Category Archives: Weapons

Weapons

Unpossible!

5 Comments

There is a certain outdoors oriented magazine that recently did a test on cheap rifles.  They took the most popular rifles that retail for less than 500 bucks, and did a quick and dirty accuracy test.

Weatherby Vanguard
TC Venture
Marlington X7
Savage Axis
Ruger All American

The results were than the Marlin X7 rifle handed it to all the others.  Drastically.  According to this test, the Marlin was much more accurate than all the others, showing a one hole group compared to the other’s patterns.

Okay.  I’ll buy that.  This Marlin X7 was more accurate with the Test Ammo than the others.  But they didn’t test other loads through the other guns.   Generally what happens is that one gun can favor one particular load more than others.  As is this case.  In spite of what this test shows, I’d much rather have a TC Venture or a Vanguard than the Marlin X7.
The Savage is at a disadvantage here.  At 299, it’s the cheapest.  But for a hundred bucks you could drop in a Timney trigger.  But it up to the 400 dollar range, still well within the test price range, and then you would have a very competitive rifle.

I’d like to see this test conducted again, with the Savage trigger swapped, and with a number of different loads tested for a more “Accurate” test result.  Because I’ve personally seen groups from the Vanguard S2 rifles and the TC Ventures that were just amazing.  I’ve also heard reports from more than a few Marlin X7 owners that these rifles are indeed shooters.  I can’t deny that.  One is from a source that I will not question.  I have nothing against the Marlin rifle here… But fact remains that this test was rather shallow and only skimmed the surface.

Weapons

The Conclusion of No Glock November.

24 Comments

For the month of November, I carried a Beretta 92FS, and nothing else. Here’s what I relearned and had hammered into my head. You absolutely can carry a Full Sized automatic handgun for Concealed Carry. At first it was unusual because the gun was larger and heavier than what I was used to packing. When Adams Holsters sent me the new Sharkhide Crossroads rig, all the sudden packing that beast of a Beretta became much easier and comfortable for all day carry.
When I say all day carry, what I really mean is “If I’m wearing pants, I’m wearing my gun”. And the Beretta, once I got used to it, was really no problem.
The Crossroads rig is a nice wide pancake style outside of the waistband type holster. This distributes the weight and the profile and really is the most comfortable type of holster you can use. The big 92 just became a part of me for the whole of November.
By week 3, I was very much enjoying the big gun.
There were a couple times when having a big service auto was indeed a greater comfort. There was a moment when I came out of a location late at night and walked across the parking lot to my Bike. A couple large, thuggish looking guys were parked not very far away, leaning on their truck, drinking beer. I make no judgement on their poor choice of domestic horse-piss, or their choice of Brokeback music they were playing. But what concerned me was their increased level of attention to me as I approached. Having the Beretta almost whisper to me “We can take them”, was a great assurance. The other time was when I came home, and through the shadows, a brief flash of red Eye Shine caught me by surprise. In the story I wrote, “UPRISING USA” and “UPRISING UK”, I have evil characters called “Red Eyes” which are demonically possessed zombies. And here at Ogre Ranch, I just saw red eyes shining in the shadows along the side of my house.
I jumped off my bike, drew the Beretta and covered where the eye shine was. I could see something there… but I didn’t know what it was. My flashlight… I had one with me… was in my backpack, doing me not a damn bit of good. The Beretta in my hand allowed me to stand my ground when a more sane man would have backed off. Just then my wife drove up in her Explorer and the the sweep of her headlights illuminated the creature that I was damn near ready to light up.
It was Mule Deer Buck… Just standing there, looking at me, sniffing at me. It turned and bounded off as the car passed.
Having a large creature breathing and standing there… and you don’t know what the hell it is… it can be disturbing.  Bears are in the mountains just behind Ogre Ranch… and I hate bears.  Pooh even makes my trigger finger itch.  The idea of having a bear here did not make me happy.  We had one before, about seven years ago.  A small black bear.  No big deal, but still… it’s just the bear that mauls more people than any other.  A 15 round mag full of PDX1 backed up with a couple 20 rounders was plenty enough for a bear.  Even a shadowy nightmare bear.  Nightbears.  I hate Nightbears.  We also have Cougars out here.  Lots of them.  Older women and the Mountain Lion types… Both are highly dangerous…  And their are the Coyotes and Feral Dogs that come around too.  But the eye shine was much higher than cougars and canines.
I had to laugh a bit as the big buck deer bounded away and disappeared.   It’s the unknown thought made that brief moment rather scary.  In that brief moment, the big service auto was a comfort and a half.  Of course, I’d rather have had one of my 12 Gauges, but I didn’t feel like I was holding a squirt gun.

