Okay, I don’t have both in hand so this isn’t a range comparison, this is an observer’s view of how and why these shotguns have legally come into being without them being categorized AOW’s (Any Other Weapons as classified by the ATF). The loophole is the Gun Control Act 1968 26” inch rule: 26” is the legal minimum length for a longarm in this country. So by being 26.32” and 26.5” respectively the Mossberg and Remington pass the mandated criteria. The pistol grip is not illegal in itself if fitted at the factory as a PGO (Pistol Grip Only) and so long as it’s fixed in position meaning once you buy the firearm you can’t go prying off the grip and replacing it with a different grip, or a stock, without breaking other ATF rules for either being sub-26” overall or an SBS (sub-18” in barrel length). It seems like a strange little grey area or oversight by the ATF, but hey it’s legal so who cares (please check your State laws though, not all are understanding). In all honesty many gun laws are fairly archaic anyway, but considering their maintenance generates revenue, there’s no point in overturning them for the sake of civilian convenience. And necessity is of the mother of invention so happily manufacturers keep coming up with ways to circumnavigate the limitations and I think the Mossberg and the Remington 14” barreled shotguns are about as cool an item as we’ve had in a long while. Their uses are genuinely broadscale: they can serve as bedstand guns, truck guns, ranch guns, survival weapons and just general purpose tactical weapons, AND they fire the most effective short-range round known to civilian man (or woman). The Mossberg sports a tang safety and a foregrip retention strap (both useful) while the Remington has a Magpul M-Lok foregrip. As awesome as these shotguns are, a word of caution to those who don’t have a lot of 12 gauge time. I’ve got some considerable hours in gamebird, skeet and clay shooting and have two competition wins under my belt. I’ve used shotguns from antique British side-by-sides to tactical American pumps to $20k German sporting guns and after a few shots your shoulder feels it, regardless of make. Pistol grip shotguns are great looking and heaps of fun, but you better hold on and be prepared for some serious kick and possible bruising. Don’t hand a Mossberg Shockwave or Remington TAC-14 to your wife or kid and tell ‘em to guard the homestead whilst your away UNLESS they have a good half hour of supervised range time and can turn around at the end with a grin and say they’re fine with it. Another concern is the noise. Most modern shooters never pull the trigger on any firearm without ear protection on, so if you were ever forced to defend home turf with a 12 gauge the first thing you’d hear after your first shot is nothing. Followed by a constant humming. Your not going to hear a perp relocating to another vantage point, or exiting the building, or falling over for that matter. And you’re not going to hear much else for a couple of days afterward either. So keep those points in mind when considering it for the family guard dog. Short of that, for a gun-savvy guy or gal seeking a scattergun for virtually every other purpose, the Mossberg 590 Shockwave and Remington TAC-14 are possibly unrivaled in intimidation value, close range effectiveness and sheer funnery! Ed.

In the town of Franklinville (county of Ontario) New York, there’s a knife maker who’s heritage spans almost every post-Civil War American conflict. Forging blades since 1889, over the years they have supplied the U.S. military with products such as the M7 bayonet, the USAF Survival Knife, the Navy MK3 MOD 0 diving/survival knife, the M9 bayonet, and most recently the USMC OKC-3S Bayonet. They’re also under Military contract to produce the Aircrew Survival Egress Knife (ASEK), a survival knife system chosen by the United States Army to be included in its Air Warrior Equipment System. The knife was tested and approved by PM Soldier and the United States Army Soldier Systems Center to meet the demanding criteria mandated by the US Army. It includes a plexiglas breaker, hammer, saw teeth, serrations, spear holes, a lanyard hole and an insulated guard. The system includes an anodized aluminum strap cutter with replaceable blades, a screwdriver and a honing rod. The sheath is attachable to MOLLE strapping. They also have an impressive lineup of other infamous designs including the Bowie and the Kukri - all made from fine American steel right here in our great country - but the knife of my focus today is the SP-1 Combat Knife. Yes, it is essentially a full tang Ka-Bar and in that sense resembles the brand name knife I reviewed a few days back, but it differs subteley in providing a slightly more comfort-oriented handguard and a landyard hole that could be used to either strap it to a pole to fabricate a spear, or attach it firmly to your wrist to prevent being disarmed if for example you were to grapple a bear. Interestingly, the knife is named for just that. In 1923 Union Cutlery (also of New York and subsequently renamed after the knife) received a crumpled note from a trapper who had used their knife to kill an attacking bear. The note was almost illegible by the time it reached the company but the letters K(ill)-A-B(e)AR were still discernable and thusly became the moniker we know so well today. Ontario Knife Company is a premium manufacturer of this format who has consistently produced the military spec quality our uniformed services, outdoorsmen, survivalists, hunters and collectors have come to respect over the generations. The SP-1 uses 57-59 HRC (Hardness Rockwell Scale) - aka AUS-8 - which falls perfectly between the every-day carry and premium knife categories for steel temperance therefore providing an easily sharpened, robust, corrosion resistant blade that’ll keep you safe in home and field. This is one you’ll pass down to your heirs with pride and confidence. For $55 what more could we wish for in a utilitarian legacy knife? http://ontarioknife.com/fixed-blades/spec-plusr-series/sp-1-combat-knife.html
​AW

