Thursday, September 27, 2018

Cost of Training

The Rifleman came across a social media post the other day where in an individual was complaining about the cost of a gun class. This particular gun class was a one-day class, and the cost was $100. Clearly, this individual had no clue whereof he speaks. Let's break it down.

1. Supplies
First, you will need a target holder. One that will not sway in the wind. You can purchase a dozen stakes at a home improvement place for about $8.
You will need at Target backer. Those are a dollar a piece. However, the smallest denomination you can purchase them in is a 50 pack. $50.
You will also need silhouette target. These, too, are a dollar a piece. However, these are also sold in large bundles. $100.
Staples. You will read that you need to bring a staple gun and Staples. A person who complains about a $100 class, though, will not bring a staple gun and Staples. These aren't free. $5.
Class - specific targets. Here is where it will get very interesting. The instructor could tell you exactly what kind of Target purchase, and 9 out of 10 people who complain about a $100 class will not purchase the correct Target. Still, let's assume that you will. $5.
Hand out. Let's say that you printed your own. Even if you were emailed the PDF format of the class handout, you probably would not remember to print it off and bring it. However, again, let's assume that you actually do. Then let's assume that you put it in the cheapest binder you can find. $1.

Supplies total: $169.
The funny thing here is all the yahoos who will say that they can do each of these things, but a little bit cheaper. Sure, they can. However, you will find that their materials will not hold up to a class. Things will fall down. Things will break. Guaranteed that by lunch time they have no more targets or backers.

2. Instruction
Who in their right mind would suggest that the instructor should do all of this for free?
Furthermore, what is a fair price for specialty instruction like this?

Supposing the $100 class mentioned above saw 10 students. Some might think that that instructor is making $1,000 off of that class. It's just not so. Once you take into account all of the materials, the insurance, the preparation time, etc., the instructor and such a situation might clear $500. But then, he would have to pay range safety officers, as well as the facility. He would be lucky to make $200.

That's $25/hour.  On par with most tradesmen: plumbers, painters, carpenters, and electricians.  Not bad, but not lucrative, either.



Here's a better idea - shut up and train.


Wednesday, September 26, 2018

AR15 Guide

The Rifleman is your guide for AR15 buy / build. 

The AR15 is the rifle of choice for anyone who wants to stay alive in a bad situation. Here are some ground rules.

1. Fancy don’t mean sh!t. I know that most people go all out with their ARs; but for a first gun, you want simple and effective.

2. Just because you can go as cheap as possible doesn’t mean you should. This is not to say you can’t go cheap for certain components but stuff like uppers, barrels, gas systems and the gun’s actual mechanism need to have some semblance of quality behind it.

Don't cheap out on optics, either.  Buy once, cry once. 

3. Pre-built isn’t a bad thing. Although some people have a slight stigma over someone just going out and buying something like an M&P or some similar AR, they aren't bad at all.  Make no mistake, those super cheap ARs aren’t as reliable as people pretend they are, so take some solace in that your M&P 15 can actually continually hit the target unlike some.

If you opt for build, get a quality lower parts kit and help a knowledgeable friend install it. 

4. Don’t run steel cased in your AR. It is tempting to buy a ton of super cheap Tula. Don't. ARs were designed for brass, AKs were designed for steel.

The Rifleman is waiting for the comments to fill up with claims of people declaring how they have an AR that has eaten thousands upon thousands of Russia’s cheapest export 5.56 with nary a hiccup. Here's a hint - they haven't.  They will sell that gun next week and claim (more correctly so) that the gun doesn't even have 100 rounds through it.

For every AR that actually eats steel ammo, there are 5 other ARs that will have severe mechanical difficulties. Buy bulk brass 5.56, it’s not that expensive.

5. Shoot your AR.  And get some training.  No, really.  Marksmanship, tactical, and other classes are becoming more and more common.  Learn how to use your rifle. 


Tuesday, September 25, 2018

Row Tahd

Sad, but true story. The Rifleman was out and about, wearing his Atlanta Braves Baseball cap (just like the one pictured above).

