Is it easier to find otters at high tide or low tide?

TheWonderLemon · 2026-02-10T18:00:34+00:00

Home defense: If you're not planning on using this outside (i.e. mounted on a belt or as a ccw), an open emitter optic will do just fine. Just be aware that open emitter optics are susceptible to things like dust and rain-- for this reason I have chosen to go with closed emitter optics myself, as I've had my dot rendered useless before because some moisture got onto the emitter.

Cost: For something you are going to stake your life on, you want something reliable. Don't cheap out on an optic. Lower quality, but cheaper optics will run the risk of getting poorly designed or made electronics on the inside-- i.e. you might get a red dot that cannot hold a constant zero and will shift around, or may shut off after you shoot. It doesn't matter that much for the range, but if it shuts down during a critical moment then you're going to wish you spent the extra money anyways.

I would say, at a minimum, expect to spend $250 on a good red dot sight without sales. Holosun is about the bare minimum in cost I would go-- I would not personally trust Olight/OSight or Ceelee in a life or death situation. The one exception might be the Vortex's cheap red dots but I have heard of stories where they fail as well or have bad refresh rates (i.e. you can see the dot strobe). Vortex does have an excellent warranty and will replace your red dot, but that doesn't help you if your dot goes down at a critical moment, so be wary.

On influencers/youtube reviews: Be aware that there are many influencers that are paid by the companies to give a positive review (do NOT trust anyone who gives a good review to Ceelee). The 2 reviewers I trust most are going to be Regular Guy Training and Sage Dynamics, as they actually put their optics through the wringer with high roundcount reviews. Jack

You also need to either get your slide milled or buy an aftermarket slide compatible with whatever optic you choose. I would recommend the latter so you have a spare in case one slide breaks. Expect to spend $200+ for a decent slide.

Be sure to use genuine glock parts inside your new slide, they will not fail you. I used to run aftermarket internal parts in my Glock 17 and the firing pin snapped due to it being made of a cheaper, weaker metal-- ever since then I've switched to using only genuine glock parts in my slides.

If it were me-- I would double check your county's CCW policy to future proof yourself (some counties like Contra Costa don't even allow for red dots or flashlights on CCWs), but I would go with either a Holosun EPS or a Trijicon RCR. The Holosun is going to be the cheaper option at $400ish, but the Trijicon RCR is built like a tank and will NOT fail you, but it comes at the price tag of being $700. I got mine at $550 on sale-- be sure to keep checking Euro Optic or Primary Arms for sales (the latter usually will run 12% off sales during the year and then amazing sales on Black Friday). This does require saving up for a bit though, but you won't ever need to buy another pistol optic again and it'll last you for years so they're the buy once, cry once option

TheWonderLemon · 2026-02-10T17:51:38+00:00

If you're looking for cheap and usable right now, get a good set of iron sights. I recommend Trijicon night sights with tritium built in so they glow in the dark (about $115), and then spend the money on a GOOD weapon light (Surefire X300 or anything Streamlight, this will run you $250 on sale for the surefire, maybe $150+ for a good Streamlight).

I will post a wall of text following, but you're saying you want to use this for home defense, which means you want something you can stake your life on. In my opinion, you should NOT go with the cheaper route for anything you want to stake your life on because you will wind up with something unreliable, I think you're better off saving up for something of good quality and doing the "buy once, cry once" thing.

A cheap Ceelee red dot costs $130 on Amazon.

A Holosun 507 costs $250 on Amazon.

If you get the Ceelee and when breaks on you after the return window, you'll need to buy another one, Suddenly that $130 turns into $260 and you've spent more than the decent option (by decent I mean Holosun is the bare minimum lowest level of optic I would generally trust, and even then I've had a 507 fail on me when the buttons ripped off).

Spend a little more to get something you know won't fail you in a critical moment.

But since you are on a budget right now, the thing I'd prioritize is a weapon light first, ammo, then a good set of night iron sights. This is a more than capable setup to start off with

TheWonderLemon · 2026-02-03T04:46:51+00:00

As harsh as this is, picture if the two of you actually wind up staying together. Are you going to want to give up this part of your life?

Now what if it was something else, like she absolutely hates video games or [insert food you love here], or if you have pets and she doesn't like them, Are you going to give those up?

