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Ten Things I'd Buy If I Weren't Getting Married

Ten Things I'd Buy If I Weren't Getting Married

7/20/2010

As my fellow Twitter geeks are aware, earlier this year I got engaged. Yes, I'm very happy, but I'm also saving my tail off in order to pay for a wedding reception that will inevitably render me penniless again.

"How much is that going to cost you?" one of my buddies asked.

That's when it dawned on me: It's not the money, it's the trade-off—what economists refer to as
"opportunity cost"—that's weighing on my mind. Take, for instance, what I would rather could buy if I didn't have a wedding to pay for:


--A 20-foot custom Go-Devil duck boat with a 35hp Vanguard Surface Drive galvanized outboard, headlights, attached blind, camo paint and the trailer to go with it

--50 days of shooting instruction from Gil and Vicki Ash

--90 dozen Full Curl mallard decoys or 570 dozen Flambeau Classic mallard decoys 

--Professionally trained (and legitimate) Elhew pointer

--A Benelli Super Black Eagle II and a custom-fitted Beretta DT10 Trident L Sporting with money left over for shells

--Speaking of shells, I could get 160 cases of Winchester AA target loads or 710 boxes of Federal Black Cloud

--A Benefactor Life membership in the NRA (if I didn't already have one) and a Lifetime membership in Delta Waterfowl

--Four fully outfitted South Dakota pheasant hunting trips, including airfare

--Mounted hen/drake pairs for up to 30 species of waterfowl

--800 rounds of 50-bird sporting clays


Of course, in reality next summer I will pay for a DJ plus dinner and drinks for 150 guests. That'll be good, too.

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  • KyleW

    7/23/2010 9:26:55 AM

    @Peter Thanks for writing. Obviously that was not my experience in testing the RX30 or I would have noted it in the hardware review to which you're referring. You are correct in your assertion that a 12-gauge produces more recoil than some military rounds (I assume you were referring to .223 or .308). In fact a 3-inch, 1 3/4-ounce, 1245 fps turkey load produces roughly twice the recoil of a 180-grain, .300 Win. Mag. bullet at 2960 fps when fired from guns of the same weight.

  • peter wagner

    7/23/2010 2:08:42 AM

    Kyle,I have been shooting this sight atop my Benelli SBE's for three years, shooting approximately 3000 rounds a year of high velocity waterfowl loads, punishing turkey loads and the like. Having shot a Holosight for years I was intrigued by the RX30 as it eliminated the battery hassle, had an amber reticle for my colorblind eyes, and had a reticle bright enough for the most brilliant days. The Holosight for my eyes just wasn't bright enough against a bright sky. However, the sight won't take the pounding of these shotgun loads for long. I own two rx30s. I use the second when I send in the first for "repair" and then switch them when the second goes in for repair. In this way I am never without a sight. The problem I believe stems from its basic design. It appears to me that a relatively light base is secured to the gun. Connecting the base to the relatively heavy housing (main site body) is essentially the elevation and windage adjustment mechanism. With repeated pounding the windage adjustment will slip several clicks during a three round volley. I have gone as far as to score the aluminum adjacent to the adjustment screws so that I can quickly reestablish zero without paper or a boresight. The sight seems to withstand about a month of hunting before the adjuster begins to slip. You wouldn't think that a couple of clicks would make much difference with a shotgun but it does! With time it slips more often and more easily. At this point I send the unit back to Trijicon for "repair." I have gone back and forth with Trijicon roughly half a dozen times, usually about twice a year. The people there are great to work with fortunately. In my last mailing I sent back three units (one of my buddy's) all with the same problem. This time I suggested a redesign to secure the housing to the gun rather than the lighter base. Other than this rather fatal flaw it is a great sight. Apparently military ammunition doesn't produce the recoil of a 12 gauge shotgun.

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