The Stretch-16 is Getting Better

Hey guys, I'm back. And that's because I've got something here that's so full of awesome I just had to post it.

My 3-gun rifle is getting a rebuild. And at the center of the rifle, is the ELITE Red Stretch-16....

MY 3-GUN BARREL IS RED. IS YOURS?

Be safe and see you next time.

~Mac

A Big Match For Me, And Check Out The New Stretch-16 Upper

As you may know, Strong-Side Tactical is located in Colorado and the guys on the Strong-Side Tactical Shooting Team are all local there. I actually live in Georgia, so I couldn't make it out to the big Noveske 3-gun match that they all shot in recently (and finished well I might add).

But I do try my best to shoot as much 3-gun down here as possible. I have been going to Covington, GA as much as I can to shoot in the Noveske Atlanta 3-gun matches hosted by the title sponsor Noveske and their shooting team (Rob Romero, Jansen Jones, James Casanova, and Janna Reeves).

First off, this is a great match and facility. This is run-and-gun 3-gun at its best. This past weekend was the Club Championship, the sort of year-end championship match, if you will. Monthly matches will go on, but this was the big one. 2-day match setup, 10 stages, huge prize tables, 130 shooters, pros included.

I had a BLAST. Literally. Below is my footage from my performance. While I certainly could have shot better, my equipment was PERFECT. And a big part of that is due to Strong-Side Tactical. All of the Shooting Team members are shooting the same upper, a "3-gun upper" of sorts, which consists of a VLTOR upper receiver, Stretch-16 Stainless Steel barrel with intermediate gas, SLR 15" Keymod free floating rail, SLR Sentry-7 adjustable gas block, and Lantac Dragon muzzle brake.

This upper is ridiculously SICK. Lightweight (Rifle weighs 6.75 pounds total), Accurate (sub-MOA at 100 yards and 1-for-1 on long steel during the match), and functions perfectly. Even with cold weather in the morning (low 40's) the intermediate gas with adjustable gas block functioned flawlessly.

So I am trying to get Strong-Side to offer it as a package. I think it is the "perfect" 3-gun upper, despite what you may see offered from the big box companies. It's lighter, more accurate, and softer shooting than anything else you can get. I'm not just biased here either, the rifle proves it every time I shoot it.

Check out my stages below and if this rifle is one that interests you, check out http://www.strongsidetactical.com to get all the parts.

Be safe and see you next time.
~Mac

You Should Read This Book

A good friend of mine has published his first book, which is a great feat in itself. But not only that, the book is REALLY good! If you are a fan of Vince Flynn or Tom Clancy, you'll dig this book. Lots of accurate and detailed gun stuff for gun nuts like me. I miss Vince Flynn but maybe this series will take Mitch Rapp's place....if it becomes a series?

Get the book here:

http://www.amazon.com/MOUNTAIN-SON-L-C-Graves-ebook/dp/B00OQTE79Q/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1414067986&sr=8-7&keywords=mountain+son

Be safe and see you next time.

~Mac

NOVESKE Atlanta 3-GUN Championship

Taming Your 3-gun Rifle

Adjustable gas blocks are the trick.  I go over the benefits and how I tune mine below.

What I've Been Doing

So I've been out of the blogging game for a while. Over the past 6 months I've been extremely busy with work, moved my family 5 hours away for a new job, selling one house, buying another, and then on top of that ended up in the hospital for 5 days. Yeah, blogging and shooting have been way down on the list.

But, one thing I have been doing is trying my best to shoot as often as possible in the Noveske Atlanta 3-Gun challenges. Rob Romero and the rest of the Noveske shooting team have done a great service to those of us in the Southeast by bringing a top notch monthly 3-gun match to Atlanta Georgia. We were severely lacking for matches in this corner of the country. Not only is this a great, fun, and well-run match, but it also counts toward 3-Gun-Nation club points, and allows you to shoot classifier stages and get classified. Other big matches are cropping up in the Southeast as well (like the recent Southeast Regional Championship held in Clinton, SC.)

