Gear Reviews

The Pacific Northwest and Seattle, in particular, is a hotbed of snowflake triggering activity. It was therefore with some surprise that recently (end of July) a firearms convention actually called TriggrCon was held so close to the Emerald City. Bellevue, Washington, a mere 10 miles from the Seattle Space Needle, hosted this event for the third consecutive year. Manufacturers displayed their wares in booths as well as at the range as has become the custom with such shows.

Here’s what makes it special. The grip can be infinitely adjusted to ergonomically fit your hand. If you run it for a while and decide that it needs to be different, no problem. Loosen the screw in the bottom and the grip resets. Put your hand on it and squeeze until it feels comfortable to your hand. Tighten the bolt. It’s like magic. Katie Lynn was kind enough to give me the one she’d showed me and I carried it for hours playing with it. 

Today was the first time I got to test the new Ruger 10/22 with the Silent-SR ISB, or Integrally Suppressed Barrel. The lines look like a double barrel gun, but the bottom half is actually a baffle stack. A one-piece barrel and suppressor, it fits any 10/22 takedown model as a replacement. It is one of the most well thought out rimfire suppressors I have seen, Ruger hit it out of the park this time.

SIG Sauer landed a major contract with the Department of Defense to produce suppressed rifle conversion kits for special forces.

The new for 2017 Armageddon Gear Suppressor Cover models can withstand sustained semi-auto fire. They are specifically rated to 800 degrees. I’m running titanium suppressors and don’t want to ever get my suppressors or barrels that hot. If you are doing full auto mag dumps then you’ll likely exceed that temperature and this probably isn’t the suppressor cover for you. 

Besides addressing my grill needs, I can rest assured that Camp Chef is on our team. Their parent company is Vista Outdoors, which is also home to Savage Rifles and Federal Ammunition, amongst others. After the REI debacle with Vista a few months ago, and Vista’s praiseworthy refusal to fold, I am a fan of the company in general. And as the battle lines are drawn in the economic sphere, I am definitely not siding with the smelly hippies and assorted SWJ chuckleheads. I’ll get my outdoor gear from Cabela’s and Brownells from now on.

The ability to convert existing M4A1 carbines to a PDW, chambered in 300 BLK, offers several appealing advantages.  First, it is far more economical than purchasing complete carbines.  Far more conversion kits can be purchased than complete carbines.  Second, the purchase of a retrofit kit presents fewer issues than building a new carbine.  Finally, should the receiver be damaged, the conversion kit can be fitted to another lower.

There’s nothing worse than having the zero on your rifle shift or change. I’ve had it happen on several occasions and it can be a frustrating experience. Below are three things that I’ve started doing that have helped prevent loss of zero on my rifles.

While it’s not a perfect, crisp as a Pringle 1911 trigger, it’s close. Very close. For a striker-fired pistol, it’s extraordinarily good. The flat face took me a few rounds to get used to, but when I allowed my finger to rest naturally on the trigger, migrating toward the lower end of the shoe as intended with the resulting increase in leverage, I grew to like it. For the final analysis, I applied the Lyman trigger gauge once more.