High Exposure

Tie it to your bumper and drag it behind your car. You will never notice that smudge again Remember, with firearms it's like your Mom told you, it is what's on the inside that counts. As long as it goes bang and hits what you are aiming at, it's all good.

Not sure.... It would probably increase production costs to make a more comics yes magazine with a channel to fit the rim. It would take away the ability to stagger the rounds a bit which may effect capacity, and it may make the mag less reliable if the rims have a channel to get hung up in. .22 LR in a semi auto firearm can be finicky enough, no need to make it worse. Again, I don't know for sure, these are just guesses.

The side to side movement in a .22 mag is from the .22 cartridges having rims - unlike your 9mm - and the case walls of the cartridges can't sit together tightly contacting each other. Without you having inspected each round before seating in the mag there is no way to tell whether the cartridge wa deformed before, during, or after feeding. Without pulling the round apart there is no way to tell if the round was a dud or not - uses you try to shoot it again. It only happened once out of 250 rounds you say, that leads one to believe it is an ammo issue and not a firearm issue. Personally, I wouldn't worry about it unless it starts happening regularly.

FTF = Failure to Feed or Failure to Fire, which did you have? Either way there is no definitive way to tell by a single photo of a rounds. Sorry.

I regularly conceal a G22 or G35 with no issues. As stated it can be done with the right holster and a proper belt designed to carry a gun. Look at In-The-Waistband (IWB) holsters, I have found they work best for concealing larger guns.

CAA is cheaply made garbage. Avoid at all costs. While they are more expensive, VLTOR IMOD and EMOD, B5 & LMT SOPMOD, and the Magpul ACS and STR stocks all have storage compartments for batteries and will serve you much better.

Meh, he ripped off the Krauts.

I am curious as well.... Follow up question, what two ammo types/brands?

^ This Isn't this the crap that dope Pincus pushes? ETA: It is worse than I thought. They are associated with "Front Sight" the timeshare salesmen of firearms classes, Ignatius Piazza. No thanks you can keep it.

That's because yours never has. Arfcom is the worst. There may be a decent thread there occasionally and they have a decent "reference" section - their "how to AR" section is very good - but on the whole I have seen more bad info and Internet commando bullying there than I care to remember. No argument here about M4C. They are even worse.

Arfcom is the blind leading the blind. Guys claiming to be gurus that have chased more quality people off their forum than they have kept. It's a wretched hive of scum and villainy. Take everything you find there with a grain of salt and a skeptical eye. You got never-have-beens telling industry professionals how it is. Guys that buy a Bushamster, fire 200 rounds in 3 years through it and say the gun is perfect. These are the guys that keep Cheaper Than Dirt and Sportsman's Guide in business, buying all the cheap crap they sell. Every now and then there is some good info there, but for the most part it is hot garbage. Just saying'. I will take info from this forum over Arfcom or M4C.net any day of the week. As far as the "my life depends on it" I think you missed the point. It has nothing to do with what the "other guys" are using. And you can stow the hyperbole, our men and women are being killed by cowards with small arms that were built to a standard, not in a back alley with soda cans ARs work. We know this, but they need to be built a certain way with certain materials to be as reliable and long lasting as we need. There are companies out there that purposefully cut corners (Armalite, Olympic Arms, Rock River, Bushamster/Windham, the list goes on) to save a buck. They are gambling that most AR owners are going to buy a rifle, fire 100 or 200 rounds a year through it and that is it. These people will love their carbines, at 150 rounds a year they will last forever and they are all the rifle they will ever need. Other users are more discerning. They train often, shoot a lot, and expect more. Some of these people look at their rifle as a tool for work, others as insurance against hard times or as protection from evil. Some of them quite literally bet their life that their rifle will work daily. For these people those lesser carbines are not enough. They find the faults as they test their gear and use it hard. They quickly discover that they can not depend on that rifle and correctly decide that their life is worth more than the $250 they saved buying the "just as good as" carbine. Just because your frame of reference is different than mine, don't tell me that my betting my life on my rifle and expecting it to work every time is an over reaction. It is not just a hobby or fun competition for everyone that has a rifle.

