Why we were there

 

Why Protest?

 

Today marks one week since the protest at the US Capitol which is now being characterized as a seditious act of an angry mob.  Those who attended are being excoriated and “cancelled.”  I posted a blog with a fairly detached tone that was a simple description of the event and I was rewarded with a person who I don’t even know posting a review on my employer’s Facebook page calling me out by name as a cultist and a seditionist.  The person feels that I don’t deserve a job.  Fortunately, my post was reviewed and determined to be acceptable but I pulled it down anyway.

 

The one thing I did not address was why I chose to go to the protest in the first place.  I thought that would be clear to all, but I have since learned that it isn’t.  Either through innocent or willful ignorance, they really cannot figure out why so many thousands of Americans would travel to participate in such an event. 

 

There are a few points that unfortunately need to be brought up.  I thought these were self-evident, but apparently are not. 

 

1.      1.  Nobody I spoke to had any intention of breaking any laws.  That includes rioting, breaking and entering, assault or any of the things that are shown on TV.

2.      2.  Those that clearly did come to break the law were very small in number as compared to the numbers at the protest.  I don’t have actual figures because strangely, they are not available anywhere I can find.  The crowd at the Ellipse was huge and likely in the hundreds of thousands.  It was not the 2 million that rumor pegged it at but it wasn’t in the tens of thousands either.  The number actually in the Capitol was somewhere in the low hundreds. 

3.      3.  Not everybody who was there was a Trump supporter.  Yes, I know you’re reading plenty of media accounts of those arrested who were indeed Trump fans, but in watching and listening to the crowd, it was obvious that there was a small contingent of those with other views and likely, other motives.

 

Let me also get in the obligatory note that neither I nor anybody I am friends with supports the idea of sedition, treason, murder for political ends, violence for political ends, theft, vandalism, assault, or any of the things that happened inside the Capitol.  I have met a few people who are so angry that they believe it is time for violence, but those are the outliers.  They are not the Tea Party types.  They are the Q-Anon types and there are not a lot of those.  I don’t deny their existence, but they don’t represent any significant fraction of Trump supporters.

 

So what was the point and why did Americans drive and fly from all over the nation to protest this event?  Was it stupidity?  Ignorance?  Malice?  Some people really don’t understand what brought so many Americans to this point and think that is must be some cultish devotion to what they view as a the incarnation of evil.

 

In order to understand it, we need to go back a bit.  In 2016, the seeds of all of this were sown.  The Steele Dossier was a fraud from the very beginning and the FBI knew it at the time.  They ignored that fact and lied to a FISA court and to others in order to pursue a fraudulent investigation.  The Mueller report confirms that that the very least, there was zero evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians.  This led to 3 years of wasted energy and time and destroyed the credibility of the FBI in the process. 

 

There was however, clear collusion between the Clinton campaign and those same Russians.  John Durham is looking into it and conservatives have been waiting… and waiting… and waiting for satisfaction for that report which will hopefully bring to justice those who really did engage in sedition.  The longer this takes, the less credibility it will have to conservatives.   

 

Then there was the bureaucratic attempted coup.  Sally Yates was one, but not the only one.  Remember all the leaks in 2017?  They were outrageous and unprecedented.  Recordings of conversations with foreign leaders have never been leaked in such a manner.  None of this has ever happened.  It was obvious that the “swamp” or “deep state” was actively coordinating to weaken the president or even run him from office.  They were called the resistance.  They damaged the credibility of the permanent bureaucracy in the process. 

 

Next was the Ukrainian phone call that turned out to be nothing.  This time, it was the national security apparatus that damaged their own credibility once the facts came out.  We watched the Democrats in congress impeach Trump for things that looked idiotic to us. 

Through all of this, the mainstream media was at least complicit if not actively involved.  They never once showed any curiosity into any of the above events except to bolster the resistance.  All it would have taken is for one New York Times reporter to question the narrative and do just a little digging.  That was never done.  The media put the final nail in their credibility coffin when they ignored the Hunter Biden story.  Even now, they admit that the laptop and the evidence of corruption exists but still refuse to mount any serious investigation of it.  

As a side note, with this level of corruption so obvious to conservatives, is it any wonder we were distrustful when more bureaucrats said we had to shut down the economy over a virus?

 

All of this just sets the stage for the election.  Some may look at the above situations and dismiss it as the wrong way to view the facts.  They really can’t dispute the facts themselves though.  In this election, 75 million Americans saw things essentially this way which is more than any candidate has in any election in history. 

 

Seventy-five million Americans saw it and voted and yet somehow President Trump lost to a candidate who didn’t campaign, had rallies where literally a few dozen people attended and had a demonstrated history of a condition resembling dementia.  It made zero sense.  Surely that can’t be true. 

Now about that election… to deny that problems didn’t exist is to deny reality.  I don’t care if court cases have been thrown out, not heard or if Republican officials in some states say things were normal.  If this is normal, then normal needs to change.  We’ve seen the video from Detroit with pizza boxes being used to block Republican observers from doing their job.  We’ve seen the video from Atlanta of cases of ballots being pulled from under a table after observers are made to leave after a “water main break” that never happened.  We’ve seen that election laws were re-written in several states by judges who had no statutory authority to do it.  That just scratches the surface but are the most obvious and don't require mysterious conspiracy theories to demonstrate.  Ballots were sent to every registered voter when the law didn't provide for that and that is in states that had resisted or been prevented from examining the voter roles for decades.  The opportunity for corruption is undeniable.

 

Is any of that enough to change the outcome?  Maybe and maybe not.  But it should be in all American’s best interest to find out.  Election integrity is critical to any functioning democratic government.  Without trust in the outcome of elections, any remaining credibility in government is gone. 

