battle rifle book 15 ( article 2 of 2 today )

BATTLE RIFLE BOOK 15 ( article 2 of 2 today )

Iron Or Glass

I’m not a very good shooter.  With practice I’m average.  Putting a scope on a rifle, for me, just doesn’t help all that much ( except on a rimfire-really, I have no business stocking anything else for the apocalypse ).  I’m better off trying to stay at a hundred yards.  At 200 yards, I’m flipping a coin if I’m wasting a shot or not.  With or without a scope.  Yes, I COULD improve on that with a lot of practice.  I just think I’d reverse the Pareto Rule and get only a 20% increase for 80% more of the cost and expense.

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I’m not great at math, either.  So I avoid engineering.  As I’ll do my best to avoid the battlefield.  However, what about those far more talented than myself?  Would you be better off with iron sites or with scopes.  After all, even though a scope is fragile, if it saves you from wasting ammunition it is worth stocking extras to replace the broken ones?  The two more common cited reasons to NOT scope is that iron sites don’t break and when scopes do break you are on a mission and that is compromised, plus, second, technology reliance.

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I can’t argue with the first one, especially since no matter what mission I’m on I look at my most critical mission as being to stay alive, so an un-aimed long gun does go against that.  The second one I’m not so supportive of.  Guns themselves are reliance on technology that will soon be obsolete ( just like our reliance on artificial fertilizers-it is old tech, but tech nonetheless ). What is the harm in one tech to improve another tech?  It is like being worried about batteries but still needing a solar panel.

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Then there are two big arguments in favor of scopes.  As stated, you waste less ammunition.  Unless Lady Luck is a syphilitic whore that day, odds are your scope lasts longer than the ammo you saved ( in today’s dollar terms ).  Towards the end, as ammo is all but gone, those scopes take on far more value.  Another value of scopes is that they can help older eyes see far better.  Me?  I need to take off my glasses to use the scope, so it seems to be a wash.  So, I see value in half of the pros and cons.

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You don’t waste ammo with scopes but you aren’t as vulnerable with iron.  Which is better?  I think it depends of your terrain.  Are you in close contact or at distance?  It also depends on your weapon.  I see little reason to scope a mass volley weapon.  And please do not over inflate your abilities.  If you just aren’t all that great a shot, does glass help or is it worthless?  My choice is scopes for rimfire and iron for everything else.  But a lot of that is budget.  I can only afford the cheaper scopes.

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I should amend that.  I could afford a VERY expensive scope, but my budget priorities place weapons near the bottom.  I’d rather put my limited spending elsewhere ( I could use my saving for guns, but place more importance on actual savings ). Plus, why would I be wasting the money, again?  Now, I understand about ACOG’s and other electric glass scopes ( or simply e-sites ).  I’m sold on their abilities.  I simple cannot justify them for frugal survivalist budgets, NOR on them being close to impossible to stock deep.  Big difference between a $30 scope and a $300 ACOG.

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I think rimfire deserve scopes, because a $20 scope will suffice.  The replacement factor is easily handled.  There won’t be recoil damage.  Does this scale up to an AR?  You can replace $50 scopes ( you might even be able to use the $20 units on an AR because of less recoil ) fairly easy although you won’t be able to deep stock such as with the rimfire.  And I’m of the mind that scoping the AR might actually help you waste less ammunition as you’ll treat the weapon as a marksman rather that a machinegunner.

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Yet, there are also those that say, “learn your iron first.  If you don’t master those fundamentals a scope won’t do you any good”.  If you get to be that good, will you even need scopes?  Well, probably, because you can extend your range closer to the rounds capability.  More range means less chance you get rounds returned anywhere close to you.  If you accidentally drop a gun and bust a scope, and you are 500 yards away, odds are good you just walk away calmly and go to where you can fix it. 

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But are you a 500 yard shooter?  I would wager most of us are not.  I think a scope, for most of us with OTHER than rimfire, is going to be a waste.  Mostly.  I think the reason most hunting rifles come with scopes ( which are usually used in woods ) is to help people who simply don’t practice.  And I don’t think the terms “prepper” and “don’t practice” really go together.  If anything, ya’all are pretty gay with the amount of shooting you do.  Iron sites should be all that you need, as long as you are realistic about range.

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Doing without a scope just reduces complexity and simplifies logistics.  It removes a system that can fail.  It makes you less prone to problems in the field when you least need them.  It diminishes stress, in an already stressful combat environment.  If you’ve used the ammunition to practice, during a time when you could replace that ammo, foregoing a scope shouldn’t cost you any extra rounds. Again, if you know your limitations on range ( just as I know my limitations on accuracy and hence don’t need the scope anyway ).  Now, why is rimfire any different?

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First off, I absolutely DETEST the idea of a rimfire for hunting.  Or practice.  I don’t care if you have ten thousand rounds.  You are still wasting it.  There is ONE role for a rimfire while you are still running “real” guns, and that is for sniping and ambushing using an improvised silencer.  Otherwise, it is a Forever Gun.  Odds are good once you get around to using your rimfire, you or your descendants, everyone else is using non-chemical explosive weapons.  You have far greater range than they, even if you don’t now ( yes, there is the longbow-but most archers won’t be able to use them well at range ).

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Having a scope on a rimfire makes you the post-firearm post-apocalypse master sniper.  And they are a mere $20 each, so you can buy ten of them before it matches the price of your gun ( make sure to have those extra mounts, also ).  If you buy the ammo before it is jacked back up in price, you can have more than you’d ever use up in a couple of lifetimes ( in the sniper role ).  Twenty thousand rounds, two good quality bolt rimfires, twenty scopes and a half dozen mounts, even throw in a bore snake, and you’ve spend less than a designer AR-15 with no accessories.  Or Ammo.  Or mags.

( .Y. )

( today's related link here )

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