Boney's guide to guns, gear, and training. - (aka, ask Boney)

[Boney]

Hello. This is my guide for those with an interest in becoming a proficient and adequately equipped gunfighter. It is catered for people who are interested in taking the plunge into LARPing as an American minuteman or as a shooting hobbyist just want to develop new skills. The assumed start point is you know nothing. The gun community is full of low information, highly opinionated people who use flawed logic to justify their particular gun and kit, this might be you, please approach this with an open mind and feel free to ask questions or offer critique.

This guide is specifically written with two things in mind:

1. No regrets. Everything I recommend is what I refer to as an "enabler" for future capabilities. You may have heard the term "Buy once, cry once." Everything I recommend in this is done so on the assumption that you are both thrifty and wise. Hypothetically, if you follow this guide you wont need to buy anything else for tens of thousands of rounds fired and hundreds of hours in the field.
2. The sky is the limit. Bad advice often is followed by a conditional. "It's fine as long as..." "Its just as good as..." "As long as you don't need to..." everything listed here for you to buy will offer utility for both the beginner LARPer learning which end of the gun goes bang all the way up to the Delta Force operator making entry under night vision goggles. Every piece of gear is selected to ensure your first purchase will suffice as your skills and capabilities grow.

My motivation for this is simple. As an American it is your civil duty as a citizen, I believe, to develop and pass on the skills to the posterity that granted this nation it's independence from tyranny to begin with. The consent of a people to be governed is derived from the capacity of the people to resist that government. The gun community is overwhelmingly consumerist and delusional. Combatting both of these negative traits is my mission statement and contribution towards furthering our 2nd Amendment rights, and my duty as a citizen. If you have motivations that are political, cruel, or petty... fuck off. Get help.



Your pistol: Glock 19MOS/Glock19X, Glock 17MOS, Glock 45MOS.
Just buy the Glock. Everything good about Glocks are extremely important, and everything that sucks about them really isn't very important. Good capacity, good scalability (adjusting attachments to meet mission demands), excellent holster options, extremely safe internal mechanisms, unbeatable durability and longevity, correct caliber, and supreme reliability, and perhaps the most under rated of all features, easily serviced. If you take this hobby seriously you will amass a serious round count fired through your pistol eventually, and you will need to service your firearm. You can fix a Glock yourself because parts are abundant and available, information is abundant and available. While there are no shortage of pistols that beat Glocks at something not a single one can beat Glock's at everything.

Make no mistake, you as a civilian must treat this as your primary weapon and emphasize your training on this platform. It is of critical importance you practice with your new Glock regularly, skills are perishable and a defensive shooting is unforgiving in time and stray rounds.

Attachments:
Optic- RMR (unbeatable longevity, excellent battery life, heavily standardized across the industry, you can get an enclosed optic later)
Flashlight- Streamlight TLR-7 (durability, price point, features, illumination)

Ammo:
For every day carry or home defense, use hollow points. I use Federal Hydrashock, but Hornady critical defense is good. Most brand name hollow points are fine. However, be sure to take them to the range and do a few magazines to make sure your selected ammo meshes well with your gun. Pistols can be famously picky about their defensive loads.

For training, use whatever is cheapest. Even if it is Turkshit doesn't-always-go-bang tier garbage, malfunctions can just enhance your training, where as going broke usually ends it.

I have written the least about your handgun. But I can not emphasize enough, your pistol is more likely to save your life by cosmic proportions then the rifle at home is in a functional state of society. A rifle is dessert for those who can print groups on a paper plate at 15yds at least. Start here, get your EDC situated, then get your rifle. I would eventually work up to having no fewer then 10 magazines, but you really just need to start with 3.




Your Rifle: $1,000-$1,500 chrome lined barrel AR-15 chambered in 5.56/.223Wylde
The AR-15 in the year of our lord 2025 is the most reliable, tested, combat proven, and logistically supported firearm in the history of man, even beating out the Brown Bess and probably the fucking spear. If it breaks, you can fix it, if not they are all very well warrantied. There is no other gun with as much information and knowledge posted about it. Nothing can match its reliability while delivering on profile, weight, and performance.

The brand matters little at that price point as long as you are getting a chrome lined barrel and modern design. Colt, FN, BCM, Centurion, Daniel Defense, Spikes, Noveske, they all have their fans or haters for particular reasons, and those reasons are generally pretty silly. Once you tap into the $2,000 rifles (like a SACR, KAC, V7, etc) it puts you out of my target demographic of people who aren't made of money and need to get every purchase right in order to afford ammo. Go enjoy your KAC knowing you bought the best rifle in the world, but you should be embarrassed if you aren't pushing it to the point where that degree of minutia actually grants performance.



We need to talk about barrel length real fast. You only have 3 options if you don't want to turn your gun into a statement about your personality or commit to making the build a project in and of itself. I suggest starting with a 16" rifle, because it does not require a tax stamp, which incurs additional cost, and it can be repurposed down the road. When the time comes buy an SBR, now you have two rifles that you can kit to cover all your needs comprehensively.

The shortest you can go is 11.5" because any shorter and you are getting reliability/longevity issues (dwell time blah blah blah nerd stuff) and conveniently this length is extremely accommodating for a suppressor, which will basically negate all the disadvantages of using a short barreled rifle to begin with. With quality defensive ammo (More on that later!) you still have an effective range out to 300yds. Ultimately, the payoff in formfactor and compact capability means most people consider this ideal for most people's use cases. If you start here, you are going to need to put in a little extra effort at the starting line getting the tax stamp and suppressor.

14.5" is a great barrel length, quite conveniently short, a little more oomf in velocity (don't fixate on this, I'll get to it, a bit over rated for reasons) and there is no shortage of magnified optics that have bullet drop compensators calibrated for this barrel length using common ammo (more on that later as well). You can put a full size suppressor on this carbine and it will bring you back to the length of a 20" M16 or there abouts. It is also widely available, everyone offers their take on a Block 2 M4, with plenty of documentation and graphs of data out there to assist you in zeroing and answering inquires about your specific gun. You can pin and weld a muzzle device on this to make it NFA complaint and still run a suppressor.