 

That is why we were there.  That is why people traveled thousands of miles to be present at the Capitol that day.  It was to remind the legislative branch that Americans demand election integrity.  We knew this was a Hail Mary and that there was likely no way to stop it at this late date, but all other avenues to attain that had been blocked.  We hoped that Senator Cruz could be successful in getting congress to actually look at the problems and delaying things just a few days more while an honest hearing could be made.  The Pence gambit was doomed but some put faith in that effort as well.  It was grasping at straws because we felt it was our duty to ensure honesty in the election. 

One more thing to consider is what we were prepared for.  We were not thinking that this would turn into a riot of Trump supporters.  The thing that concerned me and everybody I met was the fear that the same protesters that had attacked a previous rally would try to attack this one.  It is why I got a train ticket to get me out of town well before sunset.  The fear of Antifa or other violent mobs was a genuine concern of several people with whom I had conversations.  The Tea Party crowd is very respectful and will not even litter on the grounds of the Capitol.  It didn't occur to most of us that elements of the group would resort to rioting.  

Edit 1/16/2021:

Now we are seeing that the riot wasn't as pure as was first portrayed.  It is still too early to know if the real story will come out but already there is video of a BLM activist who embedded himself in the crowd and was clearly inciting as if he were a Trump supporter.  In a heated crowd, this kind of behavior would have predictable effects.  Individuals may be smart, but a mob is not and a mob is easily manipulated by those who are determined to do it.  

My Experience at the US Capitol Jan 6, 2021

 

I want to get all of this in writing before my memory of the day starts to fade or be influenced by what I see and hear from others.  I was there.  I watched it happen.  I am going to try to explain what was seen and heard from my perspective.  I understand that my perspective isn't the only one from that day but I think it is important to have first hand accounts so that others may sort out fact from fiction.

I arrived by Amtrak at 10:45.  My friend Mark had talked me into going and we stayed inside the station for a bit to eat and get ready to head out.  We knew that Trump was speaking on the Ellipse at 11:00 and there was no way we could make that.  Our general plan was to attend the "Wild Protest" rally which was set for 1:00 to 5:00 near the Capitol.  We assumed that everybody attending the Trump speech would make their way to the stage set up for those speakers later in the day.  That turned out to be totally incorrect.  The Wild Protest stage was behind the Russell Senate Office Building and had sparse attendance.  One could not see the Capitol itself from that venue.

As we made our way toward the Capitol, we saw crowds gathering in the East lawn of the Capitol.  There were barricades to keep crowds back, but within sight of the plaza where high profile people would arrive.  We watched Mike Pence's motorcade arrive and park near us at about 12:30 PM.  

If you are unfamiliar with the National Mall, take a look at the map.  From West to East, there is the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument and then the US Capitol.  The White House and the Ellipse are just North of the Washington Monument.  The main entrance of the Capitol is on the East side of the building which faces a plaza, a lawn and then across the street are the Supreme Court and the Library of Congress.   The West side of the Capitol is where the inauguration takes place.  It is ornate and majestic looking but there are no real entrances there.  At least none that are open to the public nor used on a regular basis.  It is a stage prop for the most part but that is what faces the Mall and the Washington Monument.  You'll see why this is important later.

On the East side, there are three sets of stairs.  One to the Senate side, one to the House and one up the middle.  I don't think the House and Senate side actually uses those stairs and there is only one small door at the top.  The center stairs lead to the main entrance into the Rotunda.  There is a large porch at the top of those stairs.  Beneath the stairs is a driveway where dignitaries can unload out of sight from the public.  

Things were jovial for the most part.  The crowd wasn't exactly diverse but not totally homogeneous either.  There seemed to be an inordinate number of older, Asian women which I found a bit odd.  There were young and old, but tended more toward the old.  I am 52 and I would guess that there were more people older than me than younger.  I met people from all over the country.  There were groups from CA, NC, TX, MO, NJ, NY MD and VA that I ran into but I'm certain it was even more geographically diverse than that.  

Let's address the elephant in the room about skin color.  Yes, there were black people in the crowd, but not a lot.  I had a great conversation with an older black man from Ocean City MD.  He was just as upset as everybody else at the idea that some states had changed their election procedures without legal justification and that shenanigans clearly went on in several jurisdictions that he and others felt altered the outcome of the election.  He was just as passionate as everybody else I saw on this matter.  I saw other "people of color" but didn't have the opportunity to engage with them.  At no point did I ever see or hear anything resembling racism or white supremacy.  Not even a hint of it was observed by me.  If this is a white nationalist movement, they did a really good job of hiding that from me.

I did observe a single act of violence.  A young man walked through the crowd spewing vulgarities about Trump.  "F- Trump!  F- Trump" earned him a blindside hit to the side of his head that knocked him to the ground.  A brief scuffle ensued  and both parted with no other interaction.  The reaction to this was split:  Younger people cheered and the older ones looked at each other like "I didn't sign up for that."  

Between 12:30 and 2:00, things were relatively quiet from our position on the East side of the building.  We observed men in black uniforms on the roof but saw no guns.  There was one guard walking around the steps of the Senate side with an M4 rifle.  The rest only carried pistols.  I did see one guard emerge at about 1:30 or so carrying a single tube grenade launcher.  He moved around the side and out of my sight quickly.  

As 2:00 approached, I also noticed a group of construction workers gathering at ground level at the North end of the building where I had just seen the grenade launcher guy moving.  I also noticed that the guys on the roof were no longer there.  

At 2:00, things changed quickly.  I heard and saw a crowd massing near the North side and they were inside the perimeter that I knew was sectioned off from the public.  I noted that, unlike most attendees around me, some of these people had face coverings.  I figured that the crowd from the Ellipse had walked and were now arriving at the West side of the Capitol.  That crowd quickly moved toward a second set of barriers and paused briefly.  I noticed a group of young people who were not part of the protest moving VERY quickly... they had suits, short skirts and had some sort of ID badges around their necks.  As I watched them scurry away, the first breach happened and I got it on camera.  

https://youtu.be/ncQb2JGLS6Y

There were literally hundreds of people that just walked up and the first few casually removed the barricades before the cops on the line could react.  Those cops quickly retreated.  Some moved to secure the stairs to the Senate and the others to the main stairs.  

https://youtu.be/RppFblg3k5o

This is when the rumors started.  We heard that there were 2 million people at the Ellipse and that they were headed this way.  We heard that they were shooting tear gas into the crowd on the West side.  We heard that there were Iranian planes about to crash into the Capitol.  I had texts from several friends and family telling me to get out NOW!  The things I was witnessing didn't seem to require immediate retreat.  I kept the phone recording and made sure I was not in the middle of a riot.  I never was.

