“We’ve spent 100 years of ballistic development to get pistol bullets to perform like musket balls.” – Chuck Haggard
I was talking to Chuck at the recent Revolver Roundup held this past weekend at Gunsite in Arizona, where he shared this absolute GEM of a quote about terminal ballistics. He said he had that realization while watching an autopsy where the coroner fished a fully expanded Gold Dot out of a guy. When he said that to me, it was like a bomb going off in my brain, to the point that I decided to check some numbers.
Turns out he’s right (which isn’t surprising, because Chuck is a smart dude). If you look at the dimensions for expanded quality hollow point ammo like Federal HST or Speer Gold Dots, they all expand within a range of about 0.50 inches to 0.75 inches regardless of whether it’s a 9mm, 40 S&W, or 45 ACP. 18th century muskets had a wide range of calibers, but the two most common muskets were the Brown Bess used by the British, and the Charleville used by the French. The Brown Bess was a .75 caliber, and the Charleville was a .69 caliber. The rifles of the era were usually chambered in somewhere between .50 and .60 and, like the muskets fired a lead round ball.
But wait there’s more! Common service pistols have muzzle velocities that range from around 800 FPS at the low end up to around 1200 FPS (and a little higher), right? Care to guess what the average muzzle velocity of an 18th century musket was? 800-1200 FPS depending on the powder charge. How wild is that?
Now, this does fall apart a little bit when you look at the weight of the projectiles, since a Brown Bess musket ball weighed about 500 grains, which is more than double the heaviest 45 ACP projectile. But even with that, it’s interesting to note the similarities. This probably is hitting me even harder because one of the themes from the Revolver Roundup is that there really isn’t anything “new” in the sense of gunfighting, it’s just that a lot of stuff that was solved before the internet existed was never written down.
And now, after 100 years of handgun ballistic development, we finally have projectiles that perform as well as a shoulder fired musket from the Revolutionary War. What a time to be alive.
News sources internationally are saying that, ahead a state visit from Putin himself, the Indian Defence Ministry has cleared final procurement and ramp up of domestic production of the AK-203 for the Indian Army.
Several thousand rifles are set to be purchased COTS, Commercial Off The Shelf, with the first 70,000 set to have at least some Russian components internally. The remaining rifles of the total approximately 750,000 rifles will be domestically produced. The AK-203 is a 7.62×39 fully modernized AK variant. New sturdier optics mounting surfaces and upgraded ergonomics around the core of the long stroke piston Kalashnikov heart. Similar in scope to the SOPMOD kit for the M4A1.
This will complete a modernization effort by the Indian Army to get themselves clear of the INSAS. The domestically developed INSAS has had a less than stellar service record, like the British SA80 (Before the A1 variants), and this is their fix. AKs and 7.62x51mm AR-10’s. The total puts it about 900,000 rifles for the military at about a 6:1 ratio AK to AR.
I’ve never purchased a really nice AR-15 trigger. I think moving from the terrible burst trigger on the M16A4 to half-decent mil-spec triggers was good enough for me for the longest time. Yet, as time’s passed and I’ve become a little more snobbish, I’ve finally looked into getting a nice trigger. Preferably a light and smooth drop in design. In my quest, I ran across the RMT Nomad, and it packed everything I wanted and more.
What Sets the Nomad Apart
Have you ever heard of a free-floating trigger? That’s the best way I’d describe the RMT Nomad. Triggers move backward and forwards, but the RMT Nomad also moves side to side. We get 6 degrees of pivoting, and the trigger moves with ease to the right or left with the press of a finger. The weapon doesn’t fire when the trigger is moved to the left or right and doesn’t return to the center when released.
The pivoting design simply allows the user to assume the most natural firing position possible. In fact, I was quite shocked that my finger naturally pushed the trigger out to the left side of the gun. (I’m a righty.) I have big hands, and the trigging moving to the left allows me to comfortably keep my fingertip on the trigger without feeling crowded in the trigger guard.
It’s an interesting design that gives me the most natural grip I’ve ever had on a rifle and the most natural feeling trigger engagement. It’s different, but different doesn’t mean bad by any means.
That’s what sets the Nomad apart. Other than the pivoting design, the Nomad is a drop-in AR trigger secured with a set of anti-walk pins. Installation takes no time at all, and it drops in and functions with no drama.
At the Range
Obviously, I find the Nomad trigger to be quite comfy, fitting my hand and accommodating my finger. That trigger is flat, and as a flat trigger my finger can sit on any portion of it comfortably. Double the comfort, double the fun, right?
