XS R3D Night Sights for CZ P-10 C Optics-Ready and Glock 43, 43x and 48 MOS Pistols
Fort Worth, Texas (January 11, 2022) – XS® Sights is pleased to extend its R3D Night Sight offerings for CZ and Glock pistols with the addition of standard height R3D sights for the CZ P-10 C Optics-Ready pistol and suppressor height models for Glock 43, 43x, and 48 MOS pistols.
Available with a bright Orange or Green Glow Dot front sight, the XS R3D has a traditional 3-dot tritium, notch and post sight picture with a notch that is 15% wider than the front sight, allowing more visible light around the front sight. This space, combined with the XS Glow Dot technology, makes it easier to see the front sight in changing light conditions and when shooting on the move. It also aids in faster sight alignment and increased accuracy.
“The Glow Dot technology in our R3D front sight activates even before the tritium is visible, giving those who prefer a 3-dot notch and post sight picture a significant edge in high-stress situations,” said Addison Monroe, Marketing Manager for XS Sights. “The R3D front dot also
glows brighter than the two-dot tritium rear which drives your focus downrange and prevents you from mistaking a rear dot for the front sight when your adrenaline is surging.”
Retail Price: $110 to $123
For more information, visit www.xssights.com.
All XS Sights are backed by a 10-year, No Questions Asked Warranty and XS’s 30-Day Satisfaction Guarantee.
About XS Sights
XS Sights is known for making the fastest sights in any light. For more than 25 years, the XS team has created some of the most innovative sights on the market today for pistols, rifles, and shotguns. Whether used for personal defense or hunting, these sights are designed and built to be the absolute best for their specific purpose. American Made. Texas Proud. 2A Strong.
Woods Nobo Tomahwk by CRKT
I’ve always thought tomahawks were kind of cool. Maybe it’s because I was ten when the Patriot came out. Maybe it’s because they have a rich history. Maybe, it’s just because they’re cool. I never got into the world of the tactical tomahawk. Many of my peers carried them and used them rather successfully as tools in rural Afghanistan. However, I liked the more traditional appearance of the tomahawk. Kinda like the Nobo.
Something one of Roger’s Rangers would have carried, not something an operator would carry. I never put a lot of effort into finding one, but as Christmas drifted around, the CRKT Nobo caught my eye. Unlike most modern tomahawks, it’s not tactical. It’s like the Fudd version of a tomahawk.
It’s Got Wood!
Yep, no fancy nylons, polymers, or full tang metal designs. It’s a long wooden handle, and that’s it! At first glance, I was reminded of the film the Patriot. Don’t get me wrong, Mel’s is a fair bit different than mine, but the aesthetic of wood on metal captured my eye. The single-sided ax head didn’t pack a hammer, spike, or anything else opposite the blade.
The Woods Nobo is as simple as simple gets in its design. CRKT teamed up with Ryan Johnson of RMJ Tactical to design the Woods Nobo. The handle is Tennesee Hickory, and the blade’s made from 1055 carbon steel. The combination presents a cool, classic, and affordable tomahawk design.
The handle is quite long, and it gives plenty of room for two-handed swings. I’m purchasing a tool I plan to enjoy using as much as I enjoy looking at. The handle measures out to over 19 inches, and that’s plenty for most uses. It keeps it a little shorter than a short ax but longer than most tomahawks.
1055 carbon steel isn’t much to brag about, but it’s sufficient for tomahawk tasks. It’s budget-priced steel that is known more for its durability and impact resistance more than its insanely sharp edges. Valuing impact resistance with a tomahawk makes a lot of sense.
Setting Up the Nobo
The Nobo comes with a handle separate from the head. Installing the head on the handle takes no time. Slide it down, align it, and then beat the top of the handle onto something hard to seat the handle. Adding an ax head wedge might ensure it never moves, but I didn’t do so.
The blade is 3.47 inches, and in total, the whole setup weighs about 1.5 pounds. The edge is plain, and the beard of the ax has a sharpened edge as well. It does come with a relatively dull blade. So I took a puck to it and learned how to sharpen a tomahawk as best I could. I went slow but ended up doing a half-decent job.
It’s fairly easy to sharpen, and the angle is evident. I took my name to ensure I counted strokes and repeated them, and was pleased with my work.
Bringing the Heat
By bringing the heat, I mean doing yard work. Until the redcoats invade, I don’t think I’ll be fighting a guerilla war, so my enemies are the constant encroaching jungle that is the Florida rain forest. Thus, I was thrust into a war of greenery. I dished out attack after attack on small turkey oaks, on limbs hanging too low, and against palmettos that wouldn’t stop!
