Surefire EP7 ear plugs: winner. Who'd a thunk it?

As you probably know by now, I'm a big, big fan of Surefire products. They make great stuff. When the EP3 ear pro came out, I was excited, knowing the quality they build in. However, I had an issue with 'em: my ear canals are too narrow for the EP3 ear flange parts. They worked great, but they felt like they were trying to meet in the middle of my brain. In other words, too uncomfortable for me to use. That bummed me out, but at that point I didn't know I had a narrow ear canal, so I just figured they weren't for me in any way shape or form. Over the summer, I really wanted to wear plugs rather than muffs as even with the gel ear cups they're hot.

Enter a trial pair of the EP7, which is from the same family of ear pro, but with foam ear pieces. The set I was given had the normal, slim normal, and short normal foamie bits (technical term, sorry). Over the past month and a half, I've tried each combination, and found that the slim normal and short normal both worked well for me. I haven't yet determined which I like better, although I find myself using the slim normal foamie bits most often because I "feel" they give the best blocking coverage. More testing is needed, I think. Either way, I'm a big fan of the EP7 and if the other silicone ear pro doesn't fit you correctly, I'm sure these will.

These don't work exactly like electronic ear pro, which is to be expected since that's not what they are. You won't hear as much as you can with electronic ear pro. Again, that's not the same job these do. There's a reason Peltor Comtacs and Sordin Supremes are expensive. These are only about $20, and while you can't run your comms through them, you can hear normal sounds while on the range, which is a whole heck of a lot safer. And they do a fine job of protecting your hearing when rounds are going off. It's a trade off, but more than acceptable, especially compared to the old school foam or silly cone plugs. These get Haji's Seal of Approval.

sling changes and more

As much as I am enjoying being quite a bit lighter...and getting lighter still...one of the side effects of either the weight loss, medications or both is that I feel weaker. To that end, I decided to revisit the idea of the anchor point to get more rearward pressure while shooting the carbine. I obtained a QD Tango Down vertical grip, which is a great part but more length than I needed or really wanted. I also have a Larue Tactical hand stop, another cool part but proving to be a little small for the giant size of my bear paw hands.

Another thing I noticed is that my rifle, as it was configured, is heavy, even with a Micro on it. I swapped out a Comp M2 for an R1 Micro (really wanted the H1 since I don't have NODs to require a T1, but the price I got on the R1 couldn't be beaten) and already had an M600 on it, but the rifle's still a little over 11 pounds. Here's what she looked like before:

That version worked perfectly fine, and yes of course I still have the Surefire High Capacity Magazine. It was, however, a heavy rifle, so I swapped out the optic for the aforementioned R1. I could save a little more weight by using a lighter mount for it than the Larue LT660, but I'm just too much a fan of the throw lever mount. That lightened the rifle, but not enough:

Yup, that's the lanyard on my camera messing up a moderately decent photo.

As I mentioned at the beginning of this here post, I decided to add a leverage point to be able to pull the rifle into my shoulder with more pressure. First I tried a hand stop, then a vert grip, and tested them both against the slick rail on the timer. Times were about equal between the slick rail and the vert grip, which wasn't as surprising to me as the hand stop being slower than the vert grip. The timer don't lie, so I try to test most if not all changes against it. The only way to be able to definitively say one thing "works for me" better than something else, and not basing it on liking one thing better than another, is to have a way to quantify it, which means empirical data. The timer is the simplest way to do that.

If you don't have a timer, I can't recommend getting one strenuously enough. They're not terribly expensive, and they will definitively tell you what's going on with your shooting. Think you're fast out of the holster, in transition, or with your shot to shot splits? The timer will tell you if what you think is going on is really happening. Ya gotta get one! Surefire's app was still free a few months ago when I downloaded it to my phone. There's really no excuse not to have a timer.

So, back to the topic at hand. I went over to Matt E.'s place last night to hang out, because a transformer blew and turned off the power to my whole neighborhood. Better to hang out on the couch with power than without. Naturally, I brought the carbine along, since that's just what we do. He had a stubby Tango Down vert grip that he wasn't using, so we threw that on the riffle. Matt, as you know by now, absolutely rocks. Since it uses the double lock bar attachment instead of the throw lever, it's a light part in comparison. Today, I removed my Magpul ACS and re-installed my CTR to save more weight. Well, that certainly helped, but there's still the issue that I went to the ACS in the first place for: the CTR is a short stock in comparison, even with the "enhanced" butt pad. Magpul, do me a favor and create a full sized CTR for us normal length armed guys, will ya?

I've trimmed a good bit of weight off my rifle, down to about 8 1/2 pounds now. That's more manageable. And not that I care too much about colors, but it's a blacker black rifle than it used to be. I know the checkerboard rail covers are going to offend some people, so that's a good reason to have 'em that way. Actually, it was just a matter of I did it because I could. Looks fine to me.

 Also note the very cool IO Cover for the Micro. LF'er Joe Chen is developing. Check out Kickstarter to get on board with the funding to get these onto the market. Once they're available to dealers, my plan is for ATS to be among the first, if not the first, to carry these. Simple part to install, and works really well. The caps nest within each other, and it can all be done one handed.  The material the cover is made of was chosen for stability through a wide temperature range and is impervious to common gun solvents. If you have a Micro, you're gonna have to have one of these. Here it is closed:

And here you can see the covers nested together. One interesting thing about the nesting is that if you want it lower, as shown here, move the tabs apart. Want 'em more in the middle, move those tabs closer together.

I'm sure there's something else I should put in this post, but I'll realize that later. As of right now, get yourself to the range!

Changing the sling placement and why

Heard from a guy I know who's a gunfighter for a living about how he runs a sling on his carbine and why, and why my set up was for flat range work. So, being the pragmatist I am, I had to give it another look. Basically, I've moved my sling from a "wide" set up to a "tight" one.

I realize that pic is a little cluttered; I would have ended up with a different photo if I'd been thinking ahead a bit. It's not the easiest thing to see, but you can see where the sling is attached. I'm using an end plate adapter that's luckily left over from years ago when I had a one point sling (I'd never recommend now). I say "luckily" because that thing has had the crap staked out of it and it's gonna wreck the end plate and the receiver extension lock nut if I ever take it off. The forward sling point is the ACE rail grabber type. I don't have a whole lot of reason for a QD, since I can just dump my arm through the sling and drop the rifle.

