Got the FFL in and I was supposed to get a tracking number out of the seller, but so far no such luck. I’ve purchased two weapons online, and each time the seller has been tardy in shipping it off — this time, the reason given being that he hadn’t until today received the paperwork. This particular seller also only ships USPS Parcel Post, so I’m likely looking at another week before my FFL takes possession of the rifle, at which point I’ll go in for the check, etc. Last time the whole thing took about 25 minutes once I filled out the background check form.
Incidentally, and again after much research and consternation at the variety of options and online opinions, I settled on a scope purchase — and I think I made the right call, though some of you may disagree. Time will tell as I take it out play with it at various distances. The scope I decided on (after coming very close to picking up a T24G Accupoint or the SWFA SS 1×4) is a 1-6×24 FFP Combat Rifle Scope from GRSC inc, designed by a former SF guy named Ed Verdugo (who holds the patent on the reticle, along with patents on a number of sling mounts), and it uses a non-mil dot ranging system that is really fantastically intuitive and, for me, at least, easy to use [see videos, following].
In fact, the scope is precisely what I was looking for out of a scope when I chose the SCAR as my bugout long gun: a single-scope solution for a battle rifle — with special attention paid to quick target acquisition in CQB situations (where the horse shoe reticle works like a red dot), but with the kind of versatility that allows for regular hits at all effective ranges on this weapon (point hits up to 300 yards and aimpoint hits out to 500+ is the standard on an 5.56 @ ~ 70g, which this was calibrated for; and it has worked comparably on 7.62 / 308 @147 up to 528 yards with and without night vision, with greater distances possible with the proper compensation for bullet drop. One Marine reported regular hits at 800 yards with a 16″ barreled M4).
It cost a bit more than I wanted to spend, but for a 1-6x it is actually quite reasonably priced; and when reviewed even as an unfinished prototype (the optic hadn’t received final coating) against some serious competition — some of it more expensive, some less, but with correspondingly less magnification in the less-expensive scopes — it really excelled.
The scope is manufactured in Japan by Light Optics, a high-end optics maker and sold by an outfit called Norden Performance.
Those of you interested should check it out.
Now I’m off to the last day of wrestling camp. Discuss among yourselves.
And yes, I’ll be selling off a ton of my stuff to pay for it. Anybody interested in some Belstaff jackets, or maybe a Willie Mays rookie card…?
I pretty happy with a pair of Ruger mini 14s in .223. Pretty universal and reliable.
I have a Mosin-Nagent if I want to put bigger holes in things.
Oh for the love of God, let’s not invite the interminable Mini-14/AR- catfight into this house!
That’s worse than inviting Dracula to step over your threshhold!
Or even falling in love with a sparkley vampire.
Could it wait until I sell my house? And my mother-in-law sells hers?
I have never had trouble buying a gun online, from either a large seller or a smaller one. No delays, etc. Either I was lucky or you have been unlucky.
Too bad this makes the SCAR obsolete! ;)
A bad-ass semi-auto you can carry in your briefcase? Hell ya! And all for only $5600. Let the arms race begin!
I think this crowd is mature and open-minded enough to avoid that flame war.
oops, sorry. I did not actually write what you saw me write so, stop quoting me accurately Ruger hater.
Blast! I see Newrouter beat me to the link on the Paratus. Amazing what the CNC machine has done to the gun world. I can’t wait until 3D printers become commonplace.
Oh yeah? Well let me tell you what I think of the Mini-14…. Err… Well.. Nevermind.
Quite the opposite in fact bgbear.
I learned how to shoot on 10/22 and grew up in a house full of Rugers
and Remingtons
and a Winchester or two.
Also, my parents never made me wear a helmet when I rode my bicycle and in the summer, kicked me and my brothers out the door after breakfast and told us not to come back until supper time. When we were old enough, we were shipped off to a camp run by those Deist homophobes based in Irving, Texas.
It’s a miracle I survived a childhood filled with so much abuse and neglect.
Picard.
Joike.