​The British Fairbairn-Sykes fighting knife was developed as a tool to compliment their (Fairbairn and Sykes') gutter fighting technique known as the Defendu system. The Defendu system of fighting combined wrestling, boxing, Jujitsu, Kung Fu and Savate, and promoted absolute foul play to neutralize the enemy as promptly as feasible by any means necessary. This close combat system (think Jason Bourne) was perfected by Fairbairn and Sykes from personal, experiential knowhow immediately prior to WWII in 1939. Fairbairn had served with the Shanghai Police in the red light opium district which was haunted by ruthless gangs and considered one of the most dangerous places in the world at that time. It is believed that Fairbairn himself engaged in over 600 fights, and though he received countless stab wounds over his 20 years on the beat, his survival suggests many more victims succumbed to his superior skills. Sykes on the other hand was a marksman and was also working in Shanghai with the British Secret Service, and so in 1941 they were commissioned to establish the Commando School in Scotland to train British and allied commandos and aid resistance movements in their newly crafted art of close quarter combat. 
​
Once the school had developed it’s own instructors, Fairbairn was tranfered to Canada to open Camp X and Sykes was moved into the Special Operations Executive to train special agents for clandestine duties behind enemy lines. Following his term at Camp X, Fairbairn was rejoined by Col. Applegate to form the United States Camp B, now known as Camp David. Through Col. Applegate and other instructors the Defendu system was taught to U.S. troops including the Marines and Rangers, as well as OSS operatives and later to the FBI and CIA as the foundation to their basic training. Though the famed FS knife has survived until this day and is still issued to the Ministry of Defense by Egginton in Sheffield (all black, zero-markings), it was not wholly favored by American troops who preferred the clip-point blade of the Ka-Bar configuration: the original FS knife had a needle point which was prone to snapping off (or becoming lodged) in bone or if dropped, so various subsequent evolutions have sought to address this problem.

In 1966 Gerber Legendary Blades, with the design assistance of US Army Captain Bud Holzman, took the FS knife and successfully corrected a couple of its fail points to forge the Mark II. By widening the tip into a spear point, it made it more robust and was thusly chosen for carry by US troops in Vietnam, seeing service alongside the revered Ka-Bar. In today’s beautiful version Gerber utilizes an aluminum handle, a guard to prevent your hand slipping into the blade and a skull punching pommel so in all senses it it is truly a combat knife and one of the few to have survived the tests of time and proven it’s holistic worth in close combat warfare. Like the Ka-Bar it is the forebear to the modern tactical knife and deserves pride of place in every collectors showcase, or, if you are a follower of the binary code then this indeed qualifies as a possible “one” knife. And it’s available today, proudly made in America with American steel AND by the original manufacturing company, Gerber. Considering the brevity of American History, Gerber is to our American warriors what the sword in the stone was to the English knights.  http://www.gerbergear.com/Knives/Fixed/Mark-II-Knife_22-01874
​AW

