Innholdsfortegnelse for March/April 2015 i Recoil

Every town has its own hidden gem, but how many small cities can claim to have a 35,000-squarefoot museum dedicated to our nation’s armed forces? Situated in an industrial park in Largo, Florida, the Armed Forces Museum is the culmination of one man’s lifelong passion. More than 50 years ago, John Piazza Sr. started collecting military memorabilia after receiving a couple of hand grenades following his service in the U.S. Marine Corps. With that simple start, his passion for everything military took off like a Stinger Missile. The museum began in 1996 as a traveling display of military and historical items, gradually morphing into what it is today. About 95 percent of the items on display belong to Piazza, with the remainder coming from private donors, some of whom are…

European frearms brands like Heckler & Koch, Beretta, and Sako are, if not household names in the USA, at least familiar among the U.S. gun community. One company that enjoys wide popularity outside these shores, but doesn’t appear on any but the most fnely tuned American radar, is the Swiss frm of Brügger & Thomet. And that’s about to change. While sample guns meandered through the halls of ATF’s tech branch awaiting fnal approval for importation, RECOIL made an exclusive behind-the-scenes visit to the B&T production facilities, tucked away at the foot of the Alps. There, we got to see how its products are made, interview designers and production staff, and, of course, cover the foor of their test range with a generous layer of brass. THE GUNS B&T USA…

It’s an advantage to have your feet under you during a violent encounter. Staying on your feet gives you more choices: fght, run for cover, or just plain run. But since an altercation is unpredictable, sometime you might just fnd yourself on your derriere. There might be a curb, stool, or a thousand other things a bipedal humanoid may trip over. How do you get up safely without having your teeth kicked in? It’s “tactical stand-up” to the rescue. 1. Perform a sit-up as you lean over to one side with your top hand up protecting your face. 2. Post on your bottom palm, the palm closest to the foor. Extend your bottom leg to keep the opponent at a distance and bend your top leg so you can post…

Obesity is a major health problem in America. We all want to lose weight, right? The AR-15, a rife that has undoubtedly taken on a personality of its own, is no exception. In fact, in recent years “the black rife” has had much more success slimming down than this author has. Do you remember what the average AR looked like just last decade? Miles of quad-rail, lasers the size of TV remotes, D-cell Maglites — you get the idea. In the last couple of years, there’s been a distinct shift back to the KISS concept (keep it simple, stupid), of which we’re big fans. There’s also been a resurgence of interest in AR ultra-lights. This is evidenced in things like carbon-fber-wrapped barrels, modular direct attachment systems, such as KeyMod and…

One of the key features advertised by scope-mount manufacturers is the ability to remove and reattach your optic without losing your zero. We decided to put this to the test. Gorilla Ammunition provided us with their excellent 69-grain .223 Sierra MatchKing loads, lovingly stuffed into shiny new brass with match-grade primers. (The company also produces 55-grain Sierra BlitzKing and 77-grain Sierra MatchKing rounds). Our test upper was built by Lew Graves at Strong Side Tactical (SST). The heart of any upper is its barrel, and this one featured SST’s STRETCH 16 barrel, a cerakoted 16-inch stainlesssteel precision barrel turned from a premium McGowen blank, with a .223 Wylde chamber and 1:8 twist. The most unique attribute of the STRETCH 16 barrel is its intermediate- length gas system, placing the gas…

For feld medics, patches have come a long way — nowadays we have both practical and anecdotal. There’s no limit to what you’ll fnd, be it indicating what type of unit you serve in or phrases taken from the Hippocratic Oath. So whether you want to poke fun at your own health or substantiate your devotion to it, we’ve given you a few patches to pick from. Instead of the classic “meat tag” tattoo common in the military, you can also deck out your fatigues with a patch indicating your blood type. Go for the universally recognized red cross or medic indicia. Or get fancy and say “life or death” in Latin. Take a look and see which of these best suits your health and sense of humor. 1 MAKE:…