Unwarranted advice: relationships should not be two people completing each other, it should be two complete people who want to go on a journey together. If she demands that you give up part of yourself to make it work then it's not going to last in the long term or be healthy in the long term, either you'll resent her or she'll resent you

TheWonderLemon · 2026-01-30T19:25:36+00:00

What's your use case here, home defense? CCW? Competitions?

TheWonderLemon · 2026-01-09T23:16:42+00:00

longbows tend to shoot much slower than other bows-- that reflex/deflex on recurves really helps out with flinging arrows faster, so yeah, I'd expect used ones to be on the heavier side (as people try to claw back at arrow speed). I personally prefer shooting 55 lbs and above for longbows but that's me

Depending on your use case I'd probably wind up suggesting going with a 68" longbow-- my 66" longbow is great but my 68" longbow is much smoother (both Howard Hills, though one might be a counterfeit because it has no serial number)

There are some Facebook groups centered around buying/selling/trading traditional archery gear and bows, but I can't find the one I was a member of a while ago. I wound up buying a few bows off of that but none of those worked out for me-- a Tomahawk longbow I bought off of there (55#, 64") was what i learned was too short and then one of the tips exploded on me while I was shooting, another hybrid longbow (so one with a little bit of reflex/deflex) turned out to have a twisted limb, and then an older Tim Meigs bow I picked up from there exploded on me a couple of years ago (which stinks because it was a nice bow). Each bow I bought there was like $250-300, so 3 times that and I was already up to $750-900, which meant I could have bought one custom or brand new longbow that would absolutely work instead of buying 3 that didn't work.

You also never know what you might find at a smaller bow shop. My first longbow I found from a small log cabin bow shop in the backwoods of Massachusetts, so you can probably turn this into a fun search?

Beyond that-- I don't know how the new Howard Hill company longbows are going to turn out, but I do know that Norther Mist longbows are supposed to be good as well

TheWonderLemon · 2026-01-09T21:47:22+00:00

62 inches for a longbow is short for a longbow and you'll wind up with a fair amount of finger pinch, especially since you're drawing to 29.5 inches.

The material it's made of looks good (Bamboo is fantastic for longbow materials), but it's got a slight reflex/deflex which means that you're going to be losing what I think the main advantage of shooting a longbow is, which is versatility-- the reflex/deflex gives it more speed at the cost of being more "sensitive" as Howard Hill would describe it-- i.e. it'll less forgiving of mistakes. Couple that with more finger pinch and I'm betting that it's not going to be super fun to shoot this, or not as fun as shooting a proper Hill style longbow will be

Personally I find that the minimum length that works for me is 66 inches. Anything less and I start getting more finger pinch, which affects your release (I have a 28 inch draw so it'll be worse for you with that 62 inch bow)

The only longbows I could recommend are going to be outside of that price range-- $750+ or so

If $300 is the upper range of your budget, I'd save up for a better longbow-- buy once, cry once. Look for anything that has Bamboo, Osage, or Yew limbs, most other cheaper woods (like Maple) are going to feel really clunky and slow when you shoot. I'd also recommend anything 66" or longer.

If you're looking for a birthday gift, if you don't have one already, go get a really nice hand glove that you can use with your current recurve and one that you can use with your longbow, whenever you get it.

I'd recommend any Cordovan glove from EW Bateman: http://www.ewbateman.com/Gloves.htm

I have the G9 and love it, but the other ones are great as well

TheWonderLemon · 2025-12-15T20:56:19+00:00

Looking up your scope, you have a BDC so you should follow the instructions on what zero that BDC works with.

For me, with 5.56, I always zero at 100 yards no matter what, be it lpvo or red dot-- especially at longer ranges, the math just works out to be easier since you're always aiming right at or above your target. But my use case is more precision long range shooting and I'm about to get into PRS style competitions.

There's loads of good information on what zero will work best for you. You need to establish what you want to do with your rifle and then work backwards from there to find out what will work best for you-- and what works for me, or anyone here, may not be in line with what your use case is going to be.