A flat-faced trigger helps accommodate smaller hands by reducing the length from the grip to the trigger. The Nomad trigger’s ability to be pulled towards the hand will certainly help shooters with smaller hands. So even if you aren’t a yeti, like I, you’ll find the Nomad comfy.
The flat-faced trigger is textured, metal, and feels great. The trigger weight is 3 pounds total, and there seems to be a just barely detectable level of take up before the wall and then the bang. I give the short and sweet nature of the trigger a ten out of ten. It’s insanely nice and helps eke out some of that human error that occurs when the trigger is pulled.
I replaced a BCM Mil-Spec trigger with the Nomad, and the BCM is a nice Mil-Spec trigger. Yet, the Nomad absolutely blows it out of the water. The Nomad’s short pull and lightweight will certainly clean up your groups a fair bit.
Going Fast
We get a solid reset that is tactile and audible and just really enjoyable. When a short and positive reset combines with a lightweight trigger, you’ll find yourself capable of going faster with a good degree of accuracy. It’s very easy to break off accurate double taps and good strings of fire when necessary. Or just when fun.
There is no difference in the trigger’s reset or movement when the trigger is pivoted to the left or right. It retains the high-quality pull regardless of where I move it in terms of its left to right direction. The RMT Nomad offered zero reliability issues either. When the trigger got pressed, the gun went bang.
This includes perfect function with the new Mantis Blackbeard and the CMMG 22LR conversion kit. Both setups functioned flawlessly, and the RMT Nomad ran without complaint. It’s smooth, sweet, and well suited for those looking to draw some accuracy out of their rifle and increase their comfort.
The RMT Nomad did things differently, and I can respect that. The drop-in trigger world is a fair bit stale, and as such, the presence of something new is always appreciated, especially when it makes it a fair bit more comfortable for my big hands to get work done.
The fourth camera - laid out on my hotel bed prior to installation on the property.
Show of hands – who else here uses trail cams to watch for game? Now, who else uses trail cams that are cellular so that you can see the photos even when you are 2.5 hours away?
Yeah me.
This year in my push to try much harder than I ever have before in my deer hunting, I purchased three new cams to add to the single one I’ve had for three or four years. I stuck with Bushnell, because I think they’ve finally got it right with the Cellucore line, and they upgraded their site/app which supports the cams. I also got a good discount code.
I ended up aiming the oldest cam at the property gate because of security/trespasser issues. Also because the oldest cam has signal issues and the signal is strongest at the gate. Two of the new cameras I placed in areas adjacent to where my blind is. The fourth one is the newest and I just placed that last week in a completely different area of the property.
I have been seriously tickled with what I have been capturing. Except this remote imaging also produces FOMO – Fear Of Missing Out. Why? Because I can see what is happening when I am stuck at home on-call or otherwise can’t be in the blind and it can make me crazy.
For instance, I am serving grocery store turkey for Thanksgiving, because the flock of wild ones that populate the property only seem to show up in front of my blind when either a) it is deer season instead of turkey season, or b) I am at home cleaning out my garage on a call weekend.
Not on the menu this year.Ten yards in front of my blind – except I wasn’t there.
Not that everything that I have seen is something I want to actually hunt – at least me personally. I did send the police to “hunt” a particularly obnoxious trespasser who showed his face on cam, and he got a talking to. But other species were just interesting to know they were there.
Here is just a sampling of the wildlife I’ve had the pleasure of monitoring:
I’m glad I didn’t stick around my blind after dark that day. This bear was there 40 minutes after me.I needed to download a higher res image and zoom in, but yep – that’s a Bobcat.NOT a doggo.
It is a source of continual entertainment and fascination watching the wide variety of species which populate this property. At least it’s not all FOMO, sometimes it’s entertainment and education … But I still have an empty freezer. *sniff*
When Darrell Brooks, aka Mathboi Fly (I’m not kidding) took his red SUV on a murderous pass through the holiday parade, there was little anyone could do to stop him. But there was a tremendous amount people could do to help the victims, the could and they did.
Trauma control saves lives. Stopping bleeding is one of the most critical elements of triage and care having both the ability by having proper equipment. With that equipment comes the additional requirement to effectively move casualties who can be to higher care. Getting the 48 injured to hospitals quickly undoubtedly saved lives from Brooks heedless pass through the parade.
We could get into Brooks, we might later as we look at mass casualty events, but this is about the citizen response.
The response was tremendous out of Waukesha. The amount of high responders or collective high responders who moved to aid the injured was something the brings back images of the immediate aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing. The motivations for the casualties are, likely, very different, but a mass casualty event is a mass casualty event.
