The Hobbit Hole XXXVIII - There and Back Again!

[osagebowman]

Good Luck with your parts-n-stuff. The next one here is mid-march. Ammo is always a good thing to look for.

[osagebowman]

Brownells put back together stuff can’t be beat. “Assemble in reverse order” suuuure.

[300winmag]

Brownells put back together stuff can’t be beat. “Assemble in reverse order” suuuure.

Finally made it to the range today, the major order of business being first fire of the Beretta 3032. It went well, although both the DA and SA trigger functions need more break-in. Vey comfortable to shoot, with just a hint of "snap" with the 40-year-old Mexican .71gr ammo I wanted to use up. My theory is to burn up as much oddball ammo right away, to see if there are any surprises.

I did the same thing for "little brother", the Beretta 21a. It looks like it will shoot almost anything that has a 40gr bullet to give the slide enough impulse to function. Also, in comparison to the .32, the DA trigger pull was almost as light and smooth as the SA pull. Since I bought it used, but in pristine condition, I don't know if they all work that way, or if someone did me a big favor in break-in. It's amazing how much fun can be packed into such a tiny package.

I wish I could say the same thing about the Kimber Solo, but that debugging process is much more painful, with real pain pain involved. First, the 9mm 115gr round makes no noticeable difference from the "brutal" 125gr. I may have to try some pricey 9mm lightweight defense rounds to see what the low end of the weight range does.

My method of operating the slide seems pretty foolproof and reliable now. The weapon is still very slick to hold (c'mon, someone, make some soft, "grippy" grips, at least), and it flew halfway out of my hand on one shot before I recovered it.

Add to that the fact that I think I'm getting the flu (with my mom scheduled to come home Monday), I wrestled 400 lbs of snowblower again today, and it took over two hours for the salesman to complete all the paperwork so they could sell a wheelchair for my mom, and that's about my entire day in a nuthouse.

[Squantos]

Have ya tried getting a hole punch or even a grommet hole cutter etc to make friction “dots” from skateboard tape ?

I put em on my slides and such if surface area is slick and no purchase can be obtained for chamber check, grip etc ...

I degrease the surface, clean again with isopropyl alcohol or like product. They last me for decades of carry and work very well. Big sheets of different surface grit are cheap. Assorted hole punches for dots or cut to desired shape to enhance the griping surfaces.

My new Glock 35 came in today so applied such to front sides of slide for that and going to range tomorrow to wring out the new combat tupperware before I CHL/CCW such.

Plan is to modify that with a KKM aftermarket 357SIG barrel so I have the 40 Short & Wimpy caliber and 357SIG proprietary caliber sibling from SIG. My advantage arms .22 Slide conversion for my Glock 34 fits the Glock 35 really well. Goal is to finish my mods on the Glock 35 and ultimately have a travel rig w/ 9mm, 40S&W, 357SIG and .22 Long rifle.

Also have an old Grendel P30 in .22 Mag, seeking the new variant from Keltec PMR30.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qImEP8tDn8k

The Keltec version is new . Can’t find one locally yet so will wait to compare the two.

Hope yer Mom’s days are easier.....Stay safe !

[300winmag]

Goal is to finish my mods on the Glock 35 and ultimately have a travel rig w/ 9mm, 40S&W, 357SIG and .22 Long rifle.

Once my barrels from Bar-Sto arrive, my Sig P229 will be configured like that. They say they're in the mail now.

I just bought six different brands of 9mm ammo, weighing from 100g to 82gr. Pricey little devils. Ball ammo is our best friend.

Once I get the ammo/recoil problem licked, I'll look at the "slippery" problem, which doesn't mean a thing if I can't find proper ammo. If any high-paid magazine reviewer says the Solo digested everything up to 147gr +P with no end-user problems, I'll contract out g'nad to provide him a workshop in proper firearm evaluations.

[ExGeeEye]

Pieces and parts successful.

How hard is it to build up a good M-forgery from, say, a $150 lower receiver?

[300winmag]

How hard is it to build up a good M-forgery from, say, a $150 lower receiver?

The trickiest part is building the upper receiver, which I have avoided like the plague. I don't like messing with the barrel extension, or even the gas system if I can avoid it. I waited for a special at Midway on an "economy" DPMS flat-top upper on sale for $300. You'd have to pay more just for the individual parts. I swapped out the charging handle, and installed one of those laser-engraved dust covers, both relatively nickel-dime parts.

Much more customization went into building up the lower. More custom parts can be used, and most are easy to get to. Also, not everything has to be done at one time.

The single most expensive assembly in the lower is the fire control mechanism. Even GI parts can vary in quality. The biggest danger is shallow hardening of the trigger parts, which can cause a nice trigger job to go bad. It's the choice of $150 for stock parts that might tune up nicely, or $250 for a ready-to-install target trigger.

Brownells has a complete set of videos on how to build an AR15 from the ground up. They also have a configurator to call out all the custom parts needed to build one that suits your purposes.

Bottom line: wait for a pre-built quality upper that does everything you want, and then carefully pick and choose the parts and gimmicks you want in your lower. That's how I built my last two "AR15s". One uses an AR57 upper and FN 50-round mags, the other is my M4E(economy) that I got with the sale price on the complete upper.

