Anyway, I reckon Mr. Smith would make an awesome muppet, should Disney decide to get a bit edgier than pimping a cloth frog who worries about his pigmentation and fending off an aspiring cross-species love interest. The Thunder Ranch AK pistol also comes standard with RD LBE Unlimited G3 AK Trigger. That doesnt make it bad, dont get me wrong. My mantra to my students isWalmart calibers because when things get really really bad, standard calibers were developed, tested, marketed and issued for a reason. Good times. a 9mm will defeat cover just as well as .45 and 9mm has just as much kinetic energy as a .45 when you compare modern 9mm ammo to modern .45 ammo. Being everybody exaggerates, we can safely cut that back one half or more. Spend your life using a tool and an AR is no where near the challenge setting the vale lash or run out on a ring and pinon, BTW If you dont have any idea about later then maybe youd be better off buying yours until you have built something that is mechanically challenging before you attempt assembling an AR. So, you wonder, what does Mr. Smith carry for personal protection? Incorrect. Personally I dont see an issue with cartridges like 7.9257 or 300 Blackout for the reasons you mentioned. Besides that, in my experience the home builds have been more reliable than a factory built Sig. However, his short videos are gold when he talks about the mind set necessary to survive when a sociopath is trying to kill you. Then run it. As for the price of Mr. Smiths carry gun, if you have to ask you cant afford it. I love it. The lightning bolt is offense, as required. Clint Smith's Top 5 Guns: Thunder Ranch Edition My guess would be yes, the 45 should kick less, I am only basing this on my 5 Coonan having a little more felt recoil than a 5 45 1911. Its Legos for adults. His experience includes seven Three of each gun? Clint (at least as recently as three years ago), carries FMJ. Thunder Ranch Feed your kids. We protected them, we kept them from being kidnapped or intimidated by the North Vietnamese or Viet Cong, and we watched over them while they brought in their crops. And, Im positive, the vast majority of ARs do. Run what you like but 9mm and 223 are certainly very common rounds. Its available in both .45 ACP and 9mm, but as Landon Stone of Nighthawk related to me, its almost all 9mm now. (In fact, I started with an 80% polymer lower, of a design now banned by the ATF, with a hand drill and a dremel because I dont own a drill press. Building my second ar and whats wrong with magpul? I dont understand the snobbery about AR builds. Lowered and flared ejection port Some even shoot well in just a few rounds. Copyright 2023 National Rifle Association. No, Ill save my money instead. A $10K pistol says something about Mr. Smiths bottom line up there at Thunder Ranch. Caliber war? I know nothing but the reputations. Everybody laughs at this, but we were actually winning the hearts and minds of these people. Okay? You lip flapping about me? The final weapon is the brain. WebM4E1 TR EDITION. Yes, there are a lot of you that prefer 9 mm. Uncle Adolf commanded his Riech from a castle nicknamed the Eagles nest a top a mountain in Bavaria for much of The War. Now I need to think about where to transfer them tomorrow. However i have seen the real need for more than 8+1 even if it is a .45 Leonard, First Look: Federal Premium Gold Medal Grand and Hi-Bird Shotshells, The Four Rules of Gun Safety for New Gun Ownersand Everyone Else [VIDEO], Illinois Freedom Week Starts Today: Federal Court Blocks Enforcement of Illinois Assault Weapons Ban, Practice vs. Training You Need to Become a Personal Defense Generalist, http://www.businessinsider.com/russian-militarys-ak-12-assault-rifle-passed-field-tests-2017-7. Im much more interested in how well a given vehicle will fit my needs. Exactly what does Thunder Pants think TEOTWAWKI is going to look like? I understand the quest by people for higher capacityI get it, I sincerely dobut it doesnt matter if youre not hitting. 100 loaded mags? Thunder Ranchs Oregon Facility Officially on the Market Hundreds of mags each? An 1873 Colt with the chamber under the hammer full of blood pressure meds. Color of a car, for example, means little to me (which has exasperated several car salesmen). If things are so bad that that there is no commerce, no industry, no civilization at all it means that the earth is a molten slag that got hit by a giant meteoroid. In those units there was a squad of Marines attached to a platoon of Vietnamese. Comments anyone? Heidis mom lives in Bend, so that brought Heidi back a little closer to home. And that is NOT a detriment to them. Thats what your bolt carrier is. Beveled magazine well Those include jams due to case expansion. And at any rate, if TSHTF, you must be prepared and set up to load your own! Clint taps into a half-century of firearms training experience and his personal preferences to tell TFBTV viewers which guns he loves the most. If youre trying to kill something bigger, its not enough gun. Build Your Own Lower I have no idea why/when gun jesus became his handle in the community, but suffice to say, I would readily debate him if this is, in fact, his espoused position. Clint and Heidi Smith were generous enough to let TFBTV use Thunder Ranch for free to film this series in order to get the