Smoking Barrels - LTT's Unnofficial Gun Club!

[FakeNSA]

5 hours ago, aggie113 said:

Diehard goals getting checked off:


 

Duuuuuuuude: color me envious
Did you go for the waffle mag or stanag version?

[aggie113]

18 minutes ago, FakeNSA said:

Duuuuuuuude: color me envious
Did you go for the waffle mag or stanag version?

Already run a FS2000 as well as other freedom rifles   Why start a fresh collection if I don't need to?

[Agall]

On 5/10/2024 at 10:05 AM, aggie113 said:

Diehard goals getting checked off:


 

What's nice is you can get 300BLKO barrels now for these. PSA has had some of these with both a 5.56 and 300BLKO barrel included which is super tempting. I've considered 300BLKO in a setup like that with supers or sub even unsuppressed for home defense. I'll likely end up waiting for PSA's X57 to meet that demand though.

[FakeNSA]

On 5/10/2024 at 2:38 PM, aggie113 said:

Already run a FS2000 as well as other freedom rifles   Why start a fresh collection if I don't need to?

I hear that..... I kinda want the bolt release though

 

Fantastic collection though! Love the hanging mag storage, and I'm *deeply*  envious of those two, proper length P90's.

[atxcyclist]

I have almost all of the parts gathered to build a .350 Legend upper. I have an upper that matches my current receiver set I built on, an upper parts kit with forward assist and dust cover, an M-lok forend, and a barrel/gasblock/gas tube on order. I’m essentially a brake/compensator and an optic away, I’m thinking a 1-3x prismatic (yay astigmatism).

The bolt head is the same for .223/5.56, so my charge handle and bolt carrier assembly should work. 

[Agall]

57 minutes ago, atxcyclist said:

with forward assist

Ewh

 

57 minutes ago, atxcyclist said:

I have almost all of the parts gathered to build a .350 Legend upper.

Hogs or deer? 

 

58 minutes ago, atxcyclist said:

I’m essentially a brake/compensator and an optic away, I’m thinking a 1-3x prismatic (yay astigmatism).

Primary Arm's microprisms are amazing. I have the 1x on my WWSD clone build (I DIY built it with a faxon 14.5" integral flash hider pencil barrel and a no FA forged upper, being the only significant deviations). I have the 3x version on my PSA AK-105 that rocks a Zenitco kit that almost got stuck in Moscow (Jan 2022).

 

I shoot cross eye dominant and either work well, but shooting both eyes open with the 3x isn't as easy to transpose the reticle as the 1x. The 1x works basically as good as a red dot without the astigmatism problems. Mines corrected by glasses but I don't always wear them since my vision is decent at 20-40.

 

The only downside being with magnifiers and the 1x. It takes some tuning of both diopters to get it right to also get it in focus for your eye, which doesn't work for anyone else if you're expecting someone else to handle the rifle. That goes for either of the microprisms. 

 

Depending on what you're intending to use it for, if its for hogs or deer, I'd just get the 3x PA microprism. 

[Agall]

On 5/10/2024 at 3:38 PM, aggie113 said:

Already run a FS2000 as well as other freedom rifles   Why start a fresh collection if I don't need to?

Love the PS90 SBR. Guessing you've had it long enough to really appreciate the dramatically lower $/round of 5.7x28mm of recent. I'm so exciting for PSA's X57 'MP7 at home', I've had their handgun, the Rock 57, since launch and its absolutely amazing.

 

2-3 rounds of 5.7x28mm out of a 5" barrel at 1600 fps or so with the 40gr round being better than 1-2 of 9mm, since either require shot placement, but I obviously still carry 9mm JHP since 5.7x28mm out of a 3" barrel is just dumb. Its a whole other story when you're using 8-10" with 5.7x28mm, where you hit that 2000 fps mark. I personally stick to 40gr for zeroing, sure, the 27gr is real spicy and I've tested it myself, but not worth the variation in zero in my opinion.

[atxcyclist]

4 hours ago, Agall said:

Ewh

 

Hogs or deer? 

