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The AR-15 Barrel Cheat Sheet: Everything You Need to Know
This post summarizes just about everything I’ve learned about rifle barrels in general, and specifically the AR-15. Barrels are an important topic, so settle in for some details.
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Matt here. Here you’ll find a complete listing of all written articles on The Everyday Marksman as well as some curated content from our most popular posts. We recalculate the top posts every month based on what you’re reading.
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Choosing the Best Concealed Carry Belt for You
Today we’re continuing our discussion on load carriage. But now we’re moving towards the discreet end of the spectrum. I didn’t think all that much about my belt when I first received my CCW permit. It was all about the pistol and associated holster. But the truth is that a good concealed carry belt is part of a system that includes the pistol, holster, belt, and you.
The Go-Getter Marksman Challenge
Vince Lombardi once said, “Winning is not a sometime thing; it’s an all the time thing. You don’t win once in a while; you don’t do things right once in a while; you do them right all of the time. Winning is a habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.”
At its heart, The Everyday Marksman is about taking action. The more action you take, and the more wins you amass in the process, then the stronger your mindset becomes.
As Coach Lombardi put it, winning is a habit. So even if you have to start with small wins and slowly build up to big wins, that’s still building a habit towards success. For this challenge, you are going to set a goal, tell us about it, and then follow it through to completion.
How to Breathe for Better Marksmanship
One of the easily overlooked areas of good marksmanship is controlling your breathing. I really believe it’s one of those things that everyone knows they should get control of it, but good breath control becomes one of the first marksmanship fundamentals to go out the window as pressure mounts.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been in the midst of a stage and didn’t even think about my breathing until after it was over. Of course, then I try to go backwards and wonder if I did it correctly anyway, or if I did it wrong and it cost me a little bit of performance.
Conquering the Emergency Shelter Challenge
For this challenge, we’re pivoting to the survival world. With hunting season approaching, or just general outdoors activity in cooler weather, I thought it was appropriate to work on developing and deploying an emergency shelter kit.
So let’s talk about the Emergency Shelter Challenge.
AAR: GoRuck Active Shooter Intervention
On July 20th, 2019, I attended GoRuck’s Active Shooter Intervention training course, as well as a night fire. I took away a lot of lessons from this one, including a preference for fiber optic sights on my pistols over tritium night sights, as well as the importance of good weapon light usage.
How To Find the Ideal Twist Rate for Your Rifle
Let’s talk about twist rates.
Specifically, I want to dig into the purpose of rifling and how to determine the right twist rate for your rifle and cartridge.
Barrel Length, Trajectory, and Learning Your Zero
There’s a lot of engineering voodoo that goes into making a rifle work well and fire accurately. The length of a rifle’s barrel and how it affects the velocity of the bullet is one of those major factors.
The Complete Guide to Your Iron Sight Zero
Most articles walk you through the basic steps of getting your iron sights zeroed, but they lack an explanation of why you’re doing the steps you’re doing. Let’s change that.
The Minuteman Marksmanship Challenge
Welcome back to another Marksman Challenge. For this one, we’re balancing speed and precision, while also giving a shout out to the guys at the Revolutionary War Veteran’s Association (RWVA) for their excellent work in the Appleseed program.
Go Shoot the Gun: A Defense of the Mighty .308
This post is a little more off-the-cuff than my usual, but it’s something that’s been weighing on my mind lately. Producing the new podcast is quite the learning experience. I don’t say that just about the technical audio stuff, either, but the wisdom of the folks I’m talking to. To date, I’ve talked to four very experienced shooters across the tactical and competition realms. I’ve asked all of them about the caliber wars, and where things like .224 Valkyrie or 6.5 Creedmoor fit in. Though I keep waiting for the answer to change, it doesn’t: shoot the .308.
AR-15 Optics: Making the Best Choice for You
Like barrels, triggers, and all the other choices, Ar-15 optics are a challenging one. There’s a lot of misunderstanding and “fluff” out there. I want to take a few moments and discuss some thoughts on optics selection.
A Builder’s Guide to the M16A5 Concept Rifle
The M16A5 configuration, though somewhat ambiguous, is some of the most fun you can have with the AR15 platform. You might know it as any combination of collapsible stock and 20″ barrel, but there is actually a history here I wanted to get into. At the end, we’ll talk about building your own version.