word out at no cost to any of our viewers on how to select and use an urban rifle. In the video below, gravel-voiced Thunder Ranch gun guru Clint Smith (not shown above) pontificates on a number of gunfighting topics at a recent rifle course. After reminding his acolytes that they need to be able to pick up and run firearms discarded on the battlefield, Mr. Smith goes there. The caliber war, I mean. As for his assertion not to build an AR15, its good advice for most people because most people dont know what theyre doing with tools or bother to research parts based on compatibility and reliability. Mr. Smith also have Les Baer make a line of 1911 with his Thunder Ranch name on them. We need 1000 rounds of magazine stuffed ammo ? Privacy and Security Policy. ", "Don't forget, incoming fire has the right of way. Yeah a hundred + mags?! You put 5 time as much into it then what it cost new (in this case, closer to 7) and you are lucky if you get half the money back when you go sell it. Time to assess your role as a citizen. He allowed me to grow, and he allowed me to grow inside something that was also growing. WebClint Smith Signature. did not say it was not good defense firearm. Solid battle tested and reliable. Great Source. +1 on building an AR. Accept it as it is, or re-examine your role in society. But, obscure ones is overkill and too expensive. WebClint Smith, President, and Director of Thunder Ranch is a Marine Corps veteran of two infantry and Combined Action Platoon tours in Vietnam. Hello, everyone and welcome to The Loadout Blog. Good advice? He started the site to explore the ethics, morality, business, politics, culture, technology, practice, strategy, dangers and fun of guns. If you want to fantasize about seeing a need to engage at distances longer than 100 yards, be my guest. most of us are better off with standard rifles from a reputable manufacturer, you need to keep some loaded clips for your firearm around cause in an urgency you dont want to have to load. The receiver of Thunder Ranch AK pistol can be fitted with Picatinny rail rear trunnion. Anyone who would pay for advice from Capt Thunderpants shouldnt be allowed inside ANY firearm, not even an AR. and I really like having the light. That quote, the sentiment behind it, and the desire to create something perfect speaks to me. Guns and ammo are for the less-than-total collapse. Mere mortals need to make do with what they can. Yet there is still trade, commerce, farming and rudimentary industry. G.A. Precision - Professional Quality Rifles & Equipment The ones I built work just as well as the two store-bought ARs I own. I like the M1 because they were built by Winchester, Inland, Saginaw Gear, Rock-Olathe jukebox peoplethey were built by IBM, now the computer people, and others. This. Didnt somebody once say that one should not carry a pistol he cant afford to replace if it gets seized as evidence after a self-defense use? In the middle of a firefight, that is not where I want to be! So, yes, the .357 Mag will accelerate its bullet down the bore much more quickly than the .45 ACP. Well he certainly brings the noise to Thunder Ranchs jefe, creating theThe Clint Smith Signature Government Model. WebThe Thunder Ranch AK features an enhanced safety lever, US Palm Marine Corps red grip, US Palm AK 30 round magazine, walnut furniture, barrel mounted pic rail, engraved Take the best that exists and make it better. Ian has always been very specific what the AR-15 system is, and pointed out that true DI systems would be the Swedish AG-42 Ljungman/Hakim or French MAS-49. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Riots over the results will prevail, resulting in chaos in government. And management comes through practice, practice, practice. Buy 2 or 3 of the same rifle, same caliber and practice, practice, practice! It functions, but my next one will be good, not just functional. ", "If you carry a gun, people will call you paranoid. Q:What are your goals going forward, or goals for Thunder Ranch?A:I need to love my wife, take care of my dogs, defend my country, take care of my health and I have no foreseeable goal to retire. If you have to kill a person, a coyote, or a bobcat, 223/556 is just fine. Well that works a whole heck of a lot better if youve built a few rifles so you know how they go together. Most will never encounter what these fear mongers say to buy. Clint Smith's Top 5 Guns: Thunder Ranch Edition TFB TV 1.3M subscribers Join Subscribe Share Save 584K views 2 years ago #TFBTV In this episode of TFBTV (I also have a Mini-14, just in case things really get ugly and I get attached by broad sides of barns.). What an excellent thing to get in a chest pounding match over, bravo! We also had a tactical area of operations, the CAP units were set in a ring around Da Nang with the idea of neutralizing those villages where there was a potential [for the enemy] to launch rockets into the airbase. Being a progressive is fun! Clints advice is sound, and I believe well intentioned. Finally, someone who times their screws and doesnt resort to such hackneyed nonsense as allen-head grip screws. not so much. Curious, would the felt recoil in that featherweight .45ACP be less than it in .357? For the mere mortals, I can get away with a gun less than a thousand. And I was far from the only one. The mail-in