Within a few minutes, there was another rush from the front of the crowd.  The cops defending the stairs were being routed into retreat and the crowd advanced to the door of the Capitol.  The entire plaza was now entirely overrun.  People were walking past armored SUV's and cop cars.  Many got on top of a tactical truck and were dancing.  There was no law enforcement presence in the plaza.  I noted one officer on the roof run and check something and then run toward the West side.  I never saw another one on the roof.  The cops guarding the Senate stairs were still there and holding that line successfully, but the ones on the House side were unsuccessful and protesters made it to the single door at the top.

At this point, Mark and I looked at each other and wondered what to do.  Is it safe to move forward?  We saw little old ladies with walkers in front of us so we decided to move closer for a better look.  We did hear a flash-bang go off near the entrance but it caused little reaction from those near the door.  We moved as close at 30 feet from the beginning of the steps.  

Every once in a while, there would be a surge in the crowd and I observed dozens of people streaming up the stairs toward the door.  I never saw them after they reached the top so I assume they made it inside.  Things would die down for a bit and then another surge.  

At this point, things had settled into a less frantic feel.  Again, things felt up-beat.  The crowd broke into a rendition of the National Anthem, followed by chants of "U. S. A! U. S. A!"  It was really remarkable and that event really epitomized my experience that day.  

https://youtu.be/3o4XjMO2Dd0

I continued to get texts from people outside watching the news who urged me to leave.  They were seeing things that didn't match my experience.  Things apparently were pretty ugly on the West side.   

We ran into three guys who had been on the West side and they looked shell shocked.  One had a burned leg... like his pants were literally burned off.  The other guy had a welt on his forehead and his hair was singed badly.  The hood of his parka was burned.  They had both been on fire.  They said they were not advancing or even on the barricade when they were hit with flash-bang or tear gas grenades.  We heard several others in the crowd with similar stories but without the visible evidence.  All claimed that they were not part of any advancing riot.  True or not, stories from unrelated individuals were all similar.  They were fired upon.

Finally, Mark and I looked at our watch and knew it was about time to leave.  We had tickets on Amtrak which would depart at 3:45 so at 3:00, we started to make our way back.  We made a loop around the plaza and noted that no cop cars nor armored SUVs were vandalized or burned.  No fires were set.  We did observe one act of vandalism when a guy dressed in black pulled out a crowbar and broke a window on the ground floor of the Capitol near the valet drop-off.  He was tackled and arrested.

As we left, Constitution Ave was lined with cop cars.  Several cop cars came racing through the intersection with sirens blaring and we would see large crowds to our West.  We made it to Union Station without incident and headed home.

https://youtu.be/-3vjhPdM7y8

Just a couple of notes to finish this off.  My cell phone battery did something odd.  I was having no issues with any web site, including FB until 2:00 PM.  My battery was at 78% and suddenly, things got bad.  I couldn't access some features on Facebook.  I could send and receive FB massages, but could not post nor live stream.  My battery dropped to 20% almost immediately.  A little later, I got some functions back but not all.  

We also saw a military flare drifting down over the South wing.  I'm not sure who launched it but it was a red flare and it drifted down, taking several minutes to reach the ground.  

I'm glad I went.  I'm not going to get into the politics of the situation or what precipitated this.  I only wanted to report my first-hand observations.  I hope this is enlightening.

Edit to add 1/12/2021:  I have had several questions regarding Antifa and BLM.  Did I see anybody that I could identify as being part of an outside group of agitators?  Well... not exactly but some things were very obvious.  The vast majority of people around me wore no face mask.  The vast majority were just your typical middle class Americans.  There were some who stood out.  Yes, they had Trump hats but they wore face coverings and not medical style ones for protection against Covid.   They had darker clothing than was typical and they had the look of predators.  They had skinny jeans.  It is hard to quantify, but they just didn't fit in.  Is that proof that they were Antifa?  Obviously no.  But hearing snippets of conversations and watching crowd reaction as they committed crimes made it clear that they were not one of the crowd.  

I did see a few people with identifiers from Q-Anon.  Again, they were not part of the mainstream.  They were really the outliers.  

As of this date, I still have not seen any crowd estimates which I find baffling.  Since I did not see the main crowd on the Ellipse, I don't know if it was tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands or millions.  It makes it hard to fully understand the crush that happened on the West side of the building without knowing the size of that crowd.

What is "the best" scope for a scout rifle?

​ I hear this question all the time, particularly on Facebook.  The question is usually about a specific brand or magnification, but the question really should be about the type of scope.

Before I start, let me provide a brief background so you know that this is coming form a person who has some experience with this.  I've hunted with practical and scout style rifles for 30 years.  I've taken probably close to 100 deer in the Virginia Piedmont which is mixed farm and woodland.  I've taken 4 practical/scout rifle classes.  I have a steel target "woods walk" range on my property.  I've owned fixed power from Leupold and Burris.  I've owned the variable scout scopes from both manufacturers.  I've owned several low power conventional variables from Leupold.  I've experimented and studied the problems.  I've made it my goal to find the best general purpose optic for my purposes.  

There are three basic types of scope a person can get on a scout rifle.  A conventional scope, a scout scope or an intermediate scope.  It is the intermediate scope that causes some issues because manufacturers call them scout scopes but they really are not.  Scout rifle purists don't like them because they are not true scout scopes and I'll get into the details of that momentarily.  

