From zen to guns 2020 March 09

I have not written anything in years. That is king of a good thing as most of my writing was a kind of catharsis trying to get over survivors guilt and damage inflicted from a life of abuse both self-inflicted and otherwise. Also I just felt like I had something to share in my journey of sitting with my legs twisted up into a pretzel. Nowadays I still sit, but it is more like brushing my teeth than anything special. What is “special” to me now is the AR-15 and AR-15 accessories. Which is kind of funny because when I was on active duty I was not particularly fond of the m-4 Carbine or the M-16A2 I learned on. The were mostly just extra weight I had to carry along on hikes until War kicked off. And when it did I realized how poorly trained with the thing I was despite being an “Expert Rifleman.” That badge don’t mean shit. After I retired, it felt weird for a while, not having to go to the armory once month to do preventive maintenance on my rifle. I wonder how many other vets get that? But I rectified the situation as soon as I could, about a year after I retired. I ended up taking out a loan to get what my research at the time told me was the best evolution of the AR-15 platform of the time. The DDM4V11. I still have it. I’m kicking myself over the purchase to this day. As they come, the DDM4V11 is a pretty rifle. I got mine in their Milspec+ color because they did not have them in FDE… I live in the desert so FDE makes sense here. If I were in Washington or Oregon, my rifles would be green. Why I fell out of love with the DDM4V11: 1. The hand guard, while more ergonomic than my old quad railed military M-4, is still not very comfortable. 2. The trigger. On a rifle that has an MSRP of $1,729.00 I would expect to see it come with a better trigger from the factory. That was the first thing I replaced. 3. Oversized gas port. In order to make their rifles more reliable when running out of spec ammunition (read: tula) the geniuses at DD were oversizing their gas ports. This ended up bringing the barrel on my rifle to what I can only call a premature death. I have had an extreme shift of POI to the point where my rear sight is now nearly flush with the right side of the housing. It cannot be adjusted any further to the right so it is time for a new barrel. Would I buy it again? In hindsight, no. But all things considered I could have done a lot worse as there are a lot of trash rifle manufacturers out there. However, a Sionics Patrol rifle or even a Colt 6940, or FN 15 would more than likely still be running at this time, while my DD is kind of out to pasture until I replace the upper.