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WALTHER HEROES PROGRAM

By
Keith Finch
-

As a way of saying “Thank you for keeping our country moving during these difficult times”, we are offering VIP Pricing to ALL First Responders, Hospital Personnel, and Essential workers for a Limited Time.

Program runs until May 25th, 2020.

What we need from you:  Credentials verifying you are an Essential employee. The Walther handgun models available for this Heroes Program can be found here.

WALTHER HEROES VIP PROGRAM FORM

Simply fill out the form in the link above and email it to heroes@waltherarms.com with your FFL and credentials.

*Offer is while supplies last. No backorders are available on these VIP guns.

The Saint Victor AR-10 Pistol – Review

By
Travis Pike
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What is not to love about taking a full-powered rifle cartridge like the 308 and shoving it into a AR-10 pistol? The AR-10 platform is an old one, but it is seeing a bit of a resurgence as of late. Maybe people are getting bored with AR-15s, or perhaps they bought all the AR-15s they can handle. Springfield has recently added a AR-10 pistol to heir lineup. The Saint Victor AR-10 pistol is the newest AR in the family, and Springfield was happy to send me one. 

The Victor lineup is a level above the average Saint and comes stock with a flat-faced nickel boron trigger, a free-floating M-LOK handguard, and typically BCM Gunfighter furniture. With the Saint Victor AR-10 pistol, the grip is BCM all the way, but there is no stock. Instead, we have an SBA3 arm brace. The SBA3 is by far my favorite AR-based brace. It’s a collapsing brace that allows for lots of adjustment, it’s comfortable regardless of how you use it, and it even has a sling point. 

Other changes from the Victor line is a lack of included iron sights. This gun is most certainly designed for a red dot optic. With that in mind, it seemed like an excellent chance to put the Meprolight Foresight to good use. 

An AR-10 Pistol? Why? 

As soon as the Saint Victor AR-10 pistol was announced, a lot of people were wondering why? Why does such a thing exist? 308 is a full-powered rifle round and does best from longer barrels. That’s an excellent question to ask. I may not have every answer, but I can say shooting a 308 caliber AR-10 pistol is a ton of fun. The fun factor is most certainly alive and well. It’s loud, it jumps and kicks, kinda like a super deadly baby. 

I could also see a good argument for this to be an outdoor gun. A hiking gun, one you keep on the ATV or side by side. It’s small and lightweight, so it’s easy to store, but also easy to carry without exhausting yourself. You still get the 308 power for stopping threats quickly with a lot more oomph than a 223 round. More oomph means you get a little more forgiveness on shot placement for coyotes, wild dogs, even bears. You also get a lot of penetration and some excellent expanding loads. 

Plus, like a handgun, it’s likely less restricted for carrying purposes than a rifle. That’s a bonus. It’s a big pistol, but still legally a pistol. 

Saint Victor AR-10 Pistol Ergonomics 

The ergonomics and controls are like every other AR-based weapon on the market. The magazine release, charging handle, and safety are all placed for easy and quick access. There is nothing different than a standard AR. 

What is different is obviously the size and weight of the weapon. The gun is 28inches overall with the brace entirely collapsed. That’s a compact weapon. The length with the brace extended to its max it is 30.5 inches. The gun is 8 pounds 6 ounces, which makes it a bit hefty, but still handy. The weight is centered since the weapon is so small, and this makes it easy to hold up for long periods of time. 

To the Range (with an Earsplitter)

Holy Crap is this thing loud! It also spits literal fire. What else can you expect from a 308 with a 10.3-inch barrel? There is quite a bit of powder left unburned, so you get a bright flash. The Saint Victor AR-10 pistol is equipped with a two-piece forward blast diverter, and it’s essential. It does an excellent job propelling the gas and blast forward. The blast and concussion does stay away from the shooter, which makes the weapon comfortable to fire. You just might want to double up on ear protection. 

Recoil is present, and you know you are firing a 308, but it’s not painful or distracting. Muzzle rise is the more significant issue with a double-tap pulling you up pretty high. It’s a weapon that would aim low to mag dump high. The brace does a decent job of providing a stable platform for aiming the weapon, and inside of 50 yards, you can be quite accurate with the brace strapped around your forearm. 

If you choose to misuse the brace is one way or another, you’d be able to step out well beyond that range, and the gun is impressively accurate. The Saint Victor AR-10 pistol is no DMR rifle, but hitting with proper torso shot placement is no issue at 200 yards. 

You’ll be punching the big holes in the little targets with a good optic and trigger time. Speaking of triggers, the Springfield Victor trigger is excellent. It’s very smooth, with roughly the same weight as a duty style trigger. The flat-faced trigger makes it easy to reach and gives you excellent control over the trigger. If you wear gloves while you shoot, you’ll also likely find the flat-faced trigger more comfortable. 

