You may be able to save yourself and your family. He was also a vegetarian and hated tobacco, so all you vegetarians & anti-smokers are nazis, mmmmmk? Lanyard loop 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.. If its the apocalypse we concerned with, in the event of an actual apocalypse you will be forced to scavenge and scrounge parts to replace pieces that are worn out on your rifle. Hundreds of mags each? A $10K pistol says something about Mr. Smiths bottom line up there at Thunder Ranch. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Thunder Ranch AK: Century Arms, Clint Smith Partner for Custom AK For the first three years it was teachable but slow. From his Oregon Eagles Nest (Im Jewish, dont judge), Whats the issue with Jews and eagle nests? When the apocalypse the be TEN f*ckload of 7.6239 lying around. WebTaurus 1220039PLY M22 Double 22 LR Semi-Auto Pistol, 2.8" BBL, 8+1 Black Polymer Grip Stainless Steel Bersa T22M Thunder 22 DA/SA 22LR 3.5" 10+1 Black Poly Grip Matte The Thunder Ranch product line is a joint venture between Aero Precision and Thunder Ranch. The Thunder Ranch AK pistol also comes with an RD custom SLR Rifleworks 9 M-LOK handguard. Knock down, durability and feel are my reasons. And strip one for spare parts also seemed to be an important concept. When I was there we started doing double classes, which was really good for growth from an organizational standpoint: How does this range work? Because it is more popular does not translate to, it breaks more. ", "You have the rest of your life to solve your problems. Im much more interested in how well a given vehicle will fit my needs. Who wants to feed that damn burro and clean up after it? Being everybody exaggerates, we can safely cut that back one half or more. Shortlengthsolidaluminumtrigger If i had not built at least one AR i woud have no idea how to fix the ones I have. Caliber war? Both demand high dollar prices today. 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. Train until only savagery remains and stay deadly ladies and gents. I'd choose a rifle, a shotgun, an RPG or an atomic bomb instead. While I was there, I sat down with Clint to talk about his history with guns and his distinguished career in firearms training. Q:On your journey in firearms training, was there anyone in particular who left a lasting impression on you?A:There are two. Privacy and Security Policy. According to a recent Federal Emergency Management Agency report, fewer people are "prepping" today compared to previous years. It certainly doesnt say post-apocalyptic hellscape., certainly doesnt say post-apocalyptic hellscape.. A recoil-operated semi-automatic pistol, chambered in either .45 ACP or 9 mm Luger, the Combat Special is a blending of Smiths old-school grit with the old-world Thunder Ranch And that translates to any other AR you may come across from battle field pickup, to a friends rifle. Savage Arms Impulse Elite Precision Rifle: Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. New bosssame as the old boss. 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. In every commie hellhole in the middleeast, Africa, Russia etc. Yes, that includes .308, .30-30, 7.6239, and .22 (regardless of any shortage)and probably a dozen others. Sowhat is my sincere, heartfelt recommendation? So with the 1911, I dont feel behind the curve with that gun, and I have a couple Glocks, Glock 17s in 9 mm. Some even shoot well in just a few rounds. That Glock employee that writes ads for them called magazine articles? 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? Bravo! Im curious as to the physics on that, is the .45ACP powder a slower burn? 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. There are many guys that do lack the equipment, patience or skills to translate that desire to build their own into reality. I love it. So the difference between how much .223 and how much 7.6239 is completely and utterly irrelevant. Much to most peoples surprise, the AR is not a true DI gun as the gas never directly acts on the bolt. In this excerpt from arguably the best shotgun course in the country, TFBTV - Combat Shotgun Basics with Clint Smith of Thunder Ranch The COG must be in a certain place to ensure both maneuverability and stability (as a gun platform). Patrick Sweeney reviews the Nighthawk Custom Combat Special designed by Clint Smith of Thunder Ranch. There is no possible victory in defense. ", "The handgun would not be my choice of weapon if I knew I was going to a fight. Three is two, two is one, one is none, right? Every last one of them. lives depend on me not missing. I own both an AK and AR, 