Boston was Terror, Waukesha appears to be simple heedless flight from law enforcement. A total disregard for human life by a career criminal. The result is a casualty figure liken to most other mass casualty events. Mass shootings, mass stabbings, arsons, and even bombings.
A vehicle is a potent weapon, thousands of pounds of steel, aluminum, and polymer with a powerful driver (engine, not operator) capable of smashing it through various intermediaries. A motivated driver (operator, not engine) in a vehicle with any sort of access to a concentration of people can make someone with a rifle look like a joke. It is another, and very easy method, to generate a lethal disparity in force and unlike someone with a rifle there is nothing you can physically do to the operator of an enclosed vehicle to go hands on and physically control them. You can’t practically rush a car in motion and with locked doors, your options become extremely limited for applying countervailing force.
You could shoot through the windows/windshield if you are armed, there is a whole other science involved in that decision however, you can also shoot through the paneling and hope deflection doesn’t offset hits. An officer on scene fired on Brooks, but didn’t hit him. The car doesn’t care if its shot so…
Quick decisions saved lives.
The two decisions that have kept the death count as low as it has been were bleeding control and quick transportation.
When the legs are broken, the bones become large, sharp, and jagged laceration injury methods that are sitting right next to a major artery. Keeping legs, limbs, and other broken items from moving and causing additional tissue damage is a priority, but it is one to weigh against the current injuries and level of blood loss.
Simplest priorities of first aid are:
Stop any bleeding.
Keep them breathing.
Transport or pass to higher medical authority as soon as possible.
I’ve just been playing with these long enough to form an opinion worth sharing, in my opinion.
And.. if you are anything like myself, then whenever you get asked what to be gifted your mind immediately blanks and you stare at your friends, family, or co-workers like you have never heard the concept of a gift before in your life.
Your brain immediately dumps its memory of anything and everything you’ve ever considered useful or fun and you stand there, reaching for an answer you no longer possess.
So this article is for those people who, when they see you, a person who likes shooting, standing there going through a hard reset on the concept of stuff. Here is an answer you’ll very likely appreciate.
If you’ve been around a minute you may recognize the name of one of the most successful motion training applications on the market. The MantisX 10 Elite and the associated training programs are an excellent set of dry fire aids for those looking for more informative feedback. MantisX is a feedback driven company seeking to help shooters understand their movements during presentation, trigger press, and follow through. These most critical moments of the shot process make or break a difficult shot.
MantisX could (and can) be used for live fire too, it tracks your muzzle movement live rounds or otherwise. It can sit on a handgun, rifle, shotgun, or bow.
But the mad scientists over at Mantis aren’t done, they have a couple new toys in the mix.
Smartphones make for smart ways to train, with the proper app. Laser Academy uses the nice, shiny, modern phone camera and the QR code tech on smart targets to give you a trackable dry fire range just about anywhere.
A tripod and phone clamp, a laser cartridge of your caliber choice, and a code for the smart application sets you up. It comes with the packs of smart targets and some backer to put them up anywhere you’d like.
What’s the dowel for? The cartridges are rimless to make dry fire cycles easier and not wear on your extractor, they’ll stay in the chamber until you pop it out with the dowel.
Easy to use?
Open the app after getting it via your code from the appropriate app store.
Point camera at the smart targets.
Pick a training program, including the tutorials.
Put the laser cartridge in an appropriate firearm.
Enjoy.
Perhaps the coolest aspect from a data standpoint is that, with a 2nd smart device, you can run MantisX too. This gives you both motion and target feedback to work on making efficient all those micro inputs we tend to disregard while shooting. Keeping the gun still takes muscle discipline, that gets built through repetitions, if these help you put in those repetitions (and the app even reminds you and subtly shames you for being lazy) you are set.
As a rifle enthusiast, Blackbeard hits all the right buttons.
Namely resetting the trigger in my AR’s while I gleefully point the laser everywhere (sometimes even at the target while Laser Academy is running).
The Blackbeard replaces the bolt carrier, charging handle, and magazine with a laser and battery pack. The module lines up above the hammer and will reset the hammer when you pull the trigger allowing you to do a full cycle pull and reset instead of having to manually charge between shots.
You can use it for stand alone dry fire, or link it to Laser Academy and the smart targets. Either way it allows for rapid reps on the trigger of your AR with a point of impact feedback.
2 Notes:
Fitment with non DI AR’s may be problematic as pistons do not always take up the same internal location as the gas tube. Best with DI AR’s.