Does it Eat? 

Ammo has been hard to scrape up lately, so the good news is this gun got a wide variety of 308 to eat. This includes M80 ball, some 168 grain Armscor FMJs, and a handful of various hunting loads with ballistic plastic tips and soft point ammo. It had no problems eating anything I put through it. 

The 168 grain gave me the brightest fireball, so if you are after that there, you go. The M80 ball seemed to be the best for both mild recoil and flash. The gun comes with a PMAG, and the PMAG had no issues feeding any of the different types of ammo either. 

Big Round – Little Gun 

The Saint Victor AR-10 pistol most certainly has a real cool factor to it. It’s like a stout little fighter, the Gimli of ARs if you would. It’s a distinct weapon in both looks and feels, and it’s a ton of fun to shoot. It may have a niche use compared to most AR-10s, but that’s the same for any Warhammer. It’s not for everyone, but if it’s a gun that appeals to you, you should know it’s well made, accurate, reliable, and most certainly a lot of fun. 

 

All guns are always loaded: discussing the Four Rules of Gun Safety

By
Caleb Giddings
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We tend to talk about the “rules” of gun safety a lot, but when we have these conversations it’s often without context. For example, the first rule: All guns are always loaded, or how it’s often said “treat all guns like they’re loaded.”

The problem right off the bat with the first rule is that we don’t do that. Or if we did, we would never clean our guns, dry fire our guns, or repair our guns. It’s a fact that we quite frequently treat guns like they’re not loaded, and in fact need to be able to do this in order to function with those firearms in any kind of training or competition environment.

In this video, I argue that the phrase all guns are always loaded isn’t a dogmatic rule to be followed, but rather a guideline to get you to do some critical thinking about how you handle guns. This is important, because when people treat safety like dogmatic rules, they tend to shut their brains off and do what the rules say instead of thinking. This leads to complacency, which leads to accidents. Accidents are specifically the end state we want to avoid by having the four rules of gun safety, so instead of repeating the mantra, think about what the rule means.

For me, I interpret “all guns are always loaded” to mean “assume a gun is loaded until you verify its condition yourself.” Any time I make contact with a gun that’s been out of my control, I’ll verify its condition of readiness. When I put my carry gun on in the morning, I check the cylinders first to make sure it’s still loaded, which can be done with the gun in the holster. If I grab a gun out of my safe to dry fire with, I’ll check it to make sure it’s unloaded first. These are important things to do that help preserve both my safety and my readiness.

Instead of saying “all guns are always loaded,” use the four rules of gun safety as a guideline to start thinking about how we apply those rules to our daily lives.

We Are at War

By
DRGO
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(from njspotlight.com)

The world will never be the same.  People are out of work.  Factories are retooling to make equipment that we need to fight this war.  The President of the United States has declared an emergency in every state at the same time, which has never happened before.  No one really expected this.

We aren’t prepared for things like this to happen, are we?   The government can respond to something like this.  Industry can ramp up production quickly in response to something like this.  It won’t be so bad.  We’ve heard it all and more but do we realize we are at war?

 

We are at war with an enemy we fight every day but one that we have never before seen.  We are at war with an enemy so small that it takes an electron scanning microscope to see it but we see its effects all around us.  We are at war with an enemy so powerful it made the world close its doors, populations were ordered to stay inside, and many industries nearly ceased production.

The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2) causes Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). It is the smallest enemy we as a world have fought together on such a large scale for a hundred years since the 1918 “Spanish Flu”.  We have had epidemics and World Wars, and men and women have died in great numbers, but nothing has brought the whole world to its knees like this has today.  No country or people go unaffected and many who are affected go unnoticed.

Others say we are not at war with this virus or even with the disease it causes.  They say that many will be infected but overall few will die.  That the cure is worse than the disease, so to speak.  That the economic havoc caused by shutting down the world will create more suffering and death than the disease and death that this virus will cause.  We don’t know that nor will we really ever be able to tell for sure.   Nearly every affected region has responded to the pandemic with restrictions in some way and so we have little to compare to.

One thing we do know is that people are dying and more will die.  People will die no matter what we do.  That doesn’t mean we do nothing or that at the first sign of reprieve we throw down our weapons.  This enemy has infiltrated the very ranks of our fighting forces, first responders and healthcare workers.  Hundreds have died attempting to fight this virus.  Hundreds who thought they were doing the right thing to help others. Hundreds who thought they were protected because they were using the personal protective equipment (PPE) they had been trained to use.  Maybe some didn’t have proper PPE because of the volume of patients they were seeing that might have been infected with the virus and supply could not keep up with demand.