That’s my contribution to the standard flame-wars.
What was written on the sweater Gypsy made for Christmas?
(Or didn’t you want it in the form of a question?)
What’s wrong with the mini-14? Nothing.
I’m half tempted to test that.
Metaphorically by way of Mac and PC, without specifying which is which.
Just to keep it in the founding spirit of the blog.
Now somebody tell Boy to fetch the pepper.
It performs like a PC!
[shit-eating grin]
It performs like a PC!
– Which is to say, it doesn’t jam half as much as a Mac, and you can get third party ammo!
(low rumbling chortle)
harry reid says hitler used a ruger.
Macs are for pretentious fops who would rather pay thrice as much for half the reliablity.
High end Macs are like Charles Emmerson Winchester III.
They do one thing at a time, they do it very well, and then they move on.
To doing the same thing 29 more times.
(And as far as ARs are concerned, I’ve run both ARs and Minis and while Minis are cheaper and have more add ons, I’ve never had an add-on foul up my AR like they do with Minis. You don’t have to rebuild your AR every 18 mos the way you do with a Mini either.)
– Bummblefucks gestoppo rolls on. This is going to be a butt crack ugly electuin before its over.
– Minis have a good beat and they’re easy to dance to…I’d give them a 78.5 …..
I don’t know about the reliability of Macs compared to PCs, not having owned or been issued one. But I have to agree that there’s something pretentious about building a Mac to serve as a manframe when there a plenty of mainframe platforms available and the Mac was never intended to serve in that capacity.
But I guess some people just enjoy doing that sort of thing for the sake of doing it.
– Rasmussen still has Romney at 47% to Obama’s 43%. If Jug ears ticks downward anymore they’re going to go to DefCon 1 and we can expect snipping from rooftops and commando attacks on Romney campaign headquarters.
I have a question for anyone who can answer it. I’m thinking about getting a scope with a long range duplex reticle (i.e. zero it at x and then each mark down is another hundred yards). So, I’m looking at the manual (pg 22) and it splits calibers into two separate categories that should be zeroed it in at either 200 or 300 yds. According to their chart a 30-06 with a 150 bullet weight should be zeroed at 200 yds.
However, looking at another chart of trajectories, I see that its MPBR is 287 yards.
I really know next to nothing about ballistics but that just seems like a crazy spread between 200 and 287. Seems like it should be in the other category and get zeroed in at 300.
Anybody have an opinions about the scope I posted on?
Looks good to me Jeff but I have zero experience to draw upon with that sort of shooting.
“Anybody have an opinions about the scope I posted on?”
Not really. Why don’t you just vote the old fashioned way.
>opinions
T-Paw will be announced as Mitt’s veep next Friday.
BBH, I was listening to Rush this afternoon and he was saying (I’m paraphrasing) “Romney hasn’t done this…yet. Romney hasn’t done that…yet.”
I’m willing to wait for Team O to burn through all of their money, political capital and good faith by acting like jackasses and refusing to back down on their “Romney is all things evil” POV until after our convention. Then, Katy bar the door!
T-Paw will be announced as Mitt’s veep next Friday.
Why?
Looks cool, and I wouldn’t mind having one (and an MBR to go with it),
but I feel the same way about any number of things. The Dodge Durango for instance. Or and Ipad or Macbook Air.
So I don’t have anything really constructive to add.
This Machado kid looks like he might be a keeper: triples in his first ML game and hits dual homers in his second.
Jeff,
I’d offer you an opinion on the scope, but that opinion counts about as much as Axelrod suggesting Romney pick Pawlenty for Veep.
I also don’t have anything to add because when I was a shooter* I shot mostly recreationally; i.e., cans, cartons, and jugs —paper was for sighting in— and almost always with iron sights.
So my experience with scoped rifles is limited, but based on your reasons for choosing this particular optic, I’d say you came up with a 90% solution to 100% of your sighting needs.**
*Back before I knew that what I was doing was wrong, and that the people who taught me how to shoot were abusing me instead of having my best interests in their hearts and minds.
