October 11th 2014 The Next Run and Gun is On Schedule

Hye guys, the April 2014 Zombie Destruction run and Gun was a great event, and I want to thank everyone for helping make the April Run and Gun a safe and successful event. We had right at 120 runners for both days and the race went very smoothly.

We are already making changes to the course for the October event, adding obstacles and improving the stations and targets so that the event can run even smoother this next event. With more challenges and a redesign of some of the shooting stations. If you have any suggestions or comments about the last event, or something you would like to see in the upcoming event, email me at mike@battleroadusa.com.

We still have a couple of slots available for ROs. If you would like to come and run the event with the staff on Friday, then stay on and help run the event for the general public on Saturday, we will waive your fees and you will get a shirt and dinner on us. You can email mark@battleroadusa.com to submit your name for an RO position.

We want to stress that the while we do everything possible to make the run and gun a safe and regulated event, we have plenty of rules, a scoring system and we issue course of fire and round counts ahead of the event, the run and gun is also a very informal event. We have pretty informal procedures for the event,(not talking about safety) and we may have some small changes to the course distance or the round count, even right before the event. If this is something that is going to give you grief, then this is probably not the event for you.

I believe the eventbrite page is open for registration so don't wait to secure your spot on the schedule.

For those of you who have not attended one of the prior run and gun events, here is what we do.

The course is a 4.5 mile looping trail with 8-or more, shooting stations for rifle and pistol. In addition there are obstacles between the stations, some man made, climbing walls, fence gates, stacks of tires, barbed wire low crawls, narrow bridges with no handrails. And some natural, fallen logs, hog holes, mud holes, creeks.

Your scoring is based on your run time for completing the course, and your shooting time at each station.

Anytime you are in any kind of sporting or shooting event, it is inherently dangerous. You can trip and fall, get cut on sharp rocks, get punctured by thorns or bitten by insects and wild animals, or worse. We depend on the runners to maintain a "safety first" state of mind and follow the safety rules and guidelines, and use good common sense during the entire time they are handling firearms. Whether on the run itself, or in the assembly area or dining etc. We encourage you to wear a sidearm and to have your rifle on you during your time at the event. But we want you to do it in a safe manner. No unsafe handling of firearms whether at your vehicle or on the run. Walking about, have your rifle slung with mag out and safety on. If one of the ROs or staff see you breaking the safety rules during the run or in any of the other areas, you will be asked to leave and you will forfeit your fees.

You are allowed to have a holstered pistol with mag in and a round in the chamber while on site and during the run, safety on if the particular model has a safety, but you will run with a rifle that has the mag out, safety on  and chamber open. The rifle will be checked for safe on arrival at each station and upon finishing each stage. You will run the event with a safe rifle at all times. Your fingers will stay out of the trigger guard and off the triggers at all times when not engaging targets. During the course of shooting a stage, whether a rifle or pistol stage, your rifle or pistol will be kept oriented down range/in a safe direction, at all times. Safety is something you want us to be tough on right? And we will be. Failure to follow these safety rules will result in your disqualification, ejection form the event and forfeiture of fees.

We have tried several different methods of selecting run order, and we have found that we always have to end up doing it in a fashion that allows us to get the most runners safely and quickly out on the run. So while you may ask to be first or last, your position will ultimately be determined by what is best for the run.

You will need to have all the gear on you that you will need to complete the run. No one can give you any thing along the way or you will receive a time penalty. You will need to have your own time keeping devices to record wait time if any at the shooting stations.

The course is marked very clearly. 95  out of 100 runners have no problems following the course, However, If for some reason you are running the course and find you do not see any markers ahead of you, stop and look around you. The course is marked very clearly. There are engineer tapes, paint arrows on the ground, paint markings on trees. We have found that if folks are just keeping their eyes on the ground while navigating the course and not watching for markers, they may end up running off course. This may keep you from tripping, but you will need to pay attention to course markers as well. If you go off course, retrace your steps until you are once again guided by the markers. Trying to hack your own trail could allow you to walk into the firing fan of a shooting stage.

 If you have any questions, feel free to email me at mike@battleroad.com and I will be glad to answer any questions or fill in any gaps in info. Thanks, and I look forward to seeing everyone at the event in October.

Michael Adam
'Scout'
BattleRoadUSA
254-217-1325





       

  

The 2014 Posts Are On The Way!

Not sure why, but the 2014 posts seem to have broken some way. I will try to get them back up this week. Thanks!