 

Primary Arm's microprisms are amazing. I have the 1x on my WWSD clone build (I DIY built it with a faxon 14.5" integral flash hider pencil barrel and a no FA forged upper, being the only significant deviations). I have the 3x version on my PSA AK-105 that rocks a Zenitco kit that almost got stuck in Moscow (Jan 2022).

 

I shoot cross eye dominant and either work well, but shooting both eyes open with the 3x isn't as easy to transpose the reticle as the 1x. The 1x works basically as good as a red dot without the astigmatism problems. Mines corrected by glasses but I don't always wear them since my vision is decent at 20-40.

 

The only downside being with magnifiers and the 1x. It takes some tuning of both diopters to get it right to also get it in focus for your eye, which doesn't work for anyone else if you're expecting someone else to handle the rifle. That goes for either of the microprisms. 

 

Depending on what you're intending to use it for, if its for hogs or deer, I'd just get the 3x PA microprism. 

Hogs for the most part, Texas has plenty.
 

I have looked at the Primary Arms, Vortex, and Burris mostly, along with a few others. And while something at 1.5 or 2x would be ideal, even a 1x would be fine as this’ll be mostly for sub-75 yard use in brush.  

 

I have a .243 Remington 700 I’ve put in an aftermarket stock and done some other work on if I need longer range, or for whitetail; Though if I put a higher-magnification prism or something like an LPVO on this .350 Legend, it would accomplish 200 yard whitetail hunts effectively. The .243 is well sub-MOA at 200 yards even with factory cartridges, so will probably still go prism on the .350.

 

[Agall]

11 hours ago, atxcyclist said:

Hogs for the most part, Texas has plenty.
 

I have looked at the Primary Arms, Vortex, and Burris mostly, along with a few others. And while something at 1.5 or 2x would be ideal, even a 1x would be fine as this’ll be mostly for sub-75 yard use in brush.  

 

I have a .243 Remington 700 I’ve put in an aftermarket stock and done some other work on if I need longer range, or for whitetail; Though if I put a higher-magnification prism or something like an LPVO on this .350 Legend, it would accomplish 200 yard whitetail hunts effectively. The .243 is well sub-MOA at 200 yards even with factory cartridges, so will probably still go prism on the .350.

 

I hunt mulies and whitetail with 300wm, the lighter 150gr PSP currently that screams at 3200 fps some out of a 24" barrel. Depending on the tag, its either woods or plains, but I have another rig I'm building for 50yrds and in. The more open areas can be in excess of 500yrds, last season harvesting two deer at 300yrds and 350yrds in heavy winds. That has a 4-14x, but I even only ended up being at about 8x. 

 

If I was building a rig for dispatching hogs, I'd probably end up with something like 7.62x39mm or 300BLKO supers (since those are real cheap with AAC now) but that's just my proclivity, 350 legend probably being better. Optics wise, I'd likely throw on the 1x prism with a 3x magnifier. I have PA's 6x magnifier and its nice, but I'd say more useful for zeroing than keeping it on the rifle 24x7. The 3x being a better compromise of eye relief and weight.

[Agall]

Flux Defense's P320 Raider RH brace in FDE came into stock and I pulled the trigger on it. Been aiming to pick one up several times, only time seeing them in stock since release was a few weeks before the brace ban got shut down so I didn't jump.

 

Now I'm narrowing down which P320 I want to get for it. I was either intending on picking up a factory M17 and using the safety delete pin or just picking up an Xfive Legion to get the longer and thicker barrel and better trigger. The Xfive Legion also comes with better magazines for this chassis system as well. The one concern I have though is if I intend to use JHP rounds in it, whether or not I'll exceed the velocity range with the Xfive Legion.

 

Thoughts?

*edit*

 

Just picking up the Xfive and a 3 pack of the 21rd magazines. Having to do the safety delete for the M17 doesn't really meet a secondary objective I have which is the ability to convert it easily back to its factory state. The adjustable irons appear to not conflict at all with the chassis, so in situations where you might use the iron sights in the chassis (hold it like a pistol) are probably worth it over the stock M17 sights. Better trigger helps a lot as well. Color mismatch between sniper gray, FDE, and black will be interesting, but I live for that kind of stuff.

