What is too tacticool?

[Darth Muffin]

The simplest way I think of it is using way more gear than your mission (or your trip to the store) requires.

This is a good definition. My definition would be close to that, but especially when wearing any tactical gear for the sake of fashion, not for practical purposes.

 

[badman400]

What's a ghillie suit?

Guess that means I'n not very tacticool, huh?

 

[Twycross]

A ghillie suite is 3D camo clothing, like this one:

 

[2TransAms]

It's for snipers...eXtreme snipers!!!

 

[panzermk2]

There is no way any of you guys who posted here have not been TACTICOOL AT LEAST ONCE. by chioce or by accident
whats worse going to the range with
A tiger stripe boonie (always for melon protection)
B woodland BDU shirt open
C real tree T-shirt
D green old type BDU pants
Looking for all world like mother nature BARFED and having your range buddy piont that out.

OR
at least having matching camo patterns mall ninja style?

 

[Diomed]

Well if those are the qualifications for being tacticool, then I guess I have been. Last time was when I was about thirteen. The matching woodland BDUs are great for playing in the woods!

 

[Low-Sci]

I admit it though...

I fully admit to being tacticool on a vast number of occasions.

On the paintball field my friend's ghillie suit might have worked if he didn't keep moving around. So by that token, maybe tacticool is using equipment poorly suited to your situation or habits. If he's gonna be running around bunkering people, the ghillie just slows him down.

Another incident of tacticool: I put an M-4 style collapsing buttstock on a paintball gun once. This had the effect of interfering drastically with 2.5x shotgun scope that I had been using (successfully). The stock was in such a position that I couldn't get my eye down to the sights no matter what I did. I left it like that for quite a while, all the time thinking I would somehow make it work out. Never happened. So by that token, its also selecting equipment for cool points and not for actual purpose.

 

[trashpickinman]

I try to be the reverse of tacticool. Jeans, boots, tucked in t-shirt with belt. Looking relaxed but not street thug relaxed. Although I do wear Level II body armor underneath my shirt, but that is for purely safety related reasons. Looking at the divider panels between the booths, seeing holes does not fill me with confidence.

I'd probably just chuckle silently at any weekend warriors decked out looking like they were prepared to jump out the side of a helicopter.

 

[mcosman]

what is the difference between tacticool and practical. The reason I ask is that I have always maintained that if all you have is a revolver and a cardboard box of ammo tucked under one arm, how are you supposed to be a Minuteman or any help at all if the SHTF.

I tell people you better get a holster, sling and a ammo pouch to hang from a belt as a minimum. That was kinda what Minutemen had anyways.

Anyways, modern tactical gear fits the bill pretty good considering that basic hunting gear is sometimes a good deal more $ and the local army navy is a cheap.

Granted walking around the range in full swat gear is ridiculous, but I find a leg holster to be superior and gets in the way less when I am camping, easier draw as well (Long arms.)

 

[GEM]

When you go out to dinner in a very fancy restaurant and you carry:

1. A Glock 19 in a Milt Sparks IWB, two extra mags in a Galco
2. Two Delicas
3. A Fox OC
4. Surefire E2L with a photon light as Backup
5. SW 432 in a DeSantis pocket holster
6. NAA 22 Mag mini in your jacket pocket
7. Cell phone


Oh - wait - never mind - it's the nuts in Gillie suits with camel baks who are tacticool - not me.

Let's not talk about being a touch overweight and I only have a Surefire and Night sights on my AR. Can I take that to dinner?

 

[Deathrider1579]

I am not sure what the problem with being "tacticool" is, when I got to the range I got to relax and have fun. People who are around just to get mad at me when I dump a mag from my AR or AK while they are shooting off the bench I have no patience with people who think they are a better shooter because they can hit a dime at 600 yards with a $3000 gun off a bench. That’s great and all but whoopdedoo you know.

