Mega Rad Gun Thread

[Samhain]

push button releases are prone to freezing when in cold climates

Parts freezing is probably the only real issue with the AR. The mag release, bolt release and selector are prone to freezing in place if water find its way into these areas in freezing temps. But it does take a certain number of circumstances to achieve this, and it's very rare. I've shot in temps down to 15F but have never had any parts freeze, probably because I've never dumped water on my gun like in some of the torture tests people have done on YouTube.

Other than potential cold weather issues, if you go for a swim with your AR, your gas tube might get filled with water and the next round you fire won't cycle the bolt, but the next round should fire fine after you rack the next round into the chamber.

 

[EggImpregnator]

Im just wondering why no one has made a kel tec sub 2k that DOESN'T fold yet. The folding mechanism on the sub2k is clearly the biggest weakness. It adds complexity, fragility, and cost. You could make a sub 2k cheaper, stonger, and simpler by just making it a straight tube with plastic fittings. And you could probably sell it for 200$.

 

[Nate Higgers]

To piggyback onto the post @Agares made, does anyone have any good suggestions for babby’s first suppressor? Preferably one that I can use with my 5.56 ARs and my 9mm pistols.

 

[EggImpregnator]

To piggyback onto the post @Agares made, does anyone have any good suggestions for babby’s first suppressor? Preferably one that I can use with my 5.56 ARs and my 9mm pistols.

I dont know about 9mm but for 556 the otter creek labs plutonium is a good one.

 

[Club Sandwich]

classic firearms has 2k aguila .22LR high velocity (1200+ f/s) for $109 after rebate. i find they work well in a wide array of firearms, but some are picky. weirdly i have to either feed my Marvell kit expensive Eley, middling Mini Mags (or CCI HV in general), or cheapo remington golden bullets. aguila is hit or miss. it's almost the opposite in my M265 kit - it likes the federal automatch standard velocity, aguila match SV, and CCI SV, but hates most anything else.

To piggyback onto the post @Agares made, does anyone have any good suggestions for babby’s first suppressor? Preferably one that I can use with my 5.56 ARs and my 9mm pistols.

YHM R9. works for many firearms, it's direct-thread and it's full auto rated if you really want it to go. i've used is on a Colt Commando, an M4A1 style rifle, AUG A1 with adapter, G36K, Colt RO639, and a few others. other than maybe switching to an H3 in the M4 to moderate the gas pressure's bolt velocity, it works very good for the money asked. it'll do double duty but remember that you need to play with the gas pressure on short barrels or else stick with 16" or so. it'll also be mediocre for 5.56, but safe to use for both. for a cheap full-auto rated suppressor that's not a throwaway pipe, it's pretty decent. i like the YHM T3 for a cheap 5.56 suppressor. there's better out there, but for $650 or so, it's hard to beat.

 

[MrShekelstein36]

classic firearms has 2k aguila .22LR high velocity (1200+ f/s) for $109 after rebate. i find they work well in a wide array of firearms, but some are picky. weirdly i have to either feed my Marvell kit expensive Eley, middling Mini Mags (or CCI HV in general), or cheapo remington golden bullets. aguila is hit or miss. it's almost the opposite in my M265 kit - it likes the federal automatch standard velocity, aguila match SV, and CCI SV, but hates most anything else.

See. I haven't had any luck with aguila, but I find it's because of the wax/coating stuff they put on the cases. I had a brick of them melt together as a result of having them outside while shooting. This caused them to start gunking up my guns and mags amd ruining their function.

 

[MrShekelstein36]

I heard horrible things about the sr556, but I have to say, I am a big fan of it so far. Its a bit heavy, but it doesn't jump much, and so far has ran flawlessly (with the exception of when I tried to run a busted theramelt mag in it. Shooting it today put out like 2.5in groups at 100yds.

 

[Club Sandwich]

wax/coating stuff they put on the cases

.22LR is externally lubricated and always has been. however this lubrication is not needed if the powder is clean burning (which is what the "wax" is on thunderbolt and some others). it can be removed with some 70% alcohol or paint thinner and a paint brush if you don't want it, which is what i do when i want to use it in a picky gun.

 

[MrShekelstein36]

.22LR is externally lubricated and always has been. however this lubrication is not needed if the powder is clean burning (which is what the "wax" is on thunderbolt and some others). it can be removed with some 70% alcohol or paint thinner and a paint brush if you don't want it, which is what i do when i want to use it in a picky gun.

See, I've never experienced lubricated 22 on the 22 I shoot. Mostly cause I use federal auto match as my default ammo. I can't remember it being on blazers either, but to be fair I haven't paid much attention to that. I just know Aguila is so heavily coated it makes even my bolt guns stick.

