Combat Zone Firearms Policy - TIME FOR A CHANGE

 

 

 In recent days, the news media has slowly forgot how an Afghan pilot stole the lives of 9 of our best and brightest airmen in an aircraft hangar in Kabul, Afghanistan. Discussion has ranged throughout the firearms community as to how a lone gunman could take down 9 trained personnel with a standard issue sidearm without being ripped or shot to pieces.

The answer to your question is this: DoD and CENTCOM Policy, and shoulder holsters.

Military policy on base/FOB/COP or wherever is that all firearms will be either unloaded at all times, or will not have a round in the chamber unless you are outside the wire. I understand that his cuts down on the number of negligent discharges, but it also restricts your ability to return fire in self defense. It's time for this policy to change, in order to reflect the non-linear state of the modern battlefield. Let us put a full magazine in our pistols, and a round down the tube. There's a safety lever there for a reason; let us take advantage of it.

I also take issue with the way so many staff and support personnel carry their sidearms in godawful, cheaply made shoulder holster. Most of these rancid things are designed more for convenience, than for actually employing your sidearm in defense of your own life. It leads to a culture of complacency in which airmen and soldiers lose focus of the fact that there are people out there trying to kill them. If you absolutely must have a shoulder holster, then we need to issue something less restricting. Blackhawk makes a very high quality shoulder rig for their Serpa line of quick release retention holster; maybe its time for that to become standard issue to anyone carrying an M9. Otherwise, get a belt and a standard holster and carry like you mean it.
 

Simply put, its time for a change.

History Channel Casting Top Shot Season 4!!!!! - what they say, and what it actually means

The History Channel is now casting skilled marksmen for the fourth season of its hit competition show TOP SHOT. The casting call is included below. If you'd like to post it at your organization/club, include it in a newsletter/email blast, or just pass it on to interested folks, please feel free!

The History Channel is now casting a bunch of random wierdos who think they're pretty good with daddys old 1911 and have seen to many seasons of survivor. We are desperate for people who are willing to stand up on national television and turn a perfectly good day at the range into a total drama fest.


THE HISTORY CHANNEL is seeking SKILLED MARKSMEN for SEASON 4 of its hit competition show.

We need 16 warm bodies who can manage not to shoot themselves in the knee while looking good on camera at the same time.

You’ve seen some of America’s best shooters take on the Top Shot challenge, and now it’s time for YOU to join their ranks.


We need you to act like a hormone driven high school student for a month so we can attract outdoors and shooting sports companies to buy advertising. Even though we don't give a rats ass about the second amendment.

With production on season 3 gearing up, The History Channel is NOW CASTING SEASON 4 of its electrifying marksmanship competition show. Producers are looking for anyone with unrivaled shooting skills and a big personality to take on exciting physical challenges with multiple guns and mystery projectile weapons. If you are skilled with a pistol, rifle or any other firearm, you could win $100,000 on TOP SHOT 4.


If you are a self centered jerk, can talk at length about your self-described 'skills', get along poorly with others, and generally act like a teenage cheerleader we need you! Anyone who can spray bullets at larger than life targets and pray that one of them makes contact, you could take home $50,000 after taxes (plus remember the money was received in California, so that's another 10% transfer fee surcharge!).

It doesn’t matter if you’re a professionally trained shooter or a self-taught average Joe or Jane. As long as you’re in good physical shape, have mastered a firearm and can adapt to new weapons and demanding physical situations, you could be America’s next Top Shot.

Anyone is welcome, so long as they fall into our strict criteria for racial and and economic backgrounds. Everything you say and do while on camera becomes property of our network. It will be edited together as we see fit, and then endlessly replayed, analyzed, nitpicked and photoshoped. Any and all disagreements or simple misunderstanding are subject to being thrown way out of proportion in the name of good television. This is not reality. This is reality tv.

Simply email TopShotCasting@gmail.com with your name, city/state, phone number, a recent photo of yourself and a brief explanation of why you are America’s next “Top Shot.” If producers want to follow up, they will contact you for more information. If you have questions, please call our casting hotline: 818-478-4570.


