I am amazed at the proliferation of these "free" offers of survival knives, tactical flashlights, gear bags (free, but please help us with $29.95 for the shipping!). I see these as a result of signing up for gun and truck sweepstakes etc., at Gunbroker, Grabagun and other sites. Now, I understand I will be getting this stuff in my e-mail as a result. But I don't get the pattern. You end up being required to watch a 10- or 15-minute video of pure blather and wild claims. They'll show a tactical flashlight being run over by a tank, for example. But what they don't tell you is that this piece of tactical shit from China has a switch that will fail the fourth time you turn it on.
Now that I am on a rant roll, what is with all the "tactical" stuff anyway? Surely it must appeal mostly to losers who couldn't pass the test to go to the police academy. There must be an army of these dreamers out there ...

Central Florida is a good size gun market but not a great hunting market.

Only one big box sells traditional higher end hunting rifles - bass pro. There is one gun shop that sells (browning and christsenarms) and has hunting related optics and gun smithing.

Rest is all tactical and handgun focused including the world largest indoor shooting facility.

Only people at my gun range I see who spend real dollars on long guns and optics are precision rifle shooting group. I am only hunter I see around most days shooting rifles.

All hunting rifles at academy are sub $500.

Hunting firearms are a fast shrinking market segment in the firearms industry. The guys who want it source it from specialized dealers.

It’s a world of handguns and tacticool.



Mike

Mike, I agree we are dumbing down the sporting firearms industry with increasingly plastic disposable rifles at rock-bottom price points. What I don't understand is the world of "tacticool." Who the hell are these people? There must be millions of them.

I'm going to try to be polite. I really dislike the advertising approach taken with tacticool stuff, and feel suspicious about the mental state of those who fall for it.

P.O. Ackley had something to say about this sort of thing, decades ago.

You guys are on a roll. I hope Bill isn't going "postal" due to a Hatch Chile overdose.

"Tactical" just says "Testosterone", doesn't it? Your friends are going to think you aren't a man if you don't have an AR and wear tactical gear to church. Nothing says "Christianity" like camo.

When entire clothing stores are dedicated to tactical wear, you know we have slipped over the edge. https://www.511tactical.com/

I like a good bolt-action high-powered rifle with a good piece of wood for a stock. I don't need plastic stocks. I don't need noise or recoil suppressors. I don't need to feel like a quasi-militia member.

I don't normally belly-crawl down the sidewalk when I go to town, but I'm in the minority. I know the difference between an elk and a moose, a whitetail and a mule deer, a water buffalo and a cape buffalo. I would hazard a guess that 50% of the AR carrying "tacticals" with testicles at your local gun club don't.

We're a vanishing breed. We're the last generation of real hunters.

quote:

Originally posted by Bill/Oregon:
Mike, I agree we are dumbing down the sporting firearms industry with increasingly plastic disposable rifles at rock-bottom price points. What I don't understand is the world of "tacticool." Who the hell are these people? There must be millions of them.

I went to my range on a Saturday - something I never ever do. There were 300 shooters for a tactical shoot. Relatively young and females too. This is the future. Shooting ar platform rifles and pistols. Everyone had a holstered handgun on their hip. And they all wore funny shooting shirts that were bright colored like cycling shirts and tactical pants.

The precision shooting crowd is mainly technical professionals - 777 pilot, engineers ect. They spend money on their rifles and scopes and reload and spend a lot of time going to tournaments.



Then there is the weird one off crowd - I would put myself in it who shoot either target rifles, bolt military rifles and hunting rifles (me).

The shotgun shooters are old white retired guys. Not many.

It’s all handguns and ar in guys and girls shooting.

In hunting season I may go to public wma to see rifles used. I won’t hunt Florida public lands.

I have also seen at the one specialized gun store all guys buying rifles and scopes now are focused on long range shooting. This makes little sense to me as nothing in last 50
Years ha dramatically changed in hunting to have all this focus on shooting beyond 500 yards.

Mike

quote:

Originally posted by Kensco:
You guys are on a roll. I hope Bill isn't going "postal" due to a Hatch Chile overdose.

"Tactical" just says "Testosterone", doesn't it? Your friends are going to think you aren't a man if you don't have an AR and wear tactical gear to church. Nothing says "Christianity" like camo.

When entire clothing stores are dedicated to tactical wear, you know we have slipped over the edge. https://www.511tactical.com/

I like a good bolt-action high-powered rifle with a good piece of wood for a stock. I don't need plastic stocks. I don't need noise or recoil suppressors. I don't need to feel like a quasi-militia member.

