Guns of The American Marksman
As some of you know, I was the Technical Director and Rangemaster for a new amatuer shooting competition called The American Marksman. The local and regional matches are complete and Finals is in January.
As part of my duties, I had to choose firearms for the courses, sight them in and then keep them running for 8 weeks straight...in the hands of total newbies up to fairly accomplished shooters. That posed several challenges, some of which were dealt with by course design and others by having staff load the magazines and the firearms for the competitors. We also had huge support from Lucas Oil with shooters and product to keep the guns maintained. I even had Jerry Miculek man the Lucas table for me at one event cleaning guns and tuning magazines.
Tactical Solutions PacLite Pistol. These guns are flat out race guns based on the Ruger 22/45 frame. I had them supplied with comps and conventional style sights with a fiber optic front. Exceptionally light, they gave shooters with poor trigger control fits. At least three times at every match, and sometimes more, I had a competitor complain that the pistols were either 1. Not sighted in or 2. Were shot out. This from professed "excellent" shooters. When a squad was finished, I would pull the pistol (or just walk on to the stage and do it) and shoot a group in the middle of the target that could be covered with a dime. Most accepted it, some just got angrier that it was proven they needed to work on trigger control. These guns got HOT at the rate we ran them. We ran them fairly dry with Extreme Duty oil on the back of the bolt and the action rod. We learned some tricks on mag tuning that really helped. The corners of the feed lips (in the middle) are sharp and rounding those off slightly, polish and then pinching the feed lips in so that they are just as wide as the follower did wonders for reliability. Even so, when these guns get hot, the malfunctions pile up. I could dump 200 through any of the five and malfunctions would start. We kept the ammo in coolers and at two events (TX and NV) even kept the pistols in coolers with dry ice. They were cleaned every 250-300 rounds and that kept them in top shape. Hit 500 rounds, and the malfunctions started. We used Eley Force Ammo. With a round count of about 12-15K on them, they were pretty much on their last legs and we sent them back to TacSol to get rebuilt and then used them in the last 3 matches. These did reinforce my opinion that top level shooters benefit in terms of speed with light pistols, but for most, it will hurt their accuracy due to poor trigger control.
Tactical Solutions X-Ring Rifle. This was one that a lot of people said was their favorite. The dual action springs are a great addition and keep the bolt true. I had them built with Iron Sights and the stock to accommodate that, a gun that is now in their catalog as a result. They were gorgeous and ran great. We cleaned them at around 1K and kept the oil out of the ejection port and off front of the bolt which was a huge reason they ran so well. If they got too hot or the ROs failed to wipe the lube and soot off the front of the magazines (integral feed lip) were the only real function issues we had. Great rifle, certainly a Cadillac of the 10/22 style. We put about 75K through 5 of them, most of that through just 3 (one lefty and one shorty got less use) and they were still running like a top. The only issues we had were that, about 1/8" out of battery or less, the gun will fire and result in a blown case. This leaves the front of the case in the chamber, and about half of the time, a blown out extractor. It was usually because a piece of lead or lube bugger was in the chamber as a wedge. Happened about 12 times total over the 75K rounds. Also used Eley Force ammo in these.
CZP09 with a CTC red Laser. We literally had about 5 malfunctions due to a bad round and maybe 30 or so due to limp wristing when shooting one handed with the laser. Reliable and accurate, we broke no parts and just cleaned them daily (which was after about 1500 to 2000 rounds). The lasers held up well and, constantly on, went through a battery in about 3 days, call it 24 hours. For the price, they are impressive pistols. I actually bought these having turned down offers of other 9mm pistols due to the ease of shooting in the SA mode and their utter reliability. Use Aguila 124g 9mm ammo.
KelTec Sub2000 9mmGlock Mags. These guns ran like a trooper as well with less than 10 total malfunctions, likely ammo. We got several of them to 10K and while they still ran fine, the front sights started to fail. In fact two of the five failed and one is about shot. The front sight housing is aluminum with a spring loaded cam that rests against a steel screw threaded through the housing. The housing threads get hogged out and they fail. They are working on solutions, but that is the only part I had any issued with at all. Stupid simple, rugged and reliable otherwise. Also use Aguila 124g 9mm ammo.
Ruger American All-Weather in .223 Rem with Burris FF 2-7 scopes in Burris rings. These rifles got BEAT like rented mules, but they took it. We never lost scope adjustment and the rings held as well. On the lefty, we got the first one made and did not get it until the 2nd Regional, at which, after about 15 rounds, it would no longer ignite primers. At Creedmore Sports (yes, THAT Creedmore) in Alabama, I took it in to the gunsmith, who had never seen one. After we figured out what was wrong (missing roll pin in firing pin assembly) Jim made a new roll pin, fixed us up and then would not even let us pay him for his time. (25 cents for a roll pin). With the Aguila 55 FMJ ammo, I was able to shoot 1" groups at 100 yards with these at the beginning. When we got them so hot you would get a blister if you touched the barrel, I could detect no more than 1 inch of change in the POI at 100 yards. Now, with the main rifle having 10K through it, still prints 1" at 100 yards. Very impressed with the Ruger American action and barrels. We did have about 100 duds (solid primer strike...no ignition) in about 25K rounds.
These guns had more wear and tear on them in 8 weeks than most people will put on a firearm in a lifetime (competitive shooters excepted). Each firearm I chose went up against at least 3 other similarly configured firearms in the same caliber for me to test accuracy, ergonomics, reliability and longevity. In their segments, these are some of the best performing firearms, and for the most part, they are relatively inexpensive. I will be testing those who made it to finals with a few more platforms and disciplines, but those guns won't get anywhere near the round count that about 2000 amateur shooters put on these over 2 months time. Feel free to ask any questions.
