Table of contents for May/June 2019 #42 in Recoil

There are rules, you know. Rules set forth, in fact, by a 1964 Congressional resolution and enforced under 27 C.F.R. 5, The Federal Standards of Identity for Distilled Spirits. Before we go any further, a review is in order so that everyone knows exactly what they’re getting into … ≫ It must be produced in the United States. (’Merica!)≫ The originating grain mixture (known as a mash bill) must be at least 51-percent corn.≫ It must be aged in charred new oak barrels. (Meaning you can never reuse a barrel.)≫ It must be distilled to no more than 160 proof.≫ It must enter the barrel at no more than 125 proof.≫ It must enter the bottle at no more than 80 proof.≫ The addition of artificial colors or flavors is…

The future of modern carbine sights are low-power variable optics (LPVOs). Like the leap from iron sights to red dots, there’s an upfront cost, but unfortunately for the consumer, making the next step typically requires you to double your ante to upgrade from a red dot to a variable. The free market has responded, and we’ve seen a significant increase in new and inexpensive options. Even five years ago, this would’ve been unthinkable. The realm of variable optics, once relegated between the options of Walmart-cheap and S&B costly, now has a big fat middle range. Since their inception, Atibal has been steadily improving the quality of their product line, while keeping their prices affordable. The first Atibal optic we got hands on with was their inexpensive second focal plane (SFP)…

The more Evan Green of Griffin Armament described the Paladin 5 to us, the less sense it made. This was a rifle silencer, but not one with a fully (or even partially) welded core. Still, it was advertised as a “full-auto-rated” silencer. Usually, in this sort of statement lies a marketing cue: Making a silencer that is “rifle rated” or “full-auto” rated speaks to one key trait — how the manufacturer handles a warranty claim when you inevitably break it. With 5.56 silencers, lightweight ones in particular, one should mainly be concerned about when they break as opposed to how they break. But still, we knew the proof was in the pudding. And it also turned out our thoughts on the fully welded core were actually backward, at least as…

Last year’s Pittsburgh synagogue massacre wasn’t America’s first mass shooting at a house of worship. In recent history, we’ve seen several, including the 2007 Youth With A Mission/New Life Church shootings; the 2012 Sikh Temple Massacre; 2008’s Knoxville Unitarian Universalist mass shooting attempt; the 2015 Charleston Church Massacre; the 2017 Antioch, Tennessee, church shooting; and 2017’s notorious Sutherland Springs, Texas, church massacre. In 2017, an extremist murdered 11 at a mosque in Canada, and an American was arrested for a plot to attack a mosque here at home. The year 2018 saw an American white supremacist murder two black men and tell a white man, “Whites don’t kill whites,” after failing to force entry into a black church in an apparent attempt to commit another massacre. According to one researcher,…

In the summer of 1915, Major General Leonard Wood (a familiar name to readers in central Missouri) instituted a military training program called the Citizens Military Training Corps — colloquially known as the “Plattsburg Idea” for the program’s pilot location in Plattsburg, New York. The CMTC provided a four-week course of military education to civilians who, upon completion, would be commissioned as reserve officers. Two years later, on the brink of our nation’s entry into World War I, the program had produced more than 17,000 trained military officers. In fact, one of the earliest graduates from the original Plattsburgh program was Theodore Roosevelt Jr. This baptism by fire proved the need to maintain a well-trained, well-educated corps of military officers that could be drawn from the nation’s universities. That small…

Buried in the hullabaloo and background static of SHOT Show was an announcement — something which had none of the glitzy attraction of the latest blaster or ammunition introduction — hell, it wasn’t even as eye catching as a new AR, and lord knows we’re bored of that particular market segment. Nope, this had all the attention-grabbing glamour of a utility bill, but that was intentional. Bottom line — RECOIL has a new home. After toiling for many years under the benign neglect of our previous owners, we’re pleased to say we’re now partnered with Gun Digest and Blade magazines, which not only adds to the number and variety of titles in our portfolio, it makes us a lot stronger and better positioned to bring you even more in-depth content…

