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Tacticool And You
Tacticool And You
A guide by chitoryu12
A guide by chitoryu12
What is Tacticool?
"Tacticool" is a term of many uses. One definition on Urban Dictionary is:
Someone who thinks that dressing up in military surplus gear (especially Russian or Army camo), along with unnecessary straps and pouches, and adding gratuitous amounts of accessories (rail systems, adjustable stocks, laser targeting systems, aim point, optic scopes, grenade launchers, fore grips, duct tape, etc.) to their airsoft or paintball gun, with the mentality, that they are a complete and total badass and in the military.
Tacticool comes up a lot, especially with the popularity of the Modern Warfare and Rainbow Six games. Unfortunately, far too many people fall into the trap of tacticool gear, tactics, and weapons. You might not even know it, but even YOU might fall prey to unnecessary and flashy gear and tactics! While merely annoying at the range or online, tacticool can easily get you killed if a sudden apocalyptic disaster hit, such as Z-Day.
This article will demonstrate a number of tacticool pieces of gear, accessories, and tactics in the hopes of educating you on what to avoid when making an arsenal and preparing for a disaster.
Accessories
Camo
A number of people are probably already balking at the suggestion that camo might be considered tacticool; after all, good camouflage can keep you from being spotted by dangerous humans, and perhaps even zombies (depending on their senses). Why would the great master and commander chitoryu12 be telling us not to wear camo?! Why, God, WHY?!?!?
But ask yourself: where am I going to be? Will woodland camo really help when running around the urban sprawl of modern America? Will desert fatigues make you stick out like a sore cliche in the Wal-Mart parking lot? Camo uniforms are designed for specific environments, and mixing and matching will just cause problems. Moreover, there's always the risk of being mistaken for a soldier; while this could be an advantage, being seen as a possible source of rescue by a desperate party of survivors might not be your cuppa joe.
One thing to note with camo is the wearing of BDUs (Battle Dress Uniform), which are actual military combat uniforms. They're thick and can take a hell of a beating, making them a bit more useful than just wearing the cheap camo you'd find at airsoft matches. They're also going to be a lot more expensive.
Rails
What's the best way to tell you've got a tacticool weapon? Loads of unused rails.
Picatinny rails and similar designs are excellent devices for quickly attaching and detaching a variety of accessories with only one mount. You can swap out your ACOG scope for a red dot sight with ease. But rails should be used, and used properly. Why get a rail on every part of your AR-15 handgrip if you're not attaching anything except a laser or foregrip? Worse, why spend money on rails when you don't have accessories for them? Attaching rails to make your rifle look "tactical" is a pointless waste of valuable cash.
Also, be aware of what you put rails on and what you put on them. If you've only got birdshot for your shotgun, why bother attaching an optical sight with a 2x zoom? Why are you putting a telescopic sight on your pistol when you don't know how to use it?
Hair Triggers
One of the few tacticool accessories that can actually be dangerous. A hair trigger is a trigger that has been modified to an extremely light pull, such as 1 or 2 pounds, sometimes even half a pound. Hair triggers are popular with competition shooters for allowing for very accurate shots without the motion of squeezing the trigger pulling the gun off target. This also makes them excellent for snipers, who need to hit targets at long ranges when less than an inch of movement off-center can result in a miss.
However, hair triggers are designed for these specific purposes. For normal range shooting and combat, hair triggers can be a liability. They can cause a shot to be fired off unintentionally or before you're prepared to fully squeeze the trigger. This can range from inconvenient -- accidentally shooting over the target's shoulder -- to deadly -- accidentally hitting the trigger while moving the gun and shooting a civilian or ally near the target.
Tactics
One-handed shooting
Another thing meant only for a very specific situation. You can, in fact, shoot a handgun with some accuracy with one hand at short range, generally around 15 yards for a good group. However, handguns are not best to shoot with one hand. If one hand has been injured or is unusable (such as helping an injured person to stand or carrying other equipment), feel free to one-hand your 1911. But doing it to show off is not only tacky, it often results in missed shots. If you want consistent accuracy, keep two hands on your gun.
Also in this category is sideways shooting, or "gangsta style". Not only looks terribly dumb and cheesy, it's almost impossible to hit anything like that. Showing off by shooting with poor form will get you in a boatload of trouble.
Dual-wielding
Also called akimbo, wielding two pistols is NEVER okay except when they're all you have for emergency suppressive fire. An ambidextrous pistol shooter like myself can use it to double the ammo count for short-range shooting, but most people aren't ambidextrous. Shooting with your weak hand in general will result in misses more often than hits, but trying to track multiple targets with multiple guns is an almost impossible venture in multitasking. If your target isn't across the living room (and sometimes not even that far), you're going to have a lot of trouble hitting them consistently. There's going to be a lot more collateral damage involved.