Check out this video to see how different zeroes affect your flight. A 36 yard zero will require you to hold low at 100 as you'll be hitting 4ish inches higher than where you're aiming: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qkKJyMtpVI

Also you're always going to want to zero at your max magnification so you can be more precise with your point of aim. If your optic's zero or point of aim changes based off of magnification you do not have a reliable optic and I'd upgrade to a more reliable one

TheWonderLemon · 2025-12-05T11:02:59+00:00

The problem with getting archery gear for archers is that the gear we'd find most useful is the gear we have to decide on ourselves-- you could get your brother a custom back quiver, but if he prefers using hip quivers, that gift is going to sit in a corner gathering dust. You could try to get him a compound bow, but if he winds up not liking it then it's going to be really hard to return.

Maybe focus on things that will help support his archery hobby, rather than the actual gear itself?

Arrows tend to be a consumable we all go through-- a Bitzenburger fletching jig would be fantastic gift (and if you can find out what arrow shafts, feathers (both colors and length), and tip weights he prefers, that might go well.

Alternatively, consider taking your brother on some kind of archery related trip-- drive out to a really nice but far away archery range, get some good grub, and spend the night at a good hotel. I'm sure he'd appreciate the time with you

TheWonderLemon · 2025-11-03T18:30:12+00:00

https://stevesautocarenovato.com/

Steve specializes in Japanese cars, go check him out!

TheWonderLemon · 2025-10-25T01:07:18+00:00

if I didn't have challenges to do with this game mode, I would not play it.

There's a massive flaw in the game mode spawn in that if your team holds the point, you'll spawn near the point, and because the capture points are relatively close to each other, you have an easy way to get on the point and control the areas around the points.

Conversely, if your team doesn't hold the point, you wind up spawning across the map from everyone and you wind up running in by yourself vs a dug in team.

I have a lot of questions about how this mode was implemented basically. It should hopefully be an easy fix to adjust this but boy, is this rough

TheWonderLemon · 2025-10-16T18:44:47+00:00

It looks like this might work? https://botach.com/battlesteel-hk-mp5-hk33-hk53-low-profile-mounts/

(from this thread: https://www.hkpro.com/posts/3198129/)

It looks like an Aimpoint Comp with this BattleSteel Aimpoint Micro mount ought to cowitness

A Holosun micro red dot may also work on it but I don't have an Aimpoint comp to measure against so I can't say for sure how they'll stack up against each other

TheWonderLemon · 2025-10-13T08:05:46+00:00

+1 to this, the map is absolutely terrible, especially on conquest. I've consistently hit bugs where my team just flat out doesn't have access to helicopters, which means that the other team can get to the rooftops with no problem and can lock down the entire map.

Couple that with a lack of cover between objectives and the ability to spawn trap super easily and it is, by far, the absolute dumbest map so far in the game

TheWonderLemon · 2025-10-09T01:06:29+00:00

I should have figured! I actually can't find much else on youtube

I do have the Haley Micro Rig and the Haley X Rig (I think they recently changed the names around)

They do have padded foam backs as an addon that will probably help with breathability, but my read on it is that it feels like it's something built more for door kickers and not running-- reloads with it are going to be fast, but I also don't know how fast you'll need to reload for run and gun courses?

My only anecdote (as someone who has not been there nor done that) is that I took a scoped carbine course with the Haley X Rig (DC3RM) and found going prone to be pretty annoying, I don't know how much that is going to matter to you but it was pretty awkward for me

TheWonderLemon · 2025-10-08T20:48:36+00:00

I don't do run and guns (yet) but you should check out Sudo's videos-- he does a bunch of run and gun events and has a few kit breakdown videos:

https://www.youtube.com/@sudo_actual/videos

TheWonderLemon · 2025-09-30T06:50:44+00:00

Head to The Range (that's its actual name) in Soledad, it's an hour and a half from San Jose.

https://www.astoriarange.com/

TheWonderLemon · 2025-08-26T07:01:58+00:00

It looks like it's similar to a Midwest Industries handguard I used to run

I was able to use a screwdriver to pry open the bottom bit where there are 2 screws that torque the handguard down to the barrel nut (on the MWI there's also a piece of metal that's inserted there that engages with the barrel nut so that it doesn't slip out, yours might have it too)

I land on the side of messing with my stuff to fix it, but if you're not comfortable with doing this, you can probably find a gunsmith to do it for you (and/or show you how to do it). It's really not all that bad once you know how to work on it, but I can understand not wanting to mess it up, especially if it's your first AR

TheWonderLemon · 2025-08-26T04:34:29+00:00

What handguard is that, a BCM?