[Lomac]

Apologies if this has been asked previously but are there any decent firearm YT channels that don't get political in any way? Been trying to find one for a while now but almost all inevitably get into it one way or another.

[Agall]

20 minutes ago, Lomac said:

Apologies if this has been asked previously but are there any decent firearm YT channels that don't get political in any way? Been trying to find one for a while now but almost all inevitably get into it one way or another.

TFB TV specifically talks about not getting political and doesn't. Same with InrangeTV. TFB TV is mostly reviews, InrangeTV gets a little strange sometimes but is mostly focused around competition and self defense but does content on history, black powder, etc.

 

Forgotten Weapons only gets political when it really matters, like when its something objectively wrong and not opinion, but that's a historical channel.

[vf1000ride]

3 hours ago, Lomac said:

Apologies if this has been asked previously but are there any decent firearm YT channels that don't get political in any way? Been trying to find one for a while now but almost all inevitably get into it one way or another.

Another channel if you like historical gun content is C&Rsenal.  They do long format, deep dives into the history of a firearms design.  Most of what they have done is WWI and older military rifles/pistols at this point but they are slowly starting to branch out.  Kentucky Ballistics is just him shooting things with increasingly larger rounds till it fails.  Paul Harrell has tons of testing and real world firearms advise, he is unfortunately very ill (cancer) at this point and is not producing as much new content but his older stuff is very good.  If you wanted gunsmithing type content, Mark Novak (Anvil) is really good.

[Agall]

9 minutes ago, vf1000ride said:

Another channel if you like historical gun content is C&Rsenal.  They do long format, deep dives into the history of a firearms design.  Most of what they have done is WWI and older military rifles/pistols at this point but they are slowly starting to branch out.  Kentucky Ballistics is just him shooting things with increasingly larger rounds till it fails.  Paul Harrell has tons of testing and real world firearms advise, he is unfortunately very ill (cancer) at this point and is not producing as much new content but his older stuff is very good.  If you wanted gunsmithing type content, Mark Novak (Anvil) is really good.

C&R does get political though, at least enough to be considered politically tangible sometimes. Kentucky is a good suggestion. Harrell does have a good backlog of technical style information. Novak's just hard to watch imo  

[vf1000ride]

1 hour ago, Agall said:

C&R does get political though, at least enough to be considered politically tangible sometimes.

I don't necessarily feel they put their own politics into the conversation though.  They don't discuss modern politics and I don't think I have ever noticed them claiming a right or wrong on historic politics.  When they mention something it it usually based on historical texts and is relevant to the time of the design of the firearm they are doing an episode about.   It is very possible I'm wrong though as I watch many other channels that tend to be very political about the current state of things and it's possible this has caused me to be less sensitive to the way they present things.

[Agall]

5 minutes ago, vf1000ride said:

I don't necessarily feel they put their own politics into the conversation though.  They don't discuss modern politics and I don't think I have ever noticed them claiming a right or wrong on historic politics.  When they mention something it it usually based on historical texts and is relevant to the time of the design of the firearm they are doing an episode about.   It is very possible I'm wrong though as I watch many other channels that tend to be very political about the current state of things and it's possible this has caused me to be less sensitive to the way they present things.

I interpreted the question from the perspective of someone who doesn't even want the faintest drop of politics into the conversation. Most channels do that in some way, TFB TV at least prides themselves on not doing that specifically with their "guns not politics" motto. InrangeTV and Forgotten Weapons I know specifically stay away from politics for similar reasons, since firearms and firearms culture and therefore politics are usually quite tightly knit.

 

C&R as example regularly goes on Fudd Buster's podcast, where they're VERY political, being that FB is a 2nd amendment activist lawyer and almost explicitly covers politics. Even then, TFB TV host's have their own personal channels where they'll regularly get into politics, but they keep it out of the actual TFB TV videos.

 

Really the only examples I'm aware of, the rest do it subtly, or at least don't care enough to keep politics out of it to bother trying. I don't think its necessary, to keep politics away from the firearms, but I can at least respect the channels that do and advertise as such. It can help attract more into the space.

