Tacticool vs Practical

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Aaryq

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Howdy folks. After a very humorous read about Rambo with his magical shotgun that had a million dollars into it and no shots out, it got me thinking. We've talked about what is tacticool and what is actually practical. The general concensus is that if it hinders you in any way and/or if it's on there only for cosmetic reasons, it's tacticool. That was beaten to death already. I'm curious about what you have put on a gun and figured out that it didn't work. What didn't work about it, why didn't you like it, and what in your opinion should someone never put on a gun?
 
Every gun I own is bone stock except for updated internals (springs/guide rod/trigger work) or the addition of a scope. I've never had the least bit of desire to install any type of tactitrash on my guns.
 
I deam anything extra on any of my rifles practical...Even the flashlight on my AR looks tactical, but if someone broke in my house in the middle of the night, tactical becomes practical.
 
I had a scout scope on a pistol-caliber lever action--actually, I switched it between a couple of them in different calibers--before I decided it just gave up too much of the sweet handling of a levergun and offered too little gain in the 125 yards or so these guns were really good for. So, off it went, and I'm back to peeps on both. Scout scope now happily embellishes a Rem 700, where it looks right at home and fits the purpose of its host more betterer.

Oh, yeah, another one: decided I like factory, 10rd ruger 10/22 mags better than a bananamag that hangs down like some kind of distended....something-or-other.
 
I decided to go practical/tactical and went to a Glock 34, the only additional thing I have felt the need to add is a rail mounted light. I'm anything but a "Tacticool" person, the Glock is my only centerfire semi-auto and most of my other guns are single actions. I wanted one gun for possible shtf so decided to go a little to the dark side but still can't bring myself to go overboard.

Additions to guns are fine, but if it's a gun you may need to count on in the worst circumstances then you better test it pretty darn thorough.
 
um, i have a very practical ar, it has an eotech, back up iron sights, tango down vertical fore grip, surefire flashlight, laser (practical for night shooting... shut up) and bi pod that is there now but not always, badger tac latch, magpul MIAD, and an ACE skel stock.

i consider everything on it practical, stock is light weight and more comfortable, MIAD is more comfortable, tac latch is easier to charge when i have my leupold 3-9x40 on, laser is zeroed at 7 yrds (for off the hip hostage situation shots :cool:), flashlight for the dark, vertical fore grip for better control and more comfort, eotech because its faster than irons for me, back up irons cause stuff breaks, and a bi pod because i dont like sand bags.

i think however most people would still consider it "teh tacticool koolaid rifel"
but i think that ALL the parts i add have a purpose. and i also think that nobody should care what someone adds to thier weapon, i mean come on whats next, critacizing underwear selection? if people want to buy "wierd" accessories thats thier perogative!
-Leo
 
I am a fan of lights mounted on my guns, I think the crimson trace grips for handguns are excellent.

I cant stomach any firearm I see with several feet of rails stamped on it.
 
My opinion: If it's there just for looks then it's tacticool, if it actually serves a purpose then it practical.

For instance: Flashlights. When I was young I mounted a flashlight to my Mossberg but then soon discovered that if I needed the flashlight it was stuck to my gun and would have to violate #3 to use it!
I don't need a light mounted to my pistol and find it awkward. If I am going to search my house then I will carry a flashlight with me and be careful where I use it knowing full well that it will give away my position. Does a SWAT team need flashlights mounted to their guns? Maybe, and in their case it would be practical.
 
if i wake up to burglar noise, i'm not going to turn on any lights. i'll rely on my night vision, because it will be better than his (after about 30 mins of darkness, a human's light sensitivity is on the order of an owl's).

but lights do have their uses. if i hit a spot i can't see, that's what momentary switches are for. you also need to close your aiming eye when scanning using a light. don't leave it on as some have stated, because that makes you a target.

lasers are useful. holo red dot sights are useful. anything that helps you locate and ID the bad guy and put lead on target faster is practical. a bipod is practical if you are shooting at range with a long barrel and a scope. all these things are useful if you train and become proficient with them.

now, slapping a bipod and a long scope on a P90 puts you into mall ninja territory. IR lasers when you have no NVG's will put you there too.
 
I have resisted the temptation

so far, to put all kinds of toys on my guns. When it comes to handguns for self defense, in my case Glocks, I use the KISS principle. I don't want all kinds of toys hanging off of it getting in the way. The only "extra" that I have on them are night sights. I have thought of buying a rail light to put on it for home defense at night but just haven't done it yet. I really would like to have a Laser-Max installed in one of my Glocks because I do think they are practical for night shooting and the Lasermax is the least obtrusive and the most reliable.

