Went to the range with Top and JAG today, mostly doing pistol drills. Man, my gun handling skills with the G-Lock 19 are not very good. There's entirely too much time passing before going back to the range again.
I got about 80 rounds into my 100 round Value Pack before I got dialed in a little bit. In the end, I ended up thinking "Man, maybe I really do need the M&P..." It was worthwhile, but I really need to shoot more often.
I shot a mag through Schwaggie to check out the Po Boy Special, and found out a couple of things. First, the Po Boy is definitely worth it if you want to magnify an optical sight, but ya gotta get the tip off mount. Second, an M68/Comp M2 has a very large dot at fiddy yard. I dialed the intensity down as much as I could, but the dot still subtended the entirety of the "X" and "10" rings of the bullseye type target I was using. My windage was not squared away, but since we were getting ready to leave, I gave holding off a try. Basically, since the dot of my sight and the center of my target were about the same diameter, I just held 'em side by side, and dropped four of the six into the "X". Since there were a couple of other guys shooting, I just shot about half a mag and left them to their more- serious-than-mine blasting.
Bottom line: its impossible to beat the Po Boy if you wanna run a magnifier. I like the Aimpoint somewhat better because of its larger objective lens, but its a lot more money. If you can afford the Aimpoint, by all means, grab one. If its a little out of the price range right now, the Po Boy is the way to go.
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Sunday, April 20, 2008
La Rue Tactical Po Boy Special first impressions
My bro M4 Guru recently picked up an Aimpoint magnifier with the LT-602 QD mount. Since he's a high speed type guy, he hadda get the LT 649-30 tip off mount. When he saw that the difference in price between the tip off mount and
the tip off mount with the Hensoldt optic (The Po Boy Special) was $45, he hadda get the PBS. Since he didn't have a rifle to use it on just yet, he loaned it to me for a little while. I decided to write up my first impressions, since I haven't been able to get to the range with it yet.
The glass is very, very clear, to my eye at least as good as the Aimpoint magnifier. Its a 2.5 power optic instead of the Aimpoint's 3 power, so the the magnification isn't quite as much (duh). Its a little difficult to tell apart without a fixed target to put them side by side with.
The plus side: decent magnification, very reasonable cost, and very good optical purity. The minus side is that its a very small objective lens, so the field of view
is not very wide. Its also not as sexy as the Aimpoint magnifier, but for the price
I think I can live with it. The best part, I think, is that if you decide to upgrade to
a different magnifier at a later time, you already have the awesome LaRue mount. If you want to run a magnifier and don't have deep pockets, this is probably one of the best ways to get there.
One interesting thing I found in researching magnifiers is that moving your magnifier around doesn't change your zero on your dot sight at all. Additionally, if you have optical imperfections like I do-I have astigmatism in both eyes-the magnifier "cleans up" the dot, especially at higher intensities. It appears that it
can also be run at really low intensities compared to running the sight without a magnifier. That has yet to be proven on the range, though. I haven't used it outside very much yet, so that supposition still has to be proven. I'm really
looking forward to wringing this thing out at Binkley's.
the tip off mount with the Hensoldt optic (The Po Boy Special) was $45, he hadda get the PBS. Since he didn't have a rifle to use it on just yet, he loaned it to me for a little while. I decided to write up my first impressions, since I haven't been able to get to the range with it yet.
The glass is very, very clear, to my eye at least as good as the Aimpoint magnifier. Its a 2.5 power optic instead of the Aimpoint's 3 power, so the the magnification isn't quite as much (duh). Its a little difficult to tell apart without a fixed target to put them side by side with.
The plus side: decent magnification, very reasonable cost, and very good optical purity. The minus side is that its a very small objective lens, so the field of view
is not very wide. Its also not as sexy as the Aimpoint magnifier, but for the price
I think I can live with it. The best part, I think, is that if you decide to upgrade to
a different magnifier at a later time, you already have the awesome LaRue mount. If you want to run a magnifier and don't have deep pockets, this is probably one of the best ways to get there.
