Innholdsfortegnelse for October/November 2020 i Tactical Life

In this day and time when every gun company and their canine mascots are touting their brand-new pistol-caliber carbines, many big-gun guys aren’t finding the information they’re looking for. If you’re one of those folks, this issue of Tactical Life is slam-packed with an abundance of big-bore goodness just for you! Even better, most of these new guns are perfect for pulling double duty as both tactical arms and big-game hunting rifles. Our 132 pages overflowing with timely editorial prompted two covers for this fall issue. For newsstand folks, meet big, bad U.S. Navy SEAL Rich Graham (page 45). And when you’re done reading about him, his central Florida Full Spectrum Warrior training facility and his secrets to tactical success, head over to tactical-life.com and watch our companion video of…

The Great American Outdoors Act H.R. 1957, which was officially signed into law on August 5, 2020, by President Donald Trump at a White House ceremony, will usher in a new era of public lands protections and expanded outdoor recreation opportunities across the nation. This historic federal law is among the most meaningful legislative measures for sportsmen conservationists ever. The new law will permanently fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund and will provide up to $1.9 billion a year to address deferred maintenance issues at our national parks, forests, wildlife refuges and other public lands. The Land and Water Conservation Fund (lwcfcoalition.com) has created and maintained local, state and national parks, hiking and biking trails, waterfront access and much more for more than five decades. Last year Congress permanently…

Bailing out of the truck, we crunched through the foot-deep snow toward a small hill that crested 100 yards from the ranch road. Braced against the 6-degree temperatures and 30 mph wind, we plodded into the wind on the way to our first set. We would be hunting with a new Hornady cartridge ideal for long-range coyote hunting, the 6mm Advanced Rifle Cartridge, or ARC as it will show up on the case headstamp. No response on the first set, we shouldered our Noveske ARs and trudged back to the truck. We replayed the same exercise throughout the first day and most of the next, but high winds and new snow was keeping song dogs in their dens. The third day broke with clear skies, and the heat wave up…

Fixed-power optics have their place, but variable power is the norm, from spotting scopes mounted to precision rifles to SBRs and PCCs. Seeing your target better is never a bad thing, as long as it does not compromise usability. Adding a 3-pound spotter to your carbine makes little sense, though. The 1- to 4-power scope was the ticket for quite some time, only to be replaced by the 1- to 6-power version roughly the same size. The 1- to 8-power scope has been gaining use more recently, although it is larger and heavier. Most have red dots or lighted reticles for CQB work and ranging reticles for longer reach out to about 500 yards. Reach out much farther, though, and 10-power is nice. Until now, that meant larger, longer and…

When it comes to value, Anderson Manufacturing owns the quality AR market. The company’s .450 Bushmaster AM-15 hunting rifle lives up to expectations, delivering accuracy, ruggedness, versatility and perhaps even a little more than the average reliability from a cartridge that is notoriously contrary about chambering. While .450 Bushmaster is a creation of necessity, designed for hunters stuck in regions where only straight-walled cartridges are allowed, it has its merits and a growing following. It’s very accurate, and its heavy 245- to 300-grain bullets have plenty of energy for medium to large game like deer, feral hogs and black bear. However, at ranges beyond 250 yards, the forces of physics quickly pull these big thumpers to Earth. The .450 Bushmaster’s popularity stems from the fact that it is accurate, manageably…

Big shouldered and looking almost like an American buffalo, the large boar led the rest of the sounder across the field of mud and grass. “Shoot him!” Justice McCord yelled as we each quickly rested our AR-15s on fence posts. My first shot hit the 300-pound boar in the chest, and he lurched up into the air like a breaching whale before falling to the ground, dead. Another large pig, a sow, quickly drew the crosshairs of my U.S. Optics B-10 1.8-10x. That U.S. Optics JNG MIL reticle was earning its keep on this pig hunt near the birthplace of Texas. Just over the hill, Sam Houston had signed the Texas Declaration of Independence from Mexico. Now there’s a new war in which farmers, ranchers and landowners are fighting a…

FAMED WRITER OF YESTERYEAR, Robert Ruark, wrote a book titled Use Enough Gun…On Hunting Big Game. I’m a proponent of the concept, most of the time. Sometimes, there’s a sound reason for going under-gunned. When it comes to pest control in my garage, less is more. That’s where the Umarex Gauntlet .25-caliber PCP comes in handy. To be quite frank, it’s been 25 years since I last tested and reviewed an air rifle. It’s been a breath of fresh air, pun intended, to handle a pneumatic firearm again. It takes me back to the days when I had to peddle my 10-speed—Crosman 760 strapped to the handlebars—to the woods to hunt just about anything. Life on the farm presents a host of opportunities, and a lot of them come in…