When it comes to my defensive rifles I chose the AR-15. I have two of them and currently they are set up quite differently allthough they are both quite basic. The one that sits in closet wears only iron sights. It has a Mark Brown custom rear that I can easily mount a scope to, and a flip up front sight. The stock is an Ace skeleton and it has single point sling attached. I like this stock because it rock solid, looks nice and can be used as an impact weapon. The handguard is the knurled aluminum free float tube type, no multiple rail system here. I keep one 30 round mag in it thats all. The other rifle is a 20" bull barreled gun that wears a 6.5x20 Nikon Monarch. I will probably get a second lighter upper for this one in the near future and it too will probably be pretty basic though I might put a Eotech on that one.

Right now I have 3 shotguns that could easily fill the role of home defense and they are all pumps. Two of them are slicked up Norinco 97s and hold five rounds. The are real basic with the standard bead but these are the guns that I most familiar with and would have no problem using either one of them. The other gun that I have right now is a Mossberg 590 with a 9 round tube and ghost ring sights. I really like the sights, especially when it comes to using slugs. At 35 yards I can rapidly empty the tube into a 10" circle with all rounds on target and most making one big hole. This gun also has a sling. I have no desire to hang flaslights or scopes off of any of my shotguns including this one.
 
I once put a cheapo red dot scope on my mossberg 500 with a side saddle mount, was really impractical, I used it to take a shot at a doe one year, missed by a wide margin. other than that, I've stayed pretty stock with all my guns other than my savage, but thats all class not tacticool at all.
 
The problem here is that none of you know why someone has put something on a weapon, so you just sit here in front of your computer and speculate and feel all superior to someone who has done something. My AR has a light on it. I don't use it for HD, I am not trying to be Joe policeman clearing everyone's house in the neighborhood of bad guys. I use it to hunt hogs, and I like have the ability to have an instant on light available to me withough using up one of my hands, or having someone in our hunting party without a gun because they are carrying the light.

I posted a similar question in another thread. Why do we on this board insist on making fun of other fellow shooters? DOes it make us feel superior to know that WE would NEVER put anything "tacticool" on OUR weapons. WE are the ONLY practical ones. I don't get it. Maybe it's time for me to stop reading this board. I see this attitude more and more here.
 
Jeez, I think you guys are getting a bit sensitive here. No-one has attacked or ridiculed anyone else for anything, at least not in this thread. The OP asked for people to share THEIR OWN experiences of 'accessory-itis' and THEIR OWN realizations that some particular gadget didn't work FOR THEM. Surely they can do that without implicitly attacking your weapons system, right? Haven't YOU ever tried a gizmo and found it to be more fluff than substance? That's all we're talking about here.
 
I hear ya Tx1911fan.

I've never seen a group under attack that is so willing to eat their own as gunowners. Its basically the same thing on that thread here about what people are wearing on a range, for crying out loud.

To each their own, I say. I wish we would spend more time worrying about ourselves and what WE are doing positive than spend all that time and energy to attack something that basically doesn't harm anyone and doesn't affect our lives one way or the other.

Frankly, any discussions like this are the product of people imagining hypothetical situations and how they'd want to deal with them or be set up for them. the arguements get weaker and weaker, and the hypotheticals get more elaborate.

Couple that with the fact that people seem to assume the entire world lives and functions exactly as they do as well as people's difficulty in seeing anything outside their own little bubble, and you get what you see.

I've got a couple attachments on my Vector AK underfolder that some here would probably call "Tacti-cool." It's got a light, a vertical forearm, and a laser. Frankly, the system works VERY well for me-- and has proved to be practical on more than one occassion:

1. At my hunting camp, where I am living until my house restoration is complete. At 2:30 AM, I hear a boat coming up the river. I dress to go investigate and grab the AK. Turns out two guys in a boat are in the process of using bolt-cutters to cut the cable on my father's boat on our peer. Being able to put a light on them while holding the rifle was nice. Having it instant on, insured that I blinded them by ruining their night vision. And well, the laser let a man with a bright light in his eyes KNOW that a gun WAS in fact trained on him -- dissuading him from being a cowboy. Say what you will, but a red dot on your chest has incredible pacifying qualities. Said boat thieves were arrested.

