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

Tactical has gone ridiculous and although the trend may say that is the way the shooting world is leaning, I remain steadfast in the good gun category. I didn't say I don't have a tactical rifle, I just think one is enough.

On the other hand, I can't stop buying the real guns...

I own exactly one AR. It was an itch I had to scratch, and secretly wanted to tweak the noses of people who didn't think I should own it. Discovered how much fun it is, shot it a bunch, got tired of it, and now it sits out of sight cleaned and oiled with a couple ammo cans full of the handload it likes, waiting for the call I hope it never gets.

I stepped out of character and carried it hunting a couple times. Being a 20" H-Bar with fixed stock and 1-4x scope it is no lightweight. Ergonomically it's different than my other hunting rifles in its weight class- not better, not worse, just different. I did get a few sideways looks from some young tacticool hunters who I guess couldn't figure out the old guy dressed like a 1950's Field and Stream ad, carrying a black quick-shooter. That itch has now been officially scratched too.

All the video gamers are now buying real guns. Tactical is all they know.

Tactical is what sells and it seems like in the old days, many shooters got their start hunting but that's not necessarily true any more.

Had a conversation with an employee of a gun store recently, he was asking about a firearm to take along for small game on a big game backpack hunt. I asked him what kind of small game and he really had no idea. Where he'd be hunting, grouse was going to be about it for edible small game so I recommended a good .22 pistol with a red dot sight. No go, he wanted a rifle (was gonna carry two) and already had his sights set on one. He wanted a specific gun, with a lot of cool features rather than a small packable gun that was better suited to what he was going to be using it for. Seems pretty common these days.

Shrapnel, I got a suggestion for ya.

Buy another safe.

Supercub- so these gamer's cross over to the real thing? Those games are ultra violent,imo.
If this is true, this trend is scary.
I wouldn't feel comfortable being around them,either.

Where to begin?

There is a difference between "tacticool" on the one hand and black rifles with plastic stocks on the other hand. The latter are more accurate, in general, than rifles with walnut stocks and hold their zero when it rains.

That said, I think an AR15 is pretty worthless for most hunting. It's too heavy for what you get, only fits small people, and can't be carried at the balance point in one hand with that pointy magazine sticking out. Also I never had any need for 20 shots while hunting. Caliber choices are limited.

As for home defense, I'll take a 12 gauge pump gun over an AR15.

But before you call me Zumbo, I think the popularity of AR15s for target shooting sports is a very good thing. With hunting declining, it's good we attract more and more people to shooting sports, on the range or wherever. There are neat "practical" sports where an AR15 fits very well. They're fun. I have probably put 10,000 rounds through AR15s, mostly High Power service rifle matches.

It's no secret that the Democrat Party is in lock step trying to outlaw AR15s. After that they'll revert to their earlier crusades--Saturday Night Specials (any handgun they don't like), "dum-dum" bullets (any that expand), "armor piercing" bullets (any that don't expand), "sniper" rifles (any rifles with scopes), and so on. The more voters who own AR15s, the more allies we have to head 'em off at the pass.

In case you have some limbs or trees blocking a shooting lane.

Or ice.

Sure.....

It's a chain gun. It fires the 6mm SAW.

Personally I do not have any interest in anything not blue and walnut, but I think the tactical/plastic thing is great as it has introduced an awful lot of new shooters to the cause...and that is worth the price of admission.

Besides which, if you lot all get a raging horn every time you walk past a piece of tupperware there is a better than even chance you will avoid the stuff I am interested in, well maybe not Shrap.

The word "Tactical" is over used, and 99% of the time misused.

It's a word plastered to everything military in style, and that is NOT what the word means. People in the industry need to learn the difference between an action and an object.

I remember in the 80s the idiotic fad-word was "Assault". Assault pants. Assault Boots. Assault glasses. Assault wrist watches. Assault Toilet paper.

I have nothing at all against military style gear, rifles, clothing and all that. In fact I think it's a very good thing to have, and follows into the real purpose of the 2nd Amendment. Every non-criminal American should be armed and trained.

But calling so much of this kind of gear "Tactical" is idiotic, and shows an extreme lack of understanding of the word or the concept.

Just an observation. May or may not be accurate. Certainly the cross section of shooters and their shooting interests has changed in the last 20 yrs. They don't wan't to shoot their Grampy's old deer rifle anymore.

No, what it means is the marketing people have become involved. It's called 'sales'. When money is involved, they fully understand what they are doing.

I helped a 20-couple year old son of an old friend break into the shooting game last year. He loved shooting my AR (naturally) as well as his grandfather's 03A3 sporter that his dad dragged out of a closet for him. I asked him why he liked the 03A3 so much, and his reply was " I like the way it kicks the snot out of me". Jesus. I eventually steered him into a Savage M10 somethingorother .223 with scope- $400 out the door. He loves it even though it doesn't turn his skinny shoulder into a black and blue mess. I fixed him up with the basics- plenty of ammo, a cleaning rod and solutions, rest and sand bags, etc. and he was off and running. Last time at the range I taught him field positions- offhand, sitting, and prone, and told him that any goofball can shoot well off a bench but a real rifleman is defined by how well he shoots away from the bench.

What you are seeing is progress. Right now, ARs are the rage. In the same way that M1 toy guns, Johnny Sevens, and Roy Rogers cap gun and holster sets were the rage when I was a child, so it is with ARs. They are on TV, in the movies and virtually every shoot 'em up video game that kids play. They saw it on TV or on their Nintendo, so they naturally will want it when they're older. This is no different than my desire to own a real Roy Rogers 6 shooter or wear a coon skin cap.

Marketing is more powerful than "the Force".

Absolutely. After The Terminator movie came out in 1984 gun stores were swamped with 20-somethings wanting plasma rifles in the 40 watt range. IIRC one guy modified a bunch of lava lamps with pistol grips and shoulder stocks and made several hundred thousand dollars....

Excellent! Bring 'em into the fold. Teach them how it's done. Help them along. They're the next generation.

I can't count how many folks I've taught to shoot, literally hundreds. Feel pretty good about that.

"Tactical" - okay, had careers in the Marines and in Law Enforcement. More than my fair share of time on AR-15 & M-16 type rifles. I find them extremely useful, well worthwhile. Doggone things can be quite accurate too. But ya, my real love is for more traditional rifles in blued steel & walnut.

Guy