When do you consider a gun too tacticool?

[notazombie]

Sure seems to be a lot of what's cool / what's not cool threads around here lately.

 

[Diamondback]

Who cares? You do you, with time and experience you'll figure out what needs to stay and what needs to go. I have a grip-pod and a recoil pad with rear leg on my carbine not so much for tactical reasons as the facts that I'm lazy, I need a little extra tailweight for balance and it's lighter and easier to deal with those than a full benchrest rig.

"I don't lift weights because they're heavy, and I don't run because it makes me tired."--Charles Barkley

 

[CHLChris]

• 1x prismatic scope

Would you tell us more? Why prismatic, which one, benefit over red dot?

Very curious...

 

[Raidingtime]

Something is too "tactical" if the shooter cant utilize the weapon tactically. Run the weapon well, more power to you.

Exactly. If the owner has a range finder, laser, night vision, extra mag, etc. on their rifle but doesn't know much or anything about using these things it's tacticool; if they know how to use them then it makes sense and isn't tacticool.

On top of this I'd say freefloat handguards, paint jobs, off set sights are tacticool

 

[Bon Sauvage]

To quote Justice Stewart, "I know it when I see it."

 

[3MTA3]

Would you tell us more? Why prismatic, which one, benefit over red dot?

Very curious...

I use the Vortex Spitfire (first generation), but the Burris is likely the same scope. They come in 1x and 3x, I prefer 1x with both eyes open.

Pros (compared to a red dot or holo):

• The etched reticle is visible without battery power
• Clear and easy to see even if you or others who may need to use it have astigmatism
• The reticle is very easy to use - the concentric circles quickly draw your eye to the center
  
• Adjustable red and green illumination
• The riser can accommodate true and partial co-witness
• Rugged

Cons:

• More expensive than a red dot
• Heavier than a red dot
• Does not have a micro version
• Haven't found a good QD adapter for it yet.

 

[Basedgreaser]

Like the saying goes, form follows function. I use magpul afg foregrip because the angle i have to bend my wrist to hold the tube puts painful pressure on my wrist, the afg "fixes" that,

 

[Misteramax]

Making a rifle lighter is cutting it close for me, imo getting used to heavier rifles is a benefit. Makes "light" feel lighter. Competition i get

Totally. I never understood the desire to argue over a few lbs. Gosh forbid ounces. I do think a lot of YouTubers coddle mall ninjas with spending too much time about weight in a review.

I never served and do not have combat experience, so my opinion is just that. I do have training in and continue to train in boxing/kick boxing and jui jitsu. So the whole idea to make something lighter/more easy to work with... defeats the concept of training? It's like training someone to fight but not encourage them to feel what it's like to move around for 10 minutes straight with your hands up and punching.

 

[Basedgreaser]

Totally. I never understood the desire to argue over a few lbs. Gosh forbid ounces. I do think a lot of YouTubers coddle mall ninjas with spending too much time about weight in a review.

I never served and do not have combat experience, so my opinion is just that. I do have training in and continue to train in boxing/kick boxing and jui jitsu. So the whole idea to make something lighter/more easy to work with... defeats the concept of training? It's like training someone to fight but not encourage them to feel what it's like to move around for 10 minutes straight with your hands up and punching.

Skill is in the shooter, not the rifle.

The way ar15 mods are marketed i can understand why antigunners have some of the misconceptions they do,
Hell gun magazines were the ones who started calling ar15's "assault rifles" instead of semi autos

 

[3MTA3]

Like the saying goes, form follows function. I use magpul afg foregrip because the angle i have to bend my wrist to hold the tube puts painful pressure on my wrist, the afg "fixes" that,

If you shoot in the locked left arm Jerry Miculek style and can't do a "C" grip they can be very helpful. Since I don't wear body armor I shoot in a more classic posture (presenting the theoretically slimmer side of my somewhat spherical body) so the hand guard by itself works for me.

 

[P7M13]

My car is tacticool - it has an automatic transmission. I still suck as a driver.

I don't understand some of the stuff people put on their ARs or rifles. However, if it makes them better, or gives them a woody, more power to 'em. I do have 45° BUIS on a rifle with the Burris prism. I like the sights, don't care for the Burris. On other ARs I run BUIS + red dot on one, BUIS + QR Scope on the other.

On weight, I don't worry about it. My packs weigh 35-45 lbs, down from the 80# I used to carry in my twenties. My ARs are under 8#, my rifles 7 - 13#. As you slack off, you get soft (lots of slacking here). The day I can't hack those weights, I will start to lighten up even more.

 

[Certaindeaf]

I am just curious. I know folks who if it doesn't have optics, a light and laser it sucks. Personally I am a maybe put an optic on it sort of guy. I don't really care what floats your boat, but I know I would in general make a rifle more "tactical" by losing weight on it, making it lighter. However, I have a love of drum magazines which are rather absurdly heavy.

I know we all have a limit where it is ridiculous. But where do you put yours? What do you want on your rifle?

A sling. And that's it.

 

[JRuby]

I live where there are no street lights. I have two ARs with lights on them because I want to see what I am about to put a hole in
If it's dark normally it's really dark in bad weather.

These two rifles have 1-4 powered scopes with bius front foregrips and lights. These two rifles have very definitive purposes. It may be tacticool but they are what I want in my hands when the dogs light off or you hear that noise you did not want to hear

 

[Tomahawk67]

Hard to shoot steel at night with iron sights. Hard to shoot anything at night with iron sights. Why limit the amount of time you can go shooting? Is wanting to shoot all the time tacticool?

 

[3MTA3]

The downside of lights is that they show everybody where you are and make a great target. I have pretty good night vision and there is always enough ambient light, at least for me. If I didn't I'd think about some sort of area light/motion light.

 

[JRuby]

It's true it shows where you are that's one reason I use the lights very sparingly. I don't walk around with the lights on actually they are on only as long as the switch is pressed. They are not turned to the on position but rather bumped when needed with my off hand thumb.

Any fool that walks around with a flashlight turned on when you suspect something to be up is painting a bulls eye on themselves.

 

[Koda]

a gun is too tacticool when the owner pimps it out with stuff he doesn't train with.

 

[CountryGent]

I'm going to be honest, I don't get the whole "tacticool" thing. I don't mean that rhetorically; I literally don't get why it is a thing, or really, all that it entails. If gunsmithing work on a firearm makes it demonstrably better somehow (e.g., more reliable, smoother action, better optics, lighter, etc.), I'm all for it. If, and only if, an additional part or accessory makes the firearm demonstrably better and the additional weight or change in handling characteristics can be justified for the aforementioned benefit, again, I'm all for it. Anything else is, frankly, at best, a waste of time and money.

All that said, if someone wishes to exercise their right in another manner, more power to them. Isn't freedom grand?

 

[Tomahawk67]

I have yet to be fired back at while shooting at night using a light or OTAL.

 

[3MTA3]

If your knife is the second thing people notice, then your gun is too tacticool