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Other Hazards of Low Quality ARs

As we’ve seen previously with the dismal MMC AR-15, the biggest problem with buying crappy ARs and AR parts is that you spend about the same money for a useless, out of spec piece of trash when you could have gotten a real rifle instead.

But as Erin Palette unhappily discovered with the scam artists at R-Guns, there’s another problem. Businesses that ship low-grade parts also tend to have low-grade business practices! This mirrors my experience with Palmetto State Armory. I placed an order for two uppers before the panic, but neglected to notice PSA’s warning that a 10% restocking fee applies to all returns and cancellations! That should have been a clue.

PSA charged my card immediately, then six weeks passed with no email, no replies to emails, or contact as to when to expect my parts. I called their 800 number a few times, but nobody picked up. Then I sent a final email at 9AM demanding that they ship my order or I’d initiate a chargeback. My uppers shipped at 5PM that evening.

I suppose the good news is that I got my uppers. The bad news is that I got PSA uppers, and while they have a reputation for very good barrels by FN, and the gas system was correctly pinned and aligned, I have zero expectation of any customer support should something go wrong, and they have considerably less resale value than uppers from a legit manufacturer.

I really should have spent the extra dough and gotten Bravo Company uppers like I had intended to. The $300 I saved seems fairly paltry now. I ordered my bolt carrier groups from BCM post election, and not only did they ship the same day and were in my greedy hands a weekend later, they also threw in a bunch of awesome stickers, catalogs and other goodies. If you browse BCM’s retail site, you will notice that many things are out of stock. But the items that are listed as in stock are actually in stock! and will ship immediately. This is the difference between buying on price or buying on what you get, and I wish i didn’t have to keep relearning this lesson. I blame my Swedish ancestors.

And it wouldn’t be an AR post without an AR picture, so here’s an updated pic of AR-dos wearing it’s new Magpul MOE fixed stock and a straight GI 20. I do have a Blackhawk! buttstock magazine pouch for it, but right now I’m enjoying the lightness.

IMG_5426

2013 05 16 pdb Bloggery
Economics
Rifles Comments (9) Permalink

Uncle Asks, I Deliver

SayUncle Says:
May 7th, 2013 at 9:28 pm

Well, MS paint your own damn memes! :)

1f06z

1f07p

1f08l

1f065

Kind regards to Imgflip.

2013 05 08 pdb Bloggery
Funny
Political Commentary Comments (7) Permalink

Old People Were Right All Along: pdb Rediscovers Giant American Cars, Double Edged Razors and The Winchester 1894

So last week my desultory biweekly check of the sadly dusty Walmart ammo counter turned up a few boxes of .30-30. Remembering that I had a Winchester 1894 that I’d never shot, I grabbed two boxes (Don’t bogart the ammo, gunbros) and took Great-Grandpa’s gun down to PHA with me that Friday along with my usual battery of Glocks, ARs and .22s. After using up a few boxes of my 9mm, 5.56 steel case and .22LR stash, I was just about out of time, but still ran a fresh target out to the 30 yard limit of the pistol bay I was using, and this happened:

1894-5

Okay, so I’m hitting high, but I was using a dead center hold and I presume the sights are regulated to make the most out of the .30 WCF’s trajectory. While a decent group for standing, what this picture doesn’t capture is the way in which the ’94 produces this group. It practically levitates up to your shoulder. Your cheek falls naturally to the stock. The sights are already on target. The trigger is short and light. The lever smoothly pulls the spent shell out and over your shoulder without drama, and chambers the new round without resistance. Recoil is a pleasant thump, just enough to let you know something happened.

It’s obvious from examining the 1894 that its designer was a once in a generation genius (I could watch the little locking block go up and down all day), but shooting it makes it clear that Browning (pbuh) was a genius who shot and understood shooting, and how to make firearms friendlier to use. Like Col Cooper kept trying to tell us about, it’s not the numbers on the spec sheet that matter, but how the features add up and work together, and that’s not something you can understand any other way than via direct experience.

Does this mean that I could give up modern rifles for the 1894? Well, no. In particular, the 1894′s stock sights are tiny and dim, and only usable in direct sunlight on light targets. The low sight height over the barrel means that only a few rounds in quick succession produces enough heat mirage to distort the view of the target. More than a box of ammunition in rapid fire will heat the barrel up to where a cookoff is possible. So my ARs are in no danger of being displaced for general emergencies, but if I had to carry a carbine all day in poor terrain and had to prepare for shooting fewer things fewer times, I’d have to stop and think about it. 6 and a quarter pounds is a lot less than 10.