A common tactic with akimbo pistols is running toward the target or strafing -- running to the side while shooting at the target. Commonly seen in movies, shooting while moving makes it much more difficult to hit; strafing moreso because the target is now moving to the side. Running toward the target keeps them in one consistent location, but also leaves you about as exposed to gunfire as humanly possible.
One way of using multiple handguns is the New York Reload: keep multiple weapons on hand and drop one gun to pull another, rather than taking the time to load a new magazine. A similar technique can be done with dual-wielding: use one pistol up, then start using the one in your other hand.
Weapons
Video game guns
Video games like Call of Duty have a lot of influence on the choice of weapons for the younger generation of gamers with little to no weapons experience. DO NOT TRUST THESE GAMES. They're meant to be fun, not correct. .50 caliber rifles will do the same stuff a .30-06 does in most of the situations you're going to be sniping, so why pay for the heavy, expensive ammo and weapons?
You'll also probably be exposed to weapons that are flashy and seem like powerful additions, but good luck getting them. AA-12s aren't for civilian sale.
.50 caliber: The "Do everything" caliber
There's quite a few .50 caliber rounds, including .50 BMG (designed for the M2 heavy machine gun and commonly seen in anti-materiel rifles, like the famous M82), .50 AE (designed for the Desert Eagle), and .500 S&W (designed for the Smith & Wesson Model 500 revolver). Half-inch diameter rounds are big, powerful, and scary. They come in packages small enough to be loaded into handguns. What's not to like?
A lot.
Recoil, for one. While the recoil of the .50 caliber series is often wildly exaggerated, a vision not helped by the overwhelming amount of videos showing skinny girls sending the gun flying over their heads, most guns have various recoil countermeasures like muzzle breaks and the sheer weight of the gun to keep in manageable. It's still no pussycat, and the recoil is just as bad or worse than a .357 or .44 magnum round for no added benefit. Why give yourself something with a lot of recoil if it provides no benefit over a smaller round?
Speaking of smaller rounds, there's not many situations such a powerful bullet is even going to be needed. A .308 has much less recoil, many more platforms that can fire it, and is nowhere near as expensive as a .50 caliber round. Yes, the .50 BMG has much greater range and power. In practice, you're not going to be sniping targets a mile away or battling light armored vehicles. .50 BMG may be able to stop a car, but so will a .300 Win Mag.
Cost is also a major factor. .50 caliber rounds are often much more expensive than smaller, easier to find ones. Don't waste your cash on flashy bullets that won't help you any more.
Desert Eagle
The quintessential "mall ninja" gun. The Deagle is a big semi-automatic pistol with a gas operating system taken from assault rifles. You can find it in .357 magnum, .44 magnum, and .50 AE.
Reports on the usefulness and accuracy of the weapon are mixed. Some people find it an excellent target pistol, especially when given an extended barrel and scope. Others would rather bludgeon you with it. Either way, there's not much need for a Desert Eagle; revolvers fire the same rounds with much more reliability than a gas-operated handgun with only a small decrease in ammo. Not to mention that the Deagle is much harder to find and more expensive than a revolver in a comparable caliber.
Automatic shotguns
The popularity of full-auto shotguns first came with the unveiling of the AA-12, which was later included in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. It looks and feels like a superweapon, launching buckshot and slugs like a machine gun with little recoil, along with the famous Frag-12 explosive shell.
Discounting the inability of civilians to buy the AA-12, what's the advantage of an automatic shotgun? Semi-autos can fire just as fast, if not faster with a good trigger finger. What about the famous low recoil of the AA-12? Those semi-auto guns can have just as nice recoil. The biggest advantage to the AA-12 is the ammo, with big 20 round drums. 20 rounds of buckshot in a big metal drum are heavy and bulky, and you can't just toss them loose in your pocket like you could with your Remington 1100.
Ballistic knives
Another media-influenced weapon, appearing in Call of Duty: Black Ops and an episode of Deadliest Warrior (a show not well known for fact-checking). What advantage does a ballistic knife even PROVIDE? Sure, you just shot your blade at an enemy. Now you're holding a handle and you're missing a melee weapon.
Katanas
We can blame Kill Bill for the katana obsession, especially with "Hattori Hanzo" swords. For the record, Hattori Hanzo is a legendary Japanese samurai, with the Kill Bill character a fictional descendant. You'll be hard pressed to get a blade from him.
Katanas are excellent slicing swords. But they're not superpowered cutting implements; a machete will get you as far as a katana, and you'll probably find more combat-ready machetes than katanas. If you've got a katana, test it yourself to see if it'll do something more than shatter and bend after a few killing strikes. Even if it's ready for actual combat with another opponent (stage combat and mock battles don't count), are you even strong enough to use it? Assuming decapitation is necessary, it takes a lot of strength and a proper swing to do something more than get stuck or bounce off the target.
