All posts tagged Bushmaster

The 6.8 SPC still not catching on

I was never a big fan of the .223 or 556 caliber until I actually got off the bench and started doing real gun fighting.   I started out like many, with a Russian AK variant which was extremely reliable, but when it came to target engagements out to 400 meters and for close quarters gun fighting, there was a substantial difference in hit ratio.  Hit ratio was something that I never dealt with before because it was all about penetration and accuracy.   Now I know that being able to shoot a reliable rifle doesn’t mean you are going to win a fight, it’s all about hits and who gets the hits first.

There have been times when an AK74 type of rifle has done almost as well or equal to an M4 Carbine, but the shooter has to have more experience in gun  handling skills to keep up.  I compared the close quarters hit ration of the 6.8 SPC and found it to be closer to a 7.62×39 AK than a .223 variant. CMMG upper receivers are something to be considered if you are looking to mess around with bullet calibers.  Muzzle hop or flip will affect  your accuracy and speed and that is something to be concerned about.  Room to room and house to house fighting is something which occurs in seconds and putting 5 hits on paper is better more reliable at stopping a threat than one bad hit.   Bullet penetration is also something that can be over blown when it comes to CQC because that is a bad thing in a hostage situation.

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Getting the most out of the .223 gun

Even if you are someone that get’s very accurate results from your M4 or 14.7 inch barrel AR15.   You may be getting hits, but that caliber can become very weak once you get several hundred yards out.   When I picked up a chronograph I was blown away by how much velocity I actually got out of short barrel handguns and my M4 rifles because it did not match up with what I previously read about on the internet.   I saw 75gr HPBT clock at 2900fps out of my guns when I thought they would have been close to 2750.   I know you can push the limits with hand loaded ammunition, but you do have to be careful about excessive wear and tear.

I have been recently thinking about picking up an LWRCI Repr because I have been a big fan of battle rifles and even the military has brought back the 7.62 DMR rifle in various configurations.  I have even seen a few British troops show up with FAL rifles with scopes on them.   There is also a difference between what you can get out of a 55gr hpbt and a 75gr hpbt out of a 5.56 gun.  Sometimes an 18-20 inch AR15 upper receivers will get you far more range and punch than M193 ball ammo.  What you can do at 400-800yds with those guns compared to a 55gr bullet is considerable especially with wind drift ect.   Of course much of this is up to the skill level of the shooter.

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Bans on gun stocks and accessories

I feel sorry for some of the people that are gun owners and are presently stepping into the word of AR15, AK or Mini 14 ownership for the first time and live in anti-gun States.  I have had some really bizarre conversations with friends in California and New Jersey that had to take AR15 or FAL gun magazines and have blocks welded into them so they couldn’t take more than 10rds.  To some people these sounds like a good thing, but the real problem is  you are taking something that is functional at a certain operating system and potentially messing the whole thing up.  Magazine capacity restrictions are like putting smaller gas tanks on cars to keep people from speeding.   The other problems that many in New Jersey or California and other States run into are gun accessories like flash hiders or folding stocks, these are all usually banned.

I find the whole issue about bans on gun accessories like bayonets and folding stocks to basically be about people trying to put band aids on your kids body parts where there is no bleeding expecting to stop another person from beating him or her up.    Nobody wants to talk about how most gun crime is from the drug trade which basically is a self inflicted problem due to our Federal Government getting involved.    Gun accessories like, bayonets, flash hiders, folding stocks,  collapsing rifle stocks have no bearing on reducing crime and putting people who are a threat to society in jail for long periods of time would have more impact on reducing crime than making law abiding citizens block 20rd magazines so they can only hold 10.

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Your AR15 is probable not the AR15 your father had

It’s funny making a statement like that because I still feel like the AR15 is a new gun, but the reality is that it is now something that many of us had in the 1980s and 1990’s and now we have kids that are shooting them.    The AR15 is now probable the most popular firearm being sold in the Country, not only can you use it for close quarters combat and house to house clearing, there are varmint versions that are extremely accurate.   The whole durability and design of the rifle has improved dramitically, even though the M16A2 has been in service for about 25yrs and is a considerable leap in reliability over the A1, other changes have been made.