The ability to use two hands became quite handy at some thicker small trees. More hands make less work, and less work equals less fatigue. I chewed through some thicket and emerged with nothing more than a good sweat. The round handle of the Nobo is quite comfortable and allows you to get a good no-slip grip.
I might carve some checkering to improve the grip. Winter in Florida isn’t like most winters, but my hands weren’t drenched with sweat as they’d be in Florida summer. The Tenessee hickory handle is a blank canvas for you to design and change up as you see fit.
I didn’t develop any hot spots, blisters, or pain after a few hours of chopping, hauling, and burning. The blade on the beard of the ax isn’t a downside, but I don’t see much use for it. Unless I need to hook a guy’s shield or board a ship. Luckily if you choke up on the Nobo blade for more precise cuts, it won’t touch your hand or get in the way.
Slice and Dice
The CRKT Nobo Tomahawk satisfies my need to grip a wooden handle ax and to deliver chopping blows on both redcoats and palmetto bushes. It’s a budget hawk that won’t necessarily be innovative. However, it’s a competent tool that brings an old-school cool flavor to the market.
‘Ban high-capacity magazines and assault weapons’
By The Seattle Times editorial board
Yep… it’s apparently blame the guns time… again. Those pesky high-capacity guns are capacityingly highly and that just cannot be allowed! Think of all the murder (while ignoring that handguns account for most of the murder)! Think of it!! But not.. like.. objectively or critically or anything, you might start putting threats into context then.
Gun violence killed more than 20,000 Americans in 2021, according to the Gun Violence Archive. It was a deadly year across the country, and early data suggests that Washington was no exception, building on what was already a record-breaking 2020.
Imagine a year where drastic social upheaval and shutting down livelihoods resulted in an increase in crime and violence due to the much higher stress on everyone. Throw into that mix a contentious election, riots endorsed by political figures, and very high racial tensions due to shoots and slayings by law enforcement that caused additional pressure on an already stressful pandemic situation. Imagine… oh wait, that was reality. A complex social mix that got a violent shift to a “new normal” with wildly shifting rules and a massive dose of government distrust from all political groups. The government provided a shining example during this period of just how biased they were to their particular teams and that they had no intention of providing a coherent leadership plan if it would possibly aid the other team.
There are no easy answers to address the surge, but the Legislature must show that it can be part of the solution by passing common-sense bans on assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines.
Wait… there is no easy answer, but let’s just ban these things without corroborating data that it will solve the problem? That would make this an easy answer then, common sense right? But there is no easy answer, just do it anyway? Because, ‘AH SCARY!’
For an unbelievable five consecutive sessions, lawmakers have failed to act on these viable proposals, with legislation dying before even reaching a floor vote in the House or the Senate, both controlled by Democrats.
That seems to indicate that they weren’t viable. Viable: capable of working successfully; feasible. Perhaps the biological definition is more accurate here. Viable: capable of surviving or living successfully, especially under particular environmental conditions.
It didn’t make it, it wasn’t viable.
Assault weapons and large-capacity magazines, commonly defined as magazines holding more than 10 rounds, have been used in some of the deadliest U.S. shootings, including at a Las Vegas concert in 2017, where 60 people died, and the 2019 El Paso Walmart shooting that claimed 23 lives.
And in Chicago where.. oh, wait we ignore those murders. Those don’t count. Also don’t point to any shooting where a shotgun was used, a handgun was used, or anywhere another method of injury was used, like arson or a vehicle. Definitely don’t say the name Timothy followed by McVeigh.
Never point out the illogic in that banning ‘these’ items does nothing to move the needle on available methods of injury for mass slaughter should somebody choose to exercise that drastic and devastating agency of their will.
“I just don’t understand when people say, ‘well, that’s not going to really get at all the gun violence.’ Of course, it’s not,” said Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson. “But it’s hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel if we can’t even get bills like these across the finish line in Olympia.”
Bob, it isn’t going to get any of the gun violence. None. Your entire premise is that if we banned one method of injury someone chose in the past, and will again in the future, you will somehow, in some unfathomable way, prevent a person intent on mass murder from choosing any number of other viable methods of injury.
Just say you want to ban all guns, Bob. Just say it. Stop lying.
Ferguson has been pushing for these bans for years and believes that restrictions on high-capacity magazines are within reach this session. He points to the changing makeup of the Legislature, including the exit of legislation opponent Sen. Steve Hobbs to become secretary of state. There is also the recent decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that upheld California’s ban on the sale of high-capacity magazines.
