Recently a friend showed me a digital copy of Recoil magazine. The first thing I thought was: "Why haven't I heard of this before?" Well it is a new magazine that has only been running over the last couple of months. Recoil details guns, knives, outdoor gear and even trucks and ATVs. Basically anything that us firearms enthusiasts find interesting, since it may not seem like it to some people, but we are a multifaceted bunch who enjoy a variety of things, including reading, a skill that many anti-gun people seem to lack.
The controversy:
Anyway, browsing the four issues of Recoil I was impressed and found it to be an excellent read, until stumbling upon their extremely detailed breakdown of the Heckler and Koch MP7. Now the article pertaining to the MP7 was well written and informative however later on the editor, Jerry Tsai, launched into a very anti-gun statement using all the typical buzzwords we see in poorly constructed, unfounded and shortsighted anti gun literature. Basically the gist of it is, the MP7 is a gun with no sporting purpose, it can penetrate armour, and as such, us law abiding citizens shouldn't be able to own one yet the Police and Military should be toting them around, you know for all the subjects they encounter who wear armour....which according to H&K and, well anyone else who's made a scary armour penetrating gun claim, happens quite a bit. I have no data related to criminal use of body armour to counter that argument, however, like many things in the firearms world I'm willing to bet most of that claim comes from the marketing department. That's obviously open to debate and anyone with data to share is more than welcome to point me in the right direction.
Now some people might wonder why readers are making such a big deal over it. Well as firearms enthusaists quite obviously the anti-gun rhetoric gets on our nerves. We are bombarded from all angles about what horrible people we are because we own a compilation of metal and wood that launches a small piece of metal. We are told that we are "evil" "scary" "crazy" and all the other idiotic, unfounded bullshit that comes with being a responsible person who owns something. When a shooter reads a periodical related to firearms, we feel a sense of freedom, like when a car enthusiast goes to a track-day and they've entered a world where they can say "turbo-charger" without looking like an idiot. Like when a photography nut is in an environment where they can say "telephoto" and not have everyone think of their piece-of-shit camera in their phone ("cuz like telephoto means like iphone camera rite?"). Like when a hipster goes to a trendy coffee shop and says "grant-money" without everyone within 15 feet thinking "societal leech". When we open up a gun magazine we want to see articles written by like-minded people and coming across phrases like "no sporting purpose" being used literally, well, as the English would say "gets on our tits." Also another problem with article such as these in firearms periodicals is they slant outsider perspectives of the firearms enthusiast world, and quite literally, with this article Recoil has given potential ammunition for the anti-gun proponents. There is a very high chance that we'll see this issue of Recoil being cited as to why fancy metric rounds are evil to tune of logic like this: "LOOK DIS MAGAZINE CALLED RECOIL DUN SAID ITS BAD AND LIK DEY REVIEW LOTS OF SCARY GUNZ AND STUFF! SO LIKE EVEN DEY KNO DEY SHULDNT HAVE IT, I DON'T UNDERSTAND MATH!!!!!111"
My take:
Recoil has lost a lot of support over this one article. Allegedly advertisers are backing out of marketing deals, people are dropping their subscriptions and writing, upset, saddened, or angry (humorous but angry) posts on Recoil's facebook page. I'm somewhere in the middle. I do not agree at all with the editors statements that the MP7 has no sporting purpose, nor do I agree with his statement that the MP7 should be limited to military and police sales. I don't agree with these statements simply because quite frankly the MP7 is a firearm that could be used for target shooting, and if H&K's data and for that matter, Recoil Magazine's data is accurate, well, the MP7 would make an excellent target shooting pistol or short rifle depending on what configuration the shooter chooses. The fact the MP7's proprietary 4.6x30mm rounds can penetrate armour is an asinine reason to prohibit sales to civilians. There are quite a few rounds available to civilians that can already penetrate armour since body armour is not a 100% safeguard against incoming fire. Certain types of body armour are only rated for particular rounds and even enough of said particular rounds will chip away and degrade the armour plate's effectiveness leading to penetration once the integrity of the plate is lost.