[Agall]

Zeroed today, absolute blast. I've owned a couple chassis systems for Glock (never the cringey Micro Roni ones though) and this is definitely the best designed one I've handled. I just transplanted the 2 point from my AR, but it works perfectly in this configuration. When the brace is collapsed, its effectively a single point, and extended it works like a normal 2 point, so a perfect blend of both. I ended up liking this Olight the best, the TLR-1 HL I also had was way too easy to accidentally engage, this one strikes a good balance. Might end up picking up a threaded barrel simple to give it a bit of extra length, don't know if I want to gamble on compromising reliability though, which was absolutely flawless for the 200 some rounds I put down range zeroing and practicing reloads/low ready firing.

 

[Crunchy Dragon]

On 5/31/2024 at 6:21 PM, Agall said:

Zeroed today, absolute blast. I've owned a couple chassis systems for Glock (never the cringey Micro Roni ones though) and this is definitely the best designed one I've handled. I just transplanted the 2 point from my AR, but it works perfectly in this configuration. When the brace is collapsed, its effectively a single point, and extended it works like a normal 2 point, so a perfect blend of both. I ended up liking this Olight the best, the TLR-1 HL I also had was way too easy to accidentally engage, this one strikes a good balance. Might end up picking up a threaded barrel simple to give it a bit of extra length, don't know if I want to gamble on compromising reliability though, which was absolutely flawless for the 200 some rounds I put down range zeroing and practicing reloads/low ready firing.

That's dope.

 

I know Brass Facts and Company love the Flux Raider, but I've not looked into it a ton myself, although it does seem enticing. I've been thinking about swapping to a normal Hellcat(currently own the Hellcat Pro) and keeping an MCK in the truck to accomplish a similar purpose(filling the PDW void), but haven't had funds yet. I'd be fine if an MCK would be made for the Hellcat Pro, but so far no dice on that. Might still pick one up for my G22 though, just for the fun factor.

 

On 5/30/2024 at 3:51 PM, vf1000ride said:

If you wanted gunsmithing type content, Mark Novak (Anvil) is really good.

I'm a huge fan of School Of The American Rifle for gunsmithing content as well.

 

On 5/30/2024 at 12:10 PM, Lomac said:

Apologies if this has been asked previously but are there any decent firearm YT channels that don't get political in any way? Been trying to find one for a while now but almost all inevitably get into it one way or another.

I don't typically see much from Hickock45 that goes in a political direction, usually he just talks a bit about the gun and shoots it absurdly well. Unfortunately firearms are a political topic in and of themselves, and it's a tricky thing to treat the tool as it deserves to be treated.

[Agall]

On 6/1/2024 at 5:51 PM, Crunchy Dragon said:

That's dope.

 

I know Brass Facts and Company love the Flux Raider, but I've not looked into it a ton myself, although it does seem enticing. I've been thinking about swapping to a normal Hellcat(currently own the Hellcat Pro) and keeping an MCK in the truck to accomplish a similar purpose(filling the PDW void), but haven't had funds yet. I'd be fine if an MCK would be made for the Hellcat Pro, but so far no dice on that. Might still pick one up for my G22 though, just for the fun factor.

A viable EDC and PDW option is the P365 version of the Flux Raider. To me, its too builky to carry, but swapping the FCU+slide to a frame chassis is definitely a viable strategy. I don't feel like there's any concern of wear like you'd have with older wooden stocks, so swapping back and forth every day shouldn't cause those sorts of problems.

 

I've had a few of these chassis systems for my G19 and they've all felt bolted on or cludgy. This feels like an actually purpose built product in comparison. Even though I don't ever really plan to use the factory grip, being able to swap it back is nice, so I might leave the irons in tact even though they're kind of pointless with a micro prism.

[Crunchy Dragon]

1 hour ago, Agall said:

I've had a few of these chassis systems for my G19 and they've all felt bolted on or cludgy. This feels like an actually purpose built product in comparison. Even though I don't ever really plan to use the factory grip, being able to swap it back is nice, so I might leave the irons in tact even though they're kind of pointless with a micro prism.

My buddy has an MCK for his Springfield XD and that's a surprisingly pleasant shooting experience.