One interesting thing I found in researching magnifiers is that moving your magnifier around doesn't change your zero on your dot sight at all. Additionally, if you have optical imperfections like I do-I have astigmatism in both eyes-the magnifier "cleans up" the dot, especially at higher intensities. It appears that it
can also be run at really low intensities compared to running the sight without a magnifier. That has yet to be proven on the range, though. I haven't used it outside very much yet, so that supposition still has to be proven. I'm really
looking forward to wringing this thing out at Binkley's.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Paul Howe/XS Sights rear sight aperture: COOL!!
I happened across my bro M4 Guru installing one of XS Sights new Paul Howe designed CQB apertures today. Luckily, I came in as he was finishing up, rather than starting the job, which meant I got to do all of the playing with none of the waiting. That makes for a good day.
What Howe came up with is a "pistol" sight notch above a more typical round hole aperture. Since the two are on the same...uh...blade, I guess...of the rear sight, transitioning between the two is crazy super fast, with just a slight movement. I tried to find a good pic of it, but couldn't. Figgers, M4G has brand new stuff before everybody else again. :)
This is the only pic I could find. I comes from the patent that Howe applied for, which is where the link in the title leads to. By all means, check it out, because it goes much more in depth than I intend to...or can, really. lol
Where the sight that XS makes differs from the illustration is that the "upper" notch is horizontally serrated, which cuts glare. The upper notch is for CQB distance shooting, while the more traditional peep aperture is for
shooting at distances out to about 25 meters.
According to M4G (who knows, believe me), Howe is very much anti-optic. The guys I've met who've seen him shoot or trained with him say that he's an amazing shooter and prefers open sights. After messing around with M4G's new sight for a short while, I'm very much intrigued, and I think I'm gonna have to seek one of these out and see if I can't slap it in my Troy Battlesight. This thing is slick! Well done, Paul Howe and XS Sights.
What Howe came up with is a "pistol" sight notch above a more typical round hole aperture. Since the two are on the same...uh...blade, I guess...of the rear sight, transitioning between the two is crazy super fast, with just a slight movement. I tried to find a good pic of it, but couldn't. Figgers, M4G has brand new stuff before everybody else again. :)
This is the only pic I could find. I comes from the patent that Howe applied for, which is where the link in the title leads to. By all means, check it out, because it goes much more in depth than I intend to...or can, really. lol
Where the sight that XS makes differs from the illustration is that the "upper" notch is horizontally serrated, which cuts glare. The upper notch is for CQB distance shooting, while the more traditional peep aperture is for
shooting at distances out to about 25 meters.
According to M4G (who knows, believe me), Howe is very much anti-optic. The guys I've met who've seen him shoot or trained with him say that he's an amazing shooter and prefers open sights. After messing around with M4G's new sight for a short while, I'm very much intrigued, and I think I'm gonna have to seek one of these out and see if I can't slap it in my Troy Battlesight. This thing is slick! Well done, Paul Howe and XS Sights.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
$15,000 worth of paper
Finally got my diploma. I wasn't all that surprised that it took a few months to get. After all, it took me 19 years to get it. My timing may or may not be unfortunate. The job market is tightening, and I don't think that's going to help Kentucky and Tennessee that much. Relocation may be in order; I haven't looked into it that much yet because I still love what I'm doing now. I'm undecided. At any rate, here's what fifteen grand worth of paper, and an eighteen dollar frame with a crappy mat looks like.
I have yet to make a decision on pursuit of an MBA. I think I need to do a serious hard look at my prospects and go from there. I think an MBA program may actually teach me something I don't know. Most of my bachelor's degree was made up of skills I already had and things I already knew. It was by no means a waste of time, but having about a dozen years of management experience, I can say with certainty that it didn't prepare me to manage a business. I guess that's proof that education without experience isn't that useful. Besides, you don't get free stuff from vendors at school.