​With over 25,000 knives available for sale in the US incorporating over 50 blade types, making a choice can be overwhelming. To say the least. Which is why people collect. But then the problem with collecting is most of the items within the collection never see use because you’ll always have one or two go-to favorites. One of my personal quests across every facet of my life is to find that perfect “one”…the perfect pair of jeans, the perfect pair of boots, the perfect t-shirt, the perfect jacket, the perfect wallet, the perfect belt, the perfect motorcycle, the perfect sidearm etc etc and of course THE perfect knife. I’m an advocate of the binary code philosophy, the law of one or zero. It’s either that one perfect item, or it’s nothing. And of course there’s no one size fits all, my perfect boots aint gonna be yours, and vice versa, which is why we live in the great land of choice and individualism and not some banana republic dictatorship where we all need to wear grey polyester suits or go around with our underwear on our heads. Life is good in the Land of Kings (and Queens). But I still feel beleaguered by the quantity of crap in my life, and what crap I can’t fit in my house I have in a rented storage unit, or in totes in the basement, or in boxes under the bed, or on shelves in the garage and if it all vanished tomorrow I’m not sure I could list 10 things that I missed (or remembered I owned). Don’t get me wrong, our current economical structure is firmly constructed on consumerism and the worst thing that could happen would be if we all stopped shopping, but I’m just talking me personally. With that in mind, if out of the blue I got a call from the TV show “Alone”, or if my life suddenly went tits up and I needed to find solace in solitude and head off on foot to a forest cabin like Jeremiah Johnson, what would I haul with me? Short of a logging road and an 18 wheeler brimming with all my junk, it’d be a game trail and 40 liter backpack bearing that “one” best of everything. Okay, so the backpack is packed and I open my box of knives to select the best blade…hmmmm…damn…what do I take? It’s gotta be 1095 steel because it holds a razor edge and can be sharpened on a smooth stone, and I don’t want to be carrying a knife sharpener that’ll wear out or get lost. It has to have a long enough blade to cover a range of duties like shaving, cutting twigs for tinder, filleting fish and dressing game. It has to be rigid and robust because I’ve had a folding knife close on my fingers before and injury in the field is a serious no-no. It has to have a grippy handle so rain and suchlike don’t cause slippage. Oiling 1095 steel is important but any animal fat or oil will do the job, and 1095 Cro Van is a step up in corrosion resistance without any noticeable loss of other qualities. Oh, and it has to be American steel and innovation because I wouldn’t trust the forest gods to bless my passage otherwise. Interestingly, despite there being 25,000 knives on the market, there’s only a couple of manufacturers who make something that fits that bill, and one of them has been around for decades faithfully serving our uniformed services in theater: Ka-Bar. Though it lacks all the fancy features and bling of many modern tactical knives, it’s a handsome devil and about as durable and practical as a hammer. It comes in a variety of subtle variations including a stacked leather or Kraton handle (I like the rubberized Kraton), serrated or clip point blade (I prefer the latter), a short or long bladed version (I prefer the long/7”) and polymer of leather sheath (leather is my preference as it’ll hold oils and help deter rust). So, if you’re like me and have a desire for the binary code of life possessions, you may want to include the Ka-Bar Full-Size Black Fighting/Utility Knife with Leather Sheath (7" Plain blade) - just Google “Ka-Bar 1211” - in your quest for the “one” perfect knife, I think it’ll serve you as well as it’s served our fighting men on the front lines since WWII. This indeed may be the blade of heroes. AW

The AFD is like a rural art house movie theater in Podunk. We gets the films, but a little late in the day when they’re already old news for everyone else but for our local viewership, that’s just fine. We don’t do range tests recording every FTE, FTF and WTF, we’re more on the ethos and philosophy side, espousing the merits of weapons we like and why. And primarily American weapons at that. As for functionality, every weapon can be fixed, so life-depending performance is an eventual given for virtually every modern firearm if we can deal with waiting and don’t mind a little extra cash out of pocket: as annoying as it is, find the gun the like and if it doesn’t run like a clock then badger the bejesus out of it’s maker until it’s perfect every shot, that’s their legal warranty. 

