Just a little shoutout for one of all time favorite Youtube Gun Channels, Hickok45. Mr Hickok45 is a gentleman that lives in TN and has one heck of a nice backyard shooting range (makes me jealous). He is ex-law enforcement and has a LONG history of using and studying guns. He is clearly a fan of guns that work although he has something nice to say about all the guns he reviews. NOT that he isn't honest... he gives you the good and the bad although clearly he is nice guy and sees the positives in the guns that he loves (Glocks, for example). If you want honest, complete, useful reviews by a man in-the-know, this channel is for you. I watch all his vids... even if I don't care about the gun or item personally, it's always fun. Oh, and I forgot to mention, he is one hell of a good shot.
Magazines
and the AR (yes, .223/5.56 is what I'm talking about):
Magpul PMags rock. I'm not kidding; they are great mags from a great American
company. They are well make, reliable and very, very sturdy (youtube the vids
of people running over them with a truck and then using em to see what I
mean).
My
question for you is... are they worth $30- $75 bucks apiece??
The ones I have cost me between 10
and 12 bucks each before the madness. I see people paying at least $30 for them
TODAY. If you talk to Magpul, the retail for the pmag is right at $15. I do
understand that cost of an item is directly related to availability of the
item. And, given the hoarding and fear-mongering going on at the moment, Pmags
are simply NOT available for you and me.
Who is buying them? I see 3 groups of people involved in the mass buyout of ALL
AR mags in the country.
Group
1 is that group of people that NEED mags for their ARs... In other
words, they have an AR or multiple ARs but have NO mags or limited mags.
Of course, "need" is the wrong word because you can live without an
AR (I know, hard to believe)... hell, if you need protection, get a wheelgun
and ammo, DONE. You see what I mean.
On the other hand, for my AR I "need" a set of mags.. at least a few
for practice and a few for protection of my home and person. Remember, anything
can break so there "needs" to be some redundancy to your Mags.. one
is not enough. But 50 might be overkill?
Group
2 is the group of people that have
plenty of mags (I'm not setting a number here but you know what I mean) but
fear that they will be stuck with 10 round mags for the rest of their life and
want to buy 50 or 100 mags... just in case. Stacking em 10 deep in the closet
somewhere. Hoarders? YES, Wrong?? To
each their own... if it doesn't F with your bros.YOU are contributing to the madness.
Group
3 is the group of people that buy out
every mag they see so they can double or triple their money... or MORE. No
joke, I've seen $600 DPMS rifles selling for $2500... WTF. Of course, if
someone has more money than sense, it works out for the seller. Do what you
want with your stuff but don't be a blue falcon. If you don't know what that
means... look it up :) SO, if you are a company or an individual that claims to be a
gun lover / supporter of the 2nd amendment and you are going blue falcon, expect your fellow gun owners in your
community to remember you. I hope your short term profit makes up for the
long term hatred you will get. Below is a special logo for you... feel free to save it and use it for your computer wallpaper, signature for your email, etc.
Okay, enough on that... it's
America, it's your stuff, treat people anyway you want... we are still free.
Well, for now, and yeah, somewhat free (the number of already existing laws in
this area ARE stunning).
As a quick recommendation.. if you
are hurting for AR or AK magazines or Ammo... check Brownells and Cabelas
DAILY. They are your friends in this area. You will catch items showing up at
"normal" prices at Cabelas although you have to fast to get em.
Brownells is working directly with Magpul to get mags as quick as possible..
backorder mags if available. They will ship in a month or two. Why buy 2 mags
for $100 now when you can buy 10 mags from Brownells and get em in a month for
around the same amount. I mean, hell guys, are you going in-country tomorrow??
Do you need them for your deployment?? If not, you can probably wait.
AND don't be afraid of the USGI
mags.. they work well and if you aren't in the field getting em run over by
trucks or tanks, they should last. Be careful getting the used, abused ones I
see for sale these days AND you need anti-tilt followers. If you buy em without
antitilt, buy some new Magpul followers and replace the old style follower...
