Society & Culture

AR-15s: What You Should Know!

Today in this article and video, I’m giving you an overview on my take on one of the most used, most versatile, and most controversial rifle platform in the country!

Photo By Patriot Outdoors, Inc.

Published

2 years ago

April 8, 2021

Stephen Powell

What You Should Know

Today in this article and video, I’m giving you an overview on my take on one of the most used, most versatile, and most controversial rifle platform in the country!

I go over my setups, best practices and tips on building and buying your own “American Rifle – 15”!

Whether you are new to the game or not, this article/video will shed some light on the versatility of this platform and its uses. If you are getting one for recreation or hunting, competition or defense there’s definitely a path for you to make one your own!

AR-15 Brief History

Did you know that the A.R. -15 Does not mean Assault Rifle -15! NO, not at all! That’s just some political spin to control people with fear and fill their hearts with hate and discontent for an inanimate object. It actually stands for the “ArmaLite Rifle” 15. That’s because that’s the name of the rifle company who made it. This handy little rifle was adopted by the Dept of Defense and given the designation of the “M-16”.

In Brief, the rifle was actually birthed out of the AR-10 platform and modified to the 5.5.6nato round a close cousin to the .223Remington by a Mr. Eugene Stoner.

Many variants have been produced since then and we now have literally 10-30million of this firearm platform in the hands of Americans nationwide. So, if you think this firearm platform is a problem……. Think Again… Seriously! If it were a problem you would know it.

Why We Use Them!

Well, as long as I can remember, I wanted an AR-15. I ended up going into the USAF, and was issued the Military version and did well with it under Army and Air Force standards as an expert. I love this platform; it’s so versatile and adaptable to the shooter… I’ll give you an example.

Hunting

Let’s say you like to shoot varmint or just want to ring steel and shoot long distance even out to 1000yards. Well, with the right caliber of a .308 Winchester, 6.5Creedmore, 300Winchester Magnum you can sling hot fishing weight out that far with supreme accuracy!

Or, let’s say you want to hit the maximum effective range of the standard AR-15, that’s still 600meters and out west here, I’ll tell you with some West Texas, Eastern NM windage, you can accomplish ringing some steel or taking down those pesky critters after your livestock as well.

Self Defense

I know what you might be thinking! I’m in the city, and there’s no way in Hates, I care about varmint, but what you do care about is protection. Well, there’s a solution for that too in the AR platform. 9mm, 300blkout, 5.56nato and others are there for your self defense options. In my video I discuss some of these thoroughly.

There are many configurations to a decent AR platform for self defense and you don’t need to spend the most or get the coolest to have it work for you and your purpose. Even a decent 9mm platform can be versatile for recreational and defensive training.

Since you are choosing to use it for self defense, I will tell you that it is Supremely important for you to train like your life depended on it. It’s vital for you to know all the ramifications of pushing a projectile down range that doesn’t stop until its energy is spent or strikes a mass that is harder than itself. “Bullets don’t stop when you want them to“.

Competition & Recreation

I can’t begin to tell you all the well developed organizations out there doing great things to build a great responsible culture for the youth and their shooting communities! Seriously, there are thousands upon thousands of good Red blooded Americans that are in some very serious competitions with this what I like to call this “American Rifle” platform..

From 3 Gun Matches, PCC (Pistol Caliber Carbine) to Precision Rifle (PRS), there are many out there to choose from locally, regionally and they each have their national matches as well. It’s also encouraging to see so many women get involved with the shooting sports up to 30% of shooters on the ranges and in classes are ladies!

Having started Patriot Outdoors in New Mexico around 2006, I saw hundreds of shooters just come out to the range to plink! Steel, work on their accuracy, just enjoying the hobby of understanding their fundamentals and taking care of the firearm in their possession. I think many people around the country are not really exposed to the good natured fellow Americans that just love their hobbies with their firearms.

As a father teaching my three sons and daughter, it was a proud moment when they learned how to shoot their firearms! Yes, all of them learned to shoot, maintenance an AR-15. Why Not? In my opinion, you can kill the curiosity of the cat by exposing them to knowledge, skill and attitude to keep things proper and yes, I’m saying it again, “IN CONTEXT”.

WORD OF ADVICE, when possessing any firearm: Know your Target, Know your Distance, Know your bullet (what it is capable of doing and traveling) and know your capabilities and limitations.. You aren’t James Bond or John J. Rambo! Violence isn’t a “Tarantino” flick! It is faster, life-changing, surreal and more violent than you can possibly imagine. The closer to your reality your training, the higher the probability of your success and survival.

