Smoking Barrels - LTT's Unnofficial Gun Club!

[Real_PhillBert]

I've really never been happy with the zip tie mounting solution for the Surefire SR07s, and love the Cloud Defensive LCS mounts but they dont make one for the SR07. Then I've heard a few people say that you can modify a Surefire SR07 tape switch to fit into a Cloud Defensive LCS Mk2 for the streamlight switches. BigTexOutdoors even has a brief write up on the topic, so I decided to give it a go.

 

The modification of the switch is basically just cutting the edges and mounting tabs off of the tape switch so that it fits within the groove of the LCS. Here you can kind of see the extent of the difference:

 

 

 

It's a little unnerving taking a razor blade to a $100 switch, but I guess you gotta take a leap from time to time. 

 

After a little surgery, cutting a little off the switch, trying to fit then repeating, it slowly made progress:

 

 

I cut mine to be an extremely tight fit as I was nervous about cutting too much off and having it become worthless. It took a lot of force to get the switch into the mount, not going anywhere.

 

Overall I'm very happy with it! I'll hold me over until modbuttons become actually available. (please dont judge my messy work bench, the GF likes to use it as a spot to dump random stuff)

 

 

 

 

 

I'm surprised there isnt a fight on the end of my rifle, I have a Surefire tape switch, in a Cloud Defensive mount designed for a Streamlight, powering a Modlite which is in an Arisaka Mount.... I'm pretty sure all of the major players are represented in one way or another.

[Pyr0monk3y]

On 7/17/2020 at 8:01 PM, fpo said:

I was cleaning my gun today & I have eezox (not spray) and it smells a lot like brake cleaner.

An FFL I know recommends motor oil in favour of gun oil for price & it;s good enough (operates well on hot engine parts for extended periods of time) so I was wondering if there a carbon cleaning solution people use that doesn't have the "made for firearms" "tax."

 

 

Mostly looking at bulk for buck. A lot of gun stuff is like 5 dollars but for a tiny bottle.

I have some experience with this.  You can use brake cleaner with no issues, throttle body cleaner works too (maybe better?).  Cerokote can handle the chemicals, most other modern firearms finishes are ok with it too.  My favorite carbon solvent is Kroil.  It's still expensive even without a "gun tax", but it lifts carbon from bores and bolts after just a few minutes of soaking.  It's useful for a lot of other things in the shop too.

 

If you want to get more extreme with your carbon cleaning regimen, an ultrasonic cleaner is the way to go.

I have a suppressor that only gets used on bolt guns.  It accumulates carbon buildup very quickly and because the suppressor is welded together, a solvent bath is the only way to clean it.  I fill an ultrasonic cleaner with a 10:1 solution of water and Simple Green HD industrial cleaner.  After 30 minutes the carbon is mostly dissolved.  Works great for cleaning wax and lead from rimfire baffles too.  AR BCG's come out looking brand new after only 10 minutes.  If you shoot a lot, an ultrasonic cleaner is a great investment.  I have a 3 liter unit I got for $80 on eBay.

 

 

[Guest]

35 minutes ago, Pyr0monk3y said:

I have some experience with this.  You can use brake cleaner with no issues, throttle body cleaner works too (maybe better?).  Cerokote can handle the chemicals, most other modern firearms finishes are ok with it too.  My favorite carbon solvent is Kroil.  It's still expensive even without a "gun tax", but it lifts carbon from bores and bolts after just a few minutes of soaking.  It's useful for a lot of other things in the shop too.

Awesome! My main rifle is a WASR-10 (AKM/AK-47) so I think it's steel and nickel (chrome plated barrel)

35 minutes ago, Pyr0monk3y said:

If you want to get more extreme with your carbon cleaning regimen, an ultrasonic cleaner is the way to go.