The last is 16" rifles. The so called "Mlok-15s" these don't require a tax stamp or for you to learn anything about pin and welding. They don't require you to know more then two sets of holds in your optic (more on that later!), they have optics with bullet drop compensators calibrated for their barrel length widely available on the market. They retain sufficient velocity to cause acceptable fragmentation with the most common types of .223/5.56 ammo at firefight ranges (M193 and M855) this barrel length is the braindead, but absolutely viable, option. I know it sound's like I'm talking it up a lot, but in honesty a short barrel rifle is the answer in the long, long run. If you start here, you will eventually be getting a short barreled rifle as you move towards suppressors, night vision, and more demanding mobility requirements.

Anything shorter, longer, or in-between these barrel lengths is entering special snowflake territory, where justifications lie outside the practical or lie inside the hyper niche. The military used 20" barrels for reasons far more contrived and complicated then anything you actually have to deal with as a civilian with access to the free market.


Optics:

AR-15 Optics are a whole topic a book could be written on. There are a number of good ones out there for various reasons, there is an abundance of passable ones, and no shortage of garbage that to an inexperienced person seem fine. I'm going to skip the exposition on the WHY for most of this and just give you two to pick from.

Red dot: Aimpoint PRO (Affordable, hyper durable, has night vision settings, good brightness, crisp dot, great battery life)
Magnified optic: ACOG (Indestructible, excellent field of view, excellent glass clarity, can be paired with an RMR for a red dot and night vision use)
LPVO: Don't do it its a trap! Actually, there are terrains where they are totally appropriate, but the cost and weight of these make their short comings... prominent discussion points. Cheap LPVOs are bad at everything but can do anything, good LPVOs are usually good at one thing and mediocre at everything else. Whatever, $1,500 LPVO goes here. Vudu, VCOG, ATACR, Razor... you are going to have to doll out some cash and still get disappointing reticle brightness.
MPVO: Medium Power Variable optics should be restricted to SPRs and we aren't getting into that right now. It is a specialized role that requires more considerations and training. (More on SPRs later!)

Slings:

Keeps the rifle attached to your body, used to support shooting at range, ensures rifle isn't grabbed off you in a tizy. There are "one point", "two point" and "three point" slings. This refers to how the sling is rigged to attached to you and the rifle. Just use a two point sling like a normal person, no one who does this stuff at a high level uses anything but.

Blueforce Vickers sling. Comes in padded and not padded variety. People have opinions about slings, and I don't understand that. The Vickers is the best I've ever used and it isn't even close. For me a good sling is very ridged and behaves predictably on the body. Some people like the Ferros Concepts one, some people like the Magpul one. I'm only going to recommend the Vickers, but it is user preference.

Light:

It's dark 50% of the time. You need a light to shoot things in the dark generally. Don't forget to get a lens cap from 100 concepts or make your own, remember at the end of every flashlight is a bright reflector.

Surefire 600: The most important thing about weapon lights is "flood" and brightness. Flood is their horizontal illumination so you can take in as much information in your immediate vicinity as possible. It is utterly retarded a fucking flashlight that delivers on brightness and flood costs upwards of $300. But that is the world we live in and Surefire is the brand that most delivers on that.
Runner up is Inforce if you legit can't bare the idea of spending that money on a flashlight. The button will suck though. The surefire tailcap (the button part) is the best bar-none as well.
Streamlights are very durable, but you won't realize what you are missing out on until you use a Surefire.

Magazines:

Metal mags are just a bit less of a hassle then polymer ones in my experience. Magpuls have a nice texture to them and seat very snuggly in the gun, this can be desirable if you have OCD about rattle in your gun, but generally it just means you'll occasionally have the mag stick in the magazine well during an emergency reload. I find myself favoring metal mags more and more, but I can also say (and this astonishes me) I have never, ever, had a magazine related malfunction using a Gen 3 PMAG. I don't list Surefeeds because they aren't made anymore. if you can get your hands on them get 'em.

Brownell's AR-15 Magazines: Well made, plentiful, affordable, reliable.
MAGPUL Gen 3 AR Magazines: Well made, plentiful, affordable, reliable.
Any other polymer mag is garbage. All of them are trash, including Gen 2 PMAGs. They are fine to train and practice with but not in a life or death situation, and some that are reliable at first wear out quickly.
Most STANAG metal magazines are fine.


Ammo:

Ammo is an extremely important topic, and easily the most over thought or underthought element of shooting. You're 5.56 AR-15 has more research behind it than any other gun in the history of mankind, and the most advanced ammo ever created was made with it in mind. You don't need to be shooting the expensive good stuff all the time.
Training ammo should be whatever is cheapest and can be bought in bulk for the best deal. I used to blast steel all day long every range trip. Those days are behind us, now you will be paying $0.55 a round for brass. M193 (and other 55gr ammo) and M855 are both readily available and cheapest most of the time. The key is it doesn't need to pass any check other than not blowing up in your face or squibing (basically avoid reloads from drunk strangers). Its for training, malfunctions are good.
Combat load should be 77gr TMKs. This shit SLAPS. It is a highly refined match grade hollow point round with a low velocity threshold to get those hollow points to open up and inflict maximum damage in the terminal ballistics. People are hunting bears with this stuff right now. Yes, the higher grain count means slower and therefore more drop at range. But the added weight means less interference with the wind and stability as well, and the hollow points don't need to go very fast in order to get maximum effect. The Black Hills 77gr TMKs are currently the hottest best ammo. There are some other good ones out there. 77gr TMKs are a bit of a patience game to get your hands on, so you can use anything from Hornady VMAX, to AAC Sabre, the key is you want either bonded ammo, ballistic tip, or match grade hollow points in 69gr+.

If you have a 5.56 chamber you can shoot .223 and 5.56 interchangeably without thinking about it. Same for if your chamber is .223 Wylde. If you have a an old purely .233 chamber get a new more modern gun. Having the ability to fire either NATO or commercial spec is a convenience to great to pass up. Firing 5.56 out of a .223 is going to prematurely erode your barrel and chamber and hypothetically cause some potential for ammo to do unwanted things in the gun.

