Rogue Elite

I remember when I made the jump from shooting bolt action rifles as a kid to shooting my first AK style rifle.  Besides thinking it was cool and fun to shoot, I realize that the kind of felt awkward to shoot from the table.   The real reason was that my size didn’t really support the gun very well and it was the protruding 30rd magazine that made me sight a little higher than I wanted to.  I later picked up a Yugoslavian SKS rifle and even though it fired the exact same 7.62×39 round, it was far more comfortable to shoot, and it was easier to lay lower on the ground.    With my present level of training I realise there are shooting positions that you can move into and still remain low to the ground, but still not always practical.

Another simliar comparison would be for an AR 15 style rifle vs a Mini  14 with a 5rd magazine.   These differences really come out when taking a firearm on a long hunting trip, because finding a good firing position is extremely important to getting a good hit.    I have a few 10rd magazines for my M1A rifle that I like to use when shooting off of tables.   Even though the gun is normally sold or issued with a 20rd, the smaller capacity helps keep you low and gives you a little bit more potential for movement.  The next time you buy a gun and are looking to stock up on gun magazines, pickup a smaller capacity magazine for table shooting and see what I mean.

I must admit, I was  lucky enough to be able to stock up on PMI magazines in the 1990s and never had to worry much about finding after market rifle magazines for the Mini 14.   While admit I have seen plenty of poor performing Mini 14 rifles on the ranges, it was always because the user was not using Ruger factory rifle magazines.  If you are fortunate enough to live in a State that allows the use of semi-auto rifles for deer season,  there is no lighter and faster Carbine for Coyote or white tails than the Mini 14.   I have personally witnessed deer being taken with 75gr HPBT with the Mini 14, so don’t tell me the .223 isn’t good for the job.
Inside of 200yds and with a 4x optic, a Mini 14 is well within the tolerances of being able to take a 150-200lb animal.   Considering the flat trajectory, hold overs are virtually none existant at these ranges.  Since you can get 20rd and 30rd factory magazines for the Mini 14 again.   There still are reasons to not want to heat up the rifle and it is well known that the Mini 14 is not a military rifle.  The accuracy will begin to decline after approximately the 3rd shot is fired which gives good reason to only stick with the factory 5rd magazines.

I’m not so sure there is as much of an issue in the gun industry as there once was concerning factory mags vs. aftermarket.   Most gun manufacturers can legally get their products to the civillian market without major legal issues.   Back in the 1990′s trying to get “Standard Capacity” magazines meant paying 4-5 times what they should have cost.   I remember avoiding certain firearms just because I knew that the magazines would cost $50-$100 and that just didn’t seem like a good investment at the time.   I noticed sales of the Beretta 92FS were very common back then because they were one of the few firearms that has resonable priced pistol magazines.   Finding good deals on used Glock magazines was a whole other issue, but if you weren’t buying guns back then, you probable have a hard time understanding how complicated the situation was.

The Mini 14 was hands down the gun that was  hit the hardest by the AWB in the 1990′s.   Ruger is now making 20rd and 30rd magazines available to the public and those magazines were going for close to $100 at one point in the later 1990s’.    There is nothing wrong with having magazines for firearms that are not the best, sometimes it’s better to rotate through cheap magazines and practice malfunction drills or just toss them when they were out.   You don’t want to use  your carry mags all the time because if you are shooting through hundreds of rounds of ammo using the same mags that you use for your daily carry, you may find out at the wrong time that the springs need to be replaced.   I picked up a good supply of Mil-Spec 1911 7rd magazines that I rotate through my guns and save the Wilsons Combat Magazines for the serious shooting.   When the mil-spec mags start jamming too much, I just toss them.

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.

Although I understand that polymer guns are here to stay and they are far more technologically advanced than their early metal counterparts, I still enjoy shooting my 1911 handguns.   The 1911s that are being made today are really several generations beyond where the guns that crossed the European continent and fought on the beaches of the Pacific.   The best improvements I have seen in the 1911 design compared to the GI guns are #1 the pistol sights, and #2 the gun magazines.  The GI 1911 magazines weakness seemed to be the followers.   The slide stops were so heavy that many of the times the tabs on the magazine would bend and the slide would close on an empty chamber.

Wilson combat and Chip McCormack magazines have the best reputations for durability.   I’d have to say that I’ve had good experiences with both magazines and really can’t say one is better than the other.   When it comes to many of the other pistol magazines,  I always go with factory magazines.   Now that the 1994 assault weapons ban has expired and many manufacturers were able to get their standard capacity magazines back on the market.   Without any real threat coming from Congress on gun control, prices have come down and it’s really a good idea to stick with the magazines that your manufacturer makes for your gun.