Millennials are often looked at as a bunch of undisciplined commitment-phobes. Talk-show panels discuss their unconventional proclivities like a bunch of jabbering scientists hypothesizing about Dolly the cloned sheep. Although this age group might be lambasted for defying norms that many people regard as the zenith of human existence, sometimes you’ve got to wonder if they’ve got things more figured out than you’d care to admit. Nicholas Bauer is one such member of this generation who isn’t putting an image-driven lifestyle ahead of pragmatism. Unlike many who now live hand to mouth for the sake of keeping up appearances, he’s too busy building cool sh*t and enjoying the wanderlust it affords him. “As a millennial, rising home prices have far exceeded both income growth and inflation during this modern period,…

There’s got to be a name for it. That thing that happens when you get something you’re not really excited about, but it becomes one of your favorites over time. It could be a tool you bought on a whim, and that lack of emotional connection leads to some pretty hard use that then leads to endearment, as long as the thing performs. Well, as gun people do, we picked up a 22 Nosler barrel when it was the hot new round. That barrel sat on a shelf, dutifully waiting for its time. It idled, witnessing the birth of its nemesis, the 224 Valkyrie cartridge. Struggling through a few complications in its infancy, .224 got over the hump and is on its way to maturity. 22 Nosler, though, seems stuck…

If you’ve ever lusted after a B&T APC9 but had second thoughts after seeing the price tag, then the Grand Power Stribog might just be what you’re looking for. Both are well-executed Euro designs with subgun DNA, but at current street prices, you could get a Stribog for yourself, one for your significant other, and keep one as a spare for the cost of a single B&T. Does this mean the Slovakian blaster is inferior? Far from it. As Americans, we tend to be infatuated with the AR-15 and its variants, even when it might not be the best tool for the job — the old maxim about every problem being a nail when all you have is a hammer springs to mind. While 9mm ARs have come a long…

Any question regarding sling use on a home-defense long-gun used to be simple to answer. Conventional wisdom was thoroughly against it. They just tangled up on things, and who needed to sling up for improved accuracy at the sort of ranges you find in the typical suburban dwelling anyway? Some people even invoked the experiences of various elite units in the brushfire guerrilla wars of the ’60s and ’70s. “The 27th Elite Regiment didn’t allow slings while patrolling for People’s Army terrorists in the jungles of Backwoodistan!” How exactly this factoid related to defending Fort Livingroom from J. Random Crackhead was left as an exercise for the imagination. By the mid ’90s, opinions on slings began to shift, largely due to the influence of early firearms training schools like Gunsite…

For the last couple of years, Remington and Mossberg have been going tit-for-tat with their scattergun options. Both have 12-gauge “firearms” that we featured in Concealment Issue 8. Then came 20-gauge versions. Then magazine-fed pump guns. The latest in this Cold War is the Remington V3 TAC-13, the first semi-auto offering in the “firearm” category for Remington. Given recent history, you bet your ass Mossberg will have something coming down the pipe too. Remington chose to use the V3 shotgun as their base for the TAC-13 — not only does it lack a recoil spring assembly extending into the buttstock, it has a VersaPort gas system that’s very compact and generally regarded as reliable. Curiously, the TAC-13 includes a barrel with a vent rib betraying its V3 origins. Somehow it’s…

Wine tasting is a bit pompous. The concept that one glass of sour grape juice is better than another seems like idle work. Imagine using the same process with any other beverage. Finding the proper glass, looking, swirling, smelling, then finally having a taste. Alcohol’s purpose is to get you loose on a Friday night. Why waste good drinking time on any other endeavor? A sixer will get the job done at a fraction of the cost and in half the time. Many see pistol-caliber carbine (PCC) shooters the same way I see wine connoisseurs (sommeliers). The little nuances aren’t enough to warrant all the scrutiny. The only difference is one can lead to harsh addiction and the other will get you drunk. Admittedly, I was one of these cynics…

1 We thought it looked tall, too. But, once behind the FAST-mounted Aimpoint, the heads-up posture made a lot of sense. The optic is perched high enough that there’s room for Unity to put a set of backup sights in the body that line up with standard M4-height irons. The 2.26-inch sight height is ⅓-inch taller than 1.93-inch “tall” optic mounts. The Micro Mount works with any optic with an Aimpoint mounting footprint. It’s shown paired with the FAST FTC Magnifier Mount ($198). Instead of folding to the side, the FTC stays in-line with the rifle and folds up and down, reducing the risk of equipment snags. There’s no lock to move the magnifier, but a strong detent instead. It’s compatible with Aimpoint and EOTech 3x magnifiers. The duo is…