I don't normally belly-crawl down the sidewalk when I go to town, but I'm in the minority. I know the difference between an elk and a moose, a whitetail and a mule deer, a water buffalo and a cape buffalo. I would hazard a guess that 50% of the AR carrying "tacticals" with testicles at your local gun club don't.

We're a vanishing breed. We're the last generation of real hunters.

I do like a synthetic blaser with a suppressor. The suppressor for target shooting.

There is a growing disconnect between hunters and shooters.

I get plenty of sh@t about hunting from right wing friends who are pro gun but anti hunting.

Mike

Mike, heh, is it possible to be right-wing and anti-hunting at the same time? Rhetorical question. You just never know.
That funny guy in the bow tie who started Cook's Illustrated and now runs Milk Street radio and cooking on NPR -- Christopher Kimball -- is an unapologetic deer hunter. Who knew?

quote:

Originally posted by Bill/Oregon:
Mike, heh, is it possible to be right-wing and anti-hunting at the same time? Rhetorical question. You just never know.
That funny guy in the bow tie who started Cook's Illustrated and now runs Milk Street radio and cooking on NPR -- Christopher Kimball -- is an unapologetic deer hunter. Who knew?

Yup

Guns dont need to be tied to hunting - few handguns are used for hunting. Few ar rifles are used for hunting.

Hunters are geographic and often removed from gun owners. Upstate New York for example and like it or not - we are going to a European model of hunting in good chunks of the us. Rich people and land ownership have greater hunting rights/opportunities - example Texas.

Lots of liberals hunt and lots of conservative gun owners care little about hunting.

It’s a tacticool world we live in.

Mike

love nice wood on a firearm. wish i had the funds to buy some i see here and elsewhere for sale. plastic stuff is crap and looks cheap

Bill, as we all know, diversity is a true test of character. You know my political feelings + yet I enjoy listening to NPR. There are always good ideas from both sides of the aisle. When one is unwilling to make that truth then the next stage is insurrection. I.E.= If you want to stuff your B.S. down my throat then I will give it back to you in spades. I do have to agree that the Libs/Dems idea of "compromise" is we get everything we want + you don't get shit. Please correct me me if I'm wrong.

Randy, I love my NPR, especially KTEP El Paso and news from the Texas Standard -- plus they have a great mainstream jazz program in the mornings.
I think you have the Dems' skewed idea of "compromise" in perfect focus.
John, I haven't forgotten getting you photos from the corner of Mink and Fairway in Cloudcroft.

Listening to NPR gives one a good idea what the enemy is talking about.

The Tactical firearm games have brought a whole new world of shooters into the fold.

People who own firearms normally do not want to give them up.

I see far more fudd's that own just hunting guns willing to sell the rest down the road.

Then those that own MSR's willing to sell hunting firearms down the road.

If you don't think that those that want to come after MSR's are not going to come after the others next think again.

Isn't any difference in a scope hunting rifle and a quote sniper rifle.

quote:

Originally posted by p dog shooter:
Listening to NPR gives one a good idea what the enemy is talking about.

The Tactical firearm games have brought a whole new world of shooters into the fold.

People who own firearms normally do not want to give them up.

I see far more fudd's that own just hunting guns willing to sell the rest down the road.

Then those that own MSR's willing to sell hunting firearms down the road.

If you don't think that those that want to come after MSR's are not going to come after the others next think again.

Isn't any difference in a scope hunting rifle and a quote sniper rifle.

My blaser hunting rifles are far more accurate than most sniper rifles.

Mike

quote:

Originally posted by john c.:
love nice wood on a firearm. wish i had the funds to buy some i see here and elsewhere for sale. plastic stuff is crap and looks cheap

My blaser synthetic rifles and my Macmillan stock Ruger are nicer than most wood rifles.

You can get some very nice synthetic stocks. But $400 Ruger Americans will have stocks that come with $400 rifles.

Mike

quote:

My blaser hunting rifles are far more accurate than most sniper rifles.

Makes them a sniper rifle for sure the common man has no need for on them.

quote:

Originally posted by Beretta682E:

quote:

Originally posted by john c.:
love nice wood on a firearm. wish i had the funds to buy some i see here and elsewhere for sale. plastic stuff is crap and looks cheap

My blaser synthetic rifles and my Macmillan stock Ruger are nicer than most wood rifles.

They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Mike, you need to go see the eye doctor ... fast!

True pdog, remember that Carlos Hathcock used a Win. model 70 + with good effect in Nam. It's always the man behind the trigger. Helps to have a good piece too of course.