Vortex Nation Podcast

Bees, small insects, BIG considerations! On this episode of the Vortex Nation Podcast, we with sit down with repeat guest, hunting badass and bee sting survivor, Joey Pyburn, to recount his backcountry bout with an aggressive bee. Just because you may not be allergic to bees now, doesn’t mean you can’t develop a reaction. Follow along to hear how Joey handled it in the field, as well as how he fol...

Developing the ultimate gun dog ain’t easy. It takes, work, time, know-how, years of experience and a dog suited for the task at hand. Chad Belding from The Fowl Life TV and Brad Arrington from Mossy Pond Retrievers join Mark and Jim for a doggoned good discussion on gundogs, a few misconceptions and some of their training methods/philosophies. Brad is one of the best in the business! One thing is...

Why is your dot so high bro? Mounting red dot sights what may seem comically high is in vogue these days. But what is the practical reason behind this practice? Tune in to find out!

Tiny calibers are fast and fun. These pint-size projectiles push the limits of possible. Punching paper to popping prairie dogs, tiny cartridges abound, filling boutique-like niches sure to make any enthusiast add a new rifle to their collection. Jimmy Hamilton and Mark Boardman tap into the all-knowing Ryan Muckenhirn and, frequent guest, Seth Toy to get the lowdown on these cuties of the cartrid...

One of the biggest things that separates “Great” precision shooters from “Pretty good” ones is how they make corrections and how they maximize their margin for error when dealing with wind. Nick Laufenberg joins Jimmy to discuss utilizing your full target as a means for getting a hit on steel, measuring that target in MOA/MRAD, thinking of wind in terms of MOA/MRAD, and trusting your reticle when...

Long Range on a budget – Can it be done? Hell-yeah it can. Jim and Mark sit down with in-house long-range shooters Nick Laufenberg and Scott Parks to discuss options and how to effectively engage in the ever increasing in popularity activity of long-range shooting. We also debut the Venom 5-25x56 riflescope – a budget-friendly, optically-sound and feature-rich riflescope, sure to make any current...

One of the oldest .30-06-based wildcats, the .35 Whelen had enjoyed a brief period of commercial successes, and is still holding on in some circles as an understated champion for medium-sized game. Has this old powerhouse been displaced by modern magnums, or, does modesty prevail? Tune in to learn more!

So you want a suppressor, that’s a no brainer, but which one? What are all the differences between the suppressors we see on the market today and what’s even significant about those differences? All good questions – Mark and Jimmy had the same ones and a whole lot more for Adam and Reuben, our in-house NFA-item nerds. We dive into the three main types of suppressors, rifle, pistol and rimfire, and...

BDC (Ballistic Drop Compensating) Reticles are fast, simple and extremely popular. The hashmarks are based on a general ballistics curve most popular big game calibers follow pretty close out to 600 yards. But what if you want to know exactly where the hashmarks line up for your rifle and the load you’re pushing through it?  What if you have a cartridge that falls outside of the “general ballistic...

Getin' Ticky With It! Jim and Mark burrow in deep with E.R. Doc. and tick expert, Charlie Pearce, for an in-depth discussion on everything ticks. Creepy, yes! Fascinating, yes! An ever-increasing problem with serious health ramifications, yes!  What is a tick and ticks of interest. How do ticks work? What is their life cycle? Why are ticks so effective as a vector for disease? What is questing? Wh...

Crimped cases may seem like a pain-in-the-brass, but are actually pretty darn simple to prep for reloading. In this podcast we cover what a crimped case is, how to identify it, and how to get rid of the crimp. If watching on YouTube, you can see us do it. If you’re a “brass rat”, but cull every crimper you come by, you may want to reconsider.

A day in the life of an optical engineer - arguably nothing more exciting!!! OK, maybe we are optics geeks around here. Join Jim, Mark, Christian, and Todd from Vortex as they take look deep into the world of optical engineers and the science behind it all. From blowing smoke through lasers, to reflection, refraction, destructive interference, moving mirrors, modulating a time domain spectrum, how...