Flash flooding. Engine fire. Highway pileup. Just a few of the many emergencies in which a person would need to be extricated from a vehicle before it’s too late. But what if the doors are jammed? What if the windows don’t work? It’s time to smash the glass. We’re taking a pointed look at knives with integrated glass-breakers. Not necessarily rescue knives (which we covered way back in Issue 9), but rather everyday carry (EDC) blades that also have the added bonus of a built-in glass-breaker. A crisis can explode unexpectedly at any minute, and you won’t necessarily have the time to get a dedicated rescue tool from the trunk — especially if you’re the one trapped in the driver seat. The knives in this buyer’s guide are the kind…

There are seemingly endless companies producing aftermarket Glock slides right now, but Grey Ghost Precision stands out from the crowd. We’ll tell you exactly why. For those unaccustomed to the Combat Pistol, you’re looking at something roughly the same height and length as a Glock 19, but the whole is more than just the sum of its parts. First formed as an offshoot of Grey Ghost Gear back in early 2015, Grey Ghost Precision (GGP) vowed to set themselves apart from the common market. Their first offering, a 7.62 NATO AR rifle was notable because “it actually works.” In later years, they’d produce many AR-style variants in multiple lengths of 5.56 NATO, 7.62 NATO, 300 AAC Blackout, and 6.5 Creedmoor. But that wasn’t enough. [NOT] FULL OF SH*T We’ve personally…

The story of the Rockcastle Shooting Center is uniquely American — two brothers leaving their 9 to 5 corporate jobs to follow their passion and build their own business. And build it they have, with Rockcastle having become quite a destination for various shooting competitions, including major matches such as the Rockcastle 3-gun Pro-Am, Mammoth Sniper Challenge, Blue Ridge Mountain 3-gun, and other notable gatherings like the Industry Choice Awards. Nick and Nate Noble grew up in Colorado, sons of an artist, guide, and outfitter. They eventually ended up in Bowling Green, Kentucky, working for two different divisions of the same consumer products company, selling heaters via home improvement, sporting goods, and other stores around the country. Nick ascended to the role of vice president of sales in one group…

The AR-15 rifle … the actual AR-15 rifle, designed by Eugene Stoner and produced by ArmaLite … was part of a U.S. Army request for a Small Caliber, High Velocity (SCHV) cartridge. A number of major ammunition manufacturers put forth candidates for the SCHV program, many based on the .222 Remington. The prevailing design became known as the .223 Remington, and it was decided that 55 grains was the ideal bullet weight for this caliber. For reference, it takes approximately 437 grains to equal 1 ounce — meaning your average 55-grain FMJ slug is just over one-tenth of 1 ounce. Compare that to the first time we fired the eyebrow-raising AR variant produced by Big Horn Armory in Wyoming, which sent a 440-grain cast lead slug down range at roughly…

One thousand …Two thousand …Three thousand …Four thousand …Five thousand …SIX THOUSAND … Check canopy! Gain canopy control! OK … good … f*ck this job. That’s when I could feel my heartbeat again. The 10 seconds prior had been like holding my breath underwater. At jump altitude, 1,500 feet in this case, every nut, bolt, and rivet of our Cessna-182 seemed to rattle and bang as if trying to get out of the plane before I could. It made me wonder, what ever did happen to DB Cooper? “One minute!” The Jump Master’s command brought me back to the inevitable reality that I was going to jump into thin air on the assumption that an oversized bedsheet and a bunch of string was going to keep me from dying prematurely…

If you own, use, or enjoy modern silencers, there’s one man you have to thank for the privilege and that’s Dr. Phil Dater. Though suppressors have been around far longer than Dater, his designs and DNA can be found across the industry and the globe. But being the father of modern silencers wasn’t Dater’s life goal. Silencers weren’t even on his radar until he was well into his 40s. His love for tinkering and learning, and distaste for sitting around, put him on a journey to pave the way for practically every modern silencer company we all know. Dater was born in New York City and spent most of his youth there. He moved to Kansas as a teenager and graduated high school in Wichita. Dater went on to study…