Tabla de contenidos para March/April 2018 en Recoil

Ah, January. That time of year when people in the real world are cursing their commute, once again gorked up by snowfall. When heating bills provide a mild shock when pulled from their envelopes, and we’re counting down the days until venturing outside to do something worthwhile doesn’t require eight layers of clothing and a flask of brown liquid. The firearms industry is, of course, in the midst of its annual trip to Vegas to show off its wares. No doubt we’ll be regaled by breathless pressers touting the latest groundbreaking version of a 40-year-old design, only this time — gasp — it’s in Coyote! Buried amongst the hype will obviously be some true innovation and original thinking, and you can count on RECOIL’s staff to wade through the hyperbole…

Not only was the Chickamauga and Chattanooga Military Park the site of the battles that marked the beginning to the end of the Civil War, the U.S. military also uses it as an outdoor classroom for commanders to study the conflict and to keep prepared for an all-out war. For any admirer of rare guns or student of the firearms that made this country, they’ll find a gem at the Chickamauga Visitors Center in the form of the Fuller Gun Collection. Don’t be misled by its free admission. The amount you can learn from the battlefield and see in the gun collection is limited only by your curiosity and the time you have to spend. The Civil War was “The watershed moment in our nation’s history,” said Jim Ogden, National…

It’s no secret the firearms market has softened since Trump took office. Prices are lower than they’ve ever been, so we’re seeing a lot of interest in just-for-fun guns, and clone builds in particular. With a nod to the OIF vets among you, we’re looking at an M16A4 clone; specifically, a clone from Operation Iraqi Freedom, mostly from the author’s service rifle, circa 2004. Shortly after the initial invasion of Iraq, the USMC began replacing well-worn M16A2 rifles with the M16A4. Though it still sported a fixed stock and a 20-inch barrel (the better to do rifle drill with), it had a flat-top upper receiver that simplified the mounting of optics and a Knight’s Armament M5 Rail Adapter System (RAS) to hold lights and other accessories. The clone’s complete upper…

Weapons in general, and Glock slides in particular, aren’t new to Grey Ghost Precision (GGP). Last year, GGP launched a line of custom Glock 17 and 19 slides and barrels; rather than using original slides or bulk blanks produced by a third-party manufacturer, they built them all from scratch. The team at Grey Ghost did all the measuring, testing, and fitting for themselves — their new SPG43 Glock 43 slide is no different. Because we have a preproduction slide, there’ll undoubtedly be some differences between what you see here and what you see in stores. We’ll note these anticipated changes as we go along. Though the research, development, testing, and evaluations were all done in-house at the Tacoma, Washington, facility, the mass-production pieces are manufactured down the street at Aero…

Whether you’re trying to go undetected in your area of operation or a prepared citizen trying move through a disaster area without alerting opportunistic predators that you have supplies that might be of use to them, applying the gray-man principle is your best method of blending into the crowd. The gray man is one whose presence is so non-stimulating that they can go completely unnoticed, essentially becoming invisible. The 5.11 Tactical Dart Pack was designed for the gray man. We often think of camouflage in terms of using disruptive patterns, natural vegetation, and terrain features to avoid detection in a rural environment. When it comes to urban operations, camouflage is about avoiding detection by hiding in plain sight. This is done by eliminating actions and appearances that can act as…

That’s right. The SIG SAUER P365, released this month, is a 10+1 slimline, subcompact that’ll have recent purchasers of a Glock 43 wondering if their dealer has a 30-day return policy. At first glance, the gun looks like a me-too pistol meant to compete in the quickly crowding 9mm, striker-fired, subcompact pistol space. But, this is no copy of any other pistol on the market. It’s smaller, lighter, and more shootable than its competitors. The gun features a low bore axis, textured grip, fore-and-aft slide serrations, ships with night sights, and two 10-round mags (one with a pinkie extension). SIG is offering a 12-round, extended mag, shown, that adds a bit to the grip length while adding to the pistol’s controllability and capability. We spent a couple days putting more…

1 PLATE CARRIER MAKE: Crye Precision MODEL: Airlite SPC Plate Carrier MSRP: TBD URL: cryeprecision.com NOTES: As well as the shirt and pants across the page, Crye’s also releasing a new version of its Airlite plate carrier for 2018. The Airlite SPC, short for Structural Plate Carrier, offers the capability of Crye’s JPC 2 but has the structural support of a standard plate carrier. When Crye made the original Airlite plate carrier five years ago the goal was to make lightest plate carrier possible. It was under a pound, but Crye wanted to increase the amount of weight the rig could comfortably carry. 2 GUN MAKE: Knight’s Armament Company MODEL: Light Assault Machine Gun MSRP: N/A URL: www.knightarmco.com 3 GUN MAKE: B&T MODEL: Universal Service Weapon MSRP: $2,350 URL: www.bt-ag.ch…

