I may or may not have been wrong.

When I posted about the one thing to practice… I could have been wrong.
Most of the problems people have with reloading isn’t getting the mag into the gun… It’s just getting the mag. 
It’s more of an equipment management issue than a Shooting Skill issue.
At today’s MAG-40 class, the main issue was aiming.  Keeping your Target Loc

The One Rifle.

On YouTube I watched a video by a fellow named James Yeager about how there is no such thing as One Rifle for everything.  He calls it a myth. 
I call Bullshit on that.
History is full of instances where a man has just one rifle and did everything with it, just fine.  Survived to tell the tale.  James Yeager is free to express his own opinions, but he is not free to his own Facts.  US History, be it Frontier History, Western Expansion, Wild West, Military History… what ever kind of history you want to call it.  Only in our Modern Email Era do we enjoy having more than one rifle for different purposes. 
In this Modern Era, the late Colonel Jeff Cooper considered a One Rifle concept and called it the “Scout”.  His Scout Rifle Concept is a proven winner.  Steyr manufactured their Scout with Jeff’s blessing and assistance.  And it pretty much did what was promised.  Now Ruger and Savage are making Factory Scout Rifles with pretty good success.
Any one of these would make for a fine “One Rifle” solution. 
Historically, the One Rifle has been a Winchester Lever Action in .30-30, .32 Special or the like.  Today a good solid and smooth cycling Lever Action is truly a thing of joy.  There are few things you can’t do with a .30-30.  I’ve even killed an Elk with one at 200 yards, and I’m sure I’m not the only person in history to have done so.
Today’s Rifleman though is packing an AR.  The Black Rifle has gone mainstream… and for many new shooters, the AR is The One.  The AR-15 might be kind of light for a One Rifle, but an AR-10 type rifle gives you some considerable advantages in terminal performance on big game.
After some consideration, I’m thinking a new One Rifle is more than doable.    Let’s do that AR platform in .308.  Let’s hit it with a light weight, 16″ True Polygonal Rifled Barrel, and let’s give it some lightweight furniture with an adjustable stock.   Simple, Clean, and effective in most any situation.  Give it an adjustable 1-4 power optic.  Give it a tough finish, resistant to abrasion and corrosion. 
Contact CrusaderWeaponry.com to order you a Crusader One Rifle.

Armed American Radio problem

I don’t know if you guys caught this last Sunday night.  But about 5 minutes into Hour 2, we had a Technical Glitch.  The feed to the studio where Mark Walters and Rob Pincus dropped.  They could hear the Producer, Shawnto, in Dallas, but no one could hear them.
Take a listen.

I heard the worry in Shawnto’s voice and knew he was having a bugger of a time, so called in.  Listen to the relief in Shawn’s voice when he hears me.  Well, we covered the rest of the segment together and then Shawn rolls some archived stuff until they got the Feed back online.

This is Live Radio.  This stuff can happen when you run a live show.  Other Gun Rights type talk shows are pre-recorded.  Not Armed American Radio.  This makes AAR a lot more fun.

Monday’s Motorcycle: ICON

This is how you sell your company’s brand:

I know M is already thinking about an Adventure Bike. And I’ve been thinking going that round too. My Enduro just gave me a taste, and I want more… I want the whole buffet. But that’s for another post. This wasn’t a post about the bikes… but about the Gear.
I dig the Icon brand stuff. It’s good stuff and not nearly as expensive as some of the other options out there. These Dual Sport helmets are what’s interesting me. Full face protection, dirt bike aggression. I like to look. I want one.

The SIG ACP


SIG sent me one of their ACP units. This Video gives some of my impressions. On YouTube there was one comment worth note.
“For that weight you could get a Kel-Tec Sub 2000…and WAY MORE ACCURACY AND VELOCITY.”
Probably one of the most astute observations ever made on YouTube. He has a good point. However the ACP remains much more compact. The SUB2000 is about the same size when folded, and that makes it easy to pack around, but then when deployed, it’s pretty much as long as a standard carbine. The ACP remains the same size packing and engaging. It also uses a gun that you are familiar with… one of your own pistols… With a Trigger Pull that is far superior to the KT’s. And as far as I know, you can’t get the SUB 2000 in .357 SIG, 10mm, .45 Auto, .400 Corbon, .45 Super, .460 Roland… or any of the myriad of other cartridges you can rock and roll with in the ACP.
When I brought the ACP to work, the general consensus was that while it is “Cool” it’s actual usefulness remains limited… because it doesn’t have a Shoulder Stock. Now, you can jump through the hoops and get your Class III Approval and get a Shoulder Stock for your SIG ACP… Then you have an actual Pistol Caliber SBR… Fullfilling the promise of SIG’s name the “Adaptive Carbine Platform”. With out it… Shooting from the Sling is helpful and does stabilize the shot, it’s no where nearly as solid as a simple shoulder stock.
Also, for you Gaming Nerds out there, we’ve come up with a D20 Rule for you guys. For every 2 Inches of Rails your gun has, you get a +1 to your Hit and Damage. So the SIG ACP will give you about a +5 to your basic gun. IRL, the ACP is just making your gun bigger, more uncomfortable, heavier, and less convenient to carry because I’ve yet to see anyone make a Holster for this beast.
Like I said before, in the video… The SIG ACP does has it’s applications. I also mentioned that it would be cool for riding a Motorcycle. I’ve proved that theory TRUE. I rode into town on my ZX-11 (Knees doing slightly better and I’m on some really good painkillers) with the SIG ACP, as shown, slung. Packing a Handgun, I would have to either open my jacket to get to the Shoulder Rig or get up under my jacket to get to a pistol in a Belt Holster. The ACP, slung at the side allows for rather easy engagement as all I had to do was reach down, grab it, and bring it up to target. Not that I actually tried aiming it while on a moving motorcycle… I don’t live THAT far out in the boonies. In the video I mentioned my KTM and rolling the ACP up in the mountains. Uh… that would be a poor choice. The ACP bouncing around banging it’s sharp edges on you. Not fun.
Overall, I like it and it has it’s place, but I am going to send this thing back to SIG.

