Friday, November 30, 2018

Rules Revisited

Yes, I know I've  shared it before.  It's still worthy of sharing again.

Rules of SHTF: 

1. Nobody is coming to save you.

2. Everything is your responsibility.

3. Save who needs to be saved.

4. Kill who needs to be killed.

5. Always be working.

Also, I'll add, if you do not maneuver and shoot, you will be maneuvered upon and shot. 


Friday, November 23, 2018

Fine Dining

Yesterday, the Rifleman and family dined at the  Hermitage House Smorgasbord for Thanksgiving dinner.  

How was it?
- Two thumbs up.
- 5 Stars.
- 10/10

The Rifleman certainly does recommend.


Thursday, November 15, 2018

100 Yard Zeroes

Recently, Reid Henrichs made a YouTube video regarding  some new policies at Valor Ridge. The most criticized was his decision to disallow home-build rifles. Additionally,  number of persons online mentioned the fact that they don't like his adherence to a 100-yard zero. Particularly for AR15 rifles.

As is often the case, the arguments against were not founded in fact, but in feeling. Here are a couple of counter-proofs to these arguments.

A Rifleman knows his holdovers.
Regardless of your zero, you should know your holdovers. My ACOG was zeroed at 100, as per manufacturer specification. However, during Rifleman I, we zeroed and checked zero at 50 yards. I knew to hold over by an inch, because a Rifleman knows his holdovers. My first three shots were in the 10-ring, and grouped within an inch, prompting Reid to remark to me, "good shooting!"

So, a real Rifleman would simply know his holdovers and apply that knowledge, rather than kvetch about the 100-yard zero. And as that is common knowledge among folks who shoot rifles, said kvetching is just that person being intentionally obtuse.

You haven't received the instruction.
Complaining about something like a class - without having attended that class - leaves one open to rebuke due to lack of knowledge. This is he case here. Notice I said above - "we zeroed and checked zero at 50 yards." Most of the participants were already zeroed. Two in my group of 6 were not yet zeroed. That was accomplished first thing... at 50 yards. Red dots were to be zeroed dead-on at 50 yards.

[I can hear the moaning now] "But Reid said to zero at 100 yards!"

Fun fact - with a 4 MOA red dot, if you are zeroed at 50, the bullet impact will be right about where the upper middle edge of the dot is at 100 yards. Maybe just a tad over that. And that was the 100-yard Zero that Reid was referencing.


This is about what the dot would look like on a target at 100 yards.




And, thanks to the folks at Arma Dynamics, here is an illustration of point of aim vs. point of impact for an AR15 with 50, 100, and 300 yard zeroes:


You will note the 100 yard zero and 50 yard zero (which is really close to a 200 yard zero) are really similar. Certainly similar enough to warrant a similar holdover strategy from 100 to 300 yards. If you argue the bullet won't strike at exactly the same point... you are intentionally being obtuse. Red dot shooting with an AR15 is not the same as precision shooting with a bolt gun.

Rifleman I is not a precision shooting with a bolt gun class. And nobody pretends it is.


Wednesday, November 14, 2018

Not So Conservative

Posted on the 8th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks: "Never forget what those ragheaded bastards did to us."

But, when there's  backlash, back down and take the sissy way out:
"I apologize that some may have interpreted my comments as about Muslims in general, which is not true, and that some of my language was inappropriate."
This was done, of course, to try to salvage the job. Predictably, it didn't work - he got fired anyways. 


Fast forward to more recently. The same individual tells the Rifleman that he is lobbying for a bump stock ban in Tennessee. He mistakenly assumes the Rifleman would agree. 

The Rifleman does not agree.  Bump stocks are stupid... but that doesn't mean they should be banned.  Rights are lost inch by inch.  The Rifleman does not intend to give up any more inches. 

Not ironically, the same person is also against Constitutional Carry in Tennessee.


And he calls himself a conservative. This is why Conservatism has failed. 


Wednesday, November 7, 2018

Tuesday, November 6, 2018

Election Prediction

Three tweets sum up my election predictions:


You must deliver what your employer wants.  If you do not, they find someone who does. 



That leads to poll skewing:


This is why polls lie. 




Because polls lie, we cannot believe them.  So, what's the truth?


Mitchell was right in 2016, and he will be right tonight.  There is no blue wave.  


