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Gaspipeshooter
24 August 2014, 07:05
Currently I have 4 builds underway, all at relatively beginning stages.

http://www.ohiowaterfowler.com/MISCPHOTOS/Custom%20Builds.jpg

Upper left: Mega Arms Billet Set, GTR 3H AMBI Lower.

Lower left: Mega Arms Billet Set, GTR 3H AMBI Lower. Has B.A.D. Enhanced pin set and Standard Ambi Selector Switch and Norgon Ambi-Catch installed so far, with a KNS Anti-Rotational Pin set on the bench waiting.

Upper right: Aero Precision .308 set.

Lower right: Aero Precision upper and "pistol" marked lower. Phase 5 Tactical Hex-2 pistol buffer tube with Sig Tac pistol brace. WMD NiB BCG.

Biggest issues hindering progress have been working too much; getting ready for and taking vacation, and prepping for the wife's 40th birthday party in conjunction with our annual Labor Day party. Added to that, when I start trying to put parts lists together I get a little overwhelmed and saturated, so I just quit...l:confused: I think I am going to concentrate on the pistol build first and get it finished up. May take the stuff on the one Mega lower and swap it over to get it done.

FortTom
24 August 2014, 08:45
I just finished back-to-back projects. The last one fought me every stinking inch of the way. Nothing went easy, stuff didn't want to fit, and so on. Between that I was trying to do trap, get ready for hunting season, and then all the regular stuff I have to do in life. I know how you feel. I ended up with extra parts from ordering twice, etc.. Anyway I got the second one finished except for lubing it up and taking it to the range for it's first voyage Monday or Tuesday. Someone mentioned "your next project", and I thought I was going to fall over. I never would have believed that I could get burned out and have that much energy drained, from just gathering and assembling, and a little milling and machining a bunch of parts.:o

Then I started looking at and pricing 7.62 receiver kits and barrels. Better run to Krogers an snag a couple more pounds of coffee, I'm tired....[:D][:D]

FT

UWone77
24 August 2014, 10:21
4 Receiver Sets = 4 Stalled builds... you know that's a first world problem right there.

One at a time... one at a time.

Gaspipeshooter
24 August 2014, 11:14
4 Receiver Sets = 4 Stalled builds... you know that's a first world problem right there.

One at a time... one at a time.

Great observation and great advice. The pistol build just took precedence. Tactical Shit is blowing out the Adams Arms Piston Kits, with a Voodoo Innovations barrel included, for $249.99 plus shipping. That's basically the price of a decent 11.5" carbine length barrel about anywhere else. The WMD bolt just got transferred to a different receiver set. I have a couple extra 5.56 bolts on hand so I have a bolt for the Adams Arms bolt carrier. So what I still need to finish it is, (based on my mental checklist since my OCD paper lists are on the workbench), an FCG, (leaning towards an ALG Defense ACT), a handguard, (the Midwest Industries MCTAR-20G2 is leading right now), a muzzle device, (the BattleComp 1.0 Black Oxide is my first choice currently), and I may throw my Vortex Optics Strikefire RDS on it to get started.

As for the piston kit, I've always wanted to try one. I've got my NFA trust in the works, so a suppressor is in view on the horizon. For the money, I figured the bundle from Tactical Shit was worth a shot to experiment with.

Gaspipeshooter
26 August 2014, 05:41
Since I made the decision to make the pistol build priority #1, I went ahead and stripped the parts off the one Mega Arms lower and built the Aero Precision "PISTOL" marked lower. The B.A.D. Enhanced pin set, B.A.D. Standard Ambi Selector Switch, and the Norgon Ambi-Catch are installed, along with the Phase 5 Tactical Hex-2-C™ Pistol Buffer Tube Complete Assembly and Sig Tac brace. I put in a mil-spec trigger I had in the parts drawer to try out the KNS Anti-Rotational Pin set, (to be replaced, I think, with an ALG ACT set up). I used the Geissele Trigger Fitting Pin, (shown in the picture) to install the trigger pins. It's a tool I would not want to be without. It really is a great tool for lining up trigger pins! Adams Arms piston kit and Voodoo Arms 11.5" carbine length gas system barrel will be here later this week. Need to get a pistol grip, muzzle device, and handguard decided on and ordered next.

http://www.ohiowaterfowler.com/MISCPHOTOS/PistolLower.jpg

UWone77
26 August 2014, 06:18
I starting losing interest when I saw there was an annual Labor Day party, and I didn't seem to get an invite. [:D]

Gaspipeshooter
26 August 2014, 06:24
I starting losing interest when I saw there was an annual Labor Day party, and I didn't seem to get an invite. [:D]

I'm not sure how far it is from where you live to Ohio, but you are more than welcome! In addition to various grilled wild game: pheasant, duck, goose, venison, fish: walleye and perch, there will be "civilian food" in the form of grilled burgers and smoked chicken quarters & pork shoulder. Of course "beverages" will be in abundance. After sunset when things cool down the "Bourbon Tour" will start.

