Firing Line: November 2008

Leupold Prismatic 1X14 Tactical Scope

Self-Defense Rifles: I noticed in this article you used the Leupold Prismatic 1X14 Tactical scope. What did you think of it? Can you do a review, comparing it to other similar sights? Thanks.

--J Maldonado, Langhorne, PA

The Prismatic is a little different from other 1X scopes especially those with holographic or red dot reticles. It has a lot of potential as a tactical sight but possibly more so as a hunting scope. Here are some characteristics. First of all it is not for long relief. You have to get "inside the scope" so that the reticle can be used to "graph" the field of view. The reticle has two shapes for coarse target acquisition and one for fine point of aim/impact. The circle and the crosshairs cover a large area. There is however a tiny dot at the center of the crosshairs that I was able to use with success across a rimfire silhouette course. The illumination option is ideal for hunting at dawn or dusk. I prefer using the lowest setting necessary. The reticle can be set to click on and off at a desired degree of illumination and if you have it blazing away the reticle can be too distracting for a fine point of aim. In bright daylight I preferred not to use the illumination. Perhaps if the central dot was larger and its illumination could be isolated from the remainder of the reticle the Prismatic could be used like a traditional red dot scope. I also found that there was more adjustment in terms of windage and elevation available than on most 1X scopes. Mounting options were simple and effective. The supplied risers will likely nullify the need for purchase of an additional aftermarket mount. Thank you for giving the opportunity to write more about a fine product.--Roger Eckstine

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Taurus 94B2UL
Your experience of having this Taurus gun "lock up" or "freeze" sounded very familiar. My Taurus Tracker in .44 Mag cal did the very same thing after I fired about twenty rounds and the firearm became warm. It was completely locked up. Two days later, cold to the touch again, it functioned properly. So far, Taurus has not responded to my letter asking for advice. Needless to say, our mutual experiences with this company's products suggest strongly they are not reliable and could get you killed in an armed confrontation.

-Bill Kayser

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Changing Times and the New Order

You are right about the forthcoming election. I’ll commiserate with you now. Gun owners, and others with independent attitudes, are going to see the tools by which they might ensure the perpetuation of their individual freedom outlawed, for their own good of course. This is just another wave in the sea change of the nation’s state of mind. Years ago I could see that freedom had become an unwanted responsibility and burden. It isn’t just Obama, but the attitude of enough Americans to sweep him, or another like him, into office. The Bill of Rights may survive this, but not unchanged. Most people don’t want or need guns because they can’t or won’t defend themselves. Aren’t their people employed by the city and state who are supposed to do that? It will take a while for the effect of this election to percolate down to the state and county level, but it will. The change will generate conflict between state and federal laws and require basic changes to federal law. But the people want security.

I lived in England for over a decade, 1981 - 1992. I owned numerous shotguns and two hunting rifles. I also owned four pistols. I was licensed for all of these, but if I had been English instead of a official visitor (by invitation of her Majesty the Queen) it might have been another story. I watched the new English laws of 1990 outlaw most repeating shotguns. I just transferred my BPS from my shotgun permit to my firearms permit, but then I already had a firearms permit to transfer it to.

Self defense with a firearm is not a right in England, just bad judgement. We’ll have that here given enough time. We already have that attitude in many places. More and more we are polarizing into the classes of sheep, sheep dogs and wolves.

The level of violence world-wide is greater now that it was 150 years ago. Here we haven’t yet felt the full impact of the transition from coke to meth. I don’t think we’ve even absorbed the full social and economic impact of the transition from heroin to coke and crack, and that happened over 20 years ago. We live in a world of denial and rationalization. We simply don’t want to know. We want the security of being herd animals, the safety of the flock. Our national attitude towards survival has changed. We want sheep herders and sheep dogs. We demand them to protect us from the wolves. Even just saying the magic word security helps. We want to be defended and our self doesn’t want to be held responsible.

I’ve never been a great fan of John McCain and I don’t know exactly why. I do know he is not the dynamic and forceful leader we need. He often reminds me of someone only half resurrected. And this is our great hope against Obama, who is brimming with personality and ambition? For the first time in my life I find myself hoping for some sort of racist reaction from the working class. It won’t happen. Obama has promised them equality and opportunity. It isn’t going to work. You know it and I know it. This is more than just disarming the population. This is a radical change in our national direction. This is the reining in of the "American Way" and a liberal move to adopt the more civilized "European Way." I’m 71 years old. I worked as military enlisted, officer and contract employee for a major intelligence agency for 36 years. One thing they did do was teach me how to listen, read and evaluate bullshit. All is bullshit, and has been for a long time. I’ve become convinced that universal democracy does not work. So was Lenin, Taylor, Franklin and Heinlein, to name a few. The people just keep downsizing their dreams to fit their bellies. Freedom fighters are out. Terrorists are in. We have the vultures’ attitude. Wait for something to die, not knowing it is us we are waiting on

I believe there is only one unforgivable and original sin. God curses a child with stupidity at birth, and he never forgives or forgets. The sinner spends most of his or her life either apologizing for being stupid or defending his or her stupidity. There really isn’t a cure for dumb. Dumb, or dumber people, blame others for the inadequacy. They think that the world (God?) owes them some sort handicap bonus. In a democracy they are easy marks for anyone who promises them pie in the sky. They elect to the House and Senate men who reflect their own ambitions, and greed. Tell me that this is Jefferson’s wise and educated electorate and I’ll show you people who can’t even pay their credit card interest.