As a small group of people passed by, the 50+ year old "lady" (with missing teeth, of course) calls out to me: "Row Tahd!!!"

The Rifleman thinks that translates to "roll tide," the asinine 'war cry' of the Alabama Crimson Tide. 

Naturally, I pay no notice as I am not an Alabama fan. She says it again, and points to my hat.

"Oh, that's an Atlanta Braves baseball cap." I replied. 

"I thought it was Alabama." She said. 




Folks, this is an Alabama hat:


Not very similar. Maybe the "A."


Monday, September 24, 2018

WYATT EARP ON SHOOTING VS. GUNFIGHTING

Interview taken from “Wyatt Earp: Frontier Marshall” by Stuart N. Lake

“I was a fair hand with pistol, rifle, or shotgun, but I learned more about gunfighting from Tom Speer’s cronies during the summer of ’71 than I had dreamed was in the book. Those old-timers took their gunplay seriously, which was natural under the conditions in which they lived. Shooting, to them, was considerably more than aiming at a mark and pulling a trigger. Models of weapons, methods of wearing them, means of getting them into action and operating them, all to the one end of combining high speed with absolute accuracy, contributed to the frontiersman’s shooting skill. The sought-after degree of proficiency was that which could turn to most effective account the split-second between life and death. Hours upon hours of practice, and wide experience in actualities supported their arguments over style.

The most important lesson I learned from those proficient gunfighters was the winner of a gunplay usually was the man who took his time. The second was that, if I hoped to live long on the frontier, I would shun flashy trick-shooting—grandstand play—as I would poison.

When I say that I learned to take my time in a gunfight, I do not wish to be misunderstood, for the time to be taken was only that split fraction of a second that means the difference between deadly accuracy with a sixgun and a miss. It is hard to make this clear to a man who has never been in a gunfight. Perhaps I can best describe such time taking as going into action with the greatest speed of which a man’s muscles are capable, but mentally unflustered by an urge to hurry or the need for complicated nervous and muscular actions which trick-shooting involves. Mentally deliberate, but muscularly faster than thought, is what I mean.

In all my life as a frontier police officer, I did not know a really proficient gunfighter who had anything but contempt for the gun-fanner, or the man who literally shot from the hip. In later years I read a great deal about this type of gunplay, supposedly employed by men noted for skill with a forty-five.

From personal experience and numerous six-gun battles which I witnessed, I can only support the opinion advanced by the men who gave me my most valuable instruction in fast and accurate shooting, which was that the gun-fanner and hip-shooter stood small chance to live against a man who, as old Jack Gallagher always put it, took his time and pulled the trigger once.

Cocking and firing mechanisms on new revolvers were almost invariably altered by their purchasers in the interests of smoother, effortless handling, usually by filing the dog which controlled the hammer, some going so far as to remove triggers entirely or lash them against the guard, in which cases the guns were fired by thumbing the hammer. This is not to be confused with fanning, in which the triggerless gun is held in one hand while the other was brushed rapidly across the hammer to cock the gun, and firing it by the weight of the hammer itself. A skillful gun-fanner could fire five shots from a forty-five so rapidly that the individual reports were indistinguishable, but what could happen to him in a gunfight was pretty close to murder.

I saw Jack Gallagher’s theory borne out so many times in deadly operation that I was never tempted to forsake the principles of gunfighting as I had them from him and his associates.

There was no man in the Kansas City group who was Wild Bill’s equal with a six-gun. Bill’s correct name, by the way, was James B. Hickok. Legend and the imaginations of certain people have exaggerated the number of men he killed in gunfights and have misrepresented the manner in which he did his killing. At that, they could not very well overdo his skill with pistols.

Hickok knew all the fancy tricks and was as good as the best at that sort of gunplay, but when he had serious business at hand, a man to get, the acid test of marksmanship, I doubt if he employed them. At least, he told me that he did not. I have seen him in action and I never saw him fan a gun, shoot from the hip, or try to fire two pistols simultaneously. Neither have I ever heard a reliable old-timer tell of any trick-shooting employed by Hickok when fast straight-shooting meant life or death.

