Rogue Elite

I remember the days when I would stare at rifle scopes and ask shooters how much they cost, and when they told me how the rifle scopes cost, I’d calculate that whichever rifle I was thinking about putting the scope on, the cost of the rifle was less than the cost of the optic.   I have no idea how much money companies are making off of some optics, but there is a certain point that I really don’t care how good people think  they are, 90% of people spending that kind of money on optics probable could get the job done with something that cost 50%-75% less.   In all of my years of target shooting and plinking, I have only had scope mount issues and 2 rifle scopes that ever broke.   Every rifle scope  that broke cost less than $100.   I have a few Leupolds that have been on bolt actions and semi-autos and they all hold zero and have excellent clarity.

If you do research on rifle scope manufacturers and there warranties, then put some thought into what kind of objective lense you think  you want and get the reticle that applies to your shooting purposes.  There are a lot of really interesting reticles being sold by various manufacturers and they work very well.   Mil-Dot reticles still have their place, but some of the range estimation reticles for varmint and big game work very fast.   Once you’ve determined which rifle scopes you want then get the best rifle mounts you can afford to get and remember to use loctite on every screw.   I have had scope mounts fail on me, but never when I used loctite.  For hard use optics I strongly recommend marking the heads of the screws so you can do visual checks to see if they are turning.

I have had an above average level of firearm training, but I am very much aware that I’m no expert.   I think anyone that claims to be an expert tends to have the wrong attitude and will eventually fall victim to complacency.  There is a pretty well known youtube video of an “expert” showing students about firearms as he ends up putting a bullet into his foot in front of a class of school kids.   One of the most important things I have learned about close and personal fighting with firearms is rifle and pistol sight differentiation.   On a rifle you can shoot a bullseye at 300yds with your ACOG, but at 6ft, you might end up putting a bullet 3 inches over a bad guys forehead due to the barrel and optic offsets.

Laser grips are no different when it comes to knowing that you will still have an offset. Most laser grips sit high above the grips and off to the right side of a pistol.   This will give you a windage offset and will be something you will have to put some serious thought into before you set your zero.  I’d recommend thinking about this while measuring rooms in your home and knowing the distances you may be defending yourself in, and then taking the firearm to a range for zeroing.    I personally prefer laser grips that turn off and on with a grip button and do not need to be switched off and on.    Like lights on a firearm, sometimes it’s a liability to always be projecting something from  a given position.

And the answer is no, we do not, so why do people expect us to be able to shoulder the same size rifles or grip the same size handguns comfortable?  Even if you’re a guy, you’re not all built the same, and luckily the military has caught on to this.    If I had a nickel for every WWII vet I know that made a comment on how big the Garand was and how many of them had trouble shooting one, I’d be rich.   The M1 Garand is a very accurate and powerful rifle, but not everyone could hand them.   If you field a rifle of the same caliber today, and allowed people to adjust the stock for their comfort, recoil issues go away.

In the last few months I’ve had a lot of consultation with new gun owners about home defense weapons and assessing how they could be deployed and used within their homes.   Many of them always thought about handguns being used in their homes and never rifles.  Everyone seems to think that a rifle is too much or too hard to manage, but now that pistol caliber Carbines are so prevailant.  Why not.    I prefer to mount lights on rifles rather than handguns, and I also know that most novice shooters will be safer and more proficient with a Carbine over a handgun.   At the very least, a rifle is easier to retain and become a baseball bat than a handgun.   Please keep in mind that bullet selection is extremely important when deciding on a Carbine or rifle in your home.   There are some very well thought out M4 rifle stocks, Beretta Storm, and shotgun stocks that are very good for home defense.

It seems that every time I pick up another issue of Swat magazine, American Handgunner, Special Weapons, Guns & Ammo ect. that there is yet another advertisement for another company making another AR 15 gun.   The AR15 is now the most mass produced rifle in America and they are as common as a can of Coca-Cola.    I don’t think I can name more than 3 calibers that the AK was made in, but i’ve already lost track of the number of calibers that I have seen the AR15 being made in.   You can get them in pistol caliber carbines and from my experience, they run very well.   I have to admit that I am glad to see that the AR 15 Upper Receivers have taken a giant step away from the direct impingement design that has been so hotly debated.   I am a big believer that with todays technology and the technology that are LEO and Military are dealing with, using a firearm that is such high maintenance, is a waste of valuable time.