The main reason for moving the sling in tight is that it makes the rifle faster and handier to move around. It allows the end of the rail to be "clean" so you can move stuff around if needs be. I only run a light and I don't have a 12" rail...yet...so I don't think I'll be moving my light, nor will I be putting an X300 at the 12:00, because I can't. Not sure I would anyway because of the switchology, but that's a separate post. Another reason to sling in tight is that if you have to crank down on the sling to climb a wall or something like that (Yeah, sure...I'll climb a wall. It could happen. *rolling eyes*) the sling is less likely to slide off your body. Not so much a factor for me, probably, but that's a serious consideration for some people so it bears mention. This set up keeps the sling off your gear more than slinging wide does, too.

The downside? The rifle is less stable on the sling, and takes a bit more adjusting to get the length right. I'm still fooling with mine; I think it's a little bit long still. It's kinda nitpicking a little, but the rifle feels "heavier" on the sling. The weight's concentrated more, so physics still work. I gotta put in some more time with it, but I think the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

Plate Rack Time

I got a little tired of explaining why my 6 plate rack times were so horribly slow in the vid I shot for the X300 comparison (the reason is true, I'm just tired of saying it) so I finally figured out how to get this photo off my phone and post it here. This is one of my better ever plate rack runs, but this happened during the day. Distance was about ten yards, from the draw. I think I was using a Sarfariland 6354-DO with a Glock 17 and X300, but I'm not certain of that; could have been a 5189.

I've learned some more about that speed to first shot, and posted about it here a while back. One of these days, I'll get a photo of that run again, with a more reasonable first shot time. I should be able to get that time to about 4, maybe 4.2 or so.

WBSIB, borrowed from Vuurwapen Blog

I read the original of this on the Vurwaapen Blog and liked the idea, so I decided to do my own spin on it. If you're not reading that blog, you're missing out on some really good stuff.

If I set out to buy one of the following, this is what I would look for as of September 2012. Some things have great alternatives that aren't listed and some things have great alternatives that are listed. Some things I've gotten for free and some things I haven't. Some things might be more or less than you need. But if you ask me a general question about what (blank) to buy, this is probably what I'd recommend.
...a 5.56mm rifle - Colt LE6920. I like the "restricted" roll marks, but the SP is the same model without them and may save some money.
...a .308/7.62x51 rifle - Larue Tactical OBR
...a bolt action rifle - Remington 700. Pick a model; there's a reason this rifle is ubiquitous.
...a shotgun - Remington 870.Have a better reputation for durability vs the Mossberg
...a 22LR rifle - Marlin model 60. My first gun (still have it) was a 60 and I lost track of the round count. It's huge. Accurate and reliable.
...a handgun - Glock 19.
...a handgun for concealed carry - Also a Glock 19
...a holster - IWB: Bianchi 135 Allusion Suppression OWB: Safariland 529 belt slide Tactical: Safariland ALS series
...a non-magnified optic -Aimpoint T1 if you've got the duccats, Aimpoint PRO if you don't
...a fixed power optic for a semi auto rifle - Trijicon TA33/TA11 ACOG.
...a fixed power optic for a bolt action rifle - Bushnell Elite 3200 10X or Leupold M8 4X for hunting rifles
...a variable power optic - Anything German. Maybe a Vortex Viper or Razor if I didn't want the German price tag.
...an AR-15 upgrade - Buffer Technologies Extractor Kit, or BCM/Vltor Gunfighter Charging Handle
...an AR-15 rail - Daniel Defense 12.0 FSP or Troy 13" TRX Xtreme if you want a handguard rather than rail
...an AR-15 magazine - Magpul E Mag
...a knife - Spyderco Endura IV
...a watch -Seiko diver, black bezel or Pepsi bezel
...a flashlight - Surefire X300 Ultra until the replacement head for the Scout comes out
...a flashlight for carry - Surefire E2D LED.
...rifle ammo for killing things - I like Federal Premium, but this isn't my are of expertise
...handgun ammo for killing things - Federal HST. Winchester Ranger T/Ranger Bonded. Speer Gold Dot. Or whatever hollowpoints from an American company are available.
...shotgun ammo for killing things - Federal FliteControl buckshot or Federal slugs.
...practice ammo - Federal Champion. Looks pretty nasty, but QC is excellent. Several thousands of rounds and no problems at all. Wish I could say that about WWB.
...a handgun .22LR conversion - Tactical Solutions
...a rifle .22LR conversion - the .22 AR's are so cheap, why convert?

daskro
September 20th, 2012 - 06:20

I’d lke your take on these serious to not so serious questions:
ear / eye protection? Ears: Peltor Comtacs. I believe Sordin Supremes are overall better, but I prefer the sound quality of the Peltors
a durable steel target? Hard to beat TacStrike for value
an AK (or more generally a piston operated rifle)? Had an AK, gave it away to pay a debt. If you want a piston gun, there's the HK 416 and there's everything else.
a cleaning solvent? Hoppe's #9. Doubles as a decent after shave.
a fun range gun? Ruger Mk. II. Far and away the best gun Ruger ever made.
a good online gun forum?  For guns in general? Probably THR. If you want discussions about using them for real, Lightfighter...but it's not for everybody. Some people don't belong there.
a gift to give a dad who likes John Wayne movies? Pick a movie, can't go wrong. My favorites: Rio Bravo, Rio Lobo, El Dorado, The Green Berets, Flying Tigers, The Quiet Man. There are also several very cool documentaries about The Duke's career and life away from his career.

Whaddaya think? What would you choose?

Change in the sling

Got the word from a very good source that there were some major disadvantages to my sling set up, and the opposite sling method had much merit. The difference between them is that the wide sling method works quite well for a flat range scenario, which is pretty much what my rifle gets the most use doing. I'm going to shoot some new photos of the rifle, since I have a new optic on it anyway, and I'll delve a little deeper into what were explained to me to be the upsides of the receiver end points for slinging. The source of that info is a very definite, real deal gunfighter, so at the very least I have to explore it again. More on this soon.

X300 vs. X300 Ultra

I posted this over at LF, but since not everybody can see it there, I decided to do a C&P onto The Blog That Rarely Gets Updated.

I acquired an X300U yesterday, and took it to the range last night. This light is pretty amazing and you're going to want one.

I brought one of my standard X300's along to compare output to. The standard X300 is one of the newer 170 lumen lights. As many of you know, my math skills are practically non-existent, which of course extends to reading a tape measure. One of the major concerns about the new Ultra is whether or not the extra length was going to be an issue. The X300 from bezel to end of body, minus the tail cap, is just about three inches. The X300U has a crenelated bezel that the X300 doesn't, so I chose to measure it from the peak of a crenelation to get the max length. The same measurement for the Ultra is about 3 3/16 inches.

