| Every year I end up with a bow sight or two from Black Gold and every
year I am pleasantly surprised by what they send me. Black Gold consistently
manufactures sights that are innovative and practical. In other words --
THEY GET THE JOB DONE!
This year was no exception and I was once again pleased with what showed
up in the Black Gold box -- a new Dusk Devil. This is a good-looking
sight that is feature rich and -- you guessed it -- GETS THE JOB DONE!
THE BASICS:
This new offering from black Gold is built around a 3/8-inch thick
6061-T6 machined aluminum mounting plate. The plate is attached to
any bow using two 10-24 x 5/8 inch socket cap screws. At the other
end of the plate, a 10-24 x 1 1/8-inch socket-head cap screw secures the
third axis adjustment block through a unique two-prong tongue and groove
attachment. The third axis block is also home to the windage block
attachment and again uses a 10-24 socket-head cap screw, this one 1 inch
in length. Two 6-32 x ½ inch screws lock down the third axis
adjustment. Yet another 10-24 x 1 inch screw attaches the vertical
adjustment block to the windage block. The windage and vertical blocks
feature dovetail mounting and graduated marks for precision adjustments.
The vertical bar has two arc-shaped slots that hold Black Gold's unique
Straight Awayä fiber optic sight pins. The pins are made to
be super tight in the slots and attach with 2-56 x 3/8-inch socket-head
cap screws. The pins fit so tightly that to make an adjustment, you
need to gently wiggle the entire pin back and forth using a finger placed
near the actual fiber optic and an Allen-Key inserted into the 2-56-adjustment
screw. The arc-shaped pin slot aligns each pin with your eye no matter
where it is located in the sight window. The Straightä Away
pins get their name honestly. Rather than have a sharp bend like
other fiber optic sight pins these are supported throughout their entire
length in the same plane as your line of sight.
Black Gold says their design prevents light leakage common with bent
pins and increases brightness up to 50%. Black Gold is so confident
in their pins that they now feature "The Dusk Devil 'Shooting Hours' Guarantee!"
The guarantee states: "We guarantee you'll be able to see your standard
pins during legal shooting hours from your tree stand without an external
light source." Now that's a first! As stated in the guarantee,
it only applies to the standard .050" diameter pins. Micro Dot pins,
.025", are also available. The Micro Dot pin version also has an
interesting three-pronged Devil"s Tail tip that gives you three distinct
aiming points instead of one round aiming tip. Black Gold explains
it this way: If the center point, for example, defines your 40-yard
pin, the top point may be 37 yards while the bottom point may be 43.
The scuba-fin shaped pins are extremely thin and "black out" much less
of the target than conventional pins.
Believe it or not, there is yet another feature engineered into
the Dusk Devil. It is a three-point centering system that is designed
to allow quick alignment of the pin guard to peep sight. The system
includes three Straight Awayä fibers located in the pin guard at 0,
90, and 180 degrees. Outdoor writer, Jeff Murray, devised the system
to eliminate the common "high" shot that results from improper shooting
form while hunting from elevated stands.
As it goes with me, every last detail has to be checked out and every
last piece needs to be disassembled. It is here that a slight glitch
was found in the system. You cannot remove the pin-guard without breaking
the Straight Away fibers located at 0 degrees and 180 degrees in the guard.
Black Gold installs these fibers after mounting the guard to the vertical
bar. Not a problem if you don’t plan on removing the sight guard
which is generally unnecessary in most cases, however, if you do, you may
lose these centering points.
The Dusk Devil is available in black anodized or Multi-Match camo.
TESTING:
A quick overall quality check found most components clean and operational.
To my surprise, there were some machining burs on several edges.
None of these burs hindered the performance however.
After mounting the Dusk Devil to my BowTech Extreme VFT, I proceeded
to force branches, twigs, pine needles and the like through the pin guard
in an effort to break a pin or two. Didn't happen. I was determined
to break one of those pins so I reached in and bent one until it finally
gave in to my persistence. It took more than a 90-degree bend to
snap it!
A 20-foot high tree stand and a few 3-D targets were then used to challenge
the Dusk Devil's claims to low light performance superiority and quick
aim point acquisition. The 3-D targets really brought out qualities
of this sight. It is amazing how much of the target can be seen with
no obstructions. Aim point acquisition was quick but not necessarily
much quicker than others. Low light performance was outstanding and
unless you're wearing sunglasses, the Dusk Devil will live up to its guarantee.
The Dusk Devil is one of the most, if not the most, feature-rich sights
on the market. The sight picture is wide open and low light performance
is superb. Definitely a keeper in my book. I predict that by
this time next year, a few other sight companies will be displaying their
"catch up" models.
Design: 4.5 of 5
The design is innovative and useful. Recommendation: find
a way to get around breaking the 0 degree and 180 degree fibers.
Only place half the fiber in to begin with to ensure you at least have
that much.
Durability: 4.5 of 5
This sight was put through the paces and survived well.
For information on these and other products
contact:
Montana Black Gold
34370 Frontage Road
Bozeman, MT 59715
Phone: 406-586-1117
FAX:
406-586-0853
Email: mtblackgold@montana.com
Web Site: www.montanablackgold.com |
