More on Guns

Rifles:

Make sure the weapon you are carrying has a battlefield zero of at least 300 meters. That means that the difference between point-of-aim and point-of-impact between will never be enough that it will cause you to miss. I can hold in the center of the chest on a coyote at any distance between the end of my muzzle and 300 meters away and know I’m going to hit him (assuming he’s not moving. While I can hit a mover, that’s an entirely different set of factors at play). I don’t need to do any “hold three inches high” Arkansas elevation bullshit.

Most infantry combat in the last sixty years has taken place inside of 200 meters. A large portion of THAT has taken place inside of 100 meters. For the urbanites and suburbanites (you poor bastards) amongst us, it might be a good idea to forgo the preceding and settle for a 100-150 meter zero. It’s not necessary though. Law Enforcement Agencies will generally have a 50-100 meter zero on their carbines, but they have an even greater need for precision in order to avoid hitting innocents. Post-SHTF, I’m not going to want to hit innocents, but that’s less a concern for me than being able to hit people as far away as I can.

On that note, even though the M16A2 sights are set up for the 250 meter zero (that sets up the 300 meter battlefield zero), they are adjustable for further. The doctrinal maximum effective range for an M4 carbine with the 14.5” barrel is 500 meters. It involves adjusting the rear sight, but can you do that? Can you put one through a human silhouette target at 500 meters? Even you guys that live in the timber and back east need to be able to do that. I’ve seen meadows in Northern Idaho that were in excess of 500 meters, not to mention roads. Same thing applies in the South and East.

Someone brought it up in a different thread, but I’m going to include it here too since the mods were flattering enough to believe that this deserved a sticky….Train with your weapons, even when it’s shitty out. Being able to hit an E-Type silhouette at 500 meters is okay. Being able to hit the same target at 150 meters, in the rain at 25 degrees, is better. Being able to hit it at 75 meters, when it’s -10F and you’ve just trekked twenty kilometers through the mountains on snowshoes is much more impressive!

Get a timer. Time yourself on your shooting drills. You don’t have the luxury of taking your time in a gunfight. While the old adage that, “You can’t miss fast enough to win a gunfight,” is still true, you can damned sure shoot slow enough that it doesn’t matter. Get involved with the IDPA or IPSC. Get involved in some 3-Gun shooting in your area. If you can’t shoot fast on a clean range in competition with no one shooting at you, how are you going to shoot fast in combat when they are? The best shooters in USSOCOM shoot 3-Gun. Are you better than them?

Introduce malfunction drills into your training. In short, do everything you can to make training as challenging as you can. It’ll pay off when it’s for real.


Night Vision Goggles (NVG)

I refer to NVGs and NODs (Night Observation Devices) and NVDs (Night Vision Devices) as well as NVGs. I use the terms interchangeably. NVGs are a great force multiplier if you use them right.

I can make this really simple:

Buy the best you can get. Try to save for Generation III stuff, but at least get Generation II. While the Gen II stuff sucks (The A/N PVS-4 is Generation II), it’s light years beyond the Gen I. Don’t waste your time with the shitty Russian crap either. If you can’t afford the Gen III and don’t want to save, do without. NVGs are not fool-proof and it is possible to defeat them. Hell, Hajji does it to us all the time!

Body Armor

I’m not an expert on body armor. I know the differences between the NIJ levels just enough to tell you I want at least IIIA in a concealed vest and plates in a carrier. I’ve worn the old Ranger Body Armor (RBA) that preceded the IBA worn in Afghanistan and Iraq. I’ve known guys that wore more current stuff and swear by it. I’ll swear by the IBA with SAPI plates that I was wearing when I got shot.

I’ve HEARD that the Dragonskin stuff sucks. That’s all I know about it. Flak jackets are not body armor. They don’t even stop pistol caliber ammunition. Don’t bother with them. You can get a complete vest with SAPI plates for less than the cost of a new AR15. It’ll be a lot more valuable to you than the extra rifle too.

If you carry a gun, you should be wearing body armor. I believe it really is that simple. There’s no excuse for not wearing it (unless you live somewhere stupid where it’s illegal. In that case you should move or I’ll consider you stupid too.), none at all.