5.11 is in many respects one of those quintessential American success stories. Founded by a world-class, pioneering athlete, the company has grown from humble beginnings to become a global leader in its feld. In 1977 after seeing a gap in the market for climbing pants, Royal Robbins set up a clothing company to bring the 5.11 pants to market and it quickly became a mainstay of the outdoor world. It wasn’t long before instructors at the FBI Academy noticed that the same qualities that made for a great pair of climbing trousers also made for exceptional shooting pants and they were adopted as the offcial uniform of the Firearms Training Unit. The rest, as they say, is history. 5.11 Tactical was formed as a separate company in 2003 and since…

JP RIFLE 1 American made 2 Three different confgurations: - .223 JP-15 with fip-up BUIS - SCR-11 all-out competition rife, .22 LR, .223, or .300 - 20-inch LRP-07 chambered in .308 Win. 3 Matches 5.11 Storm Grey clothing and equipment Like De Niro and Pacino sharing a scene together, it’s not often that two giants in the business collaborate, but when they do you can expect something special to happen. JP Enterprises is known for putting out top-notch precision rifes that have become highly regarded in the competition circuit for low recoil, minimal noise, and deadly accuracy. When the two teamed up to put out a series of 5.11 Always Be Ready® rifes to match 5.11’s Storm Grey equipment one could only do so much to keep from drooling over…

Happy birthday to us. RECOIL celebrates its third anniversary this issue, so we pulled out the big guns. Firearm publications are like dogs — granted, some more than others — so that would make us 21 in human years. To help us celebrate, please turn to page 136, where our friend, funny man, and actor Mark Christopher Lawrence, advises on selecting the right tequila for birthdays and really any occasion. Of course, if we’re of legal age to drink, then we should be able to take to the road as well, assuming you’re sober. What better frst ride than something quintessentially American, like a ’79 Bronco with a big-block V-8. And a minigun. The Ballistic Bronco marks the start of what we hope is a series of collaborations with some…

If you’ve been a longtime reader of RECOIL, you’ve seen this Transport column run the gamut from mild to wild, practical to outrageous. We get asked periodically, though, what kinds of frearms us staff guys have in our safes or in the vehicles we drive. Well, this month we’re answering one of those questions. Our Grand Poobah Iain Harrison wanted his own tactical vehicle that could be had on an editor’s budget, but still have some semblance of practicality, versatility, and style. Since Iain is about as subtle as a Sam Peckinpah movie, you can bet that his mode of transportation would follow suit. That’s right, just good ol’ fashioned American iron. 1 LIGHT BAR MAKE: 4 Wheel Parts MODEL: Three 8-inch 130-watt halogen URL: www.4wheelparts.com 2 BUMPERS MAKE: Rob…

Dom Raso is the kind of guy you’d want on your side when the shit has not only hit the fan, but is spraying everywhere. He has studied combatives since his youth, starting with Shaolin Kenpo and branching out into various other styles, such as the grappling systems of judo and jiu-jitsu. After intense training, he eventually became a Thai boxing instructor. As impressive as that is, his martial arts studies aren’t the most impressive accomplishments on his résumé: Raso racked up a ton of real-life experience having served 12 years as a U.S. Navy SEAL. Now out of the service, he’s currently an NRA spokesman and heads Dynamis Alliance, a company he founded that provides not only tactical training, security services, and consultancy, but also offers gear, combatives seminars,…

You’re staring into the trunk of your Toyota AE86 urban assault vehicle/mobile arms room. A mission just came down the pipe then self-destructed via Snapchat. You’re going to be performing remote brain surgery on multiple hostile targets in a densely populated, urban antique shop. The environment will require the negotiation of tight corners and expansive corridors. Engagement distances range from bad breath to 200 meters. You can’t remember if you’re right or left handed, so you’ll need an ambidextrous 5.56mm rife — one that’s low profle and maneuverable, but capable of reaching out and terminally fondling the bad guys. You’re a badass, but you’re polite. You defnitely don’t want errant ejected brass damaging the surrounding fne-china displays. As if that wasn’t enough, the United States has been fooded with cheap…

