jeff47

I use Hoppes and Rem Oil traditionally but use Ballistol on occasion and have tried Frog Lube which is OK. Recently I have started using Mil-Comm more frequently and have found good results with it. I figure Mil-Comm works well, its non toxic like Frog Lube and its made in East Rutherford so that works for me.

Cheek rest and stock fit should be the same, though If you are going to shoot a lot and you plan to spend decent money on a gun I'd recommend having the stock fitted to you as it will help your form and prevent you from getting beaten with the gun. I lucked out and mine was basically a perfect fit right out of the gate but that is not always the case. With Trap you are normally looking at longer barrels and tighter chokes. The clays are flying away from you and you want the shot to stay tightly together so that you can hit them further out. The Trap house is 16 yards out to start with and unless you can smash them as soon as they leave the trap house they are only going to get farther away the longer you wait. With Skeet they are coming across in front of you. In this case a shorter barrel and/or a more open choke is going to serve you better. I use a 12 gauge trap gun (I have never really had a chance to shoot skeet) but I know some people use a 20 gauge, especially with skeet. I know people who shoot both Trap and Skeet but they tend to gravitate more towards one or the other but there is certainly no rule that says you can't do both If you shoot a lot and choose to do both you'll probably end up with 2 guns (at least) anyway. Like you said, try them out and ask people what they shoot, luckily the gun community overall is pretty giving.

I'd probably recommend a pump as well, especially if you are actually planning to shoot both Trap and Skeet. A good pump gun is pretty versatile for just about anything in the shooting sports or home defense so its not like it has to go to waste, you can just buy additional barrels. I know people who shoot Trap and Skeet and they have easily a half dozen shotguns (probably more at this point). Most people I know only shoot singles anyway in which case it really doesn't matter what action you are using. I have a nice O/U that I use for Trap and with 32" barrels it crushes clays, but for skeet it would be very difficult to use and I'd probably use my Mossberg 590 if I was going to try Skeet shooting. Or if you want you can go all in and get a K-80. So in my mind it's really a factor of your budget, how often you plan to shoot and what you plan to shoot. Good luck.

I don't know if these are actually available yet in FDE. I have been looking for one and just bought an M&P VTAC because I like the color so much and couldn't find the MK25 in FDE. If you find them for sale somewhere, I may have to apply for another pistol permit or 2. I have to say though I really like the M&P VTAC though.

I bought a few of these and one of them lives in my range bag: http://www.lapolicegear.com/nar-ipok-patrol-kit.html No molle (I have mine just tossed into one of the large outside pockets of my range bag) but it has a pressure dressing, tourniquet etc. that are all individually sealed and then all sealed in an easy rip open plastic pouch. Perfect for taking a beating in your range bag. You can use this as a basic stand alone trauma kit or to augment a more basic first aid kit. High Exposure, thanks for the links above. I'll have to take a closer look at that site when I get a chance.

High Speed Gear Taco's, they work great. They hold everything tight and you don't need to jam them all the way to the bottom. They'll also hold just about any kind of carbine mag, AR Mag's, AK etc. so if you decide to try running an AK you don't need to get new pouches.

Cool. I think it was Knox that used to make these about 10 years ago? They had 10 rd drums and 5 rd box magazines IIRC. I tried to buy one but they disappeared off the market and were crazy expensive if you found one used. I always thought they were a cool idea. Someone also makes an after market Mossberg receiver that replaces the standard tube mag with detachable SAIGA mags. I always thought it was a pretty bad ass idea and certainly makes it easier to switch loads for different purposes.

I've heard that they've starting doing this because a lower can be transferred as either a Rifle or a Pistol. However I can't see why you cant just have him transfer it to you as a rifle and that's it, the type should be right on the transfer form if I'm not mistaken. I'm sure someone will happen along with more information as I don't remember all of the details but I hope this helps.

I've considered building an AK pistol and it would be perfectly legal if you built it with a virgin barrel and didn't bother to drill the gas port which would effectively give you a bolt action pistol. That kind of sucks but an AK pistol is more for the cool factor anyway.

I just used Kroil last night to help drift the front sight off of my Ruger 10/22 and I've also used it to remove barrel pins and the like. I agree that it is awesome to help you remove stuck components. For cleaning I've used primarily Hoppes and Rem Oil, and have recently starting using Ballistol in certain applications. Have tried Frog lube but I am now using Mil-Comm since its made here in NJ and has the same non-toxic benefits of Frog Lube.

This only applies to steel core ammo sparking against the backstop and causing a fire, not steel cased ammo. Not doubting this is what they told you necessarily but if it is, its untrue. There really is no valid reason not to allow steel cased ammo that I know of safety wise, unless they assume (incorrectly) that all steel cased ammo is also steel core. However I really suspect that they sell the brass as you've suggested and don't feel like investing in a $5 magnet to sort the casings.

Bertus - Take a look at MDTS, they have an excellent Tactical Folding knife class. I had some fixed blade training and I took it on a lark several years ago and it was well worth it. Of course it will no more make you a knife fighting expert than Chris's Tactical Pistol class will make you an expert Pistoleer. However as the bulk of knife attacks start off with you getting stabbed, you don't really need to be. The sad fact is that you are far more likely to be standing at the urinal in a public bathroom and have some crackhead start pistoning you in the back with a knife to murder and rob you of $5 then you will ever be to get into any sort or man on man knife battle royal. Chris's class focus's specifically on folding knife deployment under stress, core defensive drills as well as a host of far more useful skills that can be learned in a relatively short period of time using both 2 and 3 man groups (depending on the specific drill). Like any class you can only get better by practicing these drills but it can give you a fundamental basis for defending yourself with a folding knife. While DVD's and books can be useful from an academic point of view and to expand your training, even this short man on man training under the eye of an experienced instructor will be invaluable to you. Even if you have to drive to upstate NY for the day, (Chris does not usually offer this class in this area) you will get far more out of it than a dozen books or DVD's. Worst case you can setup some private training with him. Good Luck.