November is now passed and that means I have the option of not wearing my Beretta 92FS.  December First, I put on my Glock 23L and instantly appreciated the lighter weight of it.  But as the day went on, I found myself missing the Beretta.  The heft of it.  Pulling it out, the Glock just didn’t have the pleasing lines and good looks of the Beretta… it was disappointing.   I’ll be rolling with the Beretta more often now.

Weapons

Dear Ruger

34 Comments

Hi, its me again.
Look, I know we don’t see eye to eye on a lot of things… But I’m trying to like your Gunsight Scout rifle.  Can you do me a little favor? 
Can you make it take FAL or M-14 mags?  Either one.  Thanks.  Yeah, because your proprietary 10 round mag kinda sucks. A lot. 
And while you are at that… Make a semi auto .22 Mag pistol with a crazy high capacity.  Based on your SR9 should be great.

Cheers!

Gear, Weapons

Must Have Upgrades to your AR

27 Comments

Everyone is now getting into the AR Platform.  Either in the .308 size, which we can call the Heavy, and the AR-15’s classic .223/5.56mm size, which we will just call it an “AR”.    We’ve seen people from all walks of life coming in and buying their first AR type rifle.  They’ll come in and look at all the variety and it can be bewildering.  Really when you ask the guy at a well stocked gun counter to look at an AR, that’s like saying you want to look at a “Truck”.  It really doesn’t help the guy – or you – out at all.  Tell him what kind of an AR you want.  “Varminting”.  “Tactical”.  “Basic”.  Give the guy something to work with.   He wants to help you get what you want.  It can be frustrating and a huge waste of time if he hands you a dozen different AR’s and you say no to everything because your wasting his time letting him show you Tactical configurations when you are wanting a Varminting type rifle.  I’ve heard at another gun store the clerk getting fed up and saying “Why don’t you come back when you know what you want?”  That’s a failure from both parties if that happens.  You are the customer, you have the money, you have the control here… so try to guide that clerk and help him.  Most Gun Counters are staffed with guys that either don’t know any more than you do about guns and are just Helpful Sales Staff, or they are dedicated Gunnies that don’t have those Sales Skills.   Very few Gun Stores are staffed with Guys that know how to help a customer and know their way around Firearms.

So you get that cool AR that you want.  What do you need with it?  We can start at the front or back, where do you want to go first?  Front?  Okay…  At the Muzzle, most AR’s are coming with a standard Flash Hider.  This is a device that defuses the muzzle flash and reduces the light that is emitted when you shoot at night.  This is a good thing on a military gun.  Not all that helpful on most AR’s though.  But it looks “MilSpec”.  Many milspec looking flash hiders will help reduce muzzle climb a bit, but mostly they just make the gun louder and “Look Cool”.  There are a lot of different options out there, but I like to go with a Compensator or Muzzle Brake type device.  This is going to redirect the muzzle blast in such a way as to pull the rifle forward for the net result that you feel less recoil.  This is going help you keep your sights on target.   On a tactical gun, where you are buzzing off multiple shots, it helps you keep all those rounds in the kill zone.  On a Varminter, it lets you keep your target in your scope so you can see your hit, even at long range or if your scope is at high magnification.   Either style gun you go with, this is a good thing.

For this, I suggest a BATTLECOMP unit.  They are compact, light, simple, and is designed by a NASA Engineer.  You know those guys… they used Rocket Powered Sky Cranes to lower a Robot down to the surface of Mars.  What more pedigree do you need when it comes to expertise in Vectored Thrust?

Moving back into the action, the heart of the rifle is BCG.  The Bolt Carrier Group.  Really it isn’t so much who’s BCG you use, but how you treat it.  The very best thing you can use for your BCG, is SLIPSTREAM.  Here is a very long thread about Slipstream with lots of people’s impressions after using it.  You can order it from Amazon.com, and if you throw in a couple UPRISING books, then you’ll even get that Free Shipping.  There you go.  What makes Slipstream an Essential addition to the gun is that it makes that BCG so slick, that it increases reliability in all conditions.  Especially in extreme conditions such as with heat and dirt.   You can use it just like a regular oil, and use it generously.  The more you use it, eventually the less you’ll need as the nano particles will embed and become permanent.

