JonF

Joe, what would you like to with the gun? Deciding on whether it will be a target shooter, plinker, defence, competition or special purpose gun will help narrow down the calibers heavily. Remember that, If you build a pistol caliber, you can rock it at the steel matches!

Like freejersey, i also have a Double Diamond glock lower and its truly a work of art. For the cost of a new lower plus a mag block, you can buy a DDLES glock lower for the same money. Of course, if you are trying to re-purpose an existing lower, then the retrofit makes more sense financially. Also, a 9mm lower will only ever be a 9mm lower, you can never convert it back to shoot 223 or any other rifle caliber so you lose that utility. The DDLES lower does have some advantages over the magwell conversions in that it will lock back on the last shot and Glock mags are far more abundant, reliable and inexpensive. It should also be disclosed that using glocks mags with a 9mm AR bolt will require some extra machining on the bolt carrier to clear the glock feed lips, so that is another factor to consider. DD also sells a bolt with this modification already performed though so solving this issue is easy unless you already have purchased a 9mm bolt. The upside is that they also provide the proper ramp angle on the 9mm bolt that, for some reason, most bolts aren't produced at the factory with. These are some of the things that i found when spec'ing out my build and what led me to the DDLES lower.

You can also buy 15rd pinned mags from RRages which will have the large body and the follower button and have the best of both worlds.

The S&W will be the least expensive route, and a fantastic bargain. You can't have a dedicated 22lr AR pattern rifle any other way for even anywhere near the cost of the smith. Now, if you already had a centerfire AR, you could get a dedicated 22lr upper, but those tend to cost as much or more than the entire S&W rifle itself. Also, you can purchase a bolt conversion for your 223 upper and while those come in under $200, there are some clear caveats with that solution to be aware of. The benefit of both of these two options are that they are not firearms and can be purchased online and both being able to share the same common lower receiver if you have a upgraded/customized one (say with a better trigger/grip/stock). OTOH, you can also customize the Smith, albeit at additional cost. To summarize, the Smith is a very cost effective option and if that is you main priority, its the best option. The other routes have thier advantages, it jsut depends on your primary goals.

Remember that, in many states, face-to-face transfers of handguns and long guns is legal without any sort of paper trail. Combine that with the fact that people aren't a criminal until they commit a crime, they can purchase said guns legally and everything is fine until a crime is committed with said guns. Of course, this leaves somewhat of a "loophole" in that even existing criminals can purchase guns face to face with such lax restrictions if the seller isn't privy to thier criminal status. I think in many states, the seller might just need to verify thier license/residency as any hard proof. They sometimes must ask the buyer if they are legally eligible to own the firearm but people can easily lie to skirt that. I've even seen folks willingly and knowingly buy/sell guns face to face out of state and over the border at those *ahem* places where buyers and sellers congregate to trade money for goods and that's a "F" violation. Even the "straw purchase" is a somewhat vague and arbitrary description of a particular process, that, in other circles of commerce, isn't an illegal action. Whats silly is that it slots in right between the "Group purchase" and "Gifting" as a concept, separated by a hair-thin and dangerous to walk line of pure intention. In general, its not as difficult as you think though. We here in NJ, being all on the up and up law-abiding responsible citizens, both you and I included, are subject to a papertrail and legal process for every transaction and so we aren't used to such lax treatment of firearm commerce.

Primarily reloading supplies (powder, primers, bullets, brass, dies, equipment, etc) for pistol, rifle and shotgun. He also has a trap range on-site so i would imagine he also sells shells and clays. There is a small selection of ammo but its all behind the counter/door and hard to see whats there. He's also an FFL and has a few handguns and a small rack of long guns on display and folks claim he has a *lot* more "in the back" but i've never inquired about his inventory, i just buy powder there.

I was just there this Sunday and Gene is well stocked. Bring cash!

You know, with the intense gun restrictions in England (i think its an all out ban), i wonder what sort of BS they (the competitors) have to endure to get their firearms into the country?

To start, that easy, get some simple passive muffs in the -30db range. Electronic ears aren't necessary right now, especially since you are new and won't be "instructing" anyone for quite some time. we've all gotten along with conversing with passive muffs for years, electronic is just a luxury. Also get some plugs to double up with indoors.

Now here's a bit of a conversation piece! Hmm, it seems some of these parts don't go together. Or do they?

