All posts by Howard

Scattered Shots

WTF Autoglove?

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So I was just informed about the “Autoglove”.

Picture taken from their website, click on the picture to visit their website.

It is a glove with some sort of electronic plunger to press a firearms trigger for you quickly.

First, stuff like this goes to show how stupid our gun laws are.

Secondly, you have to be impressed with how the free market will come up with a solution to any perceived problem.

Third, I am very curious if this will actually be approved by the ATF or not.  Previously they did not allow for the electric actuating of triggers.

I wouldn’t recommend this thing to anyone.  I believe you would quickly see shooters lose control of weapons with it.  What we really need is this unconstitutional NFA act abolished so silly law work arounds would be unnecessary.

Scattered Shots

Arms Unlimited Shipping

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I work at a company that makes a great product at a good price.  We pack our product individually in padded envelops in a cardboard box.  That is one thing I think is rather hokey and could be done in a way that would look a great deal more professional.  One of our competitors sold their product in a box with custom cut foam.  I think that made their product look to be high end.  Now they replaced that with shrink wrapping their product to a piece of cardboard.  Now that cheap, crappy looking, and is just annoying for the customer.

I recently made a purchase from Arms Unlimited.  They have some good prices and they are now also offering a knock off of the Norgon ambidextrous magazine catch for the AR15.

I was very disappointed when I received the parts I ordered loose in a USPS shipping bag.  The bolt carrier groups, gas tube, and forward assist that I ordered were all scratched up from rubbing against each other.  Not very impressive.

But, I did get what I needed, and with any luck I’ll have a review of the Arms Unlimited Norgon knockoff for you guys soon.

Scattered Shots

How low will they go?

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$360 dollar AR15 for sale here.

Prices on guns are at an amazingly low price.  I know that gunshops I have talked to are hurting for sales.  Now is really the best time to buy if there is something you want, and a terrible time to be selling.

To paraphrase a quote, “The problem with being in a golden age is that you don’t know it is a golden age when you are in it.”  Take advantage of this time while it lasts.

Scattered Shots

Build verses buy your first AR?

12 Comments

 

I saw again recently someone suggesting that a first time AR15 buyer build their own AR15 so that they would be better familiar with the parts and operation.  I think a person could learn the parts and operation of a firearm just fine without building one.

By all means build a custom AR if you want too, but I highly recommend buying a good factory built AR15 for your first one.  Having built quite a few ARs myself, and seen many more built, there are all sorts of mistakes a person can make.  I’ve seen incorrectly aligned gas blocks, gas tubes, hammer springs reversed or under the trigger pin (allowing the trigger pin to walk out.  Loose barrel nuts, loose castle nuts (allowing the stock to rotate and or the buffer retainer popping out and jamming the action), and more.  The AR15 is a pretty simple weapon, but simple does not mean that you cannot mess it up.  A factory built gun will generally be assembled correctly and you will have a warranty if there are any issues.

The best thing about the AR family of weapons is the massive amount of aftermarket parts.  It can be overwhelming, and not all of it plays nice together.  With more and more companies producing parts, they are not all interchangeable.  For example, many hand guards now do not fit correctly on various billet uppers due to these aftermarket billet uppers using different dimensions then a milspec upper.

If you buy a complete rifle from a reputable manufacture, you know the parts they choose to use will work.  If you build your own, you will need to do a little research.  Sometimes trying to just buy all the best individual components will leave you with something that won’t work together.  For example, some years back a few companies were making enhanced bolt carriers.  A guy I knew purchased the LMT enhanced bolt carrier since it was supposed to be better than a standard one.  He built a SBR with it, and found it didn’t work (The LMT carrier might not have been the only issue with it, but I’m using as an example).  The LMT enhanced bolt carrier was tuned and built for a 14.5 inch barrel or longer.  This guy just saw that there was an “upgraded” part, bought it, and never realized it wouldn’t work for him.

I could go on with more examples, but if you’re going to get an AR for serious use, or if you are not very familiar with them, it is recommended you buy a factory AR15 from a reputable company.

Scattered Shots

Assorted chatter.

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I’m never really sure what to say on occasions like Memorial Day.  I think SoldierSystems summed up my thoughts a little more elegantly then I could have said.

I’m happy and upset with the Razer brand.  I’ve long been a fan of Razer mice, so when I was looking for a wireless headset I ended up getting a Razer Man-o-War.  Really awesome headset.  Some time ago I broke one of the pads on it, so I contacted them and asked if I could buy a replacement pads.  They said they didn’t have spare parts, but they would be willing to take my broken headset back, give me full store credit for it, and free shipping on my next order.  I was surprised, and took them up on the offer.  Irritation finally set in when after receiving back my old headset they dragged their feet a couple of weeks before giving me that store credit.  But now all is well and I have a replacement on its way.  I thank Razer for replacing my broken headset, I just wish they would have done it faster, or better yet just sent me a replacement pad.  In the end, for about $12, I have a brand new headset on its way to me.

Gulf Coast Armory

I swung by Gulf Coast Armory to drop some stuff off for Cerakote.  When I was looking at some of the work Jeremy has recently done, this caught my eye.  A cross between the Superman logo and the Autism Society puzzle pieces.  I really love how that piece looks.

Scattered Shots

Gunner Wade on Silencers

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Where the hell was this guy when I was in?

I still run into many people who believe that silencers drastically degrade accuracy and velocity.  Unfortunately this myth is still common in many popular video games, and all too many people believe that to be a fact.  A good deal of the pro gun youth only know firearm info from the games they have played.

It is true that some of the early pistol and submachine gun silencers that relied on wipes, mesh, or large internal volume to keep .22 and 9mm rounds subsonic did reduce velocity and accuracy/precision.  Modern designs don’t do that, and can actually give a small increase in velocity.  I’ve seen some rifles shoot tighter groups when shot suppressed.

Scattered Shots

GM94 Grenade Launcher

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I was pointed to this youtube video about the Russian GM94 43mm grenade launcher.

Now, I don’t know Russian, so I have no clue what they are saying.  My first impression is that it looks like a handy launcher.  Our M203s and M320s are single shots, and the M32 6 shot launcher is somewhat awkward.  This seems like it would be easier to pack and deploy than the M32.  Being able to fire 3 rounds quickly would certainly be handy.

I doubt very many of us have any experience deploying thermobaric grenades, but I certainly would love too.  They are suppose to be more reliable and effective then fragmentation grenades for incapacitating or kill in their effective radius.  We have been fielding thermobaric rounds in our SMAWs, and even have one for the 40mm launchers (XM1060).

In the end, this video above is worth the watch just for its cutting edge computer graphics.