Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Why so much tactical stuff?

Maybe my age( 61) but when I see this , it turns me off to buying a magazine or reading further into one.
We called ourselves sportsman in the old days, we carried sporting rifles and were hunters. A 3 or 4 round magazine is/ was enough.
As a rule I buy a fair number of magazines, have an interest in ballistics and the new and wonderful components. I keep up to date on these things, if I see a tactical item on the cover it persuades me not to indulge. My little old point of view, folks

It's the mentality of most of today's youth. More interest in what is portrayed in movies/gaming/tv than in reality. Learned a long time ago those that can and have "done it" not only don't follow the fads, but also don't talk it up. Personal experience has proven this over and over with everything from actual war vet's to experienced LEO to hunters.

You need to cancel all your subscriptions to gun magazines and get Sports Afield. No black guns or Glocks. However, some of the tweed jacketed bird dog guys can be as stuffy as the the tactical guys are boring...

I went to the NRA Show and was surprised by the amount of tactical stuff there, surprised the market is big enough to support so many purveyors. I too haate when the AR shooters show up at the range, the noise and side blast from those things is really annoying. I pack up early if there are too many at the range on a given day.

comerade,

Most paper magazines come from the US. There is a much bigger demand for AR type rifles and accessories there.

Remember that in Canada, we have difficulties with AR stuff, in that we cannot use them to hunt with. Their use is restricted to the range. Justin's rumoured attempts to ban them aside, there is less interest here.

I am not trying to anger you, but your point of view is not held by the majority of North American shooters. There are approx. 33 million Canadians and 330 million Americans.

Yeah maple is just an ice cream now....so is walnut .Blueing has something to do with your mood. Yeah, Shrapnel...Sports Afield is buried in the back of the magazine rack

Everyone wants to be Cris Kyle without being shot at.

Part of it is the decline in hunter numbers in the U.S., and of course most gun magazines are American. Over the past 30-some years the number of U.S. citizens who purchased hunting licenses dropped from around 17 million to under 12 millions, mostly because it's more difficult and expensive to hunt.

Obviously this is worse in some areas that others. Overall, slight more than 80% of Americans live in "metropolitan statistical areas," either cities or their suburbs. In more rural states, hunter numbers are higher. Don't know what that number is today, but a decade ago half the adult males in Montana hunted. However, by definition rural states have fewer people.

As a result, "shooting sports" have become more range-oriented than hunting-oriented. The percentage of rifle shooters engaged in target games keeps increasing, as the number of hunter keeps decreasing. The target shooters are far more interested in "performance" aspects of rifles than traditional appearance, and in fact many younger shooters think the tactical look is nicer than the traditional look--even hunters.

One of these is the daughter of a good friend, who I helped get her first deer last fall. She used a 7mm-08 I loaned her, a tang-safety Ruger 77 with a walnut stock. After the hunt, however, I needed it back for an article, so I gave her a black synthetic stocked .308. She was thrilled, not just because it was actually her rifle, but because it looked "cooler." (The very word she used, and she was born and raised in Montana.)

So yes, the times they are a-changin'.

I don't know why people want to live in fantasy land. I can see and understand the popularity of the AR-15 as a tough, versatile, accurate and dependable hunting/ target/competition rifle but just don't get the whole zombie apocolypse/end of the world/tactical black ops wannabe crowd.

And as we decry the decline, we as individuals do our best to promote the decline.

Yeah, tackin up those posted signs and don't let anybody hunt ain't doing the sport any favors.

Again, I suspect a lot of it is because so many Americans live in cities, which tend to have higher crime rates. Those of us who live in rural America aren't so concerned about defending our homes--though I also suspect one reason we don't have to much in Montana isn't only the low crime rate, but the certain knowledge even among most dumb criminals that such a high percentage of households are armed.

John,

comerade is in BC, and his observations are a combination of age and where he lives. In Canada, AR type rifles are restricted to rifle ranges only. Frankly, I'm surprised that the magazine distributors have even bothered with Cdn sales. There must be sufficient demand though, I suppose.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/corner-brook-man-ar15-legalize-1.3566307

Steve,

Yes, I'm aware of where he lives. Which is why I pointed out (as you did) that most gun magazines are U.S.-based, and designed to appeal to a primarily urban audience.

John,

I had to repeat it because some of the other posters are addressing a dissimilar point. I understand the difficulties in the US with the public's perception of the "evil, back rifle". We have it here as well, but our legislation has curbed it's use, and, by extension, the interest in owning one.

Do you have to leave your AR's locked up at the range ? They've been severely restricted here in communist NY but we can still own them, use them for hunting and keep them at home. We just can't have a seperate pistol grip, so have to use the rediculous looking but quite functional Thorsden stocks on them, are limited to 10 round magazines or converting them to non removable magazine and can't have a flash hider.

Aspiration and over compensation is were people spend their money

It’s always been this way - no hunting / survival skills = yep

I have always preferred blued steel and walnut to synthetics and stainless. I tried for years to ignore the coming wave of the black gun fascination. I've come to the conclusion it's a part of where we are going as a shooting and hunting fraternity. It will do no good for us to ignore those shooters or alienate them. I try to always strike up a conversation with guys at the range whenever I have to share a range. I go mid week and often no one or only one or two on any given range but I still try to talk to the guys who are there. Taking an interest in what they're shooting, even if it's not our cup of tea, opens up a dialogue and sometimes sparks an interest for them in different firearms venues and sometimes sparks a new interest in us.

I have lots of blued steel and walnut guns. I have a few synthetic stocked guns, I have a Glock now. And not too far down the road, at 60 years old, I expect I'll have my first AR. As we plan our move from Alaska to Idaho, an AR in 6x223 or 25 Sharps makes a whole lot of sense to me as a coyote calling rifle.

I'm not likely to pick up a black gun magazine at the newsstand but I'll do my best not to be source of division between us old, sticks in the mud and the next generation of shooters and hunters.

We can have them in our homes, but we cannot use them for hunting. The petition shown in the link never got off the ground. Owners transport them to the range, shoot them, and take them back home. Very similar to handguns, except that with handguns here, we have permits to transport them back and forth to the range.

Trudeau is not doing well in the polls here, and as you guys know, firearms are a great tool to use at election time. Trudeau is hoping to ban some firearms up here to grab more of the urban vote and save his a$$ from being fired.

Dateline 1929: Two old timers sittin' round the woodstove wiping down their thutty thutty lever actions talking about more and more o' these young'uns showing up with these newfangled Springfields and other bolt action rifles. "What's with all this tactical stuff?"

Dateline 1955: Two old timers sitting around the gasoline heater wiping down their Model 54's and 70's talking about more and more o' these young'uns showing up with M1 carbines and rifles like a Remington 742. "What's the fascination with all these semi-automatic rifles? These fellers think they're all stormin' the beach at Normandy or somethin'?"

Dateline 2019: Two old timers sittin' round the glow of the laptop screen wiping down their fiberglass stocked rifles.......


And the circle goes round and round.