I have a suppressor that only gets used on bolt guns.  It accumulates carbon buildup very quickly and because the suppressor is welded together, a solvent bath is the only way to clean it.  I fill an ultrasonic cleaner with a 10:1 solution of water and Simple Green HD industrial cleaner.  After 30 minutes the carbon is mostly dissolved.  Works great for cleaning wax and lead from rimfire baffles too.  AR BCG's come out looking brand new after only 10 minutes.  If you shoot a lot, an ultrasonic cleaner is a great investment.  I have a 3 liter unit I got for $80 on eBay.

 

 

What about your barrels on your rifles? Any ultrasonic methods for those? My long stroke piston, barrel & tube gets very black.

 

The brush works fine, over a period of time which is fine. I'm just curious if maybe you have a better way that can save me some time.

[Guest]

So my AK... I finally figured out why I can't hit poop.

When I first shot my AK at the "Official 100 Meter Military Target" all my shots went to the upper right. When I shot my AK with my friends the other day, some were upper left and some were upper right after 2 people shot the rifle.

When I aim my gun, I drew how I align my sight picture in how an AK sights looks when you aim it from my eyes.

The red circle is where a laser points at about 50~75 meters in my backyard at night so I can clearly see the laser. My phone flashlight illuminated my gun & sights.

Spoiler

Crude drawing but... yeh... At least I know where the suspected zero is.
I can finally aim appropriately.

[Pyr0monk3y]

5 hours ago, fpo said:

What about your barrels on your rifles? Any ultrasonic methods for those? My long stroke piston, barrel & tube gets very black.

 

The brush works fine, over a period of time which is fine. I'm just curious if maybe you have a better way that can save me some time.

If you get an ultrasonic cleaner big enough for the part to fit in, it will clean it.  You have to be a little careful about preserving finishes though.  Anything like nitride or phosphate is fine but coatings like cerakote or NiB plating can break down over time.  For delicate parts I usually run the ultrasonic unit for about 5 minutes, then let the parts stay in the tank for another hour to soak before taking them out and drying them off.

 

My ultrasonic tank isn't big enough for rifle barrels, but it does great on pistol barrels.  It's still useful for rifle barrels every once in a while though.  If I'm replacing the barrel on a rifle and need to remove the muzzle device, I hang the barrel above the ultrasonic tank so that just the muzzle threads are submerged in the tank.  Then I can use the ultrasonic to dissolve the thread locking compound.  

[Nine Tailed Fox]

[Guest]

11 minutes ago, Nine Tailed Fox said:

~snip badass pictures~

 

Do a desk pop.

 

Edit:
I didn't realise the Glock 19 had models with front & back slide grip serrations for cocking & press check.

[kaiju_wars]

8 hours ago, fpo said:

Do a desk pop.

 

Edit:
I didn't realise the Glock 19 had models with front & back slide grip serrations for cocking & press check.

gen 5s do.

[Rybo]

14 hours ago, Nine Tailed Fox said:

<snip badass pictures>

It has begun.  

Sucks that ammo is still so expensive, though.  I'm glad I don't know what it feels like to have a new gun but to have to pay so dearly to get some rounds under its belt.  Hopefully people will stop freaking out soon.  I wanna stock back up, but I don't want to pay a 3-4x premium for the privilege.  Guess in the future I need to buy 2k to 3k rounds at a time, just in case I won't find myself running low.  

 

[vetali]

Hate it when I have enough money to splurge on a rifle and because of unprecedented times everything is out of stock or marked up a ton. Was wanting to build an AR15 with mostly aero precision parts but everything is outta stock. My friend was on a waiting list for a p320 for damn near a month. Shits crazy.

[Guest]

I’ve been killing it on eBay. 

I finally have some funds for a spotter’s scope. 

 

Can anyone recommend a good one at a good price? Don’t want to blow 3~500 on a telescope. 

 

Just something thats good quality to see AK 7.62 at 1-200 metres/yards. Maybe 5.56/.223 as well when shooting paper targets. 

