Vortex Nation Podcast

A “ Budget Rifle” doesn’t always mean budget performance. In fact, in many cases, quite the opposite. Consumers today are blessed with solid options from major manufacturers that deliver accuracy, durability and shootability rivaling their pinky-up counterparts. Jimmy and Mark grab Ryan Muckenhirn and Reuben Aleckson to cover the finer points of these utilitarian powerhouses. What makes a budget rifle a budget rifle? What are you getting? What are you missing out on? Will it do everything you want, or will you need to modify? Is it worth modifying a budget rifle, or at that point, do you simply upgrade? We cover all this and more in this cost-effective episode of the Vortex Nation Podcast.As always, we want to hear your feedback! Let us know if there are any topics you'd like covered on the Vortex Nation™ podcast by asking us on Instagram @vortexnationpodcast

Look, if you only had one shot, or one opportunity to seize everything you ever wanted in one moment…Wait, in this podcast you only get one magnification for the rest of your life. So what’s it going to be? Jim and Mark take this hypothetical to a group of Hunters, 3-Gunners and Precision rifle shooters to get their take on the single magnification to do it all. You might be surprised by the answers.

Increase your coyote encounters by 10X – Take to the night. Jim and Mark sit down with two-time world coyote calling champion (using his voice) and expert night hunter Matt McHugh to soak up every last ounce of his night hunting expertise.  Hunting personally and guiding, Matt spends approximately 150 nights afield each year chasing these crafty critters. To say he speaks from experience is an understatement. We cover calling setups, thermal, night vision, firearms platforms, cartridges, tripod use and more in this night hunting extravaganza. Tune in to up your predator game and put more fur on the ground.As always, we want to hear your feedback! Let us know if there are any topics you'd like covered on the Vortex Nation™ podcast by asking us on Instagram @vortexnationpodcast

What rangefinder is right for you? Rangefinding binocular or monocular style? Do you bowhunt or rifle hunt – or both? How far are you shooting? Paul Neess “The Neess” sits down with Jim and Mark to break down the pros and cons of the different styles of rangfinding optics, in a variety of scenarios, for a variety of hunters. Tune in, identify your primary needs and make the best choice.

Jim and Mark get the distinct privilege of having Janis Putelis from MeatEater in the office and take the opportunity to “dive into the mind of a Janis”. We cover blacktail hunting together with Steve on POW, freediving for Sea cucumbers, his hunting origin story (he has two), going from ski instructor to elk guide, behind the scenes MeatEater stuff and more. Habitual handkerchief use, a shared love of the wild turkey, getting surprised by ducks, Janis’s Latvian roots and more - this was a super fun and inciteful conversation with an old friend. Pull up a chair or put your car in drive and join us for the ride.As always, we want to hear your feedback! Let us know if there are any topics you'd like covered on the Vortex Nation™ podcast by asking us on Instagram @vortexnationpodcast

What has three legs, a head, and is arguably one of the most important pieces of equipment you can have on a glass-intensive hunt or at the range? Tripods, of course! Mark and Jimmy hang out with the very tripod-obsessed Ryan Muckenhirn to talk about why these pieces of equipment are so important, how you can choose which type of tripod is best for you, and not only glassing off tripods, but also shooting off them as well! Best of all, we get to talk all about the entirely 100% brand new lineup of tripods in the Vortex line which you won’t want to miss!As always, we want to hear your feedback! Let us know if there are any topics you'd like covered on the Vortex Nation™ podcast by asking us on Instagram @vortexnationpodcast

Looking for an optic for your AR? Maybe you already have one set up, but you’re curious about the other options and what makes them so special? Jimmy and Mark sat down with Reuben and Adam, our in-house AR junkies, to talk all about red dots, magnifiers, prism scopes, LPVO’s, offset red dots, etc. What’s so special about each one of these categories? Why would someone want to pick one over the other? Does one option reign supreme as the best overall way to go? Are any of them potentially just outdated at this point?? We also get the chance to talk about some brand new optics in our lineup with the SPARC Solar red dot and the Gen II Spitfire HD prism scopes. Tune in to find out! As always, we want to hear your feedback! Let us know if there are any topics you'd like covered on the Vortex Nation™ podcast by asking us on Instagram @vortexnationpodcast

What’s the deal with rangefinders? We did an episode a long while back on some really important tips, tricks and how-to’s when it comes to understanding how they’re used in the field and maximizing their performance (See Ep. 65), but this time we figured it would be best to go even deeper into understanding HOW they actually work. What we all take for granted as an easy “Point and shoot” tool to give us extremely valuable information for our accuracy down range involves some pretty incredible science on the back end. In order to explain it best, we grabbed Nick Vitalbo, who is literally a laser scientist with an impressive background and an equally impressive knowledge of how these things tick. He was a great help in the development of our new Fury HD 5000 AB and now is here to blow your mind with lasers, computers, programming, and so much more. As always, we want to hear your feedback! Let us know if there are any topics you'd like covered on the Vortex Nation™ podcast by asking us on Instagram @vortexnatio

You’ve got the gun, you’ve got the rifle, now you need to get the best rings to hold them together… But what height? That’s the question we address here in this episode with Reuben Aleckson across the table from Jimmy and Mark. Full disclosure, if you’re looking for a definitive answer for your particular gun and scope combo, this isn’t going to be it, unfortunately. That said, we do go into all the reasons why that is such a difficult goal to achieve and all the aspects of your setup you should consider when making that final decision. Should you be shooting to get the scope as low to the bore as possible? Or perhaps cheek weld is the most important? How about clearing the objective bell or mag ring? All good questions! We hope this podcast can help.

