ken_mays

Nice one! I had a nickeled one that I traded away a few years ago. I was loading hard cast lead at about 900 FPS, which were pretty pleasant to shoot.

Sure, but they tend to be unreliable.

The great thing about revolvers in auto calibers, in a word, is moon clips. Less bulk and trouble than speedloaders.

There are 3 screws that hold the frames together: 2 where the top grip screw would be on a 1911, and one smaller one on the front part of the trigger guard.

All of the above. Also, the Ruger American rimfire is a handy little .22 as well.

Well, yes and no. They are 100% a 1911 except for magazine, magazine release, trigger, and a couple of other parts... but you could certainly take a 1911 and put most all the parts on a 2011 frame. The main difference between a one-piece doublestack frame like the Para Ordnance and the 2-piece 2011 is that the grip frame bolts onto the railed metal part of the frame and the trigger is sandwiched between them. The first 2011s used a molded polymer grip frame but STI was the only one with the mold. They had an agreement to sell their frames to Infinity for years, and when that expired, Infinity began cutting their grip frames out of metal. Now there are at least half a dozen companies doing the same.

My first SS press was a Lee Challenger. Like many Lee products, it was slightly better than no press at all. Years later I ran across an estate sale of gear and bought it as a lot. Included was a RCII press and I’ve used it since, after selling the Lee. In fact I just loaded some 30-30 today with it.

Personally I’m an Infinity fanboy. Sandy Strayer, the founder, was one of the co-inventors of the 2011 in 1994 along with Virgil and Fred Tripp, and Chip McCormick was mixed in as well. Infinity makes every gun to order and they have several innovations they have patented that they incorporate into their guns. They also make all their parts in-house from pins to barrels and spare no expense doing it. STI makes a good version too. STI has changed hands several times since Strayer and Tripp started it, but they are still turning out good stuff. What they make is basically a high priced production model and not something I would put at true semi custom level. Everything other than Infinity or STI is a clone, as far as I’m concerned... but there are some good ones being built.

I'm not a big fan of any 22 that I own, but I'd say the nicest one I have is a Browning A-bolt that I swapped an Argentine High Power for about 20 years ago. It's built far nicer than I can see a reason for, with a beautiful high polish blue and that typical 80s glossy finish stock. Quite accurate too, as you might expect.

Well, my G45 is more accurate than any other Glock I've owned. The addition of front slide serrations is very helpful on the slick finish they use now. The frontstrap is finally flat all the way to the bottom, with no finger grooves or irritating scallop with sharp edges. And of course the texture is a great improvement over the Gen 2 and Gen 3, which were slippery. I've always hated the G19 because there were either finger grooves or a scallop that made the grip uncomfortable, and I couldn't quite get all my fingers on the grip.

The handguard should be retained by the front pivot pin that holds the receivers together. Take off the upper and the handguard should slide right off. As to flash hider removal, it looks like you can put the receiver into a vise where the barrel meets the trunnion. It's flat there and nothing really protrudes. I would pad it with leather and be gentle on the vise handle. Put the receiver in the vise upside down to prevent crushing the port cover tube. There will probably be a flat on the tube somewhere you can get a crescent wrench on. If not, grab more leather (old belts are handy) wrap around the tube near the receiver end, and use a pair of slip joint pliers to work the tube off. If it isn't budging, hit it with a propane torch for 30 seconds or so and try again.

There are really two Glocks I am fond of. The original Gen 1 17, and the G45.

Recently I installed a RMR 3.25 MOA dot model and tweaked one of my IWB holsters to accommodate it. Then I put another 900 rounds through it, so by my estimates so far I have about 2200 rounds through the Masada. I'm happy to report that I've had zero malfunctions so far; all ammo has been my RN reloads. The trigger slap is 100% gone at this point. Reloads aren't quite as smooth as I'd like, due to the shape of the mag well, but that's the only thing I can complain about. I've been carrying the gun for about a week now and so far, so good. Next thing on the list is to get a set of higher sights. The RMR sight body pretty much covers the front sight so I can't use it for any kind of index.

Me too, but I don't know why I cared about iron sights back then and wasn't even considering an optic :)

Another ban-era Bushmaster Dissipator here. I don't know why it seemed like such a good idea at the time, but they were popular then. I think this was after I had gotten a set of green furniture somewhere. Eventually I sold the upper and put a V-match 20" upper on the lower; I still have it, but it has been upgraded with a railed handguard and collapsible stock (we couldn't have those either, during the AWB).

They supposedly don't hold up to much shooting; the receiver will get battered up. The mag design is also finicky, they are very sensitive to magazine height in relation to the bolt, and Remington has a variety of mag catch sizes to adjust this. They are also not the most accurate rifle out there. I had wanted one for years, but after working on a couple of problematic ones, I soon counted myself glad I didn't have one. I still kind of want a Browning BAR, however.