I’ll be the first to admit to being a terminal reloader. Regardless of the cartridge, regardless of the firearm, you can bet your bottom dollar that I have a set of dies and a pet load for it. Although I love the hours spent on my bench, I hate them just as much in certain situations, namely pumping out generic plinking rounds. One summer I spent an entire weekend churning out 9mm while the Misses held her annual garage sale. After an exhausting 26 hours of pumping the lever on my Hornady Ammo Plant, I was looking down at 16,000 rounds of ammunition and realized that this could all be gone in just one good year of shooting. At that time, I decided it just wasn’t cost effective to load…

EDC KNIVES HAVE BECOME more than simple tools for many people. They are certainly still a utilitarian necessity, but people want more than a folder that works. Like their phones and watches and wallets, they want something that fits with their personality, their style and their lifestyle. Some folks are attracted to elegant lines and top-notch engineering, some want practicality above all, while others want all that with a splash of color. And then, there are those who simply want to carry something with a very big price tag. These are folks who never, ever offer their knives up for box-cutting work. Regardless, the knife they choose has to be functional and, if they’re going to be carrying and using it every day, it better look good too. REINVENTING SOG SOG…

THE INTEREST IN LONG-RANGE shooting has grown exponentially over the past several years. While the initial rounds pitched downrange were primarily .308 Win, the game changed quickly as the 6.5 Creedmoor entered the field. A round that is starting to become even more popular in the long-range world is the 6mm Creedmoor. Like the 6.5, it is a soft shooter, but when looking at trajectory the 6mm Creedmoor takes the title. The faster velocity of the 6mm Creedmoor means that the amount of time gravity is influencing the flight path is less. The flatter trajectory of the 6mm Creedmoor can be seen immediately and grows considerably with distance. At 1,000 yards, the 6mm is approximately .5 mil or 17 inches flatter than the 6.5. While this is all good and…

Fathers in the Field, a 501c3 charitable organization whose mission is, “To rekindle and establish the spirit of boys who have been abandoned by their fathers; mentoring them one-on-one in life skills through outdoor activities, and by sharing a Christian understanding of our Heavenly Father’s love and sacrifice for His children,” is pleased to announce publication of the new book The Great American Rescue Mission. The Great American Rescue Mission, authored by outdoor industry veteran and Fathers in the Field founder John Smithbaker, takes a deep look into the leading societal issue that is destroying America’s families and eroding the very fabric of the country—fatherlessness and the growing epidemic of generational fatherlessness. Smithbaker, who was abandoned by his own father at an early age, lays out the personal and societal…

Sometimes you just need a hammer. Sometimes you need a lot of hammers. That’s the shooter’s perspective from which the .308 still makes sense. Soundly trounced by the 6.5mm Creedmoor among short-action precision cartridges for shooters engaging small targets at long distances, the .308 has been dethroned as the go-to solution in that particular role. In the semiauto precision rifle or urban marksman role, however, the .308 still makes good sense when packaged in short, handy semi-automatic firearms. While it is inarguable that the 6.5mm Creedmoor provides a more favorable trajectory in any equivalent barrel length, trajectory alone doesn’t tell the entire story. When projectile mass and design come into play, we can take advantage of the larger bore and increased capacity for bullet mass that comes with the .308.…

IF THERE’S ONE THING I’VE LEARNED OVER THE YEARS CHECKING OUT NEW GEAR AND TESTING AND EVALUATING EVERYTHING FROM INNOVATIVE ARS, CUTTING-EDGE BLADES, HIGH-TECH GADGETS AND SURVIVAL GEAR FOR BUGGING OUT, IT’S THAT I’M A COMPLETE SUCKER FOR COOL-LOOKING SHIT. AND, IF THE NEW GIZMO, GADGET OR PIECE OF GEAR LOOKS LIKE SOMETHING OUT OF A MOVIE OR VIDEO GAME, I GEEK OUT IN THE MOST SPECTACULAR FASHION. I know, I know. We have a lot of hardcore purists and professional practitioners out there in the audience shaking their heads right now thinking to themselves, “It’s not about how it looks! It’s all about how the gear works in the field, under stress and over time that matters!” I know, trust me, and when it’s time to actually select tools…

