Monthly Archives: July 2012
Thoughts on Aurora
I haven’t commented on the Aurora massacre here on this blog. There were too many different aspects of it, too many things about it that had to be digested. Watching the media coverage of the very predictable political fallout, particularly when it comes to gun rights, I am filled with contempt, not only for the shooter, whom I will never name here as notoriety is exactly what he wanted, but also for those who would so eagerly dance in the blood of the shooter’s victims as part of their ongoing crusade to strip millions of Americans of one of their inalienable human rights, the right of self defense. Continue reading
Like what you read? GunNoob is now part of Pew Pew Tactical. Check out the rest of our awesome resources:
Site News: Comments and Such
Two issues with the site’s comments have come to my attention this morning:
- There has been an influx of spam comments
- The notification system wasn’t working.
To address the first issue, I’ve removed all the spam messages and implemented a capcha system on the site. I hate capcha but I hate spam even more and I’m sure many out there feel the same way.
For the second issue, I’m working on it.
Meanwhile, if you’ve left a comment recently please check as I’ve replied to a couple this morning. Sorry about that.
Like what you read? GunNoob is now part of Pew Pew Tactical. Check out the rest of our awesome resources:
From Tacticool to Practicool: The Pistol Bayonet
Every so often you come across something someone’s done to a gun purely as a joke, like the guy who puts an Ace bottle opener on their AR15 to stay hydrated. He shows it off in a YouTube video and everyone has a good laugh. That’s pretty much what I figured when I first saw a pistol bayonet. The only conclusion I could come to was that someone modified their pistol for a bayonet as a gag and in a horrible turn of events that spun out of their control, someone took it seriously and ran with it, leaving the original gun owner absolutely mortified with the Pandora’s Box they had opened. It doesn’t help that some of the more influential voices in the world of young people getting into guns makes attempts to show it as somehow useful.
Thanks for nothing, Call of Duty 3!
Believe it or not, the pistol bayonet has a historical precedent. Sailors would carry them on raiding parties because when you’re in the bowels of a cramped ship with no room to draw a sword and your pistol only carries one shot, it helps to have a Plan B. But that Plan B became less and less necessary when pistols started carrying more rounds and didn’t take five minutes to reload. The same thing occurred with rifle bayonets over the years as rifles became easier to reload and shorter in length. It used to be a bayonet on the end of a rifle made perfect sense because the rifle itself was already as long as a spear, troops were already massed in large, tight formations in order to concentrate firepower, and in the middle of a close-in fight, you couldn’t call a time-out to reload for five minutes. While some modern rifles still have bayonet lugs, they’re almost never used in combat.
The last U.S. Army bayonet charge was in 1951 (though the British were bayoneting people as late as 2009). But even though they’re not used as much, bayonets for rifles still make some sense, whereas a bayonet on a pistol makes me wonder what the hell is wrong with people. Explain to me the scenario where this thing will be used as it’s intended. I’ve only seen them advertised on automatics, so let’s assume the shooter using it has at least 10rounds in the magazine. (FOAD, California!). What possible situation are you going to be in where you run through 10rounds in a magazine, possibly 10 rounds in another, and instead of escaping you’re closing with someone to bayonet them with your Glock? For Chrissakes, this is the Orange Park Mall not Rorke’s Drift!
There’s also a safety aspect to think about, if patent absurdity isn’t enough to dissuade you. By putting this thing on the front of your pistol you now have all the safety concerns of a pistol added to the safety concerns of an unsheathed razor to contend with. I’ve been looking on the internet to see what other people have been saying about this thing, and some of the stuff I’ve seen makes me fearful for the people who interact with them on a regular basis. One guy lamented that he wasn’t sure which Airsoft gun he was going to put his on.
Read that again. He put a razor sharp bayonet on the end of a TOY that he runs through the forest with and uses to engage in simulated combat with his FRIENDS. You know how your mom always told you not to run with scissors? I’m pretty sure the basic principle underpinning that lesson transfers readily to sharp %&^*ing knives.
