Thank you for coming by The Everyday Marksman. This site and its community are a labor of love. I hope you stick around for a while, and maybe even join us.
-Matt
The Things I Wish I Knew Before My First Training Course
I’ve got a bit of experience between training and competition, though not as much as I’d like. Still, I’ve learned a few things along the way and today we’re talking about some of the key lessons I wish I could go back and make sure I knew back at the beginning.
Cash to Burn? Spare Parts & Magazines
This is a short episode touching on an observation I’ve had lately. Since the biggest rush of gun-buying stuff, this year is new shooters, they haven’t quite learned about all the other stuff they should be aware of. And that leaves an opportunity for enthusiasts like you and me.
Oryx Chassis for Tikka T1x: Raw Truth Review
The Oryx Chassis is a great starting point for an entry-level precision rifle chassis. It’s beefy, stiff, and you can buy it for one of the widest variety of actions I’ve ever seen. But it’s not without its tradeoffs to reach it’s budget-friendly price point.
The Right Optic for the Mission
This episode is a bit of an audio guide version of my article on selecting AR-15 optics. It’s a bit more off the cuff than usual, and you can probably tell that I get a bit excited about nerding out with this topic.
The principles I outline apply to just about any kind of optic regardless of the rifle, or handgun, that it mounts to. At the core, it’s about understanding the role you are trying to fill and then selecting an appropriate solution within the bounds of your budget.
The Best EDC Lighter? Douglass Field S Review
A review of a lighter on a shooting blog? Yeah, we’re going there. I’m not here to shill a product, but rather talk about what I think is probably the best lighter you can buy and add to your kit. We’ll also talk about why you should keep a lighter with you all of the time anyway, even if you’re a nonsmoker like me.
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.