Right now as healthcare providers who hold our civil rights in high regard, specifically the right to keep and bear arms, we see many of our rights being infringed upon.  We see government officials ordering that we limit our movement, our ability to make a living, our ability to associate with others and, yes, even our ability to keep and bear arms.  There is much we can do to fight back against this overreach of government control.

But I ask that we do so without sacrificing our and others’ health in the process.  Many people are protesting the stay at home orders in their state.  From what I see in pictures and video almost no one wore a mask.  Almost no one was practicing social distancing.  Michigan did it best by staying in their cars and creating a traffic standstill around the state capital.

How many of you had a month’s worth of food, water and toilet paper in your home?  How many of us had a month or more of savings available to live on?  How many of us were prepared?  We talk about preparation all the time in the RKBA community.  We talk about “pants on, gun on” and keeping our firearms in good working order.  We talk about how to handle, clean, shoot and store our firearm safely.  We talk about how to keep our family safe at home how to stay safe out in public.  We talk about sheltering in place in a bedroom or safe room if our house is broken into unless we have a family member elsewhere in the house.  We talk about not trying to “clear” our own home if we believe someone has broken in and we are in a safe place, in or out of our home.  Let’s take some of this advice into the current war.

We cannot see this enemy.  We need to take all the precautions that we can to avoid it. If we come in contact with it we do not know for sure what effect he will have on us.  We may walk away unscathed, have minor short lived injuries, be critically injured and survive, or we may die.   After we encounter this enemy we may unknowingly assist him in his campaign by spreading his forces among those we love and associate with.  Do we wish to be a traitor?

We have been told many things we can do to fight this war at this time.  Although the CDC is not our friend when it comes to firearms, but this time it really is a virus! This time the CDC does know what it is talking about, despite mistakes in not pushing testing early on.  There is no specific weapon against this enemy.  Avoidance is the best tactic. Most of us will eventually come in contact with it.  If we all come in contact with the enemy at once we will not be able to help each other when we get injured. The economic chaos we experience today will mount.

Use situational awareness: Avoid the enemy.  Stay at home when you can.  Work from home if you can.  If you must go out, avoid others, because you do not know who the unknowing traitors are.

Make personal preparation:  Update your EDC. Keep yourself healthy.  Get plenty of vitamins especially vitamin C, Zinc, D and others that help your immune system work well. Drink plenty of water; a half to a full gallon of water is a good place to start.

Get plenty of rest: If you’re off of your normal work schedule, don’t let your sleep get off schedule as well.  Good sleep hygiene will help your body fight this war.

Protect other civilians: This begins with “social avoidance”, which is really “virus avoidance. It includes wearing a mask when you go out.  This is more to protect others from what you don’t know you have, though it can help protect you from them.  Avoid others as much as possible.

Help the fighting forces: Don’t go to the doctor unless you have to.  If you think you need to be seen, call first.  Don’t just show up at a walk-in clinic, acute care or ER.  Most illnesses and injuries will heal themselves, but if you are concerned please call and discuss this with your primary care providers office first. They should be able to direct you to where you need to seek help if you do.  If you think you have COVID-19, stay home unless you have shortness of breath, chest pain or otherwise need to be hospitalized.  Again, call your doctor if you are concerned.

As Americans we can be united against this foe.  We can also speak out against governmental overreach and control in ways that still protect us and our fellow Americans.

.

.

Sean Brodale, MD

— Dr. Sean Brodale is a family practitioner in Iowa. He is pursuing the right to carry in hospitals for eligible medical personnel. At DRGO he is involved in membership and public engagement projects.

All DRGO articles by Sean Brodale, DO

The Jackson Mississippi Open Carry Ban

By
Keith Finch
-

I was more focused on the Supreme Court case yesterday but thankfully I’m not alone in shaking my head at the Mayor’s decision and comments here. Colion Noir sums it up and breaks the Mayor’s broadcast down counterpoint by counterpoint

The shameless exploitation of the victims within his jurisdiction to further an agenda that in no way addresses the problem. Mississippi is a constitutional carry state. If you can legally own your handgun you can legally carry your handgun, the state places no legal barrier between an owner and a bearer.

Hmm, the right to keep and bear arms… how quaint a concept.

What the Mayor wants is stop and frisk, but he cannot call it that because that is a racially charged policing term. “Disproportionately targets individuals of color.” is I believe the legal parlance of choice when the backlash for the stop and frisk policy inevitably comes back. If you’re wondering, just look at New York’s Bloomberg and friends application of stop and frisk in that region of the country.