What to get instead: A light or a laser
Believe it or not, the rail below the barrel of your new pistol has a purpose beyond comic relief, and the options for it are quite practical, particularly for new shooters. While a flashlight or a laser isn’t quite as dangerous as a knife, you could make “vroooo vroooo KSHHHHH!” noises and pretend it’s alight saber, though I and all of your neighbors would beg you to make sure it’s unloaded first.
Lights
Weapon lights and I have an uncomfortable relationship. I have a family situation wherein having an adrenaline-pumped me pointing my light in the same direction as my weapon isn’t ideal in the most likely situation I would use it for its intended purpose. However, I do believe it’s a good resource for those who don’t share that situation. A single person living alone who hears something strange downstairs in the middle of the night would benefit from having a light on their weapon, allowing them to have one hand free for opening doors or operating light switches. Lights have become so prevalent in the firearms community that they can be found just about everywhere.
Lasers
Despite what The Terminator and Cobra have taught us, a laser isn’t a one-to-one trade-off for sights, but it does have its uses,particularly when dealing with low-light conditions where the shooter may be amped up.
Have you ever tried to aim with iron sights in the dark? It’s a bitch, ain’t it? A laser ameliorates this somewhat by putting the dot in the approximate area your bullet is going to go and the best part is you can see it in the dark, a distinct possibility for anyone who’s purchased a gun with the fear they may have to use it at home in the middle of the night. While some have said a laser is a two-way street, the idea that someone can find you by following the laser has been pretty much debunked. It’s not ideal for every circumstance, but for this situation it’s a good fit.
I dislike the entire pistol bayonet concept for a variety of reasons. One is practicality. Are you going to carry this thing around with the blade attached or wait until you’re getting mugged, yell “fix bayonets!” and hook it onto your gun while your would-be mugger stares at you in slack-jawed fascination?
The second is simple safety. For the most part I believe all care should be made to make guns safer for the user and more dangerous for the assailant. Sticking a knife on the end of a gun isn’t going to make the user safer and probably more of the opposite. I’ve carried knives on me since I was 13. You know how many times I’ve stabbed an attacker? Zero. You know how many times I’ve stabbed myself? Holy crap!Break out the abacus ‘cause we’re going to be here awhile.
Look, if you want to learn to use a gun, learn to use a gun.If you want to learn to use a knife, learn to use a knife. Not everything goes together like toast and jam. Sometimes it’s just toast and chapstick. Sure, I could make the stretch in logic that eating toast while protecting my lips from the elements is a good idea, but why would you even want to try?
Like what you read? GunNoob is now part of Pew Pew Tactical. Check out the rest of our awesome resources:
From Tacticool to Practicool: The Fake Suppressor
There’s a tendency among shooters to want the best gear, and there’s nothing wrong with that. One doesn’t walk into a car dealership and demand to see their shittiest compact, after all, and shooters are no different. For the most part, people want to outfit themselves with quality equipment, and for better or worse, the barometer of quality gear is the military. This is a fallacy for a number of reasons.
- Military equipment is geared toward a specific purpose that 99% of people will never see.
- The military has passed on acquiring great pieces of kit due to price or politics.
- The military makes stupid decisions.
Number 3 is kind of subjective, but if you need evidence just look at the latest fiasco wherein the military spent $5 Billion dollars on camouflage that makes Soldiers easier to see.
The end result of this thinking is that people go out and buy stuff for their weapons because it’s “milspec” even though “mispec” will do absolutely nothing for them. A person who does this obsessively is commonly referred to as a “mall ninja.” This is the guy who puts a long-range scope on his 16-inch AR and only shoots it at a 100-yard range. The guy who buys a plate carrier and no plate.
And believe me, it’s hard to keep yourself from buying the latest gadgets for your rifle. They make so many scopes now! With so many dots! Some are green and some are red! And it has RAILS! You can put a scope on top of another scope! HOW CAN YOU MISS WITH TWO SCOPES?! YOU CAN’T! IT’S A MATHEMATICAL IMPOSSIBILITY!!!
Then you look at the price tag attached to your new super scope, and you realize you’ve made a horrible mistake. “Two scopes?! What the &*%$ was I thinking? You can’t hit anything with two scopes! It’s a mathematical impossibility!”
