What is too tacticool?

Recently...

Retired LEO is shooting at 50 yards with his Model 19, dumps cylinder, speed loads repeats this thrice...draws J frame weak side and one ragged hole at 7 yds on a playing card.

Tack-Tickle shooter with some kind of something mounted under the optics...well I have seen better groups from shotgun patterns.

This was before slamming his gonads with the Octopus Sling.

LEO granddaughter's just had to comment "that kind of stuff don't happen to me"
<squeaky voice> "you are a girl".

"That is true, but I still know how to shoot. "

I still get grins watching a lady shuck and shoot a bone stock pump gun with slugs taking head shots , then transitions to 50 yards like her granddaddy did with a Model 19. Then repeats the J frame weak handed.

She cannot wait to be a Jr in HS come fall...
"Just two more years of Private School then College!"


Me? I was busy. Someone has to watch the Pickle Jar making Sun Tea.

I mean the Erronet says you cannot hit steels at 40 yards with Keltec P-11...
Tack-Tickle darn near busted his carbingers seeing me doing that...

My job is to watch the Sun Tea being made....honest.

Those who doubt the purpose of a good ghillie suit have never seen them in action.

A few years back I was at my local paintball field when a guy showed up, apparantly an EMT out on his day off (never did find out if he spent time in the military). Dude comes out with nothing but a ghillie suit, and rents a set of low-end gear. Think the accuracy of a .40 S&W fired from a .45 ACP chamber, and then mix that with the reliability of a Lorcin. For the good fortune of my own hide, he wound up on the same team as I.

Even now, I get that warm tingly feeling thinking about those hapless enemy players, who thought they were doing great as they moved up the field, dove for cover, popped up to return fire, and were shot by the bush they were hiding behind. Remember: cover may be better than concealment, but anything is better than finding out the hard way that your "cover" has a gun.

Too tacticool is when someone has way more toys and money than skill.

Great thread! I love it all, and I can't wait to move to NE Florida in 2 weeks, so I can finally pick up a CCW and start wearing my 5.11 pants and vest everywhere! (Just kidding. Sort of.)

Seriously, there is room at the range and in the gravel pit for all of us, from jeans and a t-shirt to ghillie suits.....as long as you practice gun safety. I don't care how tacticool you are, just don't sweep me with that muzzle!

i frequently wear a camo kilt
around the studio
(hey, it's hot here)
and i do own a pair of camo bdu's.

occasionally, i strap the 9mm
to which ever of those i'm wearing.
(but only in the studio).

that 870 is hanging just m from here...

at "the" range,
(we've got several here),
i'm wearing jeans or carhartts,
with a baseball cap and some sunglasses.
nothing too conspicuous,
let alone tact i cool.

yet, strangely,
i refuse to wear
a pair of those 4" spikes,
even if I'm "hard to get".

(But not for my gf... )

Happy 4th.

Well tacticool is anyone or thing I decide is over the top.
Seriously, though I can see a very good reason to wear a ghillie to the range and that is if you're going on a hunt where you might want to use it, wouldn't it be better to give it a live-fire drill at the range and dicover the bugs & kinks there rather than discover it binds up your left arm ( or whatever) as that buck comes out of the brush. I have worn all sorts of junk at the range before hunts or backpacking trips
I have shot with a loaded backpack on my back at the range and that simply is because I'd rather make my mistakes there than when it really matters. Yes, there are plenty of posers at the range, but before you make the determination that the guy is an idiot, it might be worth your time to ask him why he is wearing that ( fill in the blank) that you find so ridiculous.

Someone on here recently posted a pic of a muzzle-loader with Aimpoint, vertical grip, CAR stock, and a Surefire. I'd have to say that is too Tacti-cool.

Hmm, could it be getting dressed in this getup and loaded for zombie to sit around the apartment and watch tv?

Tacticool (combat/camo etc..) is banned at both of the clubs I belong to.
Everyone's told that from the get-go, so,
If you're a member and you turn up like that, they'll ask you to go home and change, if you're a newbie.... you'll kindly be asked not to return......EVER.

Tacticool should be the sole reserve of the individual who dresses up, looks in the mirror, smiles and then takes it all off again, praying to be asked to a fancy dress party, so they can put it on for 'real'

The tactical baclava.

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I MUST make a correction here. I think that you mean "balaclava" here.

"Baclava" is a delicious Middle Eastern or Mediterranean dessert made of pastry and nuts and honey whereas a "balaclava" is a covering for the head and face.

While I wouldn't put it past some company to market a "tactical" dessert, I don't think that anyone is covering their head with baclava at this time...

Twycross said:

You have become too tacticool when you:

- Have doubled the loaded weight of your firearm with accessories.

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*whiney voice*
It's not my faaaaault.

Seriously, you don't argue with a SGM when you tells you that you WILL have an ACOG, PAQ-4, tac light, 203, and PSQ-18A on your M-16. You just go "Roger, Sargeant Major." The ACOG is pretty cool though.

Diamondback6 said:

Full BDU dress and carry yourself like an 11B or 0311 without being one=too tacticool. (Wearin' 'em 'cause you just like all the extra pockets is OK, though. But that's why some of us have two chest pockets with buttons on our shirts, WWII uniform style...)

