The Gun Thread

Volcanic Rocket Ball?

That is the one. Thanks for some reason I could not recall the round properly.

So I got the Vortex 3x Magnifier, and it's pretty damn nice.

The Department of Justice has laid out its expectations for smart gun manufacturers.

So you need not panic until they perfect a drop proof, water proof and presumably EMP proof (EW proof?) authenticator.

With Donald Trump as president, what will happen on gun restrictions?

Not much on the federal level. Mostly a 50 state carry reciprocity. The state level will be the next battlefield: is as much as some deep blue states will go off the deep end and some more red states might adopt open carry.

Seems the USMC is toying with the idea of using the M27 IAR as a new service rifle. If not for it's price and the budget crunch.

Haven't they been um-ing and uh-ing on that pretty much since the IAR program started?

Some Armchair Military threw a fit when the IAR was started, the USMC found them a niche just like the BAR. And since the M27 (unlike the other IAR contenders) is a close match to the M4, there is a movement to replace the M4 with the M27. If not for the price however.

Many bloggers and journos saw the IAR as "too light" or "not enough rounds". In practice the USMC sees it as just right (aside from that pesky price point).

It's always been the suspicion that the Marines weren't using it in an RPK type role though and were using them to quietly replace the M4

x5 — What Trump promised he would do during the campaign, what he actually intends to do (if anything) as President, and what he'll actually be able to accomplish... well, don't anybody get your hopes up, on either side.

Remember: the man's a habitual liar, has no fixed position on any issue, and cares nothing for any agenda that doesn't directly and immediately benefit himself.

Trump's position on any issue is based entirely on what he thinks his audience at the time wants to hear.

So tomorrow I will be starting ROK army basic training. Meaning, in about a week or two I'll get to fire my first rifle. It's most likely K-2, or M 16 A 1 on rare circumstances.

I wonder how I will react to the sheer amount of sound and recoil of my first ever shot. Well, at least I've spend enough time around this site to remember to treat all guns as loaded and never aim at something unless I intend to shoot it. If I do forget those, I'm sure the D Is are there to scream/beat it back into my head.

They give you ear plugs. And don't worry about recoil, the 5.56mm hardly has any kick at all.

Got it.

Oh, and do you need good eyesight to get decent scores in the shooting range? I mean, obviously I'm not aiming to be a sniper or anything so I wouldn't need a perfect eyesight.

I'm not sure how they do qualifying nowadays, but when I was in Basic, we shot at pop-up targets at varying ranges from 50 meters out to 300 meters. They would fall no matter where your bullet struck them, so any hit counted as a "kill." 20 rounds were fired from the prone position, and 20 rounds from the foxhole supported position. I wear glasses, so while I'm not exactly sniper material, I hit 36 out of 40 and qualified Expert — with an old, rather worn-out M16A1.

Of course, I've handled guns all my life, so I already had the basics down pat. (Sight alignment and trigger control — learn it, live it, love it.) There were some guys who couldn't hit the broad side of a barn, and had to retry once or twice, and still barely qualified Marksman (22 out of 40.)

Ah.

I better just do what I'm told and hope for the best. XP

They'll teach you everything you need to know. In a way, it may be easier for you, since you don't have any bad shooting habits that you'll need to un-learn. It's better to begin with a clean slate.

I remember some guys who had seen too many Hollywood action movies, and got a severe chewing-out from the Drill Sergeants. "You are not Rambo, Private! Fuck Rambo, this is the real deal!"

I'm more of a Michael Mann film type of guy so at least I don't think I have bad influences from media.

In Heat, Val Kilmer's tactical reload during the bank shootout has been used as a training video for an example of doing it the right way.

Yeah don't stress too much about not being a good shot or something, they're expecting that honestly.

Their whole job is to teach you, be willing to learn and you'll do just fine.

Thanks for the words of reassurance. I needed that.

dRoy: It will be fine just make sure you pay attention to the safety stuff as it is important. Always treat yours and others weapon with care, caution, and respect and you should be fine.

For US Air Force, we use a variety of paper targets at different distances. First you have a paper target with six target profiles simulating a person-sized target at three different distances (IIRC, it's 100, 250, and 350 meters or something like that), and then you have a life-sized human-shaped target with three big circles drawn on it (one on either side of the chest, one on the head).

Instructor calls "Target Left!" or "Target Right!", we shoot the appropriate chest target, and then the head. It's easy enough to do if you remember to take your time (you have "only" five seconds to fire both rounds, which is, in terms of how long it takes to fire a locked-and-loaded M-4 set to safe, just a few heartbeats short of an eternity). IIRC, we use the same targets to practice burst fire, but I don't think that part is for grade.

I had KP duty that day, so I missed out on full-auto firing at the range.

On the other hand, I got picked for ammo detail on the day we got to fire the M60 machine gun. So I got to fire off a full 100-round belt, instead of only half a belt like everybody else.

Friend of a friend posted this link about the Chappa X-Caliber, a survival rifle/shotgun based on the Springfield M6, which was issued to Air Force crews to help them forage for food if they went down. The X-Caliber includes a few design updates like using a take-down lever to fold the weapon in half and a series of barrel adapters to let you feed it a variety of ammo.