So, you want to learn to run an AR15.

BLUF:

Shoot shoot shoot. Your gun is only as good as how much ammo you put through it.

You got this new gun.  It’s cool.  You lay awake at night dreaming about taking out Osama Bin Laden, but you’ve not actually shot it.  Or maybe you’ve only ever shot it to sight it in.

Maybe you thought that immediately upon picking it up, you’d get a sudden surge of adrenaline or hair would immediately begin growing on your chest like you had swallowed a giant testosterone tablet.  Far from being a viagra tablet with a trigger, you found that after anticipating shooting this beast for months, now that you have it on the range, you really don’t know what to do with it.  Do I shoot it fast?  Sure.  rat a tat tat tat tat tat tat tat.  Ok, now what?

That AR15 you’re holding, provided it’s a good rifle, is the culmination of half of a century of firearms technology evolving into the black monster you now hold.

It’s smaller than you thought, right?

To the untrained, all that the AR15 has, say on an old Remington automatic deer rifle, is a bigger magazine.  But to those willing to put in the time and effort, the AR15 represents a major evolution in ergonomics and maneuverability that simply isn’t matched by many other things out there.

Where to start: you.

Let’s begin with the stance starting at the bottom and work up.

Feet are the foundation for where the weapons platform touches the unmovable earth.  This is where we get our stability and function as the rock solid piece of concrete against which our rifle rebuffs.  Stand square to the target.  Don’t do that goofy bladed stance.  This is a man’s gun.  Get those feet apart at least shoulder width.  Now, making sure your hips stay square to the target, move your dominant foot to your six o’clock about 12 inches.  This makes you less susceptible to letting that recoil knock you back onto your heels.

Click on image to enlarge

Bend your knees.  No football lineman stands with his legs locked.  That’d be silly.  Especially when he knows he’s about to encounter a force coming at him from the front.  Bend your knees and take an aggressive and athletic lean forward at the waist. Get ready to deal with a force coming at you from the front.

With your shoulders square to the target, put the top of the stock on the collar bone directly above your nipple.  Roll your shoulder in around the stock to create a pocket.  Now your shoulder is holding the stock on the right side, your pectoral muscle on the bottom and left, and your cheek will press down.

With your dominant hand grip the rifle firmly.  This is a gun, not a baby rabbit.  Death grip not necessary, but you’re holding a firearm, be a man about it already.

Please. PLEASE don’t chicken wing your right arm.  Your elbow should not be pointed outward from your body.  Get that elbow pointed down at the ground.  The more stable the platform under the gun, the less recoil will effect your body.  If you chicken wing in my presence I will take pictures of you and make fun of you in blog posts.

Now, with the support hand find a comfortable spot on the fore grip to grab that thing.  It can be way out there, or closer to the magwell – whatever gives you the most control over the muzzle.  Me, I like to grip it as far out as I reasonably can, because I feel that my extended arm is stronger than my half-bent arm, and I have better control over where that pointy end is … well… pointed.

Click on image to enlarge

Roll your head down to reach the sights, this usually means forward, not to the side.  Some like to put their nose on the charging handle. This gives them a good index point by which to see their sights.

You’ve got a good start, now let’s talk about how this thing that goes bang in your hands works.

Next: the gun.

How does this thingy work.  Here’s a quick .gif to get you familiarized:

First, put the magazine in the magwell.  The bullets should be pointing forward.  Then, take the charging handle and charge the gun by pulling back all the way and letting go.  Don’t “ride” the charging handle forward.  Let go like a bow and arrow.

Now, rotate the safety off (it’s near your thumb) and depress the trigger straight to the rear.

Don’t forget to line up your sights first.

Now, when your magazine is empty, the bolt will lock back to the rear.  This means that you need to first, eject the empty mag.  It’s empty, it’s not gonna do you any good.  This button is in the middle of the right side of the gun, and can be depressed by the trigger finger if you are right handed.

Next, insert full mag.  When you do, push it all the way to the top, and then give it a little bit of a tug downward to see if it caught.  This is a good habit to get into, because it can cause a big malfunction if you don’t have your mag seated all the way.

Now, to release the bolt, hit the top of the ping pong paddle looking thing on the left side of the receiver.  That’s called a bolt catch or bolt release.  It will cause your bolt to go forward, stripping the first round off the top of the magazine.

Your gun’s useful again.

Last: what to tangibly work on at the range.

Lots of us have been there: you get your gun, you go shoot it, and then you don’t know what to do with it, so you put it up, knowing it’s ready if you ever want to shoot it again.  But you don’t want to be mediocre, right?  So what separates those who just have an AR15, from those who know how to run an AR15?

Go to the range and figure this stuff out.  It’ll take you several trips.

#1 learn how to use your trigger.

This is the most important thing that you can do no an AR, besides aiming.  Your trigger is the key to the success of your rifle.  Sure, anyone can pull a trigger one time.  But that’s why bolt actions are given to children to kill their first deer.  It takes someone who knows a thing or two about their trigger, to pull it consistently, quickly, and effectively to be able to do that on an AR15 in an accurate way.

When you shoot the first few times, don’t instinctively let off the trigger.  Hold it down.  Build into your system the idea of follow-through.  Hold it down and only release it when you’re ready to shoot again.  Get your sights back on target, take a deep breath, then let off of the trigger until it clicks then pull it again.  Never take your finger off of the trigger all of the way in between two quick shots.  Your finger will not fall back onto the trigger in the same place and you are wasting the valuable time you could have been spending pulling the trigger another 1 or 2 times.

