20 Aug 03

More comments on equipment from several colleagues:

"I often see students here carry their CAR-15s with the stock fully collapse d (shortened). When in a deployment drill, they invariably forget to extend th e stock and then subsequently drive their faces into the rear sight, or, like your student, fumble around trying to find the correct eye relief.

Our fix is to wrap a piece of electrical tape around the recoil spring tube just forward of the first or second notch extension. This maintains the corr ect index and prevents the shooter from collapsing the stock fully. I caution students not to carry the weapon on duty with the stock fully collapsed, as they will, without fail, experience the above problem at the worst time."

"Problems with telescoping stocks, optical sights, lasers, and sights fallin g off ARs point out a systemic problem in our field: Gun writers and publisher s are in bed with manufacturers, so every new attachment, 'enhancement ,' and silly gadget receives glowing press in gun rags. Voices that reflect experie nce and common sense seldom have a national forum. That's rational, because manufacturers of all manner of after-market trash support periodicals with advertising that ever targets a twelve-year-old readership. Capitalism is w onderful!

Humanity loses little if expensive and useless tinsel toys fall off the weapons of naive gunshop commandos. It is another matter when people (who ar e mistakenly taken seriously) recommend things like forward slide serrations o n autoloading pistols and then go on to teach techniques that lead to fingers being blown off. How difficult (or controversial) is it to know that the front of the pistol is where the bullet comes out, so one is well advised to keep his hands away from there?

When we all were preparing for the delusory Y2K disaster, somebody asked me what they really needed. I said 'a rifle that works and a canvas sa ck full of extra magazines and water.' Of course, lacking glitter, batteries, glamor, and sex, that advice never made it into the press. What a surprise!"

/John