After the Ban was struck down. Don’t forget that the ban was and is on life support. It has only survived due to politically friendly courts, not common sense. This will probably end up in front of SCOTUS, they’ve gone this far with it and SCOTUS is not likely to rule favorably (to their opinions)
Nine states and the District of Columbia already ban high-capacity magazines, and seven federal courts of appeal have upheld the laws. There is no reason for Washington not to follow.
Appeals courts have a long history of not rocking the boat in their regions when it comes to firearm law. They tend to try and let the issues quietly tie themselves up in court.
High-capacity magazines are often used in mass shootings because they reduce the need for the shooter to stop and reload. No outdoor fun, no afternoon at the gun range, will be disrupted by prohibiting devices that have little function beyond making it easier to kill.
Says a group clearly not familiar with any form of competitive shooting or firearm proficiency training. A group clearly no familiar with ‘an afternoon at the gun range’. Certainly a group not familiar with the time economy of a mass casualty event or the relevant injury factors to make an informed comment.
Washingtonians have consistently shown they support gun reform. In 2014, almost 60% of voters authorized expanded background checks. In 2016, almost 70% voted to allow family members and law enforcement to petition a court to remove guns from troubled people. In 2018, nearly 60% supported Initiative 1639’s set of firearms regulations, including raising the legal purchase age of a semiautomatic rifle to 21.
The support is still creeping lower, and cherry picking the attitudes after emotive events like a mass casualty event isn’t the wisest idea either. Should we look at the American attitude towards Muslims after 9/11 to gauge how we should respond to them? Or should we, just perhaps, take samplings from cool heads with enough knowledge on a topic to have an informed opinion.
While Republican lawmakers share some of the responsibility for why these proposals have failed, continued Democratic control of the Legislature makes it harder to blame the GOP.
Yep. But those Democrats like remaining in their seats. Gun control is not a winning proposition, not since the pressure changed after Clinton’s Crime Bill (and isn’t that an ironic title) and gun owners kept caving hoping the fearful would stop at a reasonable point. The fact is there is no reasonable point, the reasonable points are already law. Murder, singular, multiple, or mass, are all as illegal as they can be. No amount of banning some weapons kinda if their scary is going to move the needle on murder. Not like an economic upswing will, not like an improvement in mental health and treatment availability will, and not like a greater and returning respect for our fellows will.
But we do like to spend a lot of time demonizing the other team. A demonized an ostracized population is easier to hate. They are easier to regard as lesser people. They are easier to convince your fellows that they would be better off without and that societies woes would start to disappear if only ‘those people’ weren’t around or would be reasonable.
That isn’t the attitude that has led to every catastrophic human rights abuse since the dawn of time though, is it?
Democrats have so far avoided forcing some of their colleagues in swing districts to make a tough vote, but lawmakers can’t be allowed to hide forever — not when their inaction could cost people their lives.
They aren’t hiding, they just aren’t as stupid as you believe they are. Even progressive and liberal leaning people are starting to see that the right to armament in the defense of yourself and your community is an apolitical one. Sure it has been embraced by individualists more than collectivists, but those collectivists have had two years and two presidents to see that perhaps the government is not the entity of stalwart reliance that they wished it was.
The CMMG FourSix – From PDW to Home Defense
Who doesn’t love a lightweight and short little AR pistol? Seriously, the smaller, the better, and CMMG likes to keep things small. Their whole line of Banshee firearms represents firearms that keep things short and light. The latest is the FourSix. The FourSix earns its name because it uses the 4.6x30mm cartridge. If you don’t know, the 4.6x30mm is the round used by the HK MP7.
HK doesn’t love us. Thus we’ve never gotten a semi-auto MP7 of any type. In general, the 4.6x30mm has been entirely ignored by the civilian market until right now. The FourSix not only delivers the first civilian 4.6x30mm platform but the first AR to utilize the 4.6x30mm round. It’s a neat combination.
Unlike most of the Banshee series, the FourSix doesn’t use a radial delayed system but uses a standard direct impingement design. This ensures not only reliability but an extremely low amount of recoil. CMMG uses a micro-length gas system and a micro gas block. It’s a neat design that works extremely well. The 4.6x30mm generates enough gas to reliably run the gun, so why not?
But Why 4.6x30mm?
Rounds like the 5.7×28 and the 4.6×30 aren’t quite rifle rounds and aren’t quite pistol rounds. Light rifle rounds might be the best way to describe these oddball rounds, but they typically call them PDW rounds. They fall between a mid-power rifle and pistol in most use situations as well. They don’t reach the rifle’s potential for range, power, and beyond.