The outsider perspective: (IE I DON'T LIKE GUNZ AND BECAUSE I WATCH TOO MANY MOVIES I THINK DAT BULLET PROOF VESTS MAKE BULLETS BOUNCE OFF YOU WITH NO TRANSFER OF ENERGY) is why firearms such as the MP7 get banned from civilian ownership. Just look at the FN Five-SeveN controversy a few years ago, it was so evil and we couldn't own one because we're gonna end up poping people left-right and center and the magical bullet proof vests lose their elven properties when hit with the 5.7 mm round. Despite the fact we could still own P-90s.......................which use the same round FYI. Ever heard of a hunting rifle? Any rifle used for hunting will penetrate and transfer more energy than a 5.7mm round and same goes for the 4.6x30mm round from the MP7. If you actually understand math and look at the data, the 5.7mm and 4.6mm rounds really aren't all that scary and look like an excellent application for target shooting and lawful defence. I'm not really much of a defence writer, but I will comment on this: H&K and FN both claim that there is a mass proliferation of body armour by our criminal classes. Look at it this way, Police officers are for some reason seen in a different light. Many people have the realities of Policing compartmentalized into its own world. Well, Police operations happen on your street, they arrest and confront the criminals with body armour on your block, in your city, in your bank, and unfortunately, I hope it never happens to anyone but, they might, and you might have to confront one of these armed and dangerous men in your home! So, if FN and H&K are correct in that these armed criminals are wearing body armour, perhaps you might need a firearm capable of penetrating it. If the Police need a firearm capable of putting a body armour clad offender down, you might need one too; since we walk passed the same people the Police do, we walk down the same streets they patrol and we walk passed the same buildings they raid. You may not be a police officer, may not have ever thought of being one and may even hate the police, but the fact remains, you're in the exact same area, the exact same reality they are!
Like I said, I don't agree with Jerry Tsai's comments however, I believe that Mr. Tsai is a passionate firearms enthusiast and if people would get over themselves and understand the personal sacrifice he has undertaken in the wake of this controversy, I believe he deserves a thumbs up. Given our shared passion for firearms I'm sure myself and most other firearms enthusiasts could see eye-to-eye on most things and enjoy talking about guns and shooting with Mr. Tsai. But one thing that some people in the shooting community are forgetting Jerry Tsai is a person not a corporate entity, he has the right to form his own opinion whether you agree with it or not. I respect and understand Jerry's opinion on the MP7, I simply don't agree with him and I'm not looking forward to how other media outlets may use his words as weapons against our community.
Jerry Tsai has posted a formal apology on Recoil's website and has stepped down from his chair as editor. A very honourable move, which should be commended. He took the responsibility for his actions in a move that I happen to think was a little extreme, but it shows that Mr. Tsai cares what readers think, and wants to see Recoil grow even if he's not at the helm.
Bottom Line:
I will continue to support Recoil magazine in the future. Aside from the anti comments regarding the MP7 I have enjoyed reading Recoil and look forward to coming issues. I hope that the new editor will take caution in his or her writings and also, hopefully the new editor will bring Jerry Tsai's attention to readers and integrity to the magazine. I'd also like to comment that not a single journalist, editor, anchor or writer from the anti-gun side has made a similar move to my knowledge and recollection. If they make a mistake they might (and that's a big might, they usually just shut up for three days) do a 45 second apology and continue on as usual. This shows the integrity of gun people, we face our consequences, anti-gun people...not so much.......
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Monday, August 27, 2012
Sleeping Dogs PS3 Review
Well since I'm on a roll today I might as well write something about video games, since the point of this blog is guns and videogames.
The two I've recently played through are Sleeping Dogs for the PS3 and Tales of Abyss for the 3DS
I'll start with Sleeping Dogs for the PS3:
The Story:
Sleeping dogs follows the story of Hong Kong native Wei Shen. Shen and his family moved to the States when he was a child and eventually Wei became a Police Officer with the SFPD, raising through the ranks quickly and becoming a detective. Through some miraculous under-cover exchange program, the young detective Shen returns to Hong Kong as an undercover officer for the HKPD, his job is to disrupt the Triad organization operating in his old neighborhood. Shen quickly hooks up with an old childhood friend and begins doing naughty things to gain their trust.
