Rogue Elite

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.

Optics have multiple purposes.  They can be used for Astronomy, Scouting, birdwatching, target shooting, hunting and military purposes.   With the emergency of combat optics for close quarter combat, scopes used on rifles have gotten smaller, more compact and sometimes have zero magnification.   The point is to give you a good sight pictures and a reticle that is easy to follow.

Many combat optics like Trijicon and Eotech are 4X or less.   DMR or Designated Marksmen are using optics made from Trijicon, Zeiss and Leupold that are combat worth but higher magnification since shooting 300-600 meters is becoming the norm in places like Iraq and Afghanistan.  Rifle Scopes are no longer made with the standard crosshair reticles and may even come in range finding or illuminated reticles.

There is a point where people have to learn to realize that there are a great many firearms manufacturers out there that are making suberb firearms.    I’ve heard people claim that a certain firearm was superior in reliability over another.   Well, that is true to some degree, but I’d have to say there are some firearms that are in the top tier category and the durability and reliablity differences may vary in extreme circumstances.   Take a Glock 17 and put it up against a Sig 226 and you’ll see what I mean.   I’m sure the Glock will reguire less lubrication, but there won’t be much difference in 98% of circumstances.

Those of us old enough to remember when people told us that putting Glass on a battle rifle was not a good idea because they were brutal to optics and most scopes wouldn’t hold up are now old news.   Rifle scope have come a long way just as firearms have.   I’ve seen optics come back from Iraq that had bullet holes in them and they were still sighted in.   The differences between Leupold rifle scopes, Zeiss rifle scopes and Trijicon rifles scopes tends to really be about preference.    They all have moderate to expensively priced optics and the glass on them is superior to anything that was out 20yrs ago.   With a good pair of scope rings, these optics will work reliable in just about any hunting or military application.   I’ve seen all of the above mention optics on M14 rifles in Iraq.

There is no need to trash people that are using inferior optics.   Somtimes a $100 scope that holds zero is all that is needed and long range shooting isn’t a reality.   Plenty of people get there kicks out of inexpensive optics and aren’t concerned about how bright their optics are or if they’ll hold up to thousands of rounds.   Most optics that cost $200-$300 are probable all you need for most hunting, plinking purposes and some manufacturers make some great optics in that price range.   There are levels of gear though and there is a certain point that you have to realize that your gear isn’t up to par.
When do we need to upgrade our gear?   Serious shooters usually go there from trial and error and there is plenty of info on the internet about which optics are better than others.   Most of the info you hear about might need to go through a BS meter to determine if people are full of it, but the real test of what holds up is pretty much a proveable fact and the evidence is out there.   Nikon, Trijicon, Leupold and Zeiss are  a few of the manufacturers that will come up whenever you get a Top 5 long Tactical Rifle Scopes level optics.   Keep in mind that optic durability and holding zero also depends on what type of rings you are using and you can easily void a scopes durability out with 2nd rate scope rings.

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