So adding to my seemingly never-decreasing list of Gun Projects I have on the boil, I put in a back order for some .30-30 reloading dies, and started hunting around for some cast lead bullets and suitable powder to reload my newly empty cases. The irony of finishing up a pair of cutting-edge defensive carbines and then pivoting to work on a hundred year old lever-action gun is not lost on me.

Somewhat related, after our last car was t-boned into scrap by an inattentive driver, we replaced it with a 2004 Chevrolet Impala, my dreams of a BMW or Subaru wagon with a stick-shift dashed by fiscal limitations. The Impaler pretty much maxed out the “big” vs “cheap” chart and though I initially resented selecting a “Grandpa” car, it grew on me. Fast. It’s huge on the inside. We managed to pick one with the 3800 V6 instead of the asthmatic 3.4L, so it’s fast enough. Parts are cheap and available in a way that only fleet-service ubiquity can bring, and after we got the infamous intake gasket problem licked, it’s been reliable. It’s a marvelously comfy ride that devours thousand mile days, with both kids and all our junk in the trunk without discomfort. It’s one of the best cars I’ve ever owned, yet it seems like just yesterday I was making fun of Geezers for buying them.

On a further tangent, late last year I was nursing the last of my Gillette Super Xtreme Umpteen Blade razor cartridges along while I googled around for a cheaper alternative. After unexpectedly reading this entire 32 page long thread at pistol-forum.com on the intricacies of straight and double-edged safety razor shaving, my initial reaction was “Y’all are a bunch of faggots”. But being out of options and curious, I won an Ebay bid on a 1975 Gillette 2-tone handle and bought a bunch of blades and puck soaps from these guys. And wouldn’t you know, once I had gotten over the initial learning curve (do NOT choose the Japanese Feather blades as your first blades), I was getting the best shaves I’d ever had for less than what I would have paid for my next pack of gimmick blades, while shaving like my Grandfathers had.

So what other secrets are our elders hiding from us? What truths have they understood all these years that we’ve rejected out of hand? Should I go ahead and get sized for my Members Only jacket?

…what will I think of my Glocks when my 1911 finally comes home?

D:

2013 04 29 pdb Domestic Bliss
Driving
Guns!
Rifles Comments (7) Permalink

Joe’s Red Army Tier-One Operator Lube

I’ve always been skeptical of gun-specific lubricants. They all seem to be some combination of handwaving, overpriced hucksterism or inadequate improvement over mundane lubricants like motor oil or lithium bearing grease. I’ve been using the same bottle of Walmart brand 10W30 and can of lithium bearing grease for years, but was badgered into trying something new for a change by the guy holding my 1911 hostage.

This is a homebrew formula that is popular in the US Army both in the cannon cocking and special forces community. Variations abound, and while it’s similar to Ed’s Red, the ingredients are easier to get and it’s easier to mix up.

The formulation recommended to me, and the one I used is:

  • 2 quarts Mobil 1 10W30
  • 1 quart ATF
  • 1 pint STP oil treatment
  • 2 small bottles of Hoppes #9

IMG_5386

Other useful things to have are applicator bottles (I got these and one of these from Harbor Freight), funnels for pouring and distributing, and I used an empty gallon Mobil 1 jug I had left over from an oil change to mix the stuff in. Not pictured are paper towels and Simple Green for spill cleanup, and Ziplocs to keep the applicator bottles in. Don’t be too quick to throw away the empty quart oil bottles, they’re great for storing smaller quantities. Be sure to clearly label them as gun lube, I don’t think you want to pour this into your car’s crankcase.

So is it any better? I’m hilariously unqualified to make that judgement, but a quick application of this stuff to my carry pistols and my primary AR made racking the bolt / slide smoother. It completely took the grit out of the charging handle sliding in the upper.

IMG_5389

Pretty much any slippery substance will work as gun lubricant, and that you use something is more important that what you use. But this brew comes recommended by people that are considerably smarter, more experienced and much more demanding of their firearms than I, and cost less than $20 for a lifetime supply. It’ll be fun to see if it works better.

2013 04 25 pdb Guns! Comments (10) Permalink

An Ode To The GI Twenty

So the combination of a break in the weather and some friends and family wanting to hit the range resulted in almost a solid month of regular range visits. My new ARs got a good workout, as everyone wants to shoot the semi-automatic hip-spraying bullet hose. I gladly traded (slowly) depleting my stash of steel cased 5.56 for spreading the good word about the shooting sports and ARs in particular, but one thing I didn’t expect was the highly useful feedback I got by getting my carbine into the hands of neophyte shooters.