Even though the short stroke and other piston designs have come on the market, and these guns all operate much cleaner, the AR15s DI guns that are being fielded these days are far more reliable than the M16A1 that was issued in Vietnam.   Designs and improvements of metalogy has been tremendous and this can be noticed just by feeling the difference between one bolt carrier and another.   Another major point about why the AR 15 guns have caught on is that they are so ergonimically superior to most of the military style guns out there that they are easy teaching tools.   I normally start people out with learning the fundamentals with a 22lr bolt action with iron sights, but when I’m dealing with an adult that is not afraid of recoil, a .223 A2 style Carbine is an excellent staring point.

Every time I get asked a question about which firearm or accessory someone needs I follow up with the question “For what?”   I have seen plenty of well trained concealed carry owners walk around with a 5 shot j-frame and none of them feel under gunned.   The reality is that in some nightmare situation, you’ll never be full prepared, and sometimes we just have to be practical when we are CCW every day.   For most practical purposes, I’d recommend keeping a spare magazine in your gun safe in your home, or keep one in your car if you don’t think you can comfortable carry a backup.   When most of us are out and about, the ammunition you have on you is all you’re going to be able to fight with, but keeping something near your car and easily accessible in your home is a good idea.

If you are cop or military, you probable don’t need my advice to know how much ammunition to carry.   I’ve noticed that most of the Police in my area have 2-3 pistol magazines on them, but considering that they are usually full size glocks, I think 45-60rds of pistol ammo should easily get you back to your shotgun, M4 Carbine, or back to your radio to call in the SWAT Team.   Police these days are more likely to walk into nightmare scenarios and carrying that much ammunition is called insurance.

One of the most common issues I have seen with new Carbine students is their lack of knowledge about where their point of impact is at close ranges.   I spoke with a student who could shoot his M4 out to 600yds with his ACOG, but did not know where  his POI was at 50yds.    Just about every 5.56 gun is going to be capable of hitting a man size target at 600yds, but the Carbine is really meant for close quarters combat.    I’ve noticed a move away from magnification on many M4s because you really undermine your speed if you are relying on pin point accuracy from 100-600yds and don’t realize that you are completely missing a moving target that is 40yds away from  you because you can’t track it.

One thing I do not recommend for an M4 is magnification over 4x.    If you go hunting with your M4 and are fortunate enough to be able to do that in  your State, then go ahead and put a 3-9×40 scope on it, but that will be a hinderance in a combat situation under 100yds.   I still believe the best CQB combat optic is the Eotech, although I’d like to see a reticle that doesn’t fail when the batteries go dea.   The Leupold CQT is a nice optic, but the FOV is not as good at the Eotech rifle scopes.    I hear a lot of BS about people complaining about how the front posts on their rifles cover targets at close range, but I recommend that people keep a front post available.   There have been so many times that I have forgotten to flip up my rear sight and just used the Eotech glass as tool for getting a sight picture and just used the front sight post for targetting.    I did a test a  few years ago where I saw virtually zero change in accuracy between just used my Eotech and front sight post and using a flip up rear sight.

It seems that the M4 AR15 variant is hands down the most popular carbine in existance in the United States.   There are plenty of AK and European military style rifles out there, but the accessorized M4 is king.    When I first stepped into the high speed tactical carbine school, I was going there from previously owning only Kalashnikov variant rifles.   The biggest promotion I heard from all of those owning an AR15 was how accurate they were.   It is true that the M4 and AR15 family of rifles ARE the most accurate combat rifles, but that doesn’t make them the most effective.   Ever since the Iraq invasion, the notion of just sending in a group of guys with M4 Carbines or M16s without a 7.62 DMR is not common.   There was a lot of hype about the military digging up M14s and giving them this role, but now that several years have passed, the military has been working with newer models of 7.62 rifles to eventually fill that role.
Along with the return of pistol driven guns, the 5.56 is being put in its place and other caliber rifles are being deployed.  The 5.56 and 50 Caliber rifles are doing their jobs quite well, but is some environments the 50 caliber is an over kill and something in between 7.62 and 50 Cal was needed.   The 338 Lapua seems to be filling that role very well.   The combat optic has also been evolving due to the fact that engaging enemies from 100-600yds is not very common and many of these rifle scopes are too much magnification for close quarters combat.    Eotech has a mangnification scope that allows you to go from 3x to zero magnification with the slip of a switch.    Trijicon ACOGs are hands down the #1 combat rifle optic, but red dots and various color and configurations of reticles are being used.   Each has it’s given purpose and it’s up to the operator to determine which application is best for them.