Fitment/use in the Radian AX556 (due to the special magazine release/bolt catch linkage) can prevent the battery-mag from releasing because the bolt catch does not have free movement with the Blackbeard in place above it. It will work with any regular lower receiver that does not have a similar linkage. I know this because I didn’t consider it when I threw it in my BCM/Radian M4gery, the system works but you have to crack open the upper and lower to remove it instead of just pressing the magazine release. So Radian owners note you must shotgun open the receivers to emplace and remove the system.
This is the most fun I’ve had with presentations and dry fire in a long time. The available feedback data is fantastic.
Fine Tuning
Laser Academy, like MantisX, has a delightful degree of adjustability available to account for things like sight offset. It can be calibrated for your specific settings with a little time and patience. The settings are also firearm and user specific, so your P320, 92X, SBR, and DMR settings can all be kept seperate.
It’s a feature that makes me enjoy the whole system more as it helps with organizing data if I should want it. It’s the little things, the attention to detail, that make it clear the whole product line has been focused on the end user.
Hands free controls on the individual targets are also another fine touch, not having to walk back to the screen until you are done with a session brings in big convenience points.
We understand, and so do they, that convenience is crucial in how useful people find these tools. MantisX has done a superb job in this regard.
Final Note: Light
The smart targets need contrast to work with cameras properly, when selecting a place for Laser Academy targets use a darker wall and lights on that minimize glare for best results. The app will tell you what it is sensing and if it is properly picking up the hit zones and control locations.
When it doubt, just play with the Blackbeard until the battery runs out, then plug it into the nearest USB charger and repeat.
Red dots, red dots, red dots, who doesn’t love a good red dot sight? A reflex sight makes close-quarters shooting easy, instinctive, and most importantly fast.
As of 2021, you certainly have plenty of choices in red dots at this point. Holosun aims to offer you one more in the form of the AEMS. The Advanced Enclosed Micro Sight is a long gun red dot designed to be as efficient as possible.
The AEMS sits in that micro red dot category where you see optics like the Aimpoint T1/T2 but offers a much more efficient design in terms of window size. The AEMS uses a squared lens instead of a round lens, and the window is 1.1 x .87 inches in size. This big window is a bit of a shock for an optic that is only 2.2 inches long, 1.4 inches wide, and 2.59 inches tall.
The height is actually impressive. Most optics that tall only offer an absolute co-witness with AR height sights, but Holosun found a way to keep the optic low and the screen free from a blocked absolute co-witness view. Currently, the mount is proprietary and is only available at one height. That is a downside, but Holosun plans to offer various height mounts for the AEMS. Aftermarket companies are also seeking to introduce mounts of various heights.
Why the AEMS?
Besides the size efficiency, the optic is featured filled. Holosun has led the charge in innovating optics and filling them with features. The AEMS comes with a solar panel on top of the optic that acts as an awesome backup to your standard battery. The panel can power the optic extremely well, and even on overcast days, it tends to work very well.
The AEMS also comes with a multi reticle system that provides a 2 MOA dot, a 65 MOA circle, and a combination of the 2 MOA dot and 65 MOA circle. I used the latter reticle almost exclusively. It seems to catch my eye very well and provides a multi-use reticle for range finding, holdover, and mechanical offset.
We also get full night vision compatibility with the AEMS, and the big square optic is easier to use with night vision. The shake awake technology allows the optic to automatically shut off when it fails to sense movement. Then, as soon as you pick your gun up, the optic springs to life. You can adjust the time it takes for the shake awake to kick in and consult your manual to do so.
And We’re Live
Zeroing the AEMS is fairly simple with the .5 MOA adjustments. These quasi-broad adjustments make it easy to ‘dial’ it in and get your rounds hitting right where you want them. After a quick zero on my JP5 9mm PCC, I was hitting targets from 7 to 100 yards with ease.
At 7 yards, I could use the bottom of the 65 MOA circle to land shots perfectly at close ranges. The bottom of the dot compensated for mechanical offset without issue and made it easy to ensure my super close range shots were accurate and precise.
Moving back to 100 yards with a 9mm the range should provide some challenge. However, the big reticle makes it easy to compensate for ballistic drop. I know that as long as I place the dot at head height, the bottom of the stadia sits roughly on the stomach area of man-sized targets. I used a steel IPSC target to test my theory and landed ding after ding at 100 yards, with the rounds dropping into the chest of the target.
The view through the AEMS is crystal clear. There is a very slight blue tint, but not much. The AEMS comes with two lens covers that are transparent and ultimately disposable. Holosun offers replacements. I found both of these lenses superbly clear and never bothered to pop them down for shooting. They offer outstanding protection and are a great feature.