That two-gun business is another matter that can stand some truth before the last of the old-time gunfighters has gone on. They wore two guns, most of six-gun toters did, and when the time came for action went after them with both hands. But they didn’t shoot them that way.

Primarily, two guns made the threat of something in reserve; they were useful as a display of force when a lone man stacked up against a crowd. Some men could shoot equally well with either hand, and in a gunplay might alternate their fire; others exhausted the loads from the gun on the right, or the left, as the case might be, then shifted the reserve weapon to the natural shooting hand if that was necessary and possible. Such a move—the border shift—could be made faster than the eye could follow a top-notch gun-thrower, but if the man was as good as that, the shift would seldom be required.

Whenever you see a picture of some two-gun man in action with both weapons held closely against his hips and both spitting smoke together, you can put it down that you are looking at the picture of a fool, or a fake. I remember quite a few of these so-called two-gun men who tried to operate everything at once, but like the fanners, they didn’t last long in proficient company.

In the days of which I am talking, among men whom I have in mind, when a man went after his guns, he did so with a single, serious purpose. There was no such thing as a bluff; when a gunfighter reached for his fortyfive, every faculty he owned was keyed to shooting as speedily and as accurately as possible, to making his first shot the last of the fight. He just had to think of his gun solely as something with which to kill another before he himself could be killed. The possibility of intimidating an antagonist was remote, although the ‘drop’ was thoroughly respected, and few men in the West would draw against it. I have seen men so fast and so sure of themselves that they did go after their guns while men who intended to kill them had them covered, and what is more win out in the play. They were rare. It is safe to say, for all general purposes, that anything in gunfighting that smacked of show-off or bluff was left to braggarts who were ignorant or careless of their lives.

I might add that I never knew a man who amounted to anything to notch his gun with ‘credits,’ as they were called, for men he had killed. Outlaws, gunmen of the wild crew who killed for the sake of brag, followed this custom. I have worked with most of the noted peace officers — Hickok, Billy Tilghman, Pat Sughre, Bat Masterson, Charlie Basset, and others of like caliber — have handled their weapons many times, but never knew one of them to carry a notched gun.

There are two other points about the old-time method of using six-guns most effectively that do not seem to be generally known. One is that the gun was not cocked with the ball of the thumb. As his gun was jerked into action, the old-timer closed the whole joint of his thumb over the hammer and the gun was cocked in that fashion.  The soft flesh of the thumb ball might slip if a man’s hands were moist, and a slip was not to be chanced if humanly avoidable. This thumb-joint method was employed whether or not a man used the trigger for firing.

On the second point, I have often been asked why five shots without reloading were all a top-notch gunfighter fired, when his guns were chambered for six cartridges. The answer is, merely, safety. To ensure against accidental discharge of the gun while in the holster, due to hair-trigger adjustment, the hammer rested upon an empty chamber. As widely as this was known and practiced, the number of cartridges a man carried in his six-gun may be taken as an indication of a man’s rank with the gunfighters of the old school.  Practiced gun-wielders had too much respect for their weapons to take unnecessary chances with them; it was only with tyros and would-bes that you heard of accidental discharges or didn’t-know-it-was-loaded injuries in the country where carrying a Colt was a man’s prerogative.”


Friday, September 21, 2018

36 Yard Zero

The 25m / 300m zero is a myth.

Your AR15 rifle can be zeroed at either 25m, or at 300m. But not both at the same time.

Now, The Rifleman can already hear the murmurs in the crowd...
"Well, you'll be close!"

Perhaps.

However, if by "close" you mean that you can zero at 25m, and be on paper at 300m, then The Rifleman has some bad news for you. It's not gonna happen. 

The best way to get a true 300m zero is to take your rifle to a range that goes out to 300m and zero it at actual distance. The next best way is to zero about 3.5" high at 100 yards. 

Or, you can zero on the money at 36 yards (33m). Don't believe The Rifleman?  Check this out!

Using an AR15 with a 16 inch barrel - arguably the most common AR barrel length in the United States - The Rifleman performed an evaluation. The rifle wore a Primary Arms 1-6x scope featuring the patented ACSS reticle. The scope has been zeroed at 100 yards, as per the instructions. Additionally, it has been verified at 300 yards. 

