Tag: guns

OK, So I Wanna Build an AR

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I put my order in today for a “Fill Your Hands You Son of a Bitch” York Arms stripped AR-15 lower, and I want to build a .50 Beowulf .458 SOCOM on it.

I’ve never built an AR.  I don’t have a bench vise, but I can pick one up from Harbor Freight fairly cheaply.  I know Brownell’s or somebody had a series of videos on building your own AR, but I haven’t been able to find them.  I’ve checked both Brownell’s and Midway and they are out of stock on AR-15 lower parts kits.  I don’t want to buy an Alexander Arms complete upper, I’d like to build an upper based on this 18″ AR-Stoner stainless barrel. I’m going to buy a Rock River complete upper.

I have a stock wrench and standard hand tools. So what other tools will I need?

UPDATED:  I’ve decided to go .458 SOCOM instead.  Thanks for all the suggestions and recommendations!

Dallas Blogshoot AAR

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Sorry I’m late with this, but here it is.

I left Tucson Thursday afternoon about 4:30 with the intention of stopping in El Paso. I got to Deming, NM before I decided I’d better stop. That was about 8PM Mountain Time. I left Deming the next morning about 6AM, which put me in El Paso just in time for rush hour.

Aaand there was an accident on I-10 East. I spent 45 minutes to go two miles. Oh well.

I got to Arlington, TX about 5PM Central time, and met up with US Citizen at his palatial abode. I took the family out to dinner. We went to Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen. I’d never been to one before. They say everything’s bigger in Texas, but for a restaurant, this place was HUGE. And FULL. The food was excellent, as was the company.

We discussed the Super Secret Shootin’ Location, and I was concerned about whether the Mustang would possibly get stuck going in. There had been a significant amount of rain on Thursday, so there was some concern about the condition of the access road. So when we got back to the house, I transferred my firearms, ammo and range back from the trunk of the Mustang to the already overloaded Traction Control SUV. Then I went and got a hotel room and got some sleep.

The next morning, I waited for US Citizen to pick me up. I called him at 9:00 and he said “I’m waiting out in front!” but when I went to the front of the hotel, no SUV. He was in front of the La Quinta. I was staying at the Quality Inn. Once we got that worked out, we were on our way to the blogshoot. When we arrived at the prearranged meeting point, there were already a half-dozen people waiting. We introduced ourselves, and got acquainted around waiting for others to arrive, which they did over the next thirty minutes or so. Best line of greeting: “Are you from the internet?” “Yes, we’re from the internet, and we’re here to help you.”  To the best of my knowledge, a total of seventeen people turned out for the shoot.  A partial list:

And there were more whose names I did not get. “Blogless” was one of them.   Chime in in the comments if I missed you.

About 10:15 we headed off to the range.  I’m pretty sure I would have had no problem getting the Mustang in and out.  Apparently the worst of the storm missed the range site.  Oh well.  What a beautiful place to go shoot!  Sixty-five acres on a branch of the Trinity River, about 100 yards across to the opposite bank, and there’s a flat area about 500 yards downriver from the shooting area.  Oh, and in Texas they have these huge tall wooden things with these “leaves” that block the sun!  Imagine that, natural shade!  I wonder if we can get those here in Arizona?  We could not have ordered more perfect weather.

So, the obligatory photo dump.

I got to shoot a semi-auto M1 Thompson, and a .50AE Deagle.  I’d already shot US Citizen’s Kriss SBR.  The one gun I wish I’d taken a crack at was Southern Belle’s SVT-40 “Natasha.”  What a beautiful piece!  As mentioned previously, I brought four rifles; my M1 Garand, M1 Carbine, LRB M25 and my M4gery.  I managed to break the M4gery.  The first couple of (blurry) photos in the slideshow are of the missing extractor hook.  It shot well for two or three magazines, but then started failing to eject.  It was failing to eject because there was no extractor hook.  Oops.  Gotta fix that.  Several people shot the Garand, and uniformly loved it.  It’s cosmetically beautiful and functionally perfect, but a bit worn.  It is, after all, a Danish rack-grade return from the CMP, but it’s still a lot of fun. When I finally run out of milsurp .30-06 on en bloc clips, I may just have to break down and have it rebarreled in .308.

We shot until after 3:00PM, and then packed it up for the day.  The only thing I’m bummed about on this trip is that I wasn’t able to join the rest of the crew for dinner.  I was riding with US Citizen, and we were headed in a different direction from the crowd.

So I took vacation, drove about 2,000 miles round-trip and spent three nights in hotels to make this trip.  I think it was worth it.

I Drank the Kool-Aid (Bumped)

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Happy birthday to me. (And this is my BAG Day gun, since I bought it once I knew we were getting a substantial tax return.)


I just picked up my present to myself, a Smith & Wesson M&P9. I looked at both the full-sized and the compact, but my hands are big enough that the compact just didn’t fit right. I traded in a Ruger GP-100 on it, so it only set me back $165 plus tax. Now I need an Apex trigger, more magazines, magazine pouches and a concealment holster. Finally, I guess I’m going to have to get a 9mm caliber change kit for my Square-Deal B so I can reload for 9mm.

Only $165. Yeah. Right.

Well, at least I’m with all the other kool kids who have drunk the M&P Kool-Aid.

UPDATE:  Fresh out of the box I used the new M&P to win Minor class at my bowling pin match out of a field of seven shooters, and I think I would have won the overall match if I hadn’t run out of ammo.  (I brought 84 rounds, but I needed about 90.)  All 84 rounds (Winchester 124 grain NATO +P FMJ) ran flawlessly, with no failures of any kind, and I even managed to clean at least one table with five shots.  It hits where it’s pointed.  I haven’t been a fan of tactical Tupperware, but this thing is impressive.