Update: I have about 800 rounds through the Masada by now. Reliability 100% so far. The inherent accuracy really shines with a red dot sight mounted. Ergonomics continue to be excellent overall. The trigger slap is not completely gone but has been muted enough that I mostly don't notice it. Man, those magazines are a bear to load. Without something like an upLULA loading tool, they'll tire you out right quick. I wish the mag catch were just a little easier to find and activate, but I can't complain too much about it. The Vortex Venom is still going strong, but I want to replace it with a shake-awake or a RMR, something always-on, so I can start carrying it... and I need to look into taller sights too. I can't really see the front sight when the dot is in my field of view, and while I don't seek a full co-witness, I would at least like to be able to line the sights up through the window.

It's not really 2-stage but can sort of be compared to one. There is basically the DA pull and the SA pull. When the slide is racked, the striker is caught by the SA sear. The trigger is fully forward on that first shot, but a very light pull will move it halfway back to SA mode, where it stops; and another 1/2" or so of travel will fire it. Every shot then will be in SA mode, which is what you want. The DA pull only comes into play after you decock the cocked striker, or if you need a second strike on a balky primer. And it's a heavy pull, especially with a newish gun, and it's something you want to avoid, so a DAO model would be of little interest to me, especially since everything bad about the P99 trigger makes itself worse with the DA pull (IMHO).

The PC carbine is one I am really satisfied with. I owned the original PC9 and found it lacking in several areas, like trigger, sights, and magazine (only took Ruger mags), so I sold it after a few years. They really put on their thinking caps with this one. The takedown feature is extremely convenient, the trigger is superb out of the box, the use of 10/22 fire control was genius, the integrated optic rail and user-configurable mag well are welcome innovations. Ambi mag catch and ambi charging handle too, plus threaded and fluted barrel. It also feels very solid and beefy compared to something like the Keltec Sub-2000, which feels like a Nerf gun by comparison and is far behind the Ruger on usability features. Some complain about the heavy Ruger stock but I see Magpul is now getting into the game, and more stocks and forearm choices are proliferating.

I've had several, all in .40. They are well made, accurate and reliable, not to mention iconic and innovative. They are one of the easier service pistols to work on. However, they can suffer from a trigger issue where the double action pull does not adequately catch and pull the striker back all the way. I think part of it is that the striker corner gets rounded off by the trigger bar, so it's something you will tend to see in pistols that have seen a fair amount of use. 2 of my 3 P99s have had this problem. It isn't something that will interfere with normal use of the gun, since the only way to use the DA pull is to decock the cocked striker. If you're just loading mags and shooting in SA mode, it's not something you might ever notice. Later models had an adjustable trigger bar guide which can fix this problem, but mine have all been earlier ones with a fixed trigger bar guide. Parts for the P99 are getting hard to come by, so you're pretty much at the mercy of whatever Walther agrees to do to fix your gun. I think the right way to fix this issue is to replace the striker, but they seem to be unobtainable on the current market. Unless you really just want a P99 for some reason, I strongly suggest going with the PPQ instead, which I prefer over the P99 due to ergonomic reasons. The two things the PPQ needs are a stronger mag catch spring and a lighter recoil spring. The mag catch spring can be replaced with a Wolff 1911 plunger spring, and a couple of aftermarket outfits sell a lighter PPQ recoil spring which will tend to tame the excessive muzzle flip on these guns.

Positioning this kind of rifle for hunting is as good as saying "well, it just can't hang with other chassis-mounted precision rifles for accuracy" as far as I'm concerned. Who is going to want to lug this thing to the deer stand or through thick brush? Nobody, that's who. All those projections and cutouts are going to get hung on undergrowth or catch on your gear. I do think the folding stock is a move in the right direction, but not enough to recommend it for anything. I think I'll take a Remington 700CP with a brace in 6.5 Creedmoor long before I consider the SIG.

The factory optic models usually sell for more of a premium than the optic rail models, which go for around $2000-2200. It would take more than $2200 to get me to part with mine, personally.

The trigger is the wrong thing to buy for the M&P, IMO. The sear is the big problem, and you can either buy a replacement sear or you can stone the factory sear by following the Burwell Gunsmithing guide. http://www.burwellguns.com/M&Ptriggerjob1.htm If that doesn't do it, a $22 Apex spring kit will get you the rest of the way.

Interesting... do you have a handguard plan? I know the factory handguard is nothing I would be happy with. Glad to hear installing the trigger wasn't bad... the last time I did a trigger job on a Sub-2000 I swore it would be the last time. Nothing like springs and parts flying out when you separate the receiver halves, and trying to hold everything in while you put it together.

I had a CZ P10 right after they came out. Mine was unsatisfactory. The mag release and slide release were both very stiff, and even after several hundred rounds, they didn't look to be getting any better. The trigger safety was actually difficult to work with, like it would take more pressure to "pop" loose than I thought it should, and the pressure had to be straight back. Accuracy was not bad but due to the smallish grip and narrow trigger guard, I had to cramp up on the grip and it tended to push my shots to the left. The aluminum sights were just another slap in the face. I'd like to shoot a P10F, I think that would be a better model for me.