Tacti-Cool Mall Ninjas and Internet Reviews

I just read an article that a custom rifle company is suing a page called Sniper's Hide.  This page is evidently a page for long-range shooters.  I won't post my opinions on this page, or the custom gun maker simply because I know nothing about either one of them.

It turns out that the page did a review on the company's rifle, and posted negative things about the rifle and the company.  Now, I'm not saying that the comments aren't true, or that the rifle was or was not of good quality.  What I do wonder  though, is who is the "expert" that reviewed the rifle?  He may have been a true expert, or he may have been a 12 year old kid on the internet - I simply don't know, and in this case will not bother to spend my time to figure it out.  What qualifications does the reviewer have, and what (if any) bias does he have?  Is he a big fan of Brand X rifles?  Is he a gun smith or an engineer?  I just don't know.

This brings me to the subject of today's blog.  Doesn't it seem to you that everyone on the internet seems to have become a gun "expert"?  I do read a lot of blogs/reviews on guns and gear before I buy them, but most of the time it is from a person that posts enough comments, or I "know" that person's comments prior to accepting them as fact.  In addition, when it comes to reviews, you can certainly see a big difference.  For instance, while searching for reviews on the Ruger SRH, the first review listed was on the Smith and Wesson forum.  The review was ok, but not stellar.  The next review written was on the Ruger forum - of course the review was that it was the best handgun ever made. It's the whole Chevy-Ford-etc. thing going on.  On another forum that I was reading, a guy was giving reloading advice - wrong and potentially dangerous reloading advice.  After reading down a few posts, this guy actually admitted that he was 12 years old and had never reloaded anything at all....

You also have to remember that when people like a product, they typically only say they like it when they are asked.  If they hate the product, they will go to every forum/discussion board they can find to tell about all the problems they are having.  This is true with about any product.  If a gun company produces thousands, even hundreds of thousands of good quality products and lets a couple go out the door that aren't quality, that's just normal.  You don't, however, see the hundreds of thousands of compliments on the quality of the product.  You do see the complaints about the few that had problems.  The ultimate question for me is, when you discovered the problems, what did the company do to resolve the problems?  Not all, but most of the time, I've found firearms companies very willing to help.  I wonder how many negative reviews and comments could have been remedied by a simple phone call/email to the manufacturer?  Unfortunately, if the company took care of the problem, I can almost guarantee that there is not a follow up comment on the review or complaint that the company fixed the problem.

The other thing that bothers me is the whole "Sniper's Hide" title of the web page.  Are all of these people snipers?  Do they all want to be snipers?  Do they think they are snipers?  Worse, is there a crazy person there there that WANTS to learn to be a sniper?  I hope not.  

Let's face it - tactical today sells.  Yep, all the tactical rails, drop-leg holster, SWAT team helmet tacti-cool stuff is flying off the shelves, making people a LOT of money.  Personally, I find it ridiculous.  Furthermore, I feel that it brings a negative image upon ALL gun owners.  Obviously the media is going to show the Mall Ninja in full tactical gear, holding his AR15 with every known rail accessory including the drink holder, drop leg holster with his Hi-Point 9mm, huge $5 hunting knife, combat boots, and full combat clothing.  They won't show the normal guy at the range, the kids at the 4H club, or the hunters in the field.

There is a gun shop in a town near here, with the word Sniper in their name.  They use a skull and crossbones type logo.  I do not visit that gun shop.  I do not have a problem with the people, I do not have a problem with their store, and I do not have a problem with what they sell.  They may be the best gun shop around with the best people working for them.  I do, however, have a problem with the name of the company.  I'm sure they get a lot of business because of that name, but did they ever think of the negative view and the way it might portray firearms owners to non-firearm owners?  Displaying this tough-guy-wannabe-sniper image can't possibly be showing firearms owners in a positive light.  Again, I'm not saying that this isn't a good business with good people working/running it.  I just oppose the image that the name brings upon them.  I'm waiting on the "one shot - one kill" shop to open up.

On the other hand, I guess I have to remember that the tacti-cool stuff is bringing a number of new (young) shooters into the world of firearms, and that can be a good thing.  More people are buying firearms and getting carry permits than ever before.  The bad part is, I've talked to a few people in the last few months when buying or selling a gun that truly believe that they are firearms experts.  Really.  I had a guy the other day tell me that I shouldn't carry a 1911 because they were too old of a design and not reliable.  He also told me the old myth that he could shove the slide back if I pointed it at him and keep me from shooting (yes, it is possible to prevent a semi-auto from firing by pushing the slide out of battery - who wants to volunteer to try that tactic??!!).  He was literally disgusted with me and my 1911, and could not understand why I wasn't carrying an XD instead of my old antiquated 1911.  He also told me that he had been shooting handguns for all of three years now, and owned at least two handguns....

I had another guy tell me that he just bought a new ultra-compact .45 to carry.  I knew the pistol, and asked him if he did a lot of shooting.  He gave me all kinds of information on the pistol - barrel length, weight, capacity, and bunches of other statistics.  I really thought this guy knew what he was talking about.  Then he said he had only shot a .22 a few times.  I asked him about the accuracy of his .45, and his answer was "I've been carrying it about a year now, but haven't had time to get to the range yet."  Boy, is he in for a surprise!  All joking aside, I hope he doesn't have the need to use it before he gets to the range.  On the upside, I think I could get a good deal on a nice ultra-compact .45 after he goes to the range!

Don't even get me started on all these AR15 "experts".  The AR is probably the easiest rifle of any platform to work on and customize.  The average shooter is not going to run mud, sand and water through their AR.  Or hundreds of thousands of rounds.  Or shoot 1000 yards.  Or put it through the "torture test" seen on the internet sites.  Or need a laser, holo-sight, flashlight, grenade launcher, back up sights, night sights, spare batteries, bayonets, 100-round drum magazines, and all the other garbage that you can strap to the rails.  I would guess that 95%+ of the AR's sold in the last couple of years have had less than 100 rounds through them.  If you want to customize your AR with all the garbage, good for you.  Just don't tell me you are an AR expert because you can push in a couple of pins and bolt on a couple of rails.  The AR is and was a simple design - that is the beauty of the AR platform.  

I guess I'm just a little surprised at all the experts.  There sure seems to be a lot of them.  My advice is if you are going to use the internet for research, check LOTS of different sites.  Better yet, ask people that actually go out and shoot, ask instructors that are exposed to a lot of different firearms, or simply ask someone that really owns and shoots firearms on a regular basis.  And, leave your tacti-cool Mall Ninja suite (and attitude) at home for when you want to play dress-up.

--Jay (NOT an expert, but constantly learning to be one)