**That doesn’t mean I don’t still think scope on a battle-rifle is an oxymoron, however.
T-Paw is exactly Romney’s idea of a solid conservative.
Just exactly.
So it wouldn’t surprise me if he did pick him. But it wouldn’t be a surprise if he didn’t, either.
I’m going with “won’t pick” T-Paw.
People with helpful suggestions like T-Paw and Rob Portman are Mobys. Likewise, Chris Christie.
Chris Christie quite resembles Moby, come to think of it.
I bought almost my entire collection online from the various gun auctions. The biggest problem has been to find and retain a dealer who’s willing to receive the guns for a reasonable fee. Or reasonable rules. Some want a bill of sale while others insist that the gun has to be shipped FROM an FFL dealer even when it’s purchased from a private individual(Not Required by BATFE). One guy who I never used even insisted on doing background checks before the gun was transferred. Now I don’t have that problem since I can’t afford to buy the collectable guns anymore.
I’d like to recommend that he not pick a sitting governor or Senator. We NEED those guys in place where they are just in case Romney isn’t as inevitable as the non existent (silly atavistic hobbits!) establishment thought he would be.
“….and proving, once again, you can only put lipstick on that old pig for just so many years.”
sum body lied
Steely Dan Dr. Wu
It looks like Ryan wins the Veepstakes. He’ll make the announcement tomorrow at 9 on the, um, USS Wisconsin.
I simply cannot wait for the Ryan-Biden debate.
– Sounds plausible. Can’t be too much longer before they make the announcement. We’re getting close to the convention.
It’s going to be pretty hard for Obama to ignore the deficit and the economy with Ryan in the race.
It looks like Ryan wins the Veepstakes.
President Ronald Reagan – Liberty State Park [Pt. 1]
– More VP buzz…
“A Time for Choosing” by Ronald Reagan
Ryan would be an excellent pick. He may even get the Paulists to STFU since he has said many times that he was influenced by Ayn Rand. He’s also a Catholic, says he is a devotee of Thomas Aquinas and his wife is a tax attorney—with a law license and everything.
– Well thats all the confirmation I need. NBC has said its Ryan at 9 am in the campaign room with a tax plan.
If you’re lokking for a nice, ripe RHETORICAL target, go read Charles Pierce’s latest Esquire article. He knows what we’re REALLY thinking, and it’s all racist.
I simply cannot wait for the Ryan-Biden debate.
lol
Nothing indeed other than:
1)Bill Ruger
2)Doesn’t use AR mags/after-market mags tend to suck/Ruger mags are $$
3)Based on an 80 year old military platform instead of a more modern 60 year old one
4It’s not a Lego rifle
5)Bill Ruger
6)Because it’s so ruggedly built there isn’t a ready supply of spare parts (spare parts which you’re sure to need after TEOTWAWKI and won’t be able to find because there isn’t a ready supply of spare parts because it’s so rugged)
7)It’s more a working gun than a playing at the range gun
8)Limited options for customizing/tricking-out/bedazzling compared to the AR platform, (regarless of the fact that—)
9)Black-n-Eevill is an optional upgrade instead of a standard feature
10)Shoots sub minute of varmit at 1/2 to 3/4 of a football field and sub minute of zombie at 1 to 1-1/4 football fields instead of sub minute of angle between 1 and 2 football fields and minute of angle at 3 football fields —after much modification, which you can’t do with a Mini-14 because of (9), because of (7).
11) Bill Ruger
Or so I’ve read around the various forums.
If it’s Ryan and a tax plan, then Ryan isn’t there to be introduced as the Veep nominee
is my thinking.
Twitter seems to be taking Ryan’s selection as a done deal.
– I really have no idea Ernst, I was just riffing on the NBC announcwment, whose claim is “they got it directly from 3 credible campaign sources” which is duh bullshit. They read it off the same tweets everyone else did.
Drudge seems to confirm Ryan also.
So it’s to be “Democracy, Wisky, Sexy” day tomorrow.