The story in Sleeping Dogs moves very quickly and while it does offer entertainment, unfortunately it is one of those games where things happen way too quickly and you're left in a position where you're supposed to feel bad for a character, but since there was very little development and face time you're kind of like "lol". Also the fast paced story doesn't offer much in way of explaining the infrastructure, mechanics and hierarchy of the Triad organizations. Okay, it's a video game not a lesson on organized crime, but still they present a lot of characters and terms that relate to the actual Triad organizations and players are just supposed to know what they are. Had I not studied organized crime in University, I probably wouldn't have had the faintest idea who some of the characters in the game represent. Which to some people can cause confusion and a "why should I give a shit about so-and-so?" feeling.
And as you no doubt have guessed, Wei starts questioning his actions given that he is an officer of the law and naturally his HKPD handler does the same, and there's the good old moral dilemma of being gangsta and po-po at the same time.
Perrty Grafixs:
Visually, Sleeping Dogs is fantastic, and even though the PC version of the game has an upgraded texture pack, the PS3 version still looks excellent. The draw distance was great especially for the amount of detail and once and while you'll find yourself simply starting at a building checking out the amount of little windows, air conditioners and other crap that are tacked on to them. Also there weren't too many pop in errors, which are a giant pain in the ass in open world games, not to mention
mmmm detaily
In addition the visuals really shine when the rain starts pouring down. Plenty of reflections and misty pretty colours make it an interesting game world during Hong Kong's fierce rain storms.
Driving:
The driving in Sleeping Dogs is very arcadey and little bit lame. It's nice and easy to pick up, but I prefer something that requires a little bit of skill building. Many other people really like the arcadey aspect of Sleeping Dog's driving but for me, it was a little bit lacking.
However, plenty of stupidness occurs while driving, and while stupid I have to say its pretty awesome. Such things as jumping out of your car to hop onto other cars and nick them. One hand over the roof shooting out tires and a button to ram your car into other vehicles in different directions. Stupid but fun. There's also a way to hold your door open and whack unsuspecting pedestrians with it in the course of your duties as a Police Officer. heh heh heh.
Guns and Gunplay:
Guns are in inetersting topic as far as Sleeping Dogs is concerned. Firearms are more prolific later on in the story line and only really used when NPC enemies are going to have them. This is either because the developers wanted to keep the combat focused on melee, or they tried to introduce the retarded political agenda demonstration of "guns are hard to get cuz their banned" Well yes, the majority of firearms are illegal to posses in Hong Kong, however, that doesn't stop criminals getting them at all. Like most places in the world there is a very developed and active black market trade for guns in Hong Kong and this is one fact that is missing from Sleeping Dogs. Missing to the point of non-existence.
There is literally no way of buying an illegal gun in Sleeping Dogs, the only times you get them is when they're lying on the fucking ground, stealing one from the police or a police car, stored in a lock box, or given to you by one of the characters in the game."Guns are somewhat of a rarity in Hong Kong." One of the characters states, however, they only seem to be a rarity to you. I know the game isn't supposed to be realistic, but honestly having an open world crime game without a black market arms trade is just kinda lame. It would have been better to have a black market arms dealer skulking around rather than either getting one gifted to you thirty seconds before you need it, or just finding one on the ground right before you need it.(the latter is especially prevalent in free roam) Also sometimes you're not even given a firearm you just hop on your bike or get in your car and the random ass 9mm MP7 looking thing appears. Then again nicking guns from the police is much cheaper, and frees up your disposable tax-free income to buy shitty suits you can't wear yet.
"Guns are somewhat of a rarity in Hong Kong" BUT HAY DERS ONE LYING ON THE FUCKING GROUND! Because, they're rare.
What guns are featured? None quite frankly. The developers didn't go for licensing and didn't just blatantly nick models from real firearms. You're probably thinking this pissed me off, but actually it didn't. It was nice to see someone use some imagination for once, and lets face it, when devs decide to blatantly model guns from real firearms, you get all sorts of retarded names and calibers...they might as well have just made the guns up themselves. Some guns do resemble actual firearms, theres one that looks like an MP7, UMP and also another sub machine gun that looks like a 7.62x25mm sub-gun that the Chinese Police use but the developers didn't go out of their way to throw realistic looking firearms at us. As seen in the above picture ^. Official word from Norinco: "Pissed!" I'm sure they thought it was going to be like Kayne and Lynch 2, a giant advertising showcase for Norinco.