Depending on my mood I might go head to toe cammo with a boonie-hat and bandanna around my neck looking for all the world like a over weight spec ops guy with bad taste. Or in bubba style ripped jeans and t-shirt. If you don't like that I have a aim point and front grip on my AR and my AK I don't care just don't yell at me about "machine guns ruining my group". Range Nazis bug my no end, I tend to not even get out of my car when the old guys at my range are around they just run young guys who are there for the fun of it off.

You guys do remember shooting for fun and enjoying the sound and the visual of punching a bunch of holes into a target with rapid sequence don't you? And granted you can have fun target shooting working on the smallest group possible that’s how I got started was shooting competition in 4-H but I enjoy the whole range of the shooting world (except for that part that runs people off)

I don't see the problem with people being TUBAR or any of that stuff, if that’s how they get their jollies that’s fine with me I do it too sometimes.

Yall just need to take it down a notch on the serious-o-meeter there.

-DR

 

[Snake Eyes]

bleach bottle blonde, with the Tina Turner hairstyle, stooping from the burden of 50lbs of aftermarket bewbs spilling over the top her tube top, which reads, "It's better topless." She often completes the look with a set of 4" spike heels, and a pair of painted-on sparkly jeans, with the obligatory pink thong peeking out in back, saying, "Hi, I'm hard to get."

I see you've met my wife.

some sensitive backsides may have been bruised here. Can't we please have some more of the funnier type posts, such as... well, such as mine?

So you admit you were making fun of my wife?

I think 2Tacticool is taking your username from a character in a cheesy sequel.....

 

[Still 2 Many Choices!?]

My M4 was too tactical at one point...

Bushmaster M4gery w/AK muzzle brake
Surefire M73 quad rail
Panorama Red dot(forward mounted to top rail and co-witnessed to irons)
Scorpion Flashlight(mounted to bottom rail)
3-9X40mm BSA scope mounted to carry handle(co-witnessed to Red Dot)

The fun I had shooting snap and precision shots at soda cans between 50yds(red dot) to 150 yds(scope), Pricelsess !

 

[AStone]

These are the hip-hop boyz, of whatever race, who come in, reeking of green apple flavored blunts, wearing their flannel pajama pants, flip-flops, baseball hat cocked jauntilly to one side, and Mercedes hood ornaments dangling from gold plated tow chains, to ask me about the availability of "clips" for their Hi-Point fohty-fahv... the bleach bottle blonde, with the Tina Turner hairstyle, stooping from the burden of 50lbs of aftermarket bewbs spilling over the top her tube top, which reads, "It's better topless." She often completes the look with a set of 4" spike heels, and a pair of painted-on sparkly jeans, with the obligatory pink thong peeking out in back, saying, "Hi, I'm hard to get."

That's simultaneously funny and sad. That some people exhibit such behavior and that so many of us (outside of middle Nebraska & deepest back country TX) can relate to it from direct experience speaks volumes about the state of comtemporary western culture.

I'm generally very tolerant of self-expression. I value diversity among people, both in terms of race, ethnicity and style. (This is NOT a comment on race or ethnicity, because as Seraph wrote in that original post, this is common among people (mostly kids) of all races.)

But in the cases described above, it's too often the stereotypical, overly-cool attitude that goes along with the style that makes me cringe, including the seemingly eager attempt to just appear less than fully intelligent because it's not "cool" (tacticool or otherwise) to appear intelligent. (Although in some cases, I'm sure there is no need to "attempt to appear less than intelligent", which is what draws people like that together in the first place, I suspect.)

Yo.

 

[Hoppy590]

only "tacti-cool" im guilty of is looking at a bayonet to put on my 590. ( hey, mossberg put the mount there. not me )

some one should dredge up the "your moma's so tactical" threads

 

[larry_minn]

There is this range in Michigan known as the pit. The AR15 forum guys come dressed to the extreme in that stupid tacticool crap with accessories on their rifles to match. The worst part is they seem to think that tacticool garbage makes them better shooters
Guess someone is jealous.
OK I went to tactical carbine class in blue jeans/shirt/work boots with spare mags stuck in back pocket and Glock in fobus/spare mags. Everyone else in OD or black. Some were former/current LEO/Mil. Next day I wore cammo.
It was good to find out what works/dosen't. For next class I picked up a vest (used/cheap) It is fine if temps under 75. Otherwise I overheat fairly quickly. (does not breath) I keep it loaded as it holds mags/handgun/mags/light. I can grab it/put on/grab rifle and all I need is cell phone.