 

[Club Sandwich]

See, I've never experienced lubricated 22 on the 22 I shoot. Mostly cause I use federal auto match as my default ammo. I can't remember it being on blazers either, but to be fair I haven't paid much attention to that. I just know Aguila is so heavily coated it makes even my bolt guns stick.

it's there, but typically not as thick or is a spray polymer which is very thin and doesn't gum up. a similar spray polymer is used in eastern bloc 7.62x39mm ammo pretty commonly. automatch only lubricated the lead round nose (LRN) as they used cheaper powder that was a bit dirtier than what was used in federal champion which, because of cleaner powder and using better lead alloy bullets, only needed very little external lubrication. the lubricant was to offer better extraction in revolvers, repeaters (pump, lever, et c) and bolt action rifles. automatics have a higher cadence of fire and tended to gum up with cheaper powder faster.

old lubricant on cheap lead bullets would dry and become flaky while the lead turned white. this combo created lead frosting:

it can be wiped off with alcohol or any keytone like kerosene, acetone, et c. but bone dry unlubricated .22 LRN with cheap bullets will very quickly foul a bore with leading and can result in stuck cases. there isn't a lot of rim to use to grab onto and yank it out after all, and it's hollow too...

plated tends to avoid a lot of these problems. in the specific case of aguila plated (or really any wax you want to remove) you can melt it off with the trash bag method or with paint thinners and a brush, et c. don't like a little work stop you from cheap ammo.

 

[MrShekelstein36]

automatch only lubricated the lead round nose (LRN) as they used cheaper powder that was a bit dirtier than what was used in federal champion which, because of cleaner powder and using better lead alloy bullets, only needed very little external lubrication. the lubricant was to offer better extraction in revolvers, repeaters (pump, lever, et c) and bolt action rifles. automatics have a higher cadence of fire and tended to gum up with cheaper powder faster.

old lubricant on cheap lead bullets would dry and become flaky while the lead turned white. this combo created lead frosting:
View attachment 6341679

Hmm. I've been shooting for years and never knew this. Thanks for the info. I knew some of the eley match stuff I had when I shot competition was lubed, but I figured that was for better function in match guns. Thanks for the info on that.

 

[Club Sandwich]

Hmm. I've been shooting for years and never knew this. Thanks for the info. I knew some of the eley match stuff I had when I shot competition was lubed, but I figured that was for better function in match guns. Thanks for the info on that.

the secret sauce is that lead round nose lubrication has been a thing for over a century and you'll find similar info for .38 S&W or .38 Long Colt and other olderer school revolver rounds, .45-70 moose rounds, good old mk 1 martini henry where they had both paper-patching and lubrication grooves at the same time... that's why old lead bullets had a lubrication groove - for easier cleaning and reliable extraction, and for rifles, many such grooves. black powder is very very dirty and that lubrication not only in helping seat a bullet into a case (crimped or cannelured) but when fired, helped "wipe" loose black powder and left a thing coating that made it easier to clean. really, as firing the bullet was a very high pressure situation and cast lead bullets, even hard cast lead (with antimony), would elongate a bullet a bit, distorting and smearing the lubricant in the groove (or coating the bullet itself) down the bore. this both sealed the bore better, helped protect the lead from casual weathering or moisture creeping into the powder, and during firing actively "wipe" or "squee-gee" out some unburnt powder that would result in leading or fouling too quickly with long strings of shots. air would be evacuated and drawn out following the bullet immediately after firing, taking with it loose powder and drying the lubricant for the next shot, eventually "coating" the bore very thinly with easy-to-clean lubricant.

but not all lubricants are made the same, and cheap dirty powder will be cheap and dirty and the high volume of fire available to an automatic will overpower the primitive technology of lubricated bullets. .22LR is a very old round and so has some old tech still in common use, even with better tech available or just flat out cleaner chemicals (powder) and metallurgy (cheap plating, epoxy coating, et c).

 

[MrShekelstein36]

black powder is very very dirty and that lubrication not only in helping seat a bullet into a case (crimped or cannelured) but when fired, helped "wipe" loose black powder and left a thing coating that made it easier to clean. really, as firing the bullet was a very high pressure situation and cast lead bullets, even hard cast lead (with antimony), would elongate a bullet a bit, distorting and smearing the lubricant in the groove (or coating the bullet itself) down the bore. this both sealed the bore better, helped protect the lead from casual weathering or moisture creeping into the powder, and during firing actively "wipe" or "squee-gee" out some unburnt powder that would result in leading or fouling too quickly with long strings of shots. air would be evacuated and drawn out following the bullet immediately after firing, taking with it loose powder and drying the lubricant for the next shot, eventually "coating" the bore very thinly with easy-to-clean lubricant.

See I knew it was a thing with black powder (and the older revolver rounds), just never seen it on 22lr. Anyways, I gotta take care of some stuff, chat later.