However, the PDW round works well if you need a super short rifle. When you get below a certain length, the ballistic potential for a rifle round dips in most cases. The 300 Blackout is an exception to the rule, but was built for that to degree. However, whenever a rifle rounds come out of a short barrel, it’s loud, bright, and vicious.
Especially if that barrel dips below 9 inches, the FourSix packs an 8-inch barrel, and 8-inches won’t even allow the 300 Blackout to reach its peak potential. Compared to a rifle round, the 4.6x30mm lacks mass but packs a ton of range. Even out to 150 yards, it’s relatively flat and carries a punch at that range. The spitzer-style projectile flies far and penetrates deeply.
Plus, these rounds generate enough gas to reliably operate a direct impingement system. The guns stay small and very light. The FourSix weighs five pounds and six ounces. It’s super light and super handy.
Plus, why not? More options are better than less options, right?
The FourSix in Living Color
Like most CMMG Banshees, you get lots of cerakote color options, and I got the sweet green finish. It’s well done, smooth, and applied properly. The gun comes with an ambidextrous safety, an SB Tactical/CMMG Ripbrace, a Magpul pistol grip, a massive CMMG charging handle, and the tip of the barrel is tapped with a big ole CMMG SV Brake. As you’d expect, the gun has an M-LOK handguard and optic rail.
The magazines are very neat, and while they are proprietary, you don’t need to feel too much apprehension. CMMG designed the mags to fit in the lower of standard multi-cal AR, so if you want to buy a complete FourSix upper, you can use any standard lower. The magazines also fit perfectly into AR 15 magazine pouches.
The wee little FourSix magazines contain 40 rounds of the 4.6x30mm, so you have a little extra bite. Overall it’s a modern, ready-to-rock-and-roll AR pistol. The super-lightweight design makes it easy to wield with a single hand, and the short nature of the gun makes it uber maneuverable. Combine the capacity of the magazines with the short and light design, paired with a very low recoiling cartridge, and you get one heck of a stinger for home defense.
At the Range
None of the fancy calibers, features, or design makes a difference if the gun doesn’t go bang reliably. Luckily, this isn’t an issue here. Shot after shot, the gun ran cleanly and efficiently. I used the only ammo I could get, Fiocchi training ammo. I would have loved to try some more defensive-oriented ammo, but as soon as CMMG announced, the FourSix ammo dried up for it.
One of the big pros to this little cartridge is the flat shooting design. At 100 yards, in a semi-supported standing position, I rang the bell of an IPSC target repeatedly. I had nothing more than a red dot on the gun. Heck, out to 150 yards, I had to elevate a little for drop but could still ding that target easily.
Making clover-like groups at 50 yards is entirely possible. The trigger won’t blow your mind, but it’s a decent MIL-SPEC type trigger.
At most practical home defense ranges, it’s a tack driver. Driving rounds between multiple targets is a ton of fun and very easy. At 12 yards, I’d have no issues dumping five into two targets in less than 8 seconds with all the shots in the A-zone.
I’d like to talk about recoil and muzzle rise, but to be fair, there was hardly any. It was such a remarkably soft shooting and easy handling gun. The weapon feels more akin to a rimfire than a pistol or rifle caliber. The brake makes it a little louder than necessary, but it’s still an easy-handling cartridge. Muzzle flash isn’t even distinguishable. Those magazines drop free without issue and feed the gun flawlessly.
What For?
I could see a good argument at guns like the FourSix being better for home defense than a standard PCC. The rounds penetrate, and that spitzer-like design helps them deflect when they hit drywall. If you want something super light with a short barrel, the FourSix checks that box and offers a lot of firepower in a tiny package. Plus, it’s a helluva lot of fun to shoot.
Gunday Brunch 34: The Video that Froze Guntube (and some rifles)
We had to talk about it, because everyone else is. @Garand Thumb froze a bunch of rifles, some of which worked and some of which didn’t, and the internet is big mad about it. Why?
The MD:11 – Maxim’s New DI SR-25 Pattern
Maxim Defense Industries is proud to announce the launch of their new direct impingement large frame MD:11 series, a rifle based on the SR-25 cut pattern.
“The MD:11 is an updated variant of the original Stoner AR-10 design. The Direct impingement system still functions like most. There has been no serious change to the inside of the upper receiver; the gas tube forces all that gas into a key screwed atop the bolt carrier group. The gas expands inside the BCG, forcing it backwards into the buffer tube. There is no ‘chamber,’ but more of a diversion like the original design.”
