M4 Tactical Crossbow

M4 Tactical Crossbow

It's not every day that one of your old friends sends you an email saying that a crossbow is on its way to you in the mail. But that's exactly what my old pal, the Suburban Bushwhacker, did the other day; and not any old crossbow either, no, he sent the M4 Tactical Crossbow (M4TC). I was pretty excited when I read that email because I've been eyeing crossbows recently, thinking, "I want one of those."

In The Box

I was even more excited when it arrived and whipped out the trusty Spyderco Persistence to open the bow's box. Like it's namesake, the M4, this bow is black and has a synthetic stock. Unlike the M4 and its civilian variant, the AR, the M4 Tactical Crossbow fires 1/8" steel ball bearings, as well as featherless arrows. It comes complete with a premounted 4x32 scope and an adjustable fore grip. 

Stuff it Comes With

What makes this crossbow tactical? It's black, for a start, and it comes with a red dot laser light, a blue "Wolf's Eye" light  and a 600 lumen flashlight. All these can be fitted, tactically, to the body of the bow. But does it work? Sure it does. Simply pour ball bearings into the bow's interior magazine. Then cock the bow, which is easy, release the safety, squeeze the trigger and shoot.

There's a Crossbow on the Table!

I tested the beast out against its sturdy cardboard packing case, firing from around 20 yards, and was pleased to see the scope was pretty much zeroed in. Is it powerful? Powerful enough to knock chunks off a pecan tree and shoot through the cardboard box. I'd imagine it'd make short work of a rat or a squirrel. Mine didn't come with arrows but if the ball bearing action was anything to go by I'd wager it works alright with those too.

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All in all a fun bit of kit. Good for backyard range fun and more powerful than your average BB gun, not least because it fires the monstrous 1/8" steel ball bearing. It's tactical too, which is important; make sure you wear your night vision monocular so you don't trip over the bow in the dark!

Nice Little Group

You can purchase the M4 Tactical Crossbow from Tactical Tech Zone. It's not cheap, at $249+, but if you're after hours of ball bearing amusement, well, it's worth every penny.

Thanks, SBW, nice one.

LSP

I Love Shooting

Fake Shooter

I love shooting and if there was some way I could get out every day with the guns, well, I would. I enjoy the clean air country aspect of it, I like the skill of it, I like the explosive power shock and awe of it; I like the smell of the weapons and their mechanics, I like focusing on the front sight and the breathing, squeeze the trigger don't pull, bit of it. I like it all.

Real Shooter

Saying that, I'm not a desperately good shooter; just a decent average in the great scheme of things. And there's nothing wrong with that, at all.

Keep squeezing the trigger and God bless,

LSP

For The Bushwacker

SBW

Despite the often frivolous content of this blog, with its emphasis on the ridiculous ACoC, fighting apes and come as you may horse riding, I do take some things pretty seriously. Namely, admonitions from the Suburban Bushwacker - who by sheer creative energy went "from fat boy to elk hunter" in one fell swoop of finger to keyboard.

SBW had this to say:

"Very pleased to hear about further riflery. If anyone should by law be

required to be in possession of a sporterised 303 it's you (LSP). chop chop,

get on with the first one."

BSA Lee Speed

Bushwacker was and is right. I have no choice but to get on with the first one. That means getting a Lee that's already been sporterised, because I'm not about to desecrate a rifle in original condition. It means bluing the barreled action, upgrading the wood - Black Walnut with plenty of checkering. The barrel will have to be trimmed and crowned; it'll have to be optics ready and in possession of a new front sight. It must, of course, reflect its owner - a Brit in Texas.

That's the project and thanks to Tom a start's been made, a No. 4 Mk. 1 sporter at a very reasonable price. I'm looking forward to collecting that in a week or so and getting right down to it.

Thanks, SBW, for the mandate and serious attention to detail.

Good shooting,

LSP

Broken Old Rubbish

You know how it is, sometimes you get in the mood to buy a gun, which is the way I felt Thursday afternoon after riding about and target shooting at the stable stock tank. So I walked down to the "Gold Nugget Gun and Pawn" to see what was on offer.

Not much. An SMLE which looked sound and tempting until I found out that the bolt fell apart. Then there was a Mauser and that looked alright too, but its magazine was missing. An SKS seemed in decent(ish) shape but it was Norinco, so if it wasn't broken it soon would be, then there was a series of synth stock Savages in various of brokenness and so on, gun after busted gun.

Don't get me wrong, I like GNG&P and always have a pleasant visit while browsing the weaponry - but today was a bust - except, perhaps, an old Winchester 70, which seemed OK but a little pricey for what it was.

Anyway, what I really want is a semi auto battle rifle in 7.62 - just to have fun blasting away and using against pigs if the opportunity presents itself. Tom from Boomers&BS (check his neat post on 'Dragonslayer' & Encore projects) recommends an M1A/M14 type rifle or one of the FN FAL variants - as I understand it they're about the same price and performance. But I've never shot the M1A/M14 whereas I've had plenty of time on the FN (years ago...); so I guess the latter has a kind of nostalgia value and I used to be familiar with it. I think that swings me in the direction of the one time rifle of the Free World - still, the other's attractive because its American and, to me, new. What to do? Get both! But I haven't recieved a government bailout! I guess its FN first - then save up for an M1A, or something like that. saying that, all advice welcome.

Speaking of kit - great thanks to Suburban Bushwacker for "magisterial" knife post, which lured me towards the useful looking F1/S1 and the great looking custom jobs made by the Backyard Bushman.

Hope to make a dent in the porcine menace today - they've gotten away with far too much.

LSP

Hoof Junky

The outside of a horse is good for the inside of a man

Winston Churchill

I've discovered that's true, but only because a strange and lets face it, terrifying confluence of aspects, spat me out of Canada and into rural Texas, where I minister to two country missions in the Anglican Diocese of Fort Worth. What does that mean? Amongst other things, that I'm a shameless Trad - liberal humanism masquerading as christianity doesn't cut it for me - and...

that I get to ride horses. Now this is something I always wanted to do and somehow never did until I noticed the odd parishioner turning up for Mass in working boots and spurs - right out of the stables and into church on a Sunday morning. 'Result,' as SBW (Suburban Bushwacker) used to say. So one thing led to another and before too long I'm in the stables talking God, Guns, Church and learning to post under the watchful eye of equine professionals.

Nothing better; perhaps its Texas, perhaps its the horse itself, but I find there's a freedom in it which I know I wasn't finding in the city. Its practical too - when the gas runs out I'll have transport. And that's what this blog's about, reflections on some of the home truths and simple pleasures of being a country priest in the Lone Star State. 

Oh, if you need a Ferrier, check out Coty at http://hoofjunky.com/ , you can see him at work above, shoeing BeBop and dispensing wisdom.

God bless,

LSP