Only accurate rifles are interesting
The primary emphasis of The Everyday Marksman is on your personal skill and capabilities, but I’m not blind to the importance of good and reliable equipment for your success. The articles here cover selecting, configuring, and using your gear.
You can’t escape the work, though.
The thing I want to you remember is that your equipment only has to be good enough to be reliable. After that, it’s all about what you are capable of achieving with it. Don’t fall into the trap, as I did, of looking for mechanical solutions to software problems.
/// Equipment Archive
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.
Vortex Strike Eagle 5-25×56: The Raw Truth Review
The Vortex Strike Eagle 5-25×56 is the first entry of the Strike Eagle line into long range optics, and it seems as though it was purpose-built for the precision rimfire market. Vortex managed to stuff many of the desirable features of their more expensive Razor line, ubiquitous in Precision Rifle Series (PRS) matches, into a more affordable package for the everyday shooter.
Explaining the Minimum Capable Carbine
Today I’m talking about my concept of the Minimum Capable Carbine. If you’ve been reading for a while, you might recognize this as my suggestion for your first AR-15. In truth, this episode is a chance for me to say things out loud that didn’t come across very well in written format.
Keep Your Gear Dry: Waterproofing Your Pack
I’d like to throw a shout out to a fellow blogger, and community member, who did a great writeup on waterproofing a pack. I’ve got a bit of experience here, but given his background I think it’s best to just hear it from his mouth.
Chest Rigs vs. Belt Kits: Don’t Fall Into the Trap
This post continues what I started in my introduction to load carriage. In that article, I talked about the ongoing battle between weight and capability. It turns out that up until very recently, the average weight carried by soldiers remained shockingly stable. When it comes time to fight, the recommendation is to stay less than 30% of your lean body mass or about 50 lbs for the average person.
The Marksman’s Trinity: Balance for New and Old Gun Owners
The theme of the month is all about balance, so here’s another one to think about. I thought about the elements that should go into decision making regarding everything we do, and I categorized everything into these three: safety, capability, and security.
As gun owners and firearms enthusiasts, we should always be mindful of keeping these things in balance.
Tikka T1x 22LR: The Raw Truth Review
This review has been a long time coming. It’s no secret at this point that I’ve been spending a lot of time with the Tikka T1x MTR in 22lr, as it served as the basis for my “Noisy Cricket” precision 22LR project. In my write up of the project, I laid out all of the choices that I made but mentioned that reviews of each major component would be forthcoming.
Well, here we are.
Ammo Companies HATE this Substitute for 22LR Dry Fire
Sure, the headline was a little clickbaity, but I thought it was funny. Regular dry practice with your rifles and pistols is an important component to keeping up your skills. Done right, it dramatically cuts back on the amount of range time and ammo you need to spend while also greasing the groove of your fundamentals.
The trouble is that you’re not really supposed to dry fire a rimfire rifle, right?
Hey Watch This: DLO’s AR-15 Optics Suggestions
I’ve spent a good amount if time thinking about my own suggestions for AR-15 optics, but today I want to share someone else’s perspective. You might remember ILya, the optical physicist I interviewed for an episode. This is a video he made outlining his suggestions.
A Competition 22 Rifle for Everyday Precision Shooters
It’s no secret that I’ve been assembling a 22 target rifle suitable for competition and training use. I’ve been posting articles debating the merits of a competition 22 rifle as a stand-in for larger centerfire rifles when it comes to long-distance training and practice. Well, it’s now time to throw back the curtain on what I’ve built.
Now Hear This: Are 22LR Trainers Overhyped?
By this point, it’s no secret that I’m way down the path to building a 22LR rifle for training and competition. I’ve previously written about using 22LR as a short-range substitute for centerfire rifles at long range because of its inferior ballistics.
With that in mind, I want to share a podcast episode from Wolf Precision on this very topic, and why my thinking might be wrong.
FFP vs SFP Optics: The Hype and the Truth
As I’ve been working on my precision competition rifles, I wanted to address a common topic in the world of optics: First Focal Plane vs Second Focal Plane scopes. Let’s get to the bottom line.
