pangris
Member
Greetings all -
In the tradition of the 1911 Patriot Online Class, Bill Zollo is going to offer an AR-15 class.
The 1911 class was reviewed HERE in American Handgunner.
This class is centered around building a fighting/training gun…
Some background -
I took my first rifle class at Thunder Ranch a few years ago. I brought an M1A believing that as a big, strong young man I could handle the 10 lb rifle. It is only two or three pounds heavier than most of the AR’s out there. Two hours into the class, I was crying like a little girl on the inside.
A year later my wife and I went to Tiger McKee’s school, Shootrite, for a tutorial. We got the tour of his safe, and he handed me an AR that I thought must be a toy. It weighs 5 lbs 9 oz. After learning about it, I built a very similar gun that weighed in under 6 lbs. I’ve since used it in several training classes with no probems.
In February of 2006, Bill told me he was thinking about doing a class for the AR-15. Tiger had mentioned that a number of his students wanted a rifle like his but there was nothing available off the shelf. After putting heads together, the Online AR-15 class and Shootrite Rifle has been born.
I have no affiliation with the class other than knowing and introducing Tiger and Bill. I’ll be taking the class myself, building a couple rifles for my sons.
The basic format –
A1 stock and upper, slickside, 16” pencil barrel, no frills… this is a lightweight bullet launching platform. This is an exercise in simplicity. The more on the gun, the more that can go wrong, period. The fewer moving (or God forbid electronic) parts, the less there is to fail.
Basic philosophy of the rifle…
Half the reason for the focus on weight is, as Clint Smith of Thunder Ranch says, “You’re going to carry it a hell of a lot more than you’re going to shoot it.” The other half the reason is that most of the stuff on rifles today is, to be blunt, less than necessary go fast looking gear sold to us by marketing bastards whose goal in life is to convince us that we need all the extra stuff to be tactical, accurate, etc etc. In reality, these rifles can shoot 1.5” at 100 yards, which is more accurate than necessary for a battle rifle – and more accurate than most shooters as well. This rifle is going to be built from top quality parts, each individually and purposefully selected to make the best gun possible.
The barrel – 16” lightweight, 1/9 twist. Easy to maneuver, can use bullets from 55-69 grs.
The receiver – A1 slickside, current Fulton Armory production. Tiger points out that the 800 yard sights on the A2 are questionable at best since the AR isn’t very terminally effective past 200 yards, and that confrontations beyond the 300 yards the gun was originally designed for are all but non-existent anyway. Once you are zero’d you shouldn’t need to manually adjust anything if you understand mechanical offset and drop.
Why no forward assist? To quote Tiger directly - “The original A1 upper also lacks the forward assist, a feature deemed unnecessary by some that eventually became a standard feature on the rifle. So, you ask, how do you seat the bolt without the forward assist? That half-moon cutout on the right side of the bolt carrier is the original bolt closure device. The operator simply places a finger in this cutout and presses the bolt carrier forward. If finger pressure doesn’t seat the bolt then you probably have a faulty round of ammo or the chamber is too tight due to powder residue or some other foreign matter. Regardless of the cause if you force the issue by hammering on the forward assist it can jam the weapon. This would be a “bad thing” in the middle of a fight.”
Bolt – Bill is testing a number of units, but “quality is job one”… it will be the best of the best. As of now, students will build TWO bolts for the gun.
Buttstock – The A1 is 5/8” shorter than the A2. I had always used A2 stocks since I’m 6’2” and have monkey arms. I was amazed at how well the A1 fit me, and how well I shot a rifle equipped as such. It also puts the balance of the rifle further back, improving the overall feel. The stock is a current production A1, built like an A2 - just shorter. Finally, the user can’t forget to extend the stock, can’t autocollapse, reduces the number of parts/buttons/switches for Murphy to act on.
The end result is a rifle that snaps to the shoulder, easily transitions from target to target, and generally feels great.
This is not to say that all the whiz bang stuff can’t serve some specific purpose, just that this rifle will do the job if you do yours. Tiger cites Commander John Byron, USN, who stated that often people attempt to make up for a lack of ability by assuming “that the burden of victory rests on the weapon, not on its wielder.”
Finally, a quote from Tiger about some of what he has seen in training -
“As instructor for Thunder Ranch part of my job included running Thunderville, a set of buildings on the Texas range students work through while engaging targets which appear across the street. I can’t tell you how many times, after being given time to load and make ready, students would drop into position to engage the first target and not get off a shot because they had forgotten to turn on this, adjust that, or flip a switch on something. Violent encounters in the real world rarely have time to run a leisurely systems analysis on a complicated weapon or the leeway for you to forget something important, like turning your sight on… If you think about it most of us would be well off with a weapon that is as simple as possible…. Gadgets will never replace skill.”
Weapon lights are a pretty personal decision, so for the purpose of the class they aren’t addressed – the student can add one if they wish, or learn to use a handheld light.
As I understand it the final details and part selection is going to be finalized at the 2007 SHOT show, but Bill is taking deposits on the class. There are only 15 slots and about half of them have been filled by alumni of the Patriot classes. At this point, if the class is a success, it will be offered 3 or more times a year.
Bill hasn't finished the official website yet, but a preliminary page CAN BE SEEN HERE You can contact Bill Zollo about taking the AR online class to build this rifle.
Tiger Mckee can be contacted at www.shootrite.org to learn more about the practical application of weapons in defensive situations…
For what it is worth, this is my gun right after I built it...