The MD:11 will be available in 6.5 Creedmoor or .308 Winchester utilizing an 18 in. Proof Research carbon fiber or stainless-steel barrel. Using these barrels keeps the weight down to just 9lbs. This weapon was initially designed for United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) requirements. However, once the decision was made to commercialize the SOCOM requirement (within limits), 6.5 Creedmoor and .308 Winchester were deemed the best calibers.
It also comes standard with a carbine buffer system, B5 SOPMOD stock, and utilizes the Gisselle SSA-E trigger. Initially, they are available in three colors; Urban, Arid, and Black.
Maxim Defense MD:11 Specifications
- Model: MD:11
- Action: Direct Impingement
- Calibers: 6.5 Creedmoor & .308 Winchester
- Overall Length: 37 in.
- Barrel Length: 18 in.
- Upper/Lower Construction: Billet 7075-T6 Reciever Set
- Ambi Controls: Selector, Mag Release, Charging Handle
- Weight, w/empty 20 RND magazine: 9lbs
- Handguard Length: 15.5 in.
- Handguard Acc. Attachment: M1913/M-Lok
- Trigger Pull Weight 2.9 – 3.8 lbs.
About Us: Maxim Defense Industries is a defense development company aiming to give our military and first responders the next generation of tools and equipment to succeed in today’s most extreme environments.
The company primarily engages in small arms manufacturing producing better, lighter, and more reliable weapons and accessories. As an industrial-design-centered organization, Maxim seeks to improve and enhance existing weapons platforms alongside developing cutting-edge technologies for redefining the future.
Please visit www.maximdefense.com and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter to learn more.
The Equinox Finish Returns
SIG SAUER Custom Works Expands Equinox Elite Finish to Popular Classic Line Pistols
NEWINGTON, N.H., (January 6, 2022) – SIG SAUER is pleased to announce the expansion of the Equinox Elite Series for the P220, P226, and P229 Classic Line pistols.
“For this latest release from SIG Custom Works, we have combined one of our most popular finishes with our most popular Classic Line pistols; the two-tone Equinox treatment offers a new level of customization to these SIG favorites,” said Tom Taylor, Chief Marketing Officer and Executive Vice President, Commercial Sales, SIG SAUER, Inc. “This is a limited-run release from SIG Custom works and based on the popularity of both the Equinox finishes and these Classic Line series of pistols, we are excited to officially begin our 2022 product year with this release.”
The SIG Custom Works Equinox Elite treatment for the P220, P226, and P229 pistols features a black anodized alloy frame with black G10 grips, a two-tone Equinox polished slide with X-RAY 3 Day/Night Sights, and nickel-plated controls. SIG Custom Works pistol ships with (3) steel magazines and comes with a Limited-Edition SIG Custom Works case, coin, and certificate of authenticity.
P220 Equinox Elite:
Caliber: .45ACP
Overall length: 7.7 inches
Overall height: 5.5 inches
Overall width: 1.3 inches
Barrel length: 4.4 inches
Sight Radius: 6.3inches
Weight (w/magazine): 30.4 oz.
P226 Equinox Elite:
Caliber: 9mm
Overall length: 7.7 inches
Overall height: 5.5 inches
Overall width: 1.5 inches
Barrel length: 4.4 inches
Sight Radius: 6.3inches
Weight (w/magazine): 34 oz.
P229 Equinox Elite:
Caliber: 9mm
Overall length: 7.4 inches
Overall height: 5.4 inches
Overall width: 1.5 inches
Barrel length: 3.9 inches
Sight Radius: 5.7inches
Weight (w/magazine): 30.1 oz.
The SIG Custom Works Equinox Elite Series pistols are now shipping and available at retailers; to learn more visit sigsauer.com.
About SIG SAUER, Inc.
SIG SAUER, Inc. is a leading provider and manufacturer of firearms, electro-optics, ammunition, airguns, suppressors, and training. For over 250 years SIG SAUER, Inc. has evolved, and thrived, by blending American ingenuity, German engineering, and Swiss precision. Today, SIG SAUER is synonymous with industry-leading quality and innovation which has made it the brand of choice amongst the U.S. Military, the global defense community, law enforcement, competitive shooters, hunters, and responsible citizens. Additionally, SIG SAUER is the premier provider of elite firearms instruction and tactical training at the SIG SAUER Academy. Headquartered in Newington, New Hampshire, SIG SAUER has over 2,700 employees across eleven locations. For more information about the company and product line visit: sigsauer.com.
The ‘Official’ Announcement of the CSX from S&W
The SHOT announcements are rolling in folks, Smith & Wesson has dropped the full details on the CSX.