“But, TJ, you condescending %&*$#, who gives a crap what we put on our rifles?” you ask. And the answer is “no one but you.” If you’re military or LEO and you live in that tactical world, this isn’t for you. If you want something because it looks cool, then nothing I say will change your mind. This new series of articles is for the people who are just getting into firearms and their exposure to what good gear is comes from movies, video games or the internet. Because you shouldn’t feel like you have to spend a lot of money for something you’re not going to use or use to its potential. So we’re going to kick this off with what I feel is the most egregious example of mall ninjitsu, the fake suppressor.
Now, look, there is a lot, and I mean A LOT of “tacticool” gear out there, but the saving grace of 99% of them is that they at least serve some actual purpose. I may not need a quad-rail handguard on my AR, but at least it performs a role holding stuff. A fake suppressor, on the other hand, is like motorcycle helmet made of paper mache. It LOOKS like a helmet, but when the time comes to protect my bean from the ravages of the open road it doesn’t even do a proper job of holding the pieces of my skull together for the paramedics who must now deal with the added inconvenience of finding them all.
Now, a real suppressor is a good piece of kit to have. It’s better on the ears, and in the states where you can hunt with them, you can take an animal without scaring off every other piece of game for three miles. The problem is they’re expensive and you have to have ATF’s permission to have one in the form of a tax stamp, and that can take ages. So, instead, people put a fake suppressor on their rifles, usually AR15s. It doesn’t make the retort any less loud. It doesn’t hide muzzle flash. The best you can say is that the weight of this metal cylinder on the end of your rifle helps with muzzle rise. It’s like instead of having a spoiler put on your car, you have a vanity plate that says “SPOILER.” I’ve heard of some people having fake suppressors permanently fixed to their short-barreled rifles in order to get around those pesky laws mandating that rifles be of a certain barrel length, but sweet monkey Jesus!
Let me get this straight. You wanted a short-barreled rifle, but since for whatever legal reason you can’t have a short-barreled rifle you extended the length of your barrel by welding a fake suppressor onto the end of your gun. The end result is a rifle with a longer barrel that behaves like a short barrel (as the fake suppressor isn’t rifled).
Now call me stupid, but I think I just would have bought a longer rifle to begin with.
I’ve seen these things being sold online for as much as $125. That’s $125 for a block of metal that makes your barrel longer with no net benefit.
But if you HAVE to get one…get the best one out there. This one is from Spike’s and costs about $40.
Spike’s Fake Suppressor
What to get instead
Okay, you want your AR to look cool. I get that. But you also want it to be useful. And if you’re not going to shell out the cash and time to get a real suppressor, you should probably just get a new flash suppressor/compensator. Within the same price range as a fake suppressor you can get something that screws onto the end of your AR with an actual function. And with the wide breadth of designs out there, you can get something that also makes your rifle look nice. A compensator diverts gasses from the muzzle to help “push” the barrel down as you fire, cutting down on recoil and muzzle rise. A flash suppressor hides the muzzle flash from your rifle, meaning that if you’re shooting at that damn raccoon who keeps coming up on your porch in the dead of night, you’re not blinding yourself with a big flash of light on the first shot. You can buy them separately, or for a little extra you can get something that does both, and they’re only about an inch long.
There’s tactical and then there’s tacticool. The difference between them is practicality. For the no-kidding operators out there who really do jump out of planes and conduct special operations, tactical is practical. For those of us who don’t, it’s not. It’s tacticool. It’s mostly harmless, but it can be expensive. Julius Caesar was said to have a servant stand next to him during speeches to whisper the words, “You are not a god,” into his ear as the crowd cheered him to keep his feet on the ground. I sometimes think it would be nice while I’m browsing at the gun store if my wife would whisper, “You are not an operator,” into mine.
Keep shooting.
TJ
Like what you read? GunNoob is now part of Pew Pew Tactical. Check out the rest of our awesome resources:
My Grandfather’s Gun: The Revelation Bolt Action
It was stored in a forgotten corner of my grandparents’ house for an unknown number of years. After their passing, it was used as a decoration in a room in my parents’ house that I had never really been in. It hung there above the door for a few years, adding to the western theme of the room’s decor. Then my parents moved to a smaller place. They had no need for the knick knacks and such from that room in their new home. So then the gun was passed to me. I don’t really remember the exact time frame when I came to possess this gun. I do know that, at the time, I didn’t have the interest in guns that I have now. It was a while before I even unwrapped it from the towel it was handed to me in. I knew, however, I would never get rid of it. My grandfather was a great man and this reminder of him was precious to me. There was just a lot going on in my life at the time and I didn’t have time to spend with this gun. Looking back, I rather regret that.