I have a few holsters that fit pistols with lights, several by Safariland and an older Blade-Tech for an X200, and currently all for Glocks. A couple for the G35, a few for the G17. All fit without issue. The 6354DO fits it especially well, with the mechanical spring ALS unit that holster uses.

The difference in output, 170 lumens for the X300 vs. 500 lumens for the X300 Ultra, is dramatic. It's very difficult to quantify with words, so I put together a short video of a couple of horrible plate rack runs that shows the difference much more clearly.

One thing I continue to find out: fiber optic front sights are useless in the dark; they just disappear. My 45 year old original equipment eyeballs can't see the dang thing. If you're gonna fight with a gun at night (and if you know you never will, share that trick with me), don't use FO front sights. Spend the extra duccats and get a tritium front.

Here's the video I mentioned earlier. I did, in fact, choose the most irritating music that Flip had available:

The Magwell is not a hand grip

This is a pet peeve of mine, because there are companies out there that make parts that cause bad technique. I speaking of plastic crap like the Never Quit grip and similar pieces of polymer poop that which are designed to create a hand hold on the magazine well of a carbine.

Why do I have such a sore spot for this part? Two main reasons. The first is that it enables really terrible technique that isn't even on the same end of the scale of efficient recoil control. In order to keep the muzzle of a rifle under control (which aids in recoil management, which increases both speed and accuracy when it's maximized) two things must happen, and both have to do with leverage. First, ya gotta get the hand as close to being around the barrel as possible, and second, ya gotta get a grip as far forward on the fore end as possible. For proof, do a bit of searching and check out how the best shooters and best instructors in the world shoot. There is variation in technique, but overall, they're shooting in a way that's obviously based on the same technique enough to call it the same for practical purposes. Some search terms for ya: Jerry Miculek rifle, Army Rangers, Delta Force Recruiting Video, Three Gun Rifle, Kyle Lamb, Larry Vickers, Brian Searcy, Kyle Defoor, Tiger Swan, Magpul Dynamics...there are plenty more; you get the idea. Its the way the best shooters in the world shoot, it's how they teach it, if it's not how you shoot, you really should get some instruction, break out the timer, and prove to yourself that it's how you should have been doing it that way all along. Grabbing the mag well is the antithesis of being able to shoot fast and accurately, and it looks dorky, too.

The second reason has to do with safety. Ever seen an AR blow up? Any gun can be blown up; AR's of quality construction (polymer is not quality construction, by the way. Don't go that way.) are exceptionally durable, very safe designs. But, like all modern firearm designs, having them rapidly disassemble in an overpressure situation has been taken into account and designed for. Now, the design work is not complicated; force like water takes the path of least resistance. Where is that path? Its out the bottom of the loaded magazine. Where's the magazine when that happens? In the magwell. If you're grabbing the magwell when that happens, not only are you shooting slower and less accurately than everybody else, you may just blow your hand up. When things go bad, they go bad violently and with no warning. You're not going to be able to do anything about it to stop it or move your mitt. So why have it there in the first place?

Here's the key to the whole thing: don't grab the mag well. It's bad technique, it looks stupid, and it could get you the nickname "Stumpy''. Don't do it.

can you start at the beginning of the beep?

I noticed something a couple weeks ago, and it was verified at the last match I shot. I started working on it, and have a long way to go, but I think I'm on to something.

I shoot with a timer to give a stimulus that causes me to draw and shoot. I don't have to use it for that, but since I'm gonna be shooting anyway, I might as well get some time data while I'm at it, right? I like having to respond to something rather than choosing the time of shooting; my suspicion is that this is as close as I'm going to be able to get to what might happen in real life when I'm shooting by myself.

One of the first things to notice is that a timer's beep spans a certain amount of time. I suspect mine's about one second long, but I haven't actually looked into it. So, it's got a start, when the buzzer first sounds, and it's got an end, when the buzzer is finished buzzering, right? What I noticed most shooters doing was starting to move at the end of the buzz/beep/zappy sound/whatever, with only the best of them-the master class and the one or two grand masters we see a few times a year-starting their draw as soon as the buzzer starts to sound. Once I started working on that, I noticed that my best runs (and to be clear, there were only a few of them) trimmed a full half second off my times.

At the match a week ago, the number of people who commented "You were shooting a lot better today" or words to that effect was surprising to me. From my perspective I shot about the same as I typically do, with perhaps a little more accuracy than I have previously. But the only reason I didn't win the match is the same reason I usually don't win the match: I'm too slow in running, and there's nothing I can do about that; I've been slow my entire life. The only thing I was doing differently, though, was that I was trying to concentrate on starting to move at the start of the beep.

Now, I'm a never-was and have never been in a gunfight. However, I have several close friends who have, and I can get their impressions on such topics. Speed is an important component of a fight, even a brawl. The guy who's reacting is behind the curve, right? What can be done about that? Seems to me the only option is to shorten the curve, and that could be all the difference. As they say, "you have the rest of your life to figure it out".

The way I worked on it, and this is "a" way and by no means "the" way, so if you have a suggestion I wanna hear it, was to do some dry runs. First I started imagining the buzzer going off, and starting to get my draw going at the beginning of the sound. I then practiced my draw, again trying to get moving as soon as I heard the buzzer. The way I tested this was trying to note where the gun was when the buzzer ended; when I was working it I had the gun partway into presentation when the buzzer stopped. I tried stopping movement a few times when the buzzer ended to see where I was. That's hard to do, and there's so much lag between hearing, processing, and responding to the stimulus that I didn't really take much note of it, and instead just tried to gauge where I was. I think this is where video would be very handy.

Anyway! after a while, I was noticing that my times were improving, and it wasn't because my movements were faster from the hand to the gun to the draw to the presentation. If anything, I was getting slightly slower because it was very hot and humid at the range. It was because I was initiating the movement to get going faster than I had before, and that was entirely because I wasn't waiting for the buzzer to complete before I started moving. What I'm hoping this will assist in doing is that if I have to use my gun for real, I won't be as far behind the curve. I'm hoping that I'm training my brain to process faster. It's smarter than I am, so I expect it'll make a difference in the long run. I just wish I'd started working on this 25 years ago.

New Stuff: Safariland ELS kit and belt

Holy cow, an actual new blog post! Bet both my readers didn't think I knew how to do this anymore. I finally have something worth taking the time to write about rather than do something less important...I mean...more important. Everything I do, of course, is crucially important.

I wish.

