TGO David

The photos in that thread (re: CMT BCG with sheared screws) looks like the screws were at fault and not the other hard parts. Someone may have taken it apart for some reason and then re-used the original screws rather than replace them like you're supposed to. I'll just see about an LMT or BMC group instead if that thread shows up significant evidence that CMT blows goats. Everyone produces a lemon every once in a while.

Going to use this thread to track my progress building an SBR (short barrel rifle) AR15 based loosely off of the MK18 used by the US Navy SEALS. I wanted something a little different so this is the route I decided to take. I've accumulated most of the parts and am submitting my paperwork for the beloved BATFE tax stamp so that I can assemble them into a functioning short barrel rifle. A few parts still remain but should be in place by the time the tax stamp comes back. Red highlight indicates items I lack. LMT 10.5" upper receiver CMT bolt carrier group Spike's Tactical lower receiver - NFA engravings Magpul MIAD - dark flat earth Magpul aluminum enlarged trigger guard Magpul CTR milspec - dark flat earth LMT milspec 6 position buffer tube Carbine weight main action spring Carbine weight buffer YHM ambi hook endplate LaRue 7.0 quad rail forend LaRue quick release EOTech riser LMT tactical rear sight (re: MK18) DPMS lower parts kit DPMS ambidextrous fire control lever KNS anti rotation pins EOTech 512 AA optic Vickers Tactical combat application sling - coyote brown Tango Down stubby vertica fore grip - dark flat earth Magpul XT rail covers - dark flat earth YHM Phantom flash hider for suppressor YHM Phantom Stainless 5.56 suppressor I decided to skip the SOPMOD stock in favor of the CTR. I had a CTR on my old rifle and really liked it. I did opt to go with the milspec buffer tube and CTR this time, however. I also decided to skip the Aimpoint optic in favor of the EOTech. Personal preference. Before someone notes that I opted for a dual point sling and mentioned using an ambi-hook end plate more commonly reserved for a single point sling, I'm giving myself the option of running a single point sling with HK claw attachment later if I want. No sense having to bust the buffer tube's castle nut loose after it's torqued and staked just to install another end plate later. I hope to pick up the LMT upper during the second half of July and maybe the LaRule rail and EOTech in August. Since my wife and I are expecting our first child in January, this will be my last big hurrah until after the baby expenses are over. Maybe.

I remember it clearly. It sucked. High cap anything was worth $$$.

The Fatherland knows what is best for you.

Bunch of suck ups. Glad you're having fun.

I'm almost positive that if you put a fore-grip on your Beretta 92 you are immediately in violation for creating an AOW. You have to register the gun first as an AOW, pay the $200 tax and wait for your papers before you can put a fore grip on any handgun. Sucks don't it?

Welcome and thank you for the compliment on the site. Make yourself at home!

Thanks for supporting us, Skip!

Triple Digit Fidget... If you're thinking about an AR for slightly more "marksman-like" activities and are still considering optics, Easily Obsessed let me shoot his AR with a Millett DPM-1 optic on it at the last TGO shoot and I am sold on it as a nice scope for medium-range applications. The best part is they are silly cheap. http://www.millettsights.com/controller.php/catalog/tactical_dms

To be fair, I didn't actually buy those. Someone else did.

Hell, I'd buy a pack of tampons if I could use them as a joke somehow.

Have owned the P220, P226, P228 and P229. Nice weapons and pretty heavy for their sizes. Especially useful as clubs if you run out of ammo and need to beat down a baby seal. Eventually I will have a P220 Tactical just for ****s and giggles. But I'm going to insist on owning a can for it.

Thanks, Daniel. I'm going to run it a bit longer and see what comes of these problems. Sometimes these guns are just a little "stiff" out of the box and need some breaking in. If the problems persist after, say, 500 rounds I will definitely send it to either S&W or let Jeff look at it for me.

It can be. My Glock likes less cleaning, so it gets less cleaning. My Wilson likes to be clean and wet with oil, so that's what it gets. Different strokes for different guns.

I wonder if these guys use cheap Chinese knock-off tactical gear.

For all practical sakes and purposes, it is the slide and barrel from the M&P 45 4-inch (aka midsize) mounted on a compact frame similar to what the 9c and 40c get, but up-sized to accommodate the larger dimensions of the 45acp magazines. Kind of like what Springfield did when they offered the XD 45 and the XD 45 Compact.

I use non-chlorinated brake / parts cleaner from the auto parts store to blast the majority of the filth out of my guns. It's usually in a green can and may be labeled under the store's brand name or any variety of manufacturer names. The important part is that it is non chlorinated and marked as being safe for use on automotive plastics. Typically I will: ... Field strip the weapon ... Douche the individual pieces thoroughly with the aerosol parts cleaner For The Barrel: ... Run a patch with Hoppes #9 through the bore to get the easy stuff ... Follow with a nylon bore brush and Blue Armadillo bore cleaner to get the lead and copper ... Follow with patches until they come out clean or mostly clean ... Follow with a patch lightly oiled with WeaponShield CLP ... Wipe down the outside of the barrel with the same lightly oiled patch of Weaponshield CLP For The Slide: ... Scrub the breech face with a nylon toothbrush and Hoppes #9 ... Scrub the extractor and extractor channel with same ... Scrub the inside of the dust cover with same ... Wipe all excess and filth away using dry clean patches ... Very small dot of WeaponShield on the firing pin block ... Wipe all external surfaces with a clean patch lightly oiled with WeaponShield CLP For The Frame: ... Scrub the feed ramp and other "high fouling areas" with nylon or copper brush and Hoppes #9 as dictated by the material and amount of crud ... Small dot of WeaponShield CLP applied to springs and metal-to-metal contact areas ... Small dot of WeaponShield CLP applied to frame-to-slide interface points / slide rails Final Pass ... Reassemble weapon ... Dry fire a few times to work lubricant into critical areas and expel any excess ... Wipe weapon down with silicone impregnated microfiber cloth (shines it up nicely, removes excess oils) My regimen is a little more time intensive than what some may use or prescribe, but it works well for me and keeps my weapons looking nice.

