| Author | Message | ||
     Ratbuell |
I've been extremely happy with my polymer XDs. All moving slide parts are metal to metal, with metal rails attached to the polymer body. Trigger and mag actions are also pinned to the polymer. 4 piece field strip. Ive put a few thousand rounds through it with no issues. 7+1, 26oz. 8+1, 27oz. Total width, 0.8". They discontinued it for the current Mod.2 but I like the original grip better. YMMV. | ||
| Ducbsa |
Do you need more than this after finishing an 80%? https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1017358131?pid=1 08623 Not arguing, just trying to learn. | ||
| Bandm |
You will need a rear sight and a magazine. | ||
| Ourdee |
And bullets. | ||
| Rick_a |
Palmetto State Armory, Del-Ton, and Aero Precision tend to have decent build kits. If I were to do one now, it would be a 16" midlength gas with a lightweight or "pencil" profile barrel and the A5 buffer system (same buffer weight and spring as a rifle buffer in a collapsible stock). | ||
| Zac4mac |
"Included in the Carbine Kit is the AR-STONER Lower Parts Kit which includes everything needed to build a complete lower receiver, except a stripped lower receiver." <edit> added quotes (Message edited by zac4mac on September 14, 2019) | ||
| Rick_a |
Apparently the sweet GWACS lower company (who makes the only properly engineered polymer lowers on the market) has gone tits up.  20170403_090057 by Slick_Rick77, on Flickr Too bad. It was a cool product with a lot of promise. | ||
| Sifo |
One thing I'm not certain about... Can an 80% lower be finished with just a drill press and some filing, or do you really need a mill? Seems I remember that a mill just makes things easier. | ||
| Aesquire |
Darn. I wanted one of those lowers. since when do politicians dictate what we can own firearms wise? Assuming that isn't a rhetorical question, since shortly after the Civil War when ex Confederate Democrats passed a law requiring all hand guns sold to be military grade. Since this was the time when a Colt 1860 was top of the line Army issue, the INTENT was the same as later "Saturday night special" laws, to make guns too expensive for poor people, especially Negroes. ( yes, documented, and the argument of the day ) There had been earlier local legislation to limit sword length, but the first Federal laws I know of to restrict gun ownership by banning the civilian purchase of certain types of guns dates from then. | ||
| Ratbuell |
Somebody should toss that argument in the face of any of the Dems today who are talking about "well, we can't do anything about the guns so we'll tax the hell out of ammo". Same thing - extending "privilege" so that only rich folk can afford to have/use firearms. Even FNN today had a ticker on-screen about "gun control legislation hits a wall"... Somebody needs to stand in front of a camera on FNN, NBC, CBS, any of the mainstream guys, and make the ultra-clear statement (using small words): "we don't need to control guns, they've been around for centuries, what we need to do is CONTROL SOCIETY. The problem today is the PEOPLE, and the ATTITUDES, and the lack of MANNERS, and the lack of concern for our fellow human beings." - and drop the mic. | ||
| Rick_a |
While crime is generally at historic low levels, there are an inordinate amount of ill mannered and unstable buttholes out there.
A drill press with a vice, at minimum. Some guys are using a router with good success. I forgot to mention that I finally got to try out an MP5K the other day, albeit a semi auto Pakistani clone. I'll have to say that it was a disappointment. It was neither particularly smooth shooting or ergonomic. I was unable to shoot it well at a rapid pace. I'll definitely stick to my AR 9 SBR. | ||
| Ducbsa |
Thanks, Zac, I saw that, but wanted confirmation from folks I respect. Here is a router jig, but no personal experience. https://www.5dtactical.com/ar-15-80-lower-jig-p/5d -jig15.htm | ||
| Sifo |
Heads up! How to defeat a Red Flag confiscation | ||
| Blake |
So appreciate this man. https://youtu.be/DtYBfEdybSY | ||
| Rick_a |
How strange to hear these weirdos talk about guns like they're the root of evil, death, and destruction, instead of the individual behind it. "Weapons of war" could be literally anything...a blunt object, sharp rock, or stick...and those have been used to kill plenty of people. | ||
| Sifo |
So appreciate this man. Agreed, but he did fall for defending against obviously false/ignorant statements. The AR-15, with military spec 5.56 is not about being more lethal. Far from it. There's a reason I would never use one hunting deer, but would go to my .308, also heavily used in warfare. When shooting a deer, I want it to die quickly and as humanly as possible. The .308 is far superior to the 5.56 in that respect. In warfare, the 5.56 has good ability to take a combatant out of action, which is critical. Of course, being a smaller, lighter round, you can carry more rounds, which is a clear advantage. What Beto gets seriously wrong about the 5.56 on the battle field though, is that when a combatant is shot with a 5.56 round, they can be saved. Saving a wounded combatant takes a lot of resources, and that puts you at a disadvantage in battle. Don't expect truths like these to survive liberal political rhetoric though. | ||
| Tootal |
Exactly right! The 5.56 was designed to wound someone. It takes two guys to carry off a wounded soldier so with one shot you took out three guys. Temporarily anyway. | ||