If you would like to submit any posts, reviews of the last run and gun, will be glad to take a look at them. Send them to me at rwvarangescout@gmail.com Thanks!

-Scout

S.O.TECH Hellcat MarkII Mag Carrier

S.O. TECH Tactical Gear Hellcat MarkII Mag Carrier

I recently purchased a Hellcat Mark II Mag Carrier from S.O. TECH. I have not received the carrier yet, but when I do, I will give you a rundown on the way it fits and runs. I have used several pieces of S.O. Tech gear in recent times and have been very happy with the quality of their designs and the craftsmanship of the items. No unraveling seams, no broken snaps/buckles. Each item I have bought has been a quality piece of gear.

I like the Hellcat MKII and MKIII designs. I prefer the MKIII with buckles instead of Velcro and snaps, but they were out of stock when I ordered so I bought the MKII in khaki. I like to wear my gear in layers. I like to be able to put on or take off gear according to what I am doing. The mag carrier holds six 30 round mags internally and can be worn alone, or over a plate carrier and under/over other gear. This allows you to slip on the mag carrier separately/by itself, without having to slide into a huge rack of Load Bearing gear, or a heavy plate carrier each time you want to make a quick perimeter check.

Hellcat MarkII Mag Carrier (Khaki-Back)

The six mags are carried inside the band of material which allows the exterior to be used to mount additional items using Molle systems, as needed. The carrier can be opened from the front which allows you to get down low in prone if you have to low crawl or want to make a shot in prone, or just get low enough to become one with the earth. The mag carrier and any additional gear mounted on it, rides in front and this allows you to wear your pack or other gear on your back without the carrier interfering with it.

Solid, strong, practical, no nonsense gear for folks who do not want to worry about their gear.


S.O.TECH is a Service Disabled Veteran owned shop and they have a great track record with gear they have designed in conjunction with almost every Spec Ops/Spec War/Law Enforcement group out there, in addition, when you watch any of the current movies with military gear in them, it is a good bet that S.O. TECH custom made the gear for the movie.

You can find this particular piece of gear here
 http://specopstech.com/osc/product_info.php?products_id=1947&page=
 and the S.O. Tech home page here
 http://www.specopstech.com/osc/index.php 

Lanbo's Armory Sponsoring The BattleRoadUSA Run and Gun

Gear for Guys That Use It

Lanbo's Armory is a Montgomery Texas based firearms and gear shop selling just about everything anyone could ever want for their rifle, pistol or kit to folks all across America.

Myself and my friends have been shopping at Lanbo's for a good while now as there is a good chance they will have the lowest prices anywhere you can find gear online. Our most recent purchase was for 60 of the AR15 P Mags. They were ordered in two blocks and the first block of 30 mags was paid for, packed, shipped and received in right at a week. One of the fastest deals I have ever run and there is nothing better than getting a package delivered from a gun store right?

The amount of gear offered by Lanbo's Armory is pretty amazing, and I want to tell you something else right now. Take a look at the prices some of the firearms retailers and gun shops are asking for items right now. When the price for P Mags went from $9.95 to $75 dollars overnight, Lanbo's prices never went up. They had to put them on back order, but they took orders for the mags at the regular price and guaranteed them for delivery. We ordered another 30 of the mags. How many of your favorite gun shops or retailers prices stayed the same? Better remember those that did.

With the current craziness, guns, gear and ammo are hard to find anywhere, but if Lanbo's does not have it, they will do their best to find it for you from their suppliers and have it delivered to you.

If you want to browse Lanbo's gear, you can go to their location in Montgomery Texas at Lanbo's Armory, 11122 Twain Drive, Montgomery, TX 77356, or call them Toll-Free at Phone:(855) 300-GUNS, Toll-Free Fax (888) 569-9468

Or browse their online catalog at  http://lanbosarmory.com/

Thanks Lanbo's!!!










Lanbo's Armory
11122 Twain Drive
Montgomery, TX 77356
Toll-Free Phone: (855) 300-GUNS
Toll-Free Fax (888) 569-9468

ExplodingTannerite.Com is Helping to Sponsor The Zombie Run and Gun

Here it is and ready to go

Everyone has seen the videos of folks using Tannerite to enhance their shooting experience at the range. Tannerite is the trademark for a patented ammonium nitrate/aluminum powder based binary explosive used primarily as a target for firearms practice. Tannerite is unique in that it is exceptionally stable when subjected to less severe forces such as a hammer blow or being dropped. It is supplied as two powders ,ammonium nitrate and aluminum,  which are combined to produce the explosive. Until mixed, the two components are not explosive on their own, but, when mixed, they will produce an explosion after being hit with a center fire rifle cartridge. Lower velocity rimfires, shotguns and pistols are not supposed to be able to produce the force necessary to cause the mix to explode.
   

