It's like a treasure chest of knowledge

The Brian Enos forums, that is.  If you’re a competition shooter and you want to get better, there are not a whole lot of places that will have more pure info than the Enos forums.  It’s not a place for “tactical” discussion and CCW stuff, but for pure “shoot your guns faster/better” it’s hard to beat.

What's a good trigger pull?

One of the most common topics of discussion on gun websites, magazines, and TV shows is the weight of the trigger pull of gun X.  Usually heard as “my CQB Tactical Destroyer has a 2.5 pound trigger pull!” or “I had to use a fish scale to measure the trigger pull of the Hi Point it was so heavy”.  Many pixels have died to bring us this information, and yet for whatever reason people seem to think a light trigger pull is almost a badge of honor.  I recently met a guy that was talking about how he had his Glock trigger down to 2.5 pounds or some absurd number, which made me wonder “why?”

I tend to fall in the school of thought that thinks that a light trigger pull isn’t necessarily a good thing for self defense, or even for competition.  Here’s the logical process behind that though – I started shooting serious competitions at the Academy for the collegiate pistol team.  I used an earlier version of the Pardini SP pistol in .22, which being a bullseye .22 had a trigger pull that was adjustable.  I was essentially issued this gun by the team, and I never bothered with screwing around with adjusting the pull, I’d imagine based on current knowledge that it was probably around 2.5 pounds, which was plenty light.

I also competed in Free Pistol, or 50m Pistol as it’s known elsewhere.  Free pistol is a weird bullseye sport that uses guns that have evolved to the point where they don’t really resemble firearms any more.

The Pardini pictured at left has a factory trigger pull of 50 grams – that’s 0.11 pounds if you’re wondering.  For reference, a quarter weighs about 6 grams, so a stack of 9 quarters would be enough to make this gun go “bang”.

Now, you’d think that because my real introduction to serious shooting was with high end competition guns with great triggers that I’d demand light trigger pull weights on all my guns – but it’s precisely the opposite.  Coming in to shooting from NRA Collegiate Pistol taught me that the most important thing in the world isn’t the weight of your trigger, but how you manage the trigger.  With a 0.1 pound trigger, any mashing or jerking is magnified significantly, and turns a 10 into an unacceptable 7.

Fast forward 10 years, and now the lightest trigger pull on any of my competition guns comes in around 9 pounds.  Yes, I shoot revolvers exclusively, but even though the triggers are heavy doesn’t mean they’re bad.  Personally, the most important factor in whether or not a trigger is good or bad isn’t the weight, but rather how smooth it is.  I’ll take a 12 pound double action revolver trigger that’s nice and smooth over a gritty, stacking 5 pound trigger any day of the week.  Even Jerry Miculek is credited with saying that the best action job you can give a revolver is to dry fire it 3000 times; from personal experience I can tell you that doing that will make the bearing surfaces plenty smooth.

The point of all of this is to establish that you don’t need a light trigger to shoot well – in fact a light trigger can actually hurt your ability to shoot well by masking flinch and jerk that would affect shots if fired from a “duty” trigger pull.  If you’re shooting IDPA or USPSA there isn’t any reason to screw around with the pull weight on your gun unless you’re running head to head with Dave Sevigny and need to shave 0.003 seconds off your splits.  Shooting a gun with a light trigger isn’t going to make you a better shot – but practicing your trigger pull with lots and lots of dry fire or a Crimson Trace laser will.

US Concealed Carry Association

Do you carry a concealed firearm as a private citizen?  If you do, then you should seriously consider joining the US Concealed Carry Association.  It’s impossible to type this post without sounding like a commercial, but seriously, the USCCA is good people doing good things.  Educating and training permit holders is a great goal, and for less than $4 a month you get access to the US Concealed Carry Magazine.  Of course, in the interest of full disclosure, I’m friends with the editor of US Concealed Carry Magazine and I freelance for them – but that notwithstanding, the best thing about the magazine and the association is that because it’s private, members only, the reviews in the magazine and the info isn’t cluttered with a lot of the “advertisers paid us so we have to say nice things about their gun”.  You get honest info from people that carry guns every day.

Like I said, hard to write that without sounding like a commercial; but after working with Kathy for almost a year now, I actually do buy in to what they’re trying to do.  It’s good work – helping to educate the millions of Americans that carry firearms for self defense is an awesome and daunting task, and I believe it’s worthy of our support!