With Americana in mind there’s few more homegrown than Springfield Armory which dates back continuously to 1777 (barring a brief hiatus from 1968-1974) and in the last few years they’ve really maintained a position at the tip of the spear in firearm innovation with their XD line. Therefore it’s no surprise to me they’ve brought R&D full circle back to the connoisseur’s choice of DA/SA with manual safety-decocker. This is the preferred setup of pro’s worldwide and a system that’s been almost entirely lost to modern American firearm manufacturers over the past few years with the somewhat irritating fad for plastic striker fired pistols without any worthwhile safety features: though well-suited to combat situations where safeties are just another second between shooter and survival, the civilian world needs another layer or two of safety (please send hate mail here: link.) There are a number of great assets featured in the new XD-E: 1) As much as I dislike polymer it is a big weight saver and the latest composites are incredible. 2) It’s ultra-slim, thusly lending itself to every day carry and easy concealment. 3) Ambidextrous safety-decocker and mag release. 4) Very pleasing slide serrations. 5) Small but nonetheless present picatinny rail. 6) More comfortable grip texturing than the XDS. 7) Low profile sights. 8) Low-effort slide. 

I think the XD-E is a harbinger of new trends in handgun formatting, or rather, a revival of what was in my opinion the apex sidearm configuration grandfathered by the likes of the Browning High Power, the Beretta 92, The CZ 75, the Bersa Thunder Pro and the Sig 226. Now that a whole generation of new gun owners have acquired skills on point & squeeze plastic pistols, I’m anticipating (and clearly Springfield is too) that they’ll be looking for weapons that take a little more expertise and offer greater safety and versatility. A return to safer more professional-use firearms will separate the men from the boys and perhaps stave off the liberals’ push for smart gun technology a little longer. I’m already looking forward to future XD-E caliber (45ACP allegedly on the way) and barrel-length variations of the XD-E and of course to owning ALL of them myself! GOM

The M1 is to America what the AK is to the former USSR and other Communist Bloc nations. Released in 1936, the M1 Garand precedes the AK design by 13 years. Dubbed "the greatest battle implement ever devised" by General Patton, it has lost none of it's utilitarian charm even after serving in three American wars and aiding in the battles of numerous other nations. The two principal modern iterations are manufactured by Springfield Armory as the M1A and by Ruger as the Mini 14. Reliability wise the M1 and it's modern heirs are on a par with the AK47 and a tad superior accuracy wise. The M1 is the soldier's rifle whereas the AK is the guerrilla's. The M1 is for honorable men fighting against a great evil in defense of democracy, the AK is for every disgruntled rebel with a bugbear scrapping for an inch of personal turf on which to plant his fallacious flag. AK proponents will hate me for that opinion but having travelled the world's trouble zones, that's what I've observed. As a red-blooded American I am compelled to love American ingenuity, flavors and design...like Harley Davidson, the 1911, Chevrolet, Apple and Hershey's and not just because they're American, but to my tastes they are in fact better than their foreign counterparts. Why else have we been so emulated? And why the hell have American gun owners adopted the AK with such alacrity and fervor? Why have we embraced the Commie carbine over our very own war-winning battle-ax? Personally I think it's a sign of our aggrieved times, a symbol of our ubiquitous beef against modernity, but practically speaking why grab an imported stamped steel refab from dodgy Slavic origins when you can own an American thoroughbred, born and raised by fine American engineers, honed and perfected over the better part of eight decades and available for only a few dollars more than the budget AK. If we step up our demand, cost will come down but we first have to fall out of love with the highly overrated AK and rediscover an avidity for American-made greatness. Ed.

​So let's wrap this guide up with a few critical points.

Firstly, it’s probably smarter to buy a factory rifle for your first AR purchase unless of course your profession (i.e Military, LEO etc) has already allowed extensive familiarity. A new factory weapon will better ensure you get something that works from the offset and will provide warranty in case the guns fails to function reliably, whereas with a franken-gun you’re on your own: prolonged frustration over any gun is the primary cause for anyone abandoning a given firearm or platform. There are 4 or 5 price tiers among AR manufacturers on the AFD, check out our page and browse down: http://www.americanfirearmdirectory.com/ar-rifles--parts.html. Look for high user star ratings and the dollar symbol to determine pricing.
 
