Mega Rad Gun Thread

[Krusty762]

I was taking a look at some of the HK21 kits online but I don't know if I can justify spending $1500+ for a kit, especially when my living expenses are not getting any smaller. It's moments like this that make me realize that I need to just be happy with what I already have.

This activity consumes too much money these days as it is, I started on a Mosin for $140 and I still probably paid too much for it at the time.

And even if that's all I had, 54R might be harder to source now than in the past, but the usual spam can sources seemed to be drying up since well before the "special military operation" began.

I have one and it's a ton of work. They make Super safety lowers for the G3 so basically if you want a full send Nato belt fed for cheap the HK21 is one of your limited options

 

[Pretend To Imagine]

Am I gonna be KITS if I don't have BUIS? Red dots aren't the foamy diarrhea quality they were 20 years ago, but still, it's an electronic and fragile device.

BUIS are dumb.

 

[Polock]

So it's safe to say that any form of weapons manipulation whether with real guns or substitute trainers aids in cultivating skill.

I have also heard of this, which is pretty cool. However my assumption was that our poster already owned a gun. If he doesn't own a gun, or was unable to own a gun, then we could have had a conversation about an airsoft clone. Re-reading his post I guess I made a mistake there - he doesn't say one way or the other (though it seems implied he doesn't).

I guess its a good reminder to the noguns lurking in the thread - you can always get an airsoft gun to start building your fundamentals!

 

[WhoBusTank69]

BUIS are dumb.

BUIS are dumb only if you don't have a way to get your optic out of the way in a pinch, and QD mounts aren't as common anymore. Being caught in a downpour with a scope or, god forbid, a reflex/pistol dot is terrible.

I have also heard of this, which is pretty cool. However my assumption was that our poster already owned a gun. If he doesn't own a gun, or was unable to own a gun, then we could have had a conversation about an airsoft clone. Re-reading his post I guess I made a mistake there - he doesn't say one way or the other (though it seems implied he doesn't).

I guess its a good reminder to the noguns lurking in the thread - you can always get an airsoft gun to start building your fundamentals!

It's great for weapons familiarity, which is half of shooting anyway. Once you get to where you're sending rounds downrange it's a simple matter of adjusting yourself to countering recoil.

 

[Pretend To Imagine]

BUIS are dumb only if you don't have a way to get your optic out of the way in a pinch, and QD mounts aren't as common anymore. Being caught in a downpour with a scope or, god forbid, a reflex/pistol dot is terrible.

Removing your optic because of rain and losing zero is even more dumb. You can in fact shoot with optics in the rain. The idea that you would want to remove your optic instead of wiping it off is baffling to me. Do you run drills where you remove the optic? Do you retain the optic or drop it on the ground?

If you insist on having irons, they should be useable without removing your optic (45° offset for example)

 

[Internet-Based Lobotomy]

BUIS are dumb.

Curious to hear your reasoning.

BUIS are dumb only if you don't have a way to get your optic out of the way in a pinch, and QD mounts aren't as common anymore.

I'm a fan of cowitness/dual access (the latter for rifles obviously), I've bought some optics recently that didn't have QD but I thought it was just cost savings. What's the latest reasoning behind lack of QD? Better security?

 

[Polock]

Alright Im joining the club I'm looking into a 43x purchase and I'd like reccomendations on red dots prefferably one that can cowitness and holsters for appendix carry

From what I understand, co-witnessability is largely a function of how high your PMO sits on your gun, so you want to pick one that matches your slide without any extra adapter plates. I guess you could get suppressor height irons if that's a major problem.

Bare minimum tier: basically whatever cheapo thing you can afford that's not total garbage. I have a RFX11 that came with my pistol. Its $150 and it works well enough that I'd recommend it.

Spoiler: Anecdotal evidence

I had a friendly contest at a class I was in to see who could hit a 2 foot steel plate at 100 yards the most and I (surprisingly) beat everyone with 7/10 hits. I was using my P10C which is my EDC. There were people there with some extremely nice guns and red dots. To be fair, some people were running just irons as well.

Worth noting that I have to take the optic totally off in order to replace the battery (which I have to do monthly), but I've never had to re-zero it. I still check but it has held so far.

Beyond that, Holosun seems to be the midrange choice. They're solid.

Vortex makes good products too, they're in the same ballpark.

I've been looking at Osight recently because they have some interesting design choices, but I have no idea if they're any good.

If you go with an open emitter for your EDC, buy a camera lens cleaning tool (I use this one). Your PMO will accumulate schmutz as an EDC and cleaning the inner glass surface is annoying with just a cloth.

Holster recs I don't really know. If you are going to put a flashlight on your gun, make sure you get a holster with that in mind.
Also know if you take the flashlight off, the holster probably won't work anymore. Maybe leather holsters would be more flexible but you're SOL if its Kydex. I personally don't use leather holsters.

I've used Concealment Express in the past and they work fine and are cheap.

Right now I have a C&G Alpha which is pretty gucci.

