My Patrol Rifle

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j.wise

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Houston, Texas
I am a Police Officer for a mid-size suburb of Dallas. Not one of the affluent suburbs, but not a rat-hole either. My department issues Mini-14s (stainless Gov't models) with two 20rd mags to each officer. I am also authorized to carry a personally-owned rifle in my squad car, if I so choose. The department has some understandable guidelines for personally-owned rifles: 9mm to 30-30 (no .308), back-up irons must be "immediately" useable if an optic is also in place, etc...

I currently carry a Bushmaster XM-15E2S LEO rifle in addition to the Mini-14. I trust it far more, it is much more accurate, I have additional mags for it, and I have it set up better for my duty assignment (deep nights shift.) It is equipped with an Eotech, co-witnessed with BMAS flip-up iron sights. I have an M3 Illuminator attached to the picatinny gas block, Bushmaster 2-stage trigger installed, and it sports the lighter M4 profile barrel.

pic.php


I couldn't think of a better rifle for what I do than this one. I have played with many other rifles, but it is my strong belief that none other can touch my rifle.

Any dissenting views, or better choices? I have tried to top it, but am at a loss. Remember, I can't go up in caliber to .308, and the rifle must have iron sights immediately accessible.

For other LEOs, what do you carry (other than shotguns)?
 
You could be different and carry an AK-47. Criminals would know you mean bidness because, "AK-47 - The very best there is. When you absolutely positively gotta kill every mf'er in the room - Accept no substitutes."

Nice patrol rifle. I'd ditch the Mini-14 as well, or add some grip tape on the barrel and use it as a baseball bat. :D
 
+1 on the baseball bat sentiment:D

As for the "immediately available irons"...Do the flip ups qualify?? When i heard that "immediately available" caveat, i assumed fixed BUIS and standard front sight post....if you really wanted to split hairs on the meaning of "immediately".

Nice looking shooter by the way.
 
Needs an auto sear.
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Third round burst IMHO is not much better than single firing. Full auto on an EBR is usually just a good way of using up ammo way too quickly and unsafely unless you do a lot of training.



All and all, nice rifle. If you do a lot of night work, flashlights are handy. I personally don't like using them as they tend to give away one's position.

Be aware that AR15's with collapsing stocks do not make good blunt force weapons. If you keep to hit someone/something with it, you'll likely snap off the stock. Not sure how likely this is to be a problem with you.

I'm not a fan of 5.56mm ball ammo, but to each their own. You might want to keep an extra match grade upper handy with a scope on it.
 
You might want to keep an extra match grade upper handy with a scope on it.
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No THAT is probably the best argument I've seen in favor of an AR15 pattern rifle I've seen. Don't know why I never thought of it.

I was issued an M4A1 in the service (as well as M16A2s befoer that), and was underwhelmed. An AR15 would be more acceptable in a LE circumstance, especially if one were to keep both MOUT and a long-range-type upper as a package.
 
I've read three reports of the 2-stage Bushmaster triggers failing on AR15.com. Twice the gun was rendered inoperable and once the gun began to burst fire (not double). I can't imagine that any of those scenarios are desirable in a patrol rifle.

If you must have a match trigger on your patrol rifle, I'd strongly recommend an RRA 2-stage. The worst failure I've heard of with the RRA is it goes to a mushy single stage instead of a crisp 2-stage.

Dallas also has a strong shooters community. I would recommend trying some 3-gun shoots or other local get-togethers as it is a great place to see different types of gear and get a feel for whether that is something you might like or not. It is also a good place to sort your gear out and spot problems before they become a serious issue.

Bill Davison of Tac-Pro Shooting Center does some very high-quality training on the carbine and so does Tiger Valley. Chris Grollnek of ProTac Global occasionally comes through town as well and he is very skilled at teaching carbine.
 
I've heard the comments about the Bushy match trigger. I just got a RRA 2-stage for my Bushy 20" gov't, and it is very nice. The reset on the RRA trigger isn't anything to speak of, as compared to the Bushy trigger which is truly awesome.

However, tons of people say the AR platform is unreliable, underpowered, and plagued with all kinds of other problems. I haven't had any trouble with an AR platform or the Bushy trigger. So I think I'll stick with what I've got.

Master Blaster: I actually HAVE a bayonet, but it doesn't fit on the 16" rifle (only the 14.5".)

Unfortunately, all of the action shooting sports (3-gun, etc...) are held about an hour or so out of the metroplex. I would love to participate, but I can't justify driving so far and spending that much time away. I've got a one-month old at home, and time away from the fam is pretty hard to come by.

I keep my BUIS in the 'up' position while stowed, they were just folded down for the pic. However, I believe even in the 'down' position I would be ok per dept policy.

A match upper with scope would negate "BUIS immediately accessible". It would also be a bit overkill for my mission.
 
I have seen two seperate Bushmaster 2-stage triggers fail, and both failures completely locked up the rifle. Ditch the Bushmaster trigger, and switch to a JP single-stage. Or, you could pay your local gunsmith a few bucks to tune up your AR trigger.


Aside from that, your carbine is very similar to the one I use for home protection. Amazing how smart a guy is when he agrees with you, eh? ;)

- Chris
 
Put either a Surefire M500 Millenium fore-end light (the big honking one on the upper right side you see sometimes), a Surefire M900A vertical foregrip light (better control of the weapon, with a light on it)

If neither of those get your fire lit, a M952 from them would work well too.