As my interest in guns increased, so did my desire to find out more about this gun. There was also an unending urge to see this gun restored to the shiny, working condition it so deserved to be in.
In my research of the history of this gun, I learned a lot about the firearms industry and just how our attitude towards guns has changed over the years. I’m not speaking in purely political terms, because that is forbidden on this site. I’m speaking more about the access to firearms overall. You’ll see what I mean soon enough.
First off, let’s look at the mechanics of the gun itself. Most people today, when they see a bolt action they immediately think “rifle”. Admittedly, that was my first thought when I saw this gun. It turns out, however, that this is a bolt action, .410 shotgun. I’ll let that sink in for a moment. A shotgun…with a bolt action. They sure as heck don’t make them like that anymore! The bolt action shotguns were a kind of stepping stone between the break actions and the pump actions. They didn’t last long either. Most of the bolt action shotguns only held 3 rounds so the 6 round pump actions were much more desirable. Consumer demand drives production and the bolt action shotgun disappeared from the market and memories of the firearm industry.
So where did it come from? This particular gun was built by a company called “Revelation”. I wouldn’t be surprised if you haven’t heard of that brand. I would be surprised, however, if you haven’t heard of that company’s real name. Much like the Kenmore brand is just Whirlpool appliances repackaged and sold exclusively at Sears, Revelation is another name for Mossberg (and a couple others, as it turns out). Revelations were rebranded Mossbergs to be sold exclusively for Western Auto Parts stores.
And Bam! An M. Night Shyamalan twist in the story! You read that right: this gun was bought at an auto parts store! Western Auto wasn’t like your typical Pep Boys retail store that you know today. They were a pretty massive mail order catalog company similar to Sears, Montgomery Ward and J.C. Penney at the time. The difference was that Western Auto pretty much only sold auto parts at first. Sometime in the 1940s, Western Auto started selling rifles and shotguns through their catalogs. They weren’t the only ones either. All the major catalog chains sold firearms that were rebranded for their stores. You could be getting Mossbergs, Remingtons, Winchesters, Savage Arms or High Standard guns and never know! Even crazier better, at one point you could order a Thompson Machine Gun from Sears and it would be delivered right to your door. No need for an FFL or even a background check! Talk about a whole different mentality towards firearms!
But I digress. Mossberg wasn’t the only manufacturer that was rebranded as “Revelation” for Western Auto. Depending on the gun you purchased, you could be buying either a Savage or a Marlin as well. All three companies sold their guns under the Revelation name. This lasted until the late 60s when the stores all stopped selling guns due to political and societal pressures.
Let’s talk about the features of this gun: In short, there aren’t many. In order to keep prices competitive, these store brand guns were the absolute basic models. You see, stores wanted something to sell and the manufacturers didn’t want to be undercut. So if you wanted a cheap gun, you bought their gun from Western Auto or Sears. If you wanted something with some toys features, you had to go to a real gun seller and get the real brand name. In this case, you get a single brass dot for a front sight, a blued barrel, and a solid wood stock (I’m not sure if it’s birch or walnut).
As far as the condition, I’ve got some work to do to it. There’s some corrosion on the outside of the barrel and it desperately need to be re-blued. The stock is in surprisingly good condition, however. After a quick wipedown with some Ballistol it looks almost new (yes, you can use that stuff for polishing wood and it works great!).
In terms of the functions of the gun, it feels great. The trigger is really crisp and the bolt moves smoothly. The only thing that worries me is the condition of the barrel. I plan on taking it to a local gunsmith to get it looked at in the near future.
I want this gun working. It deserves to be in working condition. Not only to honor the unique history of the gun itself but the great man that bought it.
