The Loadout Blog

Snapshot|100 Rounds In

Welcome to another entry of 100 Rounds In. 100 Rounds In is where I give you my impressions on a firearm, optic or a piece of gear. Today, we will be looking at the Blackhound Optics 4–14×44 FFP MIL riflescope. I have put hundreds of rounds of ammunition through my rifle getting a feel for this optic. This allows me to give you an initial assessment of the optic and where the optics strengths and weakness lie.

In this article I will give you a quick rundown of the optics construction and features, discuss optical clarity and reticle,rifle setup,range time, and the strengths and weaknesses of the optic.

Let’s dive into my impressions of Blackhound’s 4-14×44 FFP MIL riflescope.

Construction and Features

The Blackhound Optics 4-14×44 riflescope is built on a 30mm aluminum chassis with 44mm objective lenses. Blackhound’s 4-14×44 first focal plane optic features: Blackhound’s Alpha Reticle with adjustable windage and elevation up to 20 MIL, 6-brightness settings, adjustable parallax from 10 yards to infinity, and weighs in at 1.6 lbs. Blackhound’s optic also features all the components to properly mount your scope to your rifle of choice.

The parallax on Blackhound’s optic is adjustable from 10 yards to infinity. Adjusting the parallax gives you the ability to make sure your rifle’s reticle is focused on your target.

Optical Clarity and Reticle

When it comes down to optics and their clarity it is very subjective process. There is no standard by which glass quality and clarity can be quantified. I have tired with no success to find a standard by which to judge. What is done to the glass is a tightly guarded secret held by optics companies. So, when it comes down to glass I am looking for three main factors: image clarity, a clean and intuitive reticle interface, and good eye relief and field of view.

When it comes to these three factors this is where this optic shines. The image clarity on this glass is impressive. When looking through the optic to my target it is clear and colors look natural and pop. Visual distortion is next to none due to the adjustable parallax from 10 yards to infinity.

Next, the reticle interface is clean and concise. The Alpha reticle allows you to easily put rounds on target and makes it easy for Kentucky windage adjustment calls.

Finally, you have generous eye relief so you can quickly see clearly through your optic without scope shadow. The optic also provides generous field of view. This prevents your eyes from getting pulled into tunnel vision with prolonged viewing through the optic. All in all, this optic provides impressive glass with great visual fidelity.

Rifle Setup

The Blackhound 4-14×44 optic is designed for medium to long range engagements. So, I placed the optic on my 20” .224 Valkyrie build. This allowed me the ability to push this optic out 1,000 meters when testing with no problem. Below is my complete build list for my .224 Valkyrie build.

.224 Valkyrie Build

• Ballistic Advantage Receiver Set
• Ballistic Advantage Bolt Carrier Group & Gas Block
• 20” Tactical Kinetics barrel
• Radian Ambidextrous Charging Handle
• Fortis Muzzle Break
• 18” Midwest Industries M-Lol Rail
• Luth-AR MBA-1 Buttstock
• Giessele Single Stage Precision Trigger
• Magpul Bipods

Range Time

Over the past few weeks I have spent a lot of time behind this optic on range. My time on the range with this optic has been a positive one. Before, I started engaging in medium to long range targets I conducted a 100 yard zero to get the optic zoned in and on target. From there I proceed to engage targets at 400, 600, and 800 yards. I would eventually shoot this optic out to to 1,000 yards.

When it came down to using the optic at the 400, 600, and 800 yards it was great shooting experience. Blackhound’s optic will handle business with the best of them. First off, picture clarity was impressive. When peering through your optic you have great clarity and visual fidelity to your target. Colors in the optic pop. Contrasts and shadows are dark and rich. When peering through the optic nothing appears washed out. Shadows are dark and color contrasts are balanced. This due to solid light transmission from the coating on the lenses.

Blackhound’s Alpha Reticle is easy and intuitive to use. The yardage hashmarks for ranging popped when placed on target. That was both illuminated and non-illuminated. It was easy to make smart windage and elevations adjustments on the fly. I had to deal with a lot of that on trips to the range with this optic. So, that was a blessing in those windy conditions.

The optic also holds zero very well. I was having some trouble initially hitting targets at 600 and 800 yards. I thought it might have lost zero from crashing around in my back of my car when I pick up and move to a new yard line. It was completely on me. I went back to double verify my zero and I was keeping a solid 1-MOA group at 100 yards.

At the end of the day when it comes down to performance this optic is solid. The Blackhound 4-14×44 excels at medium to long range engagements in diverse conditions.

Strength and Weakness

The strengths of this optic are plentiful. The optic has solid build quality and construction. The optic is lightweight and rugged with turrets that give a good tactile feedback with a good audible click. The glass is simply great. The glass provides great visual clarity and fidelity with little to no distortion. That is due to the adjustable parallax. The reticle is easy to understand and to put rounds effectively on target. Eye relief was also easy to acquire with a good field of view. The strengths of this optic out weigh one main weakness in my mind.

The main weakness in my mind is the thickness of the Alpha reticle hashmarks. I’m a person who personally prefers my hashmarks for yardage and windage to be thinner. It only really effects at 800 yards plus. I feel like the hashmarks is dominating a little too much of the target. If you thin those hashmarks a little more you wouldn’t have that problem.

Final Thoughts

Overall, I believe Blackhound has a well made optic on their hands. The Blackhound Optics 4-14×44 has great build quality, great glass, and easy to use Alpha Reticle. Blackhound’s 4-14×44 riflescope is a solid performing in medium to long range optic. I look forward to next week when I give my full review on Blackhound’s 4-14×44 optic.

Thanks For Reading

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