It’s very rare these days that I work as a firearms instructor but I still work with a lot of people that are just getting into carrying firearms for the first time. I must admit that I made a lot of the novice mistakes in buying holsters and accessories when i first started carrying, and sometimes its nice to give first hand accounts of what NOT to do.    I’ve seen a lot of people pick up a good quality handgun and then completely ruin the firearms reputation by using 3rd rate pistol magazines that jammed the gun  up.   The 2nd most common thing I see are people shooting with cheap ammo.   I don’t get the whole Wolf handgun ammo thing.   I own and shoot many Com-block rifles and the Wolf ammo works flawlessly, but I have never had good experiences with their handgun ammo.

Back when the 1994 assault weapons ban was into effect there were more headaches in the gun world due to the fact that factory handgun magazines were so expensive.   People cut corners with other brands and had issues.    When it comes to owning a handgun, especially an auto, I highly recommend having atleast 3 magazines.    Not only can guns malfunction,  but magazines do wear out and break at some points and its always good to have some extra comfort if one goes down.    Most of the time it’s the floor plates that come loose and a loaded mag will just dump rounds on the ground.   I’ve seen it happen with rifles and handguns.    If you ever run a Carbine course, you’re defanitely going to want to have atleast 3 mags for your pistol, too.

There are several well known secondary rifle and pistol magazines, but Factory magazines are usually the best to obtain.    Factory magazines are made by the companies that manufactur the firearms and that’s usually where you’ll get the best magazines.   There are exceptions to the rule with rifles.   Magpul isn’t making firearms, but they do one heck of a job of making a reliable and durable rifle magazine.    Sturm Ruger is the largest firearm manfacturer in the United States.   They make more guns and sell more guns than anybody else.

The Ruger Mini 14 is a rugged and reliable 5 shot carbine and there is still much debate about which magazines feed reliable.   Ruger is now selling 20rd magazines to the public which they did not due for decades.   The Mini 14 was the gun that suffered more under the Assault Weapons Ban passed in Congress in 1994 than any other firearm IMHO.   Everyone seems to want to make this gun and assault weapon, but the reality is the 5 shot Carbine spits a lethal round, but your safest bet for most purposes is to keep the Ruger Magazines made by the factory around since those are defanitely the most reliable.

Promag magazines have gone through the decades being one of the top end of the replacement or after marketa magazines and they are still holding up.    Pistol reliability has drastically increased over the last 15yrs and so has the machining and manufacturer of rifle and pistol magazines.   Whether you have a Keltec P32 or a Mini 14, you can find Promag magazines at a reasonable price and use them for primary or secondary uses.   During the assautl weapons ban of 1994 until the sunset of the  ban, Promag Magazines earned a reputation for being a good option.

Another good reason for trying Promag mags for your guns is there 100% Warranty against any defects and they will repare or replace them if you have a problem.   Some guns may have issues with anything but factory magazines, but we have good things about the company and there service.  Some of our top magazine sellers are the M1 Carbine 10rd magazines which are brand new and make for great range blasting.    Our second most popular rifle magazine are the Ruger Mini 14 magazines which a great for those living in NJ or CA.   The Mini 14 is one of the few guns that won’t give you legal problems and Ruger mostly sells the Mini 14 with a factory 5rd mag.

Rifle and pistol magazazines  have evolved as much as firearms have evolved in the last 100yrs.   They basically look the same, but they are stronger, more reliable and better thought out.   One of the  biggest advancements in firearm evolution were Glock Firearms.   The biggest evolution in rifle magazines are Magpul P-Mags.    There have been other similiar rifle  magazines made out of plastic, but the Magpul P-Mags are King.

Direct Impingement firearms have a questionable existance in the military industry since the design is more than 60yrs old, but the Magpul P-Mags have possible extended the life of them since the reliability of the magazines has also increased the reliability of the firearm.   Magpul P-Mags can take a beating and still run strong.   Check out some of the tests people have done with them on youtube.com

We’ve all seen the massive accessorizing of firearms in recent years.   Firearms likes SKS rifle and Mini 14s are not immune to the firearm attachements and modifications that have run rampant in the AR15 community.   In my opinion, there are a lot of firearm owners out there that had their Legos taken away from them and they brought that mindset into gun accessorizing and tactical gear stockpiling.    That’s about as harsh as I can be about why people do what they do to their firearms, but some of it is for hobbie reasons, some for practical reasons, and some because people have the obsessive compulsive behavior of needing to spend money.

There area a lot of good upgrades one can do to a firearm, a fighting rifle should be customized to fit an operator.  Advanced Technology makes some quick and easy upgrades for your shotgun or carbine that can give you better grip or balance.  Shotgun shell holders on the buttstock or riding side saddle is a practical tactical upgrade you can do on your remington 870.  The fiberforce stock for the MAK90 is a way to legally get around some firearm bans and are a big step up compared to the stupid thumbhole stocks.    Attach a rifle sling that fits yoru purpose from Blue Force Gear, they come in 1 point, 2 point and 3 point attachements. Minor firearm modifications make need to be done to attache rifle slings, but do some research on various rifle sling configurations to see what works for you.