I have yet to make a decision on pursuit of an MBA. I think I need to do a serious hard look at my prospects and go from there. I think an MBA program may actually teach me something I don't know. Most of my bachelor's degree was made up of skills I already had and things I already knew. It was by no means a waste of time, but having about a dozen years of management experience, I can say with certainty that it didn't prepare me to manage a business. I guess that's proof that education without experience isn't that useful. Besides, you don't get free stuff from vendors at school.
Saturday, April 05, 2008
Another change in Schwaggie: placing the tactical light
One of the things I found with the placement of my tac light that I didn't like was that I had to move my sling mount towards the receiver. One of the advantages of running the sling as far out as you can is that the rifle swings less when you are carrying it. Additionally, the sling can be used as a shooting aid.
I have to admit that this knowledge isn't directly mine. I've been asking questions from friends who've been there, and taking tips from Kyle Lamb's book Green Eyes and Black Rifles. There's so much info in there I can't process it all. I have to admit to being a stickler for grammar, punctuation, and spelling, and there are more than a few in this book. However, the minor irritation that causes versus what I'm gaining from reading the ideas of a true master of the combat carbine can't be compared. This book is well worth buying, even at its relatively high price. It really is great stuff.
At any rate, I thought I would try moving the light to the opposite side to see if I could make it work there. KL has his light placed in this position, but where I am using the Vltor Scout Mount, he's using the Viking Tactics mount, which allows the light to sit below the rail, rather than inline with it. Photo is from the Viking Tactics site
As you'll see with the photos of my light and mount, the placement of the light is higher. What I found was that I needed to move the light rearward in the mount a little bit; less than a quarter of an inch or so. When I first mounted it up, I found I was straining my support hand whenever I reached for it. Moving it back just a bit made a huge, huge difference. That also allowed me to move my sling mount forward again where it was before...and where I found I really liked having it. The balance of the rifle is better, and the sling can be tensioned against my fore arm (by reaching through the sling before getting to the vertical grip or grabbing the fore end and putting tension on it), which really stabilizes the rifle in an offhand shooting position. I think I found a much better way to run this system. Now all I gotta do is pick up the newer, rotation-limiting QD mount from Daniel Defense, which will keep my sling from twisting.
This photo shows the placement of light and sling mount from the top. The rail is still the Daniel Defense 9.5 FSP, in case anybody forgot. Yes, that top rail ladder is OD green. I didn't have another black one to use in the position.
This photo is of the underside, showing the relative placement of the light, sling mount, and vertical grip. To be honest, I'm not completely sold that the vert grip is the way to go, but I need to do a lot more shooting to see which really works better for me. Since The Big Boys don't use them and are the best combat shooters in the world, I'm thinking that I may have to find a way without it.
Now my big project is to shoot the heck out of it, which is not easy with the cost and availability of 5.56 ammo these days.
I have to admit that this knowledge isn't directly mine. I've been asking questions from friends who've been there, and taking tips from Kyle Lamb's book Green Eyes and Black Rifles. There's so much info in there I can't process it all. I have to admit to being a stickler for grammar, punctuation, and spelling, and there are more than a few in this book. However, the minor irritation that causes versus what I'm gaining from reading the ideas of a true master of the combat carbine can't be compared. This book is well worth buying, even at its relatively high price. It really is great stuff.
At any rate, I thought I would try moving the light to the opposite side to see if I could make it work there. KL has his light placed in this position, but where I am using the Vltor Scout Mount, he's using the Viking Tactics mount, which allows the light to sit below the rail, rather than inline with it. Photo is from the Viking Tactics site
As you'll see with the photos of my light and mount, the placement of the light is higher. What I found was that I needed to move the light rearward in the mount a little bit; less than a quarter of an inch or so. When I first mounted it up, I found I was straining my support hand whenever I reached for it. Moving it back just a bit made a huge, huge difference. That also allowed me to move my sling mount forward again where it was before...and where I found I really liked having it. The balance of the rifle is better, and the sling can be tensioned against my fore arm (by reaching through the sling before getting to the vertical grip or grabbing the fore end and putting tension on it), which really stabilizes the rifle in an offhand shooting position. I think I found a much better way to run this system. Now all I gotta do is pick up the newer, rotation-limiting QD mount from Daniel Defense, which will keep my sling from twisting.
