Luke E.

Congratulations on the job! Getting hired somewhere is easy, getting hired somewhere to do the job you wanted is still a long and tough journey. Good luck and stay safe.

   Like everyone else, everyone i've owned or fired has had a release. Most every shotgun i've owned has been an 870 and to me they are easily accessible.

   I've seen a good many gun shops pricing their ammo that way. I understand that they payed a higher price to get the ammo in the shop (most, especially small shops like I think you are talking about did it out of good will to provide for their customers) but if prices keep dropping are they going to keep the same price on it to avoid taking a hit on those particular boxes of ammo? Even though the price stays the same, it gets more unreasonable with each passing day that ammo prices come down and with each of those days they will possibly loose more customers because they walk in and see the high prices (as the OP did). How many boxes of that particular ammo could they have sold by now if he had kept the price current on those boxes he got "hung" with? Is it worth potential lost customers just to not lose money on that bit of ammo? Kinda seems like the whole "cut off the nose just to spite the face" thing. Maybe this isn't the case with the shop you guys are speaking of but I have seen several that it has been the case. Just curious if others have noticed this of not.

   Yes I did  did mean the upper, sorry I was at my bday dinner with family and was pretending to be paying attention as I typed  :ugh: . It is most definitely not undergassed, it is a pistol port 16" barrel that cycles subsonic rounds perfectly with the gas block closed completely, now i'm throwing supersonics in the same mix so if it is getting more than enough gas to run subs then it is naturally going to be overgassed when you throw a pretty hot super in there. If i'm missing something let me know for sure because it's got me baffled. Either way, there should be a difference between full open and full closed and there definitely is almost zero difference. I believe it has something to do with the adjustment screw being flat nosed and the bottom of its hole being tapered but idk.

  They were fairly new when we purchased them.      Like I mentioned earlier, I pulled it all the way apart and checked for any foreign material and found nothing. The blocks came all the way in the closed position (didn't realize it at the time) and were jammed in there pretty good, good enough that it had marred a bit down in the bottom of the hole. I went ahead and colored the entire end of the screw with a sharpie and ran it back in, it is bottoming out. Here's where the weirdness starts, the bottom of the adjustment screw hole is tapered but the adjustment screw itself is cylindrical with a flat end so there is really no way for it to work. I'm wondering if the adjustment screws didn't make it all the way through their manufacturing process...

   I like the way you think. I figured out that I can shoot 9mm and .45 for 3 1/2 - 4 1/2 cents per round and just got my mold in for Blackout bullets which shouldn't be much higher than the pistol rounds. I've managed to gather enough reasonably priced .22 to last a good while and will probably last much longer than I thought when I was buying it because like you, I have found other things to replace it with. 

I have tried twice now and their "AR" guy was supposed to call me back but has yet to do it. I've been to busy with work lately to camp out on the phone so I'm awaiting the 1st opportunity I have. We had to file the outsides of them a bit so the hand guards would clear so I hope they don't give us a hard time.

I have payed attention to everything trying to find a difference. Even with the block cut off it is beating my lower to pieces with the brass. I'm not talking about the finish either, it is beating the aluminum up. It will completely cycle 220gr subs with it closed completely.

 Okay, I recently put together an AR in Blackout and went with a pistol length gas port with an adjustable block. I shot subsonic ammo and it ran fine and I have shot supers and they have run fine as well but the recoil is pretty crazy for a Blackout and even a .223 for that matter. I started adjusting the block until I was all the way in and fired a round and there was zero noticeable difference between full open and full closed. I pulled the block off and completely removed the adjustment screw to see if maybe there was something in there keeping it from seating all the way but it was clean as a whistle. I can blow through the gas tube with the screw in the closed position pretty much as easy as I can with the adjustment screw removed completely. When I say pretty much I mean the added resistance in the closed position is barely noticeable.  Has anyone else ever had an issue like this of had a Wilson Combat adjustable block that worked correctly?  I also forgot to add, Another TGO member and myself built identical rifles and his block is having the same issue as mine.

I'm pretty ignorant when it comes to the Dillon trimmers, so you have to buy a whole new trimmer for certain calibers?

 I just can't imagine paying those prices.. I think I would learn the blacksmiths trade and and pound all my .22 firearms into throwing knives or hatchets..    I just got back from a trip to Florida and I stopped at a few LGS along the way and found Rem Golden bullets for $10 per 50rd box, found Rem Thunderbolts for $12 per $50 at another and finally I stopped at a gun & pawn shop (95% gun) and it turned out that one of the guys there knew some of my family that used to live in the area so I quizzed him on their .22 situation. He told me that up until about 1 month ago, they had not received any .22 from their vendors since back when all the commotion started. He said that he was having to go and buy in the secondary market (what we call scalpers) and was paying anywhere from $45 on up to $80 per brick. He said they just marked it up $10 and stuck it on the shelves. I asked him about if he'd had folks get mad because they thought he was gouging them but it sounded like they were just glad to have it. I guess I went a long ways to say, we think it's insane to pay that kind of money for .22 (and it is) but there are folks out there that want to shoot it that bad. It was just hard for me to believe how many bricks he had sold at those crazy high prices..