What else do I need? What next?:

My thought process follows advice given to me by a mentor on this topic: gear enables training, which develops capability, which dictates mission. Having covered gear first means we can get into the nitty gritty of how to train and what that looks like. The following post covers what you want to bring with you when going to the range. We all start off blasting trash, but you want to work your way up to a range kit so that you spend your time efficiently. Think of this guide as interactive, where you can post questions and get answers form me and other Kiwis on what to do next. It's an opportunity for you to have a personalized training regime in a way, albeit not an in-person one.

All this shit adds up to be fairly expensive. It took me personally about 4-5years to be fully kitted. I started in my early 20's and I still am lacking in some departments. My next big step is owning my own night vision (I have a couple hundred hours using NODs, but I've only ever used it in the military or borrowing a friends), I want something nice so its a saving game, all of this is.

There are also specific threads for training, guns, and gear.

Conclusion:

This is going to wrap up the consumer gun part of this guide. The plan is to release the rest in comments that won't take as long to hammer out and I can address in a more personal fashion based on who shows interest in the thread. I know some of you are already past the starting block, and a few of you really shoot.

Please let me know if you have any questions or see any gaps I left on this page. Frankly, I left out a ton of loose end questions about rifles like twist rate and materials used, none of that shit will matter to you if you stick to my guide. Just ask me in a comment or DM, I'll get back to you with an answer.

Special thanks to Polock for helping me edit this and format it (I'm not done with that yet as of this edit).

 

[Boney]

Here is a quick list of things you should look up and practice with dry runs before going to the range for the first time. This comment is acting as a place-holder right now and will be edited and developed later when I have time.

Sight Picture and Sight alignment: You need too know how to aim. Like, you REALLY need to know this. Google these terms, see how they apply to your particular firearm. Pistols are typically front post rear posts irons.

Clearing:
You must know how to properly clear your gun of ammunition and know when it is clear. Be 100% confident in your certainty of what condition your gun is in, and what procedure to follow to know if the weapon is hot.

Reloads:
At home before you head out to start shooting be sure you know how to conduct both a tactical, emergency, and administrative reload.

Tactical reload: This is reloading the weapon with a round still in the chamber. The gun did not run dry, and you are replacing one still loaded magazine with another, and then stowing the old magazine on your person.

Emergency reload: This is reloading your firearm after it runs out of ammo completely. You'll eventually learn to do this faster and faster, but for the time being, focus on doing it right.

Administrative reload: Unlike the other two types of reloading, this one might involve reloading the weapon, removing the magazine, and topping off the magazine again. Or, it might mean putting a specific magazine in the gun to conduct a particular drill. Maybe this particular drill involves starting on an empty chamber. Basically, you aren't on the firing line and are situating yourself and your weapon for a particular drill. Typically, this manifests as a normal loading/inserting the magazine on an empty gun. This falls under a different category because this is the place to conduct a chamber check, or check to make sure the magazine is fully seated with a tug. Habits you might not want to mix in with other reloads.

Malfunctions:
Malfunctions happen, even on extremely reliable weapons. Sometimes it is the gun, sometimes the ammo, sometimes a bad magazine, sometimes it is because you did something wrong. Knowing how to clear common malfunctions safely and efficiently doesn't just get your gun back on the line, but is is a safety consideration. Typically malfunctions are cleared with either a "remedial action" or an "immediate action". Look up these procedures for your gun and memorize them, and know when to apply which. Other malfunctions might require further or different actions, but these need to work their way into your subconscious.

Holstering:
You need to own a holster. You also have to be able to safely holster your pistol, every time. You can not practice this enough. The majority of negligent discharges happen during the holstering of a weapon, and they can easily be lethal. It is 100% okay to look at your holster while holstering. The old adage that you shouldn't look at your holster while holstering applies exclusively to Law Enforcement, you as a civilian, should not be putting your gun away while any threat is apparent. Where as a cop might have to stay in contact with a dangerous suspect that doesn't require lethal force, you aren't pulling out your gun without articulatable imminent lethal threat. If you aren't comfortable taking your eyes off the threat for the half second it takes to holster, they are still a threat who know you have a gun, and they might want it. So its fine to look while you holster at first, but work your way up to doing it without looking as you become comfortable and familiar with the movement.

Dryfire:
This is a critical and continuous step on your journey. There is nothing you can do that will grant as much benefit to you personally as a shooter more then putting up some little targets up in a hallway and dry fire at them, from the holster, every night for 15mins. Dryfire is where you reinforce good habits and form. Over and over and over again. Dryfire can not be emphasized enough in its criticality to develop your shooting on a budget. Just like when you are on the actual range, you must do it methodically and correctly. A reoccurring theme coming up in the training section is that you get speed from reps, and those reps need to be tight. Dryfire is free reps. Do it often, do it right. Some firearms are particularly sensitive to having firing pins damaged during dryfire. Having a spare is good, and using snap caps will entirely negate the issue. Glocks are pretty resilient, but over time it will need replacement.

 

[Boney]

Range Kit:

Everything you need for a productive day at the range. I would use a duffle or range bag, you want it to be as portable as possible. In order to really become a proficient shooter, you need to shoot outside on a range with "big boy" weapon safety rules or private land. That doesn't mean relaxed safety measures, it means that as long as you are following all the weapon safety rules no one will crawl up your ass about rate of fire, not shooting from a stand, and being able to be dynamic on the range. No matter where you live this is only a matter of effort and reconnaissance to find a place or meet the right people. Good luck! You can do it.

Target Stands: Right now you can go on amazon and buy a two set of Kinine adjustable target stands for $35. You should get two sets, for a total of 4. These use basic 1"x2" wooden boards to hold the cardboard up and are easily secured to the ground using tent spikes.

Staple gun: Attaches cardboard to target stands and index cards to cardboard. Buy plenty of staples of correct type to work in your staple gun.

Index cards: Function as targets. The handy thing about these is that they are about the right size for a human heart or brainstem. And that is exactly what we are training to shoot. In addition, being off white with little visibility laid over a white or light grey target helps us learn to get a fine point of aim without a lot of contrast between the target and the point on the target we are trying to hit. (More on index cards later!)

Duct tape: Fixes targets and stuff.

Rifle cleaning kit: The cleaning rods can help clear malfunctions (stuck case usually) and you want to keep cleaning materials on you as good practice.