 

[WhoBusTank69]

I'm a fan of cowitness/dual access (the latter for rifles obviously), I've bought some optics recently that didn't have QD but I thought it was just cost savings. What's the latest reasoning behind lack of QD? Better security?

Maybe? The cutting edge of tech is going back to risers the same height as carry handles so I think justification is made up as they go along. QD has been shown to be very reliable even with PRC transporting in mind so it can't be unreliable zero unless the test case is the cheap low-end mounts.
One of the popular arguments is that optics are reliable enough that it's hard to justify removing them in the first place but their experience is relatively limited.

 

[Pretend To Imagine]

Curious to hear your reasoning.

1: You are never going to use them, so spending money and time to acquire them and zero them is wasted.

2: You may have to give up priority placement of a magnifier/magnified optic and/or laser to be able to use them which is silly for something you won’t ever use.

3: Having them under a scope where you can’t regularly confirm zero without removing the scope is silly.

4: Having them cowitnessed with an optic where occlusion of the optic from fog, rain, dirt, or broken glass is silly. Do you really want to remove an optic instead of wiping it off?

If you must run them, at least use ones that don’t make you remove your optic to use them.

Also if you are worried about rain, or dirt, run scope caps.

 

[Internet-Based Lobotomy]

1: You are never going to use them, so spending money and time to acquire them and zero them is wasted.

2: You may have to give up priority placement of a magnifier/magnified optic and/or laser to be able to use them which is silly for something you won’t ever use.

3: Having them under a scope where you can’t regularly confirm zero without removing the scope is silly.

4: Having them cowitnessed with an optic where occlusion of the optic from fog, rain, dirt, or broken glass is silly. Do you really want to remove an optic instead of wiping it off?

If you must run them, at least use ones that don’t make you remove your optic to use them.

Also if you are worried about rain, or dirt, run scope caps.

1. While true for 99.99% of people it's a "just in case" thing like body armor etc (most people aren't using BUIS thinking about hunting) so I'd have to disagree with that sentiment.
The rest are fair except in the case of 4 where it's assumed that the broken glass is from your optic physically taking damage and being therefore unusable. The remedy for most of these military based "just in case" situations has been to just put iron sights on the optic itself. I can't speak in certainties but I'll give the benefit of the doubt to the BUIS crowd that they're not aching to toss their holographic sight just because it has a smudge on it in their ideal imagined combat scenario.

 

[Kirks 69th Sock]

Does anyone have an IO AK? I have one that I never use because I am wary of the cast trunion. Is the whole cast vs forged trunion overblown?

 

[Boney]

BUIS are low priority redundancies. Fit them on if you can and so choose to. Don't let it hurt your budget where it matters or optimization of railspace.

I have BUIS on my rifle I had to modify to work with my PEQ. They just fill in already available railestate and are functional inside 100yds. Nuff said really.

 

[WhoBusTank69]

The remedy for most of these military based "just in case" situations has been to just put iron sights on the optic itself.

Even minimalist nubs on the ELCAN and ACOG are fair reference points for aim, the former being expressly for use in inclement weather.
Being an unfortunate victim of Murphy's Law can also have you clinging to antiquated concepts like analog point-of-impact interfaces.

Does anyone have an IO AK? I have one that I never use because I am wary of the cast trunion. Is the whole cast vs forged trunion overblown?

They're notorious for being an early foray into domestic AK production and a common ancestor of a long line of self-disassembling designs, primarily in broken bolt lugs, poor rivets and yes uneven wear on the trunnions.

 

[Akran]

Does anyone have an IO AK? I have one that I never use because I am wary of the cast trunion. Is the whole cast vs forged trunion overblown?

I had a IO polish import AK and I don't think I had any issues with about 600-700 rounds. I ended up selling it for a reason I don't remember. If its American made I'd be more weary, while I don't have experience with those I do have experience with their ARs. Multiple pins walking out, the fucking buffer tube blowing its back out, light strikes, etc. It wasn't even my AR but an in-experienced friend who had me fix all that shit. I'm genuinely surprised they are still around, though I have no idea if they still manufacture or just import.

 

[Angry Shoes]

Is there a reason why so many people put red dots or other small optics on concealed carry guns? Unless I'm missing something it seems like complete overkill due to how close self defense situations usually are.

 

[World Famous Quasi Payer]

Now Gun nuts of the farms, I FINALLY have the room in my garage for a gun safe (yeah it's really a RSC, I can't drop $5k+ on a "real safe")

Anyway, I'm between the following 3 models. If anyone has any thoughts, opinions or alternatives, please let me know, I'm pretty hard capped at ~$2500.....

Rhino: https://rhinosafe.com/rbx6036-60h-x...Fk0zQnZSUqP_YAtcSFuy4VgazNM0K9oHiHT3QfQG21nSA

Note I can get it for a few hundred less. Has a few nice QoL features. Yes, it's a RSC, not a "real safe"

Hollon: https://dfwgunsafeanddelivery.myshopify.com/collections/hollon/products/hollon-cs36e

A bit thicker steel, no built in power port, will end up being ~$700 more all said and done.