Scout Scopes:

A true scout scope will have an eye relief of 9 to 12 inches.  At one time, Jeff Cooper actually said it could be as short as 6" but that is generally ignored because an eye relief that short contradicts some other scout rifle features.  

Advantages:

- Allows the rifle to be carried in the field with the hand wrapped around the action which is very handy.

-  Allows the use of stripper clips.

- Leaves the top of the action open for easier loading from the top

- Places the ocular bell far from the eye so the shooter doesn't get hit with it during recoil.

- Speed.  It is incredibly fast to get onto target.  This is not to be understated.  If the magnification is below 3 power, your eye does something very cool.  If you throw the rifle to your shoulder and keep both eyes open, you'll see your target with both eyes with your distance vision.  The image in your dominant eye will have a magnified image with the reticle imprinted on it.  It is a cool trick and makes the snap shot stunningly fast.

It is this last advantage that makes a true scout scope so desirable.  It is why Cooper latched onto it.  It works better with the scope mounted low to the bore.  The magnified image in your dominant eye takes up only a small portion of your total field of view.  It gives the shooter great situational awareness.  On a range or in a training class, it excels beyond anything else.

This isn't a free lunch though.  With the ocular lens so far from your eye, bad things happen in low light.  Those same things happen if the target is obscured by brush or camouflage.  Because that lens takes up such a small portion of your overall field of view, it means that there is a very small screen in which to find discreet target indicators.  Targets that are easy to see in a conventional scope such as deer standing in a wood line at dusk at 100 yards fade into invisibility.

This caused me a lot of problems a few years ago.  I had been aware of the problem at dusk, but it had not cost me the opportunity at a deer until one particular day.  It wasn't even at dusk.  It was in broad daylight.  I came over a rise and used my binoculars to scan a brushy draw about 150 yards down a hill.  I saw a herd of deer filtering through the brush.  I got into a steady position and put up my rifle.  I couldn't find them.  It was like they vanished.  I checked again with the binos and they were still there and were easily visible.  Again to the scout scope and I could not for the life of me find a target indicator that would allow for an ethical shot.  It was extremely frustrating and started my quest for a better solution.

Several years later, after switching to a low power conventional scope for a while, I tried the Burris 2-7 Scout.  I figured my problem had been one of magnification so being able to crank up the power would fix things.  It helped a little, but didn't cure things.  The ocular lens is still too far from my eye to allow for really good target discernment.  It isn't a particularly good lens in the first place and was not as bright as other scopes and had a distinct fish-eye effect at the edges and I gave up on that as well.

Conventional Low Power Variable Optic (LPVO):

After giving up on the scout scope back in 2006 (might have been 2007), I decided to try a LPVO.  I found the best one I could get at the time which was a Leupold Mark 4 1.5-5X MR-T with an illuminated reticle.  I like this scope a lot.  It is not as fast at a scout scope for snap shots.  A scope that is 4" from your eye doesn't allow for the wide open field of view of a scout scope and one can quickly get "lost in the scope" even at low magnification.  It isn't horrible either.  At 1.5 power, it is pretty quick.  The big advantage though is low light performance.  I could hunt right to the end of legal shooting light with no problems.  Longer targets in the woods were no issue.  Essentially, anything inside 300 yards was easy and that wasn't just targets on a range.  If I could find it in my binoculars, I could find it in the scope and that made it a superior scope for a general purpose rifle.

A LPVO is a really solid choice for a GP rifle.  It has a couple of downsides.  Having an ocular lens 4" from your eye means hat brims often get in the way.  That may not sound like a big deal and on a range, it isn't.  In the hunting field where you may need to get off a shot quickly, it can be.  Anything that distracts from the act of shooting at the critical moment is a problem.  As I mentioned, it is also slower because when you raise the gun to your face, you must cover your target with the scope and then find it again in the scope.  Scout scopes don't have this issue since you keep your focus on the target while the gun comes up and then just allow the dominant eye to pick up the magnified image.

The advancement of the AR platform in the last few years has created a huge market for good quality LPVOs.  Some people want a true 1X magnification at the low end and while I don't see the need for that, they exist.  There are plenty of scopes with illuminated reticles with a high end magnification of 6 to 8 power and any one of them would be appropriate on a general purpose rifle.  

The Compromise:

An intermediate eye relief scope will have between 6 to 7 inches of eye relief and some still call this a "scout scope" but it really isn't.  Leupold has made two of these and they discontinued one of them.  I've written about this so much at www.scoutrifle.org that one person actually made a chart and labeled the intermediate position as the "Cliffy Position" after my username there.  I have apparently been fairly convincing that this is far and away the best way to set up a general purpose rifle.  It gives the shooter the best of both worlds with very little given up to either the scout or conventional scopes.

What I have learned is that the Leupold VX-R Scout 1.5-5X scope is that it works just as well as some higher end LPVOs in low light and is nearly as fast as a scout at the snap shot.

The odd thing about the VX-R is that it doesn't allow the scope to be mounted in either the scout nor the conventional rings of a Steyr Scout.  The rear ring needs to use the front conventional slot and the front ring uses one of the rear scout scope slots on the top of the receiver.  That places the ocular lens 6" from my eye and that opened up a whole new reality.

Speed:

The VX-R does occlude more of my vision than a scout scope, but it has another trick up its sleeve.  It has an illuminated red dot reticle.  That allows for something different.  The correct way to use a rifle reticle is to focus on the target until it is time to verify sight alignment.  At that point, one changes focus to the reticle itself.  It is a brief thing and is the equivalent to the pistol shooter focusing on the front sight.  With a red dot, this is not required.  That glowing dot just imposes itself on the target in the vision of your dominant eye and you really don't have to shift focus.  It makes up for the slight loss of speed because of this.  It is truly remarkable.