Like what you read? GunNoob is now part of Pew Pew Tactical. Check out the rest of our awesome resources:
Feelin’ Hot Hot Hot
I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but it’s a bit warm outside. I know it’s hard to believe we’re having hot weather in the summer but temperatures keep climbing and it doesn’t look like there’s going to be any breaks for a while.
I should note that this article pertains to those of you who shoot at outdoor ranges or outside in general. If you shoot in one of those air conditioned indoor ranges, you probably don’t have to worry as much. However, I didn’t open up my browser to type up a discussion about weather alone. I’m typing this as a warning: this heat is dangerous.
I don’t mean in terms of heat exhaustion and such, but that is something else to keep in mind if, like me, you shoot at an outdoor range. I’m talking more about your ammo and the guns that shoot it. Here’s an experiment: go look at your gun collection. Chances are most, if not all of them are black.
Now, as Mr. Wizard (or Bill Nye for those of you under 30) told us long ago, darker colors absorb more light and therefore get hotter than lighter colors. This means that your dark colored guns and magazines, if left in the sun, will get hot fast.
This heating will cook the bullets inside the magazines. According to the Mythbusters, you’d have to cook the bullets to between 400-500 degrees before they’d go off on their own so I don’t think you’ll have to worry about that. What you WILL have to worry about is that when bullets get hot, the explosion of the powder is more energetic and that can lead to a damaged gun. Depending on what kind of rounds and their loads, the results could be a catastrophic failure of your weapon.
At the same time, many guns have tight tolerances. I’m going to talk in depth about just what that means in a future article. The short of it for now, however, is that there is a bit of give in the moving parts of a gun to allow for movement and expansion from shooting and other things. If something goes outside of those tolerances, the gun usually stops working. If it’s too far out of tolerances…that’s right: catastrophic failure.
So when your dark colored gun is sitting in the light energy generated by a ball of fire with an outer surface temperature of 9,940 degrees fahrenheit, it’s going to warm up. Again referring to Mr. Wizard: when things get hot they expand. So as your gun heats up those tolerances are going to get thrown off. If the gun heats up too much and you try to fire it, you get a broken gun.
So what can you do to minimize the heating of your gun? First off, keep them out of the sun. If there isn’t much shade, get a couple of light colored towels (white, preferably) and use them to cover your gun and magazines between use. The thick towels will insulate from the outer air and the light color will reflect the sunlight instead of absorbing it.
If you really want to go all out, get one of those soft side coolers and a cold pack and store your ammo or loaded magazines in there. Don’t go crazy with the cold packs and I wouldn’t store my gun in there, however, because you don’t want condensation forming on your stuff as that can lead to rusting. Cooling the cold pack in the refrigerator before going out instead of the freezer is a great way to cut down on potential moisture.
Other than that, drink a lot of water and put on some sunscreen. It’s an oven out there. Be safe!
Images used under Creative Commons License from SashaW and kcdsTM respectively.
Like what you read? GunNoob is now part of Pew Pew Tactical. Check out the rest of our awesome resources:
Noob Guide: Cleaning Your Gun
Like what you read? GunNoob is now part of Pew Pew Tactical. Check out the rest of our awesome resources:
The AR-15 Project: Done!
Well, the AR is “finished”. I say that with quotes because, like any project of mine, it’s never really finished. I just have to stop working on it….for now. You can bet that, as time goes by, I’m going to have a nice collection of different uppers for this gun. That’s much later though. Right now I’m getting everything together that I need to take this to the range. I can’t begin to describe the feeling of accomplishment when I snapped the front hand guard into the delta ring assembly. Actually, it didn’t happen immediately. Once it was firmly in place, I said to myself “ok, what next?”
That’s when it hit me: there wasn’t anything. That was the last piece. I was recording it and I was at a complete loss for words. I just quickly signed off and stopped the camera then just sat there for a while holding my newly finished AR. I carried it out of the studio to show Mrs. Noob. I didn’t even have to say anything. She could tell from the grin on my face. I still can’t help but stare at it and say “I can’t believe I built it”.
Now that it is “done”, I think a retrospective on the project is in order.
What did I learn?
- Building this thing was a lot easier than I expected – I don’t know why I was convinced that I needed to have a degree in Gunsmithing in order to build this thing. Maybe if I was doing something more than assembling it, perhaps. In the end, though, this was just that: assembling a rifle. Compared to some of the LEGO sets I built as a kid, this was a breeze.