Secondly, regardless what you choose you probably want to put a thousand rounds through it to break it in and determine for certain that it’s trustworthy.  I’ve made the mistake of buying a firearm and not test firing it before going to the range with friends only to discover it was factory flawed. It’s embarrassing and spoils the mood, but just imagine if the AR you’ve bought to defend home and family turns out to be a lemon in the event of need? Test it, 1000 rounds, it should run like a clock and if it doesn’t send it back. Anything short of a boutique manufacturer who’s testing every unit prior to shipping is going to turn out mistakes from time to time, I’ve had a few, even from the most reputable companies. But, if you’ve chosen a premium marque then they’ll take care of repairs and roundtrip shipping so there’s no cost to you other than time in waiting. 

Thirdly, you should probably go with gas-impingement over piston. Gas-impingement is simpler, lighter, more uniform between manufacturers and they're cheaper than piston rifles. Simply put, both systems aid in the efficient cycling of rounds and without them you’d not eject your empties reliably. The downside of gas (or direct) impingement is it dumps fouling particulate back into your chamber along with the gases, so more frequent cleaning is required. Piston systems are relatively new to the market and cleaner, but tend to be proprietary to each individual manufacturer which makes for potential complications when purchasing aftermarket enhancements and or DIYing repairs. Most AR’s on the market are gas impingement.

Finally, there’s also one manufacturer who makes a pump-action AR for states or hunting scenarios where semi-auto is disallowed: Troy. Actually it’s 50-state legal. Obviously the rifle utilizes neither a gas nor piston setup so it’s cleaner shooting all round, and yet the slide-action is light, inherently reliable and smooth to operate. Pump action weapons are typically quite fast to shoot (v's lever or bolt) because it's your supporting hand that actuates battery, plus you’re less likely to burn through as much ammunition than with a semi-auto so it's easier on the wallet. Troy rifles are nicely fit and finished, potentially more accurate due to the closed breech, lightweight at 6lbs, AND they accept any AR mags, the follower of which will keep the bolt open after the last round. They come with or without a folding stock and you can choose between 223 or 300 Blackout. Though you forfeit modular compatibility with most aftermarket AR components, the beauty of this rifle is it’s simplicity and for the fact it bridges the gap between traditionalists and black rifle proponents providing familiarity for old schoolers along with the ergonomics of modern sporting rifles.  

P.S. For a crash course on the anatomy of the AR, see this excellent article on Pew Pew Tactical: https://www.pewpewtactical.com/ar-15-buyers-guide-how-to-choose-your-first-ar-15/

Best of luck and safe shooting whatever you finally choose. AH.

​Ruger is very good at watching the demand to gauge passing fads versus lasting trends. They've been criticized for copying, but overall their emulations boil down to smart business. They've released their own versions of a number of popular firearms and more recently entered the already saturated AR market. Their newest AR iteration - the direct-impingement AR-556 - is their conclusion to what the majority of people likely want in the iconic American black rifle package. And I have to say it seems intelligently assembled, undoubtedly from voracious reading of online forums to see what owners were discussing, AND simultaneous observance of what other rifle and accessory manufacturers were producing over the past five years of AR evolution to satisfy buyer appetites. It's as if Ruger waited in the wings, observed the advancements, spotted the optimally desirable configuration and then popped out the most genetically robust baby. Whilst foregoing the Ceracoted billet bling and extraneous doodads, it's holistically Ruger utilitarianism, innovative in the minutia, rugged as all hell and half the price of what anyone else could make it for (thanks to their all-in-house manufacturing at their new Mayodan, NC facility). It's the starter drug to AR's. It's a truck gun, basically, that appeals to working guys and yet price-wise appeals to newbies of the genre. The AR-556 says goodbye to the gas-piston of their SR-556 so you may need to be a tad more fastidious in cleaning and lubing, but hello to the popular flat top and flip up rear sight setup, and suck-it-up to the slightly stiff trigger which is loyal to Ruger's penchant for erring on the side of safety. All around though it's a great rifle for greenhorns because it's pure Ruger quality, comes with their no-questions-asked-send-it-back-if it's-broken customer care provision (with free roundtrip shipping), and it's inexpensive enough (MSRP $799. Street $500) to stuff in the back of the safe for the zombie apocalypse should you neither particularly bond with the platform nor care to fork out hundreds of dollars a year in ammo. Or, being a Ruger you could sell it on Armslist or Gunbroker (state laws providing). Or, you could just save up for a 22LR conversion kit and use the AR-556 as your primary plinker. Or if you ended up loving it, which I suspect would be the case, there are a gazillion aftermarket accessories and performance enhancing parts to turn it into the gun of you dreams over time as you learned. Either way, it's a perspicacious choice for people like us who know next to nothing about AR's but wanna know what all the fuss is about via a quality product from a dependable marque. AH. 