Low light, hidden and camouflaged targets:

The ocular lens of the VX-R is not only closer to my eye, but the lens itself is 50% larger in surface area than the scout scope.  When the gun comes to my shoulder, that means the lens occludes much more of my vision and makes it very easy to find minute target indicators.  Like a LPVO, if I can see it in my binos, I can see it in the scope.  

What really amazed me was the low light performance.  Some of this is the quality of the lens but I'm certain that the large lens and its proximity to my eye helps a lot.  Last hunting season, I noticed that I could see deer even past legal shooting light.  I wasn't sure if I was imaging this or if it really was that good.  Then I was able to prove that is was that good.  

I took a Randy Cain Practical Rifle class which included a night shoot.  At dusk, he had all the shooters get into the prone position and wait for a called shot.  They were to stand up when they could not see the target clearly enough to take a killing shot.  The targets were camouflaged and were in color coded stands.  The class had 14 shooters with a mix of optics.  There were a few moon scopes, several LPVOs, a few scouts and my VX-R.  Over the next 20 minutes, we stayed on the line.  I didn't realize when other shooters stood up.  At one point, the colors were starting to fade and I had to bear down to ensure I had an ethical shot.  I did.  Randy called for one more shot and only two of us fired.  After that shot, both of us put up our hands and stood up. 

I look at at my watch and did a quick calculation.  It was 40 minutes after sunset.  I had been able to see the target clearly enough in my scope to see the kill zone and to see the color of my target stand a full 10 minutes past legal hunting hours.  The other scope that did this?  A Leupold Mark 6 1-6X scope which is a $1600 optic.  The VX-R proved that it gives up nothing to a LPVO in low light.

Other advantages:

The VX-R doesn't allow one to carry the rifle by wrapping the hand around the action, but it does put the ocular lens far away enough from the face that the brim of a hat doesn't get in the way.  There is no chance of getting hit by the ocular bell during recoil.  Being mounted on a Steyr means access to the top of the receiver is moot.

The other Leupold:

The VX Freedom 1.5-4X and the earlier VX-II 1.5-4X scout scopes are also listed at 6 to 7 inches of eye relief.  They are good scopes and are very light weight.  They are smaller than the VX-R and not as bright in low light.  They are brighter than the Burris 2-7 Scout and I have not compared it to a fixed power scout scope.  Both the VX Freedom and VX-II scout have very long ocular bell housings and that does complicate mounting.  They cannot be mounted in the same way as the VX-R and it will end up closer to 7" by the time you're done.  They are still handy and good in low light and I consider them to be the best intermediate option now that Leupold discontinued the VX-R.

So what is the best scope to put on a scout rifle?  If you can find a VX-R, that is clearly the best bet but finding one is no easy task.  Unless Leupold decides to make them again, the options are slim.  Other than that, one needs to ask themselves some serious questions.  Is this gun for range use or hunting?  Is the hunting in low light?  How much is speed an issue?  Weight is a consideration as well and most LPVOs tend to be on the heavy side (notable exception is the Leupold VX-IIIi 1.5-5X which is less than 10 ounces).  If I didn't already own the VX-R and I was setting up a scout rifle for true general purpose use, I'd chose a LPVO but would always keep my eye open for new offerings in the market.  If somebody made a scout scope with the same advantages as the VX-R, I'd certainly give it a try.

Jeff Cooper General Rifle Class by Tom Russell

 I'm always at a loss as to how to start these reviews.  The bottom line is, it was a fantastic class, but there's a lot to unpack in describing it.

Facilities:

The class is held at the NRA's Whittington Center in Raton New Mexico and it is an amazing facility.  The range is named the Jeff Cooper Range and it shows.  It has both steel and paper targets at 100, 200, 300, 400 and 500 yards, along with a berm at 50 and room for more steel going out to ranges that my rangefinder couldn't figure out.  Additionally, there is a valley next to it for a rifle walk, a classroom with chairs and decks for gun cleaning and it is decorated with all manner of Cooper memorabilia.  There is a well-head outside with running water.  The ghost of Jeff Cooper seems close at hand.

Beyond the range, there is competitor housing on the premises which was a nice place to gather during breakfast and lunch.  There is a concessions trailer with brisket sandwiches that are out of this world.  There are multiple ranges spread out for every shooting discipline plus a gift shop and museum.  Additionally, there is even a ghost town and abandoned mine where we took a long hike on Wednesday evening.  My friend Hank described it as Disneyland with guns.  

Trainers:

Tom Russell was both a friend and instructor with Jeff Cooper and was present at the Whittington Center with Jeff when Steyr introduced the Scout Rifle back in 1997.  He is knowledgeable and a good communicator.  All commands were clear and there was never a question about the expectation.  He ran a solid course from start to finish.  He also has a fair amount of hunting experience, particularly in Africa.  Many of his anecdotes and reinforcing stories were drawn from his African experiences.  

Ethan Russell is Tom's 19 year old son and he acted as an assistant and line coach.  He has a promising future and did a great job of helping to keep things moving.  He found his voice and was able to call out hits clearly when needed.  

Aaron Thompson is a friend of Tom's who also acted as an assistant and coach.  If I understood it correctly, he is working on becoming an instructor himself.  He will do well in that.  His commands were also clear and made sense.  He was encouraging when needed and did a great job of keeping things moving.

Students:

I'm not going to give a bio of everybody but suffice to say, it was a really good mix.  There were no students who slowed the group down nor made us roll our eyes.  Everybody was dialed in at least enough to keep up.  There was one older gentleman who had not owned a gun until 3 years ago and only recently ever shot a rifle.  There was a 14 year old son of one of the other participants who really showed a lot of advancement during the week.  There were several of us who have taken multiple firearm classes including a few rifle classes.  The camaraderie was genuine and not a single person would I ever wish to avoid in the future.  That is a rare thing and I think it contributed to a fantastic overall experience.