So I got some gear almost a year ago, and it took quite a while to get it all squared away. Turns out that flexibility costs. LOL! That's the point of this system: it allows you to swap out magazine pouches and holsters on one common platform, just by changing the pouches or holster. One one belt, I can swap between 1911, Glock (19, 17, and 34 in my case) and carbine just by changing out the individual pieces. Once you start doing that, it become clear how flexible the system is.

There's a couple parts to this kit: at its core, its the belt and the ELS (Equipment Locking System) components. The belt is...pre-punched, or pre-drilled...let's say "pre-holed" for descriptive simplicity, to accept the ELS Receiver Plates. The ELS consists of two parts: the receiver plate and the fork. It works on the same principle that a side release buckle does, if the female part of the buckle didn't have full top to it. The receiver plates screw to the belt by way of a domed head Allen screw through the back of the belt, and a blind nut on the receiver plate. You can put 'em wherever you want 'em, and you can cant them if you wish, too.

What's really cool about this system is that it can be adapted to other rigs, too. I have receiver plates attached to Safariland clamshell clips (745 BL, I think, but I may be crazy, too)

to use the ELS system on my Bianchi Border Patrol belt, which is a 2" duty belt with a Cobra-style buckle. It works like a Cobra, but its not AustriAlpin. The AA buckles are the best there are and this one isn't one of them, just to be clear. It is, however, entirely up to the job its being used for. Anyway, I have receiver plates screwed to them so I can use the same magazine pouches that I use on the ELS with that belt...and I have a few, particularly the model 77 rifle magazine pouches, that are set up directly on the 745 BL's. More on that in a moment, I think. I'm getting too far off the trail.

The photo of my belt is one of the few I have of this rig so far, and it doesn't show exactly how I've got it rigged now. Even though I've dropped something over 30 pounds so far this year (believe me, I have PLENTY left to get rid of; I'll be at this for a while!) I still have issues with the forward-most plate when magazines are installed there. If you scroll down a bit on my blog, you'll see my sling set up. With the front end of the sling so far forward, it tends to get hooked on that forward mag pouch. I solved that by rotating pouches to the left, essentially moving them a spot rearward. Solved that problem, but I'd still like to run a mag pouch there for different set ups. Perhaps a horizontal pouch, like the Safariland Competition versions, will do that. I'll get one and check.

I also run the Safariland M774 single M4 mag pouches with ELS forks on 'em, so I have a couple of the dual mag pouches shown in the photo, and a couple M774's. For doing stuff like rifle to pistol transitions, it's outstanding; I don't have to run any other gear unless I need more magazines or if I just want to. There's really nothing that I'm aware of that Safariland makes that holds magazines that can't be used with this system. I even have a 7.62 version of the M774 should I choose to run the belt while shooting my LRT OBR. To quote  Cadet Captain David Shawn from TAPS: "It's beautiful, man!" How's that for an old school reference.

You may have noticed the holster being Multicam in the above photo. That's the not-really-secret-but-very-cool 6354-DO, the DO standing for Docter Optic. I wish I had one, but that'll be for a later date. This version is for the Glock 17/X300.

One of my home boys calls it The Jump Holster, because when you release the ALS lock on it, it jumps into your hand. The springs in this one are mechanical coil springs; much smoother and faster than the older ALS flat spring.

It's on the belt using the Mid Ride UBL (Universal Belt Loop) and the QLS (Quick Locking System) components. The QLS is the father of the ELS, it's bigger, slightly older, stronger parent. The UBL drops the holster off the belt a bit, and the QLS pushes it out some, too. It's roughly duty-holster height and offset, which I have to remind myself of when using it. It's not in the same place my Safariland 529 is.LOL!

Suggestions: you'll probably want a liner belt with this rig. I use the Bianchi 7205, which is run through the belt loops of your pants, and gives a stable platform for the ELS belt to anchor to. I have an idea for an improvement that I plan to try to get done with ATS, but I have no idea how long that'll take to get done; its a question of available production time. Liner belts are only about $20 and worth the investment to hold the belt still. It also means you don't have to be uncomfortable with the ELS belt cranked down around you.

All in all, I'm a huge fan of this system. I keep finding ways to use it and new stuff to use with it. I think Safariland has really nailed the modular concept and now all they have to do is get the marketing department on the same page as the users and advertise it!

My sling set up and why

One of the smarter things I've ever heard is "A sling is a holster for your rifle". Ya gotta have a sling on your carbine, but there are several ways to set 'em up, and there's a plus side and minus side to the various ways to do it. The difference comes down to the intended purpose and the type of use the rifle gets.

To me, there's only one type of sling right now that has the most upside with the least downside, and that's the adjustable two point sling. It can do everything a one point and three point can do, without the downside of those two designs.  My home boy Chris, a 12 year Infantry vet, also made the point that if you have a two point sling, if you get hit and go down, somebody can just throw that rifle on their back and secure it that way. Stuff like the Wolf Hook don't make that possible...and they make your rifle a big pendulum. Trust me, they suck. Don't do that to yourself.

There are a couple ways to set up a sling, with some variations that I find less useful overall but may be driven by necessity. You can attach the sling in close, or as far apart as possible. What's attached to the rail may drive a different method; ya do what ya gotta do.

In close, meaning at the receiver extension side of the rifle, and as close to the barrel nut end of the rail as possible has the advantage of keeping the sling out of the way and has some more flexibility with transitions from shoulder to shoulder. It's a good method for stuff like room clearing or short duration, relatively close shots as a SWAT entry team might encounter. This method makes the two point most like a one point. The downside is that the sling isn't very useful as a shooting aid. This photo belongs to Rob Sloyer. It's amazing how few photos there are of the sling side of Pat's rifle. They're almost all from the right side!

The other method, and the one I settled on after experimenting with every way I could think of, is to sling from the buttstock and as far forward on the rail as possible.

My sling is a two point adjustable from ATS, using Murdock Webbing's Multicam jacquard webbing. We figured this product would be a good test of abrasion resistance for that material. Jacquard is woven in the pattern, the pattern isn't printed on it.

But I regress, or digress, and not progress. The advantage to this method is that the sling can be run all the way out, as it'd usually be done for most uses. The sling can be choked up and used as a shooting aid for long shots, and can be cinched down the rest of the way to pull the rifle to the chest and free the hands for other uses without putting the muzzle in the dirt.

I'm a big fan of Magpul products. However, the one thing I don't like about 'em is that they're designed around the MS sling. While it's convertible from one point to two point, the range of adjustment is very short and it requires slinging off their end plate, the ASAP plate. It's noisy and that irritates me. They make a pretty good adapter for the stock I run, the ACS, which uses a heavy Duty QD sling swivel and screw-on socket.

