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I have used this quote in my signature block for years. The context of the statement is interesting because he made it in reference to the importance of physical fitness and high morale, both things that I also prioritize, but I’ve always thought it spoke to something a little deeper.

Today’s episode is about the tactics of AR-15 marketing in particular, but what I’m saying applies just as much to all firearms and tactical marketing in general. The simple truth, albeit a harsh one, is that you are best served by ignoring the ads and influencers out there.

Getting lost in the noise will only serve to harm your efforts to become a better marksman and follow the marksman’s path.

Put simply, gun companies aren’t interested in helping you become a better shooter. There’s no money to be made in telling you to keep shooting what you already own configured as it is. So rather than encouraging you to get out there and practice, they want to sell you another solution to make things “easier.”

It’s a lot like the medical industry in that way. There’s not a lot of money to be made with healthy people, so all of the emphasis goes towards developing ongoing treatments that keep sick people under the care of physicians and buying drugs. In a lot of circumstances, the same result could be had just as permanently by switching to a healthier lifestyle.

But I digress.

The hard part about this is that people have truly come to believe that “success” is always right around the corner if they could only afford the next widget.

It doesn’t matter if it’s a custom action, a special barrel, optic, trigger, or something else. They just know that it’s the ticket to reaching a new level of ability and they will finally be happy. So here’s my advice, and it’s the same advice given to me by many experts: stop.

Stay out of the caliber wars. Buy something that’s good enough to be reliable and shoot it so much that it becomes second nature. Buying a gun capable of 1/4 MOA does you absolutely no good if you are an 8 MOA shooter. All the accuracy in the world doesn’t amount to a hill of beans if you can’t make a wind call to save your life.

Take the time to truly master your basic weapon. Ignore the influencers, gatekeepers, and the ads trying to tell you that you just aren’t going to be happy or competitive otherwise.