Firstly let's dispose of "the idiot's guide" and call it the  "AR's-for-greenhorns" guide, just so I feel less offended by myself and so you, the reader, can lower your guard and read on. Secondly, let's state one simple fact to dispel any misconceptions about the AR platform: you gotta keep it clean. Contrary to Vietnam-era claims, the platform is NOT "self-cleaning", nor has it ever been, not then not now. And this is where it differs from the AK47 which you can drop in the mud, wash off in the river and lube with engine oil to keep it working, but if you like a little accuracy on your menu then forget it, the AK is hideous. In a nutshell the AR15 utilizes significantly tighter tolerances to acquire the necessary accuracy for combat effectiveness out to two or three hundred yards plus (depending on manufacturer and/or barrel). Nowadays even budget AR's should give you 3" groups at 100 yards, but the AK47 most definitely will not. At 100 yards with an AK you might hit a barn door. Like a lot of Cold War Russian engineering it's a veritable tank but that comes at the cost of finesse: intentionally loose tolerances mean dirt particles can rattle around amongst bolt, chamber and bullet and not effect functionality (within reason of course): think New York subway train trundling happily through tunnels littered with a century of garbage and grime...yup...them kind of tolerances. It runs to no one's schedule, it's painfully slow and wobbly, it's so filthy it could be a source of the next pandemic and it sounds like like blackboard scratching and a bag of bolts, but it RUNS! What it lacks in savoir faire it makes up for in essential reliability. The AR15 is by comparison a finely tuned bullet train - anyone who's been to Japan (or even watched TV for that matter) will get the analogy here. It runs faster, on schedule and aligns perfectly with the allotted embarking positions. And all components are fastidiously maintained because they have to be to necessitate function and meet the requirements of accurate Japanese life. With those cumbersome metaphors aside, let's look to a name we all recognize as a good starting point: Bushmaster. Since 1973 they've been making rifles so you can think of them as ancestral contributors to America's favorite longarm. Bushmaster has survived some of the rockiest decades for the firearm industry and has ridden-out the trials and tribulations of shuttered doors and litigations to arrive to today: it's still a good rifle and still a contender despite the plethora of current market offerings. Their weapons used to be about the cheapest black rifle available but that is no longer true with their ground level XM-15 Standard starting at $895 MSRP. However, with their basic weapon category still in the sub-$1000 range AND carrying a solid four star user rating, they're a great option for newbies like us because they’ve been around forever, bugs have long been ironed-out and Bushmaster offer a full one-year warranty on their rifles (so if you buy one make sure to run it through it's paces before those 12 months elapse). I also like the classic M-16 profile of Bushmaster standard weapons, maybe that's a greenhorn telltale I don't know, but it suggests tried-and-true and if I'm going to spend my hard-won and painstakingly-saved dollars then I need to love and trust what I buy. But don't run out and buy one today, let's get through the week and discuss our options here, there are four more rifles I’d care to shoutout as part of my greenhorn guide.  AH 

