Great Deal From Daniel Defense for Police Officers!

Financing your new rifle: A great program for cops
Under a new program Daniel Defense just launched for law enforcement, police officers (and agencies) can obtain a top-quality patrol rifle with no-interest financing for a year

While attending the National Tactical Officers’ Association annual meeting in Richmond (Va.) earlier this month, I spent some time with the Brent Slaughter from Daniel Defense talking about their latest news. While I had expected to be impressed with the rifles they had on display, I was ill-prepared for just how interesting the “paperwork” side of their news would be. Suffice it to say, with a new program the company just launched for law enforcement, police officers (and agencies) can obtain a top-quality patrol rifle with no-interest financing for a year.

Before we get into the stuff on financing (yeah, I know, “But Doug, I LOVE talking about financing!”), let’s just take a few moments to appreciate these systems. Under their recently announced financing offer, you can choose from four different packages (including the sling, optics, extra magazines, and other accessories you’d need) exactly the system that best suits your particular need. In essence, you can take the system right out of the box and be patrol-ready (assuming you’ve already done the necessary training to properly handle the weapon in a tactical environment).

While we’re on the subject of training, it should be noted that the company offers a variety of training programs that can get officers up to speed on the system (they even have a comprehensive armorer’s course). While at NTOA I spoke with Al Dustan of Close Quarters Tactical, who presently putting the finishing touches on a training course that goes with the purchase of every law enforcement package noted below. Dustan’s trainers will go to you, or you can fly to their state-of-the-art facility in Shelby Township (Mich.).

Lots of companies bury their rifles, submerge them in water, drop them from significant heights, and whatnot. Daniel Defense steps it up a few notches. (PoliceOne Image)
The Rifles
The program begins with the Daniel Defense Basic Patrol Rifle Package, which consists of the Daniel Defense M4 V1 basic model rifle, six Magpul magazines, a red-dot optic, and a patrol bag. The Lightweight Package consists of the M4 V5 LW model rifle (which weighs just six pounds and eight ounces, fully loaded) with 12-inch continuous picatinny rails, Magpul pop-up sights, the six Magpul magazines, the red-dot optic, and the patrol bag.

The Special Services Package consists of the M4 V4 rifle with an 11.5-inch barrel, which effectively covers a nice wide selection of rounds — you can train on less expensive ammo and have “the good stuff” in your magazines on patrol.

Finally, there’s the Designated Marksman’s Package, which is a long-range weapon in 5.56. This setup includes the Bushnell 2.5-16 optic on the top rail with a DRS 25 red-dot optic mounted off to the side, making it a multi-purpose platform so you can move through the close-quarters environment to a standoff position and take a precision shot should that need arise. This was the system which had me most interested, mostly because it’s pretty different from what I’ve got in my safe at home.

I don’t (yet!) own a Daniel Defense rifle, but I have a friend who owns one of their systems and loves it, and I’ve come to appreciate how solid they are. I mean solid. Nothing shakes, jiggles, moves, or vibrates, even under the harshest conditions and most dynamic action. The company does incredibly rigorous testing on their rifles. Lots of companies bury their rifles, submerge them in water, drop them from significant heights, and whatnot. Daniel Defense steps it up a few notches. I don’t remember ever seeing a “drop test” like this one, and I know for certain I’ve never seen a test that uses a commercially-available product called “Southern Thunder.”

Check out this video, then scroll down for information on how you can get one of these systems.

The Financing
When I spoke with Brent Slaughter during our time together at NTOA (and via phone a week or so thereafter), I learned that the testing you’ve just watched is done on all their systems. Very impressive indeed. What’s even more impressive is what Brent told me about the company’s new financing program for law enforcement.

Slaughter travels overseas a lot — he’s a business development manager whose “turf” includes police organizations in a variety of foreign countries. He returned home one day from a trip to an Asia-Pacific country and knocked on the boss’s door, saying, roughly, “Why don’t we have special programs for individual American law enforcement officers like we do for some governments in other countries?”

The boss said, roughly, “Good idea. Make it happen.”

So he did.