Amsec: https://dallassafe.com/safes/amsec-sf6036/

Now we're cooking with "I can't believe it's not a REAL SAFE" energy. Thickest steel, heaviest, probably the smallest interior space.

A solid $1200 more than the entry level option. Just over my preferred budget tbh but if it worth it....

Note that the safe will be in a corner so the back and one side will be up against a wall.

Choose the safe that can hold what you currently plan to put in there (guns and ammo), and still has a little room left over. Consider what the better half might want to store in there as well. "Its a safe after all." Nothing worse than buying storage and not having enough room. Since you plan on putting it in the garage, my assumption is that this isn't going to contain your home defense guns/edc.

---

Came here to post that Empire Arms has opened back up for business after the passing of Deborah Kroh, wife/business partner of owner/operator Dennis Kroh. Dehorah passed back on August 24th. I won't post the full email here, only the relevant part for the thread:

We have reopened!​

Although I am still in mourning for my fantastic wife and business partner Deborah, I have decided to get right back on the horse and attempt to take my mind off of this terrible tragedy.

I do want to thank you for the MANY THOUSANDS of emails and cards of condolence and support I have received over the past few weeks. I did personally read every single one of them, and many were quite lengthy. Deb's funeral was a standing-room only event, and I met most of her classmates from elementary through high school, and learned that Deb had been in touch with many of them and had been sending them photos and videos of our travels via email and text-messages so they could live vicariously through her (most had never travelled outside of Arkansas). That was very touching (and SO Deb).

Florida sales tax holiday!​

Our wonderful governor, Ron DeSantis, has decreed a Second Amendment sales tax holiday on all firearms and ammunition until the end of the year! This applies even for collectible military arms, which ends up to be a 6% to 7.5% discount for all Florida customers!

Lower prices!​

Due to medically caring for Deb as she was bedridden the last 8+ months, I have been (with the exception of attending the TULSA ARMS SHOW) completely unable to travel on buying trips and thus have basically run out of rifles to put on our "New Stuff" pages for the time being. I am therefore lowering the prices (many significantly and in some cases below our cost) on literally every firearm we have already listed. This includes all firearms on our "rifles" and "pistols" pages.

Today we are offering a small collection of handguns (nearly all of them military) in .32 ACP caliber. Over half of them are Nazi marked, many have holsters, and their condition is quite nice.

If you are at all interested in quality collectable rifles and handguns, now would be a good time to buy, and support the man. Having been through this with family, I know these past couple of months have been trying for him, and medical bills are never cheap. Here is a link to the main page, how to buy (if you've never ordered before), rifles, and pistols pages. I've yet to have issues with anything I've bought, and he beats boomerbroker.

 

[Laminated Flooring Panel]

Is there a reason why so many people put red dots or other small optics on concealed carry guns? Unless I'm missing something it seems like complete overkill due to how close self defense situations usually are.

Why wouldn't you put a red dot on the pistol? Modern non-China red dots aren't too expensive and not bad quality either for the benefits you get out of it. Getting a slightly faster sight picture on the target is worth it and knowing that you can engage a target a bit further away if necessary is helpful. Even if self defence situations aren't common and likelihood of actually using your CC gun is slim, if you can get some advantage, you should get it and use it.

It is like getting a second computer monitor. After using the second screen, you can't really go back to just one. That is quite similar to red dots and other optics being used.

 

[Polock]

it seems like complete overkill due to how close self defense situations usually are.

Lets think it through.

If you are in a situation where aiming is an unnecessary action, then even your iron sights are pointless and you shouldn't have them on your gun.

If you are in a situation where aiming IS a necessary action, red dots are superior because you are able to aim them while your eyes are focused on your target (i.e. what you are instinctively going to do in an emergency situation), while irons technically should be aimed with your eyes focused on your front post. You also have superior vision of your target, while irons will have more target occlusion.

The only exception is if the PMO fails, then yeah irons are useful for that.

Came here to post that Empire Arms has opened back up for business

I'm a newcomer and unfamiliar with this guy but the website alone makes me want to support him.

 

[Dean Pentel]

I recall a few months back we'd talked about ammo for revolvers in this thread. I posted about how wadcutters or semi wadcutter ammo was known to be effective ammo well before hollow points became so prolific. I'd always seen those bullets as low pressure, somewhat slow rounds. Probably because they weren't originally designed for injuring/killing people. I wondered what one might get if those rounds were loaded for higher velocities.

No surprise, but I'm not the first person to consider this.

Fucking hell. I'm curious if these would simply punch a hole right through someone, even at oblique angles.

 

[sodomy lifestyle]

Read about the Winchester Wildcat today.

Seems like a good package. Accepts 10/22 mags, action comes off as a single piece, stock aperture sights, bolt holds open after last round.

But something about that design..

Spoiler

TURKSLOP DETECTED