Here is our email address and phone number. We don't actually return calls or answer emails, so don't get your hopes up. We'll probably go through about 40 of these applications before we get tired of it and pick 16 at random, then rig the challenges in one or the other competitors favor until we find one person who won't pull a richard hatch stunt on us. last thing we need is some asshole winning this thing, and then getting caught with 10 dead hookers and a kilo of blow.

Deadline to apply is MAY 20, 2011.

Burris Xtreme Tactical Rifle Scope Rings - Hands on Review

I imagine the most "extreme" feature of these rings was their ability to piss me the fuck off trying to install them. First time around, got them mounted up with a mid-range 3-9x40 Bushnell. First trip to the range and i cant even get a group out of it, much less zero the scope. The rifle and loads have delivered .33moa groups in the past, and the scope hasn't given me any trouble either, so the only new factor here is the rings.

Took it back to the workbench, pulled the scope off and started tinkering. My most noteworthy findings where 1) the base bolts for both rings where set at different depths, which turns out to be the reason point of impact was skewed so far to the right, 2) the rings where only making about 15% contact with the scope. Took me a half hour with a lapping bar and 220 grit compound to get it into the 80-85% range, at which point it became clear I was nearing the point of taking off too much material. I was hoping for at least 90% scope/ring contact, but will settle with what I've got for now. 3) The finish is garbage. It looked tough in the package, but it rubbed up against a strip of velcro on my range bag, which was sufficient to put a big ugly nick in it.

Long story short, I really have no good things to say about these rings. I only bought them out of curiosity, but at this point I've all but written them off. I hope the next range visit finds that all the extra work paid off, but I won't be holding my breath. From now on, I will be sticking with good old American steel. Shame on me for straying from the Leupold PRWs that have treated me so well in the past.

dear mr president

repost. good stuff

http://twimc-anonymous.blogspot.com/

Dear Sir,

We write to you this day with questions on our mind and emotions running high. We don't always understand or agree with what you do or why, but we swore an oath that we would follow your orders until the end. We did it without remorse and of our own free will, asking little or nothing in return. We gave up some of our personal freedoms and accepted limitations on others so that our sacrifice would keep our friends, family and fellow countrymen safe.

We don't know a lot about politics, and what we do know changes so fast that we can hardly keep track. Some of us are more liberal than others, others more conservative. We don't stick our noses in your arena very often, because as our Commander in Chief we trust you to make the right decision and look out for our well being.

When you stood up and took that oath and became our president you took on the mantel of commander of the armed forces. Its a solemn duty to lead us and direct us at the very highest level. But with all due respect, that is a two edged swrod. You took on responsibility for the wellfare of every man and women in uniform, to provide us with the tools that we need to do the job, to keep us fed and housed so that we can fulfill our own oath to defend this great country.

It is in this light that we find ourselves in trouble. This week you have threatened to veto a measure in the congress that would keep us, the troops, the people you swore to be responsible for, from having to go without a paycheck this month. Not even President Clinton blocked a similar measure, nor President Reagan before him. It would be one thing is it was truly necessary to do this in order to improve the economy or whatever else. Its quite another for you to use our paychecks as a bargaining chip as you try to barter your own politics through a republican heavy congress. The fact that you are holding the welfare of your own people hostage is despicable and terrible in a way that we can not fathom.

So we respectfully ask you to leave us the hell out of it. We agree that the congress (on both sides of the aisle) are not helping things by perpetuating this insane budget argument. But the welfare of the US military is a factor that never should have been added to the mix, save protecting it from any further meddling. We are all disgusted with how long this has dragged on for different and widely varying reasons, but its not our fight. Stop dragging us into it.

We don't fight for your politics. We don't labor for your policy. We don't bleed for your agenda, and we certainly don't die for your 'change'.

We live, sleep, eat, breath, sweat, bleed and die for the United States of America. We are responsible not just to you, but to the sacred honor of all American fighting men who have died to keep this country safe. We are not a commodity with which to be bartered; stop treating us like one.

Caldwell Rock Jr Rifle Rest -Hands on Review

This will be a short one. Its a rifle rest. It does what its supposed to do.