 

I wonder if the Flux Raider feels more purpose-built because it's designed around a specific pistol, rather than being more or less the same thing but slightly modified to accept different pistols like the MCK.

 

Not a huge Sig guy, but I like how compact the Raider is. Maybe I'll give it a whirl sometime in the future when I have slightly more disposable income to throw at a range toy.

[Agall]

17 minutes ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

My buddy has an MCK for his Springfield XD and that's a surprisingly pleasant shooting experience.

 

I wonder if the Flux Raider feels more purpose-built because it's designed around a specific pistol, rather than being more or less the same thing but slightly modified to accept different pistols like the MCK.

 

Not a huge Sig guy, but I like how compact the Raider is. Maybe I'll give it a whirl sometime in the future when I have slightly more disposable income to throw at a range toy.

I build this Flux Raider as a practical PDW, as a bridge between the gap of an EDC CCW handgun and an AR-15 carbine. Ideally that gets replaced by the PSA X57 when it releases, but that's not for another 6 months or so (hopefully). This Flux Raider is also slightly more compact than what that X57 will end up being.

 

There's also a potential argument against 5.7x28mm in 2024, since it was originally created to compete with 9mm NATO ball back in the 1990s. 9mm since then has evolved to be an extremely versatile and effective cartridge, things like G9 and Lehigh's Xtreme series with machined copper rounds at screaming velocities. Even as simple as being able to use hollow points, something that's barred by the Geneva Convention for warfare. I imagine part of 5.7x28mm's design was to maximize the effectiveness of ball ammo in a handgun/PDW.

[Crunchy Dragon]

2 minutes ago, Agall said:

I build this Flux Raider as a practical PDW, as a bridge between the gap of an EDC CCW handgun and an AR-15 carbine. Ideally that gets replaced by the PSA X57 when it releases, but that's not for another 6 months or so (hopefully). This Flux Raider is also slightly more compact than what that X57 will end up being.

 

There's also a potential argument against 5.7x28mm in 2024, since it was originally created to compete with 9mm NATO ball back in the 1990s. 9mm since then has evolved to be an extremely versatile and effective cartridge, things like G9 and Lehigh's Xtreme series with machined copper rounds at screaming velocities. Even as simple as being able to use hollow points, something that's barred by the Geneva Convention for warfare. I imagine part of 5.7x28mm's design was to maximize the effectiveness of ball ammo in a handgun/PDW.

For sure. PSA's been makin some moves, I'm interested in seeing how that shapes up.

 

I hear that. 9mm has come a long way since the 90s, and 5.7x28mm was among the calibers designed to pierce armor out of a PDW-sized firearm, and innovation seems to have halted with that cartridge in a way that 9mm and other cartridges haven't.

[Agall]

30 minutes ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

For sure. PSA's been makin some moves, I'm interested in seeing how that shapes up.

 

I hear that. 9mm has come a long way since the 90s, and 5.7x28mm was among the calibers designed to pierce armor out of a PDW-sized firearm, and innovation seems to have halted with that cartridge in a way that 9mm and other cartridges haven't.

I think the idea behind something like the X57 is increasing hit probability and location, since even out of a small PDW, 9mm has more recoil than 5.7x28mm. If you can put 2-3 rounds in an effective location versus 1-2 of 9mm, either way, handguns are just poking holes in people with minimal hydrostatic shock, so its all about location. Comparably, 5.7x28mm can get 30rds in the same length magazine as a 21rds of 9mm. A 5.7x28mm PDW is also going to be lighter than a 9mm one.

 

I'll still likely pick up an X57, but I'm really glad I finally built out this Flux Raider. I have no doubt PSA's X57 will be reliable from the go since their Rock 57 is reliable as hell. We also still don't know if the X57 is just a chassis system built Rock 57, but I doubt given the way the barrel works. Its likely direct blowback and not short recoil like most handguns and their 57.

 

Both the P320 and the Flux Raider system are proven reliable at this point too. The X5 version I bought does come with a different recoil system using a 1911 spring. It came with a 12lb and 14lb, I obviously put the 14lb in it for increased reliability.