Chrome barrels use to be the thing that helped keep the direct impingement guns in a better functionality, but gun magazine improvements have reduced the number of malfunctions I see by atleast 95%.   I don’t see the failures to feed or the double feeding that I use to and it’s primarily due to the Magpul P-mags.   These magazines feed better than most and you can drive a car over them and still have them work.  Swapping out the upper receivers on an AR15 involves pushing 2 pins out, and there are many configurations from CMMG, LWRCI, DPMS that will improve the durability over lower grade guns.  If you want a combat reliable AR15, you will probable have to do a few things to an AR15 that costs under $800 to get it up to par, but overall I am very impressed with the improvements I see across the board  in the AR15 community.

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Is the gas piston a new thing?

I remember the first time I pulled the trigger on an AR15 rifle I thought it was the rich boy gun.   Back in the 1990s there was a mentality on the State Game ranges I use to dwell on where a certain level of snotty attitudes went with the expensive firearms.   Since just about everyone and there dog owns a 5.56 AR 15 now,  I don’t really look at it that way anymore.  The new trend in 5.56 calibers is to move away from the direct impingement and towards a gas piston driven gun.   There are plenty of people that can honestly claim that their AR15s don’t give them problems, but now that I know more about firearms, this is because they are maintaining their firearms properly.

Alth0ugh you can get the job done with a DI gun, I really have to say the that biggest reason I would want the United States Military to change to an H&K 416 style weapon is so our troops don’t have to break down their guns every day and do as much maintanace.    If we all drove a car that got 75 miles to the gallon, but needed an oil change every 500 miles, I think we get annoyed at how much time we are spending changing the oil filter or dropping it off to get done every month.  The beauty of market we are in is that piston conversion kits are being made for many of the DI guns and for a few hundred bucks we can convert everything over.

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Upgrading to the 6.8 SPC some range thoughts

I remember looking at guns with their AR15s and all of the bragging that went on when I was still plinking away with a $179  russian SKS.   I have memories of that time period when the owners were talking about how accurate their guns were, but when we walked down range, they shot groups that were basically the same thing I shot with SKS.   After several years of walking up the ladder of cheap guns to match grade guns, I realized my shooting skills were actually better than I thought, but it was all about getting the most out of a firearm and not really which one was better than the other.   Now that the AR15 has been in the hands of law enforcement and private citizens there has been a real debate about using the 55gr ball ammo for defensive purposes.

I have a close friend that has witnessed the use of 55gr Federal American Eagle and it was a one shot and drop shooting.   I predicted along with a few other military personel that with the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, we were going to see a chanc in the type of ammo snipers used.   The resurrection of the DMR has also come about.    Since there has been a growing trend towards using retired military in security and contractor forces, these individuals have been choosing their own weapons and many of them have been choosing pistol driven guns like LWRCI AR15 upper receivers.  These guns have a  proven track record of requiring less cleaning and reducing the wear and tear on extractors and bolt carriers.

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Tools and accessories and practicality

Once we out grow the arguments about which gun is better than the other and which caliber has more stopping power, the next bit of squabbling is usually about accesories and gizmos.   There are absolutely higher quality tactical scopes and combat reliable flashlights like Surefire and Streamlight, but there are still credible debates about how much of a white light you should have on a firearm.    If it’s too powerful, you’re more than likely going to be draining batteries for more than what you need and a light can easily get in the way and begin to snag on things especially if it’s too big.

Tactical gear like rifle stocks like VLTOR and Magpul have a very good reputation from users and those that sell them.   We have very few complaints about durability and even though the average weekend warrior can put one of these on their Bushmaster or DPMS AR15, these tactical rifle stocks will last the life of the firearm.  When you are trying to decide on what to put on your AR15, think about everything you expect to use the firearm for and leave yourself some room for future modifications without having to overhaul the stock. If you think  you’re going to be putting a laser or flashlight on the gun, get the appropriate rail configuration.  If you are looking for long range shooting, a red dot or Eotech may not be something to put on your gun, just leave it setup for iron sights until you find the right tactical rifle scope that your money can buy.

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So many ARs so little time..