Gunplay is fun but honestly is just a congealing of combat from other games, cover shooting and bullet time is really what it focuses on and the bullet time can only be triggered while doing action movie stunts and pretty much makes the shooting sequences really easy. They also put an emphasis on tactical lights, many of the guns in the game have them and they come in handy in a few of the levels.
Melee Combat:
Melee combat is really the bread and butter of Sleeping Dogs, you will lay a lot of ass beatings and said beatings are quite fun to carry out. There are a few melee weapons you can smack people around with and a handful of environmental pwnage options, such as windows, payphones, security shutters, window fans, roof-top air conditioners and some others. The combat focuses heavily on countering and you will encounter three types of enemies. One which are basically mobile punching bags, if they attack you can can quickly punch them to stop the attack, or use the counter system. You can grab them at any time and smack them into the world object of your choosing. Two the brawler who's attacks can't be interrupted by a quick punch, so you need to use a counter, then proceed to beat the crap out of them afterwords. And three, the pain in the ass sumo wrestler wannabe grappler, this dick has to be countered and hit with heavy attacks, don't get to close just try and heavy kick him in the face until he pisses off.
Problems:
Ranking system, specifically the "Face" In addition to your Cop and Triad levels, you have your face level, this is leveled up through doing favours for people such as making deliveries, distracting the jolly policemen during someone's nefarious dealings, removing a drunken ass from an establishment and just doing other stupid shit. Your face level does help you in combat, once you fill the meter your health regenerates, but over all is just a pain in the ass since to wear ceritan suits or buy certian cars you need a corresponding face level to acquire them. By the way, going for a wank at your local massage parlour gives you a full face meter for your next ass-beating segment. Remeber, always get fapped before going into battle.
Free Roam activities are very very very repetitive. Theres races, drug busts, truck hi-jackings and stuff to collect, but after the third time, each of these activities seems repetitive. They also nicked the mini games from GTA China town wars, which is kinda fun and beats just pushing an action button, but like in GTA China Town Wars it gets old quickly.
The animations are little bit out there, and on many occasional s break the visual flow of whats going on. For example, the melee combat is heavily focused on countering, and while many of the counters are nice spectacles, it is actually rare for them to match up precisely. This means that when Wei counters an attack, more often than not, either Wei himself or the attacker teleport a few feet around and then the ass-kick is laid.
Audio was at many times not synchronized. This started with the occasional lip syncing error and got the point where you'd fire a gun and a second later hear the shot. This really took away from the game, not to mention was a pain in the ass during gunfights since someone could shoot a burst into you and you wouldn't hear any visual que until Wei was dead.
Conclusion:
Over all, Sleeping Dogs is a fun game, but there are some pains in the ass. I wouldn't really reccomend the game at full price, either rent it or grab it when it comes down. You'll have fun, but it will wear off...or maybe my face meter is just low and I just need to visit the local massage parlour.
The two I've recently played through are Sleeping Dogs for the PS3 and Tales of Abyss for the 3DS
I'll start with Sleeping Dogs for the PS3:
The Story:
Sleeping dogs follows the story of Hong Kong native Wei Shen. Shen and his family moved to the States when he was a child and eventually Wei became a Police Officer with the SFPD, raising through the ranks quickly and becoming a detective. Through some miraculous under-cover exchange program, the young detective Shen returns to Hong Kong as an undercover officer for the HKPD, his job is to disrupt the Triad organization operating in his old neighborhood. Shen quickly hooks up with an old childhood friend and begins doing naughty things to gain their trust.
The story in Sleeping Dogs moves very quickly and while it does offer entertainment, unfortunately it is one of those games where things happen way too quickly and you're left in a position where you're supposed to feel bad for a character, but since there was very little development and face time you're kind of like "lol". Also the fast paced story doesn't offer much in way of explaining the infrastructure, mechanics and hierarchy of the Triad organizations. Okay, it's a video game not a lesson on organized crime, but still they present a lot of characters and terms that relate to the actual Triad organizations and players are just supposed to know what they are. Had I not studied organized crime in University, I probably wouldn't have had the faintest idea who some of the characters in the game represent. Which to some people can cause confusion and a "why should I give a shit about so-and-so?" feeling.
And as you no doubt have guessed, Wei starts questioning his actions given that he is an officer of the law and naturally his HKPD handler does the same, and there's the good old moral dilemma of being gangsta and po-po at the same time.