AR Platform SET UP

This is debatable. Everyone has their opinion on which twist rate of barrel to what stock or trigger and optics used to make it work for you. I’ll give you my two cents and keep it at a 35K foot view not to confuse you due to the supreme lack of availability of products in the market place.

The rifle or pistol itself shouldn’t be made of plastic. Get an aluminum receiver. You do need what we call “iron sights” but we also say ‘flip up sights” which will work on any AR out there. If you want more accuracy and faster target acquisition a minimal “red dot” optic or even magnified depending on your intent on range or purpose will suffice. I prefer these manufacturers and they are like “backsides” everyone’s got one! LOL

BCM, Daniel Defense, LWRC, Breachers Customs, when it comes to guns. Optics stick with Aimpoint if you can afford it, Holosun, Sig Sauer, and Trijicon for Red Dots and others. If you want more of a hunting scope go with Leupold, US Optics and Nikon or even a Bushnell Elite. A good manufacturer of accessories would be BCM, Ergo Grips, Daniel Defense and Magpul.. Magazines, I only go with two, Magpul and Lancer. You probably will want a rifle strap from Viking Tactics, Magpul or Blue Force Gear also. Don’t forget an amazing trigger. I’m a big fan of Timney Triggers. There’s so much more to it, but do your research, reach out if you like, I’ll be glad to share more.

Legislation

So, yeah about that… Yes, there’s legislation and it’s coming.. The Powers that be, in my opinion are not kind to the land of the free and the home of the brave. You should act now and stand for what is right according to our forefathers intentions and let freedom ring, keep the freedoms you have and hold our politicians in check and accountable to the citizenry that voted for them. Let’s be intelligent, respectable and diplomatic in nature but not apathetic or we will lose our rights… Stay Tuned for more on this subject.

In closing, Feel free to comment and share and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube! Pass this video along to your friends as well and let’s educate others on what it really means to have an American Rifle -15! That’s all I got for you today!

Stay True America, We Need You!

Stephen D. Powell ~The GunLife Coach

We'd love to hear your thoughts about this article. Please take a minute to share them in the comment section by clicking here. Or carry the conversation over on your favorite social network by clicking one of the share buttons below.

Stephen Powell

Stephen D. Powell is an Air Force veteran with more than 18 years of combined federal, military & civilian law enforcement experience. Powell has been teaching professionally for over 25+years as a firearms Instructor for numerous organizations and agencies rated with the NRA, NM & TX DPS and a Sig Sauer Academy Master Instructor. His company, Patriot Outdoors, Inc, has been operational in the defensive training industry since 2004, starting a thousand acre training facility located in Eastern New Mexico. Patriot has provided crucial and relevant firearms training to DOD and SOCOM, state and local law enforcement and armed citizen students. Over the past several years, Powell has appeared on several Fox News, Sirius XM radio, various regional newspaper, radio and tv shows, promoting military veteran entrepreneurship and patriotism as well as educating the shooting industry on range development, media relations and key second amendment issues. Patriot Outdoors is currently operating out of the Phoenix Valley, Arizona and with a new channel of The GunLife Coach to inspire and motivate other in life and on the range!

Join the conversation!

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

Up Next

Maintaining Sanity in Tumultuous Times

Don't Miss

Pay as You Go

Politics

BLM’s Financial Footing is on the Ropes

A decade of their misdeeds has transpired since BLM came into existence

Published

4 days ago

June 5, 2023

Jeff Davidson

BLM has proven itself to be a group skilled in corporate extortion, intimidation, and protests that have led to looting, rioting, arson, and violence. Thus, reports of Black Lives Matter’s forthcoming insolvency is heart-warming: it couldn’t happen to a more worthy organization.

In 2021, their demands focused on prosecuting Donald Trump and his supporters. In essence, BLM was searching for a crime, any crime to pin on them. Not that BLM cares one wit about the U.S. Constitution or the Capitol, they had been seeking “full accountability” for anybody who participated in the January 6th breach of the Capitol, and, in their way of thinking, that includes Donald Trump.

Crackdown on Others, not Us

BLM insisted that Congress avoid employing the Capitol breach as a rationale for cracking down on BLM’s own demonstrations and marches. Nonetheless, BLM’s annual summer activities since 2020 have precipitated looting, riots, arson, and even murder. To this day, BLM affiliated demonstrations in major cities are responsible for major property damage, and intimidation of citizens as well local government officials, and violence.