AR 15 Upper receiversEven though the short stroke and other piston designs have come on the market, and these guns all operate much cleaner, the AR15s DI guns that are being fielded these days are far more reliable than the M16A1 that was issued in Vietnam.   Designs and improvements of metalogy has been tremendous and this can be noticed just by feeling the difference between one bolt carrier and another.   Another major point about why the AR 15 guns have caught on is that they are so ergonimically superior to most of the military style guns out there that they are easy teaching tools.   I normally start people out with learning the fundamentals with a 22lr bolt action with iron sights, but when I’m dealing with an adult that is not afraid of recoil, a .223 A2 style Carbine is an excellent staring point.

It seems that every time I pick up another issue of Swat magazine, American Handgunner, Special Weapons, Guns & Ammo ect. that there is yet another advertisement for another company making another AR 15 gun.   The AR15 is now the most mass produced rifle in America and they are as common as a can of Coca-Cola.    I don’t think I can name more than 3 calibers that the AK was made in, but i’ve already lost track of the number of calibers that I have seen the AR15 being made in.   You can get them in pistol caliber carbines and from my experience, they run very well.   I have to admit that I am glad to see that the AR 15 Upper Receivers have taken a giant step away from the direct impingement design that has been so hotly debated.   I am a big believer that with todays technology and the technology that are LEO and Military are dealing with, using a firearm that is such high maintenance, is a waste of valuable time.

 

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Range time and bullet selections

AR 15 UppersI had the opportunity to get out to the range again this week.   I tend to bring the same bullet weights with me to firing ranges whenever I’m shooting my ARs because there can be really big differences in bullet trajectory when shooting out to 600yds.   There is also a very big difference between bullet drift with just a few extra grains of weight.    I’ve pulled the trigger on 150gr FMJ bullets out to 500yds that missed targets just depending on whether or not I fired during a wind gust or not.   It’s really a  lot of fun to shoot distances because you find out that it’s not all about how well you hold a gun down and how well you pull the trigger.   Timing is something that really plays a factor when shooting into the wind.   I use to shoot at a range that had a wind that blew from right from 100-300yds and when you got out to the 400-600yds, the wind blew from the left.

Today I was testing out how well an M4 could shoot 75gr bullets and tested the difference between a 1-7 twist and the 1-9.   I normally shoot a lot of the M855 ammo for target shooting, just because it’s so darn accurate, but IMHO it is not the type of round that any civillian should consider using for self defense.   The round penetrates entirely too much for urban environments and out of an M4 does  not perform as well as 55gr ball ammo.   I have noticed considereable accuracy differnces in my 1-7 twist rifle vs the 1-9 and I am a firm believer in that the 75gr HPBT is a better round for th M4 rifles even if you are using a 1-9 twist.   I have tried swapping out some of my AR 15 Uppers to different bullet twists and I still think the shorter the rifle, the faster the twist and weights should be.

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Downgrade the rifle length and upgrade the caliber

AR15 UppersThere is much to debate when it comes to discussing the effectiveness of the 5.56 round.   When it was originally deployed in the M16A1, the military had issues with the reliability of the gun, but I have heard not one complaint from any Vietnam vet about the lethality of the round.   That was when the military was using a 20inch barrel with a 55gr bullet travelling well over 3000fps.  The bullet is extremely violent at that velocity.   The lethality of the round was greatly diminished when the military started using shorter length barrels and the 62gr SCBT also known as SS109 or M855.   Although it is only 6grs heavier, the bullet is so well balanced that it basically zips straight through a target and the terminal ballistics are not very good below 2800fps which is practically what an M4 shoots it at near the muzzle.

In my opinion and many others that have been to Iraq, the short way to get around the probable is to use a heavier bullet.   The MK262 is a 77gr bullet that although it does not travel as fast as the 55gr or 62gr, it is much longer and tumbles almost immediately after hitting a target.  For close quarters situations I recommend 75gr-77gr HPBT.    One other thing to consider that many in the Special Forces or Civillian area are doing is upgrading their M4 or AR15 Uppers to the 6.8 SPC.   Do some research on which kind of upper configuration  you are looking for because there are  a lot of manufacturers out there.   The CMMG Upper is a quality upper that will get you in the new realm of M4 Carbine upgrades.

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