Yes, I'm a little cranky.
And you don't really want to know the reason why, you just don't want to have anyone make you think about your actions...
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As for the 'Match Triggers' everyone keeps pushing...
Here is a 50¢ alternative that works great.
I've used this since the mid 70's, and I'm surprised that some of the AR 'Experts' don't know about it or haven't told about it...
http://www.junkyardgenius.com/firearms/ar-15/ar08.html
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As for 'Optics',
85% of the 'Scopes' (Telescopic Sights, but what are a few misnomers between friends...) are canted one direction or the other.
This is bad.
Look at the face of a watch...
See the 1 minute mark?
That's 6° of cant, or for the slow guys in the class, 1 Minute OF ANGLE.
Most optics I see are out WAY more than 6°...
According to the Marine Corps long range rifleman's manual I was issued, that is a 1/2" miss at 100 yards, and a 55 inch miss at 1,000 yards.
The taller your 'Scope' center line is over the barrel center line, the more damage you are doing to your aim.
AR's are traditionally much higher centerline than the bolt action rifle that manual was written for.
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Something else I don't see on the 'Tacti-Cool' and 'Cronic Paranoids' rifles...
A spirit level.
They will sink $800 or $1,000 in an optic, and not level the rifle before they fire so the optics center line is plumb with the bore center line.
Doesn't matter how much you pay for the optics, you aren't going to make a tack driver out of it until you get a level and learn to use it...
A level will teach you how to 'Address' the rifle.
("Address": the proper term for shouldering & gripping the rifle after you get into a braced shooting stance)
No excuses either, they make them for front sights, Weaver & Picatinny rails, and that mount right on the optics tubes.
Some optics (the ones intended for REAL shooters) include the spirit level inside the optics, handy and out of harms way, plus you will NEVER forget it at home that way.
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Something that is not ENTIRELY the shooters fault, but still makes me crack a grin is when a guy has a laser range finder in Yards, but is using optics graduated in Meters.
This is mostly due to the schizophrenic nature of the shooting education in this country.
The military uses sites/optics graduated in meters, but the troops train on ranges that are graduated in yards...
It also comes from thinking that European optics outperform American made optics...
If you think that, you have CLEARLY never used Leupold or Burris optics...
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Mildot optics also make me chuckle...
Unless you are hunting humans, the Mildot reticle is virtually worthless.
I hunt ground hogs, prairie dogs, coyotes, and the occasional white tail deer with my rifles.
None of those translates very well over to Mildot...
I know some self appointed forum god is going to argue that a coyote is 36" long that equates to 57+95- the metric 5 add in the age of the neighbors beagle, or what ever gibberish...
The fact is, I prefer a 'Varmint' scope that has graduations for the length and height of the average coyote, not human...
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So called 'Hunting' rifles, (not 'Varmint' rifles) with those target knobs sticking out there exposed to the world always make me cringe...
First off, with a hunting rifle, you don't have time to mess with a dozen adjustments...
If you are VERY lucky, you might get to change zoom or adjust for paralax... But not very often in white tail country!
I makes MUCH more sense to have short, protected adjustments and a fixed power optic with no paralax adjustment, or have the paralax adjusted and locked down for about 75 to 125 yards, depending on how thick the brush you are hunting in is...
Those silly target 'Click' knobs are just going to get in the way of a good hunting rifle anyway...
'Clicks' mean you are restricted to 1/4, 1/3 or 1/2 MOA adjustments...
I prefer a sliding scale with no 'Clicks' for hunting rifles.
No clicks means I can 'Fine Tune' my shots just the way I want them with no pre-determined windage or elevation deviation to one side or the other of my zero point...
I'm trying to zero at my 'Average' range, which in hunting is usually different than 100 yards or 200 yards.
So those little 'Clicks' don't work for that very well.
Since if I have a brain that's working, I have a reticle that allows for bullet drop and has a functioning range finding device built in...
Besides, if I've done enough shooting with that 'Hunting' rifle, I should be able to estimate the range to within 25 yards anyway...
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When I was a kid growing up in a bend of the White River,
I though I could shoot...
I could out shoot all my peers,
I could hit ground hogs with a .22 WMR that other guys couldn't hit with a .222 or .223 or .243 and high powered optics...
I guided deer hunters and bird hunters, and when it was necessary, knocked down wounded game the 'City Boys' couldn't finish off.
I made pretty good money from the local farmers cleaning out the ground hogs from 'Garden' fields and pastures, and the local hog farmers and turkey farmers paid me for every coyote I could bag on their places.
I watched my grandfather knock down a white tail at 606 yards with a single shot from a sporterized Mauser re-barred in .30-06 using open iron sights, across a valley, in moderate wind.
He actually fired the rifle, turned before the deer fell, and told me to get the tractor (to get the deer).
The man was 62 years old when he made that shot while leaning against a tree...
He was a WWI veteran and he always said,
"The Marines taught me how to shoot...
The Germans taught me NOT to miss."
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In my opinion,
You should have to pass the Civilian Marksmanship Program or like course before you are allowed to own anything other than a rimfire rifle or shotgun.
There should be an ABSOLUTE REQUIREMENT you pass a CMP type program before being allowed to own a handgun of ANY kind.
I'm a firm believer in the 2nd Amendment,
I'm also a firm believer that there are too may untrained hacks out there that think firearms are a status symbol or collectors item and not a DEADLY SERIOUS tool with ramifications a mile and a half away in any direction of their location...
Guys that own firearms and don't own and use a gun safe bother me too.
Virtually all guns used in homicides are STOLEN.
If you buy a firearm, LOCK IT UP when you aren't actually HOLDING IT.
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