ExplodingTannerite.com is a Houston Company

  Exploding Tannerite.com, The Houston distributer for Tannerite, is helping to sponsor the upcoming Zombie Run and Gun. They will be putting on a demo for the runners, after the run, while the runners times are being scored. Exxploding Tannerite.com will also have a table set up at the event during the run and they will have Tannerite on location available for sale to folks. I appreciate Daniel Obryan and his team coming out to do the demo and helping to sponsor the event. He has mentioned massive explosions and exploding green Zombie blood.

Boom!

We are also working out an event with Exploding Tannerite.com where they will come out to the BattleRoadUSA range for a weekend of Tannerite blasting fun. They will be running demos and training for Tannerite and we will have several ranges available for folks to put up Tannerite targets and blast away while Daniel and his crew will have a trailer with all the Tannerite you could want right here on the property and available for purchase. We will be glad to have you blast anything up to 50 pounds of Tannerite on the "Tannerite Massive Blast Weekend". I say up to 50 pounds because I believe cooking up anything over 50 pounds gets the Feds involved. Keep a watch on the BattleRoadUSA.com website for the event.

-Scout

Zombie Run and Gun T-Shirts are here and They are SHARP!

ZOMBIES MUST DIE...AGAIN!

We have the shirts for the run in and they really turned out nice. I want to thank Kirk Wheeler for the design work on the shirts and on our logos and our staff shirts. He does a great job and we are grateful to him. The Run and Gunners will receive a T-Shirt with their ticket cost as well as a BBQ dinner after the run. We might have a few extra shirts for sale $20 a piece, and if you want one just email us the size and mail us the cash and we will send you one.

BattleRoadUSA has several shirt designs we are selling and they are all great designs. I will start posting them here as I get the artwork from the artist. Thanks Kirk and thanks to H&H T Shirts in Belton Texas. They have always done an excellent job for us and we are very happy with their work on our shirts hats and staff polos.

What About Some Zombie Weather in Two Weeks?

Hunting Zombies in extreme weather can be rough and the weather in Texas in February can be extreme. It can range from a record 30 degrees below zero, as recorded in Tulia in 1899, to a balmy 88 degrees in Amarillo in 1957(must have been global warming). So we can expect a wide range of possible Texas weather for the run. Thus helping to validate the old saying that "Only fools and Yankees try to predict Texas weather". So how will we know what kind of weather to expect for February in Texas? The Texas Almanac says the temps should be around 45-50 degrees with possible showers. That is about the best I can give you at this time, but you already knew that didn't you? That it might be cold in February in Texas?

From my front porch in February of 2009

 So how to prepare? I would make sure all my gear was weather ready. I use several types of treatment on my leather boots. I have mink oil that I keep the leather preserved with and if I think I might get some extra water, I will use a heavy coating of bees wax on the shoes or boots. Paying close attention to the seams by rubbing in the wax with a toothbrush and making sure the wax is completely covering all seams and folds in the leather, outside and also inside the tongue area.Then I take a hair dryer and warm the wax until it melts and soaks into the leather. This will keep the boots waterproof for a week or so and will also help keep the leather supple.

I make sure when I dress for cool weather, that I do so in loose layers. You have heard this all your life right? That way I can capitalize on the ability to trap insulating layers of air between the layers of clothes and also so that when the weather, or my body starts heating up, I can either shed the amount of outer layers I need to stay at a good temperature, or if I am wearing zipper or button up garments, I can open the garments to outside air.Having the outside layer be some type of a waterproof shell is a good idea too.

Having head and neck gear in cool weather is a must. You lose the majority of heat through your head and neck area. Wearing a hat or cap does a good bit of heat retention. They can also prevent those "Head Freeze" headaches you can get when doing physical exercise in cold air. Something that can be pulled down over your ears is a also a good idea. Some folks forgo traditional headgear for a type of headband when working or performing physical exercise out of doors. This keeps the ears and forehead warm while allowing the head to leech out the extra heat being produced by the body. Even if I used one of these, I would still make sure I had some type of watch cap, or other head gear in my pack for when I was cooling down or done with the physical exercise.