The State of Utah continues to Screw Up

The State of Utah can really irk me something fierce.

They instituted a Coyote Bounty to reduce the number of Predators that have been tearing up the population of Utah’s Big Game species.  50 Bucks for a pair of years.  That’s good.  But then Utah requires not just the Ears, but the Jaw, and GPS Coordinates of the where the Coyote was taken.  And you can’t take more than one in the same location.  You have to fill out forms… Its pretty much a mess and it makes it not worth pursuing Coyotes.  Many hunters have pretty much given up on it thanks to the over-regulation and making it more of a pain in the ass to deal with.  So they took a great program that could have done some good… and ruined it.

Then the State has sold out the Uintah Basin by approving a Pipeline to take water from Flaming Gorge to feed Denver.  This is going to drop the Gorge by an estimated 20 feet.  This pretty much is going to ruin all the best fishing spots.  Thanks a lot, Utah.  The Flaming Gorge is a travel destination for people coming from all across the country – and Utah just decided to sell it out.  Never mind the businesses that depend on people coming to the Gorge… Screw those guys.

And this last one… this one pisses me off almost as much the the Flaming Gorge pipeline…  And this is the US Forest Service that did it, not the State of Utah, but the State didn’t do anything to stop it.
My brother and I went to a Ghost Town location.  A place called Bullionville.  It was a Mine that went under back in the 20’s.  It had a number of cabins and such.  In the 30’s it was revived again that’s to the use of the CCC that came in, used the location, fixed it up even.  I’ve seen photos of the location, the buildings, and cars and trucks at the location.  It’s a piece of Utah’s history.  Or it was.
My brother and I found the location to the spot.  Nothing there.  You can see though, where it was, where the buildings were, where the ponds were.  But there’s nothing left.  I was told the US Forest Service tore it all down and out.  Destroying a piece of Utah’s History.  Thanks a lot US Forest Service.

Packing the M9

Last weekend I ended up with my friend Mike Kupari’s old Beretta 92FS.  This is the same gun that the US Army just bought another 100,000 of.  I’ve been packing it since I got it, which is about the same time Beretta made the announcement.

The Beretta is a huge pistol for 9mm.  The grip frame is massive and the magazine capacity is less than it should be for a gun of this size.  Only 15 rounds when other guns with smaller grips are able to pack in 18 or so.  But this isn’t a big deal to me.  The gun has a lot of character.  It’s easy to shoot well with.  And it’s not too heavy.  It carries well enough in the good Pancake style holster I have for it.  But it can print thanks to the Beretta’s slide mounted safety.

Overall, I really like it.  I do prefer packing a full sized handgun, or a Mid Size, compared to the popular Sub-Compact options.

Can’t Afford Training.

I get this a lot… Guy wants to train, but can’t afford it.
I understand this.  Ammo is expensive.  Training courses are expensive.  Training Videos are expensive.   (That’s like 2 boxes of ammo!)  And YouTube sucks for serious stuff.
So what’s a guy to do?

There is not secret magic tricks or spells to learning how to run your gun.  Basically it comes down to One Thing.  Keeping your gun running.  That means you need to master two skills.  Reloading and Stoppage Drills.  And most of this is Reloading.  Speed Reloads and Tactical Reloads.   I’ll do a video on this maybe this weekend.
A Speed Reload is when your gun runs empty and you have to reload fast.  Hence the name.  This is your #1 thing to practice.  If you practice nothing else, your Speed Reload is the one to work on.  The next is your Tactical Reload.  This is when your gun is not yet completely empty (something you don’t really want anyway) and you switch mags to a fresh full mag.  You still have a few rounds left in the mag in the gun so you want to hold on to it.  So you pull the partial mag out, and insert the full one, while holding on to the partial so you can use those rounds later.  The Malfunction Drills are important too… but it’s harder to practice those without firing some rounds.
The idea is to keep your gun “Up”.  If you can do that, you are solid.
You can practice your speed reloads while at home… in your apartment… in your office maybe.  While watching a movie or TV.  Clear your gun, empty a couple mags, and practice swapping mags.  It’s important to practice while standing, using your gear you would normally use.  So if you carry your spare mags in a pocket, that’s how you practice.  But I don’t recommend your pockets for spare mags – even though all of us do it at times.

If you get your reloads down, your well on your way.

Next time, we’ll talk about Dry Firing.  This is all about Trigger Control. That’s another critical skill that can be mastered without using ammo.