SURVIVOR TRUCK 3 2014 RAM 1500 4X4 CREW CAB 5.7L HEMI EIGHT-SPEED ELECTRONIC WWW.SURVIVORTRUCK.COM WWW.ONESTOPSURVIVAL.COM If we could indulge our vehicular interests in the same manner we do our firearms, then it wouldn’t take long to amass a fleet that’d rival our childhood Hot Wheels collection. With our daily drivers, though, we can usually only afford to buy one that can accomplish a variety of tasks. With each survival-oriented vehicle we cover in this publication, the point is to give you, dear reader, some inspiration to start thinking about what would best suit your individual needs and budget if you could only pick one. Some people, however, aren’t limited to just one. You’ll probably recall the name Survivor Truck if you’re a regular reader of RECOIL. We previously covered owner Jim…

The Remington Concealable Sniper Rifle is a lot like upgrading from a Motorola Razr to the iPhone X — you didn’t know what you were missing until it’s in your life.. Remember when smartphones weren’t readily available? And now, you can’t imagine life without access to such life-changing advancements? In a nutshell, this is how we feel about the CSR. The CSR impacted us way back in 2014. We’ve been fortunate enough to have been privy to the ins and outs of the CSR and have tried to beat the brakes off it — but to no avail. This rifle quickly became a personal favorite, but it was not available to the public until now with a limited production run. We were stoked to hear the CSR is finally going…

Once Hiram Maxim’s machine gun had been adopted by British, American, and Russian armed forces, the hunt was on for an equally reliable automatic weapon that didn’t require six men, a mule, and several small boys to operate. There’s an almost watertight case for the first successfully fielded light machine gun being the 1914 Lewis gun, though at 28 pounds, “light” is a relative term. Relative to the 60 pounds of the Maxim, that is. Despite being a quantum leap in portability, the Lewis, like the BAR in American service, suffered from its lack of a replaceable barrel, severely limiting the number of rounds that could be fired in support of assaulting infantry. While the requirement for a squad automatic weapon was identified all the way back in 1917, at…

5.11 WOMEN’S APPAREL Finding a perfect balance between quality and comfort is a challenging proposition when anybody goes clothes shopping. For females whose work or hobbies require rugged outdoor apparel, the problem can be particularly challenging. Sometimes you sacrifice quality for comfort or vice versa because it can be difficult to find a balance between the two. We took a look at several pieces of female-specific clothing produced by 5.11 with eye for both wearability and durability. While the search for women’s concealment apparel that is both fashionable and practical can be deep waters to wade into, 5.11 has done an excellent job hitting the mark with comfortable clothing and fashionable purses that synergize to provide a series of options for. As rough as I am on my clothing, between regular…

RECOIL recently held its first-ever live event, Summit in the Sand, in Phoenix, Arizona. We hosted a number of great instructors teaching equally interesting topics. It generated a lot of lessons to be learned both by the students and our team. We thought we’d reflect on a couple and share them here for those of you who couldn’t make the Summit in person. Hopefully, we’ll see you at the next one. The weather in Phoenix was unseasonably hot for early October, and Cowtown Range, like many places in the Southwest, has a knack for blowing dust and loose rocks. One of our Summit guest instructors, RECOIL contributor Dan Brokos, taught an excellent block of instruction on technical marksmanship with a scoped carbine. Aside from Brokos’ awesome lesson plan, the high…

The first time I shot a weapon chambered in .260 Remington was in the mid 2000s, when the incomparable Chuck Mawhinney introduced it to me. At the time, it was discussed as a round that could one day replace the ubiquitous .308 Winchester. With a higher ballistic coefficient, slightly less recoil, and a bullet that can buck the wind better at longer ranges, the .260 Remington was an impressive cartridge. Fast-forward a decade, and I’ve had the opportunity to build several bolt actions chambered in .260 Remington. The round has worked its way into my shooting rotation more and more, whether for shooting matches, for work, or, more recently, for hunting. The .260 Remington has really come into its own since that first flirtation a decade ago. THE BIG SHOW…

1 High-magnification variable-power scopes are often huge, especially when they have a front focal plane reticle. The latest offering in the Vudu line from EOTech reduces this long footprint into something a bit more manageable; this is particularly important with a smaller rifle or those who use a clip-on thermal or night vision device. The new Vudu 5-25x50mm Super Short is just over 11 inches long,making it one of the shortest magnified optics of its kind. It’s a first focal plane, illuminated optic featuring locking turrets with EOTech EZ Chek zero stops, with 0.1-mil clicks. EOTech will offer the Super Short with two reticle patterns initially when it ships to dealers this spring. MAKE: EOTech MODEL: Vudu Super Short 5-25x TUBE SIZE: 34 mm FOCAL PLANE: First Focal Plane MSRP: $1,999…

