Tactical Schmactical

[jim4065]

Guess I'm getting too old and grumpy - but it just chaps my a$$ to see the word "Tactical" associated with guns (and everything else) anymore. The new issue of "Guns and Ammo" has "Tactical Tack Driver" on the front cover - while showing a bolt action rifle with a plastic stock. I'm sick of plastic, too. Why didn't they put a maple-stocked muzzle-loader on the front cover? There's a (semi) decent article by Venola on page 48, but they don't mention it on the cover. How about a picture of a Brown Bess and call it "Tactical Muskets of Our NATO Ally"? (Or some such drivel.)

Rant over.

[Boz330]

OOOOHHHH, looks like someone got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.
Seems like that is all that you see anymore but they write to what sells. I went through my spray and pray days sometime back. Don't have any black rifles left, replaced them with classic single shots. I do still have a Carbine though.

Bob

[docone31]

I do not even have a Carbine.

[madcaster]

You are correct Sir,there has been a total lack of craftsmanship on the covers of a lot of gun magazines.I love to look at the curl in a maple stocked Kentucky Rifle,and the CRAFTSMANSHIP-you cannot do THAT on a hot injection machine!Engraving and carving-both incised and raised,CRAFTSMANSHIP!
Yeup,I didn't get up on the wrong side of the bed-at least not the first time!

[Russel Nash]

I have to defer back to Bill O'Reilly's mantra from a few years back: The purpose of any media is to sell you something.

So that could mean the phone, the internet, TV, newspapers, gun periodicals, etc.

Doesn't matter...they are trying to sell you something.

And since the creation of railed handguards for AR's, there is tons more crap people can make and sell to you, to hang off your AR. I mean after all...going to the range should be a tactical fashion show. It's almost like the Smith's keeping up with the Jones's thing.

It's become quite the self-licking ice cream cone of a relationship between "gunzines" ( and their BS writers) and the gun/flashlight/laser/wanna-a-be-commando industry.

I had a buddy who was a local cop, but worked with the DEA on some task force kicking in doors. He loaned me his AR for the longest time. It came with a Surefire flashlight on the handguard. I kid you NOT...it was a $600 flashlight.



When or if the poop ever its the proverbial fan.... I'm just gonna duct tape a mag light to the front of a long gun.

Not very tactical.... but I bet it will work.

[Russel Nash]

As far as craftsmanship goes...pardon my rant...

I guess I learned way back when that with people there are two types of (motivational??) problems. There are will problems and then there are skill problems.

Most people really don't have the will.... the motivation... to get the skills to really set themselves apart.

Also from a business perspective, it behooves the AR manufacturers and a few other gun manufacturers to dumb down as much as possible the assembly/manufacture of their firearms.

It allows them to draw from a pool lesser skilled people...who just so happen to low ball money-wise what their labor is worth.

I was recently at a carpenter's apprenticeship school to take a 32 hour long rigging class. Off to the side of the classroom were a few old planes displayed inside a special case. I bet none of the apprentices in the class had any idea how to sharpen the plane irons or the chisels . And I bet, NOT one had a clue as to how to set the iron in a plane either.

Sad...very sad....

Pardon my rant, here too....

But really, the pool of discriminating clientele who would notice such fine differences and be able to admire them, I think, is diminishing too.

Less demand .... less supply

[Boz330]

I do not even have a Carbine.

Well I couldn't go completely cold turkey. Never can tell when I might need a fix.

Bob

[jhrosier]

IMO, tactical has its' place.
It attracts the younger crowd to the sport of shooting.
Later, when they see what the oldtimers can do with real guns, they might get converted.

As long as the young guys & gals practice good range safety, I don't mess with them.
I do make it a point to try to show them what a real gun can do, though.

Jack

[northmn]

The Colt single action was taken off the market for lack of sales until the B westerns started to get aired, then every one had to have one. The current rage for "tactical" arms seems to be tied to the movie TV crowd also. They cannot shoot anything without using a fully auto firearm locked on fully auto. Ammo makers must love them.

Northmn

[mooman76]

As bad as the spagetti westerns were they actually helped bring back allot of old guns.

[Geraldo]

The Colt single action was taken off the market for lack of sales until the B westerns started to get aired, then every one had to have one. The current rage for "tactical" arms seems to be tied to the movie TV crowd also. They cannot shoot anything without using a fully auto firearm locked on fully auto. Ammo makers must love them.

Northmn

I was thinking the same thing. What's the difference between a wannabe John Wayne and a wannabe Bruce Willis other than the type of firearm. There's some Walter Mitty in everyone.

I do get tired of getting my ears blown out by AR muzzlebrakes at the range, but I'm sure they get tired of losing sight of the target from my clouds of BP smoke. I used the real tactical stuff when I had to, but for fun I prefer to shoot something made of iron and wood, not plastic and carbon fibre.

[northmn]

Who was the rather famous gun writer that the NRA crucified for speaking out against this type of firearm recently? While I do not have anything against a guy that wants to "Walter Mitty" as Geraldo says (I do it with my ML's) and burn up a lot of ammo. I do think that terms like tactical tend to present an image of shooters that could be taken wrong. Once we took military rifles and sporterized them, now we take sporters and militarize them.

