Rogue Elite

It’s really also a contest about speed.   There seems to be an addiction to 30rd magazines with AR15 owners but all you have to do is roll the clock back 20yrs and most of the gun magazines for M14s, FALs and G3s were 20rds.   Why were they 20rd magazines…because the guns were far too clumsy and bulky with 30rd.   There is still some truth to that with 30rd 5.56 magazines.   The AK47 is a firearm that is very clumsy do to it’s contour when being fired from the ground and would also be better balanced with 20rd magazines.

If you are in the business of having to suppress targets, than higher capacity magazines are for you, but for moving with speed and agility, try the 20rd magpul pmags for sale.   There are several new Magpul accessories that are giving better balance back to the AR15, especially the M4 design which was really getting out of control with protruding fore grips ect.   The magpul angled fore grip is something that brings you closer to the tradition gun hold but gives you the ability to grip your firearm better.

I first found out about Magpul Industries when I was using a Mini 14 and a no name brand tactical vest.   When Woolrich Elite first came on the line, I started using their 4903 vest and this was about as tactical as I had gotten at that point.   The Mini 14 is a great gun for varmint, plinking or home defense, but not something that can handle a real gun fight.   Engaging in a shootout of more than a couple hundred rounds is going to heat the gun up and real damage is going to take place.

There are lots of gun accessories that you put on firearms that will make them look tactical but it doesn’t mean the gun is something you are going to want to be deployed with to Iraq.   Magpul Pmags have gone through several changes over the years and they pretty much got things right.   One thing that is still an accessory to the magazines are the ranger floor plates.   These are an easy swap out, but this will give you more bulk and snagging.   I recommend only doing this for magazines that are going to be put in a vest, but keep your range mags the same.

There is no other firearm that I see so much tinkering with than the 1911, and no matter how much money you spend on one, you can still mess it up.   I absolutely do not believe that higher end 1911′s are tougher and more reliable than a loose fitting GI Mil-spec gun.    If you want that competition shooting gun, then shoot it in a competition, but if you want reliability, keep it simple and stop screwing around with it.   I have putt thousands of rounds through my GI 1911 guns and almost always use ball ammunition.  I’m messed around with semi-wad cutters for target shooting and got my guns to feed with them, so I know it’s possible to shoot something other than ball.

The gun magazines you use for your 1911 are the difference in running a reliable firearm.   From my experience GI 1911 magazines are meant to be used a few times and tossed on the ground.   They are not worth replacing gun springs on like Wilson Combat magazines.   The magazine bodies on many 1911s get dented and don’t hold up and will eventually just jam up the follower when it is working it’s way up.    The Wilson Combat Elite Tactical magazines or ETM, is a minor improvement for a few bucks more.   The magazine body is a little thicker with changes to the placement of the ammunition level window.   There are also numbers from 1-10 on the bottom of the magazine so you can just take a hi-lighted marker and number the mags with one stroke without damaging them.

We attended the new Zombie Shoot at the New Holland Rifle and Pistol Club and we had fun watching all of the guys  show  up with the new accessories and gear.   I recognized a few faces from years ago when it first began at a few other gun clubs but gun accessories have changed since then.   One of my new favorite accessories is the Magpul Angled Fore grip.   This was a really good idea and considering the number of people that were using them, they have caught on.   I was never a fan of the protruding fore grips that got in the way when you were firing out a window or laying on the ground.

I have tried some of the folding fore grips but they didn’t hold up too well.  I had a friend take mine off to test out a bi-pod and we ended up finding out that the grip I was using was dangerously close to breaking.   Magpul pmags are still the king when it comes to AR15 gun magazines and I don’t see that changing anytime soon.  There are still debates about the orignal mag puls vs the floor plate for quick mag changes, but I personally don’t have that problem depending on which tactical vest I have been using.  The 30rd window pmags in black are the number 1 sellers from us even though I do see a good many 20rd magazines showing up at these events.

This weekend will be the 2nd Contagion Zombie shoot at the New Holland rifle and pistol club.   It often amazes me at the selection of firearms that you see at these events and one of the most common things I do see is an increase in the number of 45acp guns.   Shooting steel with 9mm guns can be a lower knock down rate.  It’s kind of funny how people say the energy is the same form a 124gr Nato round vs a 45acp, but when it comes to hitting steel, they are not the same.   The 45acp especially the 1911, Sig 220, Springfield XD and Glock 21 are the most common and every once in awhile we do see a few H&K firearms.

When it comes to shooting a 45acp,  I personally think American Eagle ball ammo is probable the best round to carry, even though some may say that HP ammunition has improved so much that it’s a better option.   I have never felt like carrying ball ammunition in Wilson Combat Magazines meant that I was going to be punching holes through every wall in the house because from my experience the 45acp does not penetrate as much as the 9mm ball ammunition.  There are so many 1911 guns out there that I could not say that the 1911 is a dated firearm that can not handle various types of ammunition, but you do have to be careful about the GI versions of the gun and hollow point ammunition.

