Monday is Margarita Monday, as you guys know (as created by my Sweetie). Tonight I wanted to try something different...while I was at the Hippie Dippy Super Market in Boulder last weekend (a.k.a. Whole Foods), I found a sack of Meyers lemons...Meyers are very mild lemons with a hint of a orangey tang, so I bought a sack. The recipe I concocted was 1 1/2 ounces of Meyers lemon juice, 1 1/4 ounces of Corazon Reposada tequila and 1 ounce of Patron Citronge liqueur. I also add a tiny amount of agave sweetener (no more than 1/2 teaspoon), to taste. This makes a mild, wonderfully tasteful margarita. Enjoy it in good health!
On the salmon, I did a 3 chili (ancho, negro, New Mexico red)/honey/lemon juice rub. Coat the salmon on the non-skin side with the rub. If you cook the salmon on the stovetop, which was necessary since it was snowing sideways at the Secret Hidden Bunker, go with 4 minutes on the skin side, flip it over and do 2 minutes on the rub side. I use a cast iron skillet (as usual) heated to very hot. Cooking fish requires a light touch no matter where you cook it, and it takes practice.
This podcast talks about selecting the 7.62 MBR. Surprised, I'm going to come down on the FAL as my personal choice...I believe the PTR series is the best for preppers who don't already own a 7.62, specifically because of the inexpensive magazines. If you don;\'t own a semiauto, I'm gonna say go with the Ruger Gunsite Scout Rifle as the first 7.62, followed by a MBR. In my own case, I believe the Colt LE901 is going to be the MBR of my dreams, as soon as I add a great trigger, a different muzzle brake/comp and maybe juggle the stock...add a high-zoot optic...
Think LMT MWS with 16" chrome lined barrel and a couple of optics in Larue mounts. RDS of choice and a Night Force F1. Honest sub minute gun with 168gr. Match ammo and a serious blaster with ball!
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't argue that...this spring I will be moving forward on a .300 Blackout SBR project...initially, I'll be building a .300 Blackout pistol with a standard carbine buffer tube. When the paper clears, I'll add a stock.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, I have pistol lowers so I can always build a legal product with the parts in the house...
mb
I eagerly await a main battle rifle discussion.
ReplyDeleteI shoot a DSA receivered full length G-1 FAL in 3gun in heavy metal division. My nemesis, who I consider a pro shooter, lays waste on me with his tricked out 20" AR10 with a battlecomp muzzle brake. I must foil him.
Keep up the fight, Coloradans and M. Bane. Many are along side you.
I love my FAL, hell I've even built several of them back when G1 FAL kits (including barrels) could be had for less than the price you'd pay today for a stripped AR receiver (how I miss the old Tapco). That being said, the sights on the FAL are absolutely atrocious. The crude rear sight works well for basic battlefield expediency, but just barely. The FAL design with a detachable dust cover nearly the full length of the top of the receiver means even the most expensive optics mount will be questionable at best.
ReplyDeleteNo, the queen of the battle rifles will always be the M14. I'm not talking the bastardized mall ninja EBR versions with all kinds of rails, collapsible stocks and aquarium bubblers, but your daddy's full length M14 in a USGI walnut or fiberglass stock and cotton web sling as God damn well intended. The civvie M1A (provided it has sufficient forged USGI parts) is more than acceptable since full auto fire on an M14 (or most any MBR) is hardly practical under any circumstances.
Give a trained and seasoned Rifleman an M1A with iron sights and with sufficient ammo and position, they can comfortably command a quarter mile radius of ground with little effort. Yeah, I hear you thinking it, "he's been reading Fred's SGN column too long", but friend I'm here to tell you that until you've shot a known distance AQT with a rack grade M1A, milsurp ammo and no fancy shooting gear, you will not know just how possible it is to shoot well with such a rifle if you do your part. It's a glorious thing.
I too love the FAL but have desires for the M14. Oh 's the pain!
ReplyDeleteWhile I 'm at it my condolences to the people of Conn. Another state falls in the battle of freedom.
"This podcast talks..." Which podcast?
ReplyDeleteWhat ammunition in 7.62 do you recommend?
ReplyDeleteHow do folks think the Steyr Scout compares to the Ruger for a 7.62x51/.308 general purpose rifle?
ReplyDeleteAgreed that the first time I handled an M14/M1A it felt very comforting - IIRC the Marines kept the M14 in service against the day 3rd Marines from Okinawa got to land in a Norway winter for a NATO only war - I'd go with the FAL to equip an army with levels of maintenance and spare parts. I sympathize with some of the folks (well known in the community) who went to war with an FN without adequate maintenance and new parts.
As for the Ruger Gunsite Scout vs the Steyr I think there are some important differences, advantages and disadvantages. The Steyr has a very smooth and crisp light single stage target trigger, whereas the RGS has a heavy single stage M77 "lawyer trigger" that is difficult to lighten without serious gunsmith work. Ruger REALLY should have used a user adjustable two stage or "safety trigger" such as the new Marksman trigger from the American rifle or maybe the new 2-stage M77 trigger on the Predator model.