1911 and glock. Im kinda baffled on that one, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reichsadler, I should have remembered that from Band of Brothers. In which case markets, farming, commerce and industry will still exist, albeit perhaps degraded. On the drive home he said this (semi-automatic pistols) is what were going to do. But as a purely practical matter, my AK will handle any actual probable perp as well as your precious AR will, and with cheaper ammo and far less probability of breaking. Its a lot cheaper than having someone else do it. Shop for your 22 ammo too! I think were providing a responsible service to responsible people. The new Les Baer CustomThunder Ranch 1911 is a serious, no-nonsense self-defense pistol conceived by Clint Smith, Director of Thunder Ranch, one of the premier training facilities dedicated to teaching people how to survive in a tough, unfriendly world. Thats a pricey revolver for the average folks. Last I heard at the start of the whole Syria fiasco the Ruskies are runnin 5.45 so are the Chinese and the North Koreans. 100 magazines loaded? Until then, I have a spare bolt in my grip. I got to build the Firebox, the North Range, the Playhouse, the new rifle rangeall those things came under my time there. Ironically enough given the popularity of a certain Austrian handgun Mr. Burtons company is dedicated to perfection. WebShop for 22 long rifle pistols and revolvers from top brands like Beretta, Browning, Ruger, Sig Sauer, Smith & Wesson, and more. Smith & Wesson sells the PERFORMANCE CENTER Model 325 Thunder Ranch: a matte black .45-caliber Scandium-framed revolver, complete with a gold bead sight and undersnout picatinny rail (not shown for some reason). That bad boy msrps at an eye-watering $1,329.00. As for the price of Mr. Smiths carry gun, if you have to ask you cant afford it. Clints a character. The Clint Smith Signature Government Model, Judge Rules Cell Phone Not a Deadly Weapon, Denies Stand Your Ground Defense in Florida Theater Shooting Trial, Wisconsin Supreme Court: City Cant Ban Weapons from Buses, Gun Review: Springfield Armory Ronin EMP 3 9mm 1911, The New Henry Big Boy Revolvers at NRA Show 2023 [VIDEO], http://en.tracesofwar.com/article/20892/F%FChrer-Headquarters-Adlerhorst.htm. They need to be managed. This limited edition AK pistol is built to Smiths design specifications and bears the Thunder Ranch logo with a Tigerstripe finish. rules in favor of concealed carry in national parks. I am here to be transparent and honest on all matters discussed or chronicled on this site. Building my second ar and whats wrong with magpul? 5.56 will kill you, make no mistake. If youre trying to kill something bigger, its not enough gun. Its mostly laziness. The 1911 is still viable as a self defense tool. I am seeking to appeal to all demographics so from the novice, to experienced, along with LE and military communities. Im pretty sure of he carried a j frame with snake shot hed be a dangerous man. Amen to that. Smith & Wesson sells the PERFORMANCE CENTER Model 325 Thunder Ranch: a matte black .45-caliber Scandium-framed revolver, complete with a gold bead Hell, even were a para cord bracelet sometimes. Guess What Gun Clint Smith Carries Everyday? Out of the AR platform, its fairly accurate. 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. That said I have at least 200 rounds for any other weapon/caliber.. As Colonel Cooper said By the time you go through 200 rounds, it will have already been determined whether you get to keep your weapon. People say [the M1 Carbine] is not very effectiveOK, I wouldnt want to get shot by one. Mr. Smith is noted for his common sense quotations about guns and personal defense. Keep your sanity re safety. If you have to kill a person, a coyote, or a bobcat, 223/556 is just fine. Jim Smith of Spartan Tactical Carries a Sphinx, a CZ clone. Clint Smith aint him. Its a SHTF situation where you and your family will need to defend yourselves. Building the poodle-shooter is most of the fun. 7.6239 is still one of the cheapest rounds to hoard and even cheap century rifles have a life span of 60000 rounds or more. Its simple. $10K for a pistol??? And I shoot them a lot. But my first reaction was, No light, no light rail, and no RMR. He started the site to explore the ethics, morality, business, politics, culture, technology, practice, strategy, dangers and fun of guns. . I would start with an 80% lower, no registration required, and work up from there. Plus the fact every gun store that I have been to also carried 7.6239 and I have been to many in Maryland, Virginia, Florida, Pennsylvania, and every