AR-15 Build

So I decided to pick now, the beginning of 2013 in the middle of one of largest gun buying panics, to build my first AR-15. In this post I am going to stay mainly with what I have learned thus far into my build in the hope that anyone else who is looking at building their own “black rifle” can do so with confidence.

The Upper

Throughout this post you will see a common theme of me getting lucky as far as finding parts. The stripped upper that I found at my local gun shop is no exception. I was able to find a Noveske stripped upper for a great price. I was also able to grab most of the other parts that I needed at that time as well. I will be doing more posts once I get a feel for the parts on what I think of each part individually. The barrel that I found is marked SA 5.56 1/9. I was able to pick it up at another gun store for a great price of $125. I chose Magpul MOE hand guards in Foliage Green. At the point of writing this post I am only waiting on a bolt carrier group to complete the entire upper assembly. 

Lower

Since I started off focusing on the upper for this build my lower has far less done for it. I was able to find a Spikes Tactical stripped lower at my LGS and found a buffer tube assembly with stock at a recent gun show for right at $50. At this point these are all of the parts that I have for it. I am basically waiting on a lower parts kit to finish it off. 

Assembly

The assembly of the upper was actually easier than I thought it was going to be. It was achieved with the only specialty AR tool being the armorer’s wrench. This is really a must so get one, and get a nice one. I did not get a vise block to hold the upper, but instead used wood blocks in my vice to hold the barrel. I was able to tighten both the barrel nut and the flash hider with this setup. For installing the pins in the gas block and the forward assist I used a small brass hammer (of the Harbor Freight variety) and a small punch. I have not assembled the lower yet as I have not gotten a LPK for it, but having done one in the past it is not a huge undertaking.

Hopefully I will have some pictures of my build to post up here shortly, It is turning out to be a really nice looking rifle. I hope that if you are thinking about building your own rifle that you give it a chance. It is an amazing learning experience as far as understanding this rifle and how it works. It is truly an amazing design. If you are worried about finding parts in this climate let me tell you that there is really nothing to worry about at least in my area. Parts are there. You may have to do a little bit of searching, but if I was not on a strict budget my rifle would have been done yesterday as I found all the parts that I need to finish at reasonable prices. Unfortunately I’m going to have to save up a bit more so I can finish her off. 

 

-WSCBS 

Legal Concealed Carry

I thought I would start off my first theory type post with a hot ticket item, concealed carry. I’m going to use this post to cast a different view on concealed carry than you get from most people who post about it. I have been carrying concealed for a couple of months now and I want to share what it is like to get started from someone who has just been there. 

The points I mainly want to get across…

• When should you start the process
• What do you need
• What its like at first
• What you learn in the first couple of months (well that’s a lot of information… let’s stick to some key points)

So, lets start at the top. When should you start the process of getting a license to carry concealed in your state. The obvious answer is of course, when YOU are ready to. But, there is much more to it than that. Obviously you have to make sure that you legally can carry in your state. If not, start writing your lawmakers to get it changed so that you can. You then need to make sure that you’re marksmanship is up to the task. Many people rush out and buy their first handgun and immediately sign up for the next available CHL class (if you are in Texas). Speaking from the Texas standpoint, the course that you take is not to teach you how to use your weapon. It is on you to do that, and then be able to demonstrate that in the qualification. Do yourself, and literally everyone around you a favor by spending 6 months to a year learning how to shoot and handle your weapon in a defensive manner. This does not mean slow fire at the static range. You need real life situation training to prepare yourself to start carrying a gun on your person every day (more on that bit later).  I promise it will be worth it in the long run. For some people, that small bit of training will be enough for them to decide that, “Hey, this might not be for me.” Either you are unable, or unwilling to run your weapon in the manner that is needed. That is fine! Believe it or not, everyone is not cut out for this. If you follow my advice about learning to use a weapon defensively first, you will know exactly when you are ready to take the class and start the process of obtaining your license. 

 Let’s move on to what gear you need starting off. While this may seem fairly obvious at the big picture level, there is a lot to think about when selecting gear. First off, following the law is mandatory. If your state requires a license, get it. If you are at the mental state required for carrying a weapon on your person, there is no excuse for breaking the law. Next, it’s time to pick out your handgun. There are many different types and styles available to you (so many that a different post is going to be required for handgun selection), but pick a gun that you will carry everyday and that you are accurate with. “Well that sounds simple enough…” It’s not, I promise. From there you need to pick out a quality holster to match it. Please don’t skimp any money here. This is one of the most important parts of concealed carry, yet many people get too caught up in the weapon selection that they grab a cheap holster and shove the gun it there. I will be doing some reviews on some of the excellent holsters that I choose to use as soon as I get a chance. But as guidance for now, choose a holster that is made to fit your gun, and plan on spending $50- $100 on it. Also plan on grabbing several different types of holsters as you will quickly learn that what works for one guy on the internet, won’t do anything for you. From there you need to look at a quality gun belt. Many of you reading this are going to think, “I’ve got a good belt that I use for everything,can’t I just use that?” Do yourself a favor and just trust me on this one. your holster is going to fit so much better to you, be so much more comfortable on you, and most importantly it’s going to help you conceal your gun. Don’t skim!! Make sure it’s think enough that it won’t fold over when you apply weight to it. 