Existing in public isn’t a crime or probable cause of a crime. Existing in Jackson in public isn’t a crime or probable cause of a crime. Existing in public with your firearm, in Jackson or anywhere else, isn’t a crime or probable cause of a crime and under Mississippi law is perfectly permissible. You are allowed to carry your firearms.

Is Jackson’s Mayor assuming that any firearm seen, especially on someone of color, is probably illegal? Are the Black and Hispanic residents of the city, who make up its majority, all under suspicion because of their race?

We know. We know that homicide is heavily intra-racial, the FBI Uniform Crime Report lays that fact out year after year. Therefore a hispanic victim was probably killed by a hispanic perpetrator, a caucasian victim was killed by a caucasian perpetrator, and a black victim was killed by a black perpetrator. All of these are seen at rates over 80%. Victims and perpetrators are also disproportionately young, male, and criminally connected.

So what we are left to believe is that the mayor desires the power to treat every single one of his subjects.. er, citizens, as criminal for doing something they are legally empowered to do under state and federal law on the off chance that they actually catch a criminal. I’m sure there is no possible way that power could be abused.

A criminal with a visible illegal weapon is a really dumb criminal. Really dumb criminals do not remain associated with smarter criminals who want to keep their cash flow going. The preposterously few criminal agitators that could be picked up under a policy like this were never the great threat, they were the low hanging fruit and sheer dumb luck got them charged with something. Something that they will probably be released early from to go commit their next dumb offence.

Way to go mayor, you’re really thinking with your ‘big brain’ on this one..

US Supreme Court Dismisses New York Case as Moot

By
Keith Finch
-

In a 6-3 vote today, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) handed a disappointing judgement on the New York handgun restriction and transportation case that was poised to give the Second Amendment a major victory.

Citing that New York amended their law already, the court decided not to rule on the egregious infringement, a ruling that would have put ridiculously overzealous gun control laws in jeopardy nationwide.

The rule, in case you forgot, basically amounted to the fact that a New York resident couldn’t transport a handgun that they already lawfully owned, and complied with all the other bullshit New York puts gun owners through just to buy one, outside city limits. This applied even to another piece of property that they owned. That’s correct, you, oh Big Apple resident, could not transport your handgun to your other house or property if it was outside the city, to say nothing of transporting it literally anywhere else.

This is the state that arrested an actively serving military member for having his issued magazines in his vehicle with him, so I’m not surprised by the absurdity of the rule. I was just looking forward to having new your finally get the constitutional smack on the rear they needed as Illinois and the East Coast watched, desperately clutching their own tender cheeks because they know they’re guilty too.

But SCOTUS has decided not to give us that satisfaction. I’m not surprised, I’m just disappointed. This is a purely political move to not make waves, it’s easier to let this fizzle out with the excuse that NY already corrected the deficiency than to rock the boat and put the gun control heavy states legal teams scrambling like mad at the cataclysm that could befall if SCOTUS ruled heavily against the precept, which they almost certainly would.

That’s what makes this a political move. Justices that sit more in the middle on the issue of Second Amendment freedoms aren’t forced to choose if they dismiss the case. Knowing which way they would have to choose with how heavy handed New York got this was the easy way out of the mess.

By a 6-3 vote, the justices said the case was moot because the law was repealed. But the ruling gave opponents a chance to go back to the lower courts and argue that the city nonetheless imposed new restrictions on gun owners who want to take their weapons outside the city to second homes or to practice at a shooting range.

Justice Samuel Alito, joined by fellow conservatives Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch, said the court should have decided the case and declared the restriction unconstitutional.

With the nation on the brink of a truly terrifying financial crisis in many respects, caused by a medical crisis and widely varying opinions on the response, SCOTUS has declined to add this to the firestorm. It may be an overall fairly wise political move… but it is not one in alignment with the Constitution. The Court had the opportunity to declare in a decisive way that the States couldn’t just fetter their citizens rights as “reasonable restrictions” just because they all heart themselves some gun control.

Disappointing… truly disappointing.

VORTEX OPTICS TO OFFER 40% OFF TO MEDICAL STAFF

By
Keith Finch
-

From the Vortex Team,

BARNEVELD, Wis. Before COVID-19, doctors, nurses, and frontline medical personnel were already heroes. After the outbreak, their bravery has been what we need to find hope in a troubling time

Vortex Optics would like to honor their courage and their commitment. For the next 60 days, from April 27 to June 26, frontline medical personnel get 40% off on up to two optics, up to two optics accessories, and up to five items of Vortex Wear apparel. They will also receive free shipping.

