Dolomite_supafly

I am actually just going to call them and get extras. We shoot all of our guns a lot so we will need ot keep some on hand. Dolomite

A lot of good information. Maybe a bit much for a new AR owner/purchaser. Dolomite

The first thing we need to know is a budget. I am going to assume a budget of under $900 to get started because you have mentioned the M&P 15. We need to know its purpose. That is sitting at a bench shooting groups, running and gunning, hunting. It all makes a difference because a bench gun likes short heavy barrel. A hunting gun should be as light as you can but also thinner barrel that has some length for velocity. Next we need to know a realistic round count you are going to be firing a year. Realistically most people who own AR's never shoot 1,000 rounds through the guns in a lifetime. Three or four mags each trip to the range an they are done. The exception are those who train constantly either at home or in schools. Those people will put 2,000 rounds down the tube in a week. And it is the quality guns that tend to survive that kind of abuse while other lesser quality guns wimper in the corner at the thought of it. The quality guns aren't the Ferrari of the gun world, they are the reliable car that just works all the time. And as with most high end sports cars high end guns can be tempermental. I am not saying you can't have a quality gun without breaking the bank because you can. My personal AR has more trouble free rounds through it than I could ever count. And when I built it back in probably 2005-2006 I spent around $800. In today's prices that same gun would cost about $900-$1,000 to build. And honestly most of the sub $900 AR's you can buy are just as good. If you plan on buying then upgrading the M&P is a perfect gun to learn on as well as progress into the shooting sports with. Its quality is such that you would not have to worry about a lot of intermittent use. The best part about it is if you do have a problem you have the backing of a major manufacturer, something you don't get with a home build. Building a gun for the first time can be daunting but not impossible but you are left out to dry if something goes wrong. The advantage to building a gun to suite your needs is you get what you want or need and nothing else. But like most AR owners your rifle never stays the same so you will be buying items whether you buy or build. The Sport model is a phenominal deal for what you get. I advocate a 9 twist barrel for 90% of the users out there but is has a 8 twist, the perfect compromise between a 9 and a 7 twist. It is also a 5R rifled barrel which is known for increased accuracy. And it will be able to do most things I mentioned above pretty well. It has a MPI tested bolt which is a must on any gun that might see a lot of use. The only thing it is missing is a forward assist and a dust cover. The dust cover isn't that big of a dael but the forward assit can be if you are getting into hard training and the chamber gets dirty. But for most users neither are really needed. And if you decide you do want these features the upper receiver can be swapped easily by most smiths for a relatively small amount of money. Something else with the M&P is because it is built to the milspec standard any milspec part will fit. You can upgrade the internals with better components and they will drop in. If you decide later on you want to really get into some training you can buy a spare parts to keep on hand in case something does break. If I were in your shoes the M&P15 Sport would be my purchase based on budget. And with the relatively low cost that leaves a lot of money left over for you to finish it how you like it. I will make a few recommendations. First find some friends who have AR's or just go to a local range. Ask them to let you hold their guns to see what works and what you like. This is going to save you a lot of money because you will know what you like and don't befor elaying down the hard earned cash. About AR15.com, they tend to have an elitest mentality. There is a lot of good information on there but be prepared to be belittled a bit. They tend to be a rougher crowd than over here. Dolomite Here is the M&P Sport for $620 shipped: SWL MP15SPORT 811036 5.56 16 AS BLK 30 $620.00 SHIPS FREE There is a 3% credit card fee bringing it to $639. Then whatever your FFL charges for a transfer. Should be able to get it for under $700 out the door.

I'll jump in in the mroning. Dolomite

Also, why buy all sizes? Seems a 9mm sticky would fit on a 40 and 45 just fine. I plan on using the 9mm for 45 as well. I suspect daylight performance is going to pail in comparison to standard primers. Dolomite