The guns:

There were 5 Steyr Scouts, one custom Ruger 77 and two custom Howa rifles in the class.  The gentleman with the Ruger also has a Steyr that he brought out for one day.  The rookie of the bunch started out with two stock spacers and by Thursday, I talked him into removing them and he was very grateful.  He also opted to try it without the bipod and really liked how this improved the handling of the rifle.  The gentleman with the Ruger also tried removing the bipod and also enjoyed the handling of it.  My friend Hank and I both had rifles without them and I am more convinced than ever that the gun should be made without them to save weight and make them more handy overall.  

Optics:

Most participants had the 2.5X Leupold scout scope.  The guy with the Ruger had the VX Freedom 1.5-4X scout.  Hank and I both had the Leupold VX-R 1.5-5X Scout scope.  In the class, there really isn't much difference.  The advantage of the VX-R isn't felt until the sun starts to set or the targets get hard to see due to camouflage.  I did like being able to turn up to 5X at longer targets and I noticed Ruger guy turned up to 4X at 300+ yards.  While it was nice, it wasn't totally necessary because the targets were white and contrasted nicely with the background.

The drills:

Snapshots - Cooper said that the Scout Rifle is ideally suited for the snapshot so this was a big part of the training.  Once and sometimes twice a day, we would work on these.  The drill was to start at 10 yards at the sound of a buzzer, fire at the head of a standard IPSC target.  Then do it again.  And again.  Then move to 25 and do the same thing.  And then to 50 but this time to the A zone of the body.  That's 45 rounds in pretty short order.  This drill exposes weaknesses in gun handling, flinches and awareness.  

Positions - We practiced standing, kneeling (only a little), squatting, sitting, prone, braced standing and Hawkins prone.  We drilled getting into and out of these positions over and over.  

Longer range - During the week, we practiced out ot 300 yards, mostly in prone and by Friday, we started ringing steel at 400 and 500 yards.  We discussed using the center post as the aiming point and how to roughly figure hold-over.  This was not a long range precision class but we got the general idea of longer range shooting and some did very well even at 500 yards with a 2.5X scout scope.  

Challenges - We were timed on the Rifle Bounce and Rifle 10 drills.  These were fun but Rifle 10 will wear you out at 6500 feet elevation.  

    - Rifle bounce consists of starting from a standing position and engaging a steel popper at 100 yards.  Once that is hit, drop to sitting and hit a popper at 200.  Next, move to prone and hit a popper at 300.  My best time was woeful at 29 seconds.  One guy in our group was lightning fast at 16 seconds.  It is hard to move to all three positions in that amount of time, let alone hit a target.  

    - Rifle 10 required improvisation.  The shooter starts from a standing position and drops to prone at the buzzer and engages a paper target at 300 yards with 2 rounds.  Then, he runs forward 25 yards and choses a position and fires 2 more shots.  Advance 25 and 2 more.  Advance 25 and two more.  Advance 25 (now 175 yards from the target) and fire 2 more but those shots must be from standing.  Par time is 2 minutes and I did it the fastest at 2:22 which means I lost points but not as many as the rest of the guys.  I scored a 30 after the time deduction and that was far and away the best score that day.  From what I understand, a score of 40 is considered "good".  I was totally gassed and am sure my two misses were the last two from standing.  

    -Rifle walk. Each student was taken on a one-on-one walk with Tom into a narrow valley.  I didn't enjoy the first one and that is because it was designed to teach some lessons that are uncomfortable.  I will not go into detail because I don't want to give anything away but the second time through was much more rewarding (although I did drop to prone in some cactus).

Shoot-off: 

There were two parts to this.  One was to see who had the best accuracy in the snap shots at 25 and 50 yards.  Doc Troy won that but Hank was close behind.  The other part was a man-on-man double elimination bracket where the course of fire was pretty simple.  Begin from standing and engage one steel target at 60 yards and then drop to the position of your choice and engage a steel target at 200.  Best 3 out of 5 wins the set.  This was a blast and there was a lot of cheering and we got to find out who hates losing.  That would be me.  Fortunately, I didn't lose.  I won the whole thing against some very good shooters.  Second place went to a guy who was new to scout rifles but pretty dialed in otherwise and third place went to the 14 year old who showed dramatic improvement during the week.

Class time:

We did spend time in the class discussing everything from mindset, current events, shot placement (game and otherwise), history of the concept, the future of the concept including discussions of suppressors, sling choices, hunting, movement and other random topics.  This is the only place I might change some things.  The emphasis on African hunting was interesting, but not always pertinent to anything most of us will ever experience.  

Extra curricular activities:

On Wednesday evening, we took a long hike to the Van Houton mine and ghost town.  We carried rifles but not for shooting.  It was a long walk and for some of the guys, it was the first time they had carried a rifle in this kind of situation.  Aside from the relaxation and team building, it was instructive to learn how a light weight rifle carries over long distance.  It was a very positive experience.

On Thursday, we all drove about 45 minutes South to Cimarron and the St James Hotel which is a historic inn on the Santa Fe trail.  It is also where Cooper celebrated a birthday and was the last man to shoot a hole in the ceiling (cool story behind that).  Again, great team building.

Hank and I were the only ones who didn't stay at the Whittington Center and we discovered a fantastic little Mexican restaurant which is where we all met for dinner on two other nights.  The food was great and the staff were visibly appreciative of the business and treated us like royalty.  If you go, make sure to try Casa Lemus in Raton.  

Overall thoughts:

I can't overstate how good this was.  The guys who came in as rookies had dramatic improvements.  The guys with more experience all learned more and advanced their skill sets.  Everybody walked away as better shooters and have a foundation upon which to build.  It is a big time commitment to take 5.5 days and travel to New Mexico, but it was definitely worth it.  At no point did I feel bored or frustrated (well, except for the 1st rifle walk but that was the point).  

Bottom line is, if you are looking to make use of a general purpose rifle, this is a great way to learn it or to hone your skills with one.  It isn't the only way but the overall experience is really beyond compare.  