07 FFL / 02 SOT Us mere mortals are S.O.L. then it seems.

I bet your M&P will give you flawless performance until the cows come home. I just have weird luck with them. By the way, Todd Louis Green (a familiar name to some folks from a lot of different forums) is doing a serious torture test with his M&P 9mm. He's had some interesting issues but the gun has been running very well for him for twenty thousand (20,000!!!) rounds to date. You can read his blog here: http://pistol-training.com/archives/299

My "service" size M&P 40 ran like a champ all the time. My 40c and my 9c had problems. The 40c dropped mags like crazy but S&W installed a revised mag catch and that fixed it. The 9c locked back prematurely a good 50% of the time with 2-3 rounds left in the magazine each time. A revised, heavier weight slide release spring fixed that one. For some reason neither my Glocks or my XDs have had any problems out of the box. They have all run very well and very reliably with any ammo that I've fed them. Maybe this M&P just needs to be "broken in" a little. I'm going to put a few more hundred through it before deciding whether it needs to go back to the mothership for repairs.

What's the process to legally equip a Glock with an auto-sear?

That is the stock photo of the Compact courtesy of S&W. I imagine it says 45c on the slide now as that photo is pretty old and predates the SHOT show. And yes, they are larger than the 40c and the 9c. By just a little. Here's a side by side comparison. The 45c is on the left. The 45 (Midsize) is on the right. Pictures are not to scale but you can spot the differences in the frame.

Bud's has them listed. I called to confirm that is really the compact and not the 4-inch midsize and they said that it is the new compact model. http://www.budsgunshop.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=411535233 I know some of you have been waiting for this, so I wanted to throw it out there. I'm happy with my Glock otherwise I'd be on this like white on rice. Looking forward to a range report!

It was like $600 out the door with tax and TICS. I lucked into this one, I think. I still haven't seen any on Gunbroker or any of the other local shops. This one came from Guns & Leather on a trip up to Kentucky last week. I think they had a Pro model for slightly more. Yeah, they will make it right. It's sometimes a question of how many trips it has to make back to them though. One guy has a 4-inch 9mm and he has had to send it back three times now for FTEs. It will be with us unless I get some more range time and it keeps jamming up. Then it will be up to S&W as to whether I have it back by the 19th.

Recently sold my XD Tactical 9mm to a friend. Guns & Leather happened to have one of these in stock, so it came home with me. Thoughts: We have only had it out to the range once. It suffered several classic stovepipe failures to eject while my wife was shooting it and one failure to feed (double feed) while I was shooting it. I hope that the FTE were due to her "limp wristing" the gun but I have a bad feeling that the weapon will be going back to Smith & Wesson for some tuning if the problem persists. I'm going to detail strip and clean it soon and properly lube the extractor channel to see if that remedies the problems. There are a lot of threads on the MP-Pistols forum that show other people having these problems with their M&Ps lately as well. Some have fixed it themselves with the prescription outlined above. Others had to return their weapons for service. It wouldn't be the first time I've had to return a new M&P to Smith. Ergonomics, Shooting, Etc. The ergonomics of the M&P are just head and shoulders above the Glock and XDs that I've owned. Just holding it reminded me immediately of why I had chosen the M&P in the past. Having owned a 9c, a 40c and a 40 all at the same time once before, I am still a big fan of the M&P's ergos and keep rooting for Smith to get them running right out of the gate. The 9L balances very well and the extended slide and barrel add just enough heft to the front-end to make it a really smooth shooter. No complaints from me here. The gun really needs better sights so I'll be ordering a fiber optic front and a 10-8 Performance rear sight soon. I really like Hilton Yam's 10-8 sight and consider it an almost essential upgrade to any M&P automatic. I've written about this sight here in the past. The trigger on this particular M&P is really mushy. The reset is barely perceptible and absolutely nothing like the firm, definitive click of my Glock 19. I really wish it had a more pronounced, shorter reset. I found myself short-stroking the trigger on more than one occasion during our range session. I may replace the sear with the new S&W Performance Center sear and see if that helps any. I'm told it is basically a drop-in version of what Dan Burwell and other gunsmiths do as trigger jobs for these guns, albeit in a somewhat mass produced form. Odds are that this weapon will never see any sort of carry duty and just be a range toy / gamer gun, so I have no issues with modifying the trigger. All in all, I'm pretty happy with the gun. I just need to resolve the FTE / FTF problems and replace the sights. Then it will be good to go. Still not sold on the M&P as a carry gun based on my personal experiences, but there are hundreds of folks out there who do carry them and have never had these sort of problems.