This mirrors my experience exactly. The first AR I bought was a Bushamster XM-15. I had to replace every part of that gun to get it to the point where I trust it enough. The only parts that are original are the upper and lower receivers. It cost me more to bring that rifle to standard than it cost new. Fit and finish mean jack and sh!t, in the big scheme of things. That phrase is akin to telling a bud you are setting up on a blind date that "she has a great personality". You want a rifle that will run and will last, look for guns that are built to the TDP or exceed them. BCM, LMT, Colt, Noveske, Daniel Defense, these are names you can trust. S&W is the only carbine that I would consider that isn't truly built to mil-spec. Be an informed consumer so you aren't disappointed. If only I knew then what I know now or had a place like this to learn before buying...

There aren't many option for 20 round sized mags anymore. ESS TAC makes a pouch called a "Toaster Pouch" that might work. It has a piece of nylon that acts as an "elevator" that pops the mag up out of the pouch a bit for easier access.

^^^ Yup well said! Don't forget those "medium" pebbles are moving quite a bit faster than the "slightly-larger-but-still-medium-sized pebbles".

Point of Order - We are trained to shoot to stop the aggressor's actions, not to kill. A very important distinction shared by everyone that carries a gun be it Police, CCW, or someone defending their home. Yes, often times that means aim at the center of mass of the biggest peice of meat we can see and press the trigger until it you achieve the desired results: a change in behavior - namely stop trying to seriously injure or kill me or someone else. The human body is an amazing and resilient machine, surpassed only by the human mind. The mind can keep someone in a fight long after their body has died. There are plenty of instances where the assailant continues to fight long after they should have died and the ME, or sometimes ER/Trauma Surgein determines that the badguy was hit by multiple "fatal rounds" that just weren't immediately fatal. There are also plenty of instances where one or two rounds has stopped the fight (the last few police shootings in central NJ were of the 1-3 round variety) There are even instances where a complete miss has ended the fight. The only constant in a gunfight is that the badguy gets the final vote on when the fight is over and they only way to determine that is by observing their actions. If his/her actions continue to be a threat - keep firing. You typically will not see your hits, so the only indication that your intervention is working - ie you are getting hits, and your hits are in a critical area - is your target's behavior.

Like I said, there are many options. Where to put the light, what kind of switch (momentary, tape switch, click-on/click-off), what other items need to go on the rifle, what could interfere with what, what is my hand position on the tube, etc.... Once you answer these, you can start looking at mounts to work for what you want. Currently on my rifles I like the light between 10:00 and 11:30 (FSB being 12:00) If I was limited to using the slots on the tube to mount, I would probably use something from IWC, like their Mount-N-Slot version of the TH Thorn Tail - http://www.impactweaponscomponents.com/product/radial-universal-light-mount-n-slot-for-handheld-lights/ I currently don't have any tube style handguards on any of my rifles - although I am looking at putting one of Troy's offerings (the Alpha or maybe the Delta with the cutout for the FSB) on one of them. On 3 of my rifles with MOE handguards I use the MOE Scout Mount Left - all these carbines have mounted is a light and vert grip, so the MOE gets it done for now. On my 3 railed rifles I have a LaRue LT606 mounted at 12:00 with the light to the left of the mount on one, a VTAC mount at 12:00 with the light to the left on another, and a VTAC mount at 9:00 with the light above on my S&W M&P15-22. All options put the lights in very close to the same position and all rifles have a vertical grip that I use as a handstop in the "half-retarded" grip as a reference point to place my hand right where I want it to run the switches (I prefer click-on/click-off or "clicky" switches). They make some nice stuff Their milled Glock slides with the ATOM mount are nice too... And..... You should see the lever gun stuff they are messing with now - a light mount for a SF Scout light and a sidesaddle type ammo carrier for a Levergun. Damn sexy.

This thread (from 2010) from the same forum has a lot of the issues I was talking about illustrated: http://www.marlinowners.com/forum/45-70-govt/45137-long-wait-get-ultimate-disappointment-my-new-1895sbl.html

Good news all around! Thank you brother. Were you able to inspect it for any of the common issues (canted front sight barrel, bad rear sight cut, cracked stock/gaps were stock meets the receiver, etc...) before buying it, or did you have to order it? Thanks again.

Lunker, have you found a 1895GBL? I have been looking for one for quite some time with no luck. Any word on if marlin has fixed the QC issues of the recent past?