Northmn

[Bloodman14]

Loved the reference to Walter Mitty! I wonder how many people today know who he 'is'.
Just saw the commercial for the kid's(?) movie, "Where the Wild things Are"; I told my wife I wanted to see it. She said it was a kids movie, and that I needed to grow up. "Never!", I said.
Then read some reviews on the movie; seems the kids were bored, but the parents had a blast! Go figure.
Kids today have missed out on so much; good music, literature, art and outdoors.

[carpetman]

I'll bite---who is/was Walter Mitty?

[mtnman31]

I have come to loathe the terms "tactical" and "operator". Take something, paint it black, add 20% to the cost and call it tactical. Tactical is one of those terms that has become so over used/abused due to marketing and consumer ignorance. Just yesterday I sent a letter to the editor of the Marine Times asking what they were thinking. The Oct 19 edition has an article on Tactical Tomahawks. I almost choked reading through that junk. It tried to show how a $550 tomahawk could be used in a combat setting for tasks such as breaching and rescues. Sure it could work but why would someone want to use a tomahawk when they could use a purpose built piece of gear to do the same job more effectively and at the same time save themselves from all the ridicule of their peers because they showed up with a tomahawk. After years of deployments and military life, I have yet to see a guy carrying a tomahawk. I think a good majority of the time these tactical gurus are nothing more than armchair commandos and internet operators.

It is all similar to the idea that certain cartridges are obsolete and ineffective at taking a deer. i.e. "you need this .338 ultra magnum because the 30-30 is underpowered for deer." Give me a break; it is the indian and not the arrow. I recall growing up, my grandpa would go hunting with a rifle and the clothes on his back. Fancy to him was taking a pair of binoculars or using a rifle with a scope. I scoff at some of these hunting shows on cable TV. Guy does nothing but advertise for all his sponsored gear and equipment that is "essential" to putting that big buck down. Scent blocking, anti-UV clothes, newest super short mag cartridge fired from a $2000 dollar custom rifle topped with a $2500 scope, electronic game calls, laser range finder, tripod that you have to unpack and set up to shoot from, and of course a beautiful female guide to take them to the most productive spots on the game farm.

I try to do it like grandpa: me, my gun and lunch - in a brown paper bag. Oops, almost forgot my trusty tomahawk.
Rant over, excuse me while I go vommit.

[KCSO]

My tactical alarm rang early this morning and I slid out of my tactical bed and into the tactical shower...

I agree 100% you could sell toilet paper with the word tactical and some mall ninja would buy it.

As to Venola's article it would have been nice if they had someone who knew aboult muzzleloaders or could shoot one. His flinter group shrieks FLINCH!

[carpetman]

MtMan31---Why do you bother packing a tomahawk? That is just extra weight. You can make your own out in the field/woods. All you need is a forked limb, a stone and some sinew. Cutting the forked limb is very easy with a chainsaw. If you don't have one you can avoid having to completely rough it by using a Tactical Tomahawk. The stone is pretty easy, but some considerations should be given in the selection. You don't want to use one that was previously someones' pet rock that has gone astray. Numerous studies have been done and it's a unanimous consensus that former pet rocks don't make good tomahawks. Even in Hollywood movies, you just don't see an Indian using a tomahawk made from a pet rock. The sinew is the tough part. You are in a desperate situation---you need a tomahawk. If it weren't a life or death deal you might take an extreme gamble of getting a deer to get some sinew using a 30-30. But that is too risky. You need a .338 Ultra Magnum it gets em EVERYTIME even in the hands of less experienced operators that have lesser tactical skills. You can avoid all this hassle if you get a 4WD long bed diesel and a 4wd quad ATV---then you can haul the needed gear.

[madcaster]

[QUOTE=KCSO;696764]My tactical alarm rang early this morning and I slid out of my tactical bed and into the tactical shower...

Now there's one to quote,and got uinto my tactical vehicle and got my tacticle butt to work so my boss did not have to make a strategic decision on my job status!

[Russel Nash]

If I understand it correctly....from a friend who had started his own hunting footage website where hunters uploaded videos of their hunts to his website....my friend also started his own business making special articulated arm camera mounts for the Primos hunting shows camera crews...

We had talked one time about having our own show, probably more dedicated to the USPSA crowd and way less tactical. He had heard that for a 1/2 hour show, it costs $35,000 to buy that half hour block of time. So my reply was, "So a hunting or shooting show has to get sponsors/advertisers to buy at least thirty five thousand dollars worth of commercials to be aired during the show...to just break even?"

A'yup.

So, which hunting/shooting related companies have the money to spend on those kind of expensive commercials?

The ones with the expensive toys....like the 4WD ATV's and the bigger gun companies...and the companies that make those "mules"....cha ching$$$

[mtnman31]

Carpetman, the stone tomahawk head is a great idea... in theory. I used to carry a rock for my tomahawk, though it was a rather large rock - more along the lines of a battle axe than tomahawk. Anyway, long story short, I had my rock with me on a deer hunt. Two bucks were locking horns and distracted me (common deer tactic) while a doe snuck up from behind and got the drop on me. She startled me and I ended up dropping said rock on my foot. Broke some toes - leather moccassins, while tactical because they allow me move so stealthily, don't provide much protection for the feet from misplaced tomahawks.

Thus began my dislike for products labeled as "tactical".