Small screwdriver set: I will only ever recommend the venerable Chapman MFG 5575, great fucking tool kit. The RARTOP 120 piece set also gets a mention, half respectable quality and 120 screw heads of every conceivable type.

Spare sling and sling mounts: 'case something happens with your sling

Batteries: 'case you need new batteries.

Extra Earpro: I always have an extra set if foamies on me at least.

Snapcaps: These are dud rounds you will use to work into drills, particularly useful for working out recoil anticipation.

Folding plastic table: Get a cheap Walmart folding plastic table for a place to reload, rest, put things down, admin tasks, it will make your life easier if you are shooting on private land or in the wilderness where you'll be unbothered but without amenities. It will also function as a tool doing drills, serving as a piece of cover to train around or wall obscuring targets. Mine has a lot of bullet holes in it (lol).

Battlebelt: A battle belt is a means by which to carry a holster, ammo, and a dump pouch. If you really want to go crazy and find yourself with plenty of space on it (fatty), maybe you can have your IFAK or, TQ on there as well, water bottle pouch, or pouch for a Leatherman. Really though, it is not a load bearing device. Stick to the holster and magazine pouches. This belt will enable you to train effectively on the range, conveniently storing your ammo and keeping your pistol on your hip. It differentiated from a Warbelt because a Warbelt actually has some serious padding, suspenders, and is load bearing equipment.

They come in a few varieties. Innerbelt velcro systems, with MOLLE, without MOLLE, various types of clips to keep it secured, different amounts of padding, different rigidities, this is a personal gear choice that you need some experience to sort out what you like and don't like.
I use a Blueforce. I've only ever used a Blueforce since I graduated from my Condor (honestly, no complaints it was fine), it works. I don't think about it a lot so its probably good. No recommend here, sorry, I don't have the exposure to judge products against each other.
Look for a place that will sell you the full system with pouches to avoid compatibility issues. If it doesn't work out for you, you now have a knowledgebase to make an informed purchase the next time.

Shot timer: More on that later.

 

[Boney]

(work in progress)
First Day at the Range (Handgun):

Bring with you a box of index cards, disposable backers of some sort to put those index cards on, a good target to zero on (a classic bullseye is fine, the grid square zeroing targets are handy though) and a stapler.

These index cards will do an excellent job simulating the size of a heart and "T box" zone on a human. They will be your standard of accuracy throughout all your self defense drills from here on out. Other targets can be useful for other reasons, but this standard of accuracy is what you should strive for from now on.

The 10yd line:
Start at the 10yd line. Any closer and you might have difficulty diagnosing your shot patterns because you likely won't be missing by enough to get usable data. If you are truly struggling, step in a little closer to the 7 yard line. No shame, just don't baby yourself, you should be and are going to be missing at this point. Too much further though and your groups might open up so much it can be hard to pin down what you are doing wrong.

Draw 1" diameter dots in sharpie on 3 index cards. Staple these to your fresh target backer spaced around the target. Draw, fire one round at one of your three targets and then re-holster. Repeat for each of your three targets for three ten round groups on your three distinct index cards spaced on your target.

Recoil anticipation:
If you are flinching the gun down when shooting, run a few mag dumps. Seriously, it will work out the jitters. Flinching does result in recoil anticipation, but addressing the issue when it presents itself less dramatically needs to be addressed. Two great drills you can do to work out recoil anticipation, one requires some "Snap cap" dud rounds, and the other is known as the "Paul Howe Drill"

If you buy snap caps, load up several magazines with a mix of snap caps and live rounds in them. The higher the ratio of snap caps to live rounds the better (more duds, less live ammo). Pay attention and carefully align your sights, get front sight focus, and pull the trigger smoothly. If the gun goes bang, assess your impact to see if you are still shooting low. If it does not, cycle the weapon and repeat. If you are shaking right before the trigger breaks when dry firing, correct it as you go. This is where that "smooth steady squeeze" adage comes to play pulling the trigger. The live rounds are there to give you real feedback, the dry fire is for you to work out that anticipation and tendency to try to counteract the recoil.

If you don't want to commit to buying snap caps, you can get the same practice doing the "Paul Howe Drill". Simply cycle the gun manually doing dry fire between 3-5 times, insert a live mag, shoot, observe impact, remove the mag, cycle it again and repeat the dry fire. You'll end up with a little pile of live rounds to collect, but its a well known and proven way to work through that recoil anticipation.

Both of these methods will only work if you are paying attention to what happens with your sights on each trigger break and you are honest with yourself about what you are doing.

Your first strings of fire:
Once you can get 5 consecutive hits on the index card doing single shots, you can move on to firing multiple shots between holstering. Set up fresh index card targets, and fresh backers. Draw, fire 5 shots as quickly as you think you can hit the index card, and re-holster. Be very wary of keeping your grip consistent through all the shots, and your trigger reset. As you shoot, you need to make sure you don't let your finger leave the trigger. You start slow, releasing pressure on the trigger as it returns to its starting position until you feel a distinctive click. That click is the trigger resetting, stop letting off pressure, you are ready to fire again. Building this habit properly now will save you much trouble down the line. Be sure not to look where each shot hits after you fire. Stay focused on that front sight (or target aim point if using a red dot) for each shot, and observe how you did once all rounds are fired.

Consecutive shots need to be practiced with either special tools you put in your gun or with live rounds. Recoil control and maintaining a sight picture is a matter of repetition. But each shot needs all of your attention and the application of the fundamentals individually.

If you can get 5 shots on the index card in 5 seconds or less at 10yds congrats, you've made greater strides on your first serious training outing than most Americans will in their lives. If not, that's okay, typical even. In my experience I can coach someone to achieve that degree of speed and accuracy in fewer than 100 rounds, without the benefit of a competent coach, it will likely take you many more.

Coming soon: first day at the range rifle, some more useful drills to train with.

 

[Boney]

Standards of Training, How to Train, and What you Need to Know:

This section is dedicated to shaping your methodology and mentality on what to practice and how. We have a 4 sections, accuracy standards, speed standards, knowledge standards, and the training curve. All of which can be expounded upon endlessly. For the sake of both getting my point across and with value to your time, this is going to be kept as short as I can without sacrificing core concepts. This is the meat and potatoes of this guide, but won't be as long as the buying guide, because this is a compass pointing you the way rather than a step by step map telling you exactly what you need to do. We can do plenty of that in the comments, but the core concepts for combat marksmanship are relatively clear cut, it is in the details that the topic is both vast and deep.



