If I set out to buy one of the following, this is what I would look for as of February 2012. Some things have great alternatives that aren’t listed and some things have great alternatives that are listed. Some things I’ve gotten for free and some things I haven’t. Some things might be more or less than you need. But if you ask me a general question about what (blank) to buy, this is probably what I’d recommend.
…a 5.56mm rifle – Colt SP6920.
…a .308/7.62×51 rifle – FNH USA SCAR-17S.
…a bolt action rifle – T/C Dimension (flexible use) or Tikka T3 Lite (hunting).
…a shotgun – Tie. Mossberg 500 or Remington 870. Doesn’t matter.
…a 22LR rifle – CZ 452 Scout (kids) or Marlin Papoose (all around).
…a handgun – Glock 19.
…a handgun for concealed carry – Kahr CW9.
…a holster – Praetor Defense or Raven Concealment.
…a non-magnified optic – Aimpoint PRO.
…a fixed power optic for a semi auto rifle – Trijicon TA33/TA11 ACOG.
…a fixed power optic for a bolt action rifle – Bushnell Elite 3200 10X.
…a variable power optic – Anything German.
…an AR-15 upgrade – Vltor A5.
…an AR-15 rail – Centurion C4.
…an AR-15 magazine – Lancer.
…a knife – Benchmade Griptilian.
…a watch – Casio Pathfinder. Or a Citizen Eco-Drive, if you need a watch for six months or less.
…a flashlight – Elzetta ZFL-M60.
…a flashlight for carry – Surefire E1B.
…rifle ammo for killing things – Federal Fusion. Barnes TSX/MRX/etc.
…handgun ammo for killing things – Federal HST. Winchester Ranger T/Ranger Bonded. Speer Gold Dot. Remington Golden Saber Bonded.
…shotgun ammo for killing things – Federal FliteControl buckshot or Federal slugs. Hornady Critical Defense buckshot. DDupleks Monolit slugs.
…practice ammo – any new factory ammo.
…a handgun .22LR conversion – anything made in the US or Europe that fits your pistol.
…a rifle .22LR conversion – anything made in the US.
All very solid suggestions.
Life is full of tough choices. I’m Gen 3 Glock 19 shopping.
It would be interesting to read more about some of your suggestions on things you haven’t reviewed or written more about. Like the Colt SP6920. (At least when I searched your blog I didn’t see one.) 🙂
Thanks for the advice
Why the Colt 6920?
Besides Schmidt & Bender, who are some other quality German optics manufacturers? That is the only name I can think of. Zeiss maybe?
Zeiss, S&B, Swarovski, Steiner come to mind.
Hensoldt (glass by Zeiss) is another great brand, not sure if they sell in the US.
Great list. Thanks for posting. Any recommendations for a flash light holder? I looked at the Raven Concealment version and it looked solid but don’t anyone who has used it.
Good list. But one question. Why Lancer magazines instead of Pmags?
I recall reading a review (I think off Shotgun News) that torture tested a lot of mags and the Lancer beat ’em all. Also, they have steel feed lips, so you’ll never need those caps the Pmag comes with.
When I saw this post title in my RSS feed, I immediately sighed, and then clicked the link. To my pleasant surprise, I was not greeted with “It’s depends on X or Y or Z” and on and on with a laundry list of qualifiers and no actual advice, or “Find the X the fits/suits YOU and YOUR needs” with no actual X mentioned, or worse yet, how much the author hates being asked.
Instead, I was greeted with actual real straight forward recommendations with no fuss, no muss. They may or may not be right for me, of course. But that decision was correctly left to me. A list of possibilities was provided, without a big hassle, for my consideration, to choose or not choose from as I see fit.
Thank you.
I love your blog and your videos Andrew, and this is one of the reasons why. Keep up the good work!
But WHY?
You must be tired of answering “why” all the time, but nevertheless, for some I’m curious.
You’re the first person whose opinion I’d take at face value with little extra investigation who recommends Lancers uber alles. Why?
I have a 6920, and it’s worked extremely well for me. However, I am surprised that it makes the “5.56 rifle” entry alone. Why?