Otis is all i use, i have several of thier kits. Very efficient and very effective. Thier patch system is very efficient as you can use it up to 6 times for the large panoply ones. Rarely will i ever need more than 1 patch to clean a barrel, with the only exception being dirty a**, corrosive, milsurp ammo.

although i just remembered, you have to buy the special milled bolt for the glock lower so until you get that, you can't use the upper with the DDLES lower. Its such a minor clearance cut for the glock mags, its a shame it needs that. You can also ask them if they will also tune the ramp on the bolt so it doesn't beat up the stock hammer or need a special 9mm hammer since 9mm blowback bolts are somewhat brutal on hammers.

Steve, my upper is ready and on its way back to me as we speak. Once i get it back, lets meet up at the range and try em out! I'm curious to see what a blowback vs DI upper feels like. Even if you don't have your receiver in time, we might be able to swap your upper onto my DDLES lower and give that a whack. I say maybe because my buffer and gas system is actually tuned for my specific 9mm load. BTW, RifleGear.com also resells the DD lowers, and they have them in stock which you cant say for the actual manufacturer! lol http://www.riflegear.com/p-1647-double-diamond-ar-15-9mm-glock-magazine-lower-receiver.aspx Do you have a transfer FFL? if not, i have someone i can refer you to.

An even easier to use rechargable dessicant are those made by Eva-Dry. It will go for a month or more absorbing humidity, then a quick overnight charge in a standard 110 outlet will evaporate all the absorbed moisture making it good to go again. I run one of the large sized ones in my safe along with a goldenrod and i never see humidity rise above 50% despite the outside ambient level and mine is kept in an area of the house where humidity is a concern.

Velociters are just a high velocity 22lr and a notch above mini mags and should work fine in any modern gun. Stingers, while also 22lr, are actually a little longer in both case length and overall length in order to load them that hot and as such, some barrel/gun manufacturers advise specifically advise against using them if the chamber is on the tight/short side. In the stinger, the bullet can actually engage the rifling as its chambered and cause pressure unusual spikes when fired in this condition. consult your manual or manufacturer if you aren't sure.

Where i live, i pay about $225 per quarter for water/sewer combined. Over the years, the bill has never fluctuated more than literally a couple dollars no matter how many people have lived here, how much i water the lawn or wash cars. Reason for that is the basic breakdown of my quarterly bill amounts to $200 for a mandatory "service fee" and $25 of actual usage charges. With that ratio, it hard to have any sort of billable usage spike unless they jack up our service fee. Seeing how we recently constructed a new desalinization plant, i do wonder if we'll see a price hike sometime soon.

Sweet! Does that mean i get a few bucks back? A little cashish would be icing on the cake! That was a close battle though, i wasn't sure which way it was gonna go until we tallied it up. The weather was hot but the competition was hotter! Definitely Looking forward to the next one.

With that much color "splash" on the metal, the effect is like some sort of Rorschach cave painting imagery. I see an octopus, a rocking horse, a... lol

"Sometimes you feel like a nut..." I heard that old Mounds candy bar commercial the other day and the stupid jingle is a total earworm. I find myself whistling that dumb song all the time lately. Looks like i caught one on camera. lol

Well, thanks for looking for it Nick. Damn thieves! lol Here's a bunch of stages from the rifle cam. Youtube has this new "stabilization" enhancement feature that you can apply which takes out all the jerkyness of the camera but the central focus does this eery floating thing that makes it look like a boat listing over the waves. I tried it out with the rifle cam videos and i do admit, It is a lot smoother with it turned on. For the impatient, upside down star at 2:40, lol

Thanks Nick, i appreciate it. And here's Mike shooting my rifle after his magazine debacle.

I think I left my chair at the range today. it's probably at our final stage so if anyone sees a little black armless chair, would you mind grabbing it and holding it for me?

Don't fret, there's actually hope! There's always the CZ kadet, sig 226 conversion, a 1911 with a quality 22 conversion slide and the Beretta with factory conversion as options. all will be made of quality material with top notch craftsmanship. No pot metal, polymer or shoddy construction.

Yes, for pistol caliber carbines only. A pistol carbine with a red dot on it is a really fun class! If you have one, i highly recommend you bring it out.

Is this one you just picked up from the recent CMP trip you posted about?