Compared to an M3, they look like the finger of God zapping you with a lightning bolt. :)

Be aware the 500A would replace the upper foregrip, the M900 would require something like a Fobus M1913-rail foregrip or an RAS/RIS etc to mount it on.

A Magpul collapsing stock would give you a better cheekweld, and give you a place to store spare batteries for the dot scope and light.
 
Looks like you are in good shape. When I'm in a patrol car I carry a Rock River 16" m4 leo rifle. It's very similar to yours except I do not have optics mounted.

I've seen enough triggers that use screw adjustments come unglued during Highpower competitions that I would never trust one on a duty rifle. I would strongly recommend the Rock River National Match trigger. I like to operate on the KISS principle and the Rock River Trigger is just one less thing to go wrong.

I have 2 Colt rifles in my inventory with the Millenium lights. They work very well but are bulky and just ruin the handling characteristics of the rifle for me. I think a Streamlight M6 weapon light would be the way to go if you want a white light for your rifle.

Choose quality ammo and practice, practice, practice! A worthwhile accessory might be a .22lr upper, similarly configured to make all that practice a little less expensive!

Stay safe brother!
 
+1 on the RRA 2 stage.

What a sweet trigger...and if you look hard you can find them for around 75 bucks.
 
Most people are only interested in the mini 14 until they try to hit a target with one.

sad reality.:(
 
Only thing I can think of to improve it would be to add a case or two of ammo & get some serious shooting practice in.... :D


However, I could see a rig like that giving the Highland Park soccer-mom crowd a coniption fit. If the PC issue comes up, you could always go to a levergun. The new Browning BLR Lightweights in .243 or .223 looks promising in this regard.....


On second thought, to heck w/ the HP PC crowd. Carry that cool EBR w/ pride... :cool:
 
That's a great rifle.
I don't want to hijack the thread, and if you don't care for the Mini14, that's your choice.

Reality is, with quality ammo, most Mini14s will do 4" or better at 100 yards, out of the box. Many will do better than that.
Then, with less money than is typically spent on an AR, they can be turned into 1" guns.

But, nobody is interested in facts. :rolleyes:

And, as I've said, I don't want to hijack the thread.
I really miss my Bushy. I had the shorter A1 stock, and the M4 profile barrel.
For some reason, since I wasn't allowed to have the collapsible stock, I really wanted one. :confused:
Now that the ban is expiring, who knows.

How comfortable is the collapsible to shoot?

If your rear ever ends up in the sling, I think either the AR or the Mini would save your bacon.
Shoot the one that you're most comfortable with.
 
How much precision (in terms of small group-size) is needed for, say, the fifth or tenth shot, when having to shoot at people? Me, I dunno. My suspicion is that anything that shoots tighter than three to four MOA will serve as well as a match-target's 1/2 MOA.

5th or 10th shot is not what I'd generally consider to be a "police sniper" situation. To me, that's a firefight situation. And, odds are, well within 100 yards.

Not trying to hijack a thread, but accuracy comparisons seem to be a part of the discussion...

Art
 
Hey Art- was that a question to me, or to those bringing up the effectiveness of the Mini-14?

My department issues the Mini as the standard patrol rifle. I don't personally have a problem with it, except that I prefer the AR platform. My department issues the S&W 5906 as the standard sidearm, but I prefer (well, anything is better than the S&W) other makes and models. I currently carry a Glock 21 with an M3 in a Safariland rolltop. As I said, I work deep nights, so having lights on my guns makes sense.

I will think about switching my triggers around, and putting the RRA in my patrol rifle, and the Bushmaster match trigger in one of my other rifles.

Anyone near Dallas know of a place that hosts 3-gun or at least IDPA/IPSC? My monthly quals are getting boring, and I miss the action!

I think I'll stick with the M3 on my rifle. The other lights add too much weight/bulk and don't really offer any performance over what I've got. Not to say they don't put out more candlepower, but that the additional CP is unneeded. By the way, it's actually the M3LED which offers a nice option of low powered/subdued light (red) if the situation demands it.

I don't have any pics of the Mini-14, but I'll try to shoot some and post them tonight or tomorrow.
 
I would eschew the two stage trigger. Have seen failures in school (one time, at gun camp . . .). YMMV, I like simple, that's just me.:D

How's the EOTech at night? Checked it's backlight?:confused: Would only matter up close and personal anyhow, but in LE you have to go up close and personal at times (well all the time).

If I was doing a lot of sneaking and peeking, maybe go Aimpoint but use it as an occluded sight instead? If the back light on the EOTech gives you away?

Maybe a suppressor as well in case of meth house shootings? Those little Gemtechs rock.

Just throwing out things that pop into my empty head, officer. Feel free to accept or reject it.:)
 
Officer Wise...

Good looking rig.

I'm not (being a Marine no longer on active duty) overly fond of either the AR-15 action or the .223 Remington cartridge on 'hostiles'. Still, it has performed and will continue to do so in the hands of suitable troops.

I like rifles that don't have stuff to catch on bushes or doorways. I'm not a big fan of extended magazines, for that reason and they are hard to shoot prone.

I'd probably go for a Marlin 336 in .30-30, with synthetic stock and a red dot sight of some sort. (With the original sights still there are back ups.) Possibly I'd select a similarly altered SKS (not AK), if I could find one that would hold a silouette target to 150 yards or so.
And.. I could live with some form of illumination device, but probably wouldn't use it much.

Still... what you got probably works to the point where I wouldn't change it.
 
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