The name “Hackathorn” strikes a chord of respect among the pantheon of frearms enthusiasts and instructors. In many ways he is the Obi Wan Kenobi to our collective Luke Skywalker: the shooting sage we want to learn from and the wise man we hope to be. These sentiments are not without merit. The man behind the ’stache, Ken Hackathorn, was a formative force behind three-gun competitions as we know them today and is a founding member of two competitive shooting titans, the International Practical Shooting Confederation (IPSC) and the International Defensive Pistol Association (IDPA). His status as a former U.S. Army Special Forces soldier and a certifed deputy sheriff only furthers his real-world credibility. If that’s not enough, he has taught everyone from local SWAT teams and federal law enforcement…

Part sci-fi blaster, part carbine, the soon-to-be released RAT Worx ZRX 9mm integral suppressor for the IWI Tavor is something Han Solo would have killed for (and George Lucas probably would have reedited four times thereafter). RAT Worx has been manufacturing Steyr and Tavor parts since 2008 in collaboration with Manticore Arms, which has input on the designs and is the master dealer for the end results. One of its niche products has been the ARClight rail, which extends the Tavor’s forearm and allows for a ?ashlight to be mounted internally, ?ush with the end of the rail. The progression from rail to can was accomplished by the addition of a removable baf?e system that _ts into a custom ARClight rail, resulting in the ZRX 9mm Tavor suppressor. The ZRX…

Jason Swarr has always broken barriers. First as a door-kicker for the U.S. Marine Corps and then as a ground-breaking artist whose photo illustrations shattered the standards of photography in the frearms industry. Now he’s at it again. His Arizona-based studio, Straight 8 Custom Photography, is about to bust through the limits of the traditional graphic novel with Red Bloods. This series is a unique mixture of the comic-book format with an epic storyline and world-class composite photography to create a new medium of storytelling. The genesis for the project came when Swarr shared the premise with friend and project manager Fred Mastison, who quickly hit the keyboard and turned the idea into complete story. Then RECOIL’s editor managed to elbow his way in front of the camera to play…

As a young man in the military, I was introduced to a wide array of military traditions. My favorite among these time-honored customs: secretly putting a huge rock in the bottom of a buddy’s pack before a ruck march. One time we did this to our team leader before a 10-mile death march. The prank should have never worked, since the rock was damn near the size of a football and had to have weighed at least 10 pounds — in addition to our usual backbreaking load-out. But mile after mile, we’d suggest picking up the pace, always followed by a revealing snicker or two. It wasn’t until the 8-mile marker that he fnally discovered it while digging in his bag for a water bottle. He was so furious that…

MAKE: DPMS MODEL: GII Recon CALIBER: .308 Win/7.62mm NATO PART #: RFLR-G2REC MSRP: $1,659 URL: www.dpmsinc.com The leaner and meaner 16-inch GII Recon is just as battle ready as the original .308 Recon. But at just 8.5 pounds, you can run it all day long, whether on duty, in a class, at the range, or in competition. It features a 16-inch 416-stainless-steel bead-blasted barrel, DPMS low-profle hunter gas block, four-rail free-foat tube, Magpul sights, AAC 51T Blackout, and Magpul MOE pistol grip and stock. MAKE: DPMS MODEL: GII AP4 CALIBER: .308 Win/7.62mm NATO PART #: RFLR-G2AP4 MSRP: $1,399 URL: www.dpmsinc.com The 16-inch GII AP4 is everything you would expect from an improvement to the award-winning LRAP4, which was the second modern sporting rife to win an NRA Golden Bullseye Award.…

1 As you know, one of the biggest improvements you can make to your AR rife is to swap out the stock trigger for one that doesn’t feel like dragging an anvil down a gravel driveway. KE Arms’ Drop-In Trigger is wire EDM cut from A2 tool steel, through hardened to RC 55-57, and then titaniumnitride coated for a long service life. It’s also user-adjustable for take-up and reset, without having to remove it from the gun. The pre-production sample we played was a solid value single-stage unit, coming in right around 4 pounds with a crisp break and short, tactile reset. It’s hard to fnd a quality trigger for less than two bills — this one works well, should outlive the rife it’s ftted to, and won’t break the…