idea will result in votes tabulated in favor of whomever. Most revolver cartridges, including 38 Special, are designed for long barrels and lose a higher percentage of their energy than a automatic when barrel length falls below the reference length. Center of mass, perp is down. (Assuming you dont stay in your domicile, and wait til everything runs out. Its a viable I would expect no less. The only difficulty I hadand I had never owned an ARwas torquing the Hogue unique barrel nut for its free float tubes, and that was difficult only because I couldnt get Hogues supplied wrench to fit. The purpose of this website is to share educate, inform, and build a lasting culture around firearms. In which case, ammo wont make a bit of difference. Change the channel to Oprah? the AK 15 passed trials and will be issued WITH the AK 12 and a new RPK chambered in. Yes, I know the gun wasnt loaded, but Im not too much on the way he kept moving his fingers in front of the barrel, with the hammer cocked. Standard length magazine release James Yeager recommends keeping a spare fully assembled bolt in the battery compartment of your grip just in case you break an extractor or shear a locking lug because the AR15 bolt will do both. So i carry a CZ, if its good enough for a Delta Team member missing his right eye, i can submit myself to learn from him.. Throw a couple spare part kits in the BOB, and your golden. Not exact but Im not looking at his book right now. My second would be Jeff Cooper, Mr. Cooper. I support building your own AR even if it includes machining the lower. COPYRIGHT 2021, THETRUTHABOUTGUNS.COM. But for the rest of us, maybe a rifle and a full kit of parts? Pistol In every commie hellhole in the middleeast, Africa, Russia etc. Get a parts kit for the parts that are most likely to fail; I understand that. Thats what the CZ SP-01 Shadow (or a Jericho 941 on an EAA Witness or a Sphynx ) offers. Q:You teach a lot of different kinds of courses here at Thunder Ranch, what is your favorite one to teach?A:Urban Rifle. Shop for your 22 ammo too! 6. And I shoot them a lot. Knowledge such as this cant help but draw to conclusions so when it was time to have a new 1911 crafted the configuration was an easy choice; an all steel 5 Government Model chambered in 45ACP. Jim Smith of Spartan Tactical Carries a Sphinx, a CZ clone. Hahahaha But they are just one category of tools (and toys). And that the author didnt know about the Baer guns. But.the very vast majority of applications can be resolved quite well with standard Walmart calibers.. Rifle Dynamics & Thunder Ranch Team Up For The Thunder Ranch Clint Smith , President and Director of Thunder Ranch , is a Marine Corps veteran of two infantry and Combined Action Platoon tours in Vietnam.His experience includes seven years as a police officer during which he served as head of the Firearms Training Division as well as being a S.W.A.T. Its a SHTF situation where you and your family will need to defend yourselves. . I was asked at the end of 79 to become the operations manager at Gunsite, which I did for three years, 80 to 83. you guessed it 5.45. Now that makes absolutely no sense. .a pill container full of Prozac ? Are there perfect niche calibers for specific situations? AVOID GREEN TIP. That was my first pistol. So the difference between how much .223 and how much 7.6239 is completely and utterly irrelevant. Keeping a hundred mags loaded at all times concerns me about the springs functioning when stored so long. Most of this Clint Smith video is about how its OK to run your gun dry before reloading. Having a hundred loaded mags on hand means you can just toss away a mag without wasting time on it PLUS it means that others can resupply from you. '", "When seconds count, the cops are just minutes away. Nighthawk Custom Thunder Ranch Combat Special Im kinda baffled on that one, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reichsadler, I should have remembered that from Band of Brothers. Sowhat is my sincere, heartfelt recommendation? And even then, pull enough ops and you still risk gettin killed. This isnt going to be US army vs Russian army conventional warfare unless you are an idiot. oh, wait you meant um.. nevermind then. My wife doesnt walk, so Im not heading to the hills anyway, just going to hunker down here until the drugs or the food runs outor both. YOU MUST BE Depends on the range. Thunder Ranch Urban Rifle In an apocalyptic circumstance, I will die soon enough that all this prepping is an exercise in futility. This Clint Smith 1911 item is a VERY nice glamor piece. This culminated in the founding of Thin-line VZ Diamondback stock panels (ivory stocks optional). Whats your experience? The Scrambler drill, too, those are things that I contributed to. Like this: There is a sign that hangs in my shop with the following quote: Strive for perfection in everything. But a whole second rifle? I carry a revolver. ", Complete Legal Protection for Armed Self Defense - Read This. I time my screws regularly my average is around 33 minutes, but my record is still 4 hours and I would start with an 80% lower, no registration required, and work up from there. Shortlengthsolidaluminumtrigger At my age, they way I do things isnt likely to change either. 