Monday, November 5, 2018

Friday, November 2, 2018

Vote Republican

Seen on social media -

Fact:  You can vote Republican and be the better person!

Republicans don't instigate violence...
Republicans don't threaten to raise your taxes...
Republicans don't use the FBI to rig elections...
Republicans don't sell our uranium to Russia..
Republicans won't take away your doctor...
Republicans won't open our borders to anyone who wants to come here... (that includes the criminals and terrorists that sneak in with all the others)
Republicans won't allow illegal aliens to shoot your children only to be let out on the streets again...
Republicans won't allow Sharia Law to be practiced in our country...
Republicans will treat all of us as Americans, not divide us against each other for their own hateful, greedy, purposes...
Republicans will not allow Communists to take over our government...
Etc...  Etc...  Etc...

So be the better person.  Vote Republican and STILL CARE about the poor, the jobless, the physically and mentally ill, and all those in need of help inside our own borders.

Understand this, and it is not rocket science:  For every illegal alien or illegal border crosser we take care of, there is one needy American citizen we have to brush aside.


Thursday, November 1, 2018

Home Built...

Recently, The Rifleman took the class  Rifleman I from Valor Ridge. There has already been a review of the class posted on this blog, and I would suggest you read that review. The purpose of this post is to discuss the decision by Valor Ridge ban rifles that have been built at home, or that contain internal parts originating from somewhere other than that manufacturer's Factory.

Here is  The Video announcing that decision. You will note that there are thousands of comments, mostly negative.

Here is  an AR15.com  read on the topic. This is not linked for fact, but for the fact that ar15.com discussions usually will contain all sides of an argument. And this one is no exception.

If The Rifleman were to guesstimate the percentages of the responses seen online, they would probably look something like this -
60% - This is BS.
35% - Reid's School, Reid's rules.
5% - Legit decision. 

So what are the Rifleman's thoughts on this?
No, I do not know more about the AR15 platform than Eugene Stoner. But I would be willing to wager that Bill Geissele  does. And unquestionably so when it comes to triggers.

I trust myself to assemble a rifle better than a $15 per hour laborer at the factory.

Every rifle I have seen fail in a class I have taught, has been a home built rifle. Reid is most certainly correct about this.

No, I do not buy the argument some are using against Reid stating that he is being anti-libertarian in his views on what is and is not allowed at his range. It is Reid's property, therefore you must abide by Reid's rules.


For the record.
Now here comes the real confession. During my class there, I used a hand built rifle. I was the one who built the rifle. To my knowledge, had it been checked, this rifle would not have been permitted on the line. In an effort to be able pass a less than thorough check, I put an ALG trigger in it. The ALG trigger is a mil-spec trigger, which has been smoothed out a bit... by Geissele Automatics. However, I did not use my Geissele SSA-E trigger.

I was the one who assembled the barrel to the upper (forbidden, according to the Valor Ridge disclaimer). I was the one who put the gas block on the barrel (again, forbidden). I was the one who put all of the pins and detents into the lower (again, forbidden). It had a Fail Zero built in it, which is not mil-spec (again, forbidden).

Nevertheless, my rifle did not experience the first malfunction. It would not have malfunctioned, even if I had left the SSA-E trigger in it.

And I say all of this, in full knowledge of the fact that if Valor Ridge discovers this post, and if they determine who I am, I will likely be banned from ever taking a class there again. This is not as I would prefer it, but I understand the consequences of my actions.

One of the rules at Valor Ridge is to conduct yourself with honor and integrity. I know that some will ask how I consider my actions to be those of honor and integrity. Simple. When I signed up for and paid the money for the class, those rules were not in effect. Under the contract I signed, that rifle was perfectly acceptable. Under contract law, an agreement cannot be changed unless the change is agreed to by both parties.  I never agreed to the change.  And I abided by the agreement I made.  That is integrity.  

Some will say that I deceived the school.  That is not the case.  They had every chance to inspect my rifles.  They never did. Simple. 


And, most importantly...
The greatest teacher, failure is. 
It is my estimation that people who bring a home built rifle to Valor Ridge do so at their own risk. This is my estimation, and not something that was said at the school. However, there were hints in that direction. It is my estimation that the disclaimer was put out there so that they can remove students from the line, without having to refund them, if the student is foolish enough to home build his own rifle without any knowledge, and expect it to work in a high performance class.