I am a naturally curious person. Part of the reason I dig into history as much as I do is that I’m just flat out interested in learning about subjects. It may come across as arrogant, but one of my personality traits that I’m very proud of is my underling acceptance that I could always be wrong.
That attitude has advantages, however. You accept that whatever belief that you have could always be wrong, then you’re always in a position to challenge the status quo. You’re always able to remain mentally flexible and adapt to new information.
A lot of the information I write about stemmed from asking seemingly simple questions. The answers, I’ve found, are often unexpectedly complicated.
For this edition of the conversation starter series, I want to know what’s on your mind.
What is Something You Want to Learn?
I bring this question up for two reasons.
First, I’m genuinely interested in what you’re trying to learn or accomplish. A lot of what I write are about my own interests and activities. I’m equally curious about you and your interests. If you came to The Everyday Marksman searching for an answer, I’m curious about what you want to know and whether or not I’ve answered it yet.
Secondly, and perhaps a bit selfishly, I’d also like you to help answer that question. I’m very interested in researching subjects for you and coming up with answers. These would probably make great future articles.
As for myself, I’ve been a bit all over the place. Lately, my spare time revolved around three subjects:
- Preparing for the amateur radio exam
- Learning about podcasting
- Preparing for a rifle match in late April
With the exam out of the way, I’m making room for some more. Among the most pressing questions I want to answer is how to better employ a pistol. I’ve spent a lot of time to this point focusing on rifles, but the reality is that I’m far more likely to use a pistol in a self defense situation.
So, over to you. What are you looking for?
Bushcraft skills, getting my son his Rifleman patch (I guess that is me learning to be patient and to give instruction.)
It’s funny that you mentioned bushcraft skills. I was just looking over the Pathfinder School’s Instructor program as I received the comment notification. I think this is going to be a big topic for me this year.
I was a Boy Scout and I sent with my son to Wilderness Survival Camp last weekend. A good weekend learned some stuff I did not know. Taught by a border patrol agent who does long range reconnaissance on the border. Came away with a long list of skills to improve and wishing I had bought a 4×4 instead.
I’d be very curious about that list of skills to improve upon. Taking a class from a border patrol agent sounds like a great time. Speaking of 4x4s, I miss my Jeep a lot of the time. I’m eyeballing a 4Runner in the next couple of years as a worthy replacement.
When will 450 Bushmaster ammo go down!? There’s a lot of information out there regarding retrofitting 5.56 mags and people have been having problems with all of the 450 mags available. When will there be any good 450 mags available? And, I’d prefer not to pay $50 for a mag. 🙂 I think the 458 Socom falls under this too.
That’s the trouble with unknown cartridges. They’re going to cost you a lot in ammo and mags. I get the frustration with magazine prices. But, on the other hand, $50 is about what I pay per magazine for my CZ and FNS mags. It’s not much less for good 1911 or Beretta mags, either.
As a fellow p07 owner I feel your pain. However you can use the new p10c mags and those are about $33. I get mine from Greg Kote Llc.
Mag cost is half the reason almost everything else I own is glock 9mm.
Oh yeah, I knew the P10c trick. In fact, I’m reasonably sure that my P07 came with P10c mags from the getgo. The ones I’ve bought since then are identical.
An issue that comes to mind is merits of Bird Shot vs. 00 Buck for home defense.
That’s definitely a worthy post in the future. I’ve never considered bird shot to be a viable option. It was either 00 Buck or slugs.
I’d be particularly interested in the radio exam and also maybe some tricks on ranging with just one’s own eyes.
Thanks for all you do! I also enjoy the SIGINT you send out every week!
Hey Nick, thanks for mentioning the newsletter! Is there anything, in particular, you’re interested in regarding the radio exam?
Talking about ranging is definitely on my to-do list, thanks for the reminder.
Not really. I have been thinking about getting a Ham license but just haven’t pulled the trigger on it. I guess I have other stuff that I feel like is more important to spend my time on right now.
Hmmm…wind calls, high angle and low angle shooting, the transonic zone, and other external ballistics.
Marksmanship standards and benchmarks for performance
Hey Doc, the wind calls and angles are definitely worthy. I’ve been working on a long article about ballistics for a while. It’s to the point that I’m probably going to have to break it apart.
The standards question is good, too. I have a few ideas, but I’m thinking it would be fun to turn it into a challenge of sorts.
Challenge standards would be interesting as well as “any day-all day” kinds of standards.
+1 for standards. It’s always fun to see how you stack up.
Hmmm, I’m liking this idea. I know I’ve done some standards stuff in the past for myself. I wonder how we could turn this into a blog thing with participation. Might be a question for the FB brain trust.
I’d like a review or even just some thoughts on your BCM 20” upper. Considering it myself but it’s a big investment and I’d love more info to make sure it makes sense for me. An AAR from your upcoming match with it would be a fun read as well.
It’s funny you mention that because I was actually working on just such a thing. On the down week, I’ve been writing posts detailing the thought process behind each of my rifles. And, of course, a report from next month’s match is in order.