I love the "been drug through the desert" look. I've got a guy around the corner from my office that does most all things coating/finish related with an emphasis on firearms. I've been trying to come op with a way to have him do a feathered camo but add that worn look to it..

   I second what Lumber Jack said, There is Blackout hunting ammo to be found fairly easily but it's a bit pricey to go out and send 500rds of it into a dirt berm on a Saturday morning

   I'm not really concerned about it because I have no use for an AR in pistol form other than it makes it really easy to throw a stock on and have an sbr as soon as paperwork comes in. If I get to thinking about it to much I may be trying to find a local TGO member that wouldn't mind meeting me and letting me snap a few picks with their pistol upper and buffer in place....

  If your ever down my way and want to do some shooting, I'd love to put a few rounds through it. :x:

I love my M&P 9mm full frame and would really like to pick up the M&P 9 PRO. Yes, the stock triggers are pretty bad but so are the Glocks that i've tried but when you rack the slide on an M&P it sounds like a pistol should unlike the Glock which sounds like a cheap pogo stick. Now you can polish the Glock's internals and install upgraded trigger parts and you will have a fine pistol but the same goes for the M&P, you can call Apex and have them send you a lil bags of goodies and have a great trigger. I am not against Glocks but I do prefer the M&P. Mine has Apex trigger parts and i'm planning to upgrade the trigger itself to the newer not so flexible one they offer now and that should make this pistol everything I could ask for short of a 1911 trigger being shoe horned into it  :ugh:

    How would one know whether or not you had outfitted it as a pistol first and and not the other way around assuming you bought as a stripped lower and built it yourself? I suppose one would want to keep the pistol parts on hand huh.

  TDR, I can prolly help you out with some Blackout ammo when it comes time for it because you are right, it can be tough if you don't load for it yourself. Not so much because of price per round as it is so hard to find.

  Yes, to my knowledge the socom is an AR15 platform cartridge. I've never fired one but I understand it to have a lot of thump on the shoulder. I also remember reading some other members comment on the price per round being a bit high so you might consider adding loading equipment in on the build price  :rofl:

I started a thread to post things such as everyone's build plans,AR build question and all that sort of thing. I enjoyed the thread like this that someone else started last time around and I think it will reduce the chances of us missing something pertinent to the lower and upper ordering process. Here's the link,  http://www.tngunowners.com/forums/topic/70345-tgo-lowers-what-your-going-to-build-how-to-build-general-discussion-thread/

 Thought I would start this to see what everybody was planning to build with their TGO lowers and uppers and also to make it less likely to miss an announcement about the lower purchasing process.  So i'll start out, I am planning on 2 lowers and at least one upper but possibly 2,  I've just finished a Blackout which is what I had planned to do with the TGO lower before the original manufacturer backed out so no i'm exploring other options. i have been wanting a pistol caliber (9mm or .45) AR for a long time now which is why I am on the fence about 1 or 2 uppers. I have started looking into pistol cal upper components but haven't gotten far yet but this is the plan for lower #1  Lower #2, I am leaning heavily at the 6.8spc but have not completely ruled out the 6.5 Grendel. I hand load so ammo availability isn't a huge factor but I do want brass availability to be decent.  These are my tentative plans so what are yours?

   Just to give you an idea, I just completed an AR in 300AAC for about $850 and it is not what I would consider basic. Prices have come down on most of the components since then as well. If you do some looking around you can build a really good quality rifle for the prices of a cheap rifle. I'd be happy to help you out with building a list and i'd also be willing to help you put it together when you got everything together. I'm a little ways from you so you might find someone closer to help you with assembly but if not my offer stands. Just shoot me a PM if interested.

   Here's a link to Rockcastle's website. It is a "mans" kinda resort. I'm not sure of the room count but it is fairly large and has an in-house restaurant, bar, and different range setups for pistol, rifle, shotgun and even has a full golf course if you happen to play (but I can't imagine wanting to play golf when shooting is an option). I have a price sheet at home for everything they offer and have been building my wife up for a little "getaway". :slap:     http://www.rockcastleshootingcenter.com/

I am subscribed to his YouTube channel and received this in an email the other day. This guy is insanely quick! He got a tough shoulder as well.

   I agree! They should ship one to each of us and from this day forward, each newborn child shall receive one along with his/her birth certificate.