The downside to that part is that it's not rotation-limited. I've considered a couple different ways to accomplish that, but haven't come up with a really good solution for that yet. The real solution would be for it to come that way from the factory.

My forward sling mount is a 1 1/2 inch Ace rail grabber. I don't have need of a QD swivel there, and it's a lower profile mount than a QD is. If you do need a QD, do yourself a huge favor and make sure it's a rotation limited mount, like the Daniel Defense part.

 

I haven't gotten around to trimming the sling yet, but I will. I just wrapped the excess with some Velcro wrap stuff from an old 6004 holster. If anything, I have the sling adjusted a bit long now and need to take up a little more slack in the adjustable end.

I've run both VTAC and Blue Force Gear VCAS slings, and like them both. I have a slight preference towards the VTAC as it has a greater range of adjustment and is somewhat easier to adjust...although not enough so that I wouldn't run a VCAS and be perfectly happy with it. VTAC slings are, in my limited experience, easier to adjust when the sling gets dirty, muddy and cruddy.  Padded vs. non-padded comes down to what you're doing with it. If it's going to be run over armor, don't bother with the pad; it's just bulk that doesn't help ya. If you don't usually wear armor, then the padded one is a good choice, although I don't notice enough difference between them to really make it a point to get the padded one. I had a padded VTAC on my rifle before I started testing the current one, but honestly I can't tell much difference between 'em. 

why have a blog if ya don't blog?

I've figured it out. The reason I don't blog more often is that most of the stuff I consider posting on require pictures. I have something against shooting and editing pictures; there's something not fun about it. Probably because my 'puter is slow and those tasks can't be done instantaneously.

Rather than not blogging, though, I'm gonna try to shoot some pics and create some posts. I have a few things that I'm planning comments on: why I set my sling up the way I did, the Safariland ELS belt system and jump holster. Maybe some comments about how much money I have in guns and gear and how I still suck with a gun. We'll see what I can do to show that.

I have a need to practice writing more than I do. Not writing makes me rusty and it takes longer to get what I need from it. I'm hopeful that I can make better use of this place in order to accomplish part of my job more efficiently. 'Course, things could easily keep going along at the snail's pace that they do already, too.

2012 Tactical Trends? Look at 2011

I've been pondering lately what's likely to be the next big trend or trends in the industry. I thought I might see them at SHOT in about ten days, but then I saw the schedule for working the booth, and I'm not sure there'll be much opportunity to see any significant amount of the show. Must be nice to work for a big ol' company that spends a million dollars on SHOT and the reps don't have to spend all their time in the booth. Some of 'em, I kinda wonder if they brought their reps to the show. The marketing department folks who try very hard but can't answer any product questions seem to make up most of the booth people.

But I egress, or something. This year's trends will probably continue. The economy is growing by a tiny percentage, unemployment is still way high, and prices are up. That'll probably mean there will be very little truly new this year. Companies just aren't gonna sink a bunch of development money in uncertain times.

We'll see more AR's. That wouldn't be a bad thing if there were more duty-quality AR's, but there aren't; commercial junk still rules the overall market. We'll also see the "carry" market expanding. I'm of two minds on that point. On the one hand, I'd prefer that law abiding citizens carry than not, and little guns make that happen since so few people will change anything about their lives to accommodate the carriage of a gun that's easier to fight with. Those that know me know that I despise the trend in pocket guns. Can't manipulate 'em, their sights are practically nonexistent and they have crappy capacity. Unfortunately, this trend is alive and well and will continue with more crappy guns that are seven round straight blowback .380's and clunky, small-yet-ungainly 9mm's. They're a money maker, so they'll keep being made. Note that SnW is making their version of that ultimate bad idea The Judge, calling it the Governor or something. Yeah, those damn things are here to stay, too.

What'll we see in tactical gear? The trend toward lightweight continues. Lite Lok fabric will make some inroads, but until the price comes down, 500D will still be the standard. We're gonna do some stuff with it, but a RAID II in Lite Lok is gonna be quite a bit more expensive. With budgets shrinking, there's gonna be a cap on how much this stuff gets used; don't expect to see big dollar items like armor carriers being sold in really big numbers. Even the SOF side of the house is going to see significant reductions in what they can spend. Why pay a premium if there's a similar, nearly-as-good solution?

The next big change will be whatever the Army decides to do with their next pattern. What should happen and what will happen will probably be different. I gotta admit to being surprised that Multicam was chosen as the Afghanistan pattern. But since ACU-Delta wasn't chosen there doesn't mean it's dead. It's what makes the most sense: the pattern isn't the problem with ACU, it's the coloration. All they have to do is take the pattern that they already own and change the colors. That may not be what happens, though. Regardless of what they choose, there's gonna be a lot of ACU gear and clothing that nobody will buy unless it's at sub-giveaway prices (and not even then) once the new pattern comes out. Police departments will use it because they'll get it free through the DRMO system. They won't pay anything for the gear in ACU because cops are notoriously cheap. It figures; they don't make a lot of money.

So, I guess the summation of all this is that the trends for this year will just be the trends of last year. Stand pat and see what happens will be the rule of the day. Kind of a bummer, really.

Who's an idiot? This guy!

Don't know what exactly I did, but I seem to have misaligned something in my shoulder and it's not working itself out as quickly as I would like. But, since I'll be out of town for Christmas and New Year's and then SHOT in the middle of January, I probably won't have a lot of opportunity to shoot. At least not weekly like I typically do.

So instead of doing what I should, treating the injury and resting it (and pondering going to a chiropractor), my stupid ass is gonna shoot a match tomorrow. There are better shooters than me there, so it's unlikely that I'd win anyway. How much damage could I possibly do? Guess we'll find out! If I cripple myself, I guess I won't be shooting for a few days.

Missapplication of Principles: Motor Skills and Hick's Law

Some things refuse to go away. The items in the title being used incorrectly to illustrate a point are the ones that are my biggest of pet peeves. It's not that they don't exist or aren't factors, it's that they are misapplied as descriptors and misunderstood. And much of the time, they are used as a basis for advocating one technique over another, giving a false picture.

Most often, the gross vs. fine motor skill argument is used to advocate slide grabbing a pistol rather than using the slide stop. Now, to be clear, I use, and as far back as I can remember, have always used, the slide stop to run the slide. However, I don't care what technique is used as long as one isn't getting chosen over the other on bad information. If you're gonna be a slide grabber, go ahead and be a slide grabber. Just don't tell me it's a "gross motor skill, which you'll revert to under pressure." That simple can't be true.