And Robb Allen has the graphic I was looking for to top this post.

UPDATE: Now I’ve got six magazines, 1,000 pieces of brass and a bunch of projectiles to load, and I need to order the Apex parts.

Cool!

Kevin1 Comment

We finally had the family get-together to celebrate the March birthdays, and one of the gifts I received was a Colt 1908 Pocket Hammerless .25! One like this, but not in as good condition:


Of course, the one in the one in the picture was made in 1922. Mine (S/N 195XXX) was made in 1919.  That makes it the second oldest gun I own, after my 1917 Enfield (1918).

Damn, this thing is tiny!  The trigger is long and heavy, and the sights make the term “vestigial” seem excessive, but it’s still pretty cool!

Hornady Ammo Recall – .500 S&W

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If you’ve got one of these cannon, you might want to check your ammo stash:

Hornady Manufacturing Company is recalling seven (7) lots of Item#9249, 500 S&W 300gr. FTX Custom Pistol Ammunition. These lots were shipped between September 9, 2010, and October 17, 2011.

Item number 9249, Lot Numbers:
•3101327
•3110256
•3110683
•3110695
•3110945
•3111388
•3111885

Hornady Manufacturing Company ballisticians have determined that some cartridges from Lot #’s 3101327, 3110256, 3110683, 3110695, 3110945, 3111388, 3111885, may exhibit excessive chamber pressures. Use of this product may result in firearm damage and or personal injury.

DO NOT USE HORNADY CUSTOM PISTOL AMMUNITION
ITEM #9249, 500 S&W 300gr. FTX, FROM THE ABOVE LISTED LOT NUMBERS.

5 Most Wanted

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Robb Allen asks,

What 5 firearms would I purchase, should price nor practicality be an issue?

Well, I’m a practical kinda guy, but here’s my list:

1) Single-shot falling-block type rifle. For me, this is a tossup between a Ruger No. 1 in a varmint caliber, or a Shiloh Sharps .45-110 Quigley. (Or, in AR15.com tradition, BOTH!)

2) A semi-auto combat-style shotgun. I’m not a shotgunner and I don’t follow 3-gun so I’m not really sure what’s hot right now, but I have only one scattergun in my safe at the moment – a Mossberg 590 pump. I’m open to suggestions on this one.

3) A 4″ barreled Colt Python in Royal Blue with the roller-bearing action job. (Did anybody ever make a 5″ version of this revolver?)

4) A really nice full-custom Browning Hi-Power, like this Cylinder & Slide Peerless Grade. After all, price is no object, right?

5) Uncle wants a full-tilt G.E. Minigun. OK, I can see that. But I think I’d really like something similar, but not as big. Lakeside Guns makes firing miniature replicas of 1917, 1919 and M2 Browning belt-fed machine guns that fire the .22 Long Rifle cartridge. I’d like a six-barreled 6,000 round-per-minute mini-minigun that shoots the .22 – complete with backpack power supply/ammo hopper so it’s man-portable. I want to carry it and to be able to shoot it like Jesse Ventura in Predator.

Damned Hughes Amendment….

So You Like RECOIL, Do You?

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The posts about the .700WTF and the .950JDJ drew a LOT of hits, so apparently this is a popular topic. On that last post, one commenter said:

Can we get a 1.000 OMG? Going once… going twice…

Which was followed by:

Screw round numbers.

Make it the 1.001 OMG just to break the barrier firmly.

Already been done, boys, in a rifle you actually fire from the shoulder, not off a bench. The 4-Bore double-rifle:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCsVHcJTcEw?rel=0]

According to Wikipedia:

The name derives out of an old English practice of bore measurements in gunmaking, meaning a perfectly round pure lead ball that exactly fits the bore of the weapon would weigh 1/4 lb — that is, 0.25 lb (0.11 kg) (see gauge). The 4 bore was made to fire roundballs of 1/4 pound lead, or approximately 1750 grains (1750 gr.) and approximately 1-inch (25 mm) calibre (more precisely, 1.053-inch (26.7 mm), when shooting pure lead bullets). This varied greatly as in muzzle loader days shotgun gauges were custom made and often differed from the actual bore measurements. Commonly, 4 gauges were closer to .935-.955 calibre, pertaining to a 1400 gr. alloyed lead ball and closer to 5 gauge.

So it’s hard to say without actually examining a 4-bore, but it could indeed be 1″ or greater. Continuing:

The cartridge brass case was around 4 inches (100 mm) long, and contained three types of loads: light at 12 drams, 14 drams at regular, and 16 drams of powder at heavy load. (Note: 1 dram = 27.34375 grains in the avoirdupois system, since 256 drams = 7000 grains = 1 pound of powder. Shotgun shells are still rated in terms of the same archaic dram measurements, relative to their equivalence of smokeless powder load to a blackpowder load weighed in drams.) John “Pondoro” Taylor mentioned in his book African Rifles and Cartridges that the 12 drams (328 gr., 3/4 oz.) charge would propel the projectile at around 1,330 ft/s (410 m/s). A double barreled rifle that would fire such a calibre would weight around 22-24 lb bare, while the single-barreled version would be around 17-18 lb.

John Ross, the author of Unintended Consequences has one of these beasts. Here’s a sample ballistics table:

With a “heavy” load of 440 grains of black powder under a 1743 grain projectile, the free recoil energy of 262ft-lbs. is very much in the same class as the .950JDJ, only the JDJ rifles weigh between 50 and 110 pounds and are fired off a bench. The 4-bore doubles weigh about 25 pounds and are fired standing, from the shoulder.

OUCH.