That is a question we get quite often around here and we always throw a question back to a customer.   People call or show up wanting us to give them advice but there are a lot of liabilities in telling people what to get or do.   So much of gun accessories and firearms has to do with the job at hand and a persons gun skills.   I’ve heard people claim that you can’t shoot long range with a 5.56 gun but I see it done all the time at local gun clubs.   Sure there are instances of high wind where a 5.56 bullet isn’t going to do very well, but sometimes only a 50 bmg is going to get the job done.

Even the trusty and reliable Mini 14 is an often over looked hunting Carbine, but I’ve seen white tails taken up in Vermont with 75gr expanding rounds.   The 6.8SPC would be a more powerful round than what the military is using today but it’s not really going to solve all of your problems.  Most of my friends that own them are using them for hunting rounds and not even for Carbine training ect.  The only problem you may run into when changing uppers in with the gun magazines.  The 5.56 round is better than any handgun round if you use the right kind of ammunition and the AR15 platform gives you lots of caliber options that are really best for upgrading your gun for better hunting.

Magpul gun parts and accessories as well as the famous Pmags are outstanding gun parts.   There are so many modifications that you can customize your M16 or AR15 variant in multiple color patters or configurations.    Everything from gun grips, rail skins or rail covers, trigger guards ect are high quality and combat worthy if you install them properly.  Because of the numerous accessories that you can put in an M4 you can’t really just buy 3 rail covers and expect them to fit in the accessory pattern that you want.   Some of the accessories might cause  you to need medium covers or full length.  Sometimes the quad rail configuration is useful, but if the job does not need all of the lasers or light attachments why carry the weight.

There are several patterns of rail covers and there are several companies out there making good stuff but just remember that you are carrying a combat weapon and the more you attach, the more things fall off.   Magpul pmags are the number 1 rifle magazine in our book and we highly recommend them to all of our fellow shooters and customers.  The 30rd magazines with the windows seem to be very popular but in my opinion I don’t think it’s that necessary to know if you have 8rds left in a magazine or not.   The answer is to carry enough mags to know a tactical reload is possible instead of looking to see you have 8 left.

I recently got a letter from Magpul Industries about some of the new products and colors that are available for their gun accessories.   There are many M4 manufacturers out there that are making gun accessories that easily attach to a firearm, but I have already found out personally that they are not something you will want to take into combat.   If people stop and think about it, most of these products are pretty easy to pick out because they are cheap.   Mostly things like fore grips and flashlight mounts.

The age old, “you get what you paid for” is the reality of firearms especially combat worthy.   I’ve read lots of posts on gun forums about guns being “hobby” firearms from gun instructors because people trick them out and think they will hold up.   Magpul pmags are the number one selling AR15 magazine because they are tough and reliable.  Recently we started carrying more of the stocks, stock accessories and magazine accessories.  Be very careful that you don’t compromise your tactical vests or magazine holders when you chang out your floor plates because some tactical vests will not work with the changes.

This is something I’ve only delved into once and it wasn’t a great experience.   Back in the early 1990′s we had all of that assault weapons ban BS and and aftermarket gun magazines were everywhere.   Some of us that owned certain firearms ended up with unreliable firearms that should have been durable.   $90 Glock magazines were not uncommon and $14.99 for a jamming Mini 14 30rd magazine from USA magazines, which I believe is been long out of existence.   Many people fell back on revolvers and there was a big upsurge back into the 1911 because it was one of those guns that was originally designed for fewer than 10rds which was what the Assault Weapons Ban limited you to.

So some of us messed around with aftermarket 10rd magazines and all of the ones I tried failed pretty quick.   We tried to make the 1911 into it’s highest capacity that we legally could, but the balance pretty much got messed up.   Gun magazines, even a few rounds bigger than standard capacity can make the gun imbalanced or make it harder holster.   There are a lot of reasons to use 10rd magazines like Wilson Combat magazines or Chip McCormick which have a good reputation in competition shooting, but they will protrude considerable.   This may cause snagging on shirts ect if you are considering using one for CCW.   If you’ve ever practiced with you’re gun, which you should have, firing 8rds and reloading is probable a better CCW than thinking a 10rd magazine is going to give you more protection.

There was always something that bothered me about the Trijicon ACOGS when they first started hitting the civilian market in the 1990s.   I couldn’t really figure  out why I didn’t like them at first and it wasn’t just that they cost as much as an actual Bushmaster AR15.   It finally dawned on me a few years ago when I was at a gun club, about 500yds down range and I saw the glint of someones rifle scope.   What i never liked about the Trijicon ACOGS was that the loun neon colors announced that you were there and it was my hunting instincts that were trying to tell me that.  When we are bow hunting we have on cover scent and camo but when you send the military into some parts of the world they have neon strands on their guns.  Something wasn’t right about that.

With all firearms and accessories there has to be a balanced achieved between prevailing in a fight and and not compromising your ability to defend yourself or take cover or concealment.   When it comes to using gun magazines, the hottest sellers are the Magpul Pmags with the window, but again, this is something that can announce you are there when the shiny brass cases are showing on the side of your black firearm  and the sun hits in on that perfect angle.   That is something that can be picked up from hundreds of yards away.  Flashlights, optics and gun parts can help you in getting your bullets on target but be careful they don’t compromise your ability for concealment.