The reticles all appear crisp and easy to see. They don’t blur or starburst. When moving rapidly from target to target, I can clearly see the reticle without any blurring or disruption. That’s great for shot tracking and provides an excellent means to follow the reticle between multiple targets.
Aiming the AEMS
The Holosun AEMS provides a very capable little red dot that’s highly efficient for its size. The Window is impressive and provides a clear view with a crisp reticle. Holosun has finally departed from random numbers for their optics, and the AEMS was a great one to do it with. The AEMS works well for rifles, shotguns, and PCCs. I hope Holosun keeps its promise of providing new mounts, which will make this a very capable and multi-use red dot optic for a variety of weapons.
For your viewing pleasure, Eugene and Mikhail discussing their rifles in the most civil AR and AK discussion ever. Pre-internet obviously, something this civil and wholesome could not exist in the modern age of comment sections.
Perhaps my favorite aspect of the whole thing is the genuine respect the two have for each other’s designs. Both were and continue to be the pinnacle examples of auto-loading rifle designs. The other example that continues to thrive, the AR-18 action, is also Stoner’s team from Fairchild Armalite.
These two defined modern fighting rifles, almost everything that has come since has their design elements in them. They rifles that have come since borrowed from the best. The rest is history.
What is Risk Compensation Theory (RCT) and why does it matter to us?
Well, RCT is…
Risk compensation is a theory which suggests that people typically adjust their behavior in response to perceived levels of risk, becoming more careful where they sense greater risk and less careful if they feel more protected.[2] Although usually small in comparison to the fundamental benefits of safety interventions, it may result in a lower net benefit than expected.[n 1]
It is then used to say, well if we allow this, or install that, or make this medicine widely available, then X, Y, or Z negative effect will result.
EXAMPLES!
Installing seat belts in vehicles will just encourage people to drive more recklessly!
Making birth control available will make people more promiscuous and make STD’s spike!
Legalizing _______ will make everyone lazy and unproductive addicts! (I can be lazy on my own, thank you very much!)
Oh
Annnnd
Allowing guns in ____________ location will turn it into the Wild West!
All of these examples come from a distorted sense of risk management. This is the risk compensation theory, that an advancement in safety or capability will have an equal and opposite
The nuance of reality
Humans (and all animals) manage risk to ourselves (and our family groups) on a continuous basis. We use our judgement, experience
Risk compensation generally assumes that if we implement a change or precaution humanity will just adjust the risky behavior up to offset the safety gain. It feels logical on the surface, but it fails to taken into account that people like simple ways to manage risks and while some offset and increase in dangerous behaviors may occur it will generally never rise to offset a well designed safety feature or policy properly implemented.
Car safety belts are an excellent example of this. Certain theories held that with the increase in survivability provided by the belt, speeding and reckless driving would increase. Speed has increased, but this is largely a product of both vehicle and road design being able to handle faster vehicles, not a compensation of perceived safety offsetting reckless behavior.
…and Guns
The most prominent example of Risk Compensation we see is in College Campus arguments, they are the nominally ‘Gun Free Zone’ that is often the most easily removed as it is difficult to argue that adults who are allowed to carry most other public venues would somehow turn into raving murderous lunatics upon collegiate soil…
Yeah, it doesn’t make much sense when you dig into it.
But the theory goes that if guns are allowed, ‘accidents’ will increase on campus with firearms because students do things like drink. The other oft pushed argument is that professor who are covering ‘controversial’ subjects are no longer free to express themselves as they would otherwise because an angry student might gun them down for their challenging opinion.
Leaving aside the thought that if your opinion is throwing students into a sudden murderous rage you probably suck at conveying your opinion to provoke thought, what precisely is stopping a triggered student from murdering said professor?
Seriously, what? The rule? The rule against murder they are willing to ignore but they would somehow respect the rule of prohibition against firearms on campus? We know this isn’t true. We’ve seen example after example of campus prohibitions violated and we also have ongoing examples of campus which allow legal firearms in conjunction with the rules the state allows for other public venues and don’t see controversial professors being shot in job lots.
Weird… It’s almost like the risk compensatory arguments are utterly ridiculous, given additional rational input factors such a students being more or less reasonable persons on and off campus equally, and a true lack of meaningful protection behind the written prohibition against arms.
If a rule lacks an enforcement method, the rule is solely voluntary in nature. If the enforcement method is not one that can back the seriousness of the rule, the rule is solely voluntary in nature. The most likely person(s) to break the prohibition are those that the rule seeks to prohibit from breaking it and no enforcement method will be available at hand. It is ultimately a terrible miscarriage of your responsibilities to prohibit something, lack the resources to reasonably enforce the prohibition, and lack the responsive resources to deal with a violation of your prohibition.
