Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Formidilosus - paid forum user?

He got plenty of members here to start throwing their rifles on the ground to test their scopes.

And Leupold.

With this, I agree.

I'm no guru of optics or firearms expert, I have no bias from any company/sponsor/etc. I play with a lot of scopes and a lot of rifles, it's what I enjoy. Looking at my first hand use and experience with an unbiased approach, it lines up with results Formidilosus reports. I haven't played with all that he has and I don't shoot as much as he does...my sample is limited. I haven't had issues with one brand he had fail...but I've also not used it hard. I've had one model, of one brand he favors, fail miserably that he didn't in his test. In many cases, it doesn't require a drop test to see it. It simply shows up when sighting in and checking zero.

I shouldn't say I'm unbiased. There are certain scopes I want to work, I'm pulling for them, but if they don't adjust correctly or have a wondering zero, I just have to go by what I see. Overall, what I see in my use lines up with what he reports.

Why not just trust yourself and your experience? Works for me..

This is also my take on the situation.

Works for me, too.

Trust but verify is how I regard most information. Too many people, especially on the internet, have a financial or other interest in what others use.

And some don't know enough to be giving advice - there's a minimally known gun writer who frequently uses a gun range where I meet up with a couple of buddies a few times a year. Have ran into this dude on several occasions, and the majority of what he passes off as expertise to anyone within earshot is minimally correct or outright BS. We just shake our heads and feel bad for the guys who get sucked in and follow his advice.

The only way to fly IMO.

I miss the cringe worthy hunting stories. Lol

At least he did hunt though.

+1

This thread is quite the witch hunt.

Most forum members wouldn’t be here if they weren’t interested in perspectives beyond their own limited experience set. That’s really the value that forums like this one provide. Most all of us are interested in data/info from other users, and Form’s stories and results are simply another data point. Some data are more useful than others, and some data sources are more credible and authoritative than others. IMO, it makes sense to take the data on the internet for what it is worth, consider the source, and weight the data accordingly.

This really sums it up. I wouldn’t buy or use anything I have read about on the campfire for the endorsement it gets here. It doesn’t take more than 4 posts on any subject before it is bashed and destroyed by someone that knows more or less…

Agreed but it gets spicy around here when that online user being distrusted or disagreed with is you. (royal you)

Jordan:

So, basically, trust but verify?

I'd call it more of a which hunt, as in which information do you take into consideration and which information do you disregard.

It entirely depends on who the source is. You're obviously good to go, but many loudmouths here are not. That's why I find a source I trust, buy it myself, try it myself, use it myself, and form my own opinion. I've done it with the Tract Toric when they first came out, currently the arken EP4's, VX6, Athlon Ares BTR, Meopta scopes and binos when they first started marketing them under their own name, etc.

Yup. I've moved on to other sources, as here it seems to be "all" fail or "all" are always perfect, which is the sure sign of a shill.

Check out the Ares ETR UHD line if you like the BTR. I'm impressed with the one we put on my son's .22. WAAAAAAY better glass than the Helos line.

Pretty much, though as I mentioned, the amount of trust should be weighted according to the credibility/authority of the source. Which is another way of describing your “which hunt.”

Right on, JG. My last sentence and your first one are essentially saying the same thing.

And I'd like to think I give credit where credit is due when something works as advertised. You and GregW rec'd the LRHS's to me a few years ago and you were 100% correct about it's reliability and usefuleness and still are for that matter.

It's been some time, but wasn't your longstanding beef with him derived from an argument over how many shots he got out of a barrel, wherein he was referring to total shots through an action and you misread it as shots through one barrel? Seems I read several posts from you in various threads that referenced Form's infamous barrel.