Proforce Shemagh Scarf Olive and Black 61030

Wearing a scarf is a great idea. I wear one to seal off the area at my neck where my clothes all come together. This keeps the warm air inside my clothes from bleeding out from my neck area. I have several I use, some wool and some cotton. Right now I wear an old raggedy Shemagh someone gave me a few years ago. It was old when I got it and I have dropped it in a bucket of green die since then to make it look less like a "homeless" accessory. I really like these because they are just the right size and design to do the stuff I need. They are made of soft cotton and when tied around the neck, help to keep the heat in my neck area from dissipating or bleeding out. If I run into any wind blown dust or sand, which is pretty common in winter as summer, or if I want to put some cloth between the cold air and my lungs, I can pull up a small bit of the cloth to cover my mouth and nose. Wearing clothing designed by people who have lived their lives in hot and cold weather extremes is not a bad idea.

I carry gloves with me every single day I am out of the house. I use them to work barbed wire, pick up mesquite branches and to feed hay that has grass burrs in it. I learned a long time ago it is easy to injure a hand or finger and it takes a good time for it to heal and become less painful. So, I try to make sure I wear gloves and when I do injure a hand or finger, I try to immediately clean any cuts or punctures and put some antibiotic ointment on it (to seal out anything from getting in). Wearing gloves to keep hands warm in cold weather is also a great idea. Your hands will usually be in contact with a firearm during an event like this and having your hands touching cold metal is not a good way to retain heat. There are a lot of options for gloves out there. Take the time to try some out and find out what works for you during events like this, where the Apocalypse ends after a few hours, and you do not find out something does not work when the End of the World is here to stay.        

GunBroker.com Has Agreed to Help Sponsor The Zombie Run

Let the bidding begin!

I want to thank the folks at GunBroker.com for agreeing to help sponsor the BattleRoadUSA.com "End of The World as We Know It-Zombie Destruction Run". They are going to send some gear for the runners and I really appreciate them helping out.

You guys are all familiar with GunBroker.com. It is the absolute best place to buy or sell a firearm or firearm related item. There is just no other substitute for the number of folks GunBroker reaches or the amount of firearms and gear that they have available.

Sure, there are other firearm auction sites and some of them are good and some are not so good, but the Cadillac of gun auctions is GunBroker with more than 230,000 auction listings for firearms, parts and accessories each month and over two million unique visitors each month. I have bought and sold about 140 items on the GunBroker site and it is the easiest place I have found to sell items and to carry out transactions.

I just sold another rifle there and it sold very quickly for a really good price. They get a large amount of traffic on their site and can reach millions of possible buyers every month, and, they have been at this long enough to have a rock solid record of above board handling of their clients.

I am not kissing butt because they are helping to sponsor the Zombie Run and Gun, I have been a satisfied customer of GunBroker for over ten years. The fact that GunBroker has agreed to help out with the Zombie Run and Gun is just icing on the cake. Thanks GunBroker!!

-Scout

Turning Mogadishu into a Safe Quiet Suburb

Somalian Suburbanites

I recently came across a YouTube video that showed a CNN or some other similar news agency correspondent, showing how easy it was to buy guns in a Mogadishu gun market. He was trying to make a point about having easy access to guns. During the video he talks about how the NRA has it wrong, that guns cause fear and instability. That if you took all the guns away from the Somalians, all violence would cease and they would return to being productive citizens. 

I watched the video, and I knew, with all of my heart, that if we could just get those firearms out of the hands of those nomadic, warring tribesmen, who are now cooped up in cities without any kind of jobs or economy, we could get them started on their journey towards pacification.

An easy fix.

I put out of my mind the fact that in this population of almost 100% armed male adults, there was already an amazingly low number of actual gun crimes. There were hundreds of deaths dues to the ongoing war and tribal feuds, but not a lot of robberies, murders or accidental shootings. Folks just do not make it a habit of trying to rob other folks who they are absolutely guaranteed are armed

That being said, and just as quickly ignored, I am sure that just somehow confiscating the hundreds of thousands of rifles, we can pacify and calm the population and get them involved in the real day to day function of world government and taxes.

They can trade in their rifles for landscaping equipment and garage door openers, chain link fences, automatic coffee makers and cable TV, etc. And become productive, relaxed suburbanites.

However, just as my itchy fingers were about to close around the barrels of those hundreds of thousands of evil firearms, I recalled similar events which had occurred just a few years ago and on this same continent.

It seems that the inhabitants of Rwanda had decided to become embroiled in a genocidal civil war in which over 500,000 Rwandans had been killed.And the most revealing thing about this was that the Rwandans had almost no firearms, but these enterprising Africans did not let this stop them.