It’s always up to the operator to determine which configuration works best for him, but with the reliance on battery operatored optics and high mounted optics, it’s really a good idea for a user to consider the what ifs.   What do you do with your Eotech if the batteries die?   What happens if the optics come loose ?   Scope mounts can come loose and even break,  I’ve seen this happen on M1A rifles, AK, FAL and AR15s on several ocassions.   Sometimes its a good idea to train  yourself to be able to  hit a target without even a rear sight.   There have been several times where I actually forgot to flip up my rear sights on my co-witness configuration and just used the sight picture from my Eotech optic and the front sight post.   I never missed what I was aiming at and it was actually good practice for me.

If you can get a good cheek weld, and you know approx. where your poi is, you should be able to hit a man size target out several hundred yards with just a front sight post.   I’m sure you’ll burn through a few more rounds to hit your target, but it is possible.    Many Trijicon ACOG rifle scopes are being used with red dots mounted on the top or have iron sights mounted on the top of the scope.   The TA01 NSN seems to be the popular configuration I am seeing around.  This will give you fast transition from CQB or long range engagements,   It also gives you more than one targeting system incase one goes down.

Today I took my newest LWRC rifle to the range to break it in.   This is a combat rifle and I expect that it eventually get pretty beat up, but it’s always a  good idea to run through some firing drills before you rely on it.   Some of the biggest malfuntion problems I have seen on the firing line were with supposedely brand new out of the box rifles.   Sometimes there are bugs or issues that are easy to fix, but you really need to put some lead down range with your rifle or pistol before you rely on it.   I’ve mentioned before about a time when I saw a guy show up with a Beretta 92FS inox pistol and it jammed after every round.   The shooter was very frustrated because this was it’s first range trip.   Well, turns out that the pistol was bone dry and had absolutely zero lubrication on it and with one wipe down, the gun ran flawlessly.    The same should go for any firearm.   I strongly suggest cleaning guns every once in awhile, even if you haven’t shot them.    Lubrication can run off of guns or drain off, and I also highly recommend using a small level of grease on even pistols, especially if they may sit in a gun safe for long periods of time.

My LWRC defanitely runs on less lubrication that any direct impingement rifle, but I am going to use small amounts of Break Free CLP on it just to help reduce the amount of wear on the parts.   I have tested previous LWRC rifles out and they have all lived up to my expectations.   The product has been modified over the last 3yrs, but I’d have to say that they were big improvements, mostly on the bolt carrier and short stroke piston designs.   My favorite configuration is the shorter version that is close the militaries version of the M4 Carbine.   The M4 Carbine is the fastest CQB rifle, but it is possible to inhibit the speed of the rifle by putting too much optic on the rifle.   The rifle is meant for close range fighting and anything more than 4X is too much.   The lethality and ballistics of the M4 make it a very good close range fighting rifle, but even though the rifle is accurate out to 600yds, it is a very week round at those distances.   You may be better off with a longer barrel AR15 variant and mounting 4-10X rifle scopes if you aren’t looking for a close range fighting rifle.   I am starting to see a trend away from magnification on the M4 and even many of the Trijicon ACOGS are now mounting red dots because we know that even 3-4x magnifications will slow you down at pistol range distances.

I had the opportunity to get out to the range again this week.   I tend to bring the same bullet weights with me to firing ranges whenever I’m shooting my ARs because there can be really big differences in bullet trajectory when shooting out to 600yds.   There is also a very big difference between bullet drift with just a few extra grains of weight.    I’ve pulled the trigger on 150gr FMJ bullets out to 500yds that missed targets just depending on whether or not I fired during a wind gust or not.   It’s really a  lot of fun to shoot distances because you find out that it’s not all about how well you hold a gun down and how well you pull the trigger.   Timing is something that really plays a factor when shooting into the wind.   I use to shoot at a range that had a wind that blew from right from 100-300yds and when you got out to the 400-600yds, the wind blew from the left.

Today I was testing out how well an M4 could shoot 75gr bullets and tested the difference between a 1-7 twist and the 1-9.   I normally shoot a lot of the M855 ammo for target shooting, just because it’s so darn accurate, but IMHO it is not the type of round that any civillian should consider using for self defense.   The round penetrates entirely too much for urban environments and out of an M4 does  not perform as well as 55gr ball ammo.   I have noticed considereable accuracy differnces in my 1-7 twist rifle vs the 1-9 and I am a firm believer in that the 75gr HPBT is a better round for th M4 rifles even if you are using a 1-9 twist.   I have tried swapping out some of my AR 15 Uppers to different bullet twists and I still think the shorter the rifle, the faster the twist and weights should be.