My friend Justin has trained new shooters for a long time. His interest and proficiency with firearms predate his police work by several years. This year, he is offering more formal training through Condition One. In particular, the pistol course they offer fulfills the Tennessee state requirements for carry permit applications.
I highly recommend Justin as an instructor.
So are the spikes designed to keep them off ledges and heads of sculptures.
His hair is standing up on end at the very thought of having a flying rat land on the head.
The location of the magazine limits the scope length, making prismatic design a natural choice.
CTC laser is mounted as a backup sight because I view all rifles as possible defensive tools. The barrel is fairly thick and also fluted, while 5.7×28 doesn’t generate that much heat. If a shooter does warm it up, the rail with the laser is well separated from the barrel.
Actress Morrigan Sanders is 14. She’s holding a Model 1916 S&W, British Contract in .455 Webley, Enfield arsenal marked, converted to .45 Long Colt after the War, refinished and with Pachmayr grips. To quote her father: “Morrigan tears out the X ring with it. She shoots well, but it’s not like fifteen yards is a long distance.” For most people, it is.
On the other hand, if she can master firearms (she’s had an M4 rifle of her own from age 7), surely the adults amongst us can at least try. If a girl child shows capacity and will to defend self and family in case of emergency, what excuse do grown men have for acting like a prey species?
Judging by the Snoopy painted on her fuselage, in this variant of history the little annoying dog did not triumph. C96 Mausers were in fairly common use among aerial observers until stronger aircraft could mount flexible machine guns.
Yesterday, I had a nice party at my home. Half of the fourteen guests were teenagers ranging from 12 to 19. Three of them, aged 12 to 14 and all left-winged just by coincidence, picked out toys for the next meet-up. In evidence, an M1A1 carbine, an M1 carbine (both with the preferred early two-position flip sights) and a very handy, lightweight M1-22 trainer carbine. Can’t wait for the range trip!
Most 5.7×28 arms are short-range defensive designs. Planned bolt actions from Savage and others did not materialize, so this essentially small game/varmint load had no platform from which to realize its full potential. I originally scoffed at the AR57 upper as being much larger than a PS90, but have changed my mind now that I am more interested in accuracy.
5.7×28 is a 150 yards round, so I think that a 3x scope would suffice for most needs. When Primary Arms brings out the 5x prismatic later this year, I’ll swap. Conventional scopes are just too long for the magazine to clear them on loading, though with case the magazine could be inserted under the objective bell from the side. I have not yet shot this combination, looking forward to find out how it works.
The original purpose of this was to amuse left-handed kids (thanks to bottom ejection), but it might actually have a practical use beyond range plinking. Since the rear sight spot is occupied by the scope, I added a tiny Crimson Trace laser to the top of the forend as a backup sighting option.
This has long been my favorite recreational rifle. With AAC Aviator suppressor on the long barrel, it’s very quiet. 4x Leupold scope allows pretty good aim from up close to about 100 yards. But it has one giant disadvantage for teaching new shooters — it’s long and heavy. With the suppressor attached, it doesn’t even fit any of my cases. Few kids can fire it even from supported positions.
Enter Savage MKII FV-SR, a shorter and lighter bolt action already threaded for a suppressor.
It comes with an Accu-trigger and integral scope rail, saving the effort that was necessary to get the Mossberg set up.
Gemtech Alpine suppressor comes apart for cleaning, which is good for high-volume shooting I am expecting. The flutes on the endcap are designed to be turned with a coin for a tool.
Given the role of this rifle — engaging very small targets precisely — I over-scoped it. 4-16x Primary Arms optic was picked for the close focus, down to ten yards. I am already using it on a .223 Superior Arms Varminter, so I know it would work fine with a .22LR. At 4x, it can be used off-hand, at 16x for longer ranges from a bipod. Rangefinding mil-dot reticle is calibrated at 16x.
Since I shoot paper and other inanimate things for now, subsonics work just fine for my purposes. The rifle ought to be quiet enough to dispense with wearable hearing protection entirely. This ammunition has been quite accurate in the Mossberg, giving better than 1MOA at 50 yards.
So all I need now is a handful of 10-round magazines (the rifle came with a 5-rounder) and I’ll be set for a nice day at the range. Once it is zeroed — hello again, Appleseed!
A short edit of old video footage (from March) showing Dana shooting a Sub2000 carbine.
…that film would have ended much sooner. We are used to viewing teenagers as vulnerable, but that’s in large part because adults have forbidden them defensive tools and bad laws designed to infantilize mature and immature teens are far more common today than even a single generation ago.
This girl is twelve and can run a 5.56 rifle with ease — and my 338Spectre AR posed no difficulty either. She’s also shown evidence of good judgment and excellent social skills. I’d rather have her on my side than some Army base guard with an unloaded Beretta M9 — because the Army also tries to infantilize their staff and contractors in peacetime, wondering in wartime why people aren’t showing enough initiative anymore.
“The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other guy die for his.” ― George S. Patton Jr.
“To die for one’s beliefs is indeed a noble touch
To live for them is better and it doesn’t hurt as much” ― Terence Chua
Once you become a casualty, you are a liability to your family. They have to choose between escaping and trying to save you. So not becoming a casualty isn’t just a good idea, it’s an obligation to your dependents. Prepare for such eventualities as may be mitigated by prompt action. While the men who shielded their girlfriends from bullets in Aurora, CO are heroes, they’d have been happier being live heroes. Pity they would have had to break local laws to survive.
For years, many Australians claimed that the 1996 Port Arthur mass shooting was a false flag operation. This week, many Americans are saying the same about the Aurora, CO mass murder. Not having enough information about either, I can’t say if those views are accurate. We should, however, consider something about our lovely federal creatures: Fast and Furious was very much an false flag operation with hundreds of murders to show for it. So before anyone says “how could you even think that people would do something like that?”, let me point out that they have done something like that — on a grand scale — already and got caught. Any sufficiently noticeable terrorist event now be viewed as a possible US government agency plot for influence or some other gain. A bit like the Waco church massacre done to get a larger budget for BATF. That’s quite a PR problem for the leaders of the free world.
Useful for introducing new shooters to M1911 platform.
A friend just stopped by to show off his new pet, an AKSU variation in 5.56mm. Симпатичная “сучка” получилась.
(Image by okaygeek.com)
People say that any hypothetical defender at the Aurora theater would have run the risk of hitting innocent bystanders. The risk existed but consider how typical theater seats rise rise towards the back. It’s the classic “second rank fires over the heads of the first” musketeer arrangement. A perp near the screen would have been on the receiving end of all armed theater patrons simultaneously…had any armed people besides the attacker been present.
As for the aiming in the dark: gun lights exist for a reason. Moreover, in a smoky atmosphere, laser beams would have become visible and pointed to the attacker most prominently. Green lasers in particular provide enough scatter to light up the target fairly well. Worst case, the combination of screen light and muzzle flashes would have provided some idea of where to shoot — and the viewers eyes had time to adapt to the darkness.
So it would have been a tough fight but far from impossible — certainly not on the level of Beslan school takeover.
Fits just fine in an AR15 mag pouch.