| Aesquire |
Every word is a lie, except the part where he threatened to violate multiple parts of the Constitution. And it doesn't matter. Correcting his lies, I mean. No one cares, and no one who agreed with them will listen. The gloves are off. Some on stage with him promise to throw out the rule of law the minute they occupy the office, and thus told us in advance they plan to lie when they take the oath of office. Bobby O. just was the only one desperate enough to admit he wants to take your property and rights. And bombastic complaints about it, are just grounds to do so immediately. My "questions for the representative" above may have been too much truth. | ||
| Rick_a |
That's an oft repeated myth. In regards to the common military loads 5.56 is actually more lethal than 7.62 within a few hundred yards due to fragmentation. Beyond five or six hundred yards the 7.62 has it. In a hunting context .223 is suitable for up to medium game, though proper bullet selection is critical. .308 is certainly more appropriate. When speaking in terms of FMJ military loads...things are a bit different.  Unbeknownst to me the steel jacketed M80 ball does fragment above a threshold velocity. | ||
| Aesquire |
And a .45-70 just blows a half inch hole all the way through. And sometimes through the next guy. The ultimate in ballistic fail, though, goes to the battle of Samar. Invasion of the Philippines, The Japanese sent a diversion force to draw off the American Carrier force. It worked, all the fleet carriers and most of the battleships go tearing off to the north. A Japanese fleet running through the southern passage runs into American Submarines, PT boats, and a substantial force of battle ships and cruisers. Fighting was brutal, and America won. But that's just the second part of the whole mess. ( the first part was chasing the Japanese carriers over the horizon ) A scary part of the Japanese fleet comes through the other passage, 4 battleships, including the Kongo, Haruna, Nagato and the biggest, baddest battleship ever built, Yamato, ( not the one with the wave motion gun ) along with a bunch of cruisers and a whole bunch of destroyers. In their way, Taffy 3, 6 slow escort carriers, 3 destroyers, and 4 destroyer escorts. ( other nations call them frigates ) The Yamato displaced more than every single ship in Taffy3, combined. The carriers did what anyone with any brains would do, they ran from a much faster enemy. And even though their planes still onboard were not armed with anti ship weapons, being used to support the invasion as close air support, they launched everything, anyway. Because, why not? So a bunch of Wildcats & Avengers, without armor piercing bombs or torpedoes, headed for the fleet. The Escorting DDs & DEs laid down smoke, as one of them charged at the nearest cruiser. And blew it's bow off with a torpedo attack. And, wisely turned around and ran away. Or tried. Seeing this the rest of the escorting destroyers and destroyer escorts also turned and attacked. Keeping in mind One turret on the Yamato weighed more than this entire force... this took some guts. The ballistic fail? The Admiral in charge of the Japanese fleets saw aircraft carriers, and escorts. Small carriers and escorts, but the proportions of an escort carrier and a destroyer are about the same as a fleet carrier and a cruiser, so when the destroyers turned to attack, he thought they had to be cruisers, so that had to be the American fleet carriers, and this was the chance of a lifetime. Having a heavy cruiser promptly get it's bow blown off reinforced his mistake. So the Yamato, with 18" guns, the biggest on any ship of WW2, started firing armor piercing shells at the "Cruisers". And because a Destroyer escort is basically made out of tinfoil, compared to a Cruiser, the Yamato scored a direct hit with the biggest baddest shell in the world, and it passed right through, just leaving a fairly neat 2 foot hole. Instead of blowing it to smithereens. Then, after blowing the dickens out of the attacking ships, the Japanese Admiral decided he was in over his head, and broke off. The most one sided victory of the war. oops. (Message edited by aesquire on September 15, 2019) | ||
| Ourdee |
Very good film! +1 | ||
| Ducbsa |
In a book I read about that battle, a chief on a destroyer charging the IJN ships said, "Great, now we have them in 40mm range!" The Johnston certainly went in harm's way: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Johnston_(DD-557 ) | ||
| Aesquire |
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2019/09/l iberals_want_to_grab_gunsbut_who_will_do_the_grabb ing.html I'll skip comment on this. The destroyers and destroyer escorts got hammered. The comedy of errors is only funny if you ignore the many brave dead. On both sides. A footnote to this battle, is that U.S. planes swarmed Musashi, hitting it again & again, and it's size and watertight construction kept it going long after anything else at sea would have succumbed. And the U.S. Navy paid attention. When they finally cornered it's sister ship Yamato, the changed tactics. Musashi had been attacked by the book, with torpedo attacks from both sides, like a pincer, and the damage had evened out the flooding until it sunk in a fairly even keel. Yamato was attacked, relentlessly, on one side only, until she rolled over and sunk, much faster than her sister. Their sister ship Shinano was converted to an aircraft carrier while under construction, and was sunk by the U.S.S Archerfish the days after going to see for the first time. A tiny reminder how the U.S. submarines sunk most of Japan's Navy & merchant fleet. Once the early problems with their torpedoes was fixed, a story of it's own. Why did the Japanese build such monster ships? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamato-class_battl eship Under treaty terms, Japan was limited in the 1920s to a smaller fleet than England or the U.S. Even after the treaties were abandoned by all sides, ( again, a story of it's own ) Japanese Admirals realized they couldn't out build us. So they planned to build bigger, badder, ships to take us on. The Yamato class was super secret, actually built in a giant building constructed to hide it from view. Because of documents being destroyed in the final days of the war, there are few photos and no plans left. Japanese strategy was based on their subs and planes reducing the American fleet, then defeating it in one great battle, that would decide the war. Without a fleet, we'd have to negotiate a peace. This was actually from American Admiral Mahan's book, which most Navies used as a guide. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Thayer_Maha n But it never happened the way intended, the Big Battle of Fleets in a winner take all. WW1 had the battle of Jutland, a story of it's own  but mostly the Big Fleets sat waiting for the other to come out & play, and ran raids trying to get the other side to send out a smaller fleet to get ambushed by a superior force. In WW2, the success of the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor changed the war by taking out, temporarily, the bulk of the American battleship fleet, so by necessity it became a Carrier and submarine dominated conflict. There is speculation, what if the Americans had detected the Japanese fleet before Pearl Harbor and charged out to attack? It would have gone very badly for us. Even assuming a much lower kill count on maneuvering ships not parked for Sunday breakfast, each one would have gone down in deep water, lost forever, while several sunk at Pearl Harbor were raised & repaired from the shallow waters right there at a Naval base. That might have been the hypothetical Big Battle, but ironically, Japanese success eventually led to the end of that strategic theory. | ||
| Ratbuell |
From the "gun grab" article above: Yes, they're (Dems) all very tough when dozens of them, while masked, are able to beat unarmed reporters or harass 9/11 widows, knowing full well their city's law enforcement has been ordered by their socialist mayor not to intervene. But as for breaking into unfamiliar houses to steal from heavily armed and highly motivated citizens? The day they try is the day they learn what actual "resistance" looks like. Do something? We agree. Do something. Something like that will go poorly for everyone involved. From the top down. | ||
| Aesquire |
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2019/09/the -gun-grabber-supercut.php Re: ballistics. Terminal effects with FMJ bullets is highly velocity dependent. I think we can all agree the propaganda like "hits you in the arm and tumbles through your chest destroying all in it's path and opens a Chic-fil-A franchise on it's way out the top of your skull" is fantasy. | ||
| Rick_a |
Rifles are rifles. No voodoo is involved and no propaganda about scary black rifles is necessary if people knew WTF they were talking about. To anyone that knows firearms it's just a 5.56...an intermediate military cartridge. In the .223 form it's an average centerfire varmiting round. To these weirdos it's a WMD. | ||
| Ratbuell |
I still prefer to carry actual defensive loads - Critical Duty +P in the XDs at the moment: https://www.outdoorhub.com/reviews/2017/08/25/term inal-ballistics-test-hornady-135-grain-critical-du ty-ammunition/ Reading up, it is not designed for a compact frame but for a full-frame...I may have to find and get some Critical Defense, which is designed for a compact. The Defense load is also not designed to penetrate a barrier first, which honestly is a feature that I doubt I will ever need (hell, I hope I never need ANY of this). I am deathly afraid of any chance of over-penetration / hitting an innocent behind the target, and would much prefer expansion to penetration (within reason, of course - it has to go "in"; I just don't want it to go "through"). I have run rounds of the Duty +P through my XDs though, and recoil was not bad, and I do like the low-flash powder... Comparison: https://www.shootingillustrated.com/articles/2013/ 3/26/hornady-critical-duty/ https://mousegunaddict.blogspot.com/2012/07/hornad y-critical-duty-9mm-135-grain.html But I may switch to the Guard Dog, which I also have in the safe: https://www.usconcealedcarry.com/blog/guard-dog-ho me-defense-ammunition/ | ||
| Aesquire |
https://spectator.org/guns-and-poses-democrats-dem agogue-death/ | ||
| Aesquire |
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/09/16/ariz ona-gun-store-sells-out-beto-special-ar-15s-4-hour s/ I always miss the good sales! | ||
| Rick_a |
Despite the dem rhetoric right now is about a good a time as any to put an AR-15 together price wise. Unfortunately all those deals are selling out quickly most everywhere. |
