Honor Guard Rifles

maverik · August 23, 2008, 04:41:26 PM

I am about to purchase a Drill America rifle for honor guard and I was wondering if cadets in competition are allowed to have an engraved bolt say 24 characters max. If so what should be engraved so that it is still a "legal" rifle for competition?

DC · August 23, 2008, 06:34:26 PM

There is no Honor Guard Competition...

If you are buying a rifle for Color Guard Competition (Honor Guard and Color Guard are very different.), then your CG must have two matching, non-functional rifles, demilitarized rifles, or replicas. It says nothing about engraving.

One could argue though that if one is engraved and the other is not they are not matching.

maverik · August 23, 2008, 08:44:11 PM

oh okay but, say I was engraving both what could I/ should I put on them?

smitjud · August 23, 2008, 08:51:34 PM

Squadron Name, Charter, Wing...something like that identifying who they belonged to would make the most sense.

maverik · August 24, 2008, 05:38:31 AM

oh okay anyone have anything to say about this rifle? BTW it's coming from paradestore.com so this being my first rifle I am purchasing I want to make sure it's a good one.

SJFedor · August 24, 2008, 07:28:04 AM

Yeah, it's expensive, it's heavy, and probably not a good beginner rifle. You'd be better off starting with the Mark 1, as that is what they (i believe) are using at HGA.

DC · August 24, 2008, 02:41:57 PM

Quote from: SJFedor on August 24, 2008, 07:28:04 AM
Yeah, it's expensive, it's heavy, and probably not a good beginner rifle. You'd be better off starting with the Mark 1, as that is what they (i believe) are using at HGA.

Yeah, they do use the Mark 1s.

The Drill America is big and heavy (like 8.5 pounds...), it looks good, I don't know about durability. We use them for my squadron's Color Guard, and some of our smaller cadets have had trouble with them because of their size and wieght. They look cool, but I don't see any reason why for a Color Guard you can go with the lighter, practically indestructable (I've seen one get run over by a truck and survive...) and much cheaper Mark 1s...

Al Sayre · August 24, 2008, 08:46:08 PM

Y'all may want to try this outfit, I think it's where Parade America gets them before they mark them up another $20.00

http://www.westernband.com/Pages/ROTC.htm#Mark1

DC · August 24, 2008, 09:13:36 PM

That is great, but not for Color Guard.... They require a minimum order of 5 rifles. But, for honor guards, great way to save a few hundred bucks....

Psicorp · August 25, 2008, 01:26:15 PM

Pretty good deal on berets too.

*runs and hides*

SSgt Rudin · August 29, 2008, 06:43:08 AM

Quote from: DC on August 24, 2008, 02:41:57 PM
Quote from: SJFedor on August 24, 2008, 07:28:04 AM
Yeah, it's expensive, it's heavy, and probably not a good beginner rifle. You'd be better off starting with the Mark 1, as that is what they (i believe) are using at HGA.
Yeah, they do use the Mark 1s.

The Drill America is big and heavy (like 8.5 pounds...), it looks good, I don't know about durability. We use them for my squadron's Color Guard, and some of our smaller cadets have had trouble with them because of their size and wieght. They look cool, but I don't see any reason why for a Color Guard you can go with the lighter, practically indestructable (I've seen one get run over by a truck and survive...) and much cheaper Mark 1s...

I wouldn't quite call the mk1's "piratically indestructible" we broke 4 or 5 at HGA this year, that is about average each year at HGA. None of those were from abuse, in fact one broke just from the force from the sudden stop when the cadet caught it after the spin. They are very sturdy, but they are made of plastic which has air bubbles in it, most commonly they snap in half right between the bolt and stock or at the metal piece that attaches the front end of the sling.

DNall · August 30, 2008, 07:59:12 AM

Quote from: Al Sayre on August 24, 2008, 08:46:08 PM
Y'all may want to try this outfit, I think it's where Parade America gets them before they mark them up another $20.00

http://www.westernband.com/Pages/ROTC.htm#Mark1

You check the M30 just below that, same deal w/ wood stocks for $20 less & can order 1-5. I realize prone to break more than plastic, but just putting that out there. I might get some for us.

DC · August 30, 2008, 01:06:56 PM

Quote from: DNall on August 30, 2008, 07:59:12 AM
Quote from: Al Sayre on August 24, 2008, 08:46:08 PM
Y'all may want to try this outfit, I think it's where Parade America gets them before they mark them up another $20.00

http://www.westernband.com/Pages/ROTC.htm#Mark1

You check the M30 just below that, same deal w/ wood stocks for $20 less & can order 1-5. I realize prone to break more than plastic, but just putting that out there. I might get some for us.

Those things suck big time. They look horrible, have no balance, the pieces fall apart, and break if you blow on them too hard... We used them for Color Guard for years. One of our cadets actually went out and bought a set of the DrillAmerica's out of pocket to replace those cheesy things.

ThorntonOL · September 04, 2008, 06:13:27 PM

I'm not sure where we got our current rifles from but when i joined my unit back in 2000 we had 2 very well used black parade rifles that we used for drill and when it came to parades we borrowed the other local units heavy wood ones that looked a lot more presentable.
Got to a point where they were falling apart around the trigger guard and we had to tape it until we got new white ones.
Then we got something just for parades and still use the white ones for practice. (Black ones still around and I'll practice with the one that's not half cracked. They're kept for their history with the unit.)