As America isolates at home, medical professionals have pushed to the frontlines to battle this unprecedented threat. Thank you for being the heroes we need.

To receive the discount, simply create an account on ExpertVoice.

About Vortex Optics: American-owned, veteran-owned, Wisconsin-based Vortex Optics designs, engineers, produces, and distributes a complete line of premium sport optics, accessories, and apparel. Built on over 30 years of providing unrivaled customer service and exceptional quality, Vortex® has emerged as a leader in the optics market.

The SIG Predator – A New Romeo5

By
Travis Pike
-

In the late 1980s, an elite team of mercenaries was dispatched to Central America to engage a group of terrorist guerillas and their Soviet adviser. The team was successful, but only one man survived the mission. He, and his team, were unfortunately not equipped with the SIG Romeo5 XDR Predator sight. I’m not saying it would have made as big a difference as say.. modern thermals, but maybe they would have aimed their rifles from the shoulder instead of hip firing. For brevity’s sake, we are calling this optic the SIG Predator. -Top Secret AAR

The name, and my pop culture laden intro, are due to the fact SIG built a special edition of their Romeo5 XDR sight with a Predator inspired reticle. The XDR designation means you can utilize multiple reticles, and the SIG Predator has four reticles total. The most important is the 4th and final, which is the 12 MOA triangle only. It’s designed and modeled directly after the Predator’s own reticle.

The other reticles include a dot only, a dot with a line underneath it, a 12 MOA triangle with a dot in the middle, and the 12 MOA triangle mentioned above. The different options are nice, and from a practical perspective, the 12 MOA triangle and dot are likely the handiest. The dot allows for precise shooting, and the triangle provides for closer range speed.

The Power of the Triangle

The SIG Predator and its triangle reticles are undoubtedly unique. The choice to use the Predator reticle isn’t just cool looking. The triangle design is more substantial and quicker for the eye to pick up. The triangle design does allow for thin lines that are easy to see and easy to see in-between.

Is it better than a circle and a dot? It’s comfortable and easy for the eye to pick up. The 12 MOA triangle isn’t just for looks; it’s great for speed for extremely close-range shooting.

The best way to think about it is what range are you shooting at? Engaging targets from 50 to 200 yards? Use the single dot. The single dot does allow for the best precision red dots can offer. The small 2 MOA dot won’t cover much of the target at this range.

Am I engaging closer than that? Go with the triangle. This big 12 MOA triangle is perfect for fast target acquisition. You are essentially swapping from a 2 MOA dot to a 12 MOA triangle. The dot with the line underneath exists, but doesn’t seem to be incredibly useful.

Going Green With the SIG Predator

The SIG Predator does use a green reticle, which is different than the movie, but green is easier on both the eye and the batteries. The 12 MOA reticle is likely a battery drainer, and the green helps a bit.

[Editor’s Note: Most battery life estimates you see are at a moderate setting, on the dim side for daylight use, and if the sight has multi-reticle selection it is measuring power consumption of just the single dot. Instead of getting into the weeds of the math of power consumption and LEDs and all that… just change your battery every year and carry a spare for the range. Easy]

In outside conditions, the triangle reticle is just fine, but once you get indoors, the triangle reticle becomes a bit blurry. It’s usable, but I wished it was a little crisper for indoor use.

The SIG Predator has ten settings in total, eight daylight settings, and 2-night vision. The daylight settings are incredibly bright and more than enough for the brightest portion of the day. A single AAA battery powers the optic, and the battery will last for 50K hours.

To help preserve the battery, you get the MOTAC technology that powers down the optic after a period of zero motion. It will automatically power up when moved again. The SIG Predator will also remember your last setting when manually turned off and then on again.

Hitting the Jungle

Range time meant finding a gun that complimented the SIG Predator’s triangle reticle. I can get a dozen red dots with a plain dot reticle, so that doesn’t appeal to me. I went with the Micro Scorpion. It’s one of my favorite little subguns, and it’s built for close range, so the 12 MOA triangle is perfect for 50 yards and closer.

Zeroing is simple. The uncapped turrets are easily accessible, and SIG gives you a handy little tool to make adjustments. It’s worth keeping in my shirt pocket. Zeroing was done at 25 yards. I find this range perfect for PCCs, especially guns like the Micro Scorpion. I used Barnaul Silver Bear ammo, and it performed remarkably well and was much cleaner than I expected. Thanks to Barnaul for providing the ammo. 

Even in the height of Florida’s spring, the reticle was more than bright enough to be easily seen. At the highest brightness level it was uncomfortable, so I backed down two levels.

Once it was zeroed, I did a few simple snap drills, failure to stop drills, and worked from behind cover, as well as sprinting to cover and shooting a select drill. The big ass 12 MOA triangle is quite quick and easy to get on target.