INTRODUCING the SMITH & WESSON® CSX™: a durable micro-compact, all-metal, hammer-fired pistol with a staggering 10+1 and 12+1 capacity, crisp & light single-action trigger pull, and superior ergonomics.
Proven metal construction and modern performance, the all-new CSX™.The more I look at it, the more I like it. If that trigger doesn’t get hung up on at all with the safety design it’ll move and shoot very well I’m confident.
SHOT 2022 vs. Omicron
With more quiet announcements of companies holding back from SHOT Show, the questions continue to circle on whether or not Nevada or Las Vegas are going to give our largest trade show the pass to keep going.
The NSSF shows no signs of not wanting to hold the show, vendors want to show off their new toys, but everyone seems to be quietly looking at the government and waiting for them to say, “JK, no show for you guys.”
Even with companies holding back to safeguard employees and limit disruptions, SHOT is still looking to be well attended. Companies have held remote events in the past and some are probably going to hold them still, even if they don’t put a crew on the show floor itself. The amount of communication that the industry as a whole initiates during that week is hard to quantify. The effect of everyone tuning into one place (tuning, for the younger crowd, is something
But even with the shorter quarantines, and whatever the CDC is recommending this particular hour of the day, the process makes it a monumental effort for a company to get into Vegas and out again with their teams. Masking, testing, and the requirements of the Vegas strip are going to clash with the normal traffic flow of a trade show.
Many a team a ready to get together and make it work anyway, I think this is all going to rest on the .GOV side. Omicron is still surging in its infection arch, and while much less dangerous than Delta was when it was the dominant mutation everyone is sick and tired of being sick and tired… and quarantined for 5, 10, 14, X*Y/3Z number of days.
Remote work is great, but certain things need the office and the shop floors up and operating. Period.
So I don’t blame companies for making the call to not take the disruption. Can’t blame them for pulling back to skeleton crews and setting it up so that they can control the disruption as much as possible, especially if their teams do catch something, Omicron or otherwise. Based upon quarantine alone, the time sink for SHOT is doubled from years past. There is nothing NSSF or anyone else can do to change that, the CDC and the states are the ones doing the driving.
I’m hoping we see the show. I’m hoping the vendors get the turnout and we see business starting to flow back forward in a more normal fashion. But the long and the short of it is until we’re through the door, it isn’t known.
New Armorers Block for AR Platforms – XS Sights
Fort Worth, Texas (January 4, 2022) – XS® Sights is pleased to introduce its newest armorers block for AR platforms. The XS AR Upper & Lower Receiver Armorers Block is designed to allow gunsmiths or do-it-yourself enthusiasts to hold an AR-15/M4, AR-10, SR-25 or DPMS GII receiver in a bench-mounted vise to assemble, modify or maintain almost every AR pattern modern sporting rifle available.
“Most armorers blocks will only fit one specific style AR rifle,” said Addison Monroe, Marketing Manager for XS Sights. “Our gen 2 block provides versatility, allowing the user to work on upper and lower receivers of almost any AR pattern rifle. It’s virtually a one-size-fits-all solution.”
Made in the USA from 6061 T6 aluminum, the versatile, durable, and reliable XS Armorers Block comes with pins to lock in the receiver and fitment screw for the AR 15 lower. To allow bracing into the mag well of AR10 lowers, XS offers a 3D printed adaptor plate for purchase. For those who prefer to print their own, access to prints for the adaptor plate are available free of charge at xssights.com. The Armors Block works with a DPMS patterned 308, DPMS GII, Armalite Rifle, and standard AR 15/10 pattern rifles.
Retail Price: $83.00
For more information, visit www.xssights.com.
All XS Sights are backed by a 10-year, No Questions Asked Warranty and XS’s 30-Day Satisfaction Guarantee.
About XS Sights
XS Sights is known for making the fastest sights in any light. For more than 25 years, the XS team has created some of the most innovative sights on the market today for pistols, rifles, and shotguns. Whether used for personal defense or hunting, these sights are designed and built to be the absolute best for their specific purpose. American Made. Texas Proud. 2A Strong.
Breaking the Ice – More Thoughts on Garand Thumb’s Frozen Rifles
The GunTube video still breaking FanBoi hearts and minds has certainly generated buzz.
But the information illustrated is actually important.
Why?
Water incidents happen in the cold. You trip and fall in a creek or river, you break through the ice walking around (or even across) a lake. These things do occur in the cold, and being that it was 20 degrees this morning walking outside, I figured I would extrapolate a little from the video.
Especially the latter test, where the rifles were thoroughly soaked, most of the guns ‘failed’ the test. They were rendered inoperable as their actions or fire control was frozen beyond working. Except the AK’s, the true AK’s that is, the Galil’s controls froze up too.