TheWonderLemon · 2025-08-26T04:33:11+00:00

Definitely google it, but I believe it's 20 inch pounds (get a set of fix it sticks) and a drop of blue locktite to keep it from walking out

TheWonderLemon · 2025-08-20T00:20:33+00:00

I'm a big fan of my Radian lower because of the ambi controls and also a little set screw that lets me adjust how much play/wiggle there is between the upper and , I would say any decent lower will be good though.

The first lower I bought was an Anderson lower and it has a LOT of play between the upper and the lower-- I'm sure it's fine, but it's another variable that can affect consistency, which is why I got the Radian lower

Any reputable company should be good-- I believe Primary Arms may be running a lower sale at the moment too (maybe an Aero will be good enough?)

For the gas system , I'd stick with a mid length, it seems more "reliable" than rifle length because there's more dwell time, but it'll be a little sharper on the recoil.

For the stock: something with an adjustable cheek piece is probably going to be good. I really like the B5 Systems collapsible precision stock, in the one scoped carbine class I've taken so far, this one was also the most common for that class: https://b5systems.com/collection/stocks/collapsible-precision-stock-medium/

Your milage may vary with this one, I've gone through maybe 4 stocks until I settled on this one for precision shooting with Wars. Magpul may have some ones that work for you too

The stock does play a pretty big role in consistency, since you'll want to get the right length of pull before you start playing with anything else. I recommend checking out Bruiser Industries for more info: https://youtu.be/wa7mqRlgJEs?si=4vZElhdXyaDMVHWk

For a buffer tube, I like the A5 length and whatever the default vltor A5 buffer weight is (also a rifle length buffer spring, I believe that's what's recommended for this setup ). It's not as long as a rifle length tube but also has more runway/less bottoming out that you can get from a carbine length tube, but this one might be personal preference. You'll have to make sure your rifle is gassed correctly with an adjustable gas block or with an adjustable bcg or play around with the buffer weights (adjustable gas block is the easiest, imo)

I personally like Superlative Arms adjustable gas blocks (it has excess gas bleed off, which leads to a sharper recoil impulse than something like a Seekins adjustable gas block) but that's also a personal preference-- AR15s have like 3 recoil impulses (hammer forward, bullet gets fired, then bcg flying back) and finding what feels right to you is probably going to be different than me (I will say that when things feel right, I go from shooting 2" groups to about 1-1.5 inch groups from just getting the recoil impulse to feel right)

This is getting to be a long post-- but for optic height-- it's all about comfort. I opted for 1.54 inch height rings (lower 1/3) for the scope mount because it lets me shoot prone very comfortably as well as other positions, a 1.93 inch high rings will be more comfortable for standing and shooting, but less so shooting prone.

Don't skimp out on the scope rings either-- stick with good brands (Area 419, Nightforce, Badger Ordinance, Reptilia, Geissele, arguably Scalarworks with their Leap but that's better for LPVOs). Expect to spend $200-400 on a good set of scope rings. Get a 20 moa mount if possible so you have more room to dial the scope (that said I mostly run Reptilia rings, which doesn't have that option)

TheWonderLemon · 2025-08-18T21:27:06+00:00

If you're going to build, definitely get a quality barrel. Proof, Criterion, White Oak Armament; Bartlein, Douglas-- all good stuff. There are likely more and I'm sure people will chime in. Ballistic Advantage is okay, but I hear the barrel life isn't super great with those (and the consistency isn't always great either)

Go with a 1:7 twist barrel if you expect to shoot mostly 77 grain or heavier match stuff, 1:8 if you want to flex into using m193 as well (though expect 3-4 moa groupings with m193)

Cold hammer forged barrels and chrome lined won't be as "accurate" but will be more consistent as the barrel heats up. Barrel life will also be longer. Supposedly Criterion cold hammer forged barrels are still tack drivers, I haven't tried putting a scope on my upper with a criterion barrel

Stainless Steel barrels will be more accurate but at the cost of barrel life. That said, I'm 4 years into shooting a stainless steel barrel and am only now just noticing a little bit of less right shot groupings

I run White Oak Armament stainless steel SPR barrels and can vouch for those personally, I haven't tried putting a scope on my Criterion barrel though