I shot a 1.32 failure drill from 15 yards. At 25 yards, that big triangle gave me a .84 snap drill on target. The big triangle makes a big difference when it comes to getting on target rapidly. Backing off to 50 yards, I could still see the 10-inch gong and hit it without issue.

Does the triangle offer value over a traditional dot, or even the other XDR with a circle-dot? I think so, but mostly at close range. The ability to swap to a dot only allows you to max out the range as well, at least max out your red dot range. The SIG Predator does seem to be the perfect red dot for something like the Micro Scorpion, or other small subguns.

Just a Reticle?

The SIG Predator and the Romeo5 XDR series are robust, and affordable optics. This particular model does offer you a new reticle option, and that reticle option does give something more than a cool and silly gimmick. It’s a useful close range reticle that will get you on target quite quick within 50 yards or so. The ability to swap to a simple dot does allow you to open up your range and precision potential with something like a AR 15.

This little guy is shockproof and waterproof with an IPX-7 rating for submersion. The controls provide tactile and audible feedback. The built-in mount is sturdy and locks on tightly to a Picatinny rail. All the little things add up to a well made and very affordable red dot optic. This is my second XDR, and I’ve been more than happy with both purchases.

The additional Predator reticle has made the SIG Predator my favorite of the two admittedly.

LPVO v. ACOG with the man.. the myth.. the Thumb

By
Keith Finch
-

“ACOGs are dumb.” – Steve “Yeti” Fisher

A video share for all you readers in quarantine as Mike ‘GarandThumb’ goes over the TA31 ACSS ACOG variant. It’s probably the best variant of the tough little optic that exists, although I haven’t yet played with the RCO update the USMC did a while back, and that looked promising.

As to Steve’s quote above (real quote, said to me as I ran an ACOG in Carbine Essentials.. again.. just because), every major optic has its fans and detractors. It’s the nature of things. Larry Vickers is no fan of the EOTech but SOCOM is. I, personally, think the Vortex UH-1 and Meprolight RDS are both sub-par for one or another reasons, both functional critiques and personal preference.

It’s not that X or Y are ‘bad‘ optics, it’s working within a combination of limitations and personal preferences. The ACOG, for all its strengths, has limits. I like ACOGs and will accept those limits. Others will not. They are both correct perspectives.

Steve Fisher won’t falsely attribute a flaw to an ACOG that it doesn’t have. Professionals, critics being as objective as they can, won’t add flaws. They don’t need to. It comes down to an optic not working in the manner the user needs from their optic, so that optic “sucks”.

So the moral of the story is this, know your system strengths and deficiencies and do a quick double check that it all does what you need it to do. Wants, cool factor, collector factor, cloning, all that jazz can be put in the need it to do column.

That’s fine. Guns can be fun. That is allowed.

MandoBlaster This Is The WayCR

All that to say that ACOGs are still awesome.

“ACOGs are dumb,” Steve chimes in from somewhere.

And yes ACOGs are dumb if the optic you need is outside the parameters of what the ACOG does. I’m equally not putting a $3,000 5-25x on a general purpose carbine, because that too is dumb.

Kimber Team Match II 9mm Review

By
Caleb Giddings
-

Kimber has an interesting reputation in the firearms community. On one hand, they’re a popular 1911 with people looking for a “nice” 1911 due to their price point and generally nice appearance. On the other hand, many serious shooters don’t like Kimber, due to documented issues with reliability. When I set out to do a Kimber Team Match II 9mm Review, I was…skeptical at the beginning.

Right off the bat, I wanted to like the gun. The Kimber Team Match II 9mm is intended for competition shooters, with adjustable sights and a magazine well for fast reloads. But, full size 9mm 1911s often have problems with reliability, and again factor in “Kimber” and who knows what to expect. I started the test with the 10-8 Performance Function check, a course of fire designed to expose flaws in a 1911’s extractor function. The Kimber Team Match II passed this part of the review with flying colors, which was surprising.

Up next was the long slog through 2,000 rounds of ammo. I shot the Kimber at Steel Challenge, I shot it in training, and eventually the Kimber Team Match II 9mm hit 2,000 rounds. Want to know how many failures it had during that time? 1. That’s right, out of 2,000 rounds fired in various conditions, the Kimber didn’t complete its entire cycle of operations one time. For a full size 1911 in 9mm that’s impressive regardless, and it’s especially impressive considering that this 1911 says Kimber on the slide.

