Musings

So SHOT show is over, and the headlines have started dying down. What were my takeaways, and is there anything I'm really looking forward to?

I recently appeared with Ilya on his live stream over at the Dark Lord of Optics. It started with a question about recent and future developments in the optics trade, but being a long stream with lots of Q&A, we covered quite a bit of ground in other places, too.

I don't' write typical "blog posts" very often, but this is one of those days. We're well into the panic of COVID-19, and things don't show any signs of slowing down. I wanted to take a moment to share some of my observations and lessons learned so far in this mess.

For this edition of the conversation starter series, I want to know what you're currently working on. What questions do you have floating around that you'd like to get answered?

Colonel Townsend Whelen is a legend among marksmen and outdoorsmen alike. His exploits spanned the Spanish American war to the Canadian wilderness, to even running the Frankford Arsenal. It's really a shame that more people don't know of him. So let's fix that.

We last left off from this tale in 1955, where Gerald Gustafson and William Davis had their funding cut off for any further research into small-caliber high-velocity (SCHV) cartridges. The Army Ordnance Board, responsible for developing new small arms, was well down the path to adopting the 7.62 NATO and M-14 rifle. The AR-15 seemed dead, and it might have been if not for the Army Infantry Board.

By the mid-1950s, Gerald Gustafson and William Davis had taken up as champions of the little .22 cartridge. They were involved in D.L. Hall's earlier work, and now they wanted to continue proving to the Army that this research path was a worthy contender for an infantry rifle.

Daniel Morgan and his famed riflemen were key figures during the American Revolution. They were among the first units to employ precision rifle fire and guerilla tactics to harass the British and interdict logistic chains.

This is a rant, and I’m going to take heat for it. Gun people are some serious fanboys at times. I'm focusing my rant here on Glock because they're low hanging fruit. Well, that and their well-known tagline: “Perfection.”

Learning military and tactical skills will improve your life. Adopting a mindset that pursues honor, strength, mastery, and courage has tangible benefits to your career, your relationships, and your own wellbeing. This post outlines why I started all of this.

The Everyday Marksman originally grew out of a singular objective: to become a better rifle shooter. But it has become about so much more than that. It's about community, self-mastery, strength, and overall becoming a better citizen.