AR
Rifles?? OMG, buy one now before it's too late!
Okay, okay, I feel like Nutnfancy (heh)...
going Full Verbose mode. But yeah, an AR IS cool... and good to have AND yeah,
it might be available in a different format in a year or so if the AWB goes
into effect (the companies will manufacture around the bs). So, if you have to
have an AR, you can spend $2500 for a DPMS or a Doublestar or some plastic POS
with a couple of PMAGS... or, you can order some kickass ARs for the same
amount. Keep your eyes open... I found new Sig 556s for $1995 yesterday... yes,
in stock. Some custom ARs fall in that range. True, true, you might have to
wait for them to be built for you but again, do you NEED it today. That's your
call... but please don't count on a plastic AR to keep you safe (range fun is
okay) :)
PART
II: Speaking of Nutnfancy...WATCH THIS...
DO IT.
PART III Free Pmags:
I have a couple of PMags (30 rounders, sorry NY, CA, etc.) that I'd like to give away. It's easy, comment once on this blog, and become a "follower" of my inane blogs. For each 10 comments I get (unique commenters) I will random draw a winner and send it to you. Again, check if a 30 round mag is legal in your state.. if not, I'll send you something else as a "WINNER".
The magazines are 30 rounders, 5.56, new in wrapper and FDE (how cool is that).
22Plinster is a guy on youtube that does trick shots with his 22s... pretty amazing stuff. In his latest vid he "curves a bullet"... a shot I couldn't make (without a lot of luck). Check it out and if you are new to his work, look through his past videos
WOW, for under 300 bucks MSRP, this is a badass shotgun. Imported by IAC, the M98 Pump Shottie holds 5+1 and ghost ring sights (or a Pic rail). Reminds me of my Mossberg 590A1 but substantially cheaper :) Check out a review from Urban Tiger
I might consider one for my next shotgun.. thoughts?
This is a strange but good day for me... I have the day off from work. I think this is the first company I've worked for that actually takes the day off. Not complaining, although I can feel my customers getting anxiety that I will get to deal with tomorrow. Until then I'll enjoy hanging out and working on my AR lower. And, in case you wondered, I'm a big fan of MLK... one of my heroes. He had a lot of good things to say, did a lot of good for this country AND was a gun owner!
AR-15 Lower:
That's right, I own one of those evil black guns. Well, mostly evil I guess, part of it is FDE. Okay, if you saw my post about my AMD 65 you know I own TWO... ouch. Don't worry Mr Biden, I plan of getting them both cerakoted PINK so they will be safe. My lower is a DTI lower that I picked up for $79 bucks less than a year ago... ahhhh, the good ole days!
Add caption
This picture from DTI can't tell me what to do... I'm not adding a damn caption!
The Pistol Grip is a Hogue Ghillie Tan grip with a death-head impressed in it.
So, I put a Magpul trigger guard, replacing the cheap black plastic piece that came from the DPMS LPK that I used to build the lower out. I also replaced the stock trigger with a Spike's Tactical Battle Trigger.
Spike's Tactical Battle Trigger:
I highly recommend this trigger upgrade from any of the standard triggers.. it is SMOOOTH. And, for around 60 bucks, it can't be beat. One day I want to test a 2 stage trigger... not that I'm doing any serious long distance shooting but it sounds interesting (and reminded me of my Glock triggers).
Magpul BAD Lever
On recommendation from a couple of sites I bought and installed the Magpul BAD Lever (Battery Assist Device). I certainly use it but honestly, am not sure this is really a "required upgrade" ($30 or so). I would be curious if anyone reading this has any feedback. Leave a comment if you have a thought. Clearly, it's easy to use with the trigger finger and easier than the standard bolt release but it teaches a different way to release the bolt and if I had to transition to an AR without it...