The 3 Kilogram Scout Rifle

The light idea:

Three kilograms.  Six pounds, 10 ounces.  Pretty simple, right?  That was the original goal of the first Scout Rifle Conference.  Of all the criteria listed for the scout rifle, that is the one that vexes people the most.  It isn't the only criteria, but it is the one that is most difficult to attain.  It is so difficult that even Jeff Cooper modified it several times.  If one reads Richard Mann's book on the history and development of the scout rifle concept, you'll see that at various times, Cooper listed 3.3 and 3.5 kilograms as the goal but never explained the difference.  Most would agree that 3 kilograms is the theoretical ideal, but that as long as the finished product is less than 3.5, and all other criteria are met, it is a "true" scout rifle.  Cooper declared the Steyr Scout to be the final and ultimate word on what constitutes a scout rifle.

So is it possible to get a rifle to the 3 kilo mark and still retain the rest of the features in order to qualify as a scout rifle?  There are a number of custom rifles floating around that have done it, but they are one-off rifles and are VERY expensive.  I don't know of one that has a detachable magazine.  It is damn hard to do.

Hard, but not impossible.  I did it and so can you.

Parts is Parts:

There are really two things that need to be done in order to achieve the Holy Grail of weight on a scout rifle.  The first is to use lighter accessories.  Find the lightest components for everything.  Here's some suggestions:

Scope:  I love the Leupold VXR and think it is far and away the best scope for general purpose use.  It is bright and crisp and works better at dusk than anything I've used short of a conventional Swarovski.  It also weighs 14.2 ounces.  The Burris 2-7 scout is preferred by many but it still weighs several ounces more than other options.  The Leupold VX Freedom 1.5-4X Scout weighs 9.2 ounces and the FX 2.5X scout weighs 7 ounces.  For the purposes of this experiment, I used the VXII scout (identical to the VX Freedom) and I find it to be the 2nd best general purpose scope around.  It isn't quite as good in low light but is better than the others.  

Scope rings:  I didn't put these on the scale, but the Weaver Quad-Lock rings are noticeably lighter than the Leupold QD rings.  Watch out though... what they call "medium" is very low.  If my ocular bell were over the receiver, it wouldn't fit and I'd need to use high.  As it is, the objective bell is touching the rail.  

Sling:  If you use Andy's Leather Ching Sling https://www.andysleather.com/products/scout-rifle-ching-sling, switch out the brass buckle for a Chicago screw.  It isn't as quick to change length, but it weighs less.  Trim the excess leather.  Even doing this, that sling is 2 ounces heavier than the Wilderness Tactical Ching https://www.thewilderness.com/ching-sling/ which is what I used.  I'm not sure you can still get that sling with the Pachmayr or Millet hammerheads now but I had one around.  

Recoil pad:  In order to have a quick change recoil pad system on the Steyr, they have an attachment piece in the stock.  That adds weight.  Remove it and buy a Pachmyar Decelerator model 200B in medium https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1006517292?pid=974626  The screw holes are already in the right place so it is fairly easy to fit.  You'll need a spacer as well https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1115185384 .  I used a 1/16" plastic spacer.  If you don't use that, you'll collapse the pad when you tighten it down.  This modification can be done without permanently altering the original stock as long as you are careful with fitting the pad.  Use a belt sander or sanding disc to fit it to the stock.

WECSOG:

The next thing to do is to get rid of the bipod.  Let's face it... nobody uses these things in the field anyway.  Yes, they are cool at the range, but in real world use, they only add weight and bulk.  I'll list three ways you can accomplish this:

1.  Remove the bipod from your existing stock and don't modify anything else.  This is extremely easy.  Swing the bipod legs down and you'll see a small pin near the front of the stock.  Drive that pin out.  The bipod will now slide forward and out.  Replace the pin and you're done.  The downside to this is that you now have a number of sharp edges on the stock.  You can use it and shoot with it like this.  I did this for an entire deer hunting season to see if I missed the bipod.  I didn't and I liked how trim the gun felt in my hands.  It leaves unnecessary weight in the stock because you have the buttons and rail that retain the bipod but you also haven't permanently altered anything.  

2.  Modify the existing stock.  Same as above but now you're going into "WECSOG" territory.  The Wile E. Coyote School of Gunsmithing means you're going to forge ahead and there is no going back.  If you screw this up, there isn't much you can do to fix it short of buying a new stock from Steyr.  They do sell them complete for $425 here:  https://www.steyr-arms.com/us/scout-stock  

The modifications that need done is to remove the rail and the bipod retaining hardware.  Remove the screws holding the rail first.  Things will start popping out at that point and good luck getting them back in place.  I did it once, but would not want to give instructions on how to do that.  The button and retaining wings all come out and leave holes in the stock.  What you do with those holes is up to you.  I've done it two ways.  Fill in the holes with putty.  I used JB Weld Water Weld.  I used a cardboard filler in the large hole where the button was to take up space without weight but you could also use styrofoam.  Use the JB Weld in the bipod hole up front and then start sanding everything.  I used a sanding wheel on a drill to knock the edges off everything.  Be careful obviously but it isn't difficult to figure out where to sand it.  I used putty in the transition from the unmodified portion of the stock to where the bipod legs used to be and sanded it smooth.

3.  Buy a stripped stock.  Did you know that you can buy a stripped stock for the Scout?  Numrich Arms sells them for $42.  https://www.gunpartscorp.com/products/717930  When they say stripped, they mean stripped.  There is no cover on the bottom of the pistol grip.  There are no swivel sockets.  There is no recoil pad or bipod parts.  You've got a totally clean slate with which to work.  Follow the steps above for the filling and sanding and for the forend.