Perrty Grafixs:
Visually, Sleeping Dogs is fantastic, and even though the PC version of the game has an upgraded texture pack, the PS3 version still looks excellent. The draw distance was great especially for the amount of detail and once and while you'll find yourself simply starting at a building checking out the amount of little windows, air conditioners and other crap that are tacked on to them. Also there weren't too many pop in errors, which are a giant pain in the ass in open world games, not to mention
In addition the visuals really shine when the rain starts pouring down. Plenty of reflections and misty pretty colours make it an interesting game world during Hong Kong's fierce rain storms.
Driving:
The driving in Sleeping Dogs is very arcadey and little bit lame. It's nice and easy to pick up, but I prefer something that requires a little bit of skill building. Many other people really like the arcadey aspect of Sleeping Dog's driving but for me, it was a little bit lacking.
However, plenty of stupidness occurs while driving, and while stupid I have to say its pretty awesome. Such things as jumping out of your car to hop onto other cars and nick them. One hand over the roof shooting out tires and a button to ram your car into other vehicles in different directions. Stupid but fun. There's also a way to hold your door open and whack unsuspecting pedestrians with it in the course of your duties as a Police Officer. heh heh heh.
Guns and Gunplay:
Guns are in inetersting topic as far as Sleeping Dogs is concerned. Firearms are more prolific later on in the story line and only really used when NPC enemies are going to have them. This is either because the developers wanted to keep the combat focused on melee, or they tried to introduce the retarded political agenda demonstration of "guns are hard to get cuz their banned" Well yes, the majority of firearms are illegal to posses in Hong Kong, however, that doesn't stop criminals getting them at all. Like most places in the world there is a very developed and active black market trade for guns in Hong Kong and this is one fact that is missing from Sleeping Dogs. Missing to the point of non-existence.
There is literally no way of buying an illegal gun in Sleeping Dogs, the only times you get them is when they're lying on the fucking ground, stealing one from the police or a police car, stored in a lock box, or given to you by one of the characters in the game."Guns are somewhat of a rarity in Hong Kong." One of the characters states, however, they only seem to be a rarity to you. I know the game isn't supposed to be realistic, but honestly having an open world crime game without a black market arms trade is just kinda lame. It would have been better to have a black market arms dealer skulking around rather than either getting one gifted to you thirty seconds before you need it, or just finding one on the ground right before you need it.(the latter is especially prevalent in free roam) Also sometimes you're not even given a firearm you just hop on your bike or get in your car and the random ass 9mm MP7 looking thing appears. Then again nicking guns from the police is much cheaper, and frees up your disposable tax-free income to buy shitty suits you can't wear yet.
What guns are featured? None quite frankly. The developers didn't go for licensing and didn't just blatantly nick models from real firearms. You're probably thinking this pissed me off, but actually it didn't. It was nice to see someone use some imagination for once, and lets face it, when devs decide to blatantly model guns from real firearms, you get all sorts of retarded names and calibers...they might as well have just made the guns up themselves. Some guns do resemble actual firearms, theres one that looks like an MP7, UMP and also another sub machine gun that looks like a 7.62x25mm sub-gun that the Chinese Police use but the developers didn't go out of their way to throw realistic looking firearms at us. As seen in the above picture ^. Official word from Norinco: "Pissed!" I'm sure they thought it was going to be like Kayne and Lynch 2, a giant advertising showcase for Norinco.
Gunplay is fun but honestly is just a congealing of combat from other games, cover shooting and bullet time is really what it focuses on and the bullet time can only be triggered while doing action movie stunts and pretty much makes the shooting sequences really easy. They also put an emphasis on tactical lights, many of the guns in the game have them and they come in handy in a few of the levels.
Melee Combat:
Melee combat is really the bread and butter of Sleeping Dogs, you will lay a lot of ass beatings and said beatings are quite fun to carry out. There are a few melee weapons you can smack people around with and a handful of environmental pwnage options, such as windows, payphones, security shutters, window fans, roof-top air conditioners and some others. The combat focuses heavily on countering and you will encounter three types of enemies. One which are basically mobile punching bags, if they attack you can can quickly punch them to stop the attack, or use the counter system. You can grab them at any time and smack them into the world object of your choosing. Two the brawler who's attacks can't be interrupted by a quick punch, so you need to use a counter, then proceed to beat the crap out of them afterwords. And three, the pain in the ass sumo wrestler wannabe grappler, this dick has to be countered and hit with heavy attacks, don't get to close just try and heavy kick him in the face until he pisses off.