Standards of accuracy:

This is probably the third or fourth time this guide has brought up index cards. I maintain they are a phenomenal tool not only because of their convenient dimensions, but also their affordability, abundance, flexibility, and practicality. Up close, within 50yds, they serve as excellent representations of the human heart and brainstem, the two places you can shoot a man and drop him instantly. This is critical for both practical every day carry, CQB combat, and longer range engagements. Stretch out the range, and with the right tools, not only is that a perfectly doable shot at 100, 200, 300 yards, but that is likely to be about the size of the targets presented to you. An elbow sticking out of cover, a face peaking out of a window sill, or a machine gunner well covered and concealed... You need to fixate on accuracy for those low probability shots in training to have a hope of making them when you introduce very real battlefield friction.

The ability to one shot drop a dude is exactly what is going to keep you alive, and is exactly the standard of accuracy we seek to achieve. When the heart is racing, the ears are ringing, the hands tremble, your palms are coated in sweat, and your blood is circulating differently because of the stress and imminent sense of death... you might not give flat range performance. But, maybe you will, because you've practiced this shot a million times and its as natural as walking. That's the goal. THAT is the shooter's nirvana. Getting there is a long journey, one which its easy to "go hollow" on as funds, time, or motivation dwindle.



Standards of Speed:

As fast as you can go and still hit that index card. Anti-climatic answer right? Well, its really that simple. Remember, this guide assumes you are new to this, free of both bad habits, but also entirely lacking in experience. For that reason, I will not be giving you shot timer wickets to meet, or standards measured in seconds for any drill I recommend here. It is all going to be based on what you can do, successfully, at your personal limits. So why even bring up speed at all if I am so unconcerned with it? Because it is extremely important and will save your life, but I am far more concerned with you doing this right then quickly. Remember this montra: accurate reps are quality reps, and quality reps build speed. If you draw, aim, and fire the right way over and over again you will get faster at it I promise.

There will come a time where you NEED to get a shot timer. They not only hold you to a standard but have an interesting effect of putting some pressure on you and seeing how you perform when you've got some pride on the line at the very least is valuable. There is no need to avoid shot timer drills. But frankly I don't give a shit about your splits if your USPSA target looks like it has chicken pox. You are the turtle in the race against the hare, for the sake of building a strong foundation for an infinitely high peak in skill you need to master the fundamentals of marksmanship through quality accurate reps.

Anyways, I have a ~3 second Bill Drill, that's aight I guess. Some dudes can do it in one second and change and you can always ask them how they got that quick. There are plenty of guides and folks out there that can give you splits and what those splits mean for you on certain drills. You don't need to be reading this guide for those. I will say, that after about a dozen attempts I managed to pass the US Air Marshals qualification (I'm not a marshal, just looked it up), and I think those standards are excellent. I bought a shot timer specifically to see if I could do it, and it was very useful in achieving that goal, but I certainly don't use it every time I train. Hold off on the shot timer until you are hitting that index card with boring consistency.



Standards of Knowledge:

This is a weird way to say "You must know what the fuck you are doing and saying". There are certain things you need to know just not to make an ass of yourself, and some of these things you need to know because they are functional to build on. There are also things you need to know in order to make educated choices about how you spend your time and money to make educated decisions for your training.

Here is a list of things you need to fucking know:

-You need to know tactical and emergency reloads.
-You need to know how to clear your gun.
-You need to know the weapons conditions.
-You need to know the safety rules.
-You need to know how to safely handle and carry the gun, the types of carry.
-You need to know the low ready and high ready positions.
-You need to know what your "work space" is.
-You need to know the shooting positions of prone, kneeling, standing, their variations, and how to transition between those positions.
-You need to know the terms cover and concealment and their differences.
-You need to know what "point blank" refers to.
-You need to know probably a million other things that slipped my mind making this list.

The point is approach this embracing the proper terminology and conduct so that you know what people are talking about and you can intelligently articulate yourself when you seek coaching. You won't be able to get better without having a grasp on the lingo. And, without the lingo, you won't be able to adequately research whatever comes next for you. If you are past the simple "how to talk about guns and act with a guns" stage, your going to be pushing the envelope into new things. Long range precision shooting, night vision shooting, room clearing, setting in an ambush... this stuff requires some baby steps in behavior and terminology familiarization to navigate.

Solve actual problems, not hypothetical ones. Seek capability, not things. It is really easy to spot someone spewing second hand knowledge rather then the guy who is living it and doing it. Having a standard for knowledge means that as you expand the skill sets you are familiar with by your personal ability and your gear and the capabilities granted by that ability and gear, you are doing so grounded in reality and not hypotheticals.

You also need to know the particulars and idiosyncrasies of you, your rifle, and your equipment. Develop skills, develop knowledge, muscle memory and reflexive responses. Among that category we have some other things you need to know:

-You need to know your holds at various ranges.
-You need to know your holds at various ranges
-You need to know your holds at various ranges
-You need to know what the reticle in your optic actually means, and how to use it.
-You need to know how fit you are, how much endurance and strength you posses
-You need to know basic combat life saving skills (TQ, wound packing, splinting, treating for shock, heat casualty treatment etc.)
-You need to know how to employ your weapon in various positions, and how to handle it to get it into some unusual ones safely and effectively
-You need to know the status of the batteries both in your equipment and the spares you have, and how long they last.
-You need to know the second "point blank" on your gun (every zero distance effectively has two)

This list could be endless, but I hope I've gotten the point across. Know yourself, your gear, and your weapon.



The Training Curve:

(coming soon, 1 billion more hours in paint, more elaboration in text.)
Basically the jist is that you learn a skill, you develop that skill through practice and build habits. Then, you refine that skill, introducing a slight change that will improve you. This refinement breaks your habits, so you don't see immediate results and might actually be doing worse for a short while until it is properly incorporated. Then with this refinement mastered your over all ability continues upward, until a new refinement is introduced. Focus on one aspect of your shooting at a time, go out, and train it until you have developed confidence in it, then pick up a new aspect of your shooting to master. This is how you build good habits from a rock solid foundation.