The pictures I posted are not the most painful hand or finger accident I have ever had. I was trying to knock an exhaust joint loose on an old car. It was in a spot where it would swing everytime I would hit it, lessening the blow from the small sledge I was using. I had been beating on it for about 15 minutes and it was brutally cold out. So in my mind with one more swing with all I could muster that hit the right spot while I held it in place to keep it from rocking would knock it loose. After all at this point my hands were starting to numb from the cold. So I grabbed the exhaust pipe as close to the perfect spot as I could and prepared myself with a few practice swings, all of which hit the mark perfectly. I then let loose with the absolutely strongest swing I think I have ever mustered. I mean I probably pulled a muscle swinging that sledge hammer as hard as I did. What did I hear? Not the high pitched "tink" I had been hearing but a low muffled "thunk" with a slight ring. I opened my eyes and made an amazing discovery, closing my eyes as I swung might have been a major flaw in my plan. At this point the pain hadn't really set in even though you would think it had based on my reaction. Without inspecting I grabbed my thumb and began cussing. If there ever was a Sailor's dictionary of curse words it was like I was reading it from A to Z. I walked around in circles all the while hoping it wasn’t as bad as I knew it was going to be. Mad as I was the pain began to set in and even though I didn't cry I couldn't see from at that point because of the tears of pain welling up in my eyes. In an instant I went from being mad to having pity on my thumb and hoping my wife would have the same for me. After all she has seen this same incident play out before numerous times. Not sure if the cold made it worse but I could not have managed it made it any better. I wiped my eyes clear and uncovered my thumb. Now I used to generally be pretty good at handling unsightly injuries and a thumb smashing was par for the course for me. But as I looked at my thumb my knees got week and I got the same feeling in my gut as you get when you are watching those skateboarders fall from outstanding heights onto the hard concrete. It was completely red under the nail but wasn’t bleeding. As the nail continued to fill with blood the pressure built with every heart beat until it was unbearable. I knew I was in for a very rough week and it actually turned out to be a rough couple of weeks. The first week I looked as though I was perpetually asking for permission from the teacher as I walked around with my swollen thumb above my head. Lying in bed meant I had had to keep it elevated. Do you know how hard it is to sleep with your hand elevated? Very hard it turns out. I eventually got enough nerve to drain the blood from underneath. That relieved a lot of the pressure but not the pain. The pain finally subsided 2 weeks later and the nail finally fell off a little over a month later. My poor left thumb, it bears the brunt of the right thumb’s abuse. Dolomite

We will see how they do. Dolomite

Penetration is a stange thing. It can do the same thing 99% of the time then change. It has more to do with velocity than bullet design. A HP that doesn't open up acts like a FMJ and a FMJ that comes apart upon impact dumps energy like a SP or a HP. Hollow points are designed to work within a velocity range, too fast and it will not penetrate hardly at all too slow and it will overpenetrate because it doesn't open up like it should. The faster the bullet the more they tend to come apart upon impact with anything. There is a fine line, too slow and it doesn't penetrate a lot. Too fast and it does't penetrate a lot. In between the the penetration can be perfect or even become become excessive. It is best to choose the round for your needs and your firearm. http://stevespages.com/jpg/bestbullet.jpg Take note of the Sierra prohunter. At 3,100 fps it only penetrated 12.3" but at 1,900 fps it went over 60" (yes 5 feet). Or the Winchester silvertip, 3,100 fps and it penetrated 10.5" and at 1,700 fps it travelled 46". And think of this, most 45 ACP ball ammo will penetrate more than either of these at 3,100 fps. The energy that is dumped into the target is totally different between the two. I have been shot with a 45 ACP loaded with FMJ (not going to get into what happened). It went straight through and it was minuted before I realized UI had been shot. Has the same shot been with a one of the 3,100 fps rifle rounds it would have been a different story altogether. Some standard .22 lr lead round nose bullets will penetrate more than centerfire defensive rounds. The 60 grain SSS .22 has been proven to pass throguh 18+ inches of geletin reliably. And in some cases even 24" of gelatin. To give you another example I was testing some crazy stuff and did this. I had some 95 grain FMJ 380 bullets that I loaded in a 9mm and fired out of a rifle. I started out with the bullet at roughly 1300-1400 fps if my memoy serves me right. That bullet went through two 1 gallon jugs of water without much fuss. Same bullet, same jugs, same rifle except this time the bullets were at 2,000 fps. The FMJ bullet never made it out of the first jug and completely destroyed the jug and the bullet. There was jacket material and lead in the first jug. It also depends on the bullet design. SMK's tend to come apart more readily because of their thinner jacket than say a military FMJ which has a much thicker jacket. I actaully use SMK's in loads I might have to use for nuisance animals because they are accurate and devastating as long as the velocity is up. Shotgun slugs will go through a lot because they have a lot of mass but aren't travelling at velocities where they come apart as easily upon impact. Take a slug that normally travels at 1,300-1,500 fps and push it beyond 2,000 and it will act totally different. It is also hard to tell what a bullet is going to do inside the intended target. It may mushroom beautifully and never make it out of the target or it may never open up at all and act like a FMJ. Because of this you can't rely on a bullet stopping within a target and so you need to be aware of what is behind. Even on the remote chance the bullet does make it out of the target you are still responsible for what it does. Dolomite