It is going to be a long a rough ride. I wish I’d be here to see it. I think things will sort of peak in about 2030, but that’s just a guess. We have a crux or crossroads here with three 18-wheelers approaching from different directions. Since it is a crossroads then it is possible I’m missing yet another collider. Global warming’s effect is still to be felt. The debt crisis (or crisis of greed) is here now. We had an artificial energy crisis, but we’ll have a real on in a decade or so. Perhaps the third collider is war. Sounds right. That’s going to be one epic pile-up. And Obama is going to reform America’s economy and society in general right in the middle of the intersection, under the blinking yellow light. It is going to be one hell of wreck and I’ll miss it. Damn! Ah, well, it is probably something one would rather miss, or just read about than actually live through.

Downtown, in a pawn shop just off Main Street, is a nearly new auto shotgun, somewhat misused, for sale cheap. Shorten the barrel (looks like some moron removed the screw-in choke while holding the end of the barrel in vise-grips) by about 7 inches, fix the gouges in the stock and it would be a fine gun. Think I’ll go buy it, and maybe a case of buckshot from somewhere cheap. You never know though. I might live longer than I think to. My wife remarked the other night that this house was further out, had fewer alarms and lights, and our ancient watchdog has done crossed over. Time to prepare, just a bit anyway. Time to visit the pound for a paranoid mutt, get a motion sensor alarm and maybe a couple flood lights for the back yard . . . and pick up that shotgun.

-Walter D. Goss

Springfield Socom

First, I would like to say that I greatly appreciate the tests and honest results performed by your staff at Gun Tests. I understand that with the workload carried by your staff, mistakes may happen, however I couldn't overlook this one. A test was performed of the Springfield Armory Socom II, the Armalite AR10, and the Ruger KMini. It was a very well written test and report, but the Socom was repeatedly compared to the M1 Garand, including "Garand-like features included the safety, charging protocol, and the manner in which the magazine was held in place." Ok, the Garand has a similar safety, but does not take a magazine. The Garand used 8 round clips, giving it the all too familiar "ping" when the last round was ejected. The M14 is the design that the M1A and the Socom were based off of. In my opinion, the comparison to the M14 would have been much closer. Thank you, and keep up the good work. Gun owners greatly appreciate someone that gives honesty in firearms. Jeromy Jackson Pearland, TX

In checking with Springfield Armory the Socom II was intended to more closely replicate the M14 than the Garand. But due to its basic design the representative also noted that we were both correct. In the presentation I chose to lean towards the earlier model for lineage because the M14 by definition is a select fire weapon. I certainly did not want to misrepresent or infer that the Socom II could be retrofit or converted to fully automatic function. Thank you for your inquiry.--Roger Eckstine

Reinstate Your Hi-Viz Sight for Your Sport/Self-Defense Handguns

A friend of mine let me fire his S&W model 317 .22 revolver with hi-viz sight, and it was amazing! As CCW license-holders, my wife and I practice firing handguns rapid-fire at 30 feet on our own outdoor range. We've been irritated with most CCW pistols having a ramp sight that reflects glare, making it impossible to quickly replace on the target during rapid fire. Your model 317 with the hi-viz sight is incredibly visible, and easily distinguishes itself from the rear sight (which is unimportant and "in-the-way" during close-range combat).

I was saddened to learn that you no longer supply hi-viz sights with your revolvers anymore; and shocked to read the March 2006 Gun Tests' comments that: "...We liked this gun in every respect but for its 'trick' sights. We'd throw them as far as we could,..., and put on a black or red front post ..." Gun Tests have somewhatchanged their tune now because, the November 2008 issue says "These sights gave a good sight picture as long as they were strongly lit from above. In dim light, it was hard to separate them. And, of course, they weren't adjustable, like the Taurus's were." The Taurus, incidentally, got an "F" because it was unreliable!

It appears you just can't please Gun Tests with your hi-viz sight (which is great in dim light or cloudy conditions giving sight glare) or the traditional ramp/post front sight (which gives glare on a coudy day, and can't be seen under low-light conditions). Gun Tests did manage to raise your rating from a conditional buyin 2006 to a B in 2008, but it had nothing to do with your taking their suggestion on the sights "improvement."

Perhaps you should point out to Gun Tests that (under the duress of close-quarters combat) lighting is often crappy, making it difficult to quickly place the front sight on the target before pulling the trigger. You might remind them that the "five shots in ten seconds" requirement for the NRA rapid-fire match just doesn't cut the mustard when your life depends upon placing multiple rounds into the "kill zone" before your adversary does it to you. I'm amazed that so many of my friends mistakenly practice with their CCW handguns using the "timed-fire" rule of five shots in twenty seconds.

I located a scandium .357 magnum revolver (your "Mountain Lite) with a Hi Viz sight, and my wife and I both had a very productive practice firing three boxes of my .38 special reloads. Reloading is cheap, but not as cheap as practicing with a .22, so we're still looking for one of your discontinued model 317s with the Hi Viz sight!

We'd really like for you to market a hammerless, 5 shot snubbie (the chief's special) without a grip safety and with the HI VIZ front sight. Perhaps you can "melt" rear and front sights into the top strap and barrel to minimize the protuberance effect. That would be nice!

Bob Easton, Junction City, OH