- Even though some of the recommended tools may not be necessary, they make life so much easier – One of my main resources was a free online video series that Brownells has on their site. As I was going through them I kept thinking “ok, I will need that tool but I should be able to get by without that one” and so on and so forth. Now that I’m all done, I can say without a shadow of a doubt that I really should have gotten all the tools instead of trying to MacGyver my way through some of it.
- Don’t skimp on the damn vise – Because I was doing this on video and in my studio, a run of the mill bench vise would have been difficult to use. I figured one of those suction cup vices (for building models and such) would suffice. That thing was a constant thorn in my side the entire project. After multiple injuries and a lot of swearing, I wound up getting a regular bench vise and figured out a way to use it in my studio. Seriously, there is a permanent blood stain on my table because of the roll pin incident. Then the suction cup couldn’t stand up to the torque necessary to attach the barrel. The next AR I build will be done in my garage with a proper vice.
- Brownells makes a roll pin holder – It’s just a punch with a shallow hole drilled into one end. It’s for the sole purpose of holding the pin aligned to the hole so you can get it started, then switch to the appropriate punch to finish the job. They charge around $15 apiece for them and $50 for a set. After screwing up a pin and driving one of those punches through the tip of my finger, they could charge $250 for the set and I’d still be saying “shut up and take my money”.
- Read the online manuals first – The Magpul MBUS front sight is not to be used on a picatinny gas block and especially not a low profile picatinny gas block. They’re also not compatible with Magpul’s handguard either. The more you know.
What will I do different on the next one?
I think I’m going to make an upper with a 20 or 24 inch barrel and a free-floating handguard. I’m leaning towards upping the caliber a bit on the next one as well. I’m hoping the .300 BLK stuff will be a bit more common by the time I get around to it. I like the things I’ve read about it so far. There are only a handful of larger calibers that don’t require a whole different lower receiver.
Quick Product/Retailer Reviews
The lower receiver from S
pike’s Tactical was great as was the dust cover. This thing was made perfectly and I didn’t have any trouble getting anything to fit on to it. Spike’s seems to have a reputation for making really good stuff for absurdly good prices.
Brownells was wonderful for all the little fiddly bits and, once I discovered all the resources they had available on their site, it was very easy to find the pieces I needed. Unfortunately I only found out about those resources around halfway through the project (I will link them below). They are very good about showing which items were in stock and navigating the site was easier than most. I also love that they don’t gouge you on shipping.
I think it’s safe to say that half of the parts came from Brownells and the other half came from Palmetto State Armory. Like Spike’s, PSA has really good kits and pieces for insanely low prices. They bundle Magpul parts with most of their stuff and I can’t complain about that one bit. Everything I’ve gotten from them was great quality. My only complaint is that their fulfillment department (if there is one) is a bit lacking. There’s a bit of inconsistency when it comes to getting the order out the door. Sometimes it was within a day or so, sometimes it was almost 5. There were a few times where their website showed my order as pending even as I was bringing the shipment in off my front doorstep. It won’t stop me from ordering from them in the future, mind you, because their prices and quality of parts is so awesome. I’m just impatient when it comes to things I’ve ordered online.
Finally, I can’t finish this review section without saying a couple things about Magpul. The quality of their components is incredible. I’m very big on “Form vs. Function” and love it when something looks as good as it works and visa versa. Magpul has developed a reputation for doing just that. My only complaint is that they don’t make a free-floating handguard so I won’t be able to use some of their stuff on my next build. Either way, from their magazines to components to their iPhone cases, their stuff is just awesome.
Yes, I have one of their iPhone cases. My phone matches my AR now.
Final Word
I went into this thinking it would be a lot more difficult than it was. Now that I’m sitting here with a nice AR next to me, I can honestly say that there is no reason why anyone shouldn’t give this a try. I was 100% serious when I earlier said that I’ve put together LEGO sets that were more complicated than this. All it takes is a bit of time and patience and a bit of research. In the end, you wind up with a rifle that is truly yours. On top of that, you gain an intimate understanding of how your rifle works which will make it easier to repair and maintain yourself down the road. If nothing else, the money you save alone should give you good reason to consider building one yourself.