Under the BCG is the trigger mechanism, again, Slipstream, but under that is the pistol grip.  Most AR’s are coming with the standard A2 Pistol Grip.  This grip is one of the very worst ever conceived by man. Or in this case, conceived by a very effeminate she-man with tiny girly hands that drinks while holding a pinky up.  This grip should not be on any AR of any type, no matter what.  Ever.  The grip is a more personal thing here.  I can’t tell you specifically which one to get.  But get one.   Magpul has two out, the MOE and the MIAD.  And now there is a rubber coated MOE version as well, so I guess three.  Get the MIAD if you are going to bother.  You can set it up to fit you best.  There is also the ERGO grip, which I like.  And the Hogue grip, which is also a very good grip.  Other companies out there are making grips, and there are some good ones.  Tapco, Mako, US Palm, Tango Down, etc… pic one and get rid of that crappy A2 grip.

Up on top of the gun, you need sights.  Depending on your configuration, you may need a set of Iron Sights for the front and rear.  If that’s the case, the set to get is from Diamondhead.  If you are going to run just irons on a gun that doesn’t come with them, these really are the only option.  But a set of Diamondheads even as a back up is absolutely the way to go.  Don’t think that if you are going to use Irons as a backup to your Optic, that you can cheap out on them.  If you are in a situation where you really need your Back Up Sights – you probably are going to want some accuracy with them as this is probably a very critical situation.  Don’t cheap out here and get the cheap Magpul flip ups… Popular and Good are too different things.  Don’t make me mention Lady Gaga.  Yes, I just said that the Magpul flip up sights are the Lady Gaga of rifle sights.  We don’t like plastic sights on our Glocks, why would we actually want them on our Rifles?  MapPuls are good because they are cheap and light, and that’s it.  They are place holders until you get your Diamondheads.   The Diamonheads are excellent because they actually let you be more precise with your Sight Alignment.  This means better accuracy.  Tighter groups.  And I think they even help you get that sight picture a little faster than standard Peep Sights.

Red Dot or Magnified Optic?  For a simple low cost Red Dot, there is only one option worth spending your money on.  Lucid HD7.  You can pick them up for 200 bucks, and it’s money very well spent.  If you can’t afford the Lucid, don’t buy something cheaper to hold you over… just save your money and run Iron Sights for awhile.  That will get you your Lucid quicker.  If you want something higher end, there are the optics from EOTech and Aimpoint.  Which ever one you like the best is fine.  The Military uses both for a reason.  Tough and Reliable.  Going up from that, there is Trijicon.  They have the SRS which I am quite fond of.  Up from this, we can look at the magnified optics, and again, Trijicon is the Cat’s Meow.  Higher end than that, and you have Elcan, which we at Crusader Weaponry put on our Broadsword rifle for Demo purposes.
Then there are the 1-4 variables.  Burris makes a few good ones.  They make some half decent fixed 3 or 5 power units, but I really like their 1-4’s… but the one to get is Trijicon if you can splurge for it. Really, which optic to pick really comes down to what kind of shooting your are doing, your eyes, and your style.  This is a more personal option here.

The stock.  There is nothing wrong with the standard A2 or M4 style stocks.  But the Magpul MOE and CTR stocks are becoming very common now days.  And adjustable stock can be a good thing, but too many guys are stroking their buffer tubes like a 14 year old boy with a playboy.  Don’t do that.  Set it to a length that fits you and leave it the hell alone until you have a reason to adjust it.  It’s not a toy.  It’s a freaking Rifle Stock.  If you are spending time playing with your stock, you are wasting time that could be better spent, I don’t know… reloading magazines or sharpening your Becker BK9 Combat Bowie knife.
Some stocks have storage compartments.  These should only be for 1 thing.  Batteries for your Optic.  Don’t keep anything else in there.  Everything else can be kept in your pack or vest or LBE, glove box, wherever.  But not on your gun.  I’m not even sure I like storage at all on my AR’s anymore.
My choice for a stock?  Just a basic Magpul MOE stock is good.  It looks sharp, it’s light, and it’s simple.

What do you guys think are Essentials for an AR.

Weapons

Half way through Beretta Month.

4 Comments

Let’s see… We’re at the half way point.
What are my impressions?

I’m well pleased with the Beretta.  The Size and Weight, I was expecting to become a problem.  The gun is heavier than anything else I’ve carried these last few years and it does pull my belt down on one side a bit.  But then again, I’ve also lost a lot of poundage and the belt is looser than it as ever been.   I prefer to use Pancake style OWB holsters for comfort, and this probably helps a great deal.  But do to the overall size of the Beretta, I have found that it can print depending on what I am wearing… namely a loose fitting Under Armor Polo if I lean forward or bend down to pick something up.  Other than that, the gun stays well hidden and doesn’t cause any problems.   The length of the barrel, being that full length fighting gun, does mean that the holster can at times Peakaboo out from under a jacket or shirt tail or sweater.  But since this is fall, if I’m not working, I favor nice baggy hoodies anyways so this is no problem.