In a press release, BLM stated, “We are joining Representatives Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley, Cori Bush, Jamaal Bowman, and others who are demanding that Trump be immediately convicted in the United States Senate. Trump must also be banned from holding elected office in the future.”

The group added “Trump has always used his digital media platforms recklessly and irresponsibly to spread lies and disinformation. Now it is clearer than ever that his digital media is also used to incite violence and promote its continuation. He must be stopped from encouraging his mob and further endangering our communities, even after the inauguration.”

If the above is not a textbook case of projection, what is? BLM accuses Trump and his supporters of exactly what BLM does nearly every day.

Chop off Their Heads

BLM has long sought to punish any Republican who exercise the same rights as Democrats did in the 2000, 2004, and 2016 presidential elections. According to BLM, any elected GOP official who voiced concern about the 2020 Electoral College count, or showed support for Donald Trump after the election, must be expelled from office. Apparently, BLM couldn’t be bothered to research the rules of the Senate, and cares little about free speech for all.

BLM asserted that, “More than half the Republican representatives and multiple senators stoked Trump’s conspiracy theories and encouraged the white supremacists to take action to overturn the election.”

Enduring Black Privilege

Against the odds. news about BLM co-founder Patrisse Khan-Cullors surfaced: She was buying four expensive houses, some in predominantly white, wealthy neighborhoods, all consistent with much of what we know about BLM and its founding. She also was alleged to be viewing resort properties in Bahama, where condo prices range from $5 to $20 million.

A decade full of their misdeeds has past since BLM came into existence in 2013. Khan-Cullors and two other African-American women had established this ‘political’ movement in response to what they deemed to be a miscarriage of justice and non-existent legal regard for black lives. What was the initiating spark? For defending himself after his nose had been broken and while his head was being smashed into the sidewalk, Hispanic American George Zimmerman was acquitted for killing Trayvon Martin.

The Zimmerman verdict is now old news. Anyone who claims that the trial was not fair didn’t follow it closely and relied on second-hand commentary. In the face of intense media and public scrutiny, it is difficult to imagine a more thorough review of all available evidence, by both sides. Yet, lingering media coverage remains highly biased in favor of Martin.

The Hard Facts? Who Cares?

A well-documented police account of the shooting, supported by forensic analysis, revealed that Martin perpetrated “an unprovoked attack” on Zimmerman, first punching him in the face, then knocking him to the ground, and repeatedly bashing his head into the sidewalk, before attempting to grab Zimmerman’s gun.

A highly troubled seventeen-year-old, even with his father present in his life, Martin had embarked upon a life of theft and thuggery. Tracy Martin, his father, was a long time gang member, who introduced his son to guns, violence, and drugs. To ignore Trayvon Martin’s propensity for intermittent violence or to suggest that after he spotted Zimmerman he did not become the aggressor is pure folly.

To the chagrin of BLM founders, the preponderance of evidence revealed that the legal system worked as it should and that Trayvon Martin was the precipitating force leading to his own death.

A Ruse Among Ruses

As such, BLM was founded upon a lie, continues to lie, and has expertly cajoled, threatened, and extorted major corporations, and public and private organizations, raking in multi-millions of dollars for the founders. Their bankruptcy is a just reward. Soon, perhaps, the founders will be exposed for their extensive list of crimes.

– – – – –

News

Allen v. Farrow and the American Quest For Truth

Through his own words, Woody Allen reveals himself.

Published

7 days ago

June 2, 2023

Jeff Davidson

In an era where truth is a rare commodity, and nothing seems to be definitive, it’s illuminating to watch a four-hour, four-part HBO series: Allen v. Farrow. In methodical fashion, the long-running legal wrangling between Woody Allen and Mia Farrow over his alleged molestation of seven-year-old Dylan Farrow is explored.

The telecast, first aired two year ago, is absorbing for anyone who’s seen more than one Woody Allen movie, knows anything about the controversy, or has any interest in coming to resolution.

A Pedofile Revealed

Much of the broadcast features Dylan, now 37, married with a child of her own. As she reflects back on her experience at age 7, she is coherent and credible. Mia Farrow, who starred in 13 Allen films, comes off as more balanced than the press has allowed us to see in nearly three decades.

