Hunting overkills this Fall
For most of the Northeast, hunting will start in about 6 weeks for archery and then small game begins. Archery has gained a lot of ground in this region because so much of the good hunting areas are populated and it’s hard to safely manage deer populations if areas where it’s not really safe to use a firearm. I still don’t know why so many people go with monsterous optics that when put under any kind of realistic hunting test, will always slow you down. Whenever I ask people what they are doing with a 50mm objective on a gun that is really meant for something that weights 800lbs and they are out hunting white tail, they usually say they are afraid of making bad shots.
From my own personal experience in the military and law enforcement community, I think hunting with a red dot is probable more practical than any optic that magnifies more than 5xs. For small game I’d recommend against using a red dot, but there have been times I’ve been tempted to just bring a Mini 14 with an Eotech out for while tails just because the speed I get with that configuration is better than any lever action or 7mm bolt action. Whenever you are thinking about doing long range shooting, go ahead with magnification, but wheneve you are thinking about rifle scopes for hunting applications, do a realistic gauge of how good your eyes are and what kind of opportunities you may expect when out in the field, and don’t slow yourself down with too much magnification or an optic that has an eye relief inhibits your mobility.
The Trijicon NSN has iron sights mounted on the top of the rifle scope which can come in handy in closer situations and are a less expensive alternative to mounted a red dot on your ACOG. That is worth the money if you are in the line of work that calls for it, but for general blasting and plinky, I think that $1800 optics is a bit much. The Eotech 512 is probable my recommended optic for an M4. I think people can get carried away with optics on the M4 because even though the rifle is pretty accurate, it really is not very powerful or effective past 200yds. With a growing selection of combat optics you can put on the AR15 type rifles, one other suggestion I have for shooters is to always keep your iron sights on the rifle. I’ve seen a few people show up at classes with just an Eotech mounted and they complained the front sight blocked their FOV. Well, taking a 200yd shot with an Eotech that has a dead battery is like parking a mini van from the furthest back seat.
Like many tactical shooting accessories, you have to put a lot of thought into which type of configuration you want on your Carbine before you spend the money or you will find out real fast you just spent $500 on some thing that you really didn’t need. The differences between using some of the fixed power Trijicon rifle scopes, Leupold CQT, and the Eotech 512 are considerable. Each can be used for many things with an advanced shooter, but they are intended for certain applications and within those boundaries, they work well. There was a shift away from the Trijicon ACOG for some military and law enforcement personel because once we invaded Iraq, and the house to house fighting went on for several years, the need for magnification was virtually unnecessary.
I remember the days when I would stare at rifle scopes and ask shooters how much they cost, and when they told me how the rifle scopes cost, I’d calculate that whichever rifle I was thinking about putting the scope on, the cost of the rifle was less than the cost of the optic. I have no idea how much money companies are making off of some optics, but there is a certain point that I really don’t care how good people think they are, 90% of people spending that kind of money on optics probable could get the job done with something that cost 50%-75% less. In all of my years of target shooting and plinking, I have only had scope mount issues and 2 rifle scopes that ever broke. Every rifle scope that broke cost less than $100. I have a few Leupolds that have been on bolt actions and semi-autos and they all hold zero and have excellent clarity.
One of my more accurate and flat shooting rounds I use is the military 62gr SCBT round, but I absolutely advise against ever using this for hunting. My favorite hunting round is a 60gr HP from Sierra that has allowed me to put 3 shot groups in 3 inches out to 300yds. I’m sure there are some readers saying BS on that one, but its true and I have pictures to prove it. The Mini 14s best advantage is that it is much lighter weight that most AR15 style weapons and that it feels more like a traditional rifle. The stainless steel Mini 14 also holds up very well in damp environments and I’ve seen better resistance against moisture than the standard blued Mini 14.
One of the most common issues I have seen with new Carbine students is their lack of knowledge about where their point of impact is at close ranges. I spoke with a student who could shoot his M4 out to 600yds with his ACOG, but did not know where his POI was at 50yds. Just about every 5.56 gun is going to be capable of hitting a man size target at 600yds, but the Carbine is really meant for close quarters combat. I’ve noticed a move away from magnification on many M4s because you really undermine your speed if you are relying on pin point accuracy from 100-600yds and don’t realize that you are completely missing a moving target that is 40yds away from you because you can’t track it.
It seems that the M4 AR15 variant is hands down the most popular carbine in existance in the United States. There are plenty of AK and European military style rifles out there, but the accessorized M4 is king. When I first stepped into the high speed tactical carbine school, I was going there from previously owning only Kalashnikov variant rifles. The biggest promotion I heard from all of those owning an AR15 was how accurate they were. It is true that the M4 and AR15 family of rifles ARE the most accurate combat rifles, but that doesn’t make them the most effective. Ever since the Iraq invasion, the notion of just sending in a group of guys with M4 Carbines or M16s without a 7.62 DMR is not common. There was a lot of hype about the military digging up M14s and giving them this role, but now that several years have passed, the military has been working with newer models of 7.62 rifles to eventually fill that role.
It’s always up to the operator to determine which configuration works best for him, but with the reliance on battery operatored optics and high mounted optics, it’s really a good idea for a user to consider the what ifs. What do you do with your Eotech if the batteries die? What happens if the optics come loose ? Scope mounts can come loose and even break, I’ve seen this happen on M1A rifles, AK, FAL and AR15s on several ocassions. Sometimes its a good idea to train yourself to be able to hit a target without even a rear sight. There have been several times where I actually forgot to flip up my rear sights on my co-witness configuration and just used the sight picture from my Eotech optic and the front sight post. I never missed what I was aiming at and it was actually good practice for me.
Today I took my newest LWRC rifle to the range to break it in. This is a combat rifle and I expect that it eventually get pretty beat up, but it’s always a good idea to run through some firing drills before you rely on it. Some of the biggest malfuntion problems I have seen on the firing line were with supposedely brand new out of the box rifles. Sometimes there are bugs or issues that are easy to fix, but you really need to put some lead down range with your rifle or pistol before you rely on it. I’ve mentioned before about a time when I saw a guy show up with a Beretta 92FS inox pistol and it jammed after every round. The shooter was very frustrated because this was it’s first range trip. Well, turns out that the pistol was bone dry and had absolutely zero lubrication on it and with one wipe down, the gun ran flawlessly. The same should go for any firearm. I strongly suggest cleaning guns every once in awhile, even if you haven’t shot them. Lubrication can run off of guns or drain off, and I also highly recommend using a small level of grease on even pistols, especially if they may sit in a gun safe for long periods of time.