The Richard Utting Blog - August 2024 Edition

Lately, more fun from rimfire through to some serious attempts to get MOA strings on the 2656 yarder with the 300gr and 390gr Atips.

Getting people sorted with their ballistics and kit is always a pleasure. A friend of mine turned up as a casual deerstalker and went home as someone with a first shot sub MOA hit at a mile. Talking of the mile, Optics Warehouse sends their staff up to me for training so they get an opportunity to use the products they’re selling, unlike many salespeople. This is to their credit and young Tom came along and soaked it all up like a sponge, finishing with a long half MOA string on the mile plate. He tested loads of scopes, bipods, chronies etc. and really does know the difference between them all.

On the kit front, the only new item I’ve been playing with since last time is the new Labradar compact radar chronograph.

It’s about £130 more than the excellent Garmin. It does have a couple of features that the Garmin doesn't, so if people need them it’s a good shout for the extra money. They have metal construction and are weapon-mountable with a warranty intact. Plus, it does a Vx reading too. So V0 is velocity at 0 yards A.K.A. muzzle velocity and that’s all you normally get.

The £850 FX True Ballistics will do 5 points out to 300yd and will report a very accurate G7 for you, which is tremendously useful for people who have bullets that aren’t in the various libraries. The Labradar LX will do one extra in addition to V0, out to 250y being reliable in my testing. If you put that into drag from 2 speeds utility (like the one in ChairGunElite, for example), it will give you your real drag. So, for people getting their rimmies or air rifle slugs out there and needing to dial properly, this is a cool feature that the Garmin doesn’t have. The LX also has a great app, like the Garmin, although the FX is the more advanced. Furthermore, the LX has adjustable trigger and channel settings making us spoilt for choice for radars in 2024.

I’ve got to give a shoutout to Delta. Honestly, there have been dozens of Strykers up on the moor recently; people just love them and trust them, and rightly so! I’m a huge fan of the wonderful new 3.5-21 too. I had a guy use one for a mile with no bother. Plus, at dusk, it’s utter class—a real, genuine do-it-all scope.

I’ve spent more time with the new Sightron S6. I’ve concluded that it’s super solid and, at a shade less than the Stryker, it’s about right. I think the ergonomics of the Delta are superior but the S6 does the job and the glass is inseparable. Many are thousands more and worse so Sightron has got this medium-price scope spot on. It’s not ridiculously overachieving like the big S8 but it’s spot on and straight into my ‘Richard’s Top Picks’ shortlist in the sub £1,500 bracket for sure.

Talking of the Sightron S8, having used it in high wind far beyond a mile a lot now, I’m noticing a theme—something I’ve long wondered about regarding 2-mile shots in the UK. To shoot that far, you need a lot of elevation, and everyone focuses on adjustable rails, prisms, etc., to achieve this. But what about windage? With the greatest of respect, it seems most USA ELR comps are on low ground and low wind. In the hills of Europe, we have another scope problem cropping up: you’ve solved the elevation issue, but if you run out of windage there’s not a thing you can do about it. On a half dozen occasions of late, guys with ATACRS & S&Bs have been played out because they’ve hit their 6MILish windage limit, held on the ret and that’s the end of that. Now the S8 not only has about 6MIL more elevation than them, which is useful, but in the order of double the windage too, which is fundamental. The S8 guys went further and the non-S8 guys drank coffee, end of… I like the S8 the more and more I use it.

Almost everyone is using the fantastic Fortis Adjustable Rear Rest, too. The guy at Alacritas Innovations is an ex-BR World Champ and knows the importance of a great rear rest but how to do that in the field? Enter the lightweight, portable Fortis! I’ve loved it since the first prototype. Carried by Optics Warehouse now because they want all the best kit in their stable, say no more.

Another new ballistics client on the half MOA at 1209y.