B-ARFCOM user Johhnyrotten had a really bad day with his budget upper bought from Midway.
Midway recently had an exceptionally good price on an AR Stoner 9 mmm upper that I bought. I went the range today to shoot it for the first time. I put it on my PSA 9 mmm billet lower that has functioned perfectly for thousands of rounds The initial shots proved it to be single shot. It would pick up a new round from the magazine but it would not reset the trigger. I figured it just needed to be broken in so I shot 20 rounds that were individually in the magazine. I then tried a mag with 2 rounds to see if functionality had improved. There was a small explosion. The gun had doubled and there had been an out of battery detonation. There was intense pain my forearm. I looked and the cartridge had penetrated my skin and punctured a vein with what appears to be the case head. Blood was pouring out like water out of a faucet. Having a medical background, I new to apply direct pressure. While I was sitting down applying pressure I noticed a steady stream of blood accumulating in my lap. The other had cut my chin. So had to apply pressure with both hands
Went to the range yesterday, shot my B&T APC9K with the Glock lower for the first time. Also shot a SCAR with silencer. Got to get some quality time behind the Trijicon MRO green dot optic.
I really like the Glock magwell lower for the APC9K. I bought the gun with the intent to get that and while I don’t like how long I had to wait, it was worth it. The mag release and bolt catch are also easier to use on the Glock lower than the standard B&T lower.
I remember when the Trijicon MRO came out I read some early reviews and looked at the price tag and pass on it. There didn’t seem to be any reason to pick one over an Aimpoint. I didn’t even know Trijicon had come out with a green dot model like this one. Apparently they have announced a new model with an Eotech like reticle (MSRP somewhere in the $900ish). That is two options that Aimpoint does not have.
The MRO has fractionally more magnification than an Aimpoint and it is noticeable. All lenses will distort light to some amount. I’ve read that Aimpoint lenses are something like 1.03X and the MRO something like 1.05X. Seems like a trivially small difference but it feels very different looking though the optic.
Indoors when I first looked though the MRO, I thought that extra tiny bit of magnification was extremely noticeable and distraction and I thought that the optic was garbage. But using it out doors, live fire, I found it just fine to use. Felt weird having uncovered adjustments on the MRO, but they worked fine. It is plenty bright and worked fine.
While the MRO is small, it feels a good bit bigger than an Aimpoint T-1. On a small gun, I would always pick the T-1. Well, hell, I’d ALWAYS pick the Aimpoint over the MRO. But I think the MRO would feel fine on a normal or larger gun.
The MRO seemed perfectly serviceable, but I wouldn’t pick one over an Aimpoint unless I needed that green dot or circle dot reticle.
I think I’ll write about the SCAR at a later date. I was rather disappointed with it.
Left some of my cheap practical steel cased ammo in the truck of my car. Went to do some training today and found it was rusty.
I decided I was going to go ahead and use it, perhaps get the chance to practice my malfunction drills. I found that the B&T APC9K ate up this rusty ammo with no complaints. Only had one failure to fire on the Sig M17.
Really goes to show the value of proper ammo storage.
I had a little problem with the collapsing brace on my APC9K.
I found that when I shot the pistol with the brace fully collapsed it would jam every single shot.
Every single shot the brass would not eject.
I ended up realizing that the right side bar of the collapsing brace did not have the relief by the ejection port to allow for functioning.
So I got in touch with B&T. Talking to the rep, we figured out that my brace was assembled with the right side bar from the APC556/300 model. They send me a prepaid shipping label and under 2 weeks later I got my brace back with the proper right side bar.
This APC556/300 bar had a groove and two notches which are necessary for the rifle, but lacked the relief that the pistol caliber models need.
The correct right side bar has the relief cut out for operation while collapsed.
Unrelated, I like how the B&T collapsible rig has a notch cut out to interface with a grove in the Tailhook brace. This makes sure that everything is assembled straight and true.
I really appreciate that B&T sorted this out quickly and easily. Unfortunately, my gun still malfunctions about half the time when the brace is collapsed. The brass fails to eject and bounces back into the action causing all sorts of stove pipes, brass over bolt, or similar malfunctions. I have only tried this with cheap underpowered steel cases, maybe better ammo would do this. Still, I am disappointed with these malfunctions.