Problems:
Ranking system, specifically the "Face" In addition to your Cop and Triad levels, you have your face level, this is leveled up through doing favours for people such as making deliveries, distracting the jolly policemen during someone's nefarious dealings, removing a drunken ass from an establishment and just doing other stupid shit. Your face level does help you in combat, once you fill the meter your health regenerates, but over all is just a pain in the ass since to wear ceritan suits or buy certian cars you need a corresponding face level to acquire them. By the way, going for a wank at your local massage parlour gives you a full face meter for your next ass-beating segment. Remeber, always get fapped before going into battle.
Free Roam activities are very very very repetitive. Theres races, drug busts, truck hi-jackings and stuff to collect, but after the third time, each of these activities seems repetitive. They also nicked the mini games from GTA China town wars, which is kinda fun and beats just pushing an action button, but like in GTA China Town Wars it gets old quickly.
The animations are little bit out there, and on many occasional s break the visual flow of whats going on. For example, the melee combat is heavily focused on countering, and while many of the counters are nice spectacles, it is actually rare for them to match up precisely. This means that when Wei counters an attack, more often than not, either Wei himself or the attacker teleport a few feet around and then the ass-kick is laid.
Audio was at many times not synchronized. This started with the occasional lip syncing error and got the point where you'd fire a gun and a second later hear the shot. This really took away from the game, not to mention was a pain in the ass during gunfights since someone could shoot a burst into you and you wouldn't hear any visual que until Wei was dead.
Conclusion:
Over all, Sleeping Dogs is a fun game, but there are some pains in the ass. I wouldn't really reccomend the game at full price, either rent it or grab it when it comes down. You'll have fun, but it will wear off...or maybe my face meter is just low and I just need to visit the local massage parlour.
New Shooter Gripe #1 "I want to get into shooting but it's too expensive."
Since people in my age group are heading to their mid 20's there seems to have been an explosion of questions landing at my feet about shooting. It seems many people I know have decided that they want to spend their free time doing something new and for many of them, shooting looks to be a possible choice hobby.
Their number one problem is that it's expensive. Yes, shooting is a very expensive sport. However, like other sports it is very enjoyable and rewarding. The problem with someone wanting to get into shooting is they typically have no idea what direction they want to go in. Most people's exposure to firearms is through popular media, and as such their ideals of what type of gun they want are skewed into one category: absolutely and colossally fucking expensive. Upon realizing that the ACR they want is $2700 dollars, they give up and then spend $350 every week drinking, rather than perhaps saving it up....
Seriously what sport or hobby is not expensive? The really funny thing about this is many of the people who gripe about shooting being to expensive have an iPhone, which they pay $150 per month for, which annually equates to $1800, they have an Xbox, PS3, a $1400 gaming rig, but, $500-$600 is far too much to get started in shooting. Now I'm not a communist, my point isn't that they shouldn't have those phones, or gaming computers and consoles or what not, my point is someone is willing to spend more than 3 grand alone on their video gaming equipment, yet at the same time, buying a properly crafted firearm is too expensive for them. Let me break it down like this:
Firearms have to be:
Made of quality materials to stand up to the recoil and other stresses, such as idiots dropping them, extreme weather conditions, and constant and continuous firing also years of use providing proper maintenance is kept up.
They have to launch bullets reliably and accurately.
Many of them have to be worked over by a trained and well paid gunsmith.
They have a billion contradicting and asinine laws that they have to be manufactured, shipped, stored, and sold around.
And they have to work reliably to the point where you can bet your life on them.
You know, with all those things considered, $600 doesn't seem bad for a quality produced firearm, such as a Glock 17.
As a counter argument, I'm going to be honest, if you're into gaming, you will get a hell of a lot more time behind your $1400 gaming rig rather than your Glock 17. Your gaming computer will probably be used daily where as your 9mm will be used when you can get out to the range. So I can understand why dedicating $600 dollars to something you'll only use here and there is hard. But the fact remains you want to go shooting, you want to get into shooting and you want your own Glock 17. I'm sorry to say but you might have to not piss $350 away drinking for two weeks and use it to break into a new hobby.