Through his own words and deeds, Woody Allen, birth name Allen Konigsberg, reveals himself: He was obsessed with the young Dylan. He spent much time alone with her. He couldn’t keep his hands off of her.

He claims that he never ‘took her up to the attic,’ there was ‘no train set’ there, and that everyone who has made such observations is wrong. Yet, we learn about the train set in the attic, and that other Allen contentions are wrong.

The Attempt to Normalize His Obsessions

Why was Allen shielded for so long, by so many media outlets? He made so many movies in and about New York that he became a favorite son and easily one of New York’s most popular celebrities. He brought jobs and economic activity and, in virtually every movie, he showed the upside of New York. Few people wanted to believe he was guilty.

All of Allen’s 60+ films, original scripts, notes, and everything related to the making of his movies is archived at Princeton University, as other producers and directors have their film works archived at other universities.

During the telecast, the curator at Princeton makes a compelling observation: Most of Allen’s films focus on an older man with a younger woman, and Allen has been grooming us for 50+ years to accept his worldview. Following his Oscar winning film in 1978, Annie Hall, Allen’s next film was Manhattan, which many people regard as among his best.

Manhattan depicts the 45 year-old Allen dating a 17 year-old portrayed by Mariel Hemingway. This film, like so many of his others, is Allen’s attempt to normalize his preoccupation with vastly younger women. He married Soon-yi, the adopted daughter of his then-girlfriend, Mia Farrow, when he was 56 and she was 21. He met Soon-yi when he was 53 and she was 18.

In Woody Allen films such as Crimes and Misdemeanors, we see Martin Landau as an older ophthalmologist in a relationship with airline attendant and mistress Anjelica Huston, some 20+ years younger. In other Allen films, the same scenario plays out.

Quite Conclusive

After watching all four one-hour episodes in a single night, it became obvious that Allen, now age 87, is guilty. He has used his money, power, and influence to portray himself as something that he is not.

While dating Mia Farrow for 12 years, he steadfastly maintained that he didn’t want to provide care for her children. Yet, once the allegations related to Dylan surfaced, Allen takes Farrow to court to gain custody of three of her nine children: Moses Farrow, an older Asian boy that Mia adopted; Ronan Farrow, Allen’s only biological son; and Dylan Farrow, the young daughter at the center of the controversy.

I personally recall that during the custody trial, the presiding judge asked Allen if he could name any of Dylan’s classmates or neighborhood friends. He could not. He could not name any friends of Ronan Farrow or of Moses Farrow. Further, Allen had never taken any of their children to the dentist or for a haircut. Not one of the children had ever stayed overnight at Allen’s apartment.

Thoroughly Neurotic

What kind of man would take somebody to court to claim custody of three children about whom he knows nearly nothing? This is the kind of man that Woody Allen was and is: a faker, a charlatan, and so neurotic that the elements of his neurosis revealed in his movies don’t even begin to describe his daily afflictions.

As soon as Ronan Farrow, now a renowned investigative reporter, weighs in and defends Dylan’s assertions, Allen’s then 29-year ruse is vanquished.

Allen, like others in high, high office, is a pedophile with zero jail time. The crowning grace is that he’ll go to his grave knowing that he’s been exposed. He cannot spin the voluminous amount of information and testimony presented; a conclusive body of evidence that lays out the truth for all to see.

Comprehensive Coverage?

If only HBO and other major producers would feature comprehensive exposés of, say, Bill Clinton, James Comey, Robert Mueller, Christopher Wray, John Brennan, Andrew McCabe, Eric Holder, Kamila Harris, Merrick Garland, Loretta Lynch, Alejandro Mayorkas, John Kerry, James Clapper, Christopher Steele, Bruce Orr, Susan Rice, John Podesta, Charles Dolan, Christopher Wray, Merrick Garland, Alvin Bragg, Michael Hayden, Sally Yates, and Susan Rice.

Or, Peter Strzok, Lisa Page, Nelly Ohr, Jussie Smollett, Chuck Schumer, Adam Schiff, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Dick Durbin, Eric Swalwell, Jerry Nadler, Sheldon Whitehouse, Antony Blinken, Ilhan Omar, George Soros, Katie Hobbs, Liz Cheney, Nancy Pelosi, Jeffrey Epstein, Bill Gates, Tom Steyer, Andrew Weissmann, Marc Elias, Andrew Cuomo, David Axelrod, Barack Obama, James Biden, or maybe, gosh, Hunter Biden.

You know, scoundrels like those.

– – – – –