Boom stick questions. Point me in the right direction.

In reply to Brett_Murphy (Agent of Chaos) :

30 cal Lever actions are supremely nice for 200 yards and in with a good set of iron/peep sights. A very nice light and extremely pointable rifle. Not too fond of using optics on them, though I do have a scout type QD setup in my optics inventory with 2-7 power Burris handgun scope specifically for it. 

.308 bolt actions are great for any distance you are comfortable with using good quality optics, prefer them with suitable chassis setup and a mounted bipod in a 'lightweight' config. Less pointable than a lever action rifle but very precise repeatability at much greater distance.

Would be a tough call between choosing only one to get... they are different kind of rifles. Fun and speed at 200 yards or under goes to the lever while ultimate precision at longer range and a bit more reliable operation under stress/field conditions goes to bolt action (levers are like pump-shot guns - don't want to short/soft stroke them... can get feeding jams).

Finally zeroed everything last week. The 17HMR Tikka T1X is fun and hysterical suppressed with a 30 cal can. Absolute laser @ 50 yard zero, took it directly to 100yards and easy for rapid hand-held shots. The AR57 shot nice and precise @ 50yards zero and was mostly reliable, only a couple times the bolt didn't go all the way into battery and needed to be manually manipulated to get it to fire. The Sig Cross is absolutely on-point... and finally zeroed at 100yards. The Aero M5 was great at 50 yards hand held but was having difficulty shooting it @ 100 yards hand held, need ... need to mount bipod and really check how sighted in it is at 100 yards (was shooting a bit high). M1A was most difficult to get zeroed... took forever to figure out where it was hitting and get scope roughly dialed in on paper @ 25 yards. Ran out of time to actually dial it in at 100 yards, but it at least is right on @ 25 yards now.

And didn't adjust the sights yet on the X-Ten but the new threaded barrel & compensator and the flared mag well made it very tame to shoot. Totally forgot to shoot the PSA Rock with new compensator attached to check function/operation...

Has anyone worked with Kydex?  I have a pistol that no one seems to make a holster for (My Dan & Wesson DWX).  I was looking at the price of sheet Kydex and it is cheap on Amazon.   I have "adjusted" Kydex holsters using a heat gun without any issues.   Would it be as simple as making an insulated box of some sort and placing a pistol in the box and then heating a piece of Kydex up until it is flexible and then draping it over the pistol and then applying a little pressure in the right places and applying heat at select locations as needed?

In reply to dean1484 :

It's been a few years since I worked at MidwayUSA customer service, but I have a  vague recollection of somebody doing custom Kydex holsters in the industry.  No idea if they still do, even if they exist.  Supposedly Kydex starts to melt at 320 F and will continue to do so to 390 but will start to burn at higher temps.  I see there are YT videos on tweaking Kydex holsters, so you might start there. 

I have had to tweak kydex holsters recently and it is a really nice plastic to work with.  I am just not sure of the process to use to mold with it.  I was thinking of making a box out of foil-faced insulation and then heating it with one of my lister heat guns to just over the softening point.  Put Kydex over the pistol and wait.  Probably oversimplifying it but. .. . 

The pistol would be set into a cutout piece of wood so the Kydex would only mold 1/2 the depth of the pistol.  I would actually probably be slightly less then 1/2 the depth at the trigger guard so in this area, I can put a fastener to control how much grip the holster has on the trigger guard thus making retention adjustable.

In reply to dean1484 :

Not sure if you have a full-size or compact, but here's a couple:

ANR appendix carry for DWX

DWX compact holsters

It takes a while for the industry to catch up to a new model, but the plastic holsters usually come out pretty quickly.

Per my other thread ("I'm giving my house an enema") I'm thinking of offloading duplicate/unnecessary shootin' irons.  Probably not advisable to list them here in total but if I put them for sale online I'll give you all a heads-up.   I sold a bunch of pistols to a good friend over the years and I'm thinking of buying them back, but it's going to cost me a whole bunch more money to buy them than I got selling them...  

In reply to stroker :

What types of things are you looking at picking up, again?

matthewmcl said:

In reply to stroker :

What types of things are you looking at picking up, again?

Looking to reacquire some that I sold my friend over the last 20 years.  S&W 65, S&W 581, etc.  I might have some rifles for sale at some point--Mosin Nagants, etc. 

stroker said:

matthewmcl said:

In reply to stroker :

What types of things are you looking at picking up, again?

Looking to reacquire some that I sold my friend over the last 20 years.  S&W 65, S&W 581, etc.  I might have some rifles for sale at some point--Mosin Nagants, etc. 

 

Mosins you say??

Everyone needs a few Mosins

In reply to Antihero :

Never had a Mosin, I might be too old. By the time they were what everyone was talking about, I was on Swedish Mauser #3.

 

 

Mosins you say??

 

Everyone needs a few Mosins

When Moisins were $100, yes.

Noddaz said:

 

 

Mosins you say??

 

Everyone needs a few Mosins

When Moisins were $100, yes.

Yeah, I didn't look for them for years and was quite surprised at how much they are now 

I shoulda bought a few m44s when they were $70

matthewmcl said:

In reply to Antihero :

Never had a Mosin, I might be too old. By the time they were what everyone was talking about, I was on Swedish Mauser #3.