UWone77
26 August 2014, 06:27
I'm not sure how far it is from where you live to Ohio, but you are more than welcome! In addition to various grilled wild game: pheasant, duck, goose, venison, fish: walleye and perch, there will be "civilian food" in the form of grilled burgers and smoked chicken quarters & pork shoulder. Of course "beverages" will be in abundance. After sunset when things cool down the "Bourbon Tour" will start.

What part of Ohio? My wife graduated from Bowling Green and Cincinnati.

Gaspipeshooter
26 August 2014, 06:54
What part of Ohio? My wife graduated from Bowling Green and Cincinnati.

I'm in the NE part of the state, diagonally opposite from Cincinnati. Bowling Green is pretty much due west of me. Ever hear of Kent State and the National Guard? I graduated from Kent State.

FortTom
26 August 2014, 07:22
Ever hear of Kent State and the National Guard? I graduated from Kent State.
Hey, great!!, small world, I was in the National Guard at Kent State[:D] Wow.... P.S. I still hate Crosby, Stills and Nash!

[BD]

Gaspipeshooter
26 August 2014, 09:12
Hey, great!!, small world, I was in the National Guard at Kent State[:D] Wow.... P.S. I still hate Crosby, Stills and Nash!

[BD]

FortTom, how about Neil Young? [:D]

Just for you...maybe you'll see yourself in one of the pictures? http://www.ohiowaterfowler.com/SMILEYS/TOOFUNNY.gif


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCS-g3HwXdc

UWone77
26 August 2014, 09:14
I thought FT had to sit still for oil paintings?

Not sure he was in the service when actual photographs were taken. [:D]

Computalotapus
26 August 2014, 10:35
I thought FT had to sit still for oil paintings?

Not sure he was in the service when actual photographs were taken. [:D]

FT's portrait is on the wall of some cave somewhere...

FortTom
26 August 2014, 15:07
I thought FT had to sit still for oil paintings?

Not sure he was in the service when actual photographs were taken. [:D]

No, in High School, end of the freshman year, I believe, but I can dream can't I? Stinkin hippies...........I should have been in Jr. ROTC, maybe pop 'em with a pellet gun.:P Trying to stop a perfectly good war...assholes[:)]

Comp, I think my family portrait is in a cave in France somewhere...........[BD]

Gaspipeshooter
26 August 2014, 17:13
No, in High School, end of the freshman year, I believe, but I can dream can't I? Stinkin hippies...........I should have been in Jr. ROTC, maybe pop 'em with a pellet gun.:P Trying to stop a perfectly good war...assholes[:)]

Comp, I think my family portrait is in a cave in France somewhere...........[BD]

So you were 14-15 y.o. when Kent State went down? I was 9 y.o. in third grade. My dad has tons of pictures from the campus & downtown Kent with the National Guard and their equipment in many of them. He loaded us in the car and drove around taking pictures with one of those little "spy cameras" you see in the movies that you pushed on the ends and collapsed, for lack of a better description, to take a picture.

FortTom
26 August 2014, 18:30
14. In all seriousness, those years were really a bad time, with enough blame to go around, for everyone. America had been losing it's innocence for several years. Hard drugs, heroin and psychedelics were accepted like candy. Young boys drafted and sent to a country many of them couldn't find on a globe, many of them to die. Riots in the streets and on campus's everywhere. Half wanted continued bombing of North Vietnam to bring them to their knees, while half wanted complete end and immediate withdraw. My father doing two tours in 'Nam. First time I really didn't understand what that was all about, but in '69 -'70, I fully realized the dangers and had to watch my mother watch the news every night, like girlfriends, wives and families all over the country did.

Family members getting drafted. Black light posters. Bell bottoms and tie dyed shirts. It all seems like a distant surreal memory now. I remember seeing Kent State on the day it happened on the evening news, probably with Howard Conkrite.

Strange times indeed.

FT

Gaspipeshooter
27 August 2014, 06:41
With regards to my pistol build, I'm still trying to decide what muzzle device to put on this. In doing some more research, the VG6 Precision Epsilon and VG6 Precision Gamma have caught my attention. This information about the Gamma has me leaning towards it:

"The brake has been optimized for 10.5" to 18.5" barrel lengths, but ultra-shorty SBRs and AR-Pistols with shorter barrels and full sized 20" rifles will benefit greatly from the muzzle brake as well."