The next spoiler is rambling I'm uninterested in engaging people with. You don't need to click it. <- Click this first (Look, this is a hobby, one which is extremely closely tied to your human rights and conceptually the very real struggle to protect them. That being said, its just a hobby; don't take yourself too seriously. If we have to fight the government in these terms in our life time it would be one of the most dramatic plot twists in history. You need only learn and pass on these skills so that we are too prickly a population to be overly fucked with. It's your God given right to pretend to be shooting blue helmets or the traitorous government sanctioned transvestite Gestapo, that is all the justification you need, don't be all schizo, you do us all a disservice. Don't @me about this shit you clicked on the spoiler).

 

[Taser Confetti]

>The shortest you can go is 11.5"

My 10.3 Geissele has worked absolutely perfectly. I know plenty of people who own DD Mk18’s and have no complaints. The trick is to not inhale enough copium to where you think Palmetto State is good.

 

[Boney]

My 10.3 Geissele has worked absolutely perfectly. I know plenty of people who own DD Mk18’s and have no complaints.

Yeah I'm not going to poo-poo a Mk18 or its clones, very solid gat. Just that its a bit harsher on the internals and isn't as reliable as 11.5" because of the harsher cycling. With good ammo and tuning a 10.3/10.5 is rock solid.

 

[888Flux]

Overall your post is good and covers all the bases. Certain parts like a sling and light are 99% of the time overlooked.

I have one recommendation and that is if you are new to the AR platform, or just firearms in general that your first optic you learn on should be your irons. It should be zeroed out at 25 yards, or if you have access to a >25 yard range, a 36 yard zero. A fancy German red dot is nice but not necessary for proficiency. You will always have your irons.

Also I would like to ask why the suggestion for TMK ammo. I'm not familiar with that and have never shot with it before so I can't provide much comment but my recommendation to any new shooter would be to stick with a standard 55 grain cartridge.

Finally, with no offense to you or anyone else, a "battle belt" is not necessary. The less shit you have on you the better and wearing a "battle belt" along with a plate carrier, and a rifle slung across your shoulder, and potentially backpack, bump helmet, etc will do nothing limit mobility and make you look like Steven Seagal.

A piece of kit I recommend that you can wear casually at the range is something like the Helikon-Tex Training Micro Rig. It can hold both pistol and rifle magazines and can get you familiar with your equipment.

 

[Boney]

Overall your post is good and covers all the bases. Certain parts like a sling and light are 99% of the time overlooked.

Thank you! I appreciate your input. You've brought up some good points.

I have one recommendation and that is if you are new to the AR platform, or just firearms in general that your first optic you learn on should be your irons.

Maybe worth mentioning, especially because you can use them while you save for a dot. Everyone does need to learn irons, but it isn't a pressing issue because they can be learned quickly and are a redundant system.

Also I would like to ask why the suggestion for TMK ammo.

These are used as your combat load and (I forgot to mention) what you zero your optic with. They aren't as relaint on velocity for good terminal ballistics (full expansion at 1700fps!) they don't drift as much in the wind, and they are plentiful enough they can be stocked up on. Train with whatever, 55gr is available and cheap.

Finally, with no offense to you or anyone else, a "battle belt" is not necessary.

It doesn't have to be a battle belt. You can go directly to a plate carrier, you can use a chest rig, you can even put certain pouches on fairly normal belts and make it work. But I think that a battlebelt is usually the best place to start, usually people don't bring plate carriers to my entry or intermediate level courses, everyone brings battle belts for flat range training even to the advanced courses I attend. Plate carriers and such to more dynamic or LARPy activities

 

[ellroy]

The brand matters little at that price point as long as you are getting a chrome lined barrel and modern design. Colt, FN, BCM, Centurion, Daniel Defense, Spikes, Noveske, they all have their fans or haters for particular reasons, and those reasons are generally pretty silly. Once you tap into the $2,000 rifles (like a SACR, KAC, V7, etc) it puts you out of my target demographic of people who aren't made of money and need to get every purchase right in order to afford ammo. Go enjoy your KAC knowing you bought the best rifle in the world, but you should be embarrassed if you aren't pushing it to the point where that degree of minutia actually grants performance.

Small nitpicks with this paragraph.

I don't know where one can find a KAC SR-15 in the $2000 range, KAC hasn't released any SR-15's or any other rifles on the civilian retail market since the pandemic started. Even if you could find one at the MSRP they sold for ($4.5K), they really aren't worth the money. They use proprietary parts and have a fine tuned gas system that won't like a lot of cheap ammo I know a lot of people on this site will use. This brings me to my next nitpick, for the love of God avoid AR systems with proprietary parts like Noveske or LMT. Noveske for example won't release the size of the gas port on their barrels. AR's are great because they can be modified with interchangable parts, proprietary parts ruin that design paradigm.

My own unsolicited two cents: don't spend a lot and get a gucci AR-15 as your first one. Go buy a budget blaster (e.g. PSA) that's Mil-spec down the board and learn what you like and don't like about a basic AR-15 so your next one is even better and you're putting money in the right things.

Optics:

AR-15 Optics are a whole topic a book could be written on. There are a number of good ones out there for various reasons, there is an abundance of passable ones, and no shortage of garbage that to an inexperienced person seem fine. I'm going to skip the exposition on the WHY for most of this and just give you two to pick from.

Red dot: Aimpoint PRO (Affordable, hyper durable, has night vision settings, good brightness, crisp dot, great battery life)
Magnified optic: ACOG (Indestructible, excellent field of view, excellent glass clarity, can be paired with an RMR for a red dot and night vision use)
LPVO: Don't do it its a trap! Actually, there are terrains where they are totally appropriate, but the cost and weight of these make their short comings... prominent discussion points. Cheap LPVOs are bad at everything but can do anything, good LPVOs are usually good at one thing and mediocre at everything else. Whatever, $1,500 LPVO goes here. Vudu, VCOG, ATACR, Razor... you are going to have to doll out some cash and still get disappointing reticle brightness.
MPVO: Medium Power Variable optics should be restricted to SPRs and we aren't getting into that right now. It is a specialized role that requires more considerations and training. (More on SPRs later!)