I didn’t have any serious complaints about the Kimber Team Match II 9mm. I would have preferred different grips on the gun, but that’s fixed with some aftermarket grips from VZ. Other than that, I liked this gun. Easy to shoot well, I turned in a couple of personal best runs on Steel Challenge stages with it. With only 1 malfunction in 2,000 rounds it was also very reliable. Sure, it’s a sample size of one, but this one Kimber was awesome.

It’s Saturday, I’m watching Forgotten Weapons

By
Keith Finch
-

Today’s rabbit hole is the M1 Carbine, an influential rifle in ways less famous than the M1 Garand perhaps, but more far reaching and sustained. Variations on the M1 Carbine gas system are used in several modern rifles, including my favored FN SCAR.

The M1 Carbine rolled out of Winchester, who weren’t even looking to participate in the ‘Light Rifle’ competition the military was running, as an adapted downsized concept of their ‘M2’. This occured after US Army Ordnance looked at the Winchester M2 rifle and said, “Neat, make it Smol.”

So William Roemer and Fred Humiston, with their team, did. David Marshall “Carbine” Williams was mostly involved by having done preparatory work on other projects, like the M2, and didn’t participate in the actual arms competition portion of it actively.

Now, the Winchester M2 rifle is not to be confused with the M2 Carbine, which Winchester also did participate in making.

The low digit ‘M’ markings are a rough time…

But, back to the M2… Carbine, M2 Carbine. While the M1 Carbine was a nice little 5lb PDW type weapon, similar to how M4’s were utilized in early GWOT especially by the Marine Corps, the M2 was seen as a way to add easy select fire capability and ammo capacity for troops who could utilize that to effect. Supply guy might get an M1 Carbine but the light mortar section would get M2’s and that sort of thing.

It was a simple conversion requiring a little mod work and a few parts, not a different receiver. That is something we are unused to seeing in our AR centric gun culture and, as Ian points out, makes it a little weird legally.

Cali! Get your Ammo!

By
Keith Finch
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U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez in San Diego ruled in favor of the California Rifle & Pistol Association, which asked him to stop the checks and related restrictions on ammo sales.

On Thursday Judge Benitez blocked the California law requiring background checks for people buying ammunition, harshly rebuking the rules as “onerous and convoluted” regulations that violate the constitutional right to bear arms.

“The experiment has been tried. The casualties have been counted. California’s new ammunition background check law misfires and the Second Amendment rights of California citizens have been gravely injured,”

New York was the first state to require a ‘comprehensive ammunition background check system’ for each sale, but it never took effect (I wonder why). That left California as the first to the extend firearm background checks to each ammunition sale.

Four other states – Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts and New Jersey – require buyers to undergo background checks to obtain firearms or ammunition licenses that they must show when buying bullets, according to the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

And now California is the first to be told to pound sand on their idiotic program which has been problem plagued from its inception. They passed the law and its effect date passed before the system was even online. Good job.

Well, thanks to Judge Benitez and his gavel of justice, Californians can once again enjoy the reasonable convenience of online ordering. Now if we can just get that magazine ban back off the books. Unfortunately though that ruling was Benitez too it is currently out of his capable hands.

Widener’s has AMMO too, on a completely unrelated note… of course.

D.C. Gets into the Gun Business

By
Keith Finch
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D.C. police take over as federal firearms licensee in the District

The Washington D.C. Police had to apply to the BATFE for a Federal Firearms License when the only privately held license within the jurisdiction closed.

D.C. police are now in charge of facilitating the sale of pistols to city residents after the District’s only federal firearms licensee abruptly stopped work in March, citing a spike in demand during the pandemic.

The move announced Monday gives the police department responsibility for deciding who can legally possess a firearm, and then acting as an intermediary between purchasers and sellers. City residents cannot legally buy guns without such a go-between. -WP

Perhaps now the D.C. Police will experience just what a colossal administrative nightmare it is to do transfers and amend their policy? Perhaps they will put pressure on lawmakers to say that, if Universal Background Checks are so important, then the public needs to be able to run NICS checks…

But no, that won’t happen, they’ll just push the responsibility back off once another licensee gets approved.

Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) said officials will continue to seek a private dealer to replace Charles Sykes, the firearm licensee who had been handling such transactions, but they didn’t want to leave people unable to obtain guns in the interim. She said once a replacement is found, police will give up that part of the job.

I don’t blame Charles in the least for closing and not wanting to deal with the rush, being the sole D.C. FFL and dealing with all of those transfers and the book keeping is honestly nightmarish. Mayor Bowser (yes, I laughed and made a Mario joke too) took a prudent measure here in acquiring the FFL at the department.

After all, wouldn’t want another lawsuit to come down and gut another D.C. handgun law now would we by having a defacto handgun ban in place… again.