Everybody loved the Aimpoint. “It’s like easy mode!”

Everybody loved the ALG ACT trigger.

Everybody thought it was a little heavy with the spare magazine and flashlight in place. And since these weights are at the polar ends of the rifle, it does make it more clunky than it should be.

Everybody thought the Vickers VCAS sling was dumb, until I showed them how it worked. “Oh!”

And totally unexpectedly, everyone loved the Vietnam era USGI aluminum straight body twenty round magazine.

I’d originally only had one, just for posing with my Mutt Not-A-M16A1, but recently I traded five Magpul G2 Pmags for five more. Everyone who tries them remarks on their handy size, both for manipulations and stowage. Have a look:

GI 20, C-Products curved 20, OKAY 30, Magpul PMAG 30 G2

GI 20, C-Products curved 20, OKAY 30, Magpul PMAG 30 G2

It doesn’t look like the straight twenty is that much smaller, but manipulations tell the tale. The smaller package slips into pockets that a 30 would be a poor fit into. The twenty fits in the palm of your hand, and a bunch of them dump into a small bag. In the traditional “make an L” reload with retention hold, the difference is big:

IMG_5367s

In particular, the fat baseplates of the Pmags make the hold awkward. This isn’t a reason to not buy Pmags, it’s just something to be aware of.

IMG_5371

Having less magazine dangling between your hands also makes life easier if you’re maneuvering through a cluttered house or getting in and out of vehicles.

Drawbacks? Obviously, 20 rounds is less than 30. (And it’s really 18 is less than 28 if you anticipate having to insert a magazine under a closed bolt.) Aluminum magazines are less durable than PMags, but you should consider any magazine a consumable item and discard it at the first sign of trouble. In particular, the feedlips are more fragile, and a GI 20 won’t survive getting stomped on at the range the way a PMag would. Also, most AR magazine carriage systems are designed around 30 rounders. Tactical Tailor, Triad Tactical and SOE make twenty compatible MOLLE pouches. For belt pouches, Blade-Tech and Safariland can hook you up.

Jeff Cooper once opined along the lines that more rounds is always better, so long as it doesn’t reduce the efficiency of the firearm. And certainly nobody in a gunfight has ever complained about having too many bullets. But the inverse is that if you can significantly increase the efficiency of your gun by slightly reducing the amount of ammunition on board, you should at least look into it. 20 (18) rounds of 5.56 NATO is still a lot of fight stopping for most potential domestic situations.

At the moment, I think your best bet for GI 20s is the NHMTG offering for $25 at 44mag. I do have a couple of curved twenties, but I do prefer the straight ones for aesthetics. I’m interested to try out the Magpul PMAG 20, and have a couple on backorder.

2013 04 11 pdb Guns!
Rifles Comments (5) Permalink

Gun Porn: Two Shotguns

It feels weird being down to a mere two scatterguns in the house after The Great Rationalization of 2012, but I think I kept a couple of good ones.

As much as I’ve been enjoying my new ARs, my Winchester 1300 is still Plan A for unexpected unpleasantness around the house, because everybody speaks gauge.

Winchester 1300 Defender, bought new in 1998 for $199.

Winchester 1300 Defender, bought new in 1998 for $199.

IMG_5268

And here’s the Brownetta, a Browning B-80 that is a rebranded Beretta 303 that uses common Invector choke tubes. I tried doing the switch-barrel thing for a while with my Remington 1100, but eventually there was too much stuff to take on and put off between shooting clays and standing house guard duty. A dedicated clays gun really isn’t that much more expensive than getting a sporting barrel, and makes your life easier. I recommend it. This B-80 was about $350, and even though it’s got a few use dings and the magazine endcap had a lot of accumulated crud, it’s still pretty and runs fine. Plus the lightweight aluminum receiver gives the gun a degree of liveliness the 1100 never had, and it’s still easy on the shoulder after a morning of 5-stand.

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Barrel by Beretta

Barrel by Beretta

Marketing by Browning.

Marketing by Browning.

I like nice butts and I cannot lie.

I like nice butts and I cannot lie.

2013 03 21 pdb Guns!
Shotguns Comments (4) Permalink

Gun Porn: Two Winchesters

Here’s a better look at my great-grandfather’s 1894s:

1916 Winchester 94 .30WCF saddle ring carbine.

1916 Winchester 94 .30WCF saddle ring carbine. The cowboy assault rifle.

A single point sling ought to go here.