I would use some blue loctite on the screw that backed out. Cheap insurance. Imagine if you have not caught it and the screw backed out far enough to affect function. Dolomite

There is but one person to blame here, the hunter (Rowland) who shot and killed the child. He shot onto an adjacent property when he killed the child. Can't blame the child or the grandfather for not wearing orange. And honestly with a hunter shooting at moving bushes I am not sure an orange vest or hat would have really made a difference. At a bare minimum the hunter should loose all access to firearms for life. He should not be allowed to get another hunting or fishing license for the rest of his life. Auction off all his firearms, hunting and fishing related items with the proceeds going to the child's family. As far as time in jail he should spend some, I wouldn't say the rest of his life but enough time to greatly impact the rest of his life. Perhaps 3-5 years in prison then probatoin for the remainder of his life. It was completly avoidable by Rowland and he should held accountable. Dolomite

I see your owee and raise you: This was the day after it happened. A number of years ago I was routing a stock when the wood jumped and pulled my finger into the router. It has an obvious slant to it now. The skin no longer grows right and it still is sensitive today. Dolomite

You can find off brnd FA M-16's in the $8K-$10K range but you have to be looking hard and ready to buy. If you want to get into a FA 5.56 cheap then look at the Ruger 5.56. They are in the $6K range Prices do seem to be climbing as of the last year or so. About two years ago I was seeing Mac's for sale for under $3K and most had accessories. I have been looking for a while but can't bring myself to spend the money. My wife wants one but we both realize we would go broke feeding it. I will say the biggest deal I passed on was a MAC with a Lage conversion in 9mm. It also had the 22 conversion that used 10/22 mags. Had a red dot on it and about a dozen mags. The guy was asking $2,800 for it. To build the same setup would cost clost to $5K. I am content with my suppressor for now. Dolomite

You are correct. The standard kit I linked is all you will need. Dolomite

Here is a very good resource as far as bullet performance: terminal ballistics Has pictures as well as measurements like penetration and OD of expanded bullets. Although accuracy is critical bullet performance can help make a less than ideal shot a man stopper. Dolomite

Don't do IWB holsters, only OWB. Personal preference is OWB so that is all I have ever made and those were for me and my family. Dolomite

I have never owned or messed with a AK before. The Saiga is based on the AK. With that being said I converted mine in about an hour with a drill and a few other basic tools. I didn't use one but a grinder would have made life a lot easier and probably would have taken 15 minutes less. The receiver starts out as a AK receiver and is already setup for the correct AK parts. Because of import regulations they had to rivet a block off plate in place and move the trigger back for use with the sporting stock before importing it. The is the plate with the hump in front of the trigger. Remove the factory stock. There are two screws on top and one on the bottom. You drill or grind the rivet at the rear of the factory trigger guard, the one at the front and then the one inside the trigger guard. The middle one is easier once you get the two outside ones out. After that the trigger guard and blocking plate will come free exposing the true AK setup. After that take a punch and knock out the two pins that are at the lowest part at the rearest part of the receiver. After that the old trigger parts pretty much fall out. Take a 3/16 drill and drill out the two holes you punched the pins out of. That is so the furnished hole plugs will fit or you can leave the holes open. After that it is just like putting together a standard AK. The trigger parts are the same except for a few clearance issues because it is an 12 but the kits come with the parts already done. The literally fall into place and work great. I bought the Carolina Shooter Supply kit using their billet trigger guard. It went together easily and without a single issue. If you buy a conversion kit and want to try it yourself I would be glad to help you out. I will PM you my number and talk you through the teardown if you want. I really isn't rocket science, the weapon design is over 60 years old. Dolomite

I stand corrected. I pulled out a minimalistic leather 1911 holster and it fits the PF-9 perfectly. I am still going to make my wife a holster because ti is already formed but at least she can carry until mine is done. Dolomite

Are we talking about the same PF-9? The Keltec is a lot smaller than a 1911. The Keltec would be swimming in a 1911 holster. Dolomite