More unsolicited advice: GO TO A FUCKING GUN STORE AND TRY THEM OUT. This is a must if you have an astigmatism since the red dots will vary wildly. Cheaper red dots like Holosun and Sig Sauer's budget models like the Romeo 5 are not astigmatism friendly and will be hard to use. High end ones like Trijicon will be better but it's up to you to make an informed decision what works. Holographic sights like the EOTech Exp2s are going to still give issues but they won't be as bad as your standard red dot. Green reticles are better for astigmatism though they won't work with NVGs. If red dots and holographic sights are out of the question then get a 1x prism scope, Primary Arms makes them and they're cheap.

ACOGs have shitty eye relief, don't get one unless you get to mount it on a rifle and try it out. You may end up not liking having an optic that close to your face and may not like it without a riser. LPVOs will be a personal preference, they are popular for a reason but it doesn't mean it will work for you. Again, just try them out before buying.

Training ammo should be whatever is cheapest and can be bought in bulk for the best deal. I used to blast steel all day long every range trip. Those days are behind us, now you will be paying $0.55 a round for brass. M193 (and other 55gr ammo) and M855 are both readily available and cheapest most of the time.

Do not buy M855/SS109 unless you have an outdoor range that allows it; look up their rules first. I've seen enough retards shoot M855 at my local indoor range that they now check people's ammo with a magnet before letting them on the range. If it sparks on the backstop, then its going to get an RSO angry and you will get banned from a range. M855 is cheap because there are foreign military munition plants churning these rounds out around the clock and they sell the surplus on the US market to keep the plants operating. It's an overrated round and you're just better off buying M193. Training rounds from reputable vendors go for about $0.435 per round these days. Consider a PCC if you want to do movement and reload drills to save some money once in a while. Your cheapest brands are probably going to run dirty and your rifle's mileage may vary.

When it comes to battle belts, you will need some sort of belt for your holster and magazines. You can use a conceal carry belt and buy kydex magazine holders and an OWB kydex holster or get a legit battle belt with a velcro liner. I use a Wilder Tactical battle belt and like it. They make a padded liner if you don't want to use the velcro inner belt. A lot of companies out there make battle belts, if you're are really overwhelmed buy a MOLLE belt (e.g. the one from Viking Tactics/VTAC) so you can use milsurp pouches on it and then ask people at the range using other belts what they have and if they like it.


Also big ups to the OP for taking it upon himself to write this up. I hope everyone appreciates the effort he has put in.

 

[Huge Member]

Very nice post overall, thanks for taking the time to write this guide. Agree with most of it, but I do have some comments:

Make no mistake, you as a civilian must treat this as your primary weapon and emphasize your training on this platform. It is of critical importance you practice with your new Glock regularly, skills are perishable and a defensive shooting is unforgiving in time and stray rounds.

True, but also consider that learning to shoot with a pistol is usually harder than with a rifle.

Just use a two point sling like a normal person

Absolutely. slings are simple & cheap, but I see so many people without one, it's really mind-boggling.

About the ammo: They say train as you fight for a reason. Especially if you go with an SBR and a slow, heavy bullet, the trajectories can be quite different. At least shoot enough of the real stuff to know your holds.

Training ammo should be whatever is cheapest

You don't need match grade stuff, but using shit tier ammo will do a wonderful job of undermining a new shooter's confidence in his weapon.

Combat load should be 77gr TMKs.

Don't have experience with those, but seems not too bad from what I can tell. However, as they are more expensive and harder to get: maybe reconsider getting an SBR? Yeah, even a 20" barrel isn't gonna magically destroy everything in its path, but at least with >16" you can shoot normal ammo without dogshit performance. A more compact gun is nice, but does a new shooter really need a 11.5" AR? Especially if you need boutique ammo to have good performance on target.

Overall, really nice guide, and I'm looking forward to the next parts.

 

[Boney]

A more compact gun is nice, but does a new shooter really need a 11.5" AR?

Yes. The only thing stopping me from outright telling people to exclusively use an 11.5" right off the bat is that people are intimidated by the tax stamp process and the 16" rifle is such an easy template to turn into a so called "general purpose gun" or a SPR. So you'll get milage out of it even if you get an SPR down the road.

Take a gander at this chart firing M193 from a 20" barrel:

At 300 yards, firing M193 from a 20" barrel the round fragmemtation is dissapointing, being somewhere between the 2500fps and 2600fps depending on which calculator I use. Hardly worth carrying around a musket.

Meanwhile, TMKs fired from an 11.5" barrel are going to be moving at 2100-2200fps, 500fps over the required velocity for full expansion! Combined with the heavier round, we are actually gaining range and accuracy by optimizing our bullet instead of our barrel, at the cost of having to have a more severe bullet drop to compensate. Now we are aiming a foot over their heads instead of a few inches for a low probability hit, not ideal. But, we are operating as a team (always bring friends to a gunfight), so our carbine allows us to effectively suppress while we get force multipliers (like an SPR or DMR) to start taking accurate shots.

 

[code123]

any tips for getting used to acquiring sight picture with dots on handguns?
i find myself still bringing the gun up and acquiring the sight picture for irons(a bit lower then dot). im also still shooting a bit on guns with only irons, so its even harder to build the habit when i am still using both.

 

[Boney]

any tips for getting used to acquiring sight picture with dots on handguns?

Fantastic, this sorta stuff is the right thing to ask.

Take some painters tape and put it over the outer lense of your dot. Keep it there for the entirety of this exercise and when you go to the range.

Now, put a post-it note at the end of a hall in your house.

Look at the post it note both eyes open, unholster and present keeping both eyes open.

The first few times you might have to fish around looking for the red dot, but try not to make this a habit. Once the dot is on target, never breaking your visual focus from the sticky note, hold the position for a second and commit that feel of the gun and sight position to memory.

Repeat x10,000 times (or until you get the dot over laying your target every time from the draw)

You do NOT LOOK THROUGH RED DOT SIGHTS! You keep your focus on what you want to shoot and put the sight between your eyes and what your are shoot, when the dot over lays the target you are good to fire.

To build this habit, occluded shooting is an extremely useful tool. Hell, half the time I carry that way. You don't actually need the glass to be transparent at all.