OK, so what's a gross motor skill? By definition, a gross motor skill is a movement that uses large muscle groups. In terms of using a gun, the easy definition to understand is that gross motor skills are everything that happens above the wrist. A fine motor skill, by contrast, is anything that happens below the wrist. The argument is that the ability to do fine motor skills deteriorates under pressure, and that is, of course, true. But examine that a little more closely, and you'll find that it doesn't hold up to scrutiny. Consider this: if you can't use your thumb to release the slide via the slide stop and must grab the slide over the top to do that job, how can you possibly use that same thumb to release an empty or faulty magazine, or control the trigger with the index finger from that same hand? I'm not saying that slide grabbing is wrong; it's a valid technique and it works. Just don't tell me the reason to choose it over running the slide stop is that I can't use that thumb and index finger. If that were true, nobody would ever be purposefully shot because the hands wouldn't work at all.

Incidentally, the reason I chose to run the slide stop is because I put both techniques on the timer, and running the slide stop is considerably faster. The timer is the way I've proven, or had proven, different ways of doing things with a gun. Except in terms of it's use by politicians, time doesn't lie.

Which leads us to Hick's Law. I won't bother going into the history of it, because the Internet doesn't care about that when they're misusing it anyway. In short form, Hick's Law says that it takes your mind too long to choose between two tactics. Worse with three! Therefore, I will show you one response." In terms of raw choices, that's true. If you give an untrained person choices, they'll struggle and make errors in attempting to complete the task as they try to pick a way to do it. No argument there, but this post is about arguments, so what's my beef with it? That beef is, once again, the Law being misapplied. 


Anyone who's been around shooting and training for any period of time has no doubt heard the phrase "another tool for the toolbox". But, just as it is with a mechanic, just having the tool doesn't mean much. In the hands of the professional mechanic, the right tool is the fast way to get a job done, and done correctly. It's really no different at the core of fighting with weapons. The tool doesn't really become a tool until you...pay close attention here, here's the difference maker...until you MASTER it. Obviously having a choice and not knowing exactly how to use it in a pressure situation won't help much. But master that skill, and combine it with other mastered skills, and you have the gunfighter that nobody wants to go against. One last example: consider Anderson Silva, UFC Middleweight Champion for quite some time now. He's got kicking skills from muay Thai and karate, a black belt in Brazilian Jui Jitsu for ground fighting, and has knocked out just about everybody he's faced with precision striking skills. Watch him fight, and you'll see a fighter who mixes techniques as he sees fit, and there's no lag time between them. Why is that? The skills have been MASTERED. 


For the Love of Pete, if you're going to make an argument for or against a particular technique, make sure the reasons you use are valid. I'd rather hear somebody say "I prefer to do it that way, I'm more confident and comfortable with it" than to misapply physiological or psychological principles in the process. That crap won't go away once it gets out there.

Musically unusual

In what seems like a different lifetime, I was a bass player. I did that for about 12 years until I came to a couple of conclusions: first, I wasn't creative or talented enough at it to get anywhere with it, and second, other musicians, especially guitar players, are typically a PITA to work with.Being in bands just got old, although I loved playing live. I got to play in a house band for a little while that played Sunday nights at the church in an attempt to try a different format. That was back in the '90's, but I still remember it fondly because my brother was the drummer at the time. He's a bass player now. It was a big church, and the attendance was pretty good. There were probably in the neighborhood of 700 people there that night. Good times.

Another conclusion I reached was that I would never be as good as either of these guys. Two of my favorite bassists are Victor Wooten with Bela Fleck and the Flecktones and Otiel Burbridge with Aquarium Rescue Unit. Besides that these guys create these huge grooves, they're capable of doing anything, so there's improv in there within driving the song. It's an amazing talent that very few have.

Victor is probably the best overall bassist in the world, in my book. I love that he's so dynamic and forceful within the very unusual framework of The Flecktones, and he can do all that with only four strings. Take a listen to this:


Otiel Burbridge is...I dunno how to describe him except a groove machine. When I first heard these guys, I knew the bassist was black, but I was pretty sure the rest of 'em were, too. Surprise! Otiel plays a six string, but he uses all of it, and what he plays with all those strings drives the song...and he can sing his solos, too. ARU might just suck without him.

Bass players make everything better...just as much as guitarists make everything difficult. LOL!

Love/Hate of the seasons

Ugh. I tell ya what, I love the changing of the seasons and how landscapes totally change. I see that and I'm sure the Big Bang is total hooey. But where the hate part comes in is with these wild fluctuations in the weather, specifically humidity levels or temperature. When the weather changes, it's awful hard on the old man.

I'm feeling like crap this morning because my sinuses are a mess, and that's because overnights have been cold and dry. The high today should be around 85. It's been really dry (relatively) in the south lately, so the humidity is going shoot back up, and I'll be able to feel that in my knees. It ain't all that fun.

It's one of those situations that just is, I guess. There's only two seasons in California: warm and beautiful and the few days of rain and jacket weather. Here in KY we have a hot, humid summer followed by a short fall and a humid, cold winter with ice and snow. Spring is my favorite time, but it's short, too. The season changes tend to be abrupt, and it just beats me up.

I'll put up with it because I'm not giving up my guns.

I don't wanna do that, it's hard.

Another revelation: I don't practice what's hard often enough. Over the past several weeks, I've devoted range time to doing those things that I'm not good at, don't practice that much, and frankly don't use often but still have a need to know.

As I've mentioned before, my ammo budget is about a hundred rounds a week. With that small number of rounds, what I do with them becomes much more important. I end up asking myself where the best value is, whether that's in working on improving what I'll probably need all the time, or some things I may need in a limited number of circumstances. The bottom line is, ya never know. I try to consider that I may end up in a fight that's outside the statistics. With my luck, it seems like that'd be a virtual certainty, but there's no way to determine that. To that end, I've decided it's worth some practice time to try to improve those areas.

Those areas are longer range pistol shooting (25 yards) and one handed shooting, both with strong and weak hand. One handing I'm passable with, by that I mean if I only had one hand, I can lay on some accurate fire. With so little ammo available, there's no way I'm ever going to get really good at it, but at least I don't start over from square one every time. I'm left eye dominant, which makes shooting lefty a little easier...but probably not enough to notice. Perhaps the only real advantage I have is that I can be at the range as long as it takes and I don't have to worry about anybody but me. The flip side of that is that I'm the only one of the guys I shoot with that isn't married. I think I'm also getting decent at making myself practice under all kinds of conditions. What else am I gonna do? All my home boys have wives. LOL!