It is one of those things you know when you see. (BTDT but learned something) As one said its when gear HURTS your ability to function rather then helps. (you have to think long term on this. I.E. body armor.) It makes you uncomfortable/less flexible/overheat/wears you out quicker/etc BUT if you ever get shot (with caliber vest will stop) its worth its weight in gold.

 

[Matt King]

What is too tacticool?

When you do something for looks, not function.

 

[Yanus]

My definition of TACTICOOL..........

Seeing an older man like myself, (I'm pushing 50), walk in wearing blue jeans, a tired Stetson hat and lay a well worn leather gun belt, probably 30 years old, on the table. In this holster is a 1911 that is as old or older than the holster and has been as lovingly cared for as the leather. The gentleman proceeds to calmly remove the 1911 from its home and proceed to cut a ragged hole in the target!

I can watch that scenerio all day........... !

Yanus

 

[redneckdan]

I use a ghillie suit for animal photography and varmit hunting. They really do work if you plan on sitting tight. I've also used drop leg holsters, they are about the only option for carrying while back packing. I used to be one of the guys in middle and high school who wore BDUs, OD t-shirt, and combats to school but it wasn't to be tacticool, it was for plain old comfort. The fact that everyone left me well enough alone was a bonus. Now is jeans and an OD t-shirt, still wear the boots but don't blouse them when wearing jeans.

 

[Daemon688]

I don't own a single item of camo. I don't have a gun with a million gadgets hanging off it. In fact, the most tactical item I have is a surefire flashlight. When I head to the range, I just show up in my every day casual wear. Khaki pants, brown leather shoes, and a polo t-shirt.

Tacticool is the guy at the gun range (there are many of them) decked out like they're from the military, only in no shape to run even half a mile. Tacticool is the guy with a million gadgets hanging off his gun.

 

[Cesiumsponge]

Its all relative. You'll laugh at the tacticool guy next to you has on more MOLLE gear, velcro, and rail attachments on the AR15 than an entire regiment. Then the guy on the other side of you is laughing at your tacticool CC vest and matte blued 1911 since he has flanel and an old wheelgun.

I admittedly have some tacticool widgets for an AR15 but all the rail stuff stays in the case when I go to the range. There is no real good reason to hang a light or IR gear off a firearm at the range unless you're shooting at night with nightvision...in such case would be seen as excessive from my point-of-view.

I don't dress up in camo and I've chuckled at the guys that put on the full gear with grease paint, but I'm pretty sure I've gotten some sneers from more conservative shooters as well. Some guys are into revolvers, or autos...miltiary-style rifles, hunting rifles, blackpowder, etc. I don't take it seriously and see it as entertaining diversity, as long as they aren't showing a complete lack of understanding as far as gun safety is concerned. It's a hobby afterall, meant to be enjoyed (with practical benefits).

 

[Stiletto Null]

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.

 

[k_semler]

When the accessories bolted to the weapon outweigh the weapon's OEM weight, you might be too tacticool.

 

[Barbara]

Molle webbing on your ducky jammies might be.

 

[carebear]

When I go shooting it seems like the fattest man in the building is always the one wearing camo. it makes me laugh a little.

When you're too big to run, you have to be able to hide.

Had a kid show up at a Toys for Tots event (I was in tactical Dress Blues) packing a Glock 21 and -I kid you not- 10 mags. The guy couldn't have weighed more than a buck fifty wet and he doubled his OWN OEM weight with all that ammo. Had a 20-odd inch waist and every inch of it was supporting a magazine.

Kept wanting to talk about shooting techniques and in the process freaked out the radio DJ's who were doing the marathon with us and made some of the strippers uncomfortable enough to leave.

We put him out the door posthaste. Anybody who can make a professional stripper uncomfortable is no one I want around. Plus, they were "friendly" strippers.