This is especially true where civil rights are restricted for no more coherent reason than the ruling faculty do not like that right.
You can count on a story about the single action revolver for self defense on an annual basis in those magazines written by old graybeards for old graybeards. These magazines have the single action army on the cover often enough and still feel that polymer frame guns are beneath them.
They need to stop encouraging such tactical misapplication.
Don’t get me wrong the SAA is a great recreational firearm with much history behind it. But there are much, much better choices for personal defense. That new fangled double action revolver is among them!
A point in fact to study. In 1858 Starr firearms introduced a quality solid frame revolver with good sights, a relatively smooth action, a safety notch making carrying the revolver fully loaded viable, and excellent accuracy to 100 yards per period testing. The Starr was perhaps the Les Baer of its day. Starr went out of business because it could not sell its revolver as cheaply as Colt! The Starr made all single action revolvers obsolete. This was a long time ago—
The single action requires the hammer be cocked before it is fired.
This is a set of problems. As the revolver is drawn the thumb rears the hammer to the rear. You don’t do this in the holster, but you begin cocking the hammer as the handgun is getting on target. Once cocked, you have a nice short trigger press. (Leg shots are not humorous and the reason that fast draw shooters use blanks.) Then fire the piece until empty, once it is empty you will resort to tactics used during Cro Magnon times as the revolver cannot be quickly loaded.
The loading gate must be opened and the cartridges knocked out with an ejector rod one at a time. Hopefully you will have chosen a modern revolver of good steel and one with a transfer bar system that allows carrying the piece fully loaded. No matter how good you are- and many who engage in single action shooting in Cowboy Action Shooting are pretty smart with the old single action- a less well trained individual with a double action revolver is faster.
I understand the revolver has many applications, particularly in outdoors use. As an example the big cats and bears typically attack suddenly and go for the upper body. Those who have saved themselves from these attacks have done so by jamming the handgun into the beast’s body and firing repeatedly. A self loader would jam. It is difficult to work the single action hammer when the wrist is bent around in this manner.
I like the balance of the SAA and once carried a real Colt when hiking and on the trail. I like the way it sets and hangs on the hip. A 4 ¾ inch barrel SAA is no more difficult to carry than a 4 inch barrel .38. But a quality .357 Magnum totally outclasses the SAA .45 for field use and concealed carry. A few minutes on the range solidly confirms this.
Nostalgia is great, don’t get me wrong, but the pundit actually advocating for this handgun isn’t doing the reader any favors. Slow to load, unload, fire and handle, the SAA has seen its day and was obsolete by 1907 for any practical use. The Mexican Revolution kept the SAA going twenty years past its prime! Don’t get caught up in this hardware. Take the time and ammunition you would expend mastering this old beast and apply to more modern technology. You will be glad you did!
Lever action cowboy rifles are a different matter. While they are far inferior to the AR rifle for personal defense, they still have mechanical merit. Sometimes called the Brooklyn Special they are available and acceptable in places handguns and AR type rifles are not, due to laws and mores. The lever action is flat and easy to store and snag free coming into action. The piece is reliable, accurate, hits hard and offers good handling. The cowboy ‘assault rifle’ has much merit in many situations. Affordability was once an advantage, but today a good quality lever gun is more expensive than ever.
The absolute best service rifle the US military has ever fielded is the M16 family of weapons. This is a fact that really isn’t debatable unless you’re a contrarian, so today the boys are trying to figure out what rifle is the “best of the rest.” Is the M14 the second best service rifle? Or perhaps the M1 Garand?
The court in Wisconsin has found Not Guilty verdict on all charges against Kyle Rittenhouse.The Illinois teen who lives just south of Kenosha was charged with multiple felony crimes associated with the shooting of Rosenbaum, Huber, and Grosskreutz, the former two were killed, and the use of an AR-15 at 17 years of age.
The jury, after 4 days of deliberations and the closing arguments has freed the now 18 year old.
Kenosha Wisconsin is prepared for more chaos as there are some who likely will not accept the jury’s judgement. These people likely hadn’t followed the trial closely either and have had their minds made up since the incident occured.
Make no mistake, this is a win for self defense law as much as it is a win for Kyle.
Binger, the Rittenhouse prosecutor, demonstrating that he currently does not have the right of self defense
Thank everything you can possibly thank that the laws surrounding self defense are not this vapidly dumb.
This is the uno reverse dark mirror variant of Magic Talisman syndrome.
What is Magic Talisman syndrome?
It is the belief that owning a device changes your circumstance, not the proper use of the device.