Of it were me in would spend a little more than $1k and get a BCM. For under $1k I would look at the S&W M&P line.

There are a bunch of ways. Personally, I would use this: http://www.unitytactical.com/products/fusion/

Nothing yet, but I think the next steps from here are gonna be cool. I am a gadget guy/gear queer. I openly admit it and embrace it. I like innovation, I like ingenuity, and am intrigued by clever things. I prefer utility and efficiency. I enjoy trying new things especially when they work as advertised and are an improvement. I like when I can see the thought that went in to something and it makes sense to me, I enjoy watching tech evolve. I don't care so much for different for its own sake, if I did I would have an XCR or a Sig AK/AR abomination (if I thought either of them ran as well). Instead I have a handful of ARs each one with some variation in my quest for what works better for me. Until recently people said the same kinds of things about piston ARs compared to DI ARs as is being said about the Keymod and 1913 rails/tubes in this thread. They offer little to no advantage to a casual shooter, they run reportedly slightly cleaner and cooler over a long period of sustained fire, offer an arguably slight advantage when running a suppressor, they are more expensive, front heavy, complex and use proprietary parts not commonly stocked. They don't really do anything that much better (or better at all) than a DI gun, and the shooting community could easily do without them, and not notice a void. However now they are fairly accepted and widespread. Does that mean I am going to go out and buy Keymod rails for all of my ARs? Nope. Does that mean I am going to go buy 1 Keymod and try it out? Probably not for a little while (I haven't bought a piston gun either). But I will watch it closely as I am eager to see what shakes as more and more people try their hand at it. ETA: F ARMS and F Dick Swann. ARMS has been helping terrorists walk away unscathed since 1998. They suck. I think secure attachment points is far from a red herring. I wasn't talking so much about the mounts themselves (and I do prefer LaRue, ADM, VTAC light mounts and Gear Sector) as the attachment of a 1913 rail to a tube style Handguard. That is two separate parts requiring two separate means of attaching that are stacked on top of each other. To me that seems redundant and unnecessary with twice the chance of failing. and I agree, witness marks and Blue Loctite can go a long way to ensuring that is less likely to happen. Magpul makes great direct attach accessories (MVG, Scout Mount, MOE Sling Attachment Points,) for their MOE hand guards - the Keymod just takes it a step further.

Yup. We use that and Hornady TAP 00B. I really want to get my hands on some of the new-ish Federal Flight Control #1 buckshot.

That's why you still find a 12gauge in police car racks in most towns. I use the gauge for all animal calls like that. Right tool for the right job.

What it was designed for and who actually uses it are two different things. There are probably more AR type rifles currently in the hands of civilians than US military users at any point in the day. Does that mean that ARs are a civilian market weapons. The SCAR was a flop as far as the US Military is concerned, the civilian market is now driving innovation on that platform. The industry is so intertwined it is impossible to separate. Look at all the stuff guys are using now compared to what they started this current war with. It is leaps and bounds ahead of what the had 10 years ago. A lot of that was driven by the civilian market designing gear for the military that could become a COTS solution to a supply issue. As a matter if fact, there are currently a few different requests out there to upgrade the mil-std rails now in current use by US forces. One is the M4 FRAK solicitation: https://www.fbo.gov/?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=36b04fa8e5e8d8792dc018b065d03288&tab=core&_cview=1 Is the keymod on any of these solicitation lists? I don't know. The hyperbole I was referring to was the claim that they will burst into flame when in contact with a hot barrel. C'mon, you know that won't happen. The "tolerance stacking" comes into play in a few ways: 2 attachment systems that could fail instead of one - causing a loss of zero of a sighting system, the loss of sensitive equipment (DBAL) or mission essential gear (lights, slings). The loss of any of these abilities can mean non mission capabale personnel, a failed objective or worse. By adding a section of bolt on 1913 rail you are not saving all the weight or reducing the profile as much as you could. The tube style hand guards are getting there, but the aren't there yet. The Keymod is a step in the right direction for a fighting rifle IMO. Definitely a step further than a carbon fiber tube setup. Again, I don't totally disagree with everything you are saying. There is not a lot of support for this product, they are expensive for little to no weight savings. I just think you are viewing this product from very limited frame of reference. Personally, I would like a slimmer lighter handguard with direct mount equipment options. I am hoping this takes off, in a big way.