3. Enjoy cutting-edge commentary. Its a Remington 700, 3.5X10 Leupold scope, Hunter stock and mags. Mr. Smith is noted for his common sense quotations about guns and personal defense. Save your money. I think you underestimate just how much truly cheap surplus x39 is still hanging around in garages and closets. But i do shoot a Kimber 1911 very well. Once those factors are met, then the philosophy of the designers (dictated by the government) starts to enter the design. Just because Stoner made a claim of novelty for his patent, does not mean that it actually is outside the definition of the term direct impingement. Throughout this time Clints first-person observations of tens-of-thousands of students has given him a front row seat to see what works and what doesnt in both theory and actual application. Hey, build it, buy it, just get it! . Granted, the .308/7.6251 is a lot less punishing than .30 M2 Ball, 7.62x54R, or 8mm Mauser. Read more. I think it is a great way to learn every part of your rifle, and if something breaks you know how to fix it. If nothing else . Ive also been in the trades for over fifteen years so Im very comfortable with tools and taking my time. I believe that with every gun I build I have a duty to contribute to the tradition of exceptional handcrafted custom guns and the goal of perfection is the guiding light for everything I do. It can be upgraded to the Krebs Custom enhanced safety lever or a lever with Rifle Dynamics safety stud. Adding to the aesthetic appeal, of course, is the Thunder Ranch emblem engraved behind the rear cocking serrations on both sides of the slide. Coming full circle, Smith reiterated that the Combat Special, at its heart, is the tried-and-true 1911 platform. Standard trigger guard, standard magazine release. Its a heavy beast, but i cant afford to miss as my protection detail has me in crowds and around children. I guess if one really has to keep up appearances, that would be a way to do it Im guessing he probably didnt pay north of $10K for it, either two companies that make extraordinary products tend to combine to make extremely extraordinarily priced items. ", "A reporter did a human-interest piece on the Texas Rangers. I dont mean it like I lifted every spoonful of dirt, but I was allowed to grow and be exposed to people who really wanted to be there. Rolling Thunder: An Interview with Clint Smith of Thunder This philosophy carries through into my work and it is my pleasure to individually handcraft each pistol that will be built as part of this special limited run of guns. In addition to serving his country in Vietnam, Mr. Smith worked in law enforcement, and also as H&Ks director of training. High end firearms are like project cars. Hace an DOD ID card. New bosssame as the old boss. I was an M79 grenadier, so I used a 40 mm grenade launcher and was issued an M1911 pistol. Im pretty sure of he carried a j frame with snake shot hed be a dangerous man. Building the poodle-shooter is most of the fun. That said, Im going to be a fricken goldmine when they kill me. First, no one really builds an AR Even the AR Manufactures assemble the parts from a few background foundries that cast / mill the parts to Mill spec. So, an old curmudgeonly gun guy with an abrasive attitude and no shortages of opinions. First, I agree on the viability of the .223 round. And, no, I dont have an AR. I doubt that youve received goat face. Thats my hood ornament. I took Vietnamese, a southern dialect, and I went to Vietnam. Feels good in hand and plenty of ammo available. Clint informed me that after the infamous Its mostly laziness. I generally liked what he had to say. His experience includes seven years as a police officer during which he served as head of the Firearms Training Division as well as being a S.W.A.T. I can train a novice to shoot well with a heavy steel 9mm (or .38 revolver), in FAR fewer rounds than a polymer auto, ESPECIALLY if the poly auto a .40 or .45.. Read today's "The Armed Citizen" entry for real stories of law-abiding citizens, past and present, who used their firearms to save lives. They all work fine. If you want it, youre going to have to take out the owner first. Why do you say that? I will probably never need to make a 300 yard shot with my AK, just as the vast majority of AR owners will also never need to make a 300 yard shot. Jews dont conspire with eagles in nest building. I know all. The first is my sheriff, whos passed now, his name was Charles Meeks and he provided me the opportunity to get training and to expand the training program that we had. ), I think 100s of mags is overkill, but Im just a dumbass civilian that works a bluecolar job. https://youtu.be/H0qe45Z8wfk. And if Mr. Smith is saying .223 is the one cartridge to rule them all rifle-wise, whats with that ammo arranged in front of him? 2002-2023 Buckeye Firearms Association, PO Box 87, Blue Creek, OH 45616. Named #1 NRA Recruiter - If you're a "good guy," click here. In the tribal areas of Crapistan, er, I mean Pakistan, the world as we know it doesnt exist. Hand-cut 30lpi checkering front and rear I'd choose a rifle, a shotgun, an RPG or an atomic bomb instead. Building an AR is not rocketry. And strip one for spare parts also seemed to be an important concept. Heirloom Precision Gold Line front sight You can reliably hunt most big game animals in North America.

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