If there’s anyone who knows a thing or two about rolling down roads in the Third World with no backup, it’s James Price. James has been in the PMC game (AKA private military company industry) for more than a decade. He has run missions all over the world, including over 600 in Iraq alone. So naturally we jumped at the chance to attend one of his mobile scout classes taught recently through his DVM (Death Valley Magazine) Training Center. While it was chock full of great information, we thought we’d bring you some of the more counterintuitive lessons learned. Now, we’re not going to pretend that all of these are going to be applicable in your everyday life, but they should give you something to chew on — should things…

One of the most signifcant trends in recent years has been the widespread adoption of optics to increase shooters effectiveness with their rifes. And optics manufacturers have risen to the challenge, delivering technological masterpieces — from affordable yet reliable basic models, to indestructible red-dots with nearly infnite battery life, to jack-of-all-trades variable power scopes bristling with features. Yet one constant remains — you must attach that awesome piece of glass to your rife. It must cling to your boomstick securely and precisely, and if you wish to remove and reinstall your optic at will, it must be utterly consistent as well. In particular, quick-detach scope mounts are designed to provide the fexibility to easily attach and detach an optic from your weapon without any tools and retain your zero. Some…

NEW COLUMN! We pulled our web editor, David Reeder, out of the depths of virtual reality and back to the real world so he can bring you a preview of what he’s cooking up for our website. For those who use the Interwebz for more than visiting Redtube and scrolling through Tumblr and Gunblr, take a minute to see what’s going on at RECOILweb.com. We’ll be expanding on some of the articles you see in this print issue, increasing our lineup of training and evaluation videos, and, of course, providing an in-depth look at several unique pieces of gear. We have a great team of writers — and most of them speak proper English without a funny accent like that Iain guy who edits this print edition. Aaron Cowan will…

MODEL: Leanna Decker MODEL HANDLE: @leannadecker_ PHOTOGRAPHER: Jorge Nuñez HAIR & MAKEUP: Liza Macawili Ramos HELMET Ops-Core FAST Ballistic High Cut Helmet w/ LUX Liner Ops-Core FAST Ballistic Helmet Cover L-3 GPNVG-18 Ground Panoramic Night Vision Goggle Wilcox L4 G24 Night Vision Goggle Mount Wilcox NVG Retention Lanyard Princeton Tec MPLS Charge Pro TCI Liberator II Communication Headset Iron Forged Concepts Sordin ARC Adapters (SARA) S&S Precision Manta Strobe Light CeJay Engineering IR Refective Blood Type Patch OUTFIT GLOVES: 5.11 Hard Times Gloves (Coyote) BELT: Tactical Tailor Cobra Riggers Belt: (MultiCam) HOLSTER: T-Rex Arms Prototype Redback One Kydex Drop Leg Holster MAG CARRIER: T-Rex Arms Kydex Double Mag Carrier BOOTS: Reebok CM994 Women (Desert Tan) PISTOL GLOCK 19 Unity Tactical ATOM Slide Unity Tactical ATOM Adapter Plate (RMR) Trijicon RMR06…

As concealed carry becomes increasingly prevalent, carriers are often presented with the challenge of making their pistols and holsters adapt to their garments without printing. How about a garment that is adapted to your frearm? The Freedom Flex Shirt was designed with this intention and done so with style and comfort in mind as well. The moisture-wicking polyester fabric allows plenty of fexibility and length to cover a belt holster without looking conspicuous. Perforations under the arms, on the sides, and across the back help your core stay cool both indoors and outdoors. A RAPIDrawTM placket for quick access to a shoulder holster is an additional feature meant to maintain mobility and practicality. Available in long and short sleeve, it’s safe to say no one will notice anything out of…

Designing plate carriers is like designing a space shuttle. The slightest oversight could have life-or-death consequences. 5.11 has talked to the people who are out there everyday in situations where this type of gear is used and subsequently applied their feedback to create the TacTecTM plate carrier where form, function, and fnesse couldn’t get any better. While it will comfortably ft standard medium and large ballistic plates, the TacTecTM also incorporates other features that’ll surely make it a fxture in the world of plate carriers. A low-profle, patent-pending GrabDrag handle extends to help drag downed personnel out of harm’s way. A one-handed quick release allows the plate carrier to open up quickly to address any wounds. Yokes on the shoulder pads, a skeletonized waistband, and integrated web platform help keep…