MAGPUL MOE Stock:
I am using the FDE MOE stock to match my upper (pics up next week when I get it back from the gunsmith)
I thought about spending the extra dough to buy the CTR stock. The CTR stock has a friction "lock" that will keep the stock 100% still while the MOE has the standard click in 5 position stock arrangement so you have a little bit of wriggle. In my experience, while actually shooting there is no difference so I saved a little and went with the MOE. Again, any comments appreciated. (about $50)
And here it is... with the sun coming through the window (if I pulled back a little you would see my lazyass greyhound laying in the sun beside it)..
As an FYI, my wife bought me the AR and most of my other firearms... best wife ever! :) So, everyone have a great MLK day... enjoy the freedoms that MLK and so many others fought for and died for... Comments welcome... Peace, J
If you haven't seen anything from this guy, you have probably been living under a rock. I have enjoyed his videos for awhile and I have started to see more of his vids outside of youtube including all over facebook, gun blogs, etc. AND, rightfully so! Colion rocks, has an excellent, entertaining, intelligent view on guns, the gun community and gun owners. Also, if you watch the Walking Dead (and if not, why not???), his commentary on that series is hilarious. If I ever meet the man, I'm gonna shake his hand and say "thank you" If you haven't watched any of his stuff... it's time...
I got REALLY lucky... I ordered an AMD 65 from centerfiresystems.com (love those guys) the week BEFORE the madness hit. I cringed about the 499 price, I mean hell, it was only 399 a year ago and I passed that up. I finally went for it.... I coulda got a used WASR for 450-500 but I wanted something with a higher quality build. I couldn't afford Arsenal (one day) and the AMD was available so I went for it. Now, of course, I'm glad, in a land where used WASRes are bringing 1000 bucks my little AMD is a treasure. Here is what it looked like when I first got it. That's right, not one but TWO evil handgrips...
Mission First Tactical
If you know me, you know that I like to change stuff up... I was looking around for something different and found the company First Mission Tactical. Very cool stuff, American made and they have a Grey color... mmmmmm. I've done AKs in wood, evil black and OD.
I replaced the foregrip with a TEKKO foregrip and the remaining pistol grip with a badass grip from MFT
Both the front strap and the rear strap are replaceable and there are three options for both. Also, you can store batteries, etc.
MORE ADDITIONS (I'm Talkin about Money,Money):
Also, a dangerous thing for me is youtube. I find lots of additional parts or replacements that I need to try... in this case, I picked up an MFer, which makes it faster to replace mags on an AK... more AR-esque (but still cool)
Solar Tactical MFer
Here is a good review from DRFTraining:
This is a really cool addition to your AK and makes for some fast reloads...
AMD65TECH
Here is a required upgrade for the AMD 65... it's the addition of a cheekpiece from AMD65Tech. If you have one, check with Gio, he'll hook you up!
Here is Urban Tiger reviewing the cheekpiece...
TROMIX
I added an extended charging handle to my AMD (from Tromix)... not needed, maybe, but it makes charging your AK faster and more reliable.
I'll get some pictures of my finished product up soon. What do you guys think... if you own an AMD 65, did you go "stock" or add some upgrades?? Later, J
Another Gun Blog.... so many gun blogs, so little time. I know it's true and I'm staring another one. I might be the only one that ever reads but that's cool. My end goal is to review guns and gear (when I get time), point out videos, articles, etc. that I either like OR don't like. You'll know the difference. Interesting timing? Hell yeah, the government is attacking our 2nd Amendment rights like there is no tomorrow... I will not do a lot of political stuff, unless I do.
You can call me Jester7 and I like guns.
~~~~~~
UrbanTiger
Here is one of my favorite youtube channels... MR UrbanTiger. Every week, unless I get bored I'll point out some channels that you might be unfamiliar with... like this one.
The man knows his AKs (and other guns as well, but who cares about em)