Jimmy and Ryan Muckenhirn are joined by former special operations medic, James Davenport, and DJ Struntz of North American Rescue to talk all about James’ incredibly interesting life in the armed forces serving as a medic in some of the most hostile environments on the planet. We should note that if anyone out there gets lightheaded from listening to someone talk about traumatic injury and blood, you may not want to listen to this one while operating any heavy machinery! James tells us about why he entered the armed forces, why he chose the path of becoming a special operations medic and gives just a glimpse into the amount of training that was necessary to not only be an extremely effective combat medic, but one that was also a swiss army knife of other skillsets on the battlefield. Finally, we also got the very unique opportunity to listen to his story of not one, but two times encountering improvised explosives in the field, changing his life forever. It truly takes a warrior to have lived through all the

A cartridge screaming out of the barrel so fast it only takes six Mils of adjustment to get to a grand? That can only mean one thing - we’re talking about the Nosler family of cartridges, and to be even more specific, the 28 Nosler! These cartridges are well known for achieving some impressive velocities and being very flat shooting, but with a guy like Ryan Muckenhirn at the table for the discussion, surely there’s even more to learn about these cool rounds!

In a cartridge-era dominated by data tables filled with racy exterior ballistics, is there any room for modesty anymore? The fellas take 10 to pay mind to a fantastic-classic not soon forgotten in hunting camp: The light-recoiling, soft-spoken, and absolutely adequate for North American medium-game .257 Roberts. 

The “cutest” cartridge in our holiday series, the 6.5 Grendel, is not to be overlooked because of its size. As our in-house cartridge expert Ryan Muckenhirn discusses with Jimmy and Mark, this little guy is as sweet-shooting as they come with an incredibly efficient design, super light recoil and excellent packaging in an AR platform. 

After nearly being threatened by one particular listener (You know who you are) for our lack of a 10 Minute Talk around the Weatherby cartridges, Jimmy, Mark and Ryan Muckenhirn finally discuss these unmistakable, round-shouldered magnums, with the 300 Weatherby being our specific focus. We also learn why Ryan calls his 300 Weatherby “Evil Roy”!

Jimmy and Mark chat with cartridge man Ryan Muckenhirn about a series of cartridges with one of the most iconic silhouettes - the sharp-shouldered Ackley Improved cartridges. In this case, we speak most specifically to the .280 AI, being one of P.O. Ackley’s earliest mainstream wildcats, and its long journey to becoming an increasingly popular SAAMI spec’d round.

By overwhelming demand, we bring you a 10 Minute Talk on the ol’ standby – the .270 Winchester… How have we not done this one yet?? Jimmy and Mark chat with Mr. Ryan Muckenhirn all about what is certainly one of America’s most classic deer cartridges. We address not only where it came from and what made it so special to begin with, but also what it’s future might be as the round seems to be gaining in popularity with the long range community with the development of some new, high-stepping projectiles and loadings!

Why the hell would a person need to range 5000 yards or beyond anyway?...We’ll tell ya. Jimmy and Mark sit down with Paul Neess (AKA “The Neess”) and Ryan Muckenhirn to dissect this interesting question. In some ways the extreme ranging horsepower of  an optic like our Fury HD 5000 is akin to when we practice shooting at long range – the fact the unit can hit 5000 well, makes closer work like 2500 yards a chip shot in regard to speed, pinpoint-precision and distance reading accuracy. A person can also route plan, estimate time of travel to get to a specific point and surprise themselves with how close or far a target/object really is. Things can get deceiving out there in regard to distance perception and a good rangefinder can give you the answers you need. Lest we forget, responsibly shooting targets at extreme long rage is damn fun and knowing the range is pivotal. All this, and as per usual, Paul says some other smart stuff…So Neess!

Jimmy and Mark are joined by Ryan Muckenhirn to discuss staying warm in the dead of the late season winter hunts. We discuss everything from clothing to shelter, understanding of course that everyone has their own personal preference for how they like to stay warm, but it never hurts to get a few new ideas now and then. Mark obviously brings up the incredible merits of the puffy jacket (Which we all agree on here), Ryan discusses his extremely well-thought-out cold weather shelter setup, and we toss out a few other tips and tricks based on personal experience for not freezing your you-know-what’s off out there!As always, we want to hear your feedback! Let us know if there are any topics you'd like covered on the Vortex Nation™ podcast by asking us on Instagram @vortexnationpodcast

Incredibly, the crew has developed a load that not only functions but does so well enough to be worthy of taking on an antelope hunt in Wyoming. In true dirtbag fashion, Mark, Jimmy and our video man Cooper loaded up the Subaru for a turn and burn trip to a unit with limited public land in hopes to shoot at least one doe antelope each. As the title implies, the cartridge worked as intended, but to hear just how it all went down you’ll have to tune in! What do you guys want to see in the future with the 6.5 BC? How about other calibers? We’re hoping to continue to tune it for accuracy and really get it coming out like the rocket we think it can be in the future!As always, we want to hear your feedback! Let us know if there are any topics you'd like covered on the Vortex Nation podcast by asking us on Instagram @vortexnationpodcast

In our last episode, Ryan Muckenhirn walked us through the process of getting into wildcatting your own cartridge and also unveiled our concept for the 6.5 BC. This is all fine and dandy on paper, but when the powder starts pouring, how are we going to go about making sure we loading something that works, is remotely effective, and, perhaps most importantly, safe!? In typical Vortex Nation Podcast form, we’re going into this with a good idea, but not a ton of experience, to give you a relatable look at how some regular enthusiasts might go about the process. Ryan tells us how he arrived at the baseline powder charge and seating depth we’ll be starting with, What our testing regimen for developing an initial load will look like, and of course, how we’ll avoid blowing ourselves up… In theory… As always, we want to hear your feedback! Let us know if there are any topics you'd like covered on the Vortex Nation podcast by asking us on Instagram @vortexnationpodcast