A single point sling ought to go here.

"Especially For Smokeless Powder" Thanks for clearing that up!

“Especially For Smokeless Powder”
Thanks for clearing that up!

1894 Winchester in .32 Winchester Special, built in 1899.

1894 Winchester in .32 Winchester Special, built in 1899.

Family lore says that great-grandpa took at least one Upper Peninsula black bear with this rifle.

Family lore says that great-grandpa took at least one Upper Peninsula black bear with this rifle.

2013 03 21 pdb Guns!
Rifles Comments (3) Permalink

Gun Porn: Two .30-06′s

Do you know why nobody panic-buys .30-06? Because the man with a .30-06 doesn’t panic.

Remington 700 ADL, Nikon 2-7x, Leupold steel bases, Warne vertically split QD rings, Chinese bipod.

Remington 700 ADL, Nikon 2-7x, Leupold steel bases, Warne vertically split QD rings, Chinese bipod.

Remington 1903A3.

Remington 1903A3.

Flip this lever down to kill one German...

Flip this lever down to kill one German…

...then flip up to kill five.

…then flip up to kill five.

2013 03 21 pdb Guns!
Rifles Comments (3) Permalink

Book Reports

I recently polished off a couple of books and I think you ought to check them out too:

Terms Of Enlistment by Marko Kloos. 282pp, $2.99 Amazon epub. Internet blogbro Marko finally gets his name in lights with a highly entertaining dystopian military scifi tale. I’m not a fan of first person present tense narration, but Marko keeps it tight and moves things along without descending into “Then I put on my socks, then I put on my boots…” pedantry. The style is unrelenting and focused, and turns a near-300 page tome into a brisk read. If you enjoyed Heinlein, Ringo, Williamson and Scalzi you’ll feel right at home here. The characters are all dynamic and have things to do, and Marko takes us through future military bootcamp yet again without wallowing in tropes, cliches or stereotypes. Marko’s world is believable, dark and oppressive, but yet still manages to find fun and adventure in the gloom. The technology, culture and character relationships pass my sniff test, with the possible exception of certain blogger callouts breaking the 4th wall for me, but if you’re not in on the joke you won’t notice. I’m eagerly awaiting the sequels. 9/10. You won’t find better entertainment for $3 anywhere.

Badass: Ultimate Deathmatch by Ben Thompson. 528pp, $13.59 Amazon paperback. I’ve enjoyed Thompson’s Badass of the Week website for years now, and his books are, for better or worse, big heaping servings of more of the same. You will either love or hate his breathlessly enthusiastic, reference dripping style, and I happen to love it. If you hate it, then you’re probably the kind of effete, chai drinking, Prius-driving, unarmed metrosexual that never gets featured in history books anyway. This book is a wide eyed embracing of heroic and awesome events from history retold by an ADHD fanboy high on energy drinks. Thompson picks his anecdotes from a diverse array of periods and locations, so the material isn’t relentlessly West-centric. If you’re already a history buff you’ll retread a lot of old ground, but I learned a few new things. If you find traditional history boring and dry, this is an excellent gateway drug. A few minor errors have crept in (B-29s did not exist in the ETO, and thus Chuck Yeager could not have escorted them), but Thompson’s bibliography is a good 30 pages, and thankfully draws on more than just wikipedia. It’s an obviously excellent gift for the kid in your life who yawns at traditional history books, but it’s also a superb porcelain throne book, in that you can randomly open it anywhere and spend ten minutes engrossed. 9/10.

Happy reading!

2013 03 19 pdb Bloggery
Books Comments (0) Permalink

Bottom Of The Barrel: A Look At The Moores Machine Co. AR-15

My cousin recently succumbed to the 2013 Fever and bought an AR-15, against my advice, at the peak of the frenzy. Thinking that “An AR is an AR”, he brought home a Moores Machine Company AR-15 from the Sillman Cartridge company, fully dressed in UTG and Chinese accessories. This rifle cost him about $1300 out the door, but good news is the retailer was willing to take the rifle back, unfired, and sell him the S&W M&P-15 I told him to buy in the first place.

I did get him to bring it to the club so I could take some pictures and have a look at it. What I found was a substandard piece of crap that was totally unsuitable for even casual use. The machining on critical parts was haphazard and rough, with numerous obvious faults.

Anyway, let’s have a look: Continue reading ›

2013 03 15 pdb Guns!
Rifles Comments (13) Permalink