 

[Samhain]

My own unsolicited two cents: don't spend a lot and get a gucci AR-15 as your first one. Go buy a budget blaster (e.g. PSA)

I don't know about that. Cheapo ARs tend to have poorly made components or improper assembly (or both), and depending on what those problems could be, a newbie AR owner might not know how to diagnose the problem or how to fix it. Mid-range priced options like BCM or Geissele's El Jefe duo of offerings in 16" and 11.5" are both reasonably priced for what they are. IWI's Zion-15 ARs are also fairly priced, if you can stomach buying a firearm from IWI.

All that said, I think if someone's just buying an AR for occasional plinking, or is unsure if an AR is for them, then a PSA is probably the best very inexpensive option.

 

[Boney]

Most people start with the cheap gun, develop their skills, then replace the cheap gun. Those same people, like myself, then try to get the next guy to skip the cheap gun step and go right to having a dependable blaster. Often this advocacy is in vain. People love to have an intimate connection with their tools and guns.

This guide is written for someone who wants to maximize time and funds to maximize training and capability. The idea is you don't need to buy a guage set or rollpin punch and tourqe wrench etc. You just hit the range. Gunsmith skills come later.

If you are the subset of shooters who are more into the gunsmithing and tweaking side of things where you get more joy out of the tinkering and optimizing, probably start cheap so you aren't wrenching and hammering away at something expensive.

You can enjoy both sides of the hobby of course, I certainly do, but I haven't written this with the customization and repair side in mind.

 

[Polock]

There is a role for cheapo AR's but I think that is outside of the scope of Boney's mission here. The point is to guide a new shooter towards a first purchase that they wont come to regret later.

It appears my reply has been snaked, lul

 

[Muskie]

Yeah I'm not going to poo-poo a Mk18 or its clones, very solid gat. Just that its a bit harsher on the internals and isn't as reliable as 11.5" because of the harsher cycling. With good ammo and tuning a 10.3/10.5 is rock solid.

Correct, 10.3's short dwell time requires tuning and an autistic understanding of the ar-15 gas system to get near 100% reliability. Some manufacturers GAPED gas ports on these guns to run .223 steel case but this causes massive overgassing with full powered 5.56 or when suppressed. My Mk18 MOD 0 has a correct crane gas port spec and an h2 buffer. This setup is for general suppressed and unsuppressed use with full power 5.56. At low temps it will not run low power ammo unsuppressed and might not run reliability with full power ammo at extreme low temps (I have tested mine down to -2°F). Things like bcg efficiency, ammo selection, and ambient temperature that don't normally matter at longer barrel lengths become possible problems. Still I love my setup #Quad 4 life.

One other training aid that I would recommend is a .22lr handgun or rifle but especially handgun. They make .22 versions of many popular handguns; this way you can practice sight alignment, trigger control, and general handling for cheap. It is not a replacement for normal practice but I find it a lot more fun than dry fire.

Another topic for this guide might be common pitfalls or things to avoid as a beginner. Personaly, I would say armour should be one of the last things you buy and I have seen a lot of new shooters fixate on it. Things that help you stay alive proactively should be prioritized over passive protection. Armour is heavy and if you are not used to walking or running with lots of gear it will probably be a net negative to your survivability. If I had to leave my house with olny what I could carry it would be left behind. It has its place but it's kinda niche and not applicable to most people as door kicking should be absolutely avoided when possible. Great thread!

 

[ellroy]

I don't know about that. Cheapo ARs tend to have poorly made components or improper assembly (or both), and depending on what those problems could be, a newbie AR owner might not know how to diagnose the problem or how to fix it. Mid-range priced options like BCM or Geissele's El Jefe duo of offerings in 16" and 11.5" are both reasonably priced for what they are. IWI's Zion-15 ARs are also fairly priced, if you can stomach buying a firearm from IWI.

All that said, I think if someone's just buying an AR for occasional plinking, or is unsure if an AR is for them, then a PSA is probably the best very inexpensive option.

My comment comes from reading the entire Mega Rad Gun Thread, taking note of all the new shooters looking for advice what to buy combined with my experience, and noting their budget. PSA is the bare minimum I would recommend for a budget build. Their uppers can be iffy depending on the product line (their new match uppers are unreliable but the milspec clone stuff works) and their lowers work decently enough. The point is to buy something inexpensive but decent, shoot and train with, and learn about the rifle. Note, I said “Gucci” not mid/high. I personally don’t think BCM is mid, it’s high quality for what you pay for; I’m not going to get in a debate on what should be high vs mid. I made that comment about gucci because I have seen many a new shooter eyeballing expensive rifles and soliciting advice about them when they don’t know how to shoot. If you blow your budget on an expensive ass LMT for example, you wouldn’t have a lot of money left over to train and get decent optics. There is balance for a new shooter on a budget. Personally the best value proposition for a rifle I can recommend is a BCM upper with a PSA or Aero lower. My first rifle was a PSA lower with an Aero upper and it was good to learn and take classes with. Best part of that setup, was it costed under a grand so I could budget ammo and training. I wouldn’t of been about to do so had I bought a $2K Geissele like everyone online kept bragging about owning.

The best part of having an inexpensive upper is that you can replace the upper when you had enough of it without some sort of sunk cost fallacy.

Most people start with the cheap gun, develop their skills, then replace the cheap gun. Those same people, like myself, then try to get the next guy to skip the cheap gun step and go right to having a dependable blaster. Often this advocacy is in vain. People love to have an intimate connection with their tools and guns.

This guide is written for someone who wants to maximize time and funds to maximize training and capability. The idea is you don't need to buy a guage set or rollpin punch and tourqe wrench etc. You just hit the range. Gunsmith skills come later.

If you are the subset of shooters who are more into the gunsmithing and tweaking side of things where you get more joy out of the tinkering and optimizing, probably start cheap so you aren't wrenching and hammering away at something expensive.

You can enjoy both sides of the hobby of course, I certainly do, but I haven't written this with the customization and repair side in mind.

My bad about derailing the thread a little bit. I do consider tinkering the next step in the hobby.

 

[Boney]

Hey gents, some more editing done tonight and some additions to the follow-up sections. Feel free to jump ahead and ask questions even if I haven't gotten to what you might be wondering about yet.