It was the coolest of times, it was the warmest of times. It was the season of light, it was the season of darkness. It was the despair of an empty freezer, it was happiness of a freezer well stocked. This is a fair description of my early spring pursuits of feral hogs with Savage’s new modern sporting rifle chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor. Savage’s penchant for building accurate, affordable rifles is well known when it comes to bolt guns, but the company’s rather recent foray into modern sporting rifles (aka AR-type rifles) has been interesting. Moving forward into the AR-10 rifle class made perfect sense, too. GONE HOGGING I finally got my hands on Savage’s MSR-10 in 6.5 Creedmoor in mid-March during a Texas hog hunt hosted by several of…

In U.S. military parlance, DMR stands for Designated Marksman Rifle. The default chambering of the DMR is 7.62 NATO/.308 Win. The DMR originated to fill the effectiveness gap between issued combat rifles and sniper rifles. This middle ground is roughly between 270 and 650 yards. The DMR is closer to the sniper rifle versus combat rifle in terms of terminal ballistics, adjustable buttstocks, match triggers, match barrels, accuracy standards, magnified optics and accessories to facilitate long-range shot placement. The DMR is typically semi-automatic with detachable magazine capacity of 20 rounds or more. The M14 was the initial military DMR due to it already being in the logistic system and easy to adapt. Most would concede that better platforms are available. The Rock River Arms BT-3 Precision and Daniel Defense DD5V3…

HISTORICALLY SPEAKING, armies march off to war. From the 16th through the 19th centuries, a forced march was actually known as a second march. Armies did most of their traveling by foot in the early morning cool of the day. To continue on through a second march after it got hot inevitably took a toll on combat effectiveness. The legendary Chinese martial strategist Sun Tzu once opined that putting an army through a proper forced march risked losing up to a third of its strength. He also believed that the loss of one-third of a fighting force was the tipping point past which an organized military unit risked disintegration. Keep in mind, Sun Tzu lived in the 5th century B.C. Sun Tzu was an undeniably brilliant guy. His axiom was…

Brass and steel aren’t the only metals that come out to the pew pew party. Aluminum has also been used for many years. Most of us might have seen it in stores without realizing, but the high-end ammunition manufacturer CCI offers a low-cost solution for the high-volume shooter via its Blazer line. This line cuts costs by using a lightweight aluminum case with high-quality CCI bullets and primers. We digested a fair amount of the company’s 147-grain FMJ loading, but they have 115- and 124-grain options as well. Our rounds performed exactly as expected and even grouped exceptionally well, coming together as small as 1.01 inches.…

Brown bears in Alaska normally reach more than 500 pounds, and when a black bear throws that weight around, hunters really take notice. We’d first seen the 450-plus-pound black bear the night before, which in Alaska in June meant under light that in the Lower 48 would be similar to 5 p.m. instead of 10:30 p.m. We tried a hastily constructed stalk, but he gave us the slip, disappearing by moving off the open grass flats and into the stream beds that fanned out from the main stream running down from the snow-capped mountains. This huge blackie was a little more cautious than the evening before. This morning, during another low tide, he barely gave us a peek through the lens of my Vortex Razor HD 22-48x65mm, only offering a…

Government social distancing guidelines at a recent 3-Gun club match in Pawnee, Oklahoma, led to the worst times in club history. Colby Attenbarry, match director, said some results might be a little inaccurate because of the difficulty caused by the timer being at least 6 feet from the shooter at all times. Up and comer Dante Pageant dropped out in the middle of the second stage because he thought he was having a heart attack or stroke. Thankfully, the shortness of breath was only due to his mandatory mask cutting the oxygen flow to his brain. Semi-pro Barret Stover, typically one of the fastest shooters, found himself near the bottom of the standings due to misunderstanding the stage instructions concerning hand sanitizer. The mandatory hand sanitizer station located at each…

FOR A LONG TIME, it seemed like there would never be a standard-size AR-15-platform rifle in a great .30-caliber general hunting cartridge. The Remington .30 AR was the victim of filicide shortly after its birth. The subsonic-oriented 300 Blackout, though a fair performer at close range, ran out of steam and killing power quickly at longer ranges. ARs adapted to the old Soviet military 7.62x39mm cartridge had the power to reach out farther, but that cartridge’s comparatively chubby case dimensions required its own bolt head and a specialized magazine. HAM’RING AWAY Now, Wilson Combat’s 300 HAM’R is giving advocates of the .30 caliber for hunting and defense reason to rejoice. The 300 HAM’R was developed by company president and founder Bill Wilson to be the most powerful .30-caliber cartridge based…