The best gun hands in the world go to the range every day, and what do they work on?  Trigger.  You can always improve your trigger pull.

#2 Aquiring sights.

It is SO easy to focus on the hog/threat/target when we’re shooting, and forget to aim the gun.  Practice acquiring that clean sight picture, whether it is a red dot, a magnified scope, or open sights.  Be quick on the sights, and slow on the trigger.

Learn to acquire the sights as soon as the gun comes into the pocket of the shoulder.  Learn to acquire the shots immediately after you pull the trigger, to get back on target quickly.  Learning to acquire that clean sight picture is what will help you to capitalize on the ability of the rifle to rapidly produce follow up shots.

#3 Recoil control.

Even guys who have shot tons of rounds downrange, get laxidaisical about gaining superiority over the recoil impulse of the gun.  The gun has so little recoil, we think we can just shoot it like a .22, but we can’t.  You must practice leaning into that rifle and not letting it rock you on to your heels, especially in a rapid fire string.  Don’t be the guy who, with ever successive shot of his AR, stands up a little bit more, until he’s leaning backwards by the end of the string.

#4 Don’t waste bullets.

Make every bullet count.  With costs of nearly .40 per round these days, I’m not friends with anyone who has enough ammo or money to throw a bunch of rounds out the window.  You’ve proven nothing if you empty a magazine quickly into a target.  So what.  But if you empty a magazine all into the same hole in a target, well, now we’ve got something to cook with.

Every shot should teach you more than 1 thing.  You shouldn’t just shoot a bullet to teach you to control recoil.  You may be thinking about your recoil management, but you should also be able to analyze your shot placement, and have noticed your ability to pick up your sights after your shot.  You should also be able to see if you exhibited proper follow-through on your trigger.  Each pull of the trigger is a book waiting to be read, you just have to be aware enough to realize it.

#5 know your ballistics chart.

Depending on what zero you picked for how you will use your rifle, you need to know your gun.

I can’t tell you how many times my ignorance of my ballistics solution has cost me game, particularly in the 150 yard range.  With my 300 yard zero, my bullets hit 5 inches above my crosshairs around the 150 mark.  There is no substitute for the sort of confidence you gain when you completely understand the flight of your bullets.

#6 shooting from awkward positions

You should have the ability to put rounds where you need them to go even when shooting under a car, leaned up against a tree, hunkered down over a log, bending over a corner, etc.  If I had a dime for every time I shot from a standard platform, I’d still be almost as poor as I am right now.  But if I got that same dime every time I had to “make due” with something less than perfect, well, I could buy another AR15.

Click on image to enlarge

Click on image to enlarge

#7 malfunction clearance and reloading.

Because I shoot more than the average bear, I get my mags mixed up a lot, leading me to run with mags that I thought were full, but surprisingly were not.  After my initial few shots, I realized I grabbed the wrong mag, and had to reload quickly.  Two videos here:

http://youtu.be/NrjLBwKxLJ0

and

http://youtu.be/oGXST0sYW4w

You’ll notice that I had to reload, and if I didn’t do it quickly, it would cost me more shots on the hogs.

I should have done a better job of my reloads, and practice is the only thing that’ll make me better.

Also, malfunctions happen occasionally, and there have been times when I’ve needed to clear that jam in order to be able to get back into the game.  There’s no substitute for practice.

You have a lot to work on.  Hopefully this gives you a good start.  I recommend you getting some good videos that will help you to understand from some industry experts (which I am most certainly NOT).  Panteo Productions has some really knowledgeable guys that are all experts in their fields.

Perhaps the most valuable tool you can have is a partner that can help you to diagnose and push you in learning some of these things.  Two guys working with each other on the range, pushing each other to become better, is SO much better than you going to the range by yourself and just trying to make due.  You’re less apt to make excuses with someone else, and more apt to justify your mistakes to yourself.

Any old fool can shoot an AR.  Go learn to run one.

Why is there an Ammo Shortage?

It’s been over a year since the second term election of President Obama, the massacre at the Sandy Hook Elementary school, and the subsequent panic in the firearms world of both an attack on the purchase of new firearms, and the possibility of confiscation of existing firearms.  

People bought up ammo and rifles by the truckloads.  Literally.  I recall a deal on lower receivers being sold by the crate load. 

I personally forecast to my friends that the frenzy would not last over 8 months, saying that by July AR15s would be reasonably priced again, and ammo would be fully stocked.

I was wrong.  The shortage still exists 15 months later.  You can’t find a .22 shell if your life depended on it, and a quick survey of the typical online outlets for 5.56/.223 regularly only rewards you with “out of stock” memos.

The Firearms Blog is an industry blog that seems to have a very good explanation.

Why is there a .22 ammunition shortage

The short answer is: they are at max production, bringing new capabilities online every day, and the consumer market is driving down availability.

What? no black helicopters? No massive DHS bulk purchase that will suppress the American people’s ability to get their lead out (see what I did there?)?

Nope, just supply and demand.  And when ammo manufacturers are busy making the .223/5.56 that is in demand, there’s no way for them to make .22 and .243 and other stuff that we want too.

Don’t pay more than you should because you’re panicking.  It might not have ended in July, but it will be over here soon.