"Tacticool" is a term of many uses. One definition on Urban Dictionary is:
Someone who thinks that dressing up in military surplus gear (especially Russian or Army camo), along with unnecessary straps and pouches, and adding gratuitous amounts of accessories (rail systems, adjustable stocks, laser targeting systems, aim point, optic scopes, grenade launchers, fore grips, duct tape, etc.) to their airsoft or paintball gun, with the mentality, that they are a complete and total badass and in the military.
Tacticool comes up a lot, especially with the popularity of the Modern Warfare and Rainbow Six games. Unfortunately, far too many people fall into the trap of tacticool gear, tactics, and weapons. You might not even know it, but even YOU might fall prey to unnecessary and flashy gear and tactics! While merely annoying at the range or online, tacticool can easily get you killed if a sudden apocalyptic disaster hit, such as Z-Day.
This article will demonstrate a number of tacticool pieces of gear, accessories, and tactics in the hopes of educating you on what to avoid when making an arsenal and preparing for a disaster.
Accessories
Camo
A number of people are probably already balking at the suggestion that camo might be considered tacticool; after all, good camouflage can keep you from being spotted by dangerous humans, and perhaps even zombies (depending on their senses). Why would the great master and commander chitoryu12 be telling us not to wear camo?! Why, God, WHY?!?!?
But ask yourself: where am I going to be? Will woodland camo really help when running around the urban sprawl of modern America? Will desert fatigues make you stick out like a sore cliche in the Wal-Mart parking lot? Camo uniforms are designed for specific environments, and mixing and matching will just cause problems. Moreover, there's always the risk of being mistaken for a soldier; while this could be an advantage, being seen as a possible source of rescue by a desperate party of survivors might not be your cuppa joe.
One thing to note with camo is the wearing of BDUs (Battle Dress Uniform), which are actual military combat uniforms. They're thick and can take a hell of a beating, making them a bit more useful than just wearing the cheap camo you'd find at airsoft matches. They're also going to be a lot more expensive.
Rails
What's the best way to tell you've got a tacticool weapon? Loads of unused rails.
Picatinny rails and similar designs are excellent devices for quickly attaching and detaching a variety of accessories with only one mount. You can swap out your ACOG scope for a red dot sight with ease. But rails should be used, and used properly. Why get a rail on every part of your AR-15 handgrip if you're not attaching anything except a laser or foregrip? Worse, why spend money on rails when you don't have accessories for them? Attaching rails to make your rifle look "tactical" is a pointless waste of valuable cash.
Also, be aware of what you put rails on and what you put on them. If you've only got birdshot for your shotgun, why bother attaching an optical sight with a 2x zoom? Why are you putting a telescopic sight on your pistol when you don't know how to use it?
Hair Triggers
One of the few tacticool accessories that can actually be dangerous. A hair trigger is a trigger that has been modified to an extremely light pull, such as 1 or 2 pounds, sometimes even half a pound. Hair triggers are popular with competition shooters for allowing for very accurate shots without the motion of squeezing the trigger pulling the gun off target. This also makes them excellent for snipers, who need to hit targets at long ranges when less than an inch of movement off-center can result in a miss.
However, hair triggers are designed for these specific purposes. For normal range shooting and combat, hair triggers can be a liability. They can cause a shot to be fired off unintentionally or before you're prepared to fully squeeze the trigger. This can range from inconvenient -- accidentally shooting over the target's shoulder -- to deadly -- accidentally hitting the trigger while moving the gun and shooting a civilian or ally near the target.
Tactics
One-handed shooting
Another thing meant only for a very specific situation. You can, in fact, shoot a handgun with some accuracy with one hand at short range, generally around 15 yards for a good group. However, handguns are not best to shoot with one hand. If one hand has been injured or is unusable (such as helping an injured person to stand or carrying other equipment), feel free to one-hand your 1911. But doing it to show off is not only tacky, it often results in missed shots. If you want consistent accuracy, keep two hands on your gun.
Also in this category is sideways shooting, or "gangsta style". Not only looks terribly dumb and cheesy, it's almost impossible to hit anything like that. Showing off by shooting with poor form will get you in a boatload of trouble.
Dual-wielding
Also called akimbo, wielding two pistols is NEVER okay except when they're all you have for emergency suppressive fire. An ambidextrous pistol shooter like myself can use it to double the ammo count for short-range shooting, but most people aren't ambidextrous. Shooting with your weak hand in general will result in misses more often than hits, but trying to track multiple targets with multiple guns is an almost impossible venture in multitasking. If your target isn't across the living room (and sometimes not even that far), you're going to have a lot of trouble hitting them consistently. There's going to be a lot more collateral damage involved.
