Category: General Opinion

This'll be a short addendum to my previous article. "Izzy" Ocampo was a Marine who deployed to Iraq in 2008. He did not see combat, according to his parents. He apparently killed four homeless people. He apparently did mortuary affairs type work, which is an unenviable job for sure, but his case still does not reflect anything upon the vast majority of combat vets. Terminal Lance sums this up perfectly.

While at Media Day, I had the opportunity to shoot a number of .308s, including the new HK MR762 and Sig 716. The experiences were slightly different - the MR762 was off the bench with a very nice scope, and I had no problems with rapidly pinging a steel spinner at 85 or 90 yards. The Sig 716 was shot offhand, and I kept it on the steel during fairly rapid fire as well, although I shot it at a steel silhouette that was perhaps 15 or 20 yards away.… Read More

While I took in the many sights and sounds of SHOT Show, I encountered engineers, designers, competition shooters, PR/media reps, sales reps, company executives, and so on. Among them were quite a few women, and among these women were a select few who were young, knowledgeable, and capable. After meeting a number of women like this, I decided to write an article about the cream of this crop - the women who stood on their own merits and did not have to ask anyone else at their company in order… Read More

Although I have only been at SHOT for a few days, I have found myself indebted to a number of bloggers, writers, on-air personalities, and so on, most of whom have refused even the slightest offer of repayment. First and foremost, the awesome Rob Curtis of GearScout. The incredibly helpful Jeff from Gunblog. The wonderful and capable Natalie of Girl's Guide to Guns, and her boyfriend. The stunning (and brilliant) Nora of TacticalGear.com. I'm not sure how I'll repay them for the rides, advice, tips, pro-tips, meals, drinks, and so… Read More

I'm currently at SHOT Show in Las Vegas. I came to a sudden realization last night, after having post-dinner drinks with a new friend. The firearm industry has the opportunity to cater to a huge segment of the population, but will it largely squander this opportunity, or will it be seized and acted upon? It's no secret that women are starting to buy firearms in increasing numbers. What has come as a surprise to me is the number of women who are extremely driven in the pursuit of their goals… Read More

I was getting tired of jumping through hoops with SHOT media registration, and Rob Curtis at GearScout offered me a starting position on his SHOT Coverage A-Team, so I jumped at the chance. Actually, I'm the minor leaguer on the field, but I'm honored to be a part of it. I saw some decently interesting stuff today, the most exciting of which will take me a while to write up. In the meantime, I'm going to get some sleep. If you want my take on SHOT, check out GearScout.

I am privileged to have several gunsmith friends. When I say "gunsmith," I mean it in the truest sense. They don't play one on TV - they have no trouble finding good work in hard economic times, which should tell you something about their skills and abilities. From time to time, they turn out unique firearms that I had never even considered before. Of course, I don't see too many SIG 510s/Stgw57s to begin with, so that made these photos even more interesting to me. These are some Swiss Stgw57s… Read More

Back up iron sights, or BUIS, aren't very expensive compared to the cost of a rifle, but can add up to a few hundred dollars. Are they a worthy purchase, or is your money better spent elsewhere?

In the past few weeks, I've seen a number of news stories regarding "war veterans with PTSD" who have unjustly taken the lives of other people - a park ranger, a police officer, and a 14 year old girl. In each case, headlines loudly proclaim how PTSD is the cause of all of this, and the articles lay out neatly for us that these men were veterans who just couldn't handle life after such intense combat. When I dug deeper, I found that these articles were not entirely accurate. I… Read More

For quite some time, I have been thinking about the way training is approached in, for lack of a better phrase, the "tactical firearm community." In my opinion, there is an over emphasis on weapons training in the community. You might say "Well, duh. The firearms community is going to have a heavy emphasis on firearms training over other subjects." This is certainly true. And I'm not suggesting that people who want to own and use semi automatic rifles or pistols for various purposes should not be intimately familiar with… Read More