Shooters needed tripods before tripods for rifles existed. We had to wait for the industry to catch up by manufacturing tripods for rifle shooting. Snipers and hunters have been shooting off of tripods or sticks of some sort for longer than anyone can confirm. But each group has vastly different requirements for the use of tripods. Snipers often don’t have the best gear available, relying instead on creative problem solving. Since fighting has moved to a more urban arena, prone shooting is rarely possible. Snipers have used everything from makeshift shooting sticks to sturdier tripods. Modifying photography tripods to accommodate rifles was the norm, but the problem with using a photography tripod is that they aren’t meant for rifles. Misusing photography tripods leads to broken parts. The tiny clamp whose…

Once upon a time, bolt-action chassis rifles were rarely seen outside the military or well-funded law enforcement agencies. It took a while for the larger civilian market to see the benefit of the big, heavy, bolt-fed rifles and the configurability they provide. Even with the relatively recent availability of high-performance, large-frame semi-autos, there are still plenty of people who covet the ballistic efficiency, simplicity, and reliability of the bolt gun, but want to utilize modern shooting accessories. And for those people the chassis gun is just the thing. There may have been a hard and fast definition of a rifle chassis at one point, but in the days since Accuracy International introduced the concept, the term has evolved. A chassis generally distinguishes itself from a traditional bolt-action rifle stock in…

There are few things more frustrating than setting aside time and ammo for a day of range practice only to get to your favorite berm and realize you forgot something — tools, spare mags, holsters, first-aid kit, etc. We’ve seen all manner of bags repurposed to hold range gear: duffel bags, gym bags, sports equipment cases, old children’s backpacks, and more. But without proper pouch setup and internal organization it’s all too easy to forget that one critical item or lose said items in the chaotic jumble that happens when you just drop a bunch of shooting gear into a repurposed bag. So why not stick with the right tools for the right jobs? Let’s look at three offerings we’re sure you’ll be pleased with that offer exactly what shooters…

In January 2015, Europe was shocked by the massacre of 11 staff at the offices of Charlie Hebdo, and the subsequent murders of an unarmed cop and of four civilians at a Jewish supermarket. A terrorist cell allying themselves with Al Qaeda in the Arabic Peninsula (AQAP) engaged in a three-day running gun battle with French police and security personnel. They were eventually shot dead, though not before shutting down air and road transport in northern Europe. In the aftermath of the attack, law enforcement officials faced some sobering facts. The three Islamic terrorists claimed their actions were in defense of the prophet Mohamed, who had been defamed by the satirical magazine’s publication of supposedly offensive cartoons. In return for spilling ink, they decided to spill blood and tooled up…

Ask someone what the best zero is, and you’ll get a response based on personal preference, prior training, and maybe individual needs. If you’re in the military or a law enforcement agency, the distance you zero may well be dictated by an official government publication or crusty old training officer. Most of us aren’t so limited by these restrictions, so why do we revert back to standards that don’t apply? The U.S. Military has hundreds of thousands of both rifles and people, usually all using similarly spec’d ammunition. They can get away with generalized zeros. And it’s beneficial for them to keep firearms training standardized. But if you don’t have to be basic, you shouldn’t be. In the simplest terms, a zero is the adjusting of the sights/optic so your…

Though the genesis of SureFire came from lasers, the real primordial ooze of the company started with a young, not-yet-then-Dr. John Matthews racing from police in the 1950s. As with many good stories, this one starts with two wheels. SureFire, originally known as Laser Products, is a name now synonymous with weapon-mounted lights. While assorted illumination methods have been used in conjunction with weapons ever since we’ve had both fire and weapons, Matthews was the first to make a successful commercial venture out of it — to the benefit of us all. Though a great many of us here at RECOIL have used SureFire handheld and weapon lights across the globe, none of us had spent any considerable time with the man behind the machines. So we paid a visit…

Both Magtech and Sellier & Bellot are well known for producing quality, budget-priced ammunition, but that’s not the only reason I enjoy seeing their products on the shelves. Because of their long European ancestry, they’re the go-to resource for calibers that are sometimes overlooked by other manufacturers, but are nonetheless part of the rich history that firearms have carved out over the course of the 20th century. American troops twice faced rifles and machine guns in 8mm Mauser in the European theaters, while our allies fielded soldiers equipped with guns in .303 British and 7.62x54R. For a collector and student of warfare, the significance of these calibers cannot be overlooked, though keeping old guns fed can be an expensive proposition since the disappearance of surplus ammo from the civilian market.…