Lancer mags are completely reliable, have bulletproof feed lips, and have a useful feature (the translucent ones, that is). They’re worth the money.
The 6920 – I could easily list half a dozen ARs that I’d recommend, but for a new AR buyer, at current prices, the SP6920 is a no-brainer.
Thanks for responding. I sort of figured that would be your explanation for the 6920. I did not know you were a big Lancer fan. Inevitably, they get compared to PMags. I assume, then, that you’ve had issues with PMags. If so, then what kinds of issues?
I have used PMags, but only the 20 rounders very heavily. The 30s seem somewhat more fragile.
Thoughts?
I wouldn’t call PMags fragile, but the Lancers are more durable. I have had problems with PMags using 300BLK ammo – the weight of the latter causes cracks in the spine of the PMags. I still like and use them for 5.56. As you might have noticed in some videos, I use 20rd mags more than some other folks. But I also use 30s, both Magpul and Lancer.
Any experience with the Lancer AWM magazines? Pros, cons? Better or the same as the original?
I’ve seen them used hard by people I shoot with – but I’m still using the original Lancers. If I didn’t have the mags I have now I’d pick the AWMs up, but I’m satisfied with my current Lancer mags and don’t plan on spending money to switch over right now.
Bravo Company Mfg’s equivalent can be had for a little cheaper during their summer sales, but the amount of quality rifle you get for the price, the 6920 is hard to beat.
Got to see Federal FliteControl in action on an all-buckshot stage at the last Superstition Mountain 3 Gun. It had 1/3 the pattern size of all other buck loads in the competition. Amazing stuff.
thanks for the good suggestions
My brand new Griptilian had lock issues. Serious lock issues. Lock issues I have never experienced with any of my other Axis-locks. Sent an e-mail to BM today, we’ll see how they respond.
Lew,
In my experience carrying nothing but benchmade axis lock folders for over 10 years, I have only had one problem any of them and that was a broken “omega” spring in one. I called benchmade and they had me send it in, fixed it and sharpened it for free and sent it back in a very short period of time. Their cs is excellent and they will take care of you.
Im surprised to hear your new griptilian has issues with the lock out of the box. I’m curious to know what exactly the issue is if you are willing to share. Good luck!
I’m well surpriced as well. I’ve got four Axis-knifes (556, 580, 585, 551) and I believe the axis lock is the greatest thing since internet porn.
The issue I have is that the lock-bar sticks at the very end of travel. There is an audible “click” and sometimes the lock bar sticks back and requires a slight bit of force to push forwards. It’s like it “falls of the shelf” that is there in the form of the steel cut-out, might just be a bit of machining “beard” left. I’m wearing it down and it getting better day by day.
There is no _real_ problem, the knife works as advertised (and will ‘wear in’ quite well I think) but it’s just below the standard that I’ve come to expect for a made in the USA Benchmade. The very reason I buy USA-made (I’m in Euro-land) Benchmades is that I won’t have to deal with these issues and I’m ever so slightly disappointed.
The 556Blu I ordered for my dad at the same time is working a charm, flicking in and out to his heart’s content. Still love BM, just a hickup I think.
That is disappointing. I hope it isn’t a sign of things to come from Benchmade. Glad its “wearing in” though. Hopefully its an isolated incident.
After playing with the knife like a mofo with OCD flicking it until my fingers hurt three days running the problem is no longer a problem at all. The locking bar no longer sticks and the knife swings in-n’-out like a charm. There’s still a little “click” and a bit of grit at the very end of travel but it’s nothing that affects function in any way. I am confident that normal wear will eliminate this as well.
I can’t say I’m happy or unhappy about this, like I said I expected BM to check that before sending a knife of this price bracket out. That being said it’s a mechanical beast with moving parts – cars and rifles also require a bit of “running in” before they work at their best.
Still, I’m a bit disapponted as I expect more from BM. They’re rightfully proud of making all their knives in-house and in the US and I’m willing to pay the premium for that. But…all it would have taken was two or three lock/unlocks by their QC-people and then ten seconds of sanding for there not to be a problem in the first place. I can’t take it apart for sanding as that’ll void their warranty which I’m sure is amazing for US customers but for us over here it leaves us damned no matter what we do (HMs’ customs like nicking our blades as “gravity knives” despite the fact that they’re sold legally over here [which gravity knives can’t be]).