And now with a light mounted to it.
In the tradition of the 1911 Patriot Online Class, Bill Zollo is going to offer an AR-15 class.
The 1911 class was reviewed HERE in American Handgunner.
This class is centered around building a fighting/training gun…
Some background -
I took my first rifle class at Thunder Ranch a few years ago. I brought an M1A believing that as a big, strong young man I could handle the 10 lb rifle. It is only two or three pounds heavier than most of the AR’s out there. Two hours into the class, I was crying like a little girl on the inside.
A year later my wife and I went to Tiger McKee’s school, Shootrite, for a tutorial. We got the tour of his safe, and he handed me an AR that I thought must be a toy. It weighs 5 lbs 9 oz. After learning about it, I built a very similar gun that weighed in under 6 lbs. I’ve since used it in several training classes with no probems.
In February of 2006, Bill told me he was thinking about doing a class for the AR-15. Tiger had mentioned that a number of his students wanted a rifle like his but there was nothing available off the shelf. After putting heads together, the Online AR-15 class and Shootrite Rifle has been born.
I have no affiliation with the class other than knowing and introducing Tiger and Bill. I’ll be taking the class myself, building a couple rifles for my sons.
The basic format –
A1 stock and upper, slickside, 16” pencil barrel, no frills… this is a lightweight bullet launching platform. This is an exercise in simplicity. The more on the gun, the more that can go wrong, period. The fewer moving (or God forbid electronic) parts, the less there is to fail.
Basic philosophy of the rifle…
Half the reason for the focus on weight is, as Clint Smith of Thunder Ranch says, “You’re going to carry it a hell of a lot more than you’re going to shoot it.” The other half the reason is that most of the stuff on rifles today is, to be blunt, less than necessary go fast looking gear sold to us by marketing bastards whose goal in life is to convince us that we need all the extra stuff to be tactical, accurate, etc etc. In reality, these rifles can shoot 1.5” at 100 yards, which is more accurate than necessary for a battle rifle – and more accurate than most shooters as well. This rifle is going to be built from top quality parts, each individually and purposefully selected to make the best gun possible.
The barrel – 16” lightweight, 1/9 twist. Easy to maneuver, can use bullets from 55-69 grs.
The receiver – A1 slickside, current Fulton Armory production. Tiger points out that the 800 yard sights on the A2 are questionable at best since the AR isn’t very terminally effective past 200 yards, and that confrontations beyond the 300 yards the gun was originally designed for are all but non-existent anyway. Once you are zero’d you shouldn’t need to manually adjust anything if you understand mechanical offset and drop.
Why no forward assist? To quote Tiger directly - “The original A1 upper also lacks the forward assist, a feature deemed unnecessary by some that eventually became a standard feature on the rifle. So, you ask, how do you seat the bolt without the forward assist? That half-moon cutout on the right side of the bolt carrier is the original bolt closure device. The operator simply places a finger in this cutout and presses the bolt carrier forward. If finger pressure doesn’t seat the bolt then you probably have a faulty round of ammo or the chamber is too tight due to powder residue or some other foreign matter. Regardless of the cause if you force the issue by hammering on the forward assist it can jam the weapon. This would be a “bad thing” in the middle of a fight.”
Bolt – Bill is testing a number of units, but “quality is job one”… it will be the best of the best. As of now, students will build TWO bolts for the gun.
Buttstock – The A1 is 5/8” shorter than the A2. I had always used A2 stocks since I’m 6’2” and have monkey arms. I was amazed at how well the A1 fit me, and how well I shot a rifle equipped as such. It also puts the balance of the rifle further back, improving the overall feel. The stock is a current production A1, built like an A2 - just shorter. Finally, the user can’t forget to extend the stock, can’t autocollapse, reduces the number of parts/buttons/switches for Murphy to act on.
The end result is a rifle that snaps to the shoulder, easily transitions from target to target, and generally feels great.
This is not to say that all the whiz bang stuff can’t serve some specific purpose, just that this rifle will do the job if you do yours. Tiger cites Commander John Byron, USN, who stated that often people attempt to make up for a lack of ability by assuming “that the burden of victory rests on the weapon, not on its wielder.”
Finally, a quote from Tiger about some of what he has seen in training -
“As instructor for Thunder Ranch part of my job included running Thunderville, a set of buildings on the Texas range students work through while engaging targets which appear across the street. I can’t tell you how many times, after being given time to load and make ready, students would drop into position to engage the first target and not get off a shot because they had forgotten to turn on this, adjust that, or flip a switch on something. Violent encounters in the real world rarely have time to run a leisurely systems analysis on a complicated weapon or the leeway for you to forget something important, like turning your sight on… If you think about it most of us would be well off with a weapon that is as simple as possible…. Gadgets will never replace skill.”
Weapon lights are a pretty personal decision, so for the purpose of the class they aren’t addressed – the student can add one if they wish, or learn to use a handheld light.
As I understand it the final details and part selection is going to be finalized at the 2007 SHOT show, but Bill is taking deposits on the class. There are only 15 slots and about half of them have been filled by alumni of the Patriot classes. At this point, if the class is a success, it will be offered 3 or more times a year.
Bill hasn't finished the official website yet, but a preliminary page CAN BE SEEN HERE You can contact Bill Zollo about taking the AR online class to build this rifle.
Tiger Mckee can be contacted at www.shootrite.org to learn more about the practical application of weapons in defensive situations…
For what it is worth, this is my gun right after I built it...
And now with a light mounted to it.
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