The Rifleman set up a target at 25m (27 yards), and put the 300 yard aiming point at the center of the target.  Here's the aiming reticle, and emphasis on the point used to aim:







The 300 yard aiming reticle was placed dead center on the target and a deliberate 5-shot group was fired. 


As you can see, the group was nearly a full inch low. 




Next, The Rifleman put up a target at 36 yards (33m). A careful 5-shot group was fired. 


As you can see, right on the money. 




Caveats -
* 300 yards is not 300 meters. 300 meters is closer to 328 yards.  A rifle zeroed at 300m and fired at 300 yards will have bullet impacts about 2.5" high - less than 1 MOA. A rifle zeroed at 300 yards and fired at 300m will see bullet impacts about 2.5" low - again, less than 1 MOA.

** The 36 yard zero will work with 55 grain M193 clone loads and 62 grain M855 clone loads. 

*** The 36 yard zero will work for 14.5" barrels. The bullet impact at 300 yards will be 3" low (1MOA).

**** The 36 yard zero will work in an 18" or 20" gun. The bullet will impact about 1" high at 300 yards. 

***** If at all possible, always verify the zero at actual distance. If you do not have access to 300, then fire at 100: the group should be about 3.5" high. 

This zero will see all bullet impacts within 5" (the size of a CD or DVD) all the way out to 300m. At 400, the bullet will strike 16" low (aim at brim of cap to strike center mass).


Thursday, September 20, 2018

A Lesson on Damaged Goods

Damaged Goods learns the hard way that high value men don't want to marry  damaged goods.

In this postmodern society, too many women who are a "4" think they deserve a man who is a "9." It doesn't work that way.


Wednesday, September 19, 2018

Message Sent

This is how you send a message to an unjust judge.

A judge that won't uphold the law, even after such a message, should be removed from office. Those that resist should be made an example of in a more drastic way.

Tuesday, September 18, 2018

Failure To Learn

A delusional ex-wife fails to learn the most important lesson of marriage. And yet, she directly alludes to it four times. From  this article -

If we were having sex, he didn't give me a hard time about buying myself a new shirt.

If we were having sex, he did things around the house willingly.

If we were having sex, he acted like he liked me more.

If we were having sex, he complimented me, the way I looked and how I mothered.

If we weren't having sex, that all went away. He said it was because he felt neglected, unhappy and ignored.




Contrast that with this statement -

He just wanted to feel like a man. But it wasn't my job to make him feel like a man.

If he couldn't look at me and see a wife who loved him, birthed his three kids, cared for him, and felt fulfilled and thankful, but who just needed to not feel pressured to give him an orgasm every other night, then I couldn't make him see all he had.

A woman's worth goes way beyond how much sex she's having with her husband. Whether he sees that or not is up to him.





The day we, as a society, stop subsidizing divorce is the day divorce rates will plummet below 10%. Maybe even below 5%.


Monday, September 17, 2018

Mid Range With An AR15

Recently,  The Rifleman had the opportunity to shoot out to 500 yards.  Here is the setup used. 





And here is the target, as viewed from the shooting position:







Ammo used: Hornady Black 75 grain.
The Point of Impact (POI) was within 1 MOA of the 500m hash mark on the ACOG.



The wind guestimation was as follows: 5 mph from 1:00 to 7:00. No adjustments were made. No holdover was used.  You will see in the picture that the shots impacted a shade to the left.  Less than 1 MOA deflection. 





Using the rucksack for a rest, and the shooting sock, a pair of 3-round groups were fired. 


The group measured 5.25 inches across.  The exact distance via rangefinder was 530 yards.  This is good for a 0.95 MOA group.  This group was within the mechanical accuracy of this rifle with this ammo. 


Friday, September 14, 2018

Shooting at 355

The setup.  Rucksack, rifle, shooting sock. 
But, for this drill, no rucksack or shooting sock was needed. 




The Rifleman came across a target of opportunity at 355 yards.  With magazine rested on the ground, the target was engaged:


3 shots. 3 hits. 