ReplyDeleteThe RGS is also a hair over 7lbs due mostly to the heavy laminate stock whereas the Steyr in its polymer stock is only 6.6lbs. The Colonel himself declared a Scout rifle should not weigh more than 3kg and the RGS blows that quite handily. The Steyr makes weight exactly and still integrates a bipod and a spare mag holder.
One thing I do not like about either rifle is the use of effectively proprietary magazines. Yes, the RGS uses AI bolt rifle mags, but those things were so rare and scarce even before this last December that they might as well be proprietary. I would have much preferred a rifle that takes common plentiful 20rd MBR mags like M14, G3, FAL or SR25 mags.
Being that I'm an iron sights nerd I really dislike the iron sights on both Scout rifles as well. Sure, you are supposed to use intermediate eye relief optics with them, but I'm a die hard aperture iron sights man. I want fully windage and elevation *finger* adjustable aperture rear sights with 1MOA click detents. The contraption Ruger uses on the RGS is an afterthought at best and requires a tool for making field adjustments. I'd much prefer M1/M14 or M16A2 style rear sights if at all possible. The flip-up irons on the Steyr are basic and functional, but not worth mentioning really.
The advantages that RGS has over the Steyr: a factory threaded barrel (suppressor ready!) and frankly price. You can potentially find <$750 RGS rifles, but you will be hard pressed to find a genuine Steyr Scout for less than $2k. Is the Steyr $1.2k better than the RGS? Probably not.
Probably the only 7.62 Nato I'll ever own is the Isreali-barreled K98-k I have. Still in full military trim. Would like to find a floorplate that would accept M-14 mags....
ReplyDeleteHaving shot both extensively (including Col. Cooper's personal Steyr), I'd be happy with either. My RGS has a pretty good trigger...by "pretty good" I mean that I didn't feel it was a detriment to shooting out to 400 yards (I personally am my own detriment at 400 yards). No problem on quick response drills on pepper poppers at 100, 200 and 300 yards. The Steyr trigger is clearly better — especially on the Colonel's rifle — but I didn't feel it was so much better that it would warrant the bigger cash outlay.
ReplyDeleteI'm strictly a "glass guy," so the irons on either don't matter much to me. I was running Burris 2.75 Scout scopes on both guns...I have shot the Leupold adjustable on several RGS, but I wasn't blown away enough to replace my Burris.
When we put together the original specs for the gun that would become the RGS, myself, Dave Spaulding, Ed Head and Buz Mills ALL wanted a "standard" mag, preferably the M1A mag or at least a FAL. The problem turned out to be that the semi mags in wide distribution have a greater variance in dimension than the more sensitive bolt gun would tolerate. The first RGS were built for M1A mags; the gun would run perfectly with some M1A mags, but not ALL M1A mags.That's a guaranteed mess for a major manufacturer, so Ruger opted for the AI standard...expensive, but at least some kind of standard. At least the Ruger polymer mags take some of the price issue off.
I would love to see both my RGS and my FNH take the PMag 20s (essentially the SR-25 standard), but I know of no aftermarket bottom metal company who offers such a conversion, leading me to believe that it runs up against different tolerance between semiauto and bolt rifles.
The extra weight on the RGS never bothered me, even though I know it's outside of the Colonel's standard. The Steyr's amazingly smooth bolt action is a joy to operate, while the Ruger is more of a blunt trauma operation. Bipod-wise, I found the Steyr to be a little shaky compared the the Harris I run on the RGS, but with the caveat that I've been shooting Harris bipods since the dawn of time and their operation is second nature to me.
I was at Steyr a couple of years ago, and if the sky's would open and some munificent Deity reached down through the clouds to hand me a Steyr rifle, it would STILL be a full-stock Mannlicher Classic in .308 with the set trigger. My life would then be complete...
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Agreed the bipod adds little to the Steyr Scout or Dragoon. OTOH the Harris adds circa $100 to the price of the Ruger. The rail on the Steyr is pretty useless too.
ReplyDeleteThe trigger on the tang safety Ruger was adequate as shipped and could readily be made into a superb user adjustable trigger - I don't understand why trigger designs have gone backwards so fast.
Michael,
ReplyDeleteI thought you were super impressed with the SCAR family.
Why did you drop the SCAR and return to the FAL?
The FAL is a mighty fine weapon, but I do think the SCAR has advantages.
Yog
PS: Feel free to move to Alaska - we need you here!
I desperately want to buy Savage Model 110 which was introduced in the late 1950s. Actually it was out of the norm for most bolt action American hunting rifles and that is why it was discarded very soon. Can anyone tell me where to buy it in bulk for my MA Firearms School? Thanks in advance.
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