Wow, Paul Ryan for Veep is a cautiously bold choice.
Interesting.
Still racist, though.
Of course you should never, ever put anything like this on your gunz. That would be naughty.
Fuck.
Reavers aren’t likely to oblige you with a clear headshot. At least not more than once they aren’t.
Crawford – sorry I didn’t respond on the last thread. We are all in South Carolina. My parents are thinking about 40 acres, but I only want 5 acres because I can’t handle more than that by myself.
They want to cash out of the stock market soon and buy land, and I’m thinking about leaving the suburbs to do the homesteading thing. We’re all pretty scared of another economic collapse and massive devaluation of the dollar.
At 1x the reticle shrinks down to the size of a typical red dot and works in the same way, so it is completely appropriate for rapid fire or pin point shots up close.
That was my impression Jeff. I was attempting to express my disquiet with the whole mindset of home defense/personal preparedness with a main battle and/or assault rifle.
Kind of like how I think Reavers is a better analogy than zombies for one mindset regarding TEOTWAWKI.
Which in itself isn’t necessarily the best way to go about preparing for when the SHTF.
But I’m still thinking my way throught all of this, and this isn’t a firearms/SD-HD/preparedness/survivalist blog (except maybe on weekends), so I’m trying not to crap too much over the threads with my ill-formed musings.
No, it’s fine. I like to have these discussions because I’ve done a lot of thinking on this, but I’m not an expert at all.
By the way, rumor has it Jon Huntsman will be speaking at the Democrat convention.
Recall, he was one of the big Hugh Hewitt / George Will 3 “serious” candidates for the GOP nomination.
That rumor is being squelched by the Atlantic, however.
I suspect most of the bulletin board experts are anything but Jeff.
Kind of like certain conservative commentators.
Depends on what you want to do with the acreage, doesn’t it? Growing timber/firewood just requires the occasional walk-through.
true. that’s what my dad said about timber. There’s so much timber for sale here. We haven’t made up our minds yet – trying to decide how close to town we really need to be…
missfixit, it’s also true, although less so, with major livestock such as cattle. If you want to run a dozen cows better have ~30 acres. There’s more work with cows than timber farming (unless you’re doing the logging too), but less than with crops. And with pastureland you can also put it to raising hay for the neighbors’ cows.
Thats a good looking scope. 1-6x is a great practical power range. I would personally not spend that much on optics but more power to you bro. Looking forward to reading how the rig shoots for you.
Dave —
If I wasn’t convinced by speaking with the inventor of the reticle, a former Green Beret, about just how good the optic works in CQB (a claim that testing, including with red dot sights, seemed to bear out), there’s no way I would have dropped that money on it.
You’ll notice, though, that other companies are adopting this single-solution approach to battle rifle optics — many in the $2-3k range, with some companies looking to move up to 1-8, with dual focal planes and illumination on the high end, which I’m sure will price out at $5k — so for the money, this is really a steal. It’s manufactured by Light Optics, and the reticle is fantastic, intuitive, and very accurate — without having to learn mil dot or do a lot of math on the fly. The Trijicon T24G, for instance, which I almost got, is great, but beyond 300 yards or so is not useful without throwing a flip out magnifier on the gun. And that pushes you past the price point. An Eotech and 3x magnifier comes in just below, but here, I get 6x magnification and a lighter weight than having two optics on the gun.
I suspect — and we’ll see, because it’s going to have to wait — that a match trigger upgrade on a battle rifle meant (by me) for SHTF usage, will have this thing consistently hitting the target at the theoretical end of the 7.62×51’s capability. The rest is up to me.
If that’s the case — if I can learn to hit 800 yards out with a degree of regularity using a 308 round on a rifle with very manageable recoil — as well as quickly and efficiently acquire close-range targeting (which was the FIRST goal of the reticle as Ed designed it), I’m going to be one happy camper.
I’ll never be as accurate as the same kind of set-up on a match-grade 223. But then, I can shoot through walls, if I ever need to.