Owning a car, a violin, a fire extinguisher, a first aid kit, or even a gun, only makes you one thing. An owner.
Risk compensation effects come into play, more on that soon, but the short of it is that ‘buying a gun makes you safer’. False.
The title concept, espoused by Binger most recently, is the bizarro opposing view variant of magic talisman syndrome, the idea that bringing a firearm into a dangerous or contentious situation makes you liable for any and all chaos that comes post arrival or a specific negative outcome by mere possession.
It is a degrading vein of thought that removes the human behavior equations and the communicative equations of threat perception and response. It instead replaces that nuance with a giant game of, ‘He started it!’
It most egregiously commits one sin above all though,
It seeks to codify that someone with a firearm has nothing to fear, physically, from anyone without a firearm. It’s utter nonsense but it is the crux of one of the arguments Binger used to try and illustrate that Rosenbaum was not a threat to Rittenhouse.
You have just as much physically to fear from another human being if you are armed as if you are unarmed, their ability to cause harm to you or to others is not altered in any way by you being armed. You are simply in possession of an effective response to stop immediate harm. That response is in no way limited to being harmed only by other firearms, it is the degree of harm that you are under threat of.
In addition, they are trying to use the ‘Why’d you shoot X many rounds’ when the first shot to the pelvis could have been disabling. This, again, completely disregards the human elements of the equation. The perception and processing speed of what Rittenhouse (or anyone else) could understand between the time they began firing because they felt they must and then choosing to stop because they’ve perceived an effect on the threat source.
All the shots Rittenhouse fired at Rosenbaum were in quick succession, they stopped when Rosenbaum was down. It wasn’t shoot, pause, shoot, pause, shoot, and it shouldn’t be. That isn’t how any modern defense is taught, because to do so would be dangerous to the defender. It would put the defender’s life in more danger than it already is (life threatening) by mandating that they take an action that extends the length of time they are at risk to ‘check’ the threat and see if they are reasonably disabled between shots.
It is a nonsense defense, it relies on third party knowledge that nobody can possibly observe in the time frames involved in a fight. The reason defensive shooting emphasizes multiple effective shots and watching for a positive reaction is just that you are already in a situation where seconds count.
You wouldn’t be asked to use a fire extinguisher this way. It isn’t use one little spritz into the very dangerous flames and see if that takes care of the fire, you fire the extinguisher at the base of the flames until the fire is out. You use it until you observe a positive effect on the problem.
You wouldn’t use a tourniquet this way either. You wouldn’t wrap up a bleeding limp (or where a limb once was) and then click it or twist it one turn at a time and wait to see the exact pressure you have a positive effect, you crank it down and stop the bleeding.
We are talking about emergency situations where we have already left behind the possibility of a measured response. The response we need to utilize instead is one that has immediate or near immediate desired effect on the problem. The possibility that we use more force against the problem than was strictly necessary is nearly certain, conservation of resource is not the concern until an immediate positive effect on the problem is observed. At that time people can switch gears back to measured responses.
I have always been a big believer that your mission should drive the gear you select. Your mission could be a specialized military or law enforcement mission, it could be deep concealment in a non-permissive environment, or it could be something as “simple” as home defense.
When you’re looking at the mission of home defense, on the surface it seems simple, right? Defend your home. But what does that mean? Does that mean detecting and deterring intruders before they can make entry? Do you have children that you’ll need to collect up and move to a safe location? For me, a recent examination of my home defense plan caused me to make a big change and switch up the guns I was using for home protection.
It’s worth taking a look at your home defense plan every six months to make sure you don’t need to make any changes!
HK has long been the Roller Delayed company. The famed G3 series rifles and the MP5 all use the famed roller delayed blowback system. Roller Delayed blowback mixes the traditional reliability of a blowback weapon with a refined delay system. A delay ensures the breach doesn’t open too early. A simple blowback creates a delay using a heavy bolt, or a heavy recoil spring, or a bit of both. This often makes the weapon much heavier than necessary, makes it stiff to charge, and ensures you experience every little bit of recoil the caliber creates.
Why Roller Delayed Rules
A refined delay system is necessary for more powerful calibers, like the G3’s 7.62 mm NATO round. This system works to ensure the round can be safely cycled and fired. Additionally, roller delayed systems can also make weapons in pistol calibers lighter and help reduce recoil.
The first roller delayed system showed up in 1945. A roller delayed firearm is very simple and doesn’t require a gas piston, and often creates a simple to produce design that’s robust and reliable. Different guns utilize different methods of roller delay, but the most common configuration is a set of rollers that are part of the bolt. This roller creates friction and keeps the breech closed until the bullet has left the barrel, and ensures the weapon remains reliable and safe.