​I’m the first to put my hand up and admit I’m an idiot when it comes to the AR. I can do the basic field strip and can shoot pretty straight but my extraordinary skills stop there. Part of my ignorance stems from a disinterest in modern military weapons, and partly I can’t help but think “gas guzzler” when I spot one on the rack in my local firearms constabulary. Because my dollars are so neatly budgeted (by my wife of course) for monthly bill-paying purposes, I just don’t recognize excesses that include bullet-purchasing extravagance. My weapon buying power is accumulated over months, $10 at a time, added to a slim roll concealed in a coffee can marked “widgets” on a shelf in my diminutive workshop-man-cave (aka “the potting shed”). When I buy a new toy it’s thoroughly considered. Correction, it’s a painstaking eenie meenie miney mo scenario that drags on for weeks and honestly, most of my final purchases remain virgins, unmarred by the carbon residue’s I’ve read about other’s addressing. Yes, in an ideal world I’d have a full and varied collection of firearms unhindered by a working man’s austerity, and with it an assortment of the finest ammunition, frequently depleted and replaced, stacked by caliber just like a well-stocked Walmart outlet and all would be right in the world. But meantime I get by okay. I enjoy hunting down those historical hard-to-find pieces unnoticed in the corner of a bricks and mortar gunshop or online store AND I cherish every purchase. I’m also amazed at how many brilliant concepts were mothballed - not that they should all be resurrected but in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s there were some tool and dye guys who (after being laid-off in the industrial downsize) turned their extraordinary talents toward firearm engineering. Of course much of that American knowhow has subsequently passed away with them and we have a serious deficit of craftsmen in this once-unparalleled nation, but there is hope (I hope) of a revival as a new generation of jobless graduates is awoken to the exciting creative (and earning) potential of skilled trades. Because economy goes inseparably hand-in-hand with innovation AND manufacturing, America will necessarily return to it’s roots and in the coming decades again be the nation the world coveted. We’re just not quite there yet. Back on message….this week I’m going to look at 5 manufacturers of a wholly American weapon, the AR15, not from a standpoint of knowledge but from an idiot’s vantage. But an idiot who does his diligence into functionality and user ratings, ha! So let’s have a look-see at what’s out there and which rifles may be quality, affordable choices for all you of my unschooled dollar-pinching ilk who are simultaneously black-rifle curious. AH

Okay, I know we covered Heritage Arms last week, but I want one last suck-up of singe action revolvers before we move to our next topic on the blog. The Heritage Arms - in my humble non-expert opinion - is THE best handgun for your teenager coming-of-age, or the adult newcomer to firearms.  And here's why. 

Firstly, its cheap as beans: this matters because spending anything over a weeks pay on a weapon is going to make you overly precious about your new acquisition, afraid to scratch it and fearful of taking it apart.  Secondly, its shoots well: this is critical because it allows the newbie the gratification of actually hitting their intended target and is thusly rewarded. Thirdly, it utilizes the least expensive and most readily found ammo (thankfully now the ammo shortages have passed) that's also highly effective against tin cans, procurement of small game snacks and self defense in a pinch. I say "in a pinch" but I doubt anyone would stand unperturbed at the barrel end of a 22LR weapon regardless how much of a caliber snob they were - well-placed, a 22LR bullet is as deadly as anything else.  

I think it was Thoreau who said, "You don't know a land until you walk it" and the same is true of firearms. When you can strip a firearm down to it's essentials you're going to know it. Appreciating the mechanics of your weapon is akin to zen, it's the way of the Samurai. Okay, a tad fanciful maybe but the Heritage Rough Rider 22 allows you to tackle dismemberment with aplomb and enables mastery of the tool. The workings are just not that complex and so long as you're conducting surgery on a tray so you don't lose any of the pieces, you're unlikely to get into any trouble. And if you do, or if you scratch something, it's not catastrophic and the process will be so educational that it'll instill in you a confidence for every subsequent weapon you purchase. Indeed, you're new found interest in the guts of a gun will probably be a decisive factor in the weapons you choose to purchase henceforth.

And why will you need to take apart a Heritage 22 revolver? Because you're going to break it. It's highly likely the cylinder hand spring (https://www.gunpartscorp.com/ad/79150.htm#79150R) is going to snap off as you sit nights in front the TV cocking the pistol repeatedly (because it's so darned satisfying) and pew-pewing at baddies (unloaded of course). But therein lies your opportunity to learn the way of your weapon. Don't be that ignoramus who doesn't know how to maintain his tools, be the fearless owner of great engineering fetes and know intimately what MAKES them so great. The single action revolver is the grandaddy of all modern cartridge firearms and by starting here you'll discover a whole new interest in the precision industry we're so lucky to have here in America. Why do you think we're the envy of sportsmen and shooting enthusiasts worldwide? 

Ed.