So you’ve got a handgun, extra magazines(most new guns come with at least one extra, if not buy more), holster, and a good belt, you are ready to go right? Not really. Many people, as well as I, feel that it’s best to have an alternate means of defense. Let’s consider it a de-escalation devise. It’s the thing you are first going to pull out that is going to first give you an advantage, and second try and convince this other person to stop what they are doing. I, and many others, choose a combat style flashlight for those purposes. Let’s face it, bad things happen in the dark. Give yourself the advantage of illumination to turn the tables on your attacker.

Okay, so you’ve got everything prepared and now your are ready to walk out into public carrying a loaded firearm. Let me tell you it’s like no other feeling. While you know that what you are doing is completely legal, you are probably going to feel very much in the wrong. Plus the first time you have a bunch of little kids running around you, you are going to feel like a real idiot for having a weapon right next to them. But stick with it!!! Carry every day, and embrace the situations that you are put in. Learn from them. You are going to make some mistakes, just don’t let them turn deadly. Soon it will feel much more normal to have your weapon on you at all times, and you will even start to miss having it with you when you don’t.

Honestly, much of that last paragraph sums up what you will learn in the first couple of months carrying your weapon. So, I will use this time to hit upon a few key points. First, the correct mindset is required in order to responsibly carry a loaded weapon in pubic. If you cannot do so responsibly, DON’T DO IT! The second you get your license, your life is going to change. You must be responsible with all of your actions with or without the gun and live accordingly. Don’t take the decision to carry a weapon about you lightly. It is perfectly okay to realize that it is not for you. I would personally rather see you not carry if you are not in the right mindset for it. It’s better for everyone. 

There is a wealth of information out there on the web. Read as much of it as you can. You will see trends in the way people think, and you will also see ideas that you will not agree with. Take everyone’s information worth a grain of salt until proven otherwise. 

-WSCBS

Glock 27 Gen 3 Review

Let’s start the review portion on my blog with one of my favorite pistols for concealed carry, the Glock 27. For those of you who do not know, the 27 is the smallest sized Glock pistol chambered in 40 S&W.

My pistol was purchased used, or should I say traded for, about 4 months ago. I traded a gen 4 Glock 17 (full-sized 9mm) for it as my Texas CHL was being processed at the time and I wanted a good candidate for full time concealed carry. Let me tell you, it doesn’t get much better than this for a fully featured concealable pistol chambered in a defensive caliber. But is the 40 S&W the best caliber for this gun?? That has yet to be seen.

I have personally been carrying this gun as much as legally possible for the last couple of months and have shot  about 230 rounds through it of all kinds of ammunition. This thing eats it all without any issue. From the most aggressive JHP rounds to FMJ rounds this gun likes it all. I have found that the 180gr bullets are much more controllable in this pistol as compared to their 165gr counterparts. The 165’s are just too “snappy” when shooting store bought FMJ rounds. In defensive rounds the 165’s were not as “snappy”, and were comparable to most of the 180gr bullets that I’ve shot through it. While I have not shot a ton of rounds through this gun, this is definitely a well used pistol. It has probably had several thousand rounds run through it, yet it still runs good as new.

Let’s look at some positives and negatives about this pistol.

Positives:

• Small Size 
  • This is a concealed carry firearm, there is no looking around that. If you are looking for a fun range toy, while this is a great shooter and can be a lot of fun, you should probably look at some of the larger versions. The grip and slide length on this gun lend itself very well to concealed carry, and I often carry it with only a tee-shirt or polo shirt un-tucked over it. It is also possible to tuck-in a shirt and conceal it quite well with the proper holster. I have also used a shoulder holster styled set-up for carrying it with much success.
• Famous Glock reliability
  • Do I really need to elaborate… It’s a Glock.
• Parts galore
  • Once again, It’s a Glock… Want to change something about it to make it yours or to suit your style of shooting better, it’s probably out ther on the internet. From trigger enhancements to beavertailed grips, you can find it all.
• Ability to accept full size magazines
  • This is a huge plus for many of the smaller sized Glock pistols. My normal carry is a stock 9 round G27 magazine in the gun with either a +1 G27 magazine or now that I’ve found one, a G23 13 round magazine. I have also run the gun with the big-boy 22 round magazine in it as well. One this worth noting is that there are some people out there stateing that they have had feed issues when running extended magazines in their pistols. They claim that the pressure from gripping the magazine with your pinky finger causes them. I’m not sure of the reality of this claim but I do have a solution, keep your pinky off the magazine!!! I have never had a malfunction caused by using an extended magazine and I believe it is attributed to that fact. You don’t shoot the pistol with your pinky on the regular magazine, so why do you need it on these.
• Ability to convert pistol to 9mm and 357 sig
  • While this probably fits in with parts, I thought it would be good to highlight it here as well. The G27 can accept conversion barrels that will allow you to shoot either 9mm or 357 sig through the gun with the correct magazines. This allows for cheaper practice when using 9mm, or the ability to have three pistols in one if that’s what you want.
• Accessories!!!
  • This is a huge plus for all Glock pistols. I think the 1911 may be the only pistol that beats the Glock in the shear number of accessories that are made for it. From holsters to grip plugs and everything in between, your local gun shop probably has tons of stuff for the Glock pistols.
• No external safety
  • While many people see this a negative, the truth is that unless you practice drawing and disengaging the safety lever often, you may not think to do so if you ever have to draw the weapon in self-defense. Remember, we will not rise to a new level of training in such a situation, we will fall to our level of training and that’s all we will have. I’d personally rather have one less thing to think about in those stressful few seconds.

Negatives:

• Recoil
  • 40 S&W is going to have quite the recoil to it. If you are recoil sensitive I would either suggest looking at the Glock 26 (9mm version) or shooting it first at your local shooting range. You could also look into the conversion barrels talked about in the positives section 🙂
• Width (kinda)
  • While this is not a huge issue, it is one that merits some discussion. For a concealed carry pistol this is as wide as I would want to go. With it being as wide as it is, be prepared to still have to dress around the gun in some aspects.
• Style
  • It’s a Glock. This isn’t a gun you are going to want to show off to your friends because of how fancy it looks. This is a gun that is designed to give you every edge you can get when you need to use it for a defensive purpose. I classify it as minimalist. There are no external levers save for the trigger, slide release and slide lock (take-down lever) and the grip is designed around working to control recoil when combined with a defensive type grip.

Pictures:

What’s a review without some pictures of the pistol. Look for more pictures of this pistol in some of my other blog posts. As you can see from the pictures, this pistol has been well used. The finish on the slide has definitely seen lot’s of holster wear.

Me…

So let’s start this off with a little introduction on my part. 

I am a college student and I love marksmanship of any form. Wow… that totally sounded like the classic “Hi I’m ___, and I’m addicted to guns.” O well!!! 

But anyways, I learned shooting on a 10/22 from my dad at like age 8 or so and have been obsessed with all forms of shooting ever since. I really started to get deep into shooting at 21 when I bought my first pistol, on my birthday. The cashier at Wally-world sure gave me a strange look when I showed up with a six pack of beer and 50 rounds of 9mm :0 I shot before I started drinking don’t worry!!!

My first pistol was a Hi-Point 9mm purchased from a friend for a grand total of $100. It wasn’t much, but to me it was awesome. I shot that pistol so much over the next year that I had about worn it out (no surprise really). That’s where I gained my love for shooting pistols, and they are still my favorite genre of firearms to go to the range with.

Don’t get me wrong though, I still enjoy shotguns and rifles as much as the next person, and readers of this blog will get the chance to see as I progress down those roads.

Well, I think that’s enough information for now. I’m sure you all will get to know me pretty well as I post more and more blogs about what I have going on. 

-WSCBS

Introduction

Okay here this goes…

So here I am thinking wouldn’t it be nice to start another firearms blog… Like there aren’t enough out there already (I know, I know). But, this will give me a fun way to post what I am doing in the firearms world in a non Facebook or YouTube type media. (I don’t care to lose my rights to my own media over on that Facebook deal)

So.. what am I going to to focus on?? I think I will start by listing out the results of my range trips, do some product reviews of some amazing products that I am currently using and finally talk about some of the firearms ventures that I am taking or am thinking about taking. (ie CHL, NFA, ect)

What I don’t want to turn this into is a political firearms blog. Coming to you at the beginning of 2013 the anti-gun people are out in force, but so are pro-gunners. I personally believe that the best way to handle this is not by forcefully shoving our own rhetoric down their throats (they will never change), but instead to show our world in the most positive light that we can. We have a long way to go…..

Anyways,

Looks like this is going to be quite the fun adventure. Let’s see where this goes.

 

-WSCBS