I could list 5 HK-only firearms, but I wanted to challenge myself and find you fine folks 5 Non-HK firearms that utilize a roller delayed blowback system.
JP Enterprises JP5
The JP5 is an AR-style 9mm rifle that utilizes a roller-delayed blowback system. This 9mm carbine dominates competition shooting due to its roller delayed design. Most 9mm ARs are straight blowback rifles, and they suffer from heavy buffers and buffer springs along with snappy recoil. The JP5 doesn’t require such devices and has hardly any recoil.
The gun barely moves between shots and ensures it’s a smooth shooter that allows for rapid and accurate fire. I love the JP5, and the roller delayed system is ingeniously implemented with two rollers built into the bolt of the gun. Other than that, it’s all AR 15.
Well, actually, it’s beyond the standard AR 15 and features some awesome ergonomics that are completely ambidextrous, and it’s insanely accurate. The JP5 costs over three grand, but holy crap, is it worth it.
The Garrow Arms Roller AR17
Garrow Arms brought a unique blowback system to the AR17 upper receiver. Instead of having a potent or necessarily powerful round, the Garrow Arms AR17 addresses the 17 HMR. This powerful, bottlenecked, rimfire round doesn’t do well with straight blowback like a 22LR or 22 Magnum. In fact, it’s simply not safe. The chance of an out of battery detonation is higher and can be extremely dangerous with the amped-up little .17 HMR.
Courtesy PewPew Tactical
The Garrow Arms combines a roller delayed system with a gas-operated design. It’s unlike any other roller-delayed firearm on the market. In fact, it uses a healthy amount of the HK G3’s principle of operations and works incredibly reliably. The two rollers are ball bearings that are fit into the bolt and then the upper receiver.
The AR17 upper is extremely reliable, soft shooting, and highly accurate. If I need to land a headshot on a squirrel, I can do it with the Garrow Arms upper.
SRM 1216
As far I can tell, the SRM 1216 is the only roller delayed operated shotgun…like ever. The SRM 1216 utilizes two rollers on the bolt, and this allows for a quasi bullpup configuration. That’s not even the weirdest thing about the SRM 1216. It feeds from a removable magazine…that’s also a series of four tubular magazine that the shooter rotates when one runs dry.
With the non-NFA model, you get 16 rounds of 12 gauge in a compact package. It’s smaller than a Mossberg 500 with an 18.5-inch barrel but packs more than three times the ammunition. The roller delayed gun helps keep recoil low, keeps the gun light, and doesn’t require a heavy gas system or finicky inertia system to function.
The SRM 1216 also looks like it came out of the future, even though the operating system came out in 1945.
SIG 510
The SIG 510 is a contemporary of the FN FAL and the G3 battle rifles of the Cold War. Like the G3, it’s powered by a roller delayed system. The roller delayed system allows the SIG 510 to fire the powerful 7.62 NATO round. The SIG 510 proved to be robust, accurate, and surprisingly easy to control for a selective fire 7.62 NATO load.
The SIG 510 used an inline design, much like the AR 15. This helped reduce recoil and make the weapon a fair bit more controllable. The rifle looks somewhat goofy, but it served well for 33 years before being replaced by a 5.56 caliber rifle.
The SIG 510 served beyond 1990 in the hands of reservists and lasted so long because it embraced modularity as part of its design.
STG 45
Finally, we get to the first-ever roller-delayed blowback weapon. Unsurprisingly it’s a German design called the STG 45. I know what you’re thinking. Do I mean STG 44, the world’s first assault rifle? No, I mean the STG 45. The STG 45 was designed to provide the same firepower of the STG 44 without being mechanically complicated. The roller delayed design meant safe and reliable operation without the need for the long-stroke gas piston system.
The STG 45 would be cheaper and easier to produce. This meant the potential to equip every German with an assault rifle existed. However, it was also 1945, and the war was ending. Mauser’s projects would come to a close before they could ever become a reality. They produced working models and proved the concept could work.
The STG 45 is directly responsible for the creation of the CETME rifles, and therefore directly responsible for the HK series of G3 and MP5 weapons. This is the granddaddy of roller delayed firearms, and its spawn is aplenty these days.
The Future of Roller Delayed Firearms?
That’s a good question. What’s next for the roller delayed operating system? It’s a fair question and one I can’t fully answer. It seems like most modern firearms use a short-stroke gas piston system. I think the future of roller delayed firearms will be submachine guns and PCCs. The roller delay system offers a ton of advantages over simple blowback and makes very controllable and reliable pistol-caliber long guns.