2. December 2006 I had to assist an officer in checking my home for the burgulars that broke into my home. Handling the rifle was a lot easier using the forward pistol grip, and the light was nice when we were not turning on lights ahead of us.


I've handled a myriad of firearms over my life-- having had the first gun put in my hands over 30 years ago. I have a decent idea of what works and what doesn't. I cited two situations above where the rifle served its purpose and felt MORE comfortable and controlable DUE to the modifications I added. That's not arm-chair quarterbacking, that is memory.

Could I have made do with something else? Sure. And I am glad I didn't have to. Its not fun trying to steady yourself on a floating peer, hold a rifle, hold a flashlight, and give instrucitons all at the same time otherwise.


For me, that Vector AK was designed to do exactly what I have cited. I wanted a decent, reliable, intermediate caliber rifle of a short length for Home and Property Defense situations. Makes perfect sense where I live.

Now I HATE carrying that thing just beating around on our property. For general "It may be handy to have a rifle" stuff like going into our wooded land to prepare for hunting season, I usually carry a basic Romanian G AK. I don't care if a 4 wheeler slings mud on it. I don't care if a branch scratches it. I do care that I know it will shoot if I need it to regardless of that mud or scratch.


I can go on. Different configurations have different purposes. Some work well for the intended purpose, and horribly for other purposes. Who really gives a crap as long as you know the firearms capabilities, and are familar with its usage?


-- John
 
The problem here is that none of you know why someone has put something on a weapon, so you just sit here in front of your computer and speculate and feel all superior to someone who has done something.
I posted a similar question in another thread. Why do we on this board insist on making fun of other fellow shooters? DOes it make us feel superior to know that WE would NEVER put anything "tacticool" on OUR weapons. WE are the ONLY practical ones. I don't get it. Maybe it's time for me to stop reading this board. I see this attitude more and more here.
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Dude, chill out!
The original post did not make fun of you and neither did I so don't include me in the "none of you". If you have the need to put a flashlight on your gun then it's practical.
 
hell, i'll admit it...

a while back my wife [then-fiance] and i bought two SKSs on the cheap. i have to admit i succumbed to the temptation of turning one into a cheap project rifle. nothing crazy...but it is definitely bubba'd out now. looking back on it, i wish i had just stopped with the tech site rear aperture, a non-permanent modification. replacing the stock and gas tube and cutting stuff off was just a quick way to ruin the aesthetics of a classic surplus rifle. it's practical in that the rifle is more user-friendly now, but i don't like the looks of it like i thought i would. fortunately, i made a point to not make even one single modification to the other one besides sharpening the bayonet to a razor edge.

and it'll stay that way!
 
I tried duct taping a flashlight to a purdy double barrel 12 bore shotgun.
It broke the flashlight somehow, and one of the batteries in the light leaked and formed some sort of crust with the casing of the light, and I could never get the battery back out of the light.

It was pretty nice having the light on the shotgun, though.
 
I bet I could convince Dave to allow me to post "Busted Hickory Axe Handle" as a Serious Shotgun...and I ain't gonna put a sling, light, sidesaddle, bayonet, heat shield, fuzzy dice or curb feelers on it, I promise. ;)
 
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ccw is tactical, everything else, just weighs.

Beyond that, you are playing GI Joe if you're a civilian, you are only helping a business owner send his kids to college for all practical purposes. May his kids be from America, please. However, 2nd amendment says, current political climate moving towards, nevermind. ;)

Buy as you wish, please go practical.
 
"...never put on a gun..." A pistol grip only on a shotgun. Followed closely by a folding stock. A bipod or a scope on any carbine or any milsurp that wasn't designed to take either, a synthetic stock on a milsurp.
"...after about 30 mins of darkness, a human's light sensitivity is on the order of an owl's..." Nonsense. Except for some Pygmy Owls, owls have about 100 times more sensitive at low light levels due to a reflective layer behind the retina, called the tapetum lucidum. Humans don't have that.
"...tried duct taping a flashlight to a purdy(sic) double barrel 12 bore shotgun..." You are foolin' with us aren't you?
 
I fail to see the use for a laser on a weapon. If you have enough light to see the target it seems you would have enough light to use the sights, if only in silhouette. If you can't see the target you don't know what your laser is hitting anyway.

I also don't understand the usefulness of a front vertical grip on a carbine. It doesn't seem like it would enhance accuracy or rapid pointing at all to me.
 
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