the Holosun Optics vs other options?

• They are affordable but not cheap.
• They are built sturdily with strong aluminum housings and glass.
• They have convenient features like Shake Awake and Side Mounted Batteries.
• They have a Limited Lifetime Warranty.
• They are reliable.
• They are waterproof.

When you compare them to other options like Crimson Trace, Bushnell, or others you will find prices are similar but the other options do not have as good of a track record and do not have as many features.

How do you mount a Holosun 407K/507K or EPS Carry to a G43X MOS or G48 MOS?

There are two options to mount the Holosun optics to your G43X MOS or G48 MOS.

1. Buy an adapter plate.

You can buy a Glock 43X/48 MOS Adapter Plate which will give you everything you need to mount a Holosun K Series footprint optic to your Glock 43X or 48 MOS. These plates act like a shim which gives you the correct footprint. They also comes with the proper screws.

• Calculated Kinetics Glock 43X/G48 MOS to 407K/507K/EPS Carry Adapter Plate
• CHPWs Glock 43X/G48 MOS to 407K/507K/EPS Carry Adapter Plate
• CHPWS Glock 43X/G48 MOS to EPS Carry Adapter Plate
• DPP Glock 43X/48 MOS to 407K/507K Adapter Plate

2. Modify your slide (at your own risk)

The second option is to modify your slide. You can do this by grinding down the rear recoil lugs and possibly the front ones a bit. We have heard this could void your warranty but aren’t sure, and we don’t recommend doing this, but if you did feel comfortable doing it – have at it!

Here is a video that shows someone doing it on their G43X so you can get an idea of what to do and how much is involved.

The Best Holosun Red & Green Dots Optics for Your Glock 43X MOS and G48 MOS That We Recommend.

In our opinion these are the best bang for your buck optics for your Glock 43X MOS and G48 MOS. Just make sure you understand how to mount them based on what we mentioned above.

1. Holosun 407K. Most Budget Friendly Option.

Buy the 407K At The Best Price

Available in Red Dot or Green Dot

Features:

• 6 MOA dot
• Shake Awake
• 50,000 Hr Battery Life
• Removable Side Battery
• IP67 Waterproof
• 10 Daylight Brightness Settings and 2 Night Vision
• Aluminum Housing

The 407K is an affordable optic. It’s lightweight, made out of aluminum, and has really nice controls. The 6 MOA dot is a great size for a pistol.

2. Holosun 507K. The Next Step Up.

Buy the 507K At The Best Price

Available in Red Dot and Green Dot.

Features:

• MRS Reticle – 32 MOA Circle + 2 MOA Dot
• Shake Awake
• 50,000 Hr Battery Life
• Removable Side Battery
• IP67 Waterproof
• 10 Daylight Brightness Settings and 2 Night Vision
• Aluminum Housing

This optic is exactly like the 407K except it has Holosun’s famous MRS reticle which is a 32 MOA circle and 2 MOA dot. The MRS reticle can be toggled by hitting the “-“ button. So you can use the 32 MOA circle plus 2 MOA dot, just the 2 MOA dot, or just the 32 MOA circle.

3. Holosun EPS Carry – Closed Emitter Option

Buy the EPS Carry At The Best Price

Available in 2 MOA Dot, 6 MOA Dot, and MRS, Red Dot or Green Dot.

Features:

• MRS Reticle or 2 MOA Reticle or 6 MOA Reticle
• Shake Awake
• 50,000 Hr Battery Life
• Removable Side Battery
• IPX8 Waterproof
• 8 Daylight Brightness Settings and 4 Night Vision
• Aluminum Housing
• Enclosed Emitter

The EPS Carry is very similar to the 407K and 507K except it has one major difference, it is an enclosed emitter optic. This means the laser emitter is protected by a hood. So dirt, mud, or debris will never get in the way of the emitter to distort the reticle.

There are 3 versions of the EPS Carry. The 2MOA, 6MOA, and MRS Versions

The MRS version has a solar panel on it which acts as a solar fail safe to power the reticle of the battery dies. It also gives you an extra auto brightness feature which can be toggled on or off.

4. Holosun 507K ACSS Vulcan Green & Red Dot

Buy the 507K ACSS Vulcan At The Best Price

The 507K ACSS Vulcan is exactly like the 507K except is has the ACSS Vulcan reticle. This reticle has a 230 MOA dotted outer ring and a 3 MOA center dot.