It's cheaper than a lot of the competition and does just as good a job as 80% of the other rests out there. It doesnt have a lot of extras on it and its not going to be the end-all answer to your target shooting/ varminting/ benchrest need, but its solid, its simple, and its easy to adjust (three things that rate good marks in my book). It does what it was designed to do at a price even I can afford. Although probably not what you would be using if you where planning on going toe-to-toe with some of the best shooters in the country, this will more than suffice for day-to-day zeroing of rifle, whiping out your average prairie dog town, and friendly to moderate target shooting and competition.

Gangster for good?

So apparently keeping my word makes me a bad person. I was always taught that your word is your bond, but apparently in the world of today that has gone by the wayside. I posted a number of things for sale on a local site (not craigslist, that site sucks imho...), including a pair of Wilson Combat 1911 mags. I know they arent in their original package and that, while near-new, I would be able to get rid of them faster if I marked them down a few bucks. So I did. First person who contacted me offered my asking price, so I said "sure, when and where?". We set a time, and I figured that was that.

I was wrong.

Next person who contacted me offered more than I was asking, but I told them I had already promised them to someone else but that if the first person didnt show, they where next in line. They where ok with that. At first...

Long story short, the first guy shows up right on time and he gets the mags for a great price. I go ahead and mark them "sold" on the website, and no more than 30 minutes later I get an email from the second gentleman asking how much the first guy paid me. I told him, and he became very mad at me and called me a moron for not selling them to him since he had offered 5 bucks more than the other guy.

So I said "Fuck you asshole, Screw off!" and tried my best to slam my cell phone. It's not that I cant use any extra 5 or 10 bucks in my pocket; I can, believe me. But if you think your going to buy me off after I have already given someone else my word, then you are way off the mark. And you're a dick for trying.

It's a shame that people these days think that money can buy anything. The values passed down to us by our grandparents and great grand parents are vanishing faster and faster in a time where they are needed more than ever.

Savage Model 12 FVSS Varmint Rifle - Hands on Review

So the long story short, I have been in the market for a long, heavy barrel 308 winchester rifle for longer range work for the better part of two years now and nothing really caught my fancy (at least, not that fit into my income bracket). I finally decided to settle on the Savage 12 FVSS, and I am sure glad I did. I have always prided myself on researching my purchases very carefully in advance, and it paid of in spades this time around.

Good stuff: Throw a good scope on this sucker and you are good to go. I chose to go with a Bushnell Elite 3200 3-9x40 with their DOA reticle because it was the best in my price range, but I can see where better glass would make this an even better shooter. As with any other heavy contour varminter, its very front heavy and most at home riding a rest or bipod. If you buy this rifle thinking you will carry it across mountain tops, then maybe you should re-think your options, as this model definitely has some heft to it.

As accuracy goes, I havent had a chance to work up any handloads just yet, but the Black Hills and Hornady Match ammo I ran through it chalked up several VERY impressive groups (best was ~.5MOA at 100 yds, and actually appeared to tighten up at longer ranges; I managed to Clang the head of a 500yd sillhouette target that is no more than about 5 inches wide, so its more than adequate for what I want to do).

Bad Stuff: As with all savage actions, I wouldn't want to use this for anything requiring rapid follow up shots. Because it re-cocks on opening, it makes unlocking the bolt hard tough enough to unseat the rifle on the rest when you finally qrench it open. Hopefully this will smooth out a bit with use. Its not the end of the world since this will be mainly a target rifle, but its still a bit of a pain. My only other complaint is really not related to the rifle, but to my own retarded slip up; I didnt think to measure my cleaning rods before I bought this rifle, and managed to overlook the fact that none of them would reach down its 26" barrel, much less the additional 11" of boreguide. So mark that one up to me failing to pay attention to details, and let it be a reminder to anyone else who is in the market for this rifle.

Overall, a very good rifle for under $800. Can't wait to see what it can do with some good handloads; I have a selection of Matchkings and Nosler Custom Competition BTHPs ready on the loading bench, and a pound of Benchmark, so we'll see how far that gets me. Definately recommend this rifle it to anyone considering it.