I still love the Full Size feel and the confidence this gun radiates.  The accuracy is great and I can hit very well with it.  I’ve changed the thick rubber grips off of it for OEM polymer grips, which may seem like a downgrade, but they fit my hand so much better, so it’s a plus for me.  I am liking the Beretta more and more as time goes on.  I am not ready to give up on my Glocks any time soon… but the Beretta is indeed going to be a regular gun in the carry rotation from now on.  I intend to use this in more active roles now.  I should have used it at the MAG-40 class, where I am confident that I could have scored my 300 instead of the 298.

The downsides to the 92FS as a Daily Carry Gun.  A.  It’s size.  It IS just a very large handgun and if this was the peak of summer, packing it concealed would be more of a problem as I can’t wear Hoodies.  Packing it Open Carry, like I can do around here easily, does attract a few eyeballs, but no one has said anything.  It’s more overt than my smaller, less interesting Glocks.  B.  I wish the 92FS’s used a Dovetailed front sight post.  While this pistol does have Night Sights, being a former LEO weapon, I would have loved the chance to tap in a different front sight post, such as a Mepro or a Big Dot.

So to sum this up, I’m giving it an 8 out of 10 at this point.

Weapons

Dear Mossberg

12 Comments

Please stop what you are doing. Just stop it.

Your Lever Action SPX. Stop it.
Your huge Breacher muzzle devices. Stop it.
All of your Bolt Action Rifles. Just stop it.
Your Road Blocker and Chainsaws… STOP!

You have become the BUDK Catalog of the Firearms Industry. I now CRINGE every time one of your boxes shows up… I’m afraid to open it and look in for fear of what fresh new hell you decided to unleash.
I can’t take anything that says Mossberg on it seriously anymore. Your 930 and 590 series guns are awesome, but even then. It’s like telling a young person that I loved the STARSHIP TROOPERS book because the Movie is so fucking retarded. A lot of newer shooters don’t know what a 590 is, and instead smirk at the Mossberg name. “Hey, the 590 is a great gun!” I come off sounding like a Nutter. This is what you have done to yourselves, Mossberg.
This is why there is no more EXTREME SHOCK ammo… No matter their ammo was actually great, their company Image had become such a joke, they couldn’t be taken seriously anymore and they had to shut down and completely restructure to regain some traction.
This is what you need to do, Mossberg.
You are trying to market to the same guys that want COUNTER SNIPER OPTICS, Big Low Pressure Petroleum Fireball Explosions, and “STACKED AND PACKED” Calendars. You want Video Game Players. Your Target Audience is CALL OF DUTY. STOP THAT!
Have some Self Respect, Mossberg! If I go to SHOT and see something like a CHAINSAW LEVER – I’m going to fucking slap the shit out of you.

Weapons

Seriously Fugly

13 Comments

The Springfield XD pistols.  Just horrid looking.  Oh, they are indeed good guns… but the are hard to look at.  The M’s are better looking, but not by a huge amount.  Like the West Virginian Cousin of an Okie.
Springfield really needs to just drop the XD line and lower the price of the XDM’s.  The M is all around the better pistol in every caliber and size.

Weapons

Critical Duty vs PDX1. Fight!

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I’m a big fan of both. Hornady ammunition is solid, reliable, and accurate. Their Critical Defense line of ammo is very good. Very clever. Putting a rubber plug in the cavity of a hollowpoint to insure expansion without the need for they hydrostatic pressure to force expansion. Brilliant. And the Critical Duty like is a tougher bullet, loaded hotter. I’m impressed with the 135 grain 9mm CD load so much so that I may adopt it for use here at Ogre Ranch and for my personal carry gun (this month being the Beretta 92FS) and for the carry load for my Son’s pistol, an M&P.
But is the new Critical Duty better for serious use than the Winchester PDX1 loads? Winchester did a great deal of engineering to get these loads just right, and they built off the long years of experience for making the most effective duty loads you could get for the last 20 years. I am an unabashed PDX1 fan. I was a fan of the Black Talons and the Ranger T loads. In fact, I still have Black Talons standing by. The PDX1 takes that reverse tapered jacket approach and now gives us the Bonding improvement that made loads such as the Gold Dots so popular.
I’m not sure… but I am thinking that I will keep the PDX1’s for all my guns, save for the 9mm’s and roll with Critical Duty loads for those. Actual testing will have to be done though before I make any changes.