Comparing the light and heavy water intrusion tests, several things come to the forefront. Lets address them.
The AK’s “won”
The AK’s performed well for two observable reasons, both having to do with the safety selector design.
1.) The selector keeps the water intrusion into the action, which is already generously spacious, down to a point others (like the M1A) did not. The trigger mechanism did not freeze up and the springs provided enough force to get passed what icing occured.
2.) The selector has the best leverage to push past interference from ice, and the generous space inside with the lever’s design allows it to overcome buildup that will stop less spacious designs. The AK’s safety system is big. The lever is a huge piece of stamped steel you can get much greater force upon and the internal U-block that stops the fire control’s motion spans the whole receiver body. It is big, you can leverage it, and it doesn’t have any crucial points where ice build up can easily stop it.
What happened with my favorite, the SCAR?
The interesting part for the SCAR is in the first test. Where the action was running sluggishly due to the light freezing around it. The design keeps the working parts very well sealed, however ice can freeze around the closed system and that ice needed to be worked out. For the rifle to resume working. Of all the systems tested, this one would appear to be the one most easily returned to action by working the action back to smooth motion, the reciprocating charging handle shows its utility here.
On the total failure when the rifle was totally soaked, I suspect the detent safety and significant icing on the operating rails stopped it.
Detent safeties are very susceptible to moisture intrusion, and as ice freezes it expands. That expansion can lock mechanisms and the more tightly toleranced the mechanism the lower the amount of water necessary to fuse it.
Which brings me to…
The AR’s ignoble performance…
The AR’s were on the struggle bus for this test, even the light icing test had them choking up more than their counterparts.
Why?
The AR has the most small spaces of the designs on the table. The actions themselves were perfectly well sealed against the water, but that didn’t kill the guns. Small receiver pockets that could more thoroughly fill with ice. Bolt catches that froze and locked actions open. Receiver extensions where the buffers could get frozen. Safety selectors full of small crevices that can fill with water that lock as it expands to ice. Even the dust cover being unable to open because they were frozen over without enough clearance.
One of the AR’s strengths is its easy tight tolerancing. That becomes a weakness here as it takes less uninterrupted ice formation to freeze out the AR.
The Caveat
Why doesn’t this invalidate your rifle choice, even if your rifle failed?
The largest artificiality of the whole test is the assumption that you are not doing anything to mitigate the unexpected bath your gun just took. You are assumed to not be shaking the rifle off, working the safety, or working the action to keep them from freezing.
Just like if you were to take a sudden and very cold plunge, you absolutely should take mitigating steps to take care of yourself if you get wet in the cold and if your primary defensive tool gets wet in the cold. This can include periodically working the action to clear the forming ice/slush, working the safety, and dry firing/function checking the weapon. Does this take the gun ‘out of action’? Yes, but that is unavoidable. The gun frozen is even more out of action than it is unloaded but functional.
The Point
The point is you must, yes even with AKs because we know those can be stopped too, take remedial actions if your rifle takes a dive. That is your ultimate takeaway. Work the action, work the safety, make certain the moving parts stay moving.
Thoughts on the Rittenhouse Trial
[Ed: Now some time has elapsed since the Rittenhouse verdict, there are useful lessons to be learned. This was originally published by SCOPE-NY November 29.]
The left is very critical of gun ownership, but they don’t seem to know even the simplest, most basic things about guns. Kyle Rittenhouse’s trial filled the news the past few days, but there are some things that haven’t generally been discussed, possibly because the leftist media doesn’t know – or even suspect – and more likely wants to ignore them.
Rittenhouse’s main sin in the eyes of the left – now that he has been acquitted – was that he carried an AR15, the infamous “Assault Weapon”. A question for all you gun owners: if you were unarmed, would you attack someone holding an AR 15? Of course not! You could get killed! No one in the media has brought up that Rittenhouse’s attackers must have had a death wish. (Actually, one of the persons killed had just been discharged from a hospital after a suicide attempt.)
But wait, one of those killed did hit Rittenhouse with a skateboard. How smart is it to bring a skateboard to a gun fight?
The third guy shot, Gaige Grosskreutz, was armed with a handgun. Another question: would you go up against an AR15 while you were only armed with a handgun? I’ll bet “Lefty” Grosskreutz has some newfound insight into that question.
One guy jumped over Rittenhouse while trying to kick him. Kyle took a shot at the jumper while stretched out over him, and missed. Had he not missed, that wound would have been interesting.