 

[Club Sandwich]

See I knew it was a thing with black powder (and the older revolver rounds), just never seen it on 22lr. Anyways, I gotta take care of some stuff, chat later.

yeah, np; the .22LR dates back to those old black powder and bullet lube days (which are sort of still a thing in cowboy action or reloaders), so the lubrication for it is unsurprisingly still around, but few think about it. as plated .22LR become more common and clean burning smokeless powder was more affordable in bulk, it stopped being a requirement and more was just a way to keep using old dirty powder recipes.

 

[74164978231]

2.) how legitimate of a proposition does that sound like? I remember reading somewhere on here that high quality NVGs aren’t cheap and the technology for Made in USA ones are proprietary secret squirrel shit.

Depends on the price.

A "good" gen 3(basically PVS14) is going to run you $2000+ at a minimum.

Then you need a helmet to mount it on.
Then you need the actual mounts to mount it on the helmet.

So all in all youre looking at around $3000 to get started in the nvg game unless you go with something beat up or old.

I miss the good old days of 20 some cents per round M855.

The fucking feels man. Last time I bought 7.62x39 it was 11-12cpr shipped. Hadnt shot my basic neutered ban era WASR10 in forever so had a bit on hand but with picking up a PSA AKP + deadair wolverine man does it suck. That setup is fun to shoot.

 

[Club Sandwich]

So all in all youre looking at around $3000 to get started in the nvg game unless you go with something beat up or old.

fun fact: PVS tubes are a consumable part, depending on frequency of use with intensifiers

 

[74164978231]

Also i forgot youll need a laser. $1000 there unless you wanna roll the dice on a $250 somogear.

Ive thought about picking up a PVS14 myself. Already have a helmet and a few mounts thanks to my time in the Bhutan Air Force and I was autistic enough to buy a somogear peq15 knock off.

5.56 (especially out of a 20" barrel) is way more devastating of a round that 7.62x39. It doesn't matter what kind of somalian bathtub meth those niggers were on in Mogadishu, if they got hit with a 5.56 round center mass out of an m16a2, they went down. I'd be willing to bet the 556 suffers from the same problem 30 carbine did in Korea - soldiers just missed their target and blamed the gun instead of their own marksmanship. You had guys claiming 30 carbine was so weak it would bounce off of thick chinese winter coats. We know with hindsight these accoounts were most patently false, and a result of prideful men not wanting to look like a bad shot.

Velocity likely the culprit imo.

5.56mm is very devastating, a single hit from it center mass(really just about any modern rifle cartridge) at point blank and at a minimum youre disabled and a very good chance going to die. The problem is 5.56mm needs to fragment for that to happen which means it needs to be going fast enough. M193 will reliably fragment above 2700-2800fps below that it doesnt fragment so you just end up poking a 5.56mm hole through someones body, not very effective;

Out of a 16 inch barrel, around 100m is where you start to drop below 2700fps. Considering the delta boys would have been rocking 11.5 inch ARs, that combined with the skinnies high as a kite you likely end up with the outcome they did.

 

[Club Sandwich]

Considering the delta boys would have been rocking 11.5 inch ARs

in the 90's i was part of standby forces for the situations happening in Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, and Sierra Lione to extraction of VIPs out of some dangerous goings on. some of the guys i was with were there in Mogadishu in 1993 and we were talking kit a little and i had a fairly early M4 (with 3rd burst). as per them, almost entirely Colt 723s and 727s (14.5" barrel) with a few CAR-15 Commandos (11.5" barrel) and even some XM177's (10.5 mostly with grenade ring) thrown in and that having full auto on tap was handy in urban fighting purely from volume of fire until you could get an M60 or SAW on target. regular infantry had M16A2 with a few A1E1's unless you were activated NG or armor where you had some vietnam or even korean war stuff. the short carbines were not common even among cool guys.

 

[Pretend To Imagine]

I'm thinking about actually going NFA and getting a can for my Glock but are there any decent 9mm supressors that aren't $800?

Silencerco omega 9k

Going to be some hard lessons learned, but Feds aren't people, so fuck'em.

It’s where the bullets go that’s the issue. Interesting that they went this way after the Sig 320 controversy.

imagine the future of inner city gang warfare when you can buy a shitty open bolt SMG for $50

We see it now with the Glock switches.

 

[Foley]

Parts freezing is probably the only real issue with the AR. The mag release, bolt release and selector are prone to freezing in place if water find its way into these areas in freezing temps. But it does take a certain number of circumstances to achieve this, and it's very rare. I've shot in temps down to 15F but have never had any parts freeze, probably because I've never dumped water on my gun like in some of the torture tests people have done on YouTube.

Other than potential cold weather issues, if you go for a swim with your AR, your gas tube might get filled with water and the next round you fire won't cycle the bolt, but the next round should fire fine after you rack the next round into the chamber.

In the end, it's about training. In cold weather, you should use lube to an extent. When it get's cold enough, the lube is replaced with paraffin/kerosine.

The benefit of the AK system is the large controls, that you can easily apply force to.