Weapon "Modifications"

29 Apr 08

Good observations on weapon modifications, from a colleague:

"I am amazed at the number of students who show up at classes with ' modifications' to their rifles and shotguns, the same weapons they keep for serious purposes, but which they haven't tested since these modifications were made!

Examples:

>A good shooter and 'amateur-gunsmith' showed up with his'old-reliable' AR15, on which he'd installed a new barrel. He experienced monotonous malfunctions with every type of ammo and every magazine he had. The rifle had been ' converted' to little more than scrap metal!

>Another 'good shooter' mounted a bi-pod on the forend of his AR15. He couldn't figure out why he was unable to hit even easy targets with his rifle solidly resting on the bi-pod. When, in exasperation, he checked his rifle on paper, he unhappily discovered that the installation of the bi-pod had shifted his POI over a foot north and opened his groups from MOA to 'MOC" (Minute of County)!

>Yet another 'good shooter' mounted a Sidesaddle on his Remington 11-87 and, several weeks later, brought it to a class. He was astonished and dismayed to discover that the action wouldn't cycle at all, as mounting screws protruded too deeply into the receiver. This was his 'home-defense' shotgun, and had been resting in his closet in this inoperable state, unbeknownst to him.

The foregoing are only a few examples. I've personally witnessed countless other rifles, shotguns, and pistols undergo similar, mysterious ' personality-changes' when their naive owners hung new equipment on them."

Comment: The only way to be confident that your serious arms will genuinely function, on demand, is to run them regularly and under the conditions you expect to use them. Particularly now, when nearly all rifles and pistols come with rails. Well, when there is a rail on my gun, I have to hang something on it, don't I? Heaven forbid my gun would have a naked rail!"

This, of course, includes shooting your rifles from a solid rest. When your support arm/hand is inoperable, you will probably have to rest the rifle on something solid in order to shoot. Knowing, in advance, what effect this will have on your POI will then become life-saving information!

/John

Lasermax

29 Apr 08

Lasers on Pistols:

I've been a non-fan on lasers on pistols, and have said so on a number of occasions, but my patient friends at Lasermax finally persuaded me to honestly evaluate a copy of their product on my SA/XD/40S&W that I'm currently carrying as my main-gun.

Well, I gave the Lasermax a honest workout at a Pistol Course last weekend. I have to say, it is really fast, a good deal faster, with no compromise in accuracy, than without it! Here are my comments:

>A pulsating laser is superior to a "constant" laser, because your eye picks it up faster. Lasermax makes them both ways, but my preference is definitely for the pulsating variation.

>Concerns about durability have been largely eliminated. Lasermax's unit fits completely inside of the pistol. It comes as the laser unit itself and the captured recoil spring already assembled, and it is very rugged!

>Concerns about alignment have also been largely eliminated. The unit is pre-aligned, and my copy is dead on!

>The activation buttons are on both sides and are easily operated, yet are completely shielded as the pistol is holstered.

>When I use the laser, I don't used sights at all! Keeping both eyes open, I drive the dot to the target, looking over the sights, and immediately run the trigger. As I said, it is fast, and accuracy is superb at any range you can use it!

>The system is most useful in conjunction with typical indoor lighting conditions. Outdoors, it is most effective for a two-hour period at dawn and dusk. In bright sunlight, one cannot see the aiming point, and in darkness, the aiming point is visible, but one cannot tell what it is being projected upon. It is just a dancing, red dot!

However, indoors once can nearly always see both the dot and the target, and there is sufficient ambient light to evaluate the target for threats. Outdoors, at dusk and dawn, and on heavily overcast days, one can do the same thing.

When used in conjunction with a Surefire Weapon light or a Safariland RLS, the Lasermax is effective in even very low light, because there is now enough light to locate and evaluate the target, and the Operator can still see the laser aiming point within the corona of white light.

I am starting to come around to lasers on pistols! I thought I'd never say that, and how I hate to admit I've been wrong, but my personal experience has been extremely favorable with the Lasermax product. Crimson Trace also makes an excellent unit, but I have not yet tested it extensively.

We live and learn!

/John

Wrong Direction for USMC!

29 Apr 08

Marines go in the wrong direction:

The Marine Corps has decided to change the personal weapon issued to nearly all officers and S/NCOs from the M9 pistol to the M4 rifle. This change will not be fully implemented for the next few years.

This change is a bad idea! The carrying of pistol, distinguishes officers and S/NCOs from enlisted. Yes, it is a rather bulky and expensive rank insignia, but it conveys a sense of nobility and purpose to the Officer Corps, and even junior officers, particularly junior officers, are thus made continually aware of their unique and vital position and function within their Regiment and Corps.

Giving them a rifle instead instantly converts them into just "oneof the boys." Again, a bad idea and a symptom of the downward slide of our civilization. I expected better from the current Commandant. The Marine Corps should be leading, not following, the Army!

In Vietnam, as a young, Second Lieutenant/Platoon Commander, I proudly carried a WWII-vintage 1911. I knew what it meant to be thus armed. My men,of course, carried rifles, but I was an Officer, and that pistol continually reminded me or my special position, duty, and charge.

/John