Arfcom User N_Parker posted a great review on the STRIBOG SP9A1
So I took the plunge into the unknown and purchased a
Stribog as soon as they became available. Pending a range report, I am
really liking this pistol but I do have a couple of concerns. I am
hoping these take-off in popularity making it an attractive platform for
aftermarket manufacturers. More specifically the availability of 922r
parts should the Stribog prove itself worthy as an SBR candidate.
I contacted Eagle Imports and queried the future availability of stocks and 922r parts and they replied as follows:
“No, we will not be selling stocks or any 922R compliant
parts. We will only be selling the basic parts, such as the magazines
and adapter”.
Disassembly:
Push pins are a little tight, more about that below. Rear cap has a
very nice snug fit to the receiver and needs just a light tap with a
rubber mallet for removal. Buffer pads at the rear tend to bind a little
in the housing so the bolt assembly will not slide out unless you pull
on the buffer while pulling back on the charging handle at the same
time. I assume a little lube on the perimeter of the buffer pads or at
the rear of the housing will fix that.
Upon
initial inspection I noticed the front side of the rear sight appeared a
little rough then realized after looking at the front sight the ramp or
stop had sheared off. I imagine it looked similar to the stop on the
front site pictured for reference. I contacted Eagle Imports about this
and unfortunately they do not have any parts available yet so they will
be sending a new sight when available. Plastic sights that can break
are an obvious concern but I plan on taking advantage of the top rail
and will be mounting a red dot.
Front Sight
My second concern is lower push pin set-up. At first glance it
appeared the rear push pin broke through the housing but what looked
like a break is just basically a stepped portion of the lower housing
where it meets the upper receiver. This could have been designed
better. In the second picture here you can see how the pin breaks that
diameter in the housing on both sides. Housing material just above the
pin measures 0.082” thick which seems a little thin. Hopefully this
holds up and doesn’t wallow out after time. The bright spot here is if
the lower does need to be replaced it can as the upper is the
serialized/registered portion.
The lower pins have two sets of grooves that engage a wire retainer
that simply slips into the housing. These wire retainers apply quite a
bit of tension to the pin. I was not able to push the pins out by hand
or at least I couldn’t get them to budge by hand. Use of a punch and
small dead blow mallet did the trick. It didn’t take much effort to
break them loose; it was just a matter of quick tap to get the pin
retention groove past the wire retainer. You can also see in these pics
that the lower housing is symmetrical in design meaning you can move the
retainers to the left side of the lower (installed in right side from
factory) if you wish to push the pins out from right to left.
Rear
Front
Upper receiver assembly: Very clean machining, fit and finish. Bolt
travels the length of the receiver very smoothly. The upper looks
similar to the B&T GMH9 and APC9 but the noticeable difference are
the screws used to assemble the B&T uppers. Grand Power uses a
barrel nut to assemble the upper creating a much cleaner look.
Bolt
Buffer: Two buffer pads attach via the pins shown here.
Bolt Hold Open/Release
Somewhat of a different design, an ambi bolt hold open/release
straddles the outside of the lower receiver and is held in place by the
front pin.
Tension spring for BHO
Last round bolt hold open
Trigger Group
As you can see here, the trigger group appears to be a self
contained unit that slips into the lower housing. I wanted to remove the
trigger group for pics but I couldn’t immediately see how to remove the
safety selector. I need to take a closer look at that.
Mag Release
I just purchased the brace adapter and a Gear Head Works Tailhook Mod 2 brace hoping it is compatible with their brace adapter. We’ll find out soon. Looking forward to taking this to the range and will report out then.
Here it is in it’s current configuration. Shot 147 grain ammo suppressed with no hiccups at all.
Very easy to keep on target. Not as soft shooting as my APC9 or SIG
MPX but much smoother/softer than the Scorpion and maybe a little softer
than my AR 9mm SBR. I’ll need to run it side by side with my AR 9mm
SBR to be sure.
Shot it side by side with my APC9.
25
yard pistol range. Left/first target dialing in the MRO. Target on
right second mag. Looks like it could go up and to the right a little
more but at that point I just started having fun with it.
