Tag Archives: Rifle

Weapons

Rethinking the AR-15 for Home Defense.

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I’ve totally sidelined all my “Combat Rifles” for Home Defense use.  Specifically the 5.56mm guns.  See, the AR-15 does great for Home Defense in many aspects.  They are easy to use, have precision accuracy, and have a great capacity.  They should be perfect for Home Defense, right?
Not really.
The AR-15 has one dramatic problem.  They are hella loud.  The High pressure, Supersonic Crack, of the AR-15’s Report is severely damaging to human ears.  Even Ogre ears.
Last time I took one of my boys out shooting, I provided him with Ear Pro and Eye Pro.  We were having fun shooting, and he’s a good Shooter.  Well he loaded up an AR-15 and forgot to put his Ear Pro back in after taking them out for some unknown reason.  (No, that’s his reason… “I don’t know”.) I wasn’t looking as I was loading a magazine and normally he is a cautious shooter and does it right.  Well, he cracked off a shot.  Now, we were outside, well away from structures that would reflect sound waves.  But the rifle was still so loud that it hurt his ears pretty badly.  2 Weeks later, he still had signs that his hearing took some damage.  Unfortunately with Hearing, there is nothing you can do.  What’s done is done.

Imagine how this could have gone down if we were in an Indoor shooting range.  He could have been made deaf from the AR’s blast.

Imagine in an emergency situation in the home… Bad Guy makes a threat.  You suddenly grab your AR and let him have it.  5, 6, 12 rounds into the Goblin.  Inside your house.  Now you and your wife and all your kids are all completely deaf thanks to the AR-15 and thanks to the Pain In The Ass and Expensive Restrictions on Suppressors.  Sure, the Goblin is no longer a threat… but now all of you are going to suffer from this the rest of your lives.
Sure, a Home Defense Shotgun is Loud – but it’s not that sharp, eardrum shattering crack of a 5.56mm Carbine.  Hell, even my .45-70 Thumper isn’t that loud.  Even pistol caliber carbines are a great option compared to the AR-15.
Another bad choice for HD duty is the .357 Magnum.  An ungodly loud handgun that is unpleasant to fire with earpro in an indoor range… Devastating to your hearing when fired indoors unprotected.

The best weapon ever invented for Home Defense remains the Tactical Shotgun.  Probably the most effective and least damaging to one’s hearing for weapons running Un-Suppressed.   And you can get a good shotgun for a few hundred bucks.  Or you could use that Thousand Dollar AR, with that 800 Dollar Can and that 200 Dollar Tax Stamp… Couple Hundred bucks vs A Couple Grand.  You chose.  But ask yourself this… Is that 2 Grand worth of rifle going to do a better job of home defense than the Shotgun?

 

Weapons

Zero Distance

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I think I am going to Re-Zero all of my Long Range Arms for 300 Yards. Take your favorite Killing Guns, get out your favorite Ballistic Calculator and really look at your Trajectories. Between your 0 yard and your normal 100 or 200 yard zero range, look at the highest point in the arc to that range. Now change your zero range and push it out to 300 yards. Really not much effective difference there is it? Now take a look at the trajectory between your zero to 400 yards at both 100 or 200 compared to a 300 yard zero. Here’s what I’m seeing. I hold on the Kill Zone regardless of range. No more of this “Hold on the top of it’s back” BS. At most, even with a gun that drops a lot, such as a .308 or .30-06, I might hold at the top of the kill zone – but I’m still aiming for Kill Zone and hitting in Kill Zone. This works out especially well with the Magnums and their flatter trajectories. The old stand by of 100 yard zeroes is still needed for some guns, but for your Hunting guns, it doesn’t make any sense. And that wild ass guess of “Two Inches High at 100” is starting to kinda do the same thing, but without actually knowing what your gun is doing. So next time I go out to zero, I’ll start at 100 to know where I am at, then push it out and actually zero at 300.

Crusader, Weapons

The One Rifle.

62 Comments

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.

Crusader, Weapons

I like my AR again.

16 Comments

My AR has been bugging the hell out of me.  The thing was heavy as hell.  No, seriously, we’re talking at AR-15 Carbine that weighed more than a Springfield M1A National Match or a SOCOM II.  It just weighed a friggen ton.

Here’s what it looks like now.

Much better.

The parts I took off were really not all that heavy to be honest.  The Surefire Rails, Weapon Light Mount and Light, the Rail Covers, Tango Down VFG, and the VLTOR Stock.  It’s just that the MOE stuff with a Pistol type Weapon Light are much lighter.  The problem though really stems from the fact that my AR has Rhinemetal 120mm barrel on it off an M1 Abrams.  Or so it feels like that.  Even stripped, it was still a touch heavier than an M1A Standard Synthetic.   My Take Offs on a normal gun would be just fine.  But that’s not the AR I have.  Mine is a freaking Tank.