“What we’ve done for those departments that want to partner with us,” Slaughter told me, “we’re going to offer financing, training, and other support to an individual officer or an agency to purchase Daniel Defense rifles specifically for patrol use, and we will finance that officer or that agency for up to a year, interest free. It requires a small down payment to initiate the order, and have the rifle shipped out.”

When you go to the Daniel Defense website, you’ll notice that most of their rifles are “sold out,” but the fact is that the company has a stock always set aside for law enforcement so when your order is placed, the system is shipped.

“For law enforcement, we know they need their weapons now, so we have an inventory for them. If a police officer orders a package today, it will be shipped out tomorrow, and he’ll have it for use the next day. All we ask is that the department guarantee the loan through a payroll deduction. The department takes out whatever that payment is — whether they’re paying guys every month or every two weeks or whatever it is — the department then sends us payment for the collected number of packages we have going to that municipality or agency. What that does it is minimizes some of the complications in the accounting. Instead of us getting 13 different checks from 13 different guys on 13 different days, we have one payment for everyone in that agency who has a Daniel Defense package.”

The payroll deduction can — if the agency chooses — be made pre-tax, and of course, since the purchase is for duty use, is tax-deductable.

The Bottom Line
So, how much will one of these systems set you back?

“We’ve standardized the pricing so it’s the same for every single agency no matter what size, no matter how many officers get these rifles,” Slaughter explained. “Each of these packages, with the down payment program, each solution comes out to about $80 per pay period if you get paid every two weeks.”

In order to be considered for the LE discount, you need to first register an account on DanielDefense.com. Once you’ve been verified, you’ll be notified by email that you’re free to order through the website at the discounted price.

I don’t usually write about firearms here on PoliceOne. My friends Dick Fairburn, Ron Avery, Andrew Butts, Lindsey Bertomen, Bill Campbell, Lance Eldridge, Tom Marx, Jeff Hall, Tim Dees, Glenn French, Ken Hardesty, Dan Danaher, Mike Boyle, and Dennis Haworth are far more knowledgeable than me and are almost certainly also better marksmen than me. But the fact is that the Daniel Defense packages of top-notch weapons systems, coupled with top-notch training and support, coupled with a top-notch financing opportunity was too compelling to ignore. Check it out for yourself at DanielDefense.com, or email me and I’ll forward your contact information over to Brent Slaughter at Daniel Defense.

Trijicon ACOG TA-33-8

Trijicon ACOG for the .223

   For some time I’ve wanted a high quality optic for my AR15 carbine. After my recent purchase of the CMMG carbine it was time to pick one. Of course there are a good number of optics out there for the AR platform such as the Aimpoint, Trijicon and Elcan . I’ve used Aimpoints and Trijicons before and they each have strong points. After going over all the attributes of each and how I use my AR I decided on the ACOG TA-33 in 3X with a red chevron reticle that is calibrated for the .223 out to 600 meters as seen below. I contacted the good folks at Mounts Plus and purchased this ACOG as well as a fiber optic front sight to replace the stock front BUIS standard sight. Mounts Plus makes this fiber optic and the package includes a front sight tool, a wrench to help adjust the sight once installed it co-witnesses with the ACOG and the front sight jumps out at you and is very easy to see. The package also includes several colors of fiber optic rods so you can change them out or replace worn out inserts. The replacement front sight included in the package is well made and has positive clicks when adjusted. A red tube is installed when you recieve it.
  Bindon Aiming Concept Explaination:

   Human vision is based upon a binocular (two eyes) presentation of visual evidence to the brain. The word binocular literally means using both eyes at the same time. We most often associate this word with binocular instruments such as field glasses or a binocular microscope. These instruments specifically strive to present the object to be viewed the same way to both eyes.
   Vision research material was examined for its assistance to understand the optically aided weapon aiming process. Three major types of optical enhancement were compared. There are strong customer preferences in reticle designs, some simple reticles enhance the speed of target acquisition, others allow for greater precision in a given time limit.
    The simple substitution of a bright red dot for the usual cross-hairs makes it very easy to keep both eyes open. Just as in the Single point or Armson O.E.G. sighting, the brain merges the two images. During dynamic movement, the scene through the telescope blurs because the image moves more rapidly due to magnification. The one eye sees the bright dot against the blurred target scene, so the brain picks the scene from the unaided eye. The shooter swings the weapon towards the target while perceiving the dot indicating where the weapon is pointed. As soon as the weapon begins to become steady in the target area, the brain switches to the magnified view.
  A long search was made to try to combine the speed and non-battery features of the Singlepoint or Armson with the precision of the telescopic system. This discovery was made several years ago. Trijicon has sponsored research in the field of human vision to better understand this generic phenomenon. Although the study concentrated on the Armson O.E.G., some aspects are applicable also to the Bindon Aiming Concept.
A short video on this concept: Link

