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Gun History and Blogging with Daniel Watters from Loose Rounds

It’s time to tune in for another great episode of TacticalPay radio! This week, we’re lucky to have Daniel Watters of the Loose Rounds gun blog on the show. As you’ll hear, Daniel had a lot of insights to share on both gun history and blogging.

Daniel is the creator of “The 5.56 Timeline”, which is now hosted on Loose Rounds. His writings chronicle the development process of the small-caliber, high-velocity concept, which lead up to the American adoption of the 5.56mm M16 and M16A1 rifles in 1963… and eventually every major army’s basic issue rifle today. Daniel is the Internet first and foremost small guns historian, and has dedicated his life to gathering and sharing his tremendous knowledge on the subject. Daniel has also been blogging since the 90s, which, given how fast internet time moves, pretty much makes him a historian for that too!

Listen To The Show

Episode Highlights

  • What blogging about guns was like in the early 1990’s Internet.
  • Where to find military information about guns.
  • Why the US army adopted the M16.
  • The background of the famous 5.56 Timeline
  • Plus so much more!

Featured on the Show

Industry Spotlight

Loose Rounds

Since 2009, Loose Rounds has become one of the most popular websites for learning about firearms. It began simply as a blog created by two friends to talk about guns, gear, training and the gun life style. Since then, it has grown to host four regular writers (plus occasional guest writers/bloggers) sharing their knowledge on guns, shooting, training, personal defense, and more.

Loose Rounds has also become the new home of “The 5.56MM Timeline” – which is “the scholarly life work of the irreplaceable Daniel Watters” Notable writers for Loose Rounds include Howard Hatfield, Shawn Thompson, Duncan Larsen, Daniel Watters. In addition they have contributions from Lothaen from The New Rifleman and “M” who handles photos and product reviews.

If you’re looking for a blog that demonstrates how to do written content right, look no further than Loose Rounds!

TacticalPay Featured Community Organization of The Week

Each week, we select a “TacticalPay Featured Community Organization of the Week” from our listener submissions! Created to showcase a community organization that is doing important work related to the firearms community, nominees are selected by our listeners from hundreds of local clubs, shooting groups, hunting and wildlife organizations, education and advocacy organizations, and other firearms related community organizations. We want to hear about organizations that deserve to be recognized, so if you know of a community organization that you believe is doing excellent work on behalf of the broader firearms community that you’d like to see recognized, drop us a line!

Here’s another great one:


A Girl & A Gun Women’s Shooting League:

This week, we’re pleased to name A Girl & A Gun Women’s Shooting League as our community organization of the week.

A Girl & A Gun Women’s Shooting League is a ladies-only organization established BY women shooters FOR women shooters (pistol, rifle, and shotgun)! The league is designed to take beginners to whatever skill level they wish to achieve and provide experienced shooters with more opportunities. The objective of some is to improve their skill levels for self-defense and competitive shooting. Meanwhile others may also be interested in learning how to choose the right guns, gear, and accessories for long-term participation in the firearms/shooting community.

They just had their largest event of the year, their 6th annual national conference from April 19th-22nd with 350 women from around the country are coming to train with over 50 top national instructors. Coming up in October is their 3rd Annual Fall Fest with a an all ladies 3 Gun Match and new this year, first ever all ladies USPSA Handgun Championship. They also host a special program for females in law enforcement called Back the Women in Blue, where female LEOs get free training.

Lastly in April they launched their own Instructor Credential Certificate.

Needless to say, A Girl & A Gun is doing great work in their community and definitely deserving of our award of community organization of the week! Bravo!