This photo shows the placement of light and sling mount from the top. The rail is still the Daniel Defense 9.5 FSP, in case anybody forgot. Yes, that top rail ladder is OD green. I didn't have another black one to use in the position.
This photo is of the underside, showing the relative placement of the light, sling mount, and vertical grip. To be honest, I'm not completely sold that the vert grip is the way to go, but I need to do a lot more shooting to see which really works better for me. Since The Big Boys don't use them and are the best combat shooters in the world, I'm thinking that I may have to find a way without it.
Now my big project is to shoot the heck out of it, which is not easy with the cost and availability of 5.56 ammo these days.
Thursday, April 03, 2008
Ted Says I'll Be a Cannibal in 10 years...or 30...or 40...
Since this is a couple days old now, I'm sure you've heard Ted Turner's comments on the Charlie Rose Show. I dunno who Charlie Rose is, but I can say this with some certainty: Ted is what they call in the psychological arena (this is a technical term) "totally nutty". Now, after enjoying Teddy's absolutely foundless mental noodlings, be sure to check out the comments left there. I couldn't read them all; I had tears streaming down my face from laughing so hard. The ones that I did read were from a group with another highly technical name: Moonbatty, Tree Huggin', Patchouli Stinkin', Granola Munchin' Lefty Nutjobs.
The best part is Teddy's prediction of a "failed state like...Somalia". Well...here's the thing, then. I'm ready for that. Teddy and his ilk, being anti-self defense and anti-gun, will not be. So, while I bring up my own militia, it will be The Moonbats that will be left out in the cold...so to speak. Of course, I'll make room for 'em, but unlike the State they envision, they'll be workin' fo da Man...Me and my similarly-armed bros. Lookin' forward to it!
Its interesting to me to see how a Lefty views America. They instantly go to the "failed State" card, equating us with the crazies in tribal warfare-ridden Africa. They totally miss what makes America so great: Americans. People will find a way. Americans are ingenious folk; we'll band together, help eachother, and stand the hell up. Those that don't...will be dealt with accordingly. Remember, when the founders got here there was no central government. As a matter of fact, those brilliant pioneers were against having one. Looking at where we are now, I'm convinced they were spot on right. Man, I wish we had stuck with that.
The thing is, those who are prepared will survive, and those that aren't will not. The left has been depending on the gummint for everything for so long now I'm sure they're gonna suffer greatly before figuring out a Brave New World. Sucks to be you, dudes.
The best part is Teddy's prediction of a "failed state like...Somalia". Well...here's the thing, then. I'm ready for that. Teddy and his ilk, being anti-self defense and anti-gun, will not be. So, while I bring up my own militia, it will be The Moonbats that will be left out in the cold...so to speak. Of course, I'll make room for 'em, but unlike the State they envision, they'll be workin' fo da Man...Me and my similarly-armed bros. Lookin' forward to it!
Its interesting to me to see how a Lefty views America. They instantly go to the "failed State" card, equating us with the crazies in tribal warfare-ridden Africa. They totally miss what makes America so great: Americans. People will find a way. Americans are ingenious folk; we'll band together, help eachother, and stand the hell up. Those that don't...will be dealt with accordingly. Remember, when the founders got here there was no central government. As a matter of fact, those brilliant pioneers were against having one. Looking at where we are now, I'm convinced they were spot on right. Man, I wish we had stuck with that.
The thing is, those who are prepared will survive, and those that aren't will not. The left has been depending on the gummint for everything for so long now I'm sure they're gonna suffer greatly before figuring out a Brave New World. Sucks to be you, dudes.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