A common tactic with akimbo pistols is running toward the target or strafing -- running to the side while shooting at the target. Commonly seen in movies, shooting while moving makes it much more difficult to hit; strafing moreso because the target is now moving to the side. Running toward the target keeps them in one consistent location, but also leaves you about as exposed to gunfire as humanly possible.
One way of using multiple handguns is the New York Reload: keep multiple weapons on hand and drop one gun to pull another, rather than taking the time to load a new magazine. A similar technique can be done with dual-wielding: use one pistol up, then start using the one in your other hand.
Weapons
Video game guns
Video games like Call of Duty have a lot of influence on the choice of weapons for the younger generation of gamers with little to no weapons experience. DO NOT TRUST THESE GAMES. They're meant to be fun, not correct. .50 caliber rifles will do the same stuff a .30-06 does in most of the situations you're going to be sniping, so why pay for the heavy, expensive ammo and weapons?
You'll also probably be exposed to weapons that are flashy and seem like powerful additions, but good luck getting them. AA-12s aren't for civilian sale.
.50 caliber: The "Do everything" caliber
There's quite a few .50 caliber rounds, including .50 BMG (designed for the M2 heavy machine gun and commonly seen in anti-materiel rifles, like the famous M82), .50 AE (designed for the Desert Eagle), and .500 S&W (designed for the Smith & Wesson Model 500 revolver). Half-inch diameter rounds are big, powerful, and scary. They come in packages small enough to be loaded into handguns. What's not to like?
A lot.
Recoil, for one. While the recoil of the .50 caliber series is often wildly exaggerated, a vision not helped by the overwhelming amount of videos showing skinny girls sending the gun flying over their heads, most guns have various recoil countermeasures like muzzle breaks and the sheer weight of the gun to keep in manageable. It's still no pussycat, and the recoil is just as bad or worse than a .357 or .44 magnum round for no added benefit. Why give yourself something with a lot of recoil if it provides no benefit over a smaller round?
Speaking of smaller rounds, there's not many situations such a powerful bullet is even going to be needed. A .308 has much less recoil, many more platforms that can fire it, and is nowhere near as expensive as a .50 caliber round. Yes, the .50 BMG has much greater range and power. In practice, you're not going to be sniping targets a mile away or battling light armored vehicles. .50 BMG may be able to stop a car, but so will a .300 Win Mag.
Cost is also a major factor. .50 caliber rounds are often much more expensive than smaller, easier to find ones. Don't waste your cash on flashy bullets that won't help you any more.
Desert Eagle
The quintessential "mall ninja" gun. The Deagle is a big semi-automatic pistol with a gas operating system taken from assault rifles. You can find it in .357 magnum, .44 magnum, and .50 AE.
Reports on the usefulness and accuracy of the weapon are mixed. Some people find it an excellent target pistol, especially when given an extended barrel and scope. Others would rather bludgeon you with it. Either way, there's not much need for a Desert Eagle; revolvers fire the same rounds with much more reliability than a gas-operated handgun with only a small decrease in ammo. Not to mention that the Deagle is much harder to find and more expensive than a revolver in a comparable caliber.
Automatic shotguns
The popularity of full-auto shotguns first came with the unveiling of the AA-12, which was later included in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. It looks and feels like a superweapon, launching buckshot and slugs like a machine gun with little recoil, along with the famous Frag-12 explosive shell.
Discounting the inability of civilians to buy the AA-12, what's the advantage of an automatic shotgun? Semi-autos can fire just as fast, if not faster with a good trigger finger. What about the famous low recoil of the AA-12? Those semi-auto guns can have just as nice recoil. The biggest advantage to the AA-12 is the ammo, with big 20 round drums. 20 rounds of buckshot in a big metal drum are heavy and bulky, and you can't just toss them loose in your pocket like you could with your Remington 1100.
Ballistic knives
Another media-influenced weapon, appearing in Call of Duty: Black Ops and an episode of Deadliest Warrior (a show not well known for fact-checking). What advantage does a ballistic knife even PROVIDE? Sure, you just shot your blade at an enemy. Now you're holding a handle and you're missing a melee weapon.
Katanas
We can blame Kill Bill for the katana obsession, especially with "Hattori Hanzo" swords. For the record, Hattori Hanzo is a legendary Japanese samurai, with the Kill Bill character a fictional descendant. You'll be hard pressed to get a blade from him.
Katanas are excellent slicing swords. But they're not superpowered cutting implements; a machete will get you as far as a katana, and you'll probably find more combat-ready machetes than katanas. If you've got a katana, test it yourself to see if it'll do something more than shatter and bend after a few killing strikes. Even if it's ready for actual combat with another opponent (stage combat and mock battles don't count), are you even strong enough to use it? Assuming decapitation is necessary, it takes a lot of strength and a proper swing to do something more than get stuck or bounce off the target.
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Latest page update: made by chitoryu12
, Jan 26 2011, 7:45 PM EST
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