Blog

While at the Sniper Country facility in far northern Utah, I had the chance to shoot - but more importantly, shoot photos of - the Desert Tech Hard Target Interdiction rifle, or DTA HTI. It's a bullpup precision rifle which can be swapped between four cartridges - .50 BMG, .416 Barrett, .408 CheyTac, and .375 CheyTac. We were shooting .50 BMG. What follows is not a review, but a brief description of the rifle, along with some observations and photos. If you'd like to see high speed video. The HTI… Read More

I forgot to provide an update on the charity auction for Rogue Corps. The rifle ended up selling for $2050 to a man local to me, so we met at the range and shot it a little. He's a good guy and he really seemed to like the rifle. I gave him his choice of upper receivers and muzzle devices, and he went with a flat top, folding rear BUIS and a Smith Vortex flash hider. Rogue Corps received the funds back in February. Thanks to all who helped out… Read More

I've posted several different articles on The Firearm Blog regarding new Magpul products, the new Beretta Pico pistol, and the 16" version of the CAA RONI Glock carbine conversion. More to come.

I was recently sent a photo of some civilian carbine/vehicle training. Some of the things I saw in the photo bothered me, and I'd like to discuss why. First, I should probably cover my background, as in the past not doing so has led some people to assume that I did not have relevant experience, although the "about me" link above has the relevant information. I was an FMF Corpsman (8404) and deployed to Anbar province for essentially all of 2006. I have treated injuries ranging from those caused by… Read More

Due to some unforeseen issues, it took a long time for me to be able to publicly select and acknowledge the winners of the essay contest I announced on Facebook late last year. I announced the contest on Facebook and made it open only to those who had already "liked" the blog because it was not an attempt to inflate the number of "likes" on Facebook. I wanted to spend my own money to reward those who already followed my work and showed intellectual prowess. As it turned out, it… Read More

As mentioned previously, I will be co-teaching an AR-15 course in Utah over Memorial Day Weekend. It will be held on Saturday and Sunday, May 25/26. Here's some info for those who may be interested in the course: It'd be best to fly in to Salt Lake City on Friday evening, we should be able to pick everyone up from the airport. The range location is about 15 miles north of Tremonton, Utah. It's pretty remote and the whole range is approximately 55,000 acres. This will let us do a… Read More

Next month - over Memorial Day Weekend, May 25/26 - I will be teaching a class which will largely relate to the AR-15 platform. I've been thinking about doing this for a while, and a fantastic opportunity has presented itself. Sniper Country in northern Utah offers a phenomenal environment for shooting - with a known-distance range out to 1800 yards - as well as a lodge which students may stay in as well as use for classroom portions. The course has been designed to fill gaps left by other training… Read More

I like seeing the whole picture when I try to make up my mind about something. When evaluating conduct between citizens and LE, it's helpful to see video of the entire event. In the case of the Temple PD and that Army E-8, we don't have the whole event on video. Just what appears to be a clash of egos. I instinctively dislike fat and/or disheveled cops (you may call me prejudiced, but any uniform should be worn with pride, not slovenliness). Furthermore, I don't like an attitude among some… Read More

I think gun owners can and should play a role in identifying potential mass killers. We're the people who will in some way encounter a lot of murderers before they act, and we know what stands out. When it's appropriate, we need to discuss relevant facts with the proper authorities. That's not to say we should report anyone and everyone for anything that looks mildly odd, but if you have a gut feeling that something is wrong, you should act on that feeling.

As firearm and ammunition costs have skyrocketed recently and once-common items have become... uncommon, accomplishing anything related to shooting is now extremely difficult. This is especially true for something that was already not particularly cheap. Case in point: precision rifle shooting, or long-range rifle shooting. Of course, "long range" is a relative term. If you rarely shoot your AR-15 past 25 yards, then hitting something at 300 might seem like a daunting obstacle. At the other end of the spectrum, guys shooting .375 CheyTac practically need satellite imagery to hit… Read More