Rob Pincus heading to Tennessee

Rob will be hosting a Combat Focused Shooting course at Coal Creek Armory in Tennessee.  Rob is a great guy, and honestly I think that there must be three or four clones of him running around out there with as busy as he seems.  Between hosting SWAT TV and co-hosting the Best Defense and Armed American Radio, he also manages to find time to attend training and train shooters and armed professionals.  Needless to say, I think he’s got clones.

For more information, check out this archived episode of Gun Nuts Radio featuring Rob Pincus!

Remington R-25 .308

And now for the other .308 caliber rifle I’m looking at, the Remington R-25 in .308.  I actually had the opportunity to handle this gun a couple of years ago at the NRA Annual Meetings in Kentucky, and I was generally impressed with the rifle.  It’s actually a DPMS .308 rifle dressed up in RealTree camo, but for some reason the thought of taking a Remington branded “hunting” gun to a 3 gun match has a lot of appeal.  It’s compatible with DPMS .308 magazines, which is nice…except that DPMS .308 mags are a bit more expensive than the FAL mags that the Rock River gun takes.

On the flip side, the Remington R-25 would require less modification to make it Heavy Metal ready; it already has the lightweight handguard that I’d want, it’s a flattop receiver for adding optics/sights, and it’s a fixed stock.  All of these are features I’d want in my Heavy Metal rifle.  It doesn’t have a threaded barrel though, and the flutes might be a problem if I’m trying to get a compensator on the gun; that’s something to think about.  Like my other option though, I’ve never actually fired a Remington R-25; in fact the only .308 rounds I’ve fired have been through M14 pattern rifles, so anyone that has shot this rifle, or the equivalent DPMS rifles is more than welcome to chime in.

Rock River Arms LAR-8 A4

Speaking of both Rock River Arms and after the discussion on “what .308 for 3-gun Heavy Metal” I started doing some research on .308/7.62 NATO caliber ARs.  The AR platform is the “best bet” for me in 3 gun as it has the widest array of available parts, aftermarket support, and most of all though is a platform that I’m already familiar with, so there isn’t the learning curve that’s associated with picking up a new rifle.

Sadly, I don’t have three grand sitting around to just buy the JP Enterprises LRP-07 which is basically God’s own 3-gun Heavy Metal rifle; however after looking around I’ve got two solid candidates, one of which is the Rock River Arms LAR-8 A4.

I like that the LAR-8 A4 is a pretty vanilla gun; a flattop upper and a boring handguard give me room to customize the rifle up from there and build an ideal 3 gun rifle out of it.  The LAR-8 takes FN FAL mags, which I’ve come to understand are common like hydrogen, so sourcing spares shouldn’t be a problem.  All that being said however, I do not have any personal experience with this rifle, and the only Rock River guns I’ve shot have been pistol caliber AR carbines, which were an absolute hoot…but a little different from a full on .308.

Since I’m shopping, I’m wide open to any feedback from people that have shot/owned this platform, or built a .308 AR from RRA parts.

RSR Group adds Rock River Arms to their lineup

Press release from RSR:

RSR Group, Inc. is excited to announce that it has added Rock River Arms to its product offering. Rock River Arms guns and accessories are American-made, custom-designed, and technologically advanced. These products are the latest introduction to RSR Group, Inc.’s lineup of tactical merchandise, and they are currently arriving at our sales and distribution center in Grand Prairie, Texas.

Rock River Arms joins a diverse selection of more than 15,000 products from as many as 240 manufacturers offered by RSR Group, Inc. With its extensive selection of AR-15 rifles, barrel assemblies, upper and lower receivers, as well as the new Performance Piston System carbines and pistols, Rock River Arms offers a comprehensive product lineup for the tactical shooter. The innovative designs of Rock River Arms products, and the company’s focus on providing the right fit, finish and function, make these guns an excellent value and a welcome addition to the RSR Group, Inc. product inventory selection.

RSR Group, Inc. is committed to the total satisfaction of its customers by providing a well-stocked selection of products at competitive prices. With five sales centers across the U.S. and a distribution center located in Texas, RSR Group is able to provide fast and reliable service. For additional information about RSR Group, Inc. call Alysa George at 407-677-1333 ext. 625 or visit www.rsrgroup.com.