 

Hoping for it to have a tripod or someone to recommend a tripod. My local range has the chair table shooting rests so nothing for standing and spotting. 

[Nine Tailed Fox]

[Pyr0monk3y]

14 hours ago, fpo said:

I’ve been killing it on eBay. 

I finally have some funds for a spotter’s scope. 

 

Can anyone recommend a good one at a good price? Don’t want to blow 3~500 on a telescope. 

 

Just something thats good quality to see AK 7.62 at 1-200 metres/yards. Maybe 5.56/.223 as well when shooting paper targets. 

 

Hoping for it to have a tripod or someone to recommend a tripod. My local range has the chair table shooting rests so nothing for standing and spotting. 

That's a tough price point for a spotter.  IMO you'll see more through a set of $300 binoculars than through a $300 spotter. The depth perception you get from binoculars is extremely helpful.

[Guest]

35 minutes ago, Pyr0monk3y said:

That's a tough price point for a spotter.  IMO you'll see more through a set of $300 binoculars than through a $300 spotter. The depth perception you get from binoculars is extremely helpful.

Do you recommend any binos?

[Pyr0monk3y]

1 minute ago, fpo said:

Do you recommend any binos?

The vortex diamondback line is a good budget option.  the 12x50 would work well on a monopod with the vortex tripod adaptor.  Don't plan on holding them in your hands unsupported to spot hits, you won't be able to hold them steady enough.  I use a cheap amazon basics monopod and it's worth its weight in gold.

[Guest]

13 hours ago, Pyr0monk3y said:

The vortex diamondback line is a good budget option.  the 12x50 would work well on a monopod with the vortex tripod adaptor.  Don't plan on holding them in your hands unsupported to spot hits, you won't be able to hold them steady enough.  I use a cheap amazon basics monopod and it's worth its weight in gold.

Oof... nothing beginner range at the 70~90 USD range?

[atxcyclist]

16 minutes ago, fpo said:

Oof... nothing beginner range at the 70~90 USD range?

Some of the cheaper spotting scopes are OK, but when you're getting up into 40x or more magnification, the coating on the optics and quality of the lens grinding make a big difference.

 

I'd recommend getting on a site like Optics Planet or Midwayusa and reading reviews of stuff in your price range. All reviews are subjective, but there should be a bunch of them and you can see a trend,

[Jito463]

On 7/27/2020 at 9:12 AM, fpo said:

Do you recommend any binos?

I hear the 'al' variant is pretty easy to spot.

[Pyr0monk3y]

11 hours ago, fpo said:

Oof... nothing beginner range at the 70~90 USD range?

Honestly any bino's that retail for under $200 are iffy.  That's the least I would ever spend on medium powered binos. The price/value curve is pretty flat until about $200 then it's nearly vertical until $800, then it's flat again.

 

Just save up until you can get the good stuff.  Binoculars last literally forever.

[Pyr0monk3y]

To illustrate the value of a good set of binos, the farthest target in this photo is at 1140 yards and I could watch bullets drop in from the horizon and hit it.

The photo was taken with an iphone SE through one side of a set of Maven B5 18x56 binoculars.

 

[Semper]

On 7/26/2020 at 9:22 AM, vetali said:

Hate it when I have enough money to splurge on a rifle and because of unprecedented times everything is out of stock or marked up a ton. Was wanting to build an AR15 with mostly aero precision parts but everything is outta stock. My friend was on a waiting list for a p320 for damn near a month. Shits crazy.