Next, you have to deal with the recoil pad.  The factory stock comes with an attachment point for the stock spacer system and recoil pad.  The stripped stock doesn't have this, but there are two screw holes in the back of the stock.  By fortunate coincidence, the spacing of these is identical to the Pachmayr medium recoil pad.  I wanted the smallest one possible and selected this .4" pad at Midway https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1115420887

You can't directly fit this pad because it isn't stiff enough once you start tightening it down.  You'll need the thinnest stock spacer you can get such as this one:  https://www.midwayusa.com/product/100648584?pid=567275

Once you line up and tighten the spacer and pad, you'll need to use a belt sander to fit them flush to the stock.  Use masking tape around the stock and then go to town with the sander.  

The problem you're going to have is the swivel sockets.  The original came with 5 but you only need three unless you switch between right and left hand shooting often.  Finding three sockets is a problem.  Nobody makes them that I've been able to find.  Steyr seems to have a source but I'll be damned if I can figure out how.  Andy at Andy's leather had a few and sold me what I needed and he may have a handfull left, but that's about it.  There is a possibility of using the new Grovetec QD sockets https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1015372197?pid=625257  I've been told they are slightly larger than the holes that are in the stock so that would require drilling out the holes.  It might be the only alternative.

If you are able to find the original Pachmayr sockets, installing them isn't as easy as I thought it would be.  They are TIGHT and it is very easy to cross thread them.  I bought a drill press from Harbor Freight to get them in.  I used epoxy on one but the others don't seem to need it.  

Putting it together:

So now you have the lightest components and you've earned your first WECSOG degree.  Now it is time to put it all together.  I need to comment about my particular rifle and that has to do with the barrel.  I had my barrel shortened to 16" and threaded for a suppressor (long story, but I had to go with 1/2"-28 thread pitch which I understand is not normal).  That means my rifle is lighter than yours will be by the weight of that 3" of barrel.  However, I also used the Leupold VXII scope which is about 2.5 ounces heavier than the fixed power scout scope so that should be about a wash.  

By using a stripped stock and only using what was absolutely required and by using the VXII scope, Quad-Lock rings and the Wilderness sling, my rifle comes in at 2.99 Kilograms.  Yes, the Holy Grail of scout rifles from a factory gun and cost is well under $2000 complete.  

The funny thing is, I likely will not hunt and shoot very much with it in this configuration.  This was an academic exercise to see if I could do it.  The benefits of the VXR scope are so great for me and my uses that I'll sacrifice that weight.  I also prefer the leather sling in the summer as the nylon tends to chafe my arm.  I enjoy a suppressor when hunting or training.  My field ready gun comes in at just over 8 pounds but it sure is cool to know that I have the ability to see exactly what Cooper dreamed of so long ago.  

The unasked impeachment question

I am so disgusted with this whole impeachment thing.  I've come to expect certain things from the Democrats, but there is something really bothering me about the Republicans right now too and that includes President Trump. 

What bothers me is that nobody seems to be asking the most pertinent question.  Not even conservative talk radio really delves into this very much.  Yes, that scares me and makes me question if I'm thinking straight on this matter, but it seems too friggin' simple to me.

That question is:  Is there any national interest in having Ukraine investigate Burisma and Crowdstrike? 

Why is that question important?  Because every time we give foreign aid to another country, there needs to be something in it for this country.  That is not in dispute.  What is in dispute, is the idea that President Trump asked for something that only benefits him.  The Democrats want us to believe that there is no other motivation for asking for those investigations other than to benefit Trump at the ballot box in 2020.

Is that true?  I don't know.  Nobody is asking the question.  Trump specifically mentioned Burisma and Crowdstrike in his phone call to the Ukrainian president.  Why wouldn't the Republicans insist on this being examined?  Why wouldn't Trump make this a central part of his defense?  It seems glaringly obvious to me, but I only hear it mentioned in ancillary discussions of impeachment. 

A quick Google search shows that Burisma's founder was under investigation for massive embezzlement of government funds and money laundering.  This dates to the time before they hired Hunter Biden but the investigation happened during his tenure on their board and Joe Biden also forced Ukraine to fire the prosecutor who was looking into the matter.  Money laundering and embezzlement of government funds is something our government should be concerned about when we're about to give them large sums of our tax dollars.  Related to that, I think it is important to know why Joe Biden held up $1 billion in aid until that prosecutor was fired.  What was that guy accused of?  What did Joe Biden know about him to want him fired so badly?

Crowdstrike... the DNC and its media acolytes keep claiming this is a "debunked" conspiracy theory.  I'm not sure they understand the meaning of the word "debunked."  What they have done is to present their version of what they claim is being said about Crowdstrike and then debunking that story.  It is a classic strawman fallacy.  Nobody has explained why the DNC would not turn its hacked server over to the FBI but instead sent it to Crowstrike The FBI has never examined the server to see who actually hacked it. 

Debunked?  Has this Politico article been debunked?  https://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/ukraine-sabotage-trump-backfire-233446  For those unfamiliar, Politico is a hard left publication that is no friend of the President.  If this article is even only partially true, Trump has good reason to be very leery of Ukraine and how they approach the American election system.  They clearly manipulated information to benefit Clinton in 2016 and that lead to the Mueller investigation. 

I say, let's have an honest impeachment inquiry.  Let's see if President Trump's actions only benefit himself or if there is a greater national interest involved.  Did any members of the Ukrainian oligarchy also get involved with the 2016 election?  Are there things happening in Ukraine now that are carried over from previous governments that will affect our relationship and how our tax money is spent?  Is it a country that we can trust with millions of dollars? 

On a related but separate note, I am still baffled that people don't get what "draining the swamp" meant.  The swamp dwellers think they run foreign policy.  They don't... or shouldn't.  They are unelected and their only function is to implement the foreign policy of the chief executive.  The "inter-agency consensus" is irrelevant.  If the President has to resort to "back channels" to get his policy implemented, then that is just more evidence of a deep state coup. 

Everything a President does should benefit his reelection efforts.  The better the country does, the better an incumbent does.  The question is whether his efforts were for purely personal gain or if there were any national interests as well.  Answer that question and impeachment becomes crystal clear.  Unfortunately, nobody is asking that question.