[ExGeeEye]

I saw upper receivers there— “complete with bolt carrier group”, mostly— in various configurations. Lowers were bare, mostly. It seemed to me— though my reasoning may be faulty— that the hard part is getting the little bits into the lowers, then picking out an upper and poking the takedown pins into place.

I did like the idea of the unitized trigger group you showed us during your m-forgery adventure.

[300winmag]

It seemed to me— though my reasoning may be faulty— that the hard part is getting the little bits into the lowers, then picking out an upper and poking the takedown pins into place.

You'll be doing some semi-serious gunsmithing, so you should invest in a few tools. Most important is a vise block that lets you clamp your lower rightside up or upside down. You need to free up as many hands as possible. It makes all the other jobs easier.

Next, a combo wrench for working on the stock, and possibly the barrel extension. With either an A2 fixed stock, or A3 sliding stock, you'll need it. Also, many other weapons that use M16 magazines, like Sig, H&K, DPMS ACR, and a lot of .22 clones will benefit from having these tools around.

Third, get a hammer block to protect the lower whenever you do trigger work. You don't want that hammer beating up the thin web just behind the magazine well when the upper receiver is removed. There are lots of specialized tools that are worthwhile of the job is critical, or you just do a lot of the stuff. I have four AR15 platforms (five, counting the .308), and have done major mods to two more for friends. For me, the tools are an investment in ease of use, and getting it done right the first time.

As far as accuracy goes, two things, both in the lower receiver, are critical. One is the trigger. The other is some way to consistently lock the upper and lower together without either slop or excessive force needed to do the job.

Here's a shot of part of the lower receiver around the pistol grip. There are five different aftermarket mods shown.

The Demon Tactical rear takedown pin will benefit any AR15-type, regardless of other accuracy mods. It replaces the rear takedown pin, and allows you to snug up the final fit to whatever type of consistent pressure you prefer. Brand X uppers and Brand Y lowers may not snug up to your satisfaction, but this will let you "tune" it to anything you feel comfortable with.

Every time you break down the weapon, you may have to spend a few minutes with a small screwdriver (or even your thumbnail) on the left side of the pin to expand the bronze sleeve to your satisfaction. But once it's down, the two assemblies are clamped together consistently on all three axes.

Also in the picture are the Magpul pistol grip (great ergonomics), and Magpul fixed extra-large trigger guard. Gene Stone designed a great weapon, but missed out on some of the finer points of ergonomics. So did Mikhail Kalashnikov. And if you're buying all your fire control parts, pick out an ambidextrous selector if you like the concept.

Finally, this picture is of my "suburban defense carbine", based on the AR57 upper receiver.

The magazines with the 29gr hollow points have low penetration, but excellent wounding power. The 40gr blue tips can easily take care of zombies to 100m, which is more than their AK47s can do. I think the front takedown pin and the non-functioning bolt hold-open are the only stock parts in the lower receiver, just because I couldn't see a need to replace them. I like this setup better than my origianl PS90, simply because so much of it uses my 40 years of M16 shooting and gunsmithing experience.

If you can only remember one thing, remember "Brownells".

[ExGeeEye]

Thank you very much. I’ll probably be bugging you about this later (much later; the budget and other goals mean I wouldn’t buy the first piece until June at the earliest).

[osagebowman]

I’ll second the skate-board tape; it was a common mod at the last sig-shoot I attended.

RE: gun writers, heck, when was the last time you saw a ‘gun test’ that wasn’t positive to effusive about said test gun?

Good luck on your testing of the 9mm ammo, I’ve seen the others but haven’t tried any of them.

[osagebowman]

This rain should be a snow-eater. Just in time for the next round. That fog never did burn off.

[Overtaxed]

Yep.

It appears that I have acquired a moat. At least all the heavy hail-producing stuff is missing me (knock on wood.)

[ExGeeEye]

I think my comfort zone for a piece of this type would be

(1) as close to the M16A2 as legally possible, with regard to function, configuration and ammo — for familiarity’s sake

(2) but I quite like the shorter M4

(3) and I think I’d rather have a gas piston than a gas tube.

[Overtaxed]

[Overtaxed]

RIP Jane Russell

[SuziQ]

Yeah, I just saw that thread. She was such a beautiful woman!

[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]

Thanks to the Freeper Canteen. Only three questions! (My Dad's nickname in his family was 'Doc'):

You Are Doc

If you're not already a doctor, you should probably be one. You are a total brainiac.
You are extremely intellectual, and sometimes you find it hard to relate to other people because of it.

You're just on a completely different wavelength than everyone else. You are lost in your collection of facts and ideas.
Even though you make everyone around you feel a bit dumber, they like having you around. Your wisdom is always appreciated.

Which of the Seven Dwarfs Are You?

Blogthings: If Quizzes Are Outlawed, Only Outlaws Will Take Quizzes

[g'nad]

soo... quarterly MRI today... all clear... you know the drill...

[ExGeeEye]

sooo...Shootmoot II at your place this summer?

I missed the last one :(