Anyone want the goodies I took off the gun?

Not shown is the VLTOR stock.

The Surefire Rails are “Mid-Length”, not Carbine or Rifle.  Who wants to make an offer on the parts?  I take Cash in Person or PayPal and I’ll ship it to you.  I’d like to start the bidding at a hundred bucks.

Crusader, Weapons

Glocks and AK’s.

29 Comments

Have to say, the guns I go to the most are Glocks, AK’s, and 870’s.
The 23 in .40, remains my most favored handgun for CCW.  The  model 20, in 10mm is coming in second.  The more I use the Glocks… the more I like them.  Not just an appreciation for the function… but liking them for the way they feel and point, the triggers…  The elegant simplicity of them… I just really like Glocks now.  I don’t know… maybe it’s the crash… but I really dig them and the more I’m around them, the 19 and 23’s stand out as the perfect handguns to me – even more so than the 1911 now.  Yup.  They crossed that line for me.  I like them more than 1911’s.  No they are not the prettiest, but they are still beautiful.  Kinda like the Girl Next Door that you grew up best friends with and there is that moment when you realize “You want that.”   That’s Glock.
My Crusader Kalashnikov is more and more my go to rifle.  I just really feel an attachment to it.  It suits me to a T.  It can hit.  It’s reliable.  Mag changes are getting much faster and everything is “Clicking”.  And I get more satisfaction out of running the Kalash well than running an AR well.
For the 870’s, my adopted Police Tactical is my favorite.  I have my other 870’s and they are cool and all… but something about that old wood furniture.  Nothing says I am going to “Jack You Up” like an old wood stocked gun… You just know you are going to get an old school beating.  The warmth it has when you handle it.  Wood is an under appreciated material to a whole generation of shooters and I find that a sad state.  Poly is fine – but Wood is finer.  Especially nice grained wood with character.  Again, Wood stocked guns have “Soul” that Poly guns just don’t have and never will.  They can’t.  I’ve said that before… And when I pick up that old Police Tactical… You can feel it has a History of Kicking Ass and all that experience is backing you up giving you some extra confidence.  A new 870 Tactical with a plastic stock – it’s like a new Police Rookie with his first pair of Mirrored Cop Shades.  The authority is there… maybe even the skill is there… But not the Character and Experience – that Soul just isn’t there.

These are my Guns of Choice.  What are yours?

Weapons

Bi-polar guns

18 Comments

Guys, don’t let your guns get bi-polar… Your AR doesn’t need everything out of the MAKO and Blackhawk catalogues to be cool or effective.
Here is a rule of thumb for you.  If you have a VFG or an AFG on your rifle, you don’t need a bi-pod.  The reverse is also true.  If you put a 4-16 Nikon Monarch on your gun, you don’t need to try to put flip up iron sights on it. 
AR builds tend to fall into three classes.  Short, Intermediate, and Long Range/Precision.
I’ll post more about these three build types tonight or tomorrow…

Weapons

Marlin Update

13 Comments

Just a quick update on my Marlin 1895GBL, .45-70.  To recap, I bought one, and it was faulty.  The stock was loose and the action was locking up.  I only got a half a box of rounds through it before I had to send it in to Marlin for repair.
It came back from Marlin the other day, repaired and ready for action.  Some nice Freight Damage on the stock now.  Thanks a lot for that, Marlin.  I send you a new gun in and it comes back looking like an old used one.  That’s just SPIFFY, Marlin. Thanks for that, seriously.  THANK YOU.
The good news about it is that the gun function and the stock fits.  It’s now a functional firearm now.  Looks 10 years old, sure, but hey, at least it’s a gun now.  So to celebrate the return of the Guide Gun, I picked up a box of Remington 405 grain Jacketed Soft Points.  A nice heavy slug on a moderate load.  Recoil is mild.  It’s isn’t a kick, but a shove.  The muzzle blast is impressive, especially after dark.  To say it’s fun to shoot is like saying Bacon is Tasty.  No kidding!  One can easily fire multiple rounds in rapid succession, with accuracy.
But man, I love shooting this thing!  It’s a blast!  And the fact that it packs enough punch to knock down Bigfoot, it’s a bonus.
So, I have to give a thank you to the Evil One on WTA, my friend Jim Jones… He’s the one that talked me into getting this gun, and I am very happy he did.