   With the extended eye relief this optic works at CQB ranges as well as very useful for medium range targets. Sighting in is done at 25 meters or a little over 28 yards. After this is done your good out to the max range. Of course you need to check the calibration at 100 yards. Minor adjustments are made and that pretty much sets the scope out to 600 meters with no need for any further adjustments. The aiming point is at the top point of the chevron. The ACOG comes with a Pelican hard case to protect the sight when not installed on your rifle. Also included is a cleaning Lenspen which one end has a brush with the other end a soft round buffing piece. This model ACOG uses no batteries which is a big plus. During daylight use the fiber optic rod on top of the sight gathers light for a nice clear sight picture. In total darkness the Tritium ampule kicks in and maintains a bright red chevron. The sight is very precise with super clear glass with no distortions at the edge of the field of view which is often seen in less well made optics.
   I’ve used it up close as well as out to 200 yards and found it performs very well. I am very pleased with this setup and plan on using this optic for many years to come. No doubt it will stand up to hard use. It’s also waterproof to 66 feet. It’s also the newest model Trijicon makes and was designed for Law Enforcement and Military use.

Mounted and ready to go:-)

   The people at Mounts Plus were very helpful in my decision and even added a few goodies with the package. I’d sure recomend them to anyone looking for an optic as well as mounts and other tactical accessories. Please contact me if you have any questions about this superb sight system.

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The perils of carrying your primary weapon in an ankle holster!

“The Ultimate Sacrifice”

I just finished reading Jim Wilsons article in
Shooting Times about carry rigs. This one hit my hot button! Sheriff
Wilson agreed in his article that the ankle holster for your primary
gun is not a good idea. Not only do I agree it’s not a good idea it can
get you killed!
Back in 1980 at approx. 12:14 AM my very good friend
( he was also in my rookie school class years before) and now Detective at the time of the shooting
Noel Don McGuire of the Little Rock Police Department was parked on a
closed gas station parking lot in an unmarked car. A pickup pulled onto
the lot a short distance away. The passenger approached Don and asked
for directions not knowing he was an on duty officer. Don was I’m sure
curious since the truck had out of state license plates from several
states away. The occupants were both pretty young at 15 and 16 years
old.
Don identified himself and told them to wait and asked for ID.
Don was very trusting which I for one was always worried about. Don ran
the ID’s and both came back as runaways from Ohio and the truck they
were driving was stolen. What Don didn’t know was the 16 year old told
the 15 year old that if the cop made a move to arrest them they should
take him. Both boys were armed with stolen handguns. Both were 22’s if
I remember correctly.
Don approached the boys and told them they
were under arrest. The suspects ran a few steps back to the truck and
grabbed the guns. Don, in the meanwhile, is reaching for his S&W
model 36 in his ankle holster. The two suspects were able to get their
guns and start firing on Don before he could even begin to get his gun
out of that damned ankle holster. Don was able to get out a radio call
before passing out.
When we all arrived the suspects were gone and
Don was lying across the front seat of his car with the radio mike in
hand. He was gone——– at 24 years old. I had lost the first of five
friends killed in the line of duty at Little Rock PD. It was never
determined if he got his gun out of it’s holster since no shots had
been fired by him.
The suspects were caught a short time later
attempting to rob a convenience store at the edge of town. As far as I
know they are still in prison. The ankle holster may have been used
after that by other detectives but certainly not for the primary weapon. If you use an ankle
holster you might as well leave your gun at home.
If you would like to see Dons information here is the link to the Police
Memorial
http://www.nleomf.org/TheMemorial/osearch.cgi