The purpose of this reticle is to help you find the center dot quickly if you are off center. To learn more about the ACSS Vulcan check out our article here.

The dotted outer ring can be turned off by holding down the “-” button for 3 seconds.

The main advantage of the ACSS Vulcan reticle is to be able to find the center dot quickly when drawing the pistol.

All the features are the same as the 507K except for the reticle, and this is available in both red & green.

Choosing between Red or Green Reticles

You may be wondering if you should get a red or green dot reticle. We get this question a lot so I am going to list a few bullet points for you to consider.

• Green reticles are less straining for the eye to see.
• Green reticles can help with astigmatism. If you have astigmatism you will see a blurry dot, we have been told by a few customers that Green dots help with their astigmatism, making the dot look more crisp than the red version.
• Green will not washout on backdrops like green grass, foliage, or green colors.
• In theory Green dots can have a longer battery life because Green is brighter, so for example a green dot on brightness setting 6 may be the same brightness as a red dot on setting 7 – which would save battery life.

If you want to learn more check out our full article about Red vs Green Dot Pros & Cons here.

Choosing between Open vs Closed Emitters

The simplest way we can break down open vs closed emitters is to look at how you plan on carrying the pistol. If you plan on being outdoors in the elements with rain, snow, sleet, then a closed emitter will be beneficial.

If you plan on carrying OWB most of the time and plan on being outside then closed emitter would be beneficial.

If you plan on carrying IWB or don’t plan on being outside using your red dot in the pouring rain or heavy snow then an open reflex is fine.

Open reflexes will still work in the rain or snow but the closed emitter will give you extra peace of mind.

An open reflex can collect dust and debris on the inside of the reticle over time, so you’ll want to clean it out from time to time. An enclosed emitter is easier to clean in this aspect.

To learn more about Open vs Closed emitters you can check out our Open vs Closed Emitter Guide here.

How to decide which reticle style is best for you

In this guide we covered a few different reticle options. If you need some help deciding which is best for you here are some of our thoughts on each.

• 2 MOA only (EPS Carry 2 MOA): This dot is quite small which makes it precise. The downside is that it can be hard to “pick up” upon drawing the weapon. If you are experienced shooting red dot sights on pistols then this may not be an issue for you. If you are new, we recommend you practice “finding the dot” at home to become proficient. If you can train your muscle memory to find the dot then 2 MOA is a great choice.

• 6 MOA only (407K, EPS Carry 6 MOA): This dot is decently larger than the 2 MOA dot. We classify this as more user friendly than the 2 MOA dot as it’s a bit easier to pick up upon drawing. The 6 MOA dot will not be as precise as the 2 MOA dot at long distances (50+ yards) but it is still plenty accurate at all distance ranges. The 6 MOA dot is a nice size and it gives you a less cluttered reticle. Some people prefer it over the MRS.

• MRS Reticle (32 MOA Ring + 2 MOA Dot) (507K, EPS Carry MRS: This reticle is a good combination of both large and small. You have the 2 MOA dot to be precise with, and the 32 MOA Ring to help “find the dot”. The 32 MOA Circle is quite hard to miss. The nice thing about this reticle is the flexibility. You can use the 32 MOA Ring only or the 2 MOA dot only or both together. This way you can find what you prefer and stick to it.

• ACSS Vulcan with 3 MOA Dot and 230 MOA Dotted Outer Ring (507K ACSS Vulcan): This reticle is going to have a 3 moa dot and the 230 MOA dotted outer ring. The outer ring is only visible when the dot is not centered. The purpose is to help you find the dot quicker upon drawing the weapon. The 3 MOA dot give you a slightly larger dot than the 2 MOA dot, but it’s not that noticeable. The real value to this reticle is the outer ring and it’s assistance with helping you get on target faster by quickly adjusting your grip to “find the dot”

Conclusion

All of these optics are fantastic for your Glock 43X MOS and G48 MOS. You won’t find a better combination of quality and affordability.

Each optic also has it’s unique features and benefits. I wouldn’t say one is better than the other.

The 407K’s 6 MOA dot is really nice and some people prefer it over the MRS Reticle. The MRS reticle is larger which makes it easier to pick up when drawing. The EPS Carry is super cool because of the enclosed emitter.

If you have any questions, reach out to us on chat or leave a comment!

Thanks for reading!