But, there are some that say the Rifleman's rifle is why he makes the hits. After all, it is a custom built specialty rifle capable of incredible accuracy. 

The Rifleman contends that one cannot buy accuracy. One can, however, prevent accuracy by going too cheap. 

So, let's try the same drill with a regular rifle.  How about, say, an M16A4 clone?


Let's give ol' Addie a workout, shall we?




3 shots, prone. Rested on magazine.  From 355 yards:


3 more hits. 


And here is the view to the target, and from the target. 


Thursday, September 13, 2018

Passing The Test

The rifleman's mom was a major league shit-tester. Me thinks this is why The Rifleman is so good at passing shit-tests. Lots of practice growing up.  What is a shit-test? 

One of the more major ones I remember from growing up... my mother scheduled a birthday party for my sister on my birthday.  Yes, you read that correctly. Our birthdays were a month apart.

As my mother requested I attend, I did show up.  Stayed a minute, had some cake and an unfortunate allergic reaction to something in the air, then left early. 

Later, I overheard my mom on the phone with a friend. She admitted she knew what she was doing planning that party.  She told her friend that I cried in the corner.  Kinda reminds me of how #FakeNews treats Trump these days... gets the story completely wrong on purpose. 

Of course, she asked me if I wanted her to plan a party for me. My reply? "Yes! Let's invite all my friends, and schedule it for my sister's birthday, and I'll pretend I'm 5 again!" <<end sarcasm>>

That's agree and amplify.  I didn't know the name of it when I was in my teens, I just knew it worked.  Like a charm. 


Wednesday, September 12, 2018

DM Evaluation

Recently,  the Rifleman came across this  set of Rifle and Pistol quals. Naturally,  this piqued my interest,  so I decided to try them out.  If you've read this blog, you saw where I passed the rifle and pistol portions with flying colors.  But, what about the Designated Marksman qualification? 

The course:
200 yards
Target = 8.5x11" paper.
10 out of 10 shots on paper
2 minute time limit. 


Here goes!
Since the range I visited did not have a proper 200 yard range, I improvised.  The location I shot from was over 250 yards away, so I don't think anyone will mind if I actually performed the task in a more difficult manner. 


The 250+ yard range.  Don't worry - the car was moved before the Rifleman took a shot. 


I also decided to take the evaluation with my Aimpoint.  No magnification.  No scopes.  Just me and my red dot.  The results?


Well under 2 minites...  and all 10 shots on paper!!



But, I do have an ACOG. And it is designed for just this sort of challenge...


22 seconds to put together this group.  From a magazine support.  With no bipod or other assistance. 

So, again, passed with flying colors. 


Monday, September 10, 2018

More on Zeroes

Found more of these pictures, illustrating zeroes and holdovers for common barrel and ammunition combinations. Thanks to  Arma Dynamics.

It is easy to realize, seeing these charts, that the flattest zero is a 50-yard zero. With the sole exception of the 10.5" barrel, all of the bullet & barrel combinations keep within a couple of inches out to 250 yds. And only a 7" holdover at 300.

The 10.5" barrel, with a 50-yard zero stays equally close to 200, and needs only a 15" or 16" holdover at 300.


Friday, September 7, 2018

Dry Fire Magazine

Dry fire is one of the most important training tools a shooter can use. It helps with trigger control and proper sight alignment. A smart shooter will also practice proper respiratory pause when performing dry fire, as well.

One of the few irritations a shooter will experience when dry fire is that if an empty magazine is used, the bolt will lock the rear every time it is cycled. In AR15 rifles, an empty mag inserted into the gun helps facilitate the bolt locking to the rear.

This is a tutorial on how to modify a magazine so that it will no longer lock the bolt to the rear during dry-fire practice.

First, we have a PMAG.





Look at the bottom of the PMAG, and find the floor plate release button.





Press the release button in, and slide the floor plate to the front of the magazine.




The spring and the follower will pop out of the bottom. Remove them.





Replace the floor plate.





Now, you are almost ready. The hollowed-out magazine should look like any other.





