Boing!

Mon, 09/13/2004, 02:22
As my cheerfully cheerful aquabotanic/photographic/blogging master friend Erik might say after I say it..

Another day, squandered.


But I didn't say it today! Nosir, today is a great day for me. Today marks the end of ten years of ridiculous restrictions on firearms. Yes, the abomination that is the so-called "Assault weapons" ban is dead.

"What does it all mean, though?," Joe Average asks, in a rhetorical manner.

"Does it mean that cop/baby killing death machines are now available?," Joe inquires..
"Yes and no; banned arms were no more deadly than any other 'conventional' gun," Warren replies

"Does it mean full auto weapons will be on every street corner?," Joe asks..
"No, full auto weapons have been restricted since 1934," Warren answers... then adds, "but I wouldn't mind if someone dropped off some AKs on the corner of Arapahoe and Holly.."

"So then why did they ban all these guns?!", Joe asks in exasperation...
"Because the legislation signed was designed to regulate scary-looking guns. None of these guns are special, and don't account for significant portions of even firearms crimes. The debate over the bill's ridiculousness resulted in the ten year expiration," Warren answers with a long, drawn-out breath.

Well, contrived conversation aside, this is a very good day for gun owners in free America. It's a good step in the process of reversing the incrementalist prohibition legislation passed over the last years.

It's a little bit funny, really. The ban was made in the name of restricting criminals. Problem is, so-called "assault weapons" are almost exclusively found in the hands of law-abiders. Possibly more so than any other firearm demographic.

That liberal politicians have tried to ban these guns is evidence that they rely on sensationalism and fear to achieve their agendas. Especially enjoyable over the last several weeks have been the cries of "AK47s in the streets" and Al-Qaeda's supposed interest in small arms. Pleas of desperation from a lost cause. Beautiful.

Yours truly is considering stacking his two civilian AKs and the AR15 on the closest street corner, just so the nutcases get to be right for once. Maybe videotape for comedic effect and profit. Downloads available soon? (...likely idle banter)

Updates as soon as they develop! (wait a month for another entry)
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Get a (Battle)grip!!! ...maybe

Thu, 09/02/2004, 22:08
The A2 grip, standard on M16s since.. um.. after the A1, is a pretty good grip. It provides a standard that works for most people, which is important, should you need to use a fellow soldier's rifle. I'm not in the military, though, so I don't care about the "army way", and I want something that works well for me. Though a truly custom grip can't be mass-manufactured, the aftermarket provides a number of pre-made solutions that often work better than the standard.

I've been reading up on ARFCOM for some time now, and I've gotten a couple opportunities to try out different grips. After a while, I worked my list of desired grips down to three. The Hogue OverMolded, the Sierra Precision ("SPR") grip, and the TangoDown Battlegrip.

Hogue - I found that the Hogue, while comfortable, has a disadvantage. The rubber that makes it so comfortable also has a tendency to stick and bind on clothes and such. I'm a bit of a klutz, so I could easily see that being a problem with sling transitions and such. The finger grooves work great for me, but not for others. They also interfere with the usage of the "winter trigger", which I use, living in Colorado. With gloves on, the grip is also clunky. It is, however, inexpensive.. around $15.

SPR - The SPR grip is regarded by many as a very good solution for precision rifles. One of the big criticisms of the A2 grip is that the distance from the trigger to the rear of the grip is too short. The SPR addresses this with a very "fat" grip that puts the trigger closer to the pad of your finger; a setup considered conducive to precise shooting. The SPR, however, has a thumb shelf designed for right-handed shooters. Though I am right handed, I do train for needing to switch sides. The SPR is absolutely terrible with left-handed shooting. With heavy winter gloves on, it's like trying to grab a tube of ground beef. Way too big. Pricey, at $30.