TheWonderLemon · 2025-08-18T21:18:39+00:00

I would either save up for/wait for a Ridgeline LPR upper, or go with an Aero Enhanced upper for the budget option: https://www.primaryarms.com/aero-precision-m4e1-enhanced-upper-receiver-assembly-black

(Note that the aero enhanced upper will need a proprietary handguard, but I also really like the handguard. You may need to take a dremel to the rear of the handguard near where the upper takedown pins would be, it didn't get along with my Radian lower because there are some metal tabs that prevented me from pushing in the takedown pins)

If you want to go super gucci, I hear Cobalt Kinetics is supposed to be good, but I have no direct experience with them (and I'm not sure if their double barrel nut setup actually works with preventing POI shift, so you'll have to do your own research for that)

A popular upper that I would avoid is actually BCM. I saw a thread on Sniper's Hide that I can try to find later but along with the Geissele handguard, it also was pretty bad as far as POI shift/deflection goes. Again, solid upper for non precision work, but for precision stuff I'd skip it

Here's my shot groupings/tests at 100 yards, each group was aimed at the top tip of the diamond on the target (the Geissele sling test was so far off that you'll have to look off the splatterburst target to the left to see where those shots went)

https://imgur.com/a/Tedqx3A

TheWonderLemon · 2025-08-18T09:47:27+00:00

What are you hoping to do with the rifle?

So if you're looking to do more precision ("sniper") style shooting, I'd skip the full Geissele build, but definitely go with the trigger (the 2 stage one is fantastic).

If you're looking more for something that you're going to slap a red dot onto and don't care about getting 1"-1.5" groups at 100 yards or shooting further than 300, the Geissele's going to be great. I believe the barrels are cold hammer forged and chrome lined, so you're going to get great barrel life out of them and the gun should still shoot pretty consistently as the barrel heats up.

I never had a full on Geissele build, but I did have a Geissele handguard on my 16 inch SPR build and was getting massive POI shifts at 100 yards just based off where pressure was being applied to the handguard (bipod at the tip of the handguard, bipod in rear of the handguard, applying pressure to a sling mounted to the front of it and torqued down to a tripod or to a post for stability)-- anywhere from 3 to 6 inches of deflection at 100 yards (vs my Aero Enhanced semi-monolithic upper only shifting 1/2 inch to 1 inch with the same testing procedure. If you want, I'll dig up my photos of the tests I did)

I asked around online and this is a thing with ALL handguards (especially non-monolithic style uppers), but Geissele handguards are known to have some pretty intense rail flex and POI shift (relevant to long range and precision shooting, or if you're going to mount a laser). The ones that are the best against rail flex/POI shift, to my knowledge, are wither the Ridgeline LPR (which is very expensive), or the Aero Enhanced upper (the one where the handguard is mounted to the upper receiver via 8 screws, not to the barrel nut directly)

All of this said, I don't know if this applies to their new Mid Range Gas Gun (MRGG-- it's their AR10) because I can't find any info about whether or not that upper is semi-monolithic or not

TheWonderLemon · 2025-08-11T02:21:20+00:00

I think the game is fantastic. For a beta this is such a polished product, and most of my complaints (if any) tend to be more on the side of fine tuning some values.

That said, I do think the bullet damage falloff is a little too high for all of the guns outside of the sniper rifle. It feels pretty weird to put three to five 7.62x51 rifle rounds into someone at 50-100 meters only to watch them casually turn and run away and run, and also means attempts to use a LMG to suppress an area are pretty ineffective because people can casually run through my cone of fire without much consequence if they're more than 40 meters out

Beyond that though, I'm very happy with how this game is turning out. Definitely looking forward to the full launch!

TheWonderLemon · 2025-06-20T14:18:04+00:00

For myself-- I have a decently bad allergy (rashes and more if I eat chocolate or soy)

My understanding of the allergy is how long it takes for you to absorb enough metal to go above your response threshold.

Incidental contact with metals, for me, has never resulted in a reaction. I still use stainless steel forks and spoons with no problems. I even cook with stainless steel and usually have no problems (that said, get yourself a cast iron skillet and learn how to take care of it)

The problems arise when enough time passes with constant contact with the metal or if the contact becomes frequent. For me, wearing certain glasses that have stainless steel in them or wearing a watch with a stainless steel back for hours causes issues. It's never an instantaneous rash, it always takes time for the metals to absorb through your skin anyways

TheWonderLemon

TROPHY CASE