That's the better choice, anyhow.

Brett_Murphy (Agent of Chaos) said:

matthewmcl said:

In reply to Antihero :

Never had a Mosin, I might be too old. By the time they were what everyone was talking about, I was on Swedish Mauser #3.

That's the better choice, anyhow.

Mosins are cool, but rough.

I prefer Enfields over every other WW2 rifle personally 

I have been looking for an M1. My local Cabela's has 5. So I took my bore gauge down there and was amazed to find four of the five were between a 1 and a 1.5.  There was one that was a 2+.  
 

The problem is the price. Almost double what you can get from the CMP. But I get to look at it and inspect them at Cabela's. Not like the CMP where you are stuck with what they send you. 

Noddaz said:

 

 

Mosins you say??

 

Everyone needs a few Mosins

When Moisins were $100, yes.

I remember a gunshop on the south west side of indy used to sell the M44 carbines for $69 each still in cosmoline. I kept meaning to buy a couple and a couple $60 spam cans of 7.62x54 but never did. Now I regret that decision. 

To add to my above post.  The CMP only says that the bore will be a 3 or better.  Anything above 2 is getting close to being shot out. 

It is a gamble. If I need a new barrel and then the work to put it in you all of a sudden are getting close to the Cabela's asking price. . . ..   Hummmmmmm

In reply to dean1484 :

Or you spend $1150 with CMP and it comes with a new stock and a new barrel.

Speaking of Garands, does anybody know what happened to that boatload of M1's that were acquired from South Korea and pending shipment to the US but got hung up on ATF politics?

Coming back in here.

Me: Left eye dominant, right handed. I own a Glock 23 and a shorter pistol grip shotgun. Both are primarily meant for self defense and are never expected to be used in anger. I'm not a hunter and have no aspirations with going that route. I don't want to target practice. I don't want another hobby.

If I wanted to add a rifle, which let's say was semiautomatic, bigger than .223, perhaps a .308 or better, with enough durability and toughness built in (like the Glock) to survive a messy situation and still be useful, where would I turn? Let's say it's time to head for the hills and I need something for self defense in a radically different situation, or am forced to get my own food, what's the hot ticket?

matthewmcl said:

In reply to dean1484 :

Or you spend $1150 with CMP and it comes with a new stock and a new barrel.

I don't want a new stock.  A new barrel is ok.  I want the old original with the dents.  I want its history intact.  I don't want a sanitized one.  

I ended up purchasing one last night.  It is a 1944 Springfield.  It has the older trigger guard.  The stock/furnature are original to the rifle (serial numbers match)  It appears to have been through the armory and had a new SA barrel put in it in 1960.  The barrel measured in at a 1.

Purchased a Shuster adjustable glass plug so I can shoot standard 150g 30-06.  I also need to get some clips.  

In reply to tuna55 :

Bigger than .223, and good options in semi auto, and you already know you're looking at .308. 6.5cm is nicer to run at speed, but still nearly double the cost per shot. And 308 is small enough to rapid fire 5 or ten without falling on your backside, but big enough for anything on feet if hunting does become a desire or a need. Depending on budget, you can build an AR10 in whatever style or primary function form suits you. Not quite as mud-friendly as an AK, but teardown and cleaning are as simple as it gets, and fast. 
A bit less stopping power could be 350 legend in a cheaper and lighter AR15 platform. Availability seems really good, at the cost of speed and range compared to 308. Lighter and smaller platform, less recoil. 

tuna55 said:

Coming back in here.

Me: Left eye dominant, right handed. I own a Glock 23 and a shorter pistol grip shotgun. Both are primarily meant for self defense and are never expected to be used in anger. I'm not a hunter and have no aspirations with going that route. I don't want to target practice. I don't want another hobby.

 

If I wanted to add a rifle, which let's say was semiautomatic, bigger than .223, perhaps a .308 or better, with enough durability and toughness built in (like the Glock) to survive a messy situation and still be useful, where would I turn? Let's say it's time to head for the hills and I need something for self defense in a radically different situation, or am forced to get my own food, what's the hot ticket?

Smart money is on an AR10.  M1A is a bit more pricey but doesn't give off the scary black rifle vibes.  

With that said, 5.56/.223 will take down any game you're going to come across in the SE.  

tuna55 said:

If I wanted to add a rifle, which let's say was semiautomatic, bigger than .223, perhaps a .308 or better, with enough durability and toughness built in (like the Glock) to survive a messy situation and still be useful, where would I turn? Let's say it's time to head for the hills and I need something for self defense in a radically different situation, or am forced to get my own food, what's the hot ticket?

Definitely a .308 AR.

That said, there is no 'milspec' for big frame ARs, so there's lots of proprietary BS across the various choices making parts interchangeability a problem.  They can also be finicky for both reliability and accuracy, at least much more so than 5.56 ARs.

At the lower end, I would pick the Ruger SFAR over everything at that price level.  If budget isn't an issue, the Daniel Defense DD5 is a great rifle, and the most accurate big frame AR I have personally shot.