TD - Ever since I got my Surefire, I've looked for a place to put the batteries. I've got them in my foregrip right now, but that's more ghetto than I'd like. I'm also planning on getting an EOTech soon, so it'd be nice to have a place to put those batteries as well. The Battlegrip is designed firstly to carry batteries; Aimpoint button cells, CR123A's, as featured in Surefire flashlights, and the ubiquitous AAs. I didn't really have much real-life experience with the BG, and the other two had flaws I knew about, so the BG is what I bought.


Out of the box. Pretty packaging, with an extensive essay on the back. I ordered mine from Bowers Tactical, here in Colorado. Mike is very responsive, and shipped very quickly. He also has the best price I've seen anywhere. I had to pay sales tax for ordering from him, but I consider it a cheap upgrade to virtually "overnight" shipping.

Inside the box.. looks pretty complete. Grip, stainless hex screw with thread locker and a nylon washer, a hex driver, instruction leaflet, and two thin foam anti-rattle plugs. Offhand, the grip seems very sturdy; the plastic is VERY hard, and the texture is pretty nice. Not rubbery like I thought.

The rubber compartment plug. Sturdily attached; this won't fall off. Seems like it should be easy to remove in a panic, and it should give a pretty good seal against water. Y'all know about the monsoons we have here in Colorado, anyhow.

Opening it up, it looks like there's even more foam plugs. These would be for padding Aimpoint batteries or for cutting down to fit CR123As and such.

Using a flathead screwdriver and a few twists, we loosen the screw.

Be wary of the spring that'll come out (the detent will probably stay in; watch out for it, though)

Side by side comparison. A2, its screw, and the spring on left, Battlegrip and its screw on right. The BG screw is much shorter and much fancier. Note that I am currently overhauling my rifle, so the barrel's conspicuously absent.

Using the hex driver and special screw, the grip is attached. The BG was pretty hard to get on the rifle, but it's secure.

Looks nice.. feels nice, too. It's reaaaaallly narrow at the top, so my "precision shooting" quibble about the A2 remains unaddressed. The grip shifts my hand down a bit, so there isn't much difference.

The gapper function. Unfortunately, this impedes the winter trigger function. I'll see how irritating this becomes. Still, this is about 40x less ghetto than the earplug I usually shove in the gap.

With use, I'm finding that I can overlook some of the shortcomings of the grip, given the comfort it provides. The shape somehow makes it easier to hold the rifle one-handed. The grip feels cool to touch, which is nice with sweaty hands. The texture is aggressive, but totally non-binding, since it's hard plastic. Though the coarse roughness provides a good grip, it does so without being abusive on the hands.

I still think, though, that the price is way too high for what it is. $30 is waaaay too friggen much. Bear in mind, though, that TangoDown is just matching market prices for other "premium" grips. For example, the SPR, which sells also for around $30, has a lot less engineering involved. When you compare it to other market offerings, the TD isn't too terrible.

I like organizing my data into comparisons:

Advantages Disadvantages
A2 Grip Standard
Stores bolt, FP, cam pin, FP retainer inside
Ambidextrous
Reasonably durable
Cheap 		O.K. traction
No way to retain contents, except with tape
Gap underneath trigger guard
Trigger distance doesn't promote good shooting
Finger rest prevents effective use of winter trigger
(Personal) Doesn't feel right
Battlegrip Carries batteries
*Very* tough
Ambidextrous
Incorporates "gapper" function
No middle finger rest (Personal)
(Personal) Good feel, good texture
(Personal) Looks nicer 		Expensive
Lose capability to store bolt components
"Gapper" prevents use of winter trigger
Non-standard hex head attachment screw

Conclusion: I have to be honest. I like the grip, but I'm lukewarm as to whether I'd buy it again. A future possible replacement is the Magpul Industries modular grip, which seems like it may address several of the issues I have with the A2 grip. The modular grip system, though, is really lavishly expensive. Maybe it's worthwhile if you need the absolute best, though. In the meantime, I won't return the BG.

Disclaimer: I'm not a shill, and I don't sell the grip. In fact, I don't sell anything. SO STOP EMAILING ME ORDERS, PEOPLE.
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