What’s the secret to long-range shooting? The answer my friend, is blowing in the wind. Literally. Much of the challenge, variability, frustration and skill regarding long-range shooting relates to wind. Gravity is a constant, wind is not. Ironically, the “F-ing wind”, as we like to call it is probably one of main the things that keeps us coming back to the range to get better at shooting. A visco...

The new 6.8 Western is a Hot Topic (Jim’s Favorite Store) among cartridge connoisseurs. It’s so new, not a lot of folks have a ton of experience with it. On paper, it looks pretty darn good. Will it be the new 6.5? Is it everything the 270 WSM should have been. Will it knock critters down with authority at long range? Time will tell. Listen in to get our take on this new kid on the cartridge block...

In this 10 minutes of cartridge fury, Ryan Muckenhirn shoots us straight on perhaps the most iconic straight wall cartridge -  the 45-70. This fantastic and storied cartridge is one of Ryan’s personal favorites for myriad reasons. From its military adoption, to reloading and hunting, the 45-70 is straight-up cool! Listen in to find out how cool!

Small-bore, big-bore, iguanas to impala, modern air rifles aren’t just a youthful introduction to hunting and the shooting sports. Great for that – yes – but a whole lot more as well. These things can pack a wallop, are extremely high tech, and a world unto themselves. Mark and Jim sit down with long-time friend, hunting, firearms and air rifle expert, Mike Schoby, from the Outdoor Sportsman Group...

There’s Morel to spring than Turkeys and Sheds. There’s morels! These tasty mushrooms are mysterious, delectable and can be dang hard to find…..Which is what makes it so cool when you do find them. Jim and Mark sit down with resident fungal expert and avid forager, Ryan Muckenhirn, to get the scoop on how to scoop up some of these culinary treasures.

“High end” and “AK 47”are two terms we don’t generally see together. Well, unless you’re talking about the gold-pated ones, but that doesn’t really count….The folks over at Dissident Arms have turned conventional wisdom on its head by taking all of the iconic and very positive attributes of the AK 47 and fully customized the platform, transforming it from reliable blaster to precision competition...

Action packed, effective, and with some obvious safety considerations a person needs to account for, “Reaping” turkeys is a tactic a person can consider keeping in their turkey tool box. As the name implies, using this method often results in a dead gobbler. Some folks say you should never do it and are violating every safety rule in the book. Others take several precautions and do it all the time...

A deer property can be so much more than, well, a deer property. But what’s be best way to create an ecosystem to maximize benefit for all wildlife  -  including you? Yes, you count as wildlife. Jim and Mark sit down with the team at Land and Legacy to discuss property management, their professional consulting work, habitat and more. Land and Legacy isn’t a one-trick pony. They travel the US and a...

There’s more than one way to pursue a bear - spot-and-stalk, baiting, hounds. Choose your weapon too – bow, rifle, or muzzleloader. They all have their intricacies. The good news, all are challenging, fun, and hopefully reward you with a bear for the freezer. We go through all these options with Ryan Lampers in our final installment of our spring bear special. Listen in to the end for some great s...

Fried bear, canned bear, bear tacos (burritos if you’re Jim), bear BQ sandwiches, bone-in bear hams - hungry yet? In this installment of our spring bear special, bear chef extraordinaire, Ryan Lampers, dispels bear meat myths, takes us through all the great attributes of bear meat, why it’s his favorite wild game, and hucks out a few of his go-to preparations. Tune in and get your salivatory gland...

Hunting spring black bears is growing in popularity! But where the heck do you find these walking delicacies? What should you be looking for? Good questions! That’s why we grabbed spring bear/all-around outdoor expert, Ryan Lampers, to give us a zero-to-sixty crash course on that very topic. Terrain features, water features, food sources, what slope they will likely be on at different times throug...

Red Dots on pistols are becoming the norm – not the exception. So, what height should your dot sit? Mark and Jim get professional advice on this often-asked question.

AR component and accessory options abound. Wading through them is part of the fun, but can be daunting at the same time. How can two seemingly identical parts have such an extreme price discrepancy? Jimmy and  Mark bring in AR-Gurus Adam Maxwell and Reuben Aleckson to dissect the anatomy of an AR, and where to consider dropping coin like brass on a hot range, or where to save money like cartridges...