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Yeah, all the 11Bs I know are stripping out of uniform as fast as they can at the end of the day. So seeing someone in full BDUs (unless they are wearing a beret w/ a unit crest) is probably a give away.

The pockets are nice though. I hacked down a pair of BDU pants to make some cargo shorts and they're comfortable as all get out too.




That post "You Know You're Too Hooah When" is HILARIOUS. Anyone who has ever been in the military (esp the Army) can appreciate that.

Stiletto Null said:

I could see having lights and stuff on the end of a rifle if you intend to have them on there for other duties, just for the sake of muscle memory. A half-pound flashlight at the end of a two-foot lever arm makes a difference in handling behavior.

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I absolutely agree with that. I mentioned about what my M-16 looks like. All that stuff makes a huge difference. It's a pain, but if I'm going to get stuck with it, I train with it. Including stuff like ready ups (CQM) which wears you OUT after a while. Though I'll confess to leaving my PSQ-18 behind whenever I can get away with it.

HAROLD MAYO - ""Baclava" is a delicious Middle Eastern or Mediterranean dessert made of pastry and nuts and honey whereas a "balaclava" is a covering for the head and face."



Everyone knows that "Tactical Baclava," has a large scoop of Baskin Robbins French Vanilla ice cream, and a half cup of chocolate syrup poured over it. Every Special Forces and SEAL operator I've known, eats that with their tactical spoons.

L.W.

"Baclava" is a delicious Middle Eastern or Mediterranean dessert...

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As long as we're correcting here...

It's baklava.

While I wouldn't put it past some company to market a "tactical" dessert, I don't think that anyone is covering their head with baclava at this time...

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Actually, although I don't think he's marketing it as tactical dessert, our host Oleg Volk does do some photography of desserts. You'll find a few on these pages.

Maybe he can come up with an image of tactical baklava.

Nem

I've seen it spelled "baclava" before. Proper Greek spelling is "baklava", of course.

Baklava?
Thats a halvah thing to say.

I agree with one of the first posts...

Tacticool is when you're adding things to a weapon that have no practical real-world use. When you add something because it "looks cool" or you just like it, not that you actually use it.

People add all sorts of junk to their AR-15 rifles that they will never use, or they add them for aesthetical purposes. That is basically tacticool.

I'm the opposite. I want the rifle as simple as possible and as light as possible. I only want that which I will use on the rifle. Anything more is waste, extra weight, extra bulk, extra potential for failure or problems.

One of the funniest bits of tacticool kit is the sling. Watching someone wallow around with a poorly fitted or improperly mounted 3-point sling is endlessly amusing. I use a one-point sling on my personal AR. A guy showed up at my new local range here in OK with a single point on his AR and he was carrying it over one shoulder like luggage...to each his own I suppose.

Leanwolf said:

Everyone knows that "Tactical Baclava," has a large scoop of Baskin Robbins French Vanilla ice cream, and a half cup of chocolate syrup poured over it. Every Special Forces and SEAL operator I've known, eats that with their tactical spoons.

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You're behind the times. Titanium sporks are a dozen times more tactical than spoons.

Seriously, there is room at the range and in the gravel pit for all of us, from jeans and a t-shirt to ghillie suits.....as long as you practice gun safety. I don't care how tacticool you are, just don't sweep me with that muzzle

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Now thats the kind of attitude we need to see more often!

Tacticool (combat/camo etc..) is banned at both of the clubs I belong to.
Everyone's told that from the get-go, so,
If you're a member and you turn up like that, they'll ask you to go home and change, if you're a newbie.... you'll kindly be asked not to return......EVER.

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I find that sad, I wouldn't want to belong to those clubs any way, turning people away is wrong all shooters who are safe should be accepted as fellow RKBA supporters, that is what we all want isn't it MORE shooters?
I think I would not get along with those people at your clubs and would have to find other places to shoot.

You know some of those "Tacticool" guys are some of the nicest people you will meet! Sure they might be a little full of them selves but they usualy don't disparage others for being too "boreing" or "un- tactical" well at least not the ones I know.


-DR

This...

http://www.extremeshockusa.com/

This one has been mentioned on THR before-- always makes me laugh. Even if the ammo is good-- which I tend to doubt-- that over-the-top website would probably not appeal to many non-Mall Ninjas. They even have tactical muzzle loading bullets!

Deathrider: Seriously, what kind of gun club enforces a no-cammie "dress code?" Not my kind of place!

I don't care if folks show up dressed as "reenactors," of any war they like. Gun safety is what counts, not how a shooter dresses.

So I cant show up in uniform....

Speaking of Extreme Shock(TM) - Box O' Truth recently did a test on their ammo.

Travis McGee said:

I don't care if folks show up dressed as "reenactors," of any war they like. Gun safety is what counts, not how a shooter dresses.

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Exactly the kind of person I would enjoy a good range trip with. I don't care if they look like uber ninjas or bubba, as long as you don't clear anyone with your muzzle or do anything unsafe (and stay off my back while I do the same) I would enjoy range time with you!


-DR

Imagine, if you will:

Tall Indian guy in British 18th century garb (Red coat, tights, bandoliers, the works) firing off a tricked-up/-out AR.

Jarring, huh?