Anyone with experience using both have a preference?

Ride4frnt
27 August 2014, 08:56
With regards to my pistol build, I'm still trying to decide what muzzle device to put on this. In doing some more research, the VG6 Precision Epsilon and VG6 Precision Gamma have caught my attention. This information about the Gamma has me leaning towards it:

"The brake has been optimized for 10.5" to 18.5" barrel lengths, but ultra-shorty SBRs and AR-Pistols with shorter barrels and full sized 20" rifles will benefit greatly from the muzzle brake as well."

Anyone with experience using both have a preference?

I guess it also depends in your barrel and rail combo. You don't want that rail sticking out too close to the ports of that brake.

Personally on my pistol build I'm going with a longer rail and a linear comp. Something like the KX3, PWS CQB, KAK flash can, or Kaw Valley Precision linear comp to direct the blast and sound down range. I think for me, since I mostly shoot under a roof, I'd rather have the sound and blast redirected than the recoil mitigation.

UWone77
27 August 2014, 09:21
I think the Epsilon is the best muzzle device VG6 produces. There's a couple of threads floating around about the Epsilon. It shoots very flat, and the recoil comes back into your shoulder.

Gaspipeshooter
27 August 2014, 09:32
I guess it also depends in your barrel and rail combo. You don't want that rail sticking out too close to the ports of that brake.

Personally on my pistol build I'm going with a longer rail and a linear comp. Something like the KX3, PWS CQB, KAK flash can, or Kaw Valley Precision linear comp to direct the blast and sound down range. I think for me, since I mostly shoot under a roof, I'd rather have the sound and blast redirected than the recoil mitigation.

For my rail I've pretty much settled on the Midwest Industries MI-20SS due to the piston kit requiring the use of a standard mil-spec barrel nut. I was looking at the MCTAR-20G2, but don't need all that rail real estate. Good points about the noise and blast re-direction, definitely something to take into consideration.

Gaspipeshooter
27 August 2014, 09:52
I think the Epsilon is the best muzzle device VG6 produces. There's a couple of threads floating around about the Epsilon. It shoots very flat, and the recoil comes back into your shoulder.

Thanks for the feedback. Is there anything else you would recommend from personal experience over either of these two for an 11.5" barreled pistol?

UWone77
27 August 2014, 09:58
Thanks for the feedback. Is there anything else you would recommend from personal experience over either of these two for an 11.5" barreled pistol?

Like Ride suggested, you could go with a brake, or a linear type comp to direct everything forward. I have suppressor mounts on most of my short uppers, but if you don't plan to go that route, I really have no issue with an A2 FH. Not the newest or sexiest, but it works.

Just depends on what you're trying to accomplish. What I can tell you is that a brake on a short barrel is a teeth rattler.

Computalotapus
27 August 2014, 10:05
That Strike Industries Cookie Cutter "looks" kinda cool. Do not know how it performs tho

Ride4frnt
27 August 2014, 10:18
That Strike Industries Cookie Cutter "looks" kinda cool. Do not know how it performs tho

Yes, it does look cool. Their videos seem kind of weird to me though. A cop shooting a full mag at a moderate speed and a caption saying he wants to shoot it more. I'm sure someone will put it through it's paces. I will be using their quick attach dust cover though.

Gaspipeshooter
27 August 2014, 10:21
The question of what I want to accomplish is a good one. I've never personally shot any AR with less than a 16" barrel. Been at the range and had SBRs shot next to me; definitely not a pleasant experience. Now that my NFA trust is set up, and an SBR or two are definitely going to be registered/procured, as well as suppressor(s). Once the pistol is done, function tested, and sighted in, I don't see it being a frequent "range gun", at least not until it is suppressed. I'm also thinking about SBR uppers and what muzzle device(s) they might wear as part of this. Hopefully the piston system works as well as I hope it does. I might run an A2 FS to start and see how the recoil is. That will certainly help me decide what direction to go. Thanks for the additional feedback.

FortTom
27 August 2014, 15:28
I have two VG6 Epsilon Brake/Comp/Flash Hider, but they are both installed on 16" barrels, not SBR or pistol, so I can't tell you anything as far as that's concerned. If it helps at all, on the mid AR they are very effective, especially the light weight gun I just finished. As far as the flash hider, the only test I've been able to do was in an indoor range with the lights dimmed low. I can tell you that next to an A2 flash hider, I found it to be superior, but not vastly. Again, I don't know if it's effectiveness would be linear, compared to a pistol.