Trying to get organized with practice

My ammo budget is rather limited these days. What am I saying...it's always been limited. I love what I do, but I'm not getting rich doing it. I'll take donations, in case either of my readers were wondering.

Once again, I digress! The point is that with a limited budget, maximizing the value of each round becomes critical to being able to improve. To that end, I've attempted to get more organized with what I'm practicing. This came about because there will hopefully be a Classifier shot at our club again soon, so a couple weeks ago I decided to bring the Classifier COF out to the range to reference and to work on what I didn't do very well on. There are parts of that test that I don't work on much, such as one handed and weak hand shooting. Other parts, like shooting and moving, come easy to me, thanks to about ten years in marching bands. Having that course of fire to base practice on was very useful. The actual Classifier is a 90 round exercise, so it works pretty good as a practice test.

If you've been reading here for a while, you may have noticed that I really like shooting with Matt E. It used to be Matt and Paul J, but Paul punked out and decided to move home, get married to a wonderful lady and go to college instead of staying here and shooting with me and Matt. He may have made the right choice, but the jury is deliberating. ;)

Anyway, Matt and I have, in the recent past, shot some interesting Standards, including the 10-8, Hackathorn, and the Operator Standards. There are others, including Kyle Defoor's, the FBI's, and more. The nice thing about these is that they're not incredible wazoo difficult tests, but in the aggregate, your score will suffer if you have a weakness in any of the tested areas.

Now, hopefully in the near future Chris W and Bo R. will be added to the clan, once they get memberships to the range. Both of these dudes are excellent shooters, and good guys to train with. Along with Casey B, that'll make five of us that shoot together, and points out the need to get organized. What I hope to do at some point is to put together a calendar and have everybody have a particular day to bring whatever COF they want to use, whether it's downloaded from somewhere or made up before hand. So, I've begun the collecting of COF's and compiling them in a binder and separating them by type of firearm (handgun, carbine, or both). I'm hoping this will be an easy resource to maximize limited ammunition.

I'm also pondering getting shirts made and having an informal "team" for the monthly matches. The name's picked out, but I have to check with a buddy of mine that does small run custom printed t-shirts. That part could be fun, and has the potential to get big. Have to see where that goes somewhere down the line.

My job doesn't suck: flash suppressors and cans in the dark

My bro Matt and I spent last night on the range, doing some night shooting, and testing flash suppressors and several of Surefire's cans. The only downside to last night's festivities was that there was no photos or video.

We found out several things: fiber optic sights are as useless at night as white dot or black sights are for being seen by old eyes. My MnP and G17, which were the guns I grabbed holsters for (Safariland ALS with X300's using the MLS system), both lack night sights, but I have lights on both, which makes night sights somewhat less important. The steel plate bay we were shooting in was slightly back-lit by a security light up on the ridge (the range is in a former quarry) and my FO front sight just became a black front sight on a black target at night. I couldn't see it at all. With the light on, the front sight profile stands out, but that leads to the next issue.

There's a bit of a recurring theme with ammunition: smokeless powder isn't really smokeless; it just smokes less than black powder does. I was using some PMC Bronze 115 gr. FMJ 9mm, which is decent ammo in terms of consistency and accuracy...at least in terms of bulk ammo. It's also really smoky. That doesn't matter much during the day, but at night, with sights that aren't particularly visible and a bright light on the gun, the smoke obscures everything. The wind was non-existent for most of the night, so smoke stayed where it was. Waiting for it to clear was an eye opener.

We tested the Surefire 212A on a few different guns: Colt and BCM lowers with Mk 18 and 416 10" uppers, and my 16" carbine. To compare against, we used Matt's BCM 14.5" M4 style upper with a KAC QD flash hider. We shot some 55 gr. Winchester, 68 gr. M855 and 77 gr. ball similar to Mk 262. The difference in flash was dramatic, even though I expected that with the 212A being a longer unit. Even so, I was very impressed with the flash reduction. So far, just about the best I've seen, rivaled by the Smith Vortex. The big difference to me is that I can run a Surefire suppressor on it and it doesn't ring after every shot.

Next we did a little test of the M300 vs. the M600, and how far they reach. Again, the air was still, and smoke made a big impact, even with Matt running the 212 on is 416 and me running the Mini on Schwaggie. Out to about 35 or 40 yards, there's not too much practical difference, but as the distance increases, the M300 doesn't have the reach. Where that really matters is in being able to see the edges of the target. Seeing the edges makes centering the target much easier. We were shooting a steel plate about the size of a B27 silhouette. Past 50 and out to 75, I shot the plate while Matt lit it up with the M600, and we moved all the way back to 100, but with the M300 getting hits were more a matter of guesstimating and basically remembering where the target was. Under the weather conditions we had-hot, humid and dead still at 10 o'clock at night-it got tough to really define the target with the M300.

We also found that at about 25 yards, hammering a steel target with a rifle and a tac light at night at high speed is a heck of a lot of fun. Just wish I had gotten some pics.

The wait is over: The OBR has landed

In my previous cryptic post, I mentioned something was supposed to arrive and something was gonna happen with something. Or something. It has, in fact, happened: on Friday afternoon, my Larue Tactical OBR was delivered. It was a happy, happy day.

 

There's a little more to the story, though. Here's the back story.

I got the notification that my rifle was shipping and was to arrive on Wednesday, the 20th. It only takes a couple days to go from LRT to ATS, so I was expecting to have it Wednesday afternoon. While watching the tracking info, I was dismayed to see that the package had an intercept and return request on it. I knew that could be done, but I'd never seen it before. After running though a number of scenarios that didn't make a lot of sense, I called Larue and asked them. By this time, it's fairly late in the day, and everyone in the shipping department had left for the day. The sales guy who took my call, though, promised to research it first thing in the morning and call me back.

Oh, look! Sub-back story! It's like Dennis Miller is writing this article. I'm the admin of the Lightfighter forum, which is most definitely a pro-LRT place, and has been for a very long time. Because of that history, Mark Larue offered a special rifle to the moderators of said forum. My rifle originally came with UDE furniture, but my buddy Joe wanted that color furniture for a project, so he swapped me black for UDE. Somewhere in this post I've got a photo or photos of the logo that LRT applied for these guns.