For the lower parts kit get the DPMS. If there is one thing they do well it is their parts kits. Avoid all other things DPMS if you want a quality build. Here are the kits for $62.95 SHIPPED: DPMS AR15 Lower Receiver Parts Kit ( Free Shipping) [LRPK-1] - $62.95 : Gunkings.com, 10-22 and AR15 Parts and Accessories Paying for any other milspec lower parts kit is just wasting money. As far as lowers go get a forged lower. Do not buy from small shops, only nationally recognized makers. I recently checked a lot of 100 lowers from a small local shop. Less than 30 were useable because the machining and tolerances were off. Also, some makers, even major brands, have started using coatings rather than anodizing. Anodizing is not only a color treatment but it is also a surface hardening treatment which adds to the durability. That is something I would ask before buying because paint is not going to be as durable as anodizing. Billet lowers are not forged and are machined from a single block of aluminum. The forged lowers tend to be harder with all others things being the same. With todays modern equipment tolerances are gonig to be the same between a forged and billet lower. Anodizing can also even the hardness playing field between billet and forged lowers. But as I said some are just coating with paint rather than anodizing. Another advantage is forged lowers tend to be cheaper while being better. The only thing billet lowers can do that forged can't is be made with extra options like addition grip surfaces or additional reinforcements. Personally it isn't worth the extra cost to me. Not even sure if you can get them any longer but avoid cast lowers like the plague. They are the worst of all the worlds. They are soft and tend to have tolerance issues. With the bolts make sure they have been MPI tested and are shot peen hardened. This adds to the long term wearability of the part. The extractor spring should have the insert as well as the donut to help with extraction. The firing pin should be the standard milspec firing pin. Do not use the titanium firing pins as they only add cost and nothing else. With the bolt carriers the biggest thing is to make sure they are properly staked according to milspec. There are several different kinds of bolt carriers available. All work equally well with the main difference being weight. M16 carriers tend to be the heaviest and can help with cycling. I would also say most of the coatings like titanium or chrome are not needed. The only two choices as far as coatings go would be phosphate which is the milspec standard and works well. The other would be boron nitride coating which is not milspec but far superior to phosphate coatings as far as durability. One thing Phosphate coatings does better the any other coating is hold lubricats and protectants better. With most other coatings oils just run off and do not stay put. As far as the upper receivers go there are a few major makers so you will likely find one that is and has been in use for a long time. Again, make sure it is anodized and not just coated. And with the forging vs billet, forging is stronger. Billet uppers are generally thicker and may be stronger but they are also heavier vs a forged upper. Buffer tubes can be had in commercial or milspec dimensions. Each works as well as the other but the parts do not interchange. If it were me I would get a commercial tube because they tend to be more prevalent and popular. This means you will have more choices for which buttstock you are going to choose. Buffers also come in different weights to help with cycling and recoil. And honestly i do not know much about the different ones and what they are good for. I have tried filling a buffer completely with lead to see how it compared to a buffer that had all its weights removed. I saw no difference in cycling in my test gun and honestly I felt no difference in recoil. It could be that my gun wears a brake and has nearly zero recoil. Magazines are a big topic of discussion. Some like the polymer mags while others like the metal mags. I am a metal mag guy and I have had zero issues out of my mags. The users of P-Mags report the same thing. So it is pretty much a preference thing. Yes metal mags can get dented and become unuseable. Polymer mags can also get brittle in the winter and crack or break. Polymer mags can have issues if you plan on leaving them loaded. Not all polymer mags but some definitely do. As far as barrels go there are some choices. If you plan on shooting a lot then chrome lined is the way to go. There are some reports that accuracy isn't as good with chrome lined. If you don't plan on shooting a lot but still want the corrosion resistance of chrome then get a stainless barrel. The stainless barrels do tend to be more accurate than a chrome barrel but do not have the durability if you are gonig to have high round counts. Barrels can also be had in every kind of profile from extremely lightweight to extremely heavy. That is a personal choice based on the gun's use. I prefer the lighter weights over the heavier weights. Length can also have a impact on weight. A thin profile long barrel can weigh the same as a short varmint profile. It all comes down to preference and then after that finding a quality barrel maker. Among the best is Noveske but they are expensive. As far as twist rates go the flavor of the month seems to be 7 twist. I would avoid a 7 twist barrel unless the barrel is going to be extremely long to get the extra velocity needed for the bullets to perform well. With the