Neon333 here you go: http://www.ar15.com/mobile/topic.html?b=3&f=4&t=407395&page=1

I've also heard great things about the FSC47, and its classified as a break rather than a flash hider. I plan to pick one up for a future build. If you want to go with something more classic, ak-builder sells US made slant brakes and muzzle nuts. If you don't have a welder, or know someone with one and want to do it yourself, Silver Solder is a relatively easy alternative. ARFCOM has a great thread about silver soldering. If you want to take it off later you can heat the old break up and take it off. You do need to make sure that you buy high-temp silver solder if you go that route to make sure everything is legal. You can use a Mapp gas torch from Home Depot or WalMart.

I've taken Chris's Pistol and Shotgun classes and they were excellent. I was hoping to take the Carbine class but with the ammo madness I will probably skip it unfortunately.

3kings, you rock! Thanks for the heads up I just ordered 2!

I concur with Caine, there is nothing illegal with pinning a stock, but if someone happens to bust in and you have all of the parts together and the stock isn't pinned yet... You could always leave the upper with someone else if you wanted to be safe.

1) Safety First. You can be disqualified (DQ'd) pretty easily so make sure you read all of the safety rules and take your sweet time. Some of the reasons to be DQ'd are pretty obvious (sweeping yourself, even a finger, while on the firing line, breaking the 180 rule etc.) and some aren't so much. I was almost DQ'd before I even touched my gun. More detail on that below. 2) Again, you don't want to got too fast, particularly before the buzzer and after your last shot. It's pretty easy to be disqualified if you're not paying attention for even a moment and trying to remember all of the range commands while preparing to turn, draw and start firing and moving can make you do something stupid if you're not taking it easy. Chances are good that you're not going to perform fantasticly the first time out anyway so why go nuts trying to shoot too fast? The penalties are crushingly brutal for misses and no-shoots and being DQ'd is no fun, so just relax. If I had a third item it would definitely be to plan your shooting during the walk through. In just about every stage, I think almost everyone shot each course differently depending on how they thought they could perform the fastest and easiest so it does require some strategy. As far as almost getting DQ'd, you can handle ammuntion anywhere EXCEPT the safety area. There are only 2 places you can Touch your firearm, the safety area and on the firing line. In my pistol box I had my pistol (empty, no magazine) and a magazing with bright orange trainers. Snap-caps and trainers are considered ammunition and once I had opend up my pistol box in the safety area and that mag with the bright orange trainers was sitting next to it I would have been DQ'd immediatetly. Luckily being made aware of this before that happened, instead I had to go with the RO to the firing line, clear the range and declare it hot, then open up the box, verify the gun was unloaded and then remove the mag with trainers and place it in my pocket and close up the box, declare the range clear and move on with our lives. WOW. So some of the safety rules could be considered a bit crazy but since the goal is to have fun and not have anyone leave with more holes than they had when they got there, I can't complain. Well worth it.

+1 for everything said above. I had a great time and felt really comfortable with the flow of things. I was nervous and shot poorly on the first stage but by the third I felt good and shot well. (reasonably) I just want to thank Mike again, it was well worth the $25 and the hour drive each way.

I couldn't vote either for some reason but I vote milled Polish. I have seen some people have successfully welded together 2 PSL mags to give you a 20 rd PSL mag. Just saying in case you're leaning towards the first.

I have the A-zoom aluminum snap caps in several calibers and they're great for cycling the action. However if you're going to be running a lot of drills with your pistol, I think these are pretty cool: http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/pid=9923 ... T_TRAINERS They don't hold up quite as well but they're cheap and plentiful ($23/50 for 9mm) so if you lose a few while running stoppage drills at the range, no big deal. My 7.62x39 aluminum snap caps especially have taken a lot of abuse, so if you're going to run them hard anyway...

DO IT!!!

I know someone posted recently that they took the tactical folding knife class at the MDTS facility in NY, so a little extra travel is always an option. I know some members have traveled all over the country to receive training.

I believe it was Ike in 2008 which came ashore as only a catagory 2 and still devastated that area. I was looking for the specific post on 1919a4 but couldn't find it, probably lost during one of there periodic server crashes.

I sort of dismissed the whole thing as being paranoid until about 2 years ago when I read a post on another forum about a guy who was in (I think?)Galveston when that huge hurricane rolled through a couple years ago. He had a few days of water and food but after that it was a daily ride to the FEMA delivery point to stand in line with a 1000 other people for hours, just like everybody else. He had a generator he would run sparingly and one night about 2 weeks in with no power, a group of guys decided that they wanted it and he basically got into a shoot out over a generator. This was a fairly major American city after an average sized hurricane, certainly not an end of the world scenario. It was at this point that I reconsidered the old adage, "Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean someone's not out to get you." I've read of people who have stockpiled 10 years worth of provisions. I personally think that's a little too crazy unless you're independaently wealthy but keeping some extra food staples around isn't a bad idea. I have read where people have gotten 5 gallon plastic buckets from Home depot, filled one with rice and another with beans and have spent a grand total of about $100 stockpiling some basic food staples in that way and it keeps the bugs and moisture out.