Another point is that your gaming rig which cost you $1400 dollars will be a lump of shit within 5 years. I know this all to well, because I'm writing this on a 5 year old gaming rig. That Glock 17 which you bought for $600, providing you properly take care of it could easily last 25 years plus. If your kids are into shooting they could use it, if your grand kids are into shooting, they could use it. Were talking about something that could pass between three generations of your family, as opposed to that gaming rig you bought 25 years ago, which has been long since bent and contorted in your local landfill.
Lets face it, ACRs are really cool rifles, if I get a chance to shoot one at the range I'll definitely take it. It would probably make me want an ACR, but is that going to some how "ruin" my experience and enjoyment with the other guns I own? I doubt it. I might not own something as cool as an ACR, but I can have just as much fun with something that I do own. My point being, you don't need a $2700 firearm to enjoy shooting, you need one that you can afford to own and shoot and have fun with.
So what would I recommend?
Well for a new shooter the Ruger 10/22 is an excellent choice. They fire the economical .22lr cartridge and there are a wide variety of accessories available, giving you the ability to customize the rifle to your needs.For the basic rifle you're looking at about $250.
Here are some examples:
A stock 10/22 Sporter model.
A customized 10/22 built for competitive shooting.
From hical.ca make sure to check their store out if you're Canadian.
The three above are "tactical" style stocks for the 10/22, from these few pictures you can see how the 10/22 is easily aesthetically transformed to your liking. Not to mention the mechanical upgrades to make the rifle more accurate and easy to use including different bolt handles and releases, triggers, trigger groups, and of course, target barrels.
The 10/22 is a truly amazing gun just for the fact that you can constantly modify them to fit your needs. You can literally change a 10/22 from one philosophy of use to the other for years to come. This is made all the more easy given the simple and easy to upgrade design.
Want something bigger than a .22?
Well the SKS is a good choice. Up here in Canada a Russian surplus SKS goes for about $200 and they fire the cheap and plentiful 7.62x39mm cartridge.
Heres a quick cellphone snap of mine as it is right now:
I used to run the Tapco intrafuse stock and despite the haters, I enjoyed it quite a bit. (btw, I didn't fire it with the laser and light on it, just put them on for the pictures, because tactical ;)
Those are two great starter rifles, I'll probably make a separate post on pistols for a beginner. But those two rifles are great options for a first gun. Much like the 10/22 there are a lot of upgrades on the market for the SKS rifle, not to the same extent as the 10/22 but you should be able to find a stock and some upgrade parts for the SKS to your liking, and if you can't, there's nothing wrong with running an SKS as is.
Their number one problem is that it's expensive. Yes, shooting is a very expensive sport. However, like other sports it is very enjoyable and rewarding. The problem with someone wanting to get into shooting is they typically have no idea what direction they want to go in. Most people's exposure to firearms is through popular media, and as such their ideals of what type of gun they want are skewed into one category: absolutely and colossally fucking expensive. Upon realizing that the ACR they want is $2700 dollars, they give up and then spend $350 every week drinking, rather than perhaps saving it up....
Seriously what sport or hobby is not expensive? The really funny thing about this is many of the people who gripe about shooting being to expensive have an iPhone, which they pay $150 per month for, which annually equates to $1800, they have an Xbox, PS3, a $1400 gaming rig, but, $500-$600 is far too much to get started in shooting. Now I'm not a communist, my point isn't that they shouldn't have those phones, or gaming computers and consoles or what not, my point is someone is willing to spend more than 3 grand alone on their video gaming equipment, yet at the same time, buying a properly crafted firearm is too expensive for them. Let me break it down like this:
Firearms have to be:
Made of quality materials to stand up to the recoil and other stresses, such as idiots dropping them, extreme weather conditions, and constant and continuous firing also years of use providing proper maintenance is kept up.
They have to launch bullets reliably and accurately.
Many of them have to be worked over by a trained and well paid gunsmith.
They have a billion contradicting and asinine laws that they have to be manufactured, shipped, stored, and sold around.
And they have to work reliably to the point where you can bet your life on them.