Unarmed, would you bravely take on someone holding and AR15 to save others? Perhaps. But that rationale “doesn’t hold much water” in this case. How much protection did the crowd need from someone running away from them? If the crowd was really worried about their own safety, they could have just stopped chasing the guy armed with an AR15.
The media accuses Rittenhouse of being a vigilante. Do vigilantes run away from the people they want to kill?
Then there is the prosecuting D.A. who pointed the AR15 at the jury with his finger on the trigger. Picture yourself sitting in the jury box when he pointed the gun at you: what would you have done? What would you have had to say to the D.A.? Obviously, he was a graduate of the Alec Baldwin school of gun safety.
The media questions why Rittenhouse had to travel 19 miles to get from his house to Kenosha but doesn’t ask why Grosskreutz traveled 42 miles to get to Kenosha.
When all else fails, the Left charges racism and that Kyle is a white supremacist. You might reasonably respond, “But Rittenhouse and the three people he shot were all white”? Not to be outflanked, the Left says it is the judicial system that is racist. (Democrat Representative Cori Bush, a Black Lives Matter activist claimed, with no evidence, that the judge, jury and defendant were all white supremacists.)
But Bush and that same Left ignores the virtually simultaneous trial of Andrew Coffey IV, a black man who was acquitted of murder and attempted murder by reason of self-defense. Coffey shot at sheriffs during a drug raid on Coffey’s house during which Coffey’s girlfriend was killed. (The raid was based on “drug complaints and sales” and police found crack cocaine and marijuana, so there is no issue of a mistaken raid.) Coffey is a four (4) time convicted felon and it was illegal for him to possess the .45 caliber handgun he used. He was convicted on the charge of a felon possessing a firearm. (Wow, that was a tough decision!)
A black, convicted felon, claims self-defense for using an illegal firearm to shoot at a sheriff’s deputy, who was serving a legal warrant, and the “racist” judicial system finds him innocent. Cori Bush and the media find nothing worth commenting on there. But according to Bush and the media, a white shooting three other whites is racism and white supremacy.
Rittenhouse’s verdict says that we have the right to protect ourselves from mob violence. Coffey’s verdict says that we have the right to protect ourselves from government violence.
How did the media describe the three people shot by Rittenhouse?
Anthony Huber was “a happy and laid-back guy…a really sweet person…always had a smile on his face.” The leftist media usually omitted any reference to his also having convictions for strangulation and suffocation and false imprisonment in a domestic abuse case.
Gaige Grosskreutz was variously described as a part of a social justice group, a volunteer medic at Black Lives Matter protests and a senior at Northland College. Not mentioned is that he has a record of criminal arrests going back to 2010, a juvenile record that is sealed and other charges currently pending. There was never a mention of Grosskreutz carrying a concealed firearm without a valid concealed carry permit, to which he testified had expired.
At the time of the incident, Joseph Rosenbaum was pending charges in Wisconsin for domestic abuse and jumping bail. He was convicted in Arizona in 2002 for child molestation charges, for which he was sentenced to 14 years in prison. Mercifully, the media couldn’t find anything nice to say about him but, in many cases, they couldn’t find anything bad worth telling the public about, either.
None of them were accused by the media (and Joe Biden) of being racists and white supremacists even though there was as much evidence proving they were racists and white supremacists as there was proving Kyle Rittenhouse was a racist and white supremacist.
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–Tom Reynolds is the president of SCOPE-NY.
The Frozen Chosen – Rifles on Ice
Happy New Year!
Mike broke the internet with this one.
Does your favorite rifle work frozen? (Spoiler alert; probably not, but you should see anyway)
But it does depend upon the type of frozen. Watch the full test, having water intrusion into the rifle and the rifle freeze up is a problem. A big problem, one that given a frosty environment you might need to fix before a rifle can be relied upon. Having the rifle get extremely cold and normal operating lubricants start to gel can be problem too, but nothing will kill a gun like all the operating groups being totally iced.
There is also a notable difference from the gun being cold, and the gun being frozen (ice in operating groups because of water intrusion) and the locations of various failure points vary from gun to gun based on where each gun is open or sealed.
It is simple physics folks. Steel, aluminum, and polymer all react to extreme cold to differing degrees. Metals will contract, if there is moisture it will expand into those gaps, polymers will be most neutral to temperature overall but they don’t generally control the operating bits.
Have a look. Also, if you aren’t subscribed to Mike’s channel by now… why?
Gunday Brunch 33: New Year’s Special
Happy 2022, gang! The boys are sharing their shooting related resolutions with you, along with a reminder for everyone to be cool. 2022 is not your year, so just be cool