Dan

Thanks for the find. I just ordered a case. Great price, and re-loadable brass. The brass alone is worth around $400 if you were to purchase some new Winchester brass. Will use in my m1a, then reload for my BA.

If you belong to a shooting club in NJ that fits the Statute definition here, the "Directly" clause is not present. I interpret this as you being able to go target shooting with your guns, but on the way you stop over Mom's for a few days. This is my opinion of the law, and one of the great benefits of belonging to a shooting club in NJ.

I signed up a few months ago. Might be worth a try, as you never know when ppl can't make it at the last minute. If anyone goes, I'll be bringing my m1a scout for the class.

Just wondering if anyone from the forums will be there. Details : My link

Thanks Vlad, I agree with you, even if it is crooked in the drum, provided i have enough adjustment room for windage, it won't matter much. I highly doubt CAI zero'd the thing before releasing it. Not a huge deal considering what I paid for it.

This may be better:

Tried to center better, then took one of the opposite side as to which the original appears to be tilted.

It's difficult to tell if the sight is off-square (thanks) or the drum is just off center in the front sight base. Now that I look at it more, could be the drum and not the sight. Not sure if the sight base is canted, everything looks crooked on these style rifles to me. Tool should arrive around Wed.

Heh I thought so, but you asked which ones don't melt. Sorry couldn't resist. Bravocompany has a nice lineup of fixed and folding options from good companies, including Troy and DD. Worth checking out My link

One made of metal

About $130 from knifecenter.com. My link Oh one thing to add. It did come with a wrench type thing. It broke after using it to loosen a scope ring mount. It was very brittle apparently. I was going to call leatherman on it, but just never did, and now the broken part is lost. Ohwell. So thats the only negative experience so far.

Only 50 yards. The front sight post is canted in the post holder, like it was threaded in off-center. I'm sure that can't be good for accuracy. I'm going to unscrew and re-seat the sight post once I get the tool, see if that fixes it.

I've been very impressed with the quality of the tool. I haven't used all the functions for their intended purposes yet, but I have no doubt it will handle them well. The only thing I would like to have differently is the black finish, it is a dull matt oxide type of finish, where I prefer the DLC optional finish they offer in the Skeletool line. As far as using it on the M74, it flat our refused to work. No doubt it was tool snobbery that prevented it from happening, as the MUT literally wiped itself down with a silicon cloth after coming in contact with the M74.

Stay away from my tool Ray Ray! You made me look, and yes I discovered a sleeve in the sheath that can hold additional bits. Now I have to order a bit set, just in case some zombie killing device requires it.

Nice, grats!

Not sure on the extra bits, but has the MOLLE holder. I sorta bent the brass carbon cleaning tool trying to adjust the M74 sight.

I tried banging it with my leatherman MUT hammer end, but all that did was scratch it up a little... well more like give it character. Tool is ordered , will have it mid-next week. I really should have one anyway

Took the M74 and my M1A Scout to the range today. It was iron sight day for me, it's been a loong time. Happy to report 90 rounds through the M74 went without a hitch. All went bang and the rifle did what it was supposed to do. The sights definately need adjustment for windage. They are off about 12" to the left. Of course I do not have an AK sight adjustment tool, so that something I'm about to order after typing this. Groupings were decent, but I wasn't really trying hard as its difficult to aim sorta off the paper. No key-holing or anything like it. Nice small round holes. So far I'm pretty happy, I blame myself for not having the proper tool when it come to the sight.. but it would have been nice to be factory sighted in. Nothing against CAI, as they would probably need to jack up the $$ on the rifle to do this to account for the extra time. One thing I did note during cleaning was that the russian surplus ammo powder is probably made out of recycled tires and chimney soot. Filthy stuff. Shooting impressions... nice trigger being the Tapco G2. Has a longish pull then nice break that surprises you, no obvious hangups before the boom. Handling was good, the 5.45 round is super mild in the recoil department. I'll be more critical when I can slow fire it from the bench after I get the sights worked out. Will report back after I have the tool and can do that.

Not even a loved one/family member/child? I'm not debating using an AR for HD, or what is best for HD, just the comment that barrier penetration characteristics of your HD gun and ammo is least of your concerns when it comes to winning.

20-60x80 Konus has a great value in this arena. My link

I'll take a look at it Vlad. Going to try the CAI out tomorrow for the first time and want to do it bone stock. Afterwards while cleaning I'll check out the areas you said to look and work it if needed. Thanks for the tip!

I hope the OP has the ideas down, and can make an educated decsion based on the role and uses they want with the rifle. Wow a half case of SOST? Must have cost a fortune! edit: Unless you keep it plain, if you pin a muzzle device to a 16" , you now have a 17.5" barrel length.

No roughness issues, merely for looks.

Found this in the interweb. If you are going for fragmentation velocity of popular available 5.56 military rounds, pick your engagement range. Right tool for the job... You could also supplement a carbine with higher quality commercial hunting/self defense ammo that will probably perform much better at fragmenting at lower velocities than military stock like SS109. The military has bee hard at work creating a new round that performs well out of carbine length rifles. like the SOST round. My link

Lighter forward weight, faster handling, easier to carry/transport are things I noticed with my 14.5/pinned brake AR over my old 16" version. I'm sure it will be easier to use behind cover, etc as well. Lots of things are better in a smaller package, and typically it is a balance of tradeoffs. Like a camera, I could take a full size DSLR with a big zoom lens, or a small pocket point and shoot. Sure the larger one has better performance, but it would be overkill for snapping the occasional pic at a party, and I'd have to lug it around everywhere during the party. With the 14.5 v 16 v 20 AR lengths.. its the same concept. 300meters and under I feel the 14.5" is fine. 20 inch for up to 500meters and 16" somewhere in-between. These are my thoughts gained from researching ballistics and military papers on the intertubes. IMO, for practical self-defense sake, if something or someone trying to kill me is over 300 meters away, I'd be better off evading/escaping then going at it in a fire-fight. If you are going for precision shooting capabilities, the higher velocity would no doubt be more useful. Then it would make sense to give up carbine benefits for velocity.