I shot a really fun Shotgun-only match back in March and placed 3rd overall, and again shot in the monthly 3-gun match in May and finished top 20. Upcoming is the yearly club championship in October, which I am registered for and really looking forward to it.

If you're in the Southeast or specifically Georgia for that matter, you really ought to come out to one of the monthly matches at the Noveske Atlanta 3-Gun. It's one of the best times you can have on two feet.

Here are some videos from the matches I have shot at A3G:

Be safe and see you next time.
~Mac

The Smoother The Better

18" barrel with rifle-length gas system

If you're a 3-gunner or someone who is at all interested in tuning your AR-15 to being the smoothest and most accurate rifle possible, then you've probably already thought about the gas system. The Direct Impingement gas system on the Stoner platform rifle is the key to taming your rifle. Simply put, the amount of gas that blows back into the upper receiver forces the bolt carrier backward and onto the receiver extension/buffer assembly. Changing either the 1) gas system length or gas port size 2) Bolt carrier weight or 3) Buffer system weight will affect the felt recoil to the shooter. Careful tuning of this system can turn your rifle into a kitten as far as recoil is concerned, allowing really quick and accurate shooting.

I talked about gas system lengths in this POST a little over a year ago. Check it out if you haven't seen it. I go into detail on the different AR-15 gas lengths and what they do for your rifle.

The one system that I didn't mention much then, because it is relatively unknown to most shooters, is the INTERMEDIATE gas length. This is a gas length that is used in some 18" barrels made by high-end manufacturers such as Noveske, aimed at 3-gun shooters who want super-smooth and flat shooting barrels. You may equate the intermediate length gas system on an 18" barrel to a mid-length gas system on a 16" barrel. But, perhaps, the whole concept can be improved.

Stay tuned for more on this subject in the near future.

Be safe and see you next time.
~Mac

If you're not QUAD loading, what are you waiting on?

I moved to TWINS shotgun reloading about a year ago and saw my shotgun reloading get remarkably better almost instantly. I fumbled around practicing QUAD loading at home a little and resigned myself to the fact that my hands were too small and I just wouldn't be able to pull it off.

Boy, was I wrong. Persistence pays off, and practice makes (sometimes) perfect. I picked up a few TACCOM QUALLOAD caddies and started practicing. The great thing about these caddies, are they are extremely lightweight, take up less belt-space than my DUALLOADS, and allow me to drop Twins or Quads, depending on the situation. At this point, I am hitting times about the same for twins and quads, but that's mostly due to some slight fumbling with the quads that I presume will get better with practice.

So I'm soldiering on, on the way to 8 shells-in-3-seconds reloads. So, why again are you weak hand loading?

Be safe and see you next time.
~Mac

Is Colt buying LWRC a good thing?



"The Colt PDW": Coming to an FFL near you.....

So news came out last week the Colt was buying out LWRC. I think it is really an interesting development from the nation's largest maker of military firearms and the standard bearer for AR-15's. Why would Colt do such a thing? LWRC is a piston rifle company. Why did LWRC start making DI rifles lately? Hey, wait a minute.............

I believe what this says about Colt is they are upping the ante. Most importantly, they are losing government contracts. Why in the world did they let Remington of all people, beat them for a large M4 contract, and then FN?

Also, Colt's piston design has not really taken off. Maybe its an inferior design. Who knows. But LWRC knows what it's doing when it comes to the piston design. And I think Colt knows that. Slowly but surely, the M4/AR-15 market is gravitating toward piston design. At some point, it's quite legitimate to think that a piston design will supplant the Stoner design as the standard issue rifle. Maybe Colt just stepped to the front of the line if that opportunity arises.

It is interesting to say the least. For one thing, if that PDW pictured above came with a Pony on the side, you'd see credit cards burning holes in pockets everywhere and the NFA would be even more backed up than they are already.

Be safe and see you next time.
~Mac