Now, you will want to Mark the magazine as a training magazine. Here, The Rifleman wrapped in the magazine with red tape, and wrote on the side, to avoid confusion.





Now you can use this tool to dry fire as much as you wish, without having to manually close the bolt each and every time.


Enjoy!


Thursday, September 6, 2018

Church Hopping

From Lefty:  My Church Family
Here it is, with The Rifleman's notes in parentheses:

My wife and I started attending a church about a mile from our house a little more than 4 years ago (6 years ago for The Rifleman). We have grown quite attached to our small church and the good folks who worship with us. The thing that attracted me most when we first started attending was the authenticity of the other worshipers. I never felt like anyone was putting on airs or pretending to be something they weren’t (The Rifleman felt there were a handful, but Lefty addresses what happened to them shortly). I still feel that way today. My church family is very dear to me.

The past year has seen us endure a great deal of turmoil. We lost about half our membership, dwindling from four weekend services to three, and then two. It has been discouraging at times, but never once did we ever consider joining the exodus. In fact, the thought of changing churches and starting over again is physically nauseating. I cannot fathom walking out on my church family at this point. They are simply too dear to me. It would be like a divorce.

We live in an age when church membership is considered disposable. People will “church hop” at the slightest provocation (the Rifleman is reminded of this song), and the concept of unconditional loyalty to the church is foreign. Church people are excited when there’s growth and things are humming along smoothly, but turn fickle when there’s turmoil and dwindling membership (The Rifleman cannot tell you how many left because they saw others leaving - not because they had issues with the causes of the turmoil... but it was easily 2/3 of those who left).

I enjoy seeing my church family every time I’m there. Everyone is there is there for a reason, and everyone who has weathered this storm and stayed loyal to “the bride of Christ” has been tested and refined by fire. Good for all of us. I don’t know if our numbers will ever return to what they were a year ago, but that’s not something I control. The one thing I do control is taking church membership and the church family serious enough to stay loyal and not be affected by rumors and innuendo.

I have nothing against anyone who left (the Rifleman has no issues, either. A small handful were liars, but the Rifleman did call them that directly... and they were either unwilling or unable to make something of that; so they agreed they were liars by default). I’ve never once tried to talk anyone out of leaving. I leave them alone and expect them to reciprocate. I’m thankful that I stayed put because there is great value and reward in loyalty.



The Rifleman agrees, 100%.

Wednesday, September 5, 2018

Rifle Qual Time

Recently,  the Rifleman came across a series of rifle and pistol  qualifications. Naturally,  this piqued my interest. 

First, we catalogued the pistol qualifications.  Now, it's time to catalogue the rifle qualification.  The conditions:

50 yards.
Target = 8.5" x 11" sheet of paper.
5 rounds standing, and mag change.
5 rounds kneeling, and mag change. 
5 rounds prone.

8-10 hits = Marksman
11-13 = Sharpshooter
14-15 = Expert

This sounds a lot like  the Trident. So, a range day was in order!



First up, I took the evaluation with Lucy while she was wearing the Aimpoint micro dot:


Perfect 15 and with plenty of time to spare. 




However, she usually sports my ACOG scope.  So, I decided to take the evaluation with my ACOG on the rifle:


As expected, it took a few seconds longer.  But, the result was still well within the time limit.  And, a perfect 15 was scored again. 



Give this one a try!


Tuesday, September 4, 2018

What Zero, 10.5-inch Barrel?

A friend had asked me to run ballistics on his 10.5" SBR. It was wondering what zero would be most effective, by shooting the flattest. In the process of running numbers, I did a quick search, and found the above picture.

These numbers have been verified through two different online ballistics calculators. Furthermore, M193 ammo will shoot with holdovers to within 1 MOA at the distances given.

As an added benefit, and as you can see, there is also a chart for common zeros using an 18" barrel. An AR-15 nerd would realize that the zeros given for the 18 inch barrel almost exactly mirror those for a 20 inch barrel, using M855 or M193 ammo. Please note, this is not always the case, especially with heavier grain ammunition.

Now, The Rifleman will search for similar pictures for other barrel lengths.