gun show I have been to. The AK is cheap to build, easy to operate, and extremely reliable. Buy 2 or 3 of the same rifle, same caliber and practice, practice, practice! Comments anyone? Thunder Ranch Hes not talking about having fun on the range or competing in 3-gun. Third, it only matters how much ammo is lying around if youre planning on being PART OF the SHTF, i.e., youre planning on getting into fire fights on a daily basis. Works the same for guns. The purpose of this website is to share educate, inform, and build a lasting culture around firearms. The gravelly voiced trainer is famous for his take-no-prisoners take on armed self-defense. so i suck it up and carry heavy. . Now, a little bit about me. Plus its not hard and they work just fine. But.the very vast majority of applications can be resolved quite well with standard Walmart calibers.. After reminding his acolytes that they need to be able to pick up and run firearms discarded on the battlefield, Mr. Smith goes there. Granted, the .308/7.6251 is a lot less punishing than .30 M2 Ball, 7.62x54R, or 8mm Mauser. To achieve certain flight parameters, there are certain way the wing and control surfaces must be made. That allowed for growth in me, and API, American Pistol Institute (now Gunsite), was at a stage in its life where it was growing. But if society has collapsed to the point where the only way to get a gun is to assemble it yourself, the gun is the least your worries. Most people will have a hard time moving with 3000 rounds of 5.55 in magazines hanging off of them. I believe he has good advice but it is still advice. Firearms|Rifles By Drew BryantAugust 16th, 2022, theloadoutblog.com Rifle Dynamics and Thunder Ranch are teaming up again to bring another Limited Edition build brought to you by the legendary Clint Smith. 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. did not say it was not good defense firearm. I have a scruffy bread, tribal tattoos, wear tacti pants, shirts, hats, boots, watch. Eagle meat, in German Teller Fleisch, is the phrase in restaurants for special of the day. I recall ordering it in a lovely old-style Bavarian restaurant about 23 years ago, one located on Sankta Anna Strasse in Mnchen. It was just management, taking the pieces and putting them in the boxes where they fit. Kids and their new fangled jamamatics. WebClint Smith Signature. 3. That said, I dont care that the .380 sales are up 500percent, I wouldnt have that gun up my butt if I had room for a tugboatIm not betting my life on that gun. He has good points. First, NO ammo will be lying around it will be in someones bunker, even if it wasnt when the SHTF. To be more specific, my 13 year old just finished our first AR build together. But I have tried others. Its anall steel 5 Government Model chambered in 45ACP. The only Clint I give two shits about is Clint Eastwood. We could communicate and get the job done. However, keeping a spare parts kit or two around to keep all three running would be better. Then again, it might be simpler just to screw-up Kermits voice box, give him an AR or three, and a hundred loaded magazines. The forward assist (Why would I beat something into the chamber that dont want to go on its own) and the charging handle (Any time you dick I have much better things to use ten grand on. Robert Farago is the former publisher of The Truth About Guns (TTAG). member and precision rifleman. Thunder Ranchs Oregon Facility Officially on the Market Featuringunsurpassed quality and attention to detail, eachpistol is individually handcrafted to represent Clints idea for the pinnacle of carry guns. As for the price of Mr. Smiths carry gun, if you have to ask you cant afford it. Read the headline too quickly. Save your money. Precision Rifle at Thunder Ranch I still have a soft spot for the M-1 Garand and M-14 though. I want to teach a class a week after Im dead. Smith Gunnery Sergeant Hartman for civilians goes on to list an AR-15s owners two greatest enemies . ( oh, what GUN does Clint Smith carry every day. Q:What can you tell me about the logo?A:The shield was the first logo for ITC, the black shield. Ammo is not cheap, range time is not cheap, training is not cheap. Because when the SHTF, those helpful youtube videos may not be available. Here are the specs: Colt Commercial style thumb safety And thesurveysays! But for the rest of us, maybe a rifle and a full kit of parts? Remember, this was before social media and all that kind of stuff. Clint taps into In 2004 we moved here to Oregon. Voting is still your best defense. A lot of his students are LEO/military orgs. Last I checked, the definition of DI included