shorter barrels you want a slower twist so the bullets will also tumble. You either need velocity or instability to get the maximum bullet performance. Heavy bullets do not have the velocity out of the shorter barrels and are generally overstabilized so they do not tumble either. The reason is the bullets don't have enough velocity to come part upon impact and with too much twist they are too stable to tumble even when hitting "soft" targets. This is why we are hearing all the reports of the 5.56 having issues with the Army overseas. You don't hear the same reports from the Marines and the reason is because they use a longer 20" barrel that gives them the extra velocity needed for the bullets to come apart upon impact at greater distances than the Army's 14.5" guns. And because the Army is using a 62 grain bullet with the 7 twist barrel it makes overstability much worse. For what most people are going to be shooting the 9 twist, and maybe faster, barrel works better than the 7 twist barrel. With the shorter barrels the heavy bullets designed for the 7 twist barrels is nearly to the point where they will not disrupt from velocity upon exit. In most cases within 100 yards the bullet has lost so much velocity that it has to rely on tumbling to be effective on soft targets. But because the twist rate is so fast that is not going to happen either. This leads to a bullet that will likely pass through the target leaving a .22 caliber hole behind and not much else. The military tried to turn a short-medium range caliber into a long range caliber. In doing so they ruined short, medium and long range performance. If they realized the limitations of the cartridge and designed rounds for ranges under 300 yards we would not be hearing all the complaints we do. A short 12 twist barrel shooting 55 grain bullets would be better than the current 62 grain bullets in a short 7 twist barrel. At least you can push the 55 grain bullets faster for short ranges and leave the logn ranges to a better suited caliber. I shoot 69 grain SMK's out of my 9 twist barrel and it is a 1/2" at 100 yard gun. Yes 7 twist would likely work just as wel but if I were to actually shoot something other than paper the 69 grain bullet would be extremely overstabilized. I have even shot subsonic 69 grain bullets out of the same twist without any in flight instability issues. It fired fine out of a suppressor without a baffle strike either so 69 grain bullets are stabile in 9 twist barrels. This means any lesser weight bullets are going to be as stabile as well. Personally if I was building a gun to carry and depend on I would use a 9 twist barrel. The reason is the 9 twist barrels will shoot the 62 grain bullets as well as the 55 grain bullets, the two most common weights out there. The bullets will be stabile enough for accurate fire but unstabile enough that they will tumble upon impact with a "soft" target. And before anyone says we are not at war and will not be shooting "soft" targets you need to realize any gun may be called upon to protect life. And as was already said milspec doesn't mean it is the highest quality. It just means it meets a minimum standard to pass. Think of it this way, a "D" is passing (read milspec) while an"A" is the best. And just because something isn't milspec doesn't mean it is not good. The relatively new boron nitride coatings that makes a part much, much better is NOT milspec. The boron nitrided bolt carriers are better than any milspec bolt carrier out there but boron nitrided bolt carriers do not meet the milspec standard because they are not phosphate coated. The best "budget" builder out there is Bravo Company. They are reasonable for what you get and surpass the quality of other bigger manufacturers like Colt. I would start my parts hunt there and go elsewhere if you can't find what you are looking for. Avoid anything from HESSE, BLACKTHORNE, VULCAN ARMAMENT. There is a reason why their prices are so cheap it is because they sell inferior products. They sell for a few years then close down and reopen under another name. And the best thing about AR's is they are so easily changed to fit your wants or needs. You can have several uppers for various roles or you can have one that does it all. It isn't hard to buld a quality AR on a modest budget. Dolomite

Start bugging the managers. The more they know what you want the more of a chance they will get it. Dolomite

The ones I make are very similar to those. Mine have a larger footprint and tend to be pretty comfortable because of it. Not sure she will like mine though because they need a belt. My wife has never carried before so it is a matter of finding what she likes and is comfortable for her. Dolomite

I am making her a holster. I've made a few for myself and friends. The ones I make snug up real nice and are pretty comfortable. Dolomite

Just fired about 25 rounds through it. It is a bit of a kicker but nothing too bad. She is definitely going to be able to carry it compared to the full size guns she wanted. Dolomite

My wife just picked up a PF-9 and now we need to find a holster for her. She prefers OWB holsters that are not plastic. Preferable a soft one with thumb break and clip on. Or if there is anyone with personal experience with a decent holster let me know. Thanks Dolomite

Suzanne Santamaria did mine back in May. Lamberger does seem like a quicker one of the bunch. There should be more than just 10 working on these. Everyone I talk to wants to buy something NFA but most aren't willing to wait the 3+ months to get it. Dolomite