A Tale of Two Weapon Setups, by NC Scout

(NC Scout / American Partisan) They say all trains of thought are circular, with old ideas being revisited in time and made new with a fresh coat of paint. I tend to agree. When it comes to the thought process behind individual weapons that’s certainly true as well, and the cycle is, for many reasons, most interesting. Recently I was having a conversation with a friend and well accomplished shooter that we’ll refer to as Ragnar Danneskjöld, regarding the roles of different configurations of AR-15s. For those new to the platform or the types who’re looking for a better mousetrap, the sheer volume of information and option out there is bewildering, and like everything, the real question boils down to what you’re trying to accomplish with your specific weapon.

It feels strange to say it, but I was last operational a decade ago, even though it feels like it was yesterday. Going through old gear is always interesting – especially to dust off how we did things back then and compare it to just how far we’ve come, or in some cases, regressed. Regression is not always a bad thing, either. The old jungle warfare lessons are being dusted back off for a very good reason – the next conflict, should it come home, in many places will look much more like the fight in the Vietnam highlands, at least in the more densely populated regions of Appalachistan. Comparing that to my role today in training folks to be better trigger pullers, I get to see a wide variety of configurations that the students bring to class. And the best setups always boil down to what’s the lightest and the simplest. No bolt-on crap, no offsets, no bull. Keep it light, keep it tight, keep it simple and it’ll be effective. And I’ve found that once the shooters embrace that thinking, they end up way better off.

But you’ve heard all this before. Anyone, any length of time in the shooting community and in particular the AR-15 community is well aware of the current en-vogue trend, the latest one being the idea of a ‘Recce’ type weapon revisited…one that I had described years ago when writing about the SPR. Its important to keep in mind these trends are more meant to sell you something than anything, as with any other industry. And the thinking itself is based primarily on experiences in Afghanistan, which, for a large swath of the US population, may or may not be relevant in terms of equipment requirements.

Case in point – do you need eight power magnification if your line of sight is 200m at best? Can you justify the added weight to a weapon that an LPVO adds when a fixed three power prismatic would fill the same role at half the weight? There’s no right or wrong answer here, but a question the shooter needs to wrestle with, while recognizing that the simpler their weapon remains the more effective it’ll be. I love my Primary Arms 1-8×24 and of course my NightForce NXS-8, but both come with a weight penalty that might matter to you after carrying it on a patrol for 12 hours.

This leads us to the tale of two weapons. One, a swiss army knife of a carbine, expected to perform all roles from room clearing to 500m. The other, an ultra-light carbine topped with a red dot that you can throw behind the seat of a truck, prop by the door, and possibly press into service at longer ranges if needed. The first would be considered a ‘general purpose’ weapon by community standards, and something I’d definitely drop into the SPR / Recce rifle category. The second would be considered more in the vein of a ‘home defense – only’ setup, with many considering a red dot with no magnification being a tool for close range reflexive shooting.

The reality is that both are equally effective in their given roles. Lighter and simpler is always going to be better both from a capability standpoint as well as in robustness – and personally, I’d rather be the guy carrying a lightweight weapon that I could press into service at a longer range if necessary, but remaining within the operational envelope of my platform, than a longer range weapon I had to use up close. That is, if the conditions are not specific to requiring long range, the added complications, and most importantly, the weight. Within 300m, a trained rifleman should have little issue making center of mass hits on man-sized steel. Added magnification certainly helps, but there’s a threshold of how much is too much, and how much added weight can the rifleman justify, especially carrying it long distances over broken terrain with gear. I predict we’ll be seeing a big resurgence in prismatic optics like the ACOG on the horizon. But that’s just one man’s thoughts.

It may seem like a moot point to some, and if so, you’re certainly not wrong. The truth is that there’s no such thing as CQB-only, or Long Range-only when it comes to carbines and you’re a component of a larger guerrilla force. Keep it light, keep it tight, keep it simple and it’ll be effective.