Aero parts, with the exception of lowers, can still be found with ease. Optics Planet, as just one example, has a wealth of parts; complete uppers, stripped and uppers with covers/forward assists installed, barrels, gas blocks/tubes, BCG's, handguards, and a wealth of muzzle devices at prices that generally speaking, aren't above pre-pandemic times. Cart code 6U-F3-V7, as an example, is a build that a friend of mine pulled the trigger on yesterday afternoon. Mostly Aero, Noveske CH as it was a few bucks cheaper, and a VG6 brake

[vetali]

2 hours ago, Semper said:

Aero parts, with the exception of lowers, can still be found with ease. Optics Planet, as just one example, has a wealth of parts; complete uppers, stripped and uppers with covers/forward assists installed, barrels, gas blocks/tubes, BCG's, handguards, and a wealth of muzzle devices at prices that generally speaking, aren't above pre-pandemic times. Cart code 6U-F3-V7, as an example, is a build that a friend of mine pulled the trigger on yesterday afternoon. Mostly Aero, Noveske CH as it was a few bucks cheaper, and a VG6 brake

Good to know, I saved the site. I will probably wait a few weeks because I had to buy a new bed. Local gun store who I try to support as much as possible is slim pickings. I'll just order everything but the lower there then order the lower through the gun store.

[Statik]

On 7/22/2020 at 12:38 PM, Semper said:

I don't, no. I can't justify the price tag that they carry when you can build up a rock solid platform on something like a Ruger Precision or Tikka T3x

 

You got any experience with the T3x in particular? I have one myself, and love it, however the majority of my long range shooting experience is with other firerarms. Mines in .308 and I've only pushed it out to 600m. I want to drop some money and upgrade it a bit, and start pushing it out reliably to 1000m.

 

I'm strongly considering dropping it in a KRG Bravo, and putting something like a Vortex Viper HST 6-24 on it. Any other recommendations? I've heard nothing but good things about the stock, and I know Vortex is solid, but the majority of my shooting experience is with high end Schmidt, so I don't know much about the "mid" tier glass.

[Semper]

3 hours ago, Statik said:

You got any experience with the T3x in particular? I have one myself, and love it, however the majority of my long range shooting experience is with other firerarms. Mines in .308 and I've only pushed it out to 600m. I want to drop some money and upgrade it a bit, and start pushing it out reliably to 1000m.

 

I'm strongly considering dropping it in a KRG Bravo, and putting something like a Vortex Viper HST 6-24 on it. Any other recommendations? I've heard nothing but good things about the stock, and I know Vortex is solid, but the majority of my shooting experience is with high end Schmidt, so I don't know much about the "mid" tier glass.

No direct personal experience with the T3x line, no. I know they're well regarded, as is everything Tikka makes, especially at their cost.
I have experience with a T3 Super Varmint in .222 Rem, not really a long range platform, but I had no complaints about the craftsmanship, fit/finish, or performance of the gun (with the exception being that the polymer mag included with the gun, while not unreliable, didn't feel like it would hold up well to even mild abuse)

Again, no personal experience with anything KRG, but I know that they're frequently paired with Howa's 1500 actions for impressive performance at a relatively low entry cost.

Being that I don't own a long range platform yet, my knowledge on the subject of glass isn't deep enough to be of substantial value. All of my personally owned magnified optics are really to be considered entry level close/mid range; Crossfire II Scout, Copperhead, MTac LPVO, AX-Freedom (VERY strongly do not recommend), P-Tactical 3-9, SLx 1-6, and a Juliet4 on a Romeo4s.

Mid tier glass, as is to be expected, will be a downgrade from something like an S&B, Nightforce, Steiner, Zeiss, Trijicon, ETC, but that doesn't mean "bad". You'll get some of those compromises that come at a lower cost, abberation, "imperfections" in your glass, lower light transmission, smaller FOV, eye box, ETC, but if those are going to prevent you from making a hit (at least in context to hunting), it's my belief that you've got fundamentals that you need to improve on before that becomes the issue. The SRS that I had hands-on with had a FX1000 6-24 MRAD on it, and it was plenty capable of keeping up with the platform it was on, I'd say that It's interchangeable with a Viper, if not a half step above. A Viper should serve you well, until you're talking about advanced skill levels, the likes of 50% IPSC AC targets at 1500+

[Nine Tailed Fox]