operating the carrier. Clint Smith (Owner of Thunder Ranch) had Aero Precision cut out a section of the magwell on both sides. Made from premium-grade, vegetable-tanned leather, the Burdette Custom Holsters Detective SA-35 holster is a custom outside-the-waistband (OWB) model for the Springfield Armory SA-35 semi-automatic pistol. +43 cookies to you. We were very old guys, like 18, 19 and 20, and our Vietnamese counterparts, with the exception of their officer, were 15, 16 and 17, and as soon as they turned 18 they were automatically taken into the ARVN army (Army of the Republic of Vietnam). HART is the next step in the precision rifle series that stretches the reach of the of the shooter with their rifle. The pilot must be in a certain position to be able to see whats going on. Clowns who say use .223 because there will be tons lying around after TEOTWAWKI are idiots. As to 5.56 or .223, I have read articles supporting problems with the use of .223 in 5.56 rifles! LES BAER THUNDER RANCH SPECIAL 45 ACP ), I think 100s of mags is overkill, but Im just a dumbass civilian that works a bluecolar job. Rolling Thunder: An Interview with Clint Smith of Thunder That was my first pistol. ", "I carry a gun cause a cop is too heavy. is the Ultimate Urban Rifle? [How to I know nothing but the reputations. The man is a straight up legend in the shooting community. Polished blue finish measure of recoil. 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.. 5. 22 Long Rifle Revolvers, Pistols, Handguns For Sale - Hinterland Yes, every once in a while you get lucky and purchase a Yenko Mustang, but that is the exception, not the rule. Rear sight modified for one-handed operations . not so much. I cant decide who is more amusingly deluded, guys who make purchasing decisions today based on concerns about hilariously unlikely post-apocalyptic scenarios, or guys who carry a rifle in their car on the off chance they need to stop a terrorist attack. Posted: 12/20/2008 7:12:11 PM EDT. WebThanks mainly to Clint Smith, Mike Venturino and American Handgunner, the 4 Military .44 Special was reborn as the Thunder Ranch Special. Clint Smith, President and Director of Thunder Ranch, is a Marine Corps veteran of two infantry and Combined Action Platoon tours in Vietnam. No, Ill save my money instead. Im talking about kits to repair the guns. Unless you like building ARs and keeping Magpul in business. Without getting into the differences between .223 and 5.56 both are perfectly viable out to ranges beyond which most people can shoot without optics. Heres where Im breaking with Clint. Be humble. But buying a second to have spare parts is, IMO, overkill. 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. We were in Texas from 1993 to 2004. Great Source. and I really like having the light. Clint Smith is the Director of Thunder Ranch 1 in Oregon, where he teaches firearm tactics, self-defense and freely gives his opinions on a variety of topics. so after 3k rounds, the officers ALL shoot Glocks really well. Thunder Ranch How to fight with a rifle inside pistol ranges, which is where most rifle fights take place. 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. A hurricane is a your EDC pistol will do just fine scenario, not a Im going to expend tens of thousands of rounds of ammo scenario. Sounds like a smart man to me, I have Clint Smith's Top 5 Guns: Thunder Ranch Edition I have several rifles that shoot the 7.6239, and dont want to have to stock another caliber. member and precision rifleman. You lip flapping about me? Stupid, stupid notion. So we basically stayed in a village and worked with the Vietnamese soldiers. I really dont get a ten grand handgun of any stripe, barring the extraordinarily rare or the extremely enhanced/decorated, in which case youre paying for the engravers painstaking time and skill. Therell be bucket loads of that laying around too. Shortlengthsolidaluminumtrigger 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. Some will say that the voting process is corrupt. If you have any suggestions, ideas, or comments. and they get tons of ammo cheap, and lots of training at no cost to the officers. Or maybe laying next to the dead guy whose rifle you just recovered on the local battlefield. A beater 400cc dirtbike is lots easier to live with. As David Hackworth purportedly said, if you find yourself in a fair fight, you didnt plan your mission correctly. thats only true if you have an enormous portfolio of advantages, like SOF pulling a raid or ambush at the time and place of their choice. ", "The two most important rules in a gunfight are: always cheat and always win.