It seems that almost every Rwandan had a machete, an axe, a hoe and were more than willing to use those machetes and axes and hoes to chop up and kill their fellow tribesman. And in the cases where no machete or axes or hoes were readily available, they used shovels, pickaxes, tire irons, kitchen knives, screwdrivers, chainsaws, burning tires, rocks etc.

And when none of these implements were available they were only too ready to use their bare hands to strangle or beat the victims to death.

Let me say that this easily dispels the myth of “lazy Africans” perpetuated by Belgian colonial forces. To kill 500,000 of your fellow countrymen in such a short time period, without using firearms, you need to work very hard every day. You have to keep on a schedule and treat this as a real job.

This certainly puts a new light on things. Now I have a slight worry that simply confiscating firearms might not solve the problem, but I am sure I can easily just be persuaded to be in denial of that and continue on with this plan.

PS- The person narrating the YouTube video is supposed to be an ex Navy SEAL.

No problem there except when they come to one of the AK-stands in the Bakaara arms market, one of the zany characters who has been following them around picks up an empty RPG launcher and points it at the SEAL who then quickly ducks out of the line of sight of the barrel (which you can see daylight through, thereby kind of insuring it is indeed an empty RPG), saying "hey, watch it, careful!", and when the goober pointing the RPG sees this he get tickled, starts giggling like a school girl and points it at the cameraman who also tries to hide and cower from the empty launcher. Ducking and shrinking in fear.

This produces even more attempts by the goober at scaring the crew, pointing the empty launcher tube, watching them duck and scamper, and continuing to giggle like a drunken monkey, (no racial slur intended). Soon, even the crowd begins to laugh and point at the silly scared Americans.

You see, even the backwards, uneducated Somalians know when an RPG launcher is empty and presents no threat to anyone. Even the women and children know this, everyone knows this, except the scared Americans.

So it is with no surprise that soon the crowd begins to think they should perhaps capture and beat these silly Americans, maybe even kill them, why should they be worried about killing some silly scared Americans? They had done it before, and even dragged them through the streets naked afterward. Why should they have any respect for anyone who ducks and shows fear when someone points an empty launcher at them? That would be no different than someone getting scared at a plain wooden stick being pointed at them, and even I would have to lose some respect for someone who ducked down and cowered when I pointed a stick at them.

I think I might have played it a bit differently, especially if I had been a Navy SEAL like the guy narrating the video was supposed to be,(I was only a lowly Army Scout/LRRPRanger) I think I would have picked up an AK from the stand and with a kind of crazy grin on my face, racked the bolt, chambered a live round and pointed it at his head and waited to see if he would duck.

When he did, I would have laughed and pointed to him and then the crowd would have started laughing at him too. Then, I would have swept the crowd with the AK that had the bolt racked, safety off, a live round in he chamber and seen if they would duck too. When they did, I would have laughed and pointed at them."Ha-Ha-HA-Ho-Ho-Ho! you funny African people!, you make me laugh, hahaha!.."

The point I am trying to make, when in Africa, a continent filled with predators, here's a tip, try not to look like prey. The same goes for anywhere on the planet. Whether it is in Africa or in Chicago, or Houston or New Orleans. There are hunting preserves in every city in the world and if you happen to find yourself in one, while you do not necessarily have to look like a predator, do your best not to look like prey. -Scout

You can be guaranteed that these guys will hand in their weapons if asked by the government

Revised Round Count

The King of the United States of America has stated he intends to implement new gun control measures upon the subjects of this great nation. This has led to an outrageous increase in ammunition prices.

We at Battle Road USA don't want people going through a large amount of their ammunition for this run. We will now have two divisions for the run. There will be a "Target Division" and a "Combat Ready Division".

The Target Division will have a low round count. The participant will only have to hit each target one time in order to move to the next target. This will keep the round count at no more than 30 rounds of Rifle ammunition and no more than 50 rounds of handgun ammunition . The distance of the course will remain approximately 3 miles long and the obstacles will stay the same.

For those who may have some extra ammo laying around and want a little more of the Bug Out experience, we have created the Combat Ready Division. This division will operate by the original course of fire and with the original high ammunition count .

Let's not allow the anti-gunners to keep us home and off the range, that's exactly what they want. Please help spread the word about the Zombie Run and together we can pack the house with good like minded people. This would be a great time to network, talk about guns, and discuss this King of ours.