Undecided and decided: The Magpul BAD Lever and X300 DG switch

I added a Magpul Battery Assist Device, AKA The BAD Lever, to Schwaggie on Thursday-Thanks Joe!-and worked it out a little bit on Saturday, before being overtaken by events, and by events I mean a need for a Large Double Bacon Cheeseburger from Becky's Country Cafe in Woodlawn, TN.

Overall, I'm convinced of the utility of the part. It makes reloading faster, which is a good thing. Eject the empty magazine, insert the fresh magazine, perform push/pull, and while re-gripping the fore end, the index finger of the firing hand releases the bolt and prepares to resume firing. The thing is, this is something that requires training and a good bit of practice to do safely. The issue I found was that going to the trigger was automatic, which is not a good thing when the task at hand is activating the BAD. In other words, it's very easy to take a swipe at the lever with the index finger, and continue curving in to the face of the trigger. That's something that can be trained around, but it's not just a quickly overcome action. The upside is that the bolt can be released conventionally, with the support hand as well, so the rifle will operate normally even with the lever installed. If anything, it makes the paddle of the bolt release a little bigger and easier to press. Mine installed with no issues whatsoever. Make sure the part works as it should with your rifle before you go to a fight with it. I know, but some people need to be told everything, especially the obvious.

The utility is there; there are good reasons for running this part. However, it's not like a rail panel; it can't just be dropped in and mastered without practice. With practice, once again it's a winner of a part from the crew at Magpul. The reason this company comes out with so many popular parts isn't because they're cheap (they're reasonably priced and a fine value, certainly not cheap) or because SEAL Team 6(3+4)*(34/2)^10 uses them. It's because those guys shoot and apply what they know and learn.

Also on Thursday I obtained a DG Switch for the Surefire X300 on my MnP FS. I also took this new part to the range and tried it out as well. While not necessarily perfect-it requires the firing hand to trigger it, which means that a tightened firing hand grip is needed; not necessarily desirable for marksmanship. It does make triggering the light about a million times easier than using the support hand thumb. The key is learning the grip pressure needed to trigger it. If it comes to firing the gun, the light's gonna be on. What I'm learning is the nuances of the switch pressure to be able to keep the light in the "off" condition. This thing is the HEAT! Go get a DG switch for your X300, but because it's a better way, not because DG stands for DevGru, which it does. With Surefire products, it's pretty easy to tell the ones that were designed with their team of shooter's input. The DG switch is one of those parts.

Latest pics of Schwaggie

Apparently, the rule is "take a photo, then change something again." I just shot these on Saturday evening, and then Saturday night I switched the QD swivel point to the opposite side of the stock to help the rifle hang better on the sling. The stock is pretty nice. It's a bit longer than most of the other stocks on the market. I had a CTR on this rifle about a week ago, and could run that stock all the way out. This one I run in a couple notches...or out a few notches, depending on which direction you count. It's a little heavy, but not a deal breaker in terms of weight.


I was not intending to go with an FDE color scheme, its just that FDE was the color that came to me. To that end, I kinda wish I'd grabbed a black mag, but the tan one was on top of the pile. It looks like I'm gonna be getting some XTM panels in the near future (and a BAD lever), so I'll probably do that checkerboard kind of thing, just because I can. I'm not what I would call a Magpul fanboy, it's just that they make good stuff and it finds its way to me pretty often. They sell a ton of stuff, so it would figure that some of it would get distributed to those in a position to give it to me. :)

Also new to Schwaggie is the Surefire 212A flash suppressor. It works pretty well as a brake, it works like WHOA as a flash suppressor. It's a bit longer than most, so on a 16" barrel it's reaching out there a bit, but not bad enough to do anything about. Next time it'll probably be on a 14.5" and permanently attached, but this barrel has a lot of life yet. The rifle money is already earmarked elsewhere, so I'm not sure where that 14.5 is coming from just yet.

Anyway! On to the new photos.

News: My blog is still NC-17. The people rejoice!

Back in, what, '07 I think, I found a link to a site that gives a movie rating to blogs, and now to facebook and stuff. Just because I got curious, I had to have it rated again. Of course, there's even more references to guns-I shot some new pics of the carbine again, so yet more gun posting will be happening-so of course I kept my rating. What's different, though, is that the stuff that brought me that rating originally isn't the same stuff that does it now, other than guns. I'm OK with that.

This rating was determined based on the presence of the following words:

• gun (48x)
• shoot (16x)
• dead (7x)
• kill (4x)
• dangerous (3x)
• zombie (2x)
• steal (1x)

Bin Laden reportedly unarmed when he was shot: my thoughts

According to several news outlets, Osama Bin Laden was unarmed when he was terminated with extreme prejudice. The newsies seem to think this is a big deal. here are my thoughts: so what? All it shows to me is what a coward this guy was, that he didn't even bring a knife to a gun fight. Apparently his wife put up more of a fight than he did. Was it in some way "dishonorable"? Goat Lover (that's bin Laden, if you weren't sure) caused the death of 3,000 of my fellow Americans. Pardon me if I don't think two to the heart and one to the mind equals that out. Never arrest a terrorist tomorrow when you can ghost one today. Nice to see that those involved were good enough shots to end this thing Right Freakin' Then. I tip my hat and raise my glass to the personnel involved. Bravo Zulu!