On the nice side of feedback it’s by far the sharpest BM I’ve had arrive, the grinding is very well done.
Worrying however is that I have yet to recieve a return message from BM. I recieved the auto-reply but it has now gone four business days. I might be slightly harsh but whenever I contact Spyderco I always recieve a return within two business days. I’ll write again when they’ve gotten back in touch with me.
The problem has been resolved on my end. Just a bit of breaking-in I suppose.
However, I have yet to recieve any sort of contact from Benchmade, this despite almost two weeks having passed since I e-mailed them. I am not impressed.
Interesting… And disappointing.
It’s now been months and months and while the knife is fine I have still received no reply from BM. I have since sold that 551 (at a slight loss) since the tzures with the lock quite frankly put me off it.
I am very dissappointed in Benchmades’ CS and it will make me think twice about buying their products again,
Very diasppointing. I was literally going to write an article about my great experiences with BM CS tomorrow.
Maybe it’s since I’m in euro-land but when a manufacturer does not reply, even with a simple “it’ll wear in, don’t worry” I’m not very impressed. It’s almost worse since the 551 is very much BMs bread-and-butter knife.
Since the problem solved itself (after a bit of work) I have not e-mailed BM again, it might have dissappeared in their datalogs (it happens).
I’d love to have you write that article though as I am sure 95+% of BM CS is excellent, maybe this is just a fluke or a datapoint for you.
As usual, the choices are great, well reasoned, and likely because we all agree! Great products.
In the area of watches, I’ll suggest alternatives. Without going overboard on the military/tactical end, a tough durable and low profile watch is likely preferred for duty by most of your viewers. What does it need to do? Tell you the time, no matter what. You should be able to see the time displayed under nearly any conditions. Everything else is optional, and no doubt the industry can supply it – but it’s a smaller scale, less efficient version. Making a combo bit of gear means it doesn’t do both jobs optimally, it’s going to compromise something. Add a compass function to a watch, can you read it in mils, set the declination, and actually rely on it as the primary direction finding instrument? If it can, are you sure it wouldn’t be cheaper to have a good watch and a good compass?
Point being, servicemen have relied on Dive rated watches since the PX offered a certain Japanese Brand in the store during Vietnam. Although the Swiss had dominated the market for some time, they’re expensive, then and now. A soldier could buy the “local” product and actually get good service, extreme durability, and keep it for an heirloom, too. Many have gone 6-10 years before the caseback has been removed.
Why a Dive watch? Note, that’s not a WR rated watch, which is really picked by Marketing to hit a pricepoint. A Dive watch has to undergo individual testing to 125% of it’s rated pressure, and be visible in the pitch dark to read it, no matter what. Radium treated hands are out now, so it’s either Tritium, or superluminous paint, both do the job.
On thing I will suggest is just leave the extra knobs and buttons off. The compromise water resistance, the integrity of the case, and it’s just something to get sticky and fail. Sure, chronometers are fun to play with, most of us don’t use a stop watch any particular month, much less daily. And if it’s timing laps, a simple digital will do.
For daily wear, on duty, or in the service, the Dive watch does it all, and shrugs off the abuse, simply because it was overbuilt to begin with. And no, you don’t need numbers on the dial. You can tell the time, right?
MarkM,
I wholeheartedly agree with you. I used to wear a casio digital atomic/solar watch and it was great and durable and actually still works after nearly 8 years with no maintenance other than a new band, but I switched to a dive watch (Marathon TSAR) about 2 years ago, which has tritium markers on the face and I don’t think I will ever go back to a digital. The thing is built like a tank, solid stainless, keeps time as well as my old atomic watch did, and I don’t have to push any buttons on it ever. In any lighting conditions I can look at it and know immediately what time it is without trying to find that tiny little button to illuminate the face. It also looks like a real watch and translates well from my blue uniform, to my camo one, to a business suit with equal ease. Love that thing.