You know, with all those things considered, $600 doesn't seem bad for a quality produced firearm, such as a Glock 17.
As a counter argument, I'm going to be honest, if you're into gaming, you will get a hell of a lot more time behind your $1400 gaming rig rather than your Glock 17. Your gaming computer will probably be used daily where as your 9mm will be used when you can get out to the range. So I can understand why dedicating $600 dollars to something you'll only use here and there is hard. But the fact remains you want to go shooting, you want to get into shooting and you want your own Glock 17. I'm sorry to say but you might have to not piss $350 away drinking for two weeks and use it to break into a new hobby.
Another point is that your gaming rig which cost you $1400 dollars will be a lump of shit within 5 years. I know this all to well, because I'm writing this on a 5 year old gaming rig. That Glock 17 which you bought for $600, providing you properly take care of it could easily last 25 years plus. If your kids are into shooting they could use it, if your grand kids are into shooting, they could use it. Were talking about something that could pass between three generations of your family, as opposed to that gaming rig you bought 25 years ago, which has been long since bent and contorted in your local landfill.
Lets face it, ACRs are really cool rifles, if I get a chance to shoot one at the range I'll definitely take it. It would probably make me want an ACR, but is that going to some how "ruin" my experience and enjoyment with the other guns I own? I doubt it. I might not own something as cool as an ACR, but I can have just as much fun with something that I do own. My point being, you don't need a $2700 firearm to enjoy shooting, you need one that you can afford to own and shoot and have fun with.
So what would I recommend?
Well for a new shooter the Ruger 10/22 is an excellent choice. They fire the economical .22lr cartridge and there are a wide variety of accessories available, giving you the ability to customize the rifle to your needs.For the basic rifle you're looking at about $250.
Here are some examples:
The 10/22 is a truly amazing gun just for the fact that you can constantly modify them to fit your needs. You can literally change a 10/22 from one philosophy of use to the other for years to come. This is made all the more easy given the simple and easy to upgrade design.
Want something bigger than a .22?
Well the SKS is a good choice. Up here in Canada a Russian surplus SKS goes for about $200 and they fire the cheap and plentiful 7.62x39mm cartridge.
Heres a quick cellphone snap of mine as it is right now:
Those are two great starter rifles, I'll probably make a separate post on pistols for a beginner. But those two rifles are great options for a first gun. Much like the 10/22 there are a lot of upgrades on the market for the SKS rifle, not to the same extent as the 10/22 but you should be able to find a stock and some upgrade parts for the SKS to your liking, and if you can't, there's nothing wrong with running an SKS as is.
What can I say, I fail at the interent.
Alright so those who have stumbled upon my blog in past and present will notice my last post was April 2010, when I said I would try my best to get more and more posts written.....yep, now its two years past and I haven't done any.
There are a number of reasons for this: For one, over the last couple years I've been trying to use the internet less and less because of the extraordinary amounts of absolute fucking stupidity that the internet stands for these days.
Two, as I said in my previous post over two years ago, the fact is unless you write a blog like:
"ZOMG SUM BITCH ON TV IS GETTAIN MARRIED TO SUM ASSHOLE & LIK I WISH IT WAS ME IM 17.
Witting a blog is actually an involved process, and considering I care about how my posts turn out, its not really something I can just do on my cellphone at the bus stop; also this is because I'm an adult and I fucking drive.
Anyway enough bitching on my part, I'm going to try and get the blog rolling again. I'd like to thank the few friends I've made with this blog so far for keeping in touch and encouraging me to get back into it.
There are a number of reasons for this: For one, over the last couple years I've been trying to use the internet less and less because of the extraordinary amounts of absolute fucking stupidity that the internet stands for these days.
Two, as I said in my previous post over two years ago, the fact is unless you write a blog like:
"ZOMG SUM BITCH ON TV IS GETTAIN MARRIED TO SUM ASSHOLE & LIK I WISH IT WAS ME IM 17.
Witting a blog is actually an involved process, and considering I care about how my posts turn out, its not really something I can just do on my cellphone at the bus stop; also this is because I'm an adult and I fucking drive.
Anyway enough bitching on my part, I'm going to try and get the blog rolling again. I'd like to thank the few friends I've made with this blog so far for keeping in touch and encouraging me to get back into it.
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