Putting a third on a scoped LMT that I use for "long range" (under 300 yards) coyote "sniper" rifle. Had one of the others mounted on it first. It's a bit on the heavy side with full C4 quad rails, a Burris P.E.P.R with a 2.5 X 15 scope and a Burris Fast Fire III on top of that, as well as a bipod and other hardware. It made a great deal of difference on that rifle, as far as the comp goes. It would jump a bit and move the bipod, but the Epsilon stopped that. Recoil never was heavy enough to matter, but it's a very tame rifle to shoot, not much more movement that a good pellet gun.

Not sure if any of this is relevant, as you're going to be using a pistol, but I might consider the Epsilon over the Gamma, for a pistol, just for the added flash suppressor alone. As you probably know, that short barreled pistol is going to belch a flame, which at dusk or dark will be a sight to behold, with a standard run of the mill A2 flash hider, or no flash hider at all, and I suspect the Gamma will not be much better in that regard.

Hope this helps,

Good Luck,

FT

Gaspipeshooter
27 August 2014, 16:48
Thanks for your feedback FT. Good info all around. One of the Mega billet sets I have is calling out to me to become an SPR/Long Range gun of some sort...maybe a Rainier Arms Select 18" MEDCON barrel to start with.

Ride4frnt
27 August 2014, 17:08
Thanks for your feedback FT. Good info all around. One of the Mega billet sets I have is calling out to me to become an SPR/Long Range gun of some sort...maybe a Rainier Arms Select 18" MEDCON barrel to start with.

On my 18" gun i used a black hole weaponry polygonal 5 groove rifled barrel. Got it at a decent price (came with a free Aero upper too) I don't have very many rounds through it, but I am impressed with it so far. The only rainier barrel I've ever shot is their 16" fluted, and it was a sweet shooter. I'm sure their 18" is no different.

Gaspipeshooter
27 August 2014, 18:29
On my 18" gun i used a black hole weaponry polygonal 5 groove rifled barrel. Got it at a decent price (came with a free Aero upper too) I don't have very many rounds through it, but I am impressed with it so far. The only rainier barrel I've ever shot is their 16" fluted, and it was a sweet shooter. I'm sure their 18" is no different.

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say the 18" MEDCON barrel is probably made for Rainier by Black Hole Weaponry, since it is 5 groove polygonal rifled. I used the 20" Rainier Select in .308 for a friends build and it is 5 groove polygonal rifled as well. I suggested it and my friend did a bunch of research and really liked the advantages of polygonal rifling, so he was good to go with it.

Ride4frnt
27 August 2014, 18:35
I'm gonna go out on a limb and say the 18" MEDCON barrel is probably made for Rainier by Black Hole Weaponry, since it is 5 groove polygonal rifled. I used the 20" Rainier Select in .308 for a friends build and it is 5 groove polygonal rifled as well. I suggested it and my friend did a bunch of research and really liked the advantages of polygonal rifling, so he was good to go with it.

You know, now that I think of it, I did hear that BHW was making the select series barrels.

UWone77
28 August 2014, 14:56
Yes, BHW makes the Select Line.

The fluted ones should be a pretty good indicator if you're familiar with BHW's work, which is exceptional in my opinion.

Gaspipeshooter
29 August 2014, 06:45
Yes, BHW makes the Select Line.

The fluted ones should be a pretty good indicator if you're familiar with BHW's work, which is exceptional in my opinion.

Personally I'm not a fan of the spiral fluting. While I can appreciate the technology and craftsmanship, it's just not something I personally care for the look of. Maybe it is was melonited or finished after the fluting I would, but I don't like the combination of bare metal and finished metal. Seems "unfinished" to me. On the other hand, I have a 7.62x39 upper I built with a Yankee Hill Machine 16" barrel that has their scalloped? fluting and I like the look. Don't know why, I just do. To each his own!

UWone77
30 August 2014, 07:06
I was actually talking about BHW price/performance vs the fluting. I'm neutral on fluting. Not a fan or a proponent. If I had to choose, I'd rather spend my money on something other than flutes.

Gaspipeshooter
30 August 2014, 11:35
I was actually talking about BHW price/performance vs the fluting. I'm neutral on fluting. Not a fan or a proponent. If I had to choose, I'd rather spend my money on something other than flutes.

My bad. I just automatically associate the fluting with them. My buddy's .308 build with the 20" Select barrel is very accurate so far and he hasn't even really broken it in. I am really leaning towards using the RA 18" MEDCON barrel on my next build when I do one of my Mega Arms billet sets.