Are there any magazine companies that are making a 5.45 AR mag besides C-Products/ASC?
Not to my knowledge.
Any chance you could suggest to Lancer that they make an AR-15 5.45 super-mag?
I was thinking about getting a shotgun soon, and like the Mossbergs. Is there a huge difference between the 500 and the 590/590A1? The $150-$200 seems like a lot for a few more metal parts.
Pretty good list, but for a flashlight, you can get a Fenix TK21 with an output of 468 for under $100. Double the output of the Elzetta on just 2 cr123 for a great price.
Of course, I bet you could have list 40 flashlights to recommend….
Not a fan of cheap Chinese flashlights.
Two Thumbs Up.
Hmmmm…..
You addressed a lot of my own questions in this list. Many thanks man!
P
One item not in the list is an AK style firearm. Andrew do you think folks should have at least one AK in their collection to maintain familiarity with that system or is it a waste for most?
Not a waste, but I’d stick to one platform or the other unless one wants to collect a lot of military rifles.
Still no AK recomendation?
Arsenal SGL31.
Correct! 🙂 I’ll count my self-converted Saiga 5.45 as a match.
I’m curious about the SCAR 17S choice considering its cost & availability as well as use of proprietary magazines. I read your opinion on the M1A, but why not say an AR10 or FAL?
I think that the SCAR-17S is a fantastically well designed rifle. I will say that reports of optic damage due to the large reciprocating mass of the SCAR platform coming to an abrupt halt after its forward stroke have come from the military. Also, I’m aware of two (recent) instances in which some manufacturing or assembly flaw has allowed magazines to drop from the rifle during firing. If I really wanted a .308 semi auto for general use, though, I’d pick one up. I think that it is a more reliable platform, with a persistent and consistent recent development history, than the AR-10. And it’s lighter, more accurate, and more reliable in inclement conditions than the FAL. It also allows more in the way of customization.
Now, just because I said that the M1A shouldn’t exist does not mean that I don’t think people should consider it 😉 – more from an aesthetic point of view, though. I think it’s overpriced for what it delivers, but that’s because there is effectively one manufacturer of the platform at the moment. Hopefully, increased competition in the civil market will push M1A prices down…maybe.
As a man who has a large box of gear that he no longer uses, this is spot on.
One saying comes to mind
Buy once Cry once.
You didn’t advise on what bacon to buy, or what armor plate to use against .308 rounds…
Buy all bacon. See my level IV armor plate test for what I would use to stop 308.
How about suggestions for:
…an AR-15 rifle muzzle device?
…an AR-15 pistol muzzle device?
…an AR-15 sling?
AR muzzle device for general use? A2. For flash suppression? AAC Blackout. For controlling recoil? PWS FSC556. As for the AR pistol muzzle device, do you mean pistol caliber or short barrel centerfire rifle? A can/silencer/suppressor would be my recommendation for the latter…for both, actually.
Sling? I like single points and two points for different reasons. I hate 3 points. If you do more shooting than moving with your rifle (range use or maybe movement to contact), a single point. If you carry your rifle for work all day and might have to shoot it, 2 point.
Thanks for the advice on the sling and muzzle device. For the pistol, I meant for an AR-15 pistol with 10.5 inch barrel, centerfire 5.56. Basically a SBR, but as an AR-15 pistol. Any suggestions for a muzzle device that mitigates the muzzle blast (other than a suppressor)?
They’re all going to be horrific. A flash hider/suppressor like the Blackout will at least be less horrific.
An acquaintance who is fairly experienced in suppressors suggested to me, if I planned on making an SBR that will always be shot suppressed, go with the AAC Muzzle Brake. The muzzle brake’s side ports will act as additional baffles and will take the brunt of baffle erosion.
Ok, I got an upper without a handguard/rail. Do I go for the Centurion C4 rail and a rear MBUS now and forgo the optic or do I go for the optic and get a Magpul MOE handguard? Decisions, decisions…
I think an optic will be a better return on investment and should take priority.
… a weaponlight that uses AA batteries?