I believed UBC laws were ridiculous for several reasons prior to having an FFL myself… Then dealing with NICS working at an FFL compounded those reasons further due to the irregular reliability of the system and the manner that it can shut down transfers for no more poignant reason than, “computer broke, sorry.”

Now as an FFL holder myself I see the final layer of paperwork that just adds that much more complexity, legislated above us, the ATF, and the FBI’s pay grades, to the whole transaction. Neither end of situation can change the rules but both must abide by them and the individual just trying to buy a handgun as is their constitutionally protected right gets the shaft.

And then you run into situations like D.C. just did. You cannot mandate someone stay in business, maintain their FFL, and stay open if they don’t want to. Especially when simultaneously mandating social distancing and non-mandatory business closures.

While I sympathize with D.C. residents who are ultimately getting the short end of the stick here, I always maintain hope that when the good idea fairy comes home to roost in a stupid policy that the pain bites an organization high enough up to influence positive change. While I don’t know for certain, perhaps this will allow residents access to any FFL for the transfer instead of one within the limits of D.C. Perhaps, dare I hope, they will abandon this onerous municipal policy in favor of more effective ones.

Glock 17 Reliability Challenge

By
Caleb Giddings
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What happens when you take a brand-new Gen5 Glock 17 and rapid fire 200 rounds through it? Well in the Glock 17 Reliability Challenge, we find out.

Whenever we do something like the Glock 17 Reliability Challenge, the first question people ask is “what’s the point” to which I answer “because.” We have ammo, we have time, and it’s interesting to see what happens to guns when you shoot them a bunch over a short period. For example, in this challenge, my front sight flew off about halfway through. That was surprising! It also would have happened at some point to the front sight, so better it happens during a controlled range test than in a match, a class, or god forbid a self-defense situation.

The good news is that the gun itself worked fine. There were no mechanical failures, other than the front sight yeeting itself into oblivion. During the Glock 17 Reliability Challenge, the area directly under the chamber, where the barrel lugs lock into the frame got too hot to touch, and remained that way for a while after the test. In fact, Gen5 Glocks seem to heat up a lot faster than their previous generation counterparts.

Because this is an older video, the gun tested was one of the first commercially available Gen5 Glock 17s. The Gen5 is interesting because unlike earlier Generations that made iterative changes to the Glock, it is almost a whole new pistol from the ground up. New recoil springs, new trigger engagement, new slide stop springs, new slide profile, new barrel, almost everything about the Gen5 guns is a re-design from previous generations. That’s a good thing, because it addresses a lot of the complaints people had about the Gen4 guns.

Sure, it’s fun to shoot 200 rounds full speed during the Glock 17 Reliability Challenge. It’s a bummer this gun lost its front sight, but that’s an easy fix, and something that can be permanently fixed with a little loctite and a 10-8 Performance front sight. I would definitely carry this Glock 17.

China chooses the IWI Galil ACE!

By
Keith Finch
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Image via Asia Times

What does the new QBZ-191 remind you of?

Yup.. there it is. Thanks IWI and GunMagWarehouse!

Apparently China has released video of their new 5.8x42mm conventional layout assault rifle. The spacey looking QBZ-95 had too many problems. That makes another world military power that had bullpups and has reverted to conventional layout rifles.

Israel’s X95, Austria’s AUG, The UK’s SA80A3, and Australia’s EF88/F90 AUG one-off (I happen to like it the most of the AUG’s) are pretty much the last of military bullpups. They’re hanging strong. I like bullpup rifles, have had a few and still do. But there are simply weak points in the designs too that conventional rifles mitigate.

But back to the ACE..er… QBZ-191

First, it seems clear that they are still militarily heavily married to the AK concept. The QBZ-191 looks primarily like a Galil ACE with perhaps a little FAL/XCR on the back end of the receiver. A one front hinge pin design. They retained AK rock-in magazines even.

I’m not certain if the charging handle or safety selector are ambidextrous (I suspect the selector is) but it looks like the have gone with some manner of non-reciprocating adaption of the standard AK charging handle with a fairly short travel, location is consistent with that theory.

Three barrel lengths have been listed. 10.5″, 14.5″, and an unspecified ‘Marksman’ length.

In addition to closely copying the ACE as a base rifle it looks like they copied PMAGs and a forend from Magpul. The front sight might fold FN SCAR style, the rear sight does. Stock looks adjustable.

They are also proclaiming a new projectile design, probably a clone of M855A1.

It’s like they waited for all the other militaries and developers to do the groundwork for awhile and then went to SHOT going, “I’ll clone that, and that, and these, and… what are you gonna do about it? We’re literally the Chinese government.”

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