ISRAELI WEAPONS INDUSTRIES (IWI) has now joined the striker-fired pistol market with the introduction of the Masada. Chambered in 9mm with a barrel length of 4.1 inches and a price tag sliding in just under $500, IWI isn’t messing around. Given the reputation that IWI has when it comes to weapons research and proven abilities, the Israelis are at the forefront. They have given the firearms community the Galil, Tavor, Uzi, Jericho and Desert Eagle. Need I say more? Now, IWI has brought the firearms community the Masada. In case anyone was wondering, Masada roughly translated from Hebrew means “Fortress.” More specifically, it refers to an ancient fortress on the edge of the Judean Desert, overlooking the Dead Sea. The first images of the Masada floated around in 2017, and…

Night Optics’ SVTS riflescope line is the world’s first continuous-calibration thermal rifle scope line. Continuous calibration assures the screen will not freeze at a critical moment. The addition of Heat Tracker quickly identifies the next target with an arrow pointing to targets outside of the visible screen. The quick-select menu, waterproof construction and multiple reticle choices ensure fast target acquisition and accuracy in adverse weather conditions. Some of the interesting features include constantly recorded video that’s automatically saved 10 seconds before and 10 seconds after a shot is fired. The SVTS 80 incorporates “Fusion” technology that blends digital night vision with thermal overlay. You can quickly detect targets with thermal and identify with digital night vision. Shot-sensing technology allows the scope to zoom out for quickly reacquiring targets. Relatively speaking,…

Trijicon acquired prominent military contractor IR Defense—including its products, R&D and manufacturing plant—as the basis for a new Electro-Optics Division. Trijicon also has a licensing agreement with BAE Systems for its OASYS thermal imaging and aiming technology. With this technology license, Trijicon positioned itself well to provide compact, high-performance thermal imaging and aiming monoculars, weapon sights and binoculars. The Trijicon SNIPE-IR is designed to combine with your current standard optic. It comes with a 640x480, 12-micron VOX sensor and OLED digital micro display that give you clear, brilliant imagery at a fast 60 Hz frame-rate system—even through pitch-black darkness. The Trijicon SNIPE-IR features a 60 Hz thermal core for exceptional image quality. The best way I have heard it described is that thermals are not optics, per se. Yes, the…

TO THE SURPRISE OF MANY, THE FIRST AR RIFLE TO SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY WAS ACTUALLY THE AR-10 CHAMBERED IN .308. That design never took off in major production as its smaller 5.56mm brother stole the spotlight. So, when someone releases a new AR-10-style rifle in .308, they get my interest. When that company is Sig Sauer, well now they have my attention. To those who don’t live and breathe the firearms industry, Sig secured a contract with the Indian army to provide a boatload of its new .308 rifles. In fact, the company has shipped more than 70,000 rifles on the new contract so far. And, Sig has made the decision to offer its dedicated customers a chance to get their hands on a version of that very…

Would I want an LWRC International SMG-45 in my truck for protection during encounters with hostile people with no regard for the conventions of civilized society and the rule of law? Yes, I would. It’s a fine partner to a Wilson Combat 1911, but, truth be told, my truck isn’t worthy of either of them. Perhaps no truck is. Even if you call the SMG-45 the “Ultimate Truck Gun,” you’re still selling it short by interplanetary distances. This is the weapon I’d expect to see arming military astronauts in the United States Space Force when boarding a North Korean satellite or embarking on the first manned mission to Mars. The SMG-45 is no mutated AR-platform pistol. In fact, the only things “AR” about it are the safety and bolt lock/release…

BETTER, FASTER, COOLER—it’s the mantra for the Information Age. Entire industries orbit around taking basic stuff and making it more awesome. In no other area is this axiom more blatantly manifest than in modern tactical firearms. Diamondhead Advanced Combat Solutions takes Gene Stoner’s basic black gun and optimizes it for practical use. The company’s well-reasoned tactical bling enhances any AR platform. For this project, we reviewed Diamondhead’s forearm, iron sights and muzzle brake. FANTASTIC FOREARMS The earliest efforts at mounting up accessories on an AR involved a great deal of duct tape. Nowadays, we do it so much better. In the Diamondhead VRS T-556 M-LOK Free-Floating Handguard, we see the intersection of function and art. The VRS T-556 is a slim handguard design festooned with M-LOK slots. This allows you…