LRT did, in fact, get right back to me. Turns out that after my rifle had shipped, mark saw the logo on another receiver and wasn't happy with it. He had it recalled and fixed. Mark's known to be a perfectionist; it showed in this case. So, they fixed that logo and still got the rifle back out to me to arrive by Friday. How cool is that? No wonder so many think so highly of  Larue. Here's the end version of the logo:

I took it out and got it on paper after the IDPA match on Saturday. It was bloody hot again, and there's no overhead cover on the rifle half of the range. The upper and lower fit so tightly that I gave up on boresighting. I did get 'em apart when I got home, but I was already baking trying to get 'em apart at the range, and decided to just shoot it. I don't have a precise zero because I didn't have the precise distance. It was so dang hot that I wasn't as concerned about that as I was about being close enough to only adjust a little when I did zero "for real". I plan to dope with 168's, but had 150's to get close with. Pretty darn pleased overall, though, even with sweat running into my eyes.

As to the specifics of the rifle: its an 18" barrel, with collapsing Magpul CTR stock, with the LRT RISR. Trigger is a two stage Geisselle match unit. It's awesome. The bipod is the Harris BRM-S with the Larue LT130 QD mount, and the scope mount is the Larue LT111 OBR QD mount. The rifle came with a Magpul 7.62, 20 round magazine, but so far I've only used the two LRT mags. They worked flawlessly.

The scope is the new Weaver Tactical 4-20X50, 30 mm tube. It's FFP (first focal plane; the reticle gets larger with magnification) and has side focus, a very handy feature. It's MOA adjustments with a mil-dot reticle. The glass is as clear as some much more expensive scopes; the clarity is outstanding. I haven't tested the tracking yet, but reviews say that it tracks excellently. They retail about $750 and are a very good buy.

 

Also of note: the iron sights are the Dueck Defense 1 o'clock offset units, available through Surefire and their authorized dealers. They're a set of A2 sights set up to allow addressing close range targets without changing magnification of the scope or some variation of point shooting. All you have to do is lift the elbow. I borrowed these from a friend from Surefire. I've fooled around with it a bit, but I really wanted to work 'em out and give 'em a good going over.

I couldn't be happier, Larue Tactical rules, and everybody needs one o' these bad boys!

The waiting is the hardest part

I have a new toy on it's way to me...or something. I shoulda had it a couple days ago, but there are interesting reasons why I don't. So, instead of making several posts that don't have the whole saga, I'm gonna wait a bit and write one post to cover it all. I know that's horribly cryptic, but it'll make sense once it's in hand.

I will say this: normally, when stuff doesn't show up, it's because somebody dropped the ball. That's not the case this time. I think you'll be impressed with the steps taken.

are 9mm, .40 and .45 really all the same?

Since there's a push on for small carry pistols and everybody seems to want to buy them for carrying (not much for shooting, but a lot for carrying), there appears to be a feeling running through the Intardweb that the 9mm, .40 and .45 are all the same, with all kinds of gun store BS sayings to go along with defending the little guns.

Consider this: if all you could have, if the only option available was eight rounds, would you want them to be 9mm or .45? Not all the same.

Undecided and decided: The Magpul BAD Lever and X300 DG switch

I added a Magpul Battery Assist Device, AKA The BAD Lever, to Schwaggie on Thursday-Thanks Joe!-and worked it out a little bit on Saturday, before being overtaken by events, and by events I mean a need for a Large Double Bacon Cheeseburger from Becky's Country Cafe in Woodlawn, TN.

Overall, I'm convinced of the utility of the part. It makes reloading faster, which is a good thing. Eject the empty magazine, insert the fresh magazine, perform push/pull, and while re-gripping the fore end, the index finger of the firing hand releases the bolt and prepares to resume firing. The thing is, this is something that requires training and a good bit of practice to do safely. The issue I found was that going to the trigger was automatic, which is not a good thing when the task at hand is activating the BAD. In other words, it's very easy to take a swipe at the lever with the index finger, and continue curving in to the face of the trigger. That's something that can be trained around, but it's not just a quickly overcome action. The upside is that the bolt can be released conventionally, with the support hand as well, so the rifle will operate normally even with the lever installed. If anything, it makes the paddle of the bolt release a little bigger and easier to press. Mine installed with no issues whatsoever. Make sure the part works as it should with your rifle before you go to a fight with it. I know, but some people need to be told everything, especially the obvious.

The utility is there; there are good reasons for running this part. However, it's not like a rail panel; it can't just be dropped in and mastered without practice. With practice, once again it's a winner of a part from the crew at Magpul. The reason this company comes out with so many popular parts isn't because they're cheap (they're reasonably priced and a fine value, certainly not cheap) or because SEAL Team 6(3+4)*(34/2)^10 uses them. It's because those guys shoot and apply what they know and learn.

Also on Thursday I obtained a DG Switch for the Surefire X300 on my MnP FS. I also took this new part to the range and tried it out as well. While not necessarily perfect-it requires the firing hand to trigger it, which means that a tightened firing hand grip is needed; not necessarily desirable for marksmanship. It does make triggering the light about a million times easier than using the support hand thumb. The key is learning the grip pressure needed to trigger it. If it comes to firing the gun, the light's gonna be on. What I'm learning is the nuances of the switch pressure to be able to keep the light in the "off" condition. This thing is the HEAT! Go get a DG switch for your X300, but because it's a better way, not because DG stands for DevGru, which it does. With Surefire products, it's pretty easy to tell the ones that were designed with their team of shooter's input. The DG switch is one of those parts.

Latest pics of Schwaggie

Apparently, the rule is "take a photo, then change something again." I just shot these on Saturday evening, and then Saturday night I switched the QD swivel point to the opposite side of the stock to help the rifle hang better on the sling. The stock is pretty nice. It's a bit longer than most of the other stocks on the market. I had a CTR on this rifle about a week ago, and could run that stock all the way out. This one I run in a couple notches...or out a few notches, depending on which direction you count. It's a little heavy, but not a deal breaker in terms of weight.


I was not intending to go with an FDE color scheme, its just that FDE was the color that came to me. To that end, I kinda wish I'd grabbed a black mag, but the tan one was on top of the pile. It looks like I'm gonna be getting some XTM panels in the near future (and a BAD lever), so I'll probably do that checkerboard kind of thing, just because I can. I'm not what I would call a Magpul fanboy, it's just that they make good stuff and it finds its way to me pretty often. They sell a ton of stuff, so it would figure that some of it would get distributed to those in a position to give it to me. :)

Also new to Schwaggie is the Surefire 212A flash suppressor. It works pretty well as a brake, it works like WHOA as a flash suppressor. It's a bit longer than most, so on a 16" barrel it's reaching out there a bit, but not bad enough to do anything about. Next time it'll probably be on a 14.5" and permanently attached, but this barrel has a lot of life yet. The rifle money is already earmarked elsewhere, so I'm not sure where that 14.5 is coming from just yet.

Anyway! On to the new photos.