Working on your own AR? Save 10% on AR-15 accessories at Mounting Solutions Plus! Use check out code: gunnoob
Price List
| Part | Bought From | Price ($) |
| 16″ Barrel Mid-Length | Palmetto State Armory | 123.95 |
| Bolt Assembly | Brownells | 44.99 |
| Bolt Carrier (pre-keyed) | Brownells | 109.99 |
| Cam Pin | Brownells | 5.99 |
| Charging Handle | Brownells | 23.99 |
| Comp/Flash Hider | Brownells | 25.99 |
| Delta Ring Kit | Brownells | 18.99 |
| Dust Cover (Jolly Roger) | Spike’s Tactical | 9.95 |
| Firing Pin | Brownells | 9.99 |
| Firing Pin Retaining Pin | Brownells | 1.44 |
| Forward Assist | Brownells | 17.99 |
| Gas Tube Roll Pin | Gun Gallery | 0.50 |
| Handguard Cap | Brownells | 3.99 |
| Magpul Mid-length Handguard | Palmetto State Armory | 33.20 |
| Mid Length Gas Tube | Brownells | 14.99 |
| MOE Lower Parts Kit | Palmetto State Armory | 59.95 |
| MOE Stock Kit | Palmetto State Armory | 79.95 |
| Picatinny Gas Block | Brownells | 29.99 |
| Spike’s Tactical Stripped Lower | Gun Show | 79.95 |
| Upper Receiver | Palmetto State Armory | 69.95 |
| Total: 765.73 | ||
Resources
Brownells “How To Build an AR-15 Video Guide
Like what you read? GunNoob is now part of Pew Pew Tactical. Check out the rest of our awesome resources:
The Basic Rifle Cartridge Guide
Ellen Ripley: “Lieutenant, what do those pulse rifles fire?”
Lt. Gorman: “Ten millimeter explosive tip caseless. Standard light armor piercing round. Why?”
What the #&%$ does that even mean? When I first saw Aliens I didn’t know, but I knew it sounded good. For the record, that round doesn’t exist, and if it did I doubt you could fit 95 of them in a magazine. You see, the “ten millimeter” part of that explanation deals with the bullet’s diameter*. That’s pretty big for a rifle. The M4 the U.S. military issues to its soldiers fires a 5.56mm round, only about half the size of what Space Marines apparently fight with. But if 10mm explosive tip caseless rounds don’t exist yet, what should I use to shoot aliens with?
A rifle is a precision instrument. No, really, it is. Think about it. You’re taking elements of physics, metallurgy, chemistry, optics, aerodynamics and human ergonomics and mixing them together with the goal of using a controlled explosion to send a small piece of metal to the very range of eyesight with the goal of hitting a target that is often smaller than the area of a paper plate. Whether that target is a bullseye in a competition or the heart beating inside an animal, the goal is to get that bullet there with enough force to pierce the target. Rifles and rifle cartridges can do that at ranges that pistols cannot and were never designed to. The rifle, itself, is only half the equation. The cartridge is the other half, and when it comes to that other half, you have a number of options. Shooting squirrels? You might want something small and accurate. Shooting xenomorphs? Probably something bigger.
So what we have here is a really basic, introductory list of rifle calibers and some pros and cons to each. This is far from a complete list, but it does include cartridges that you’re probably most likely to come across, especially as a new shooter.
.22LR
As was covered in the pistol guide, the .22 long rifle is probably the most popular rifle round out there. Its small size and high velocity make it ideal for hitting small game like squirrels at range, and it’s low recoil make it a great round for beginners and children who want to shoot but don’t want the shoulder bruises that come with a larger round. It also has a low price, and it’s common to see them come in packs of 500 for $15-$20. As a defense round it’s not great, but it’s ability to kill small animals without disintegrating the tasty parts make a .22lr rifle a must-have for any country battery.
Pros: Small, light, fast and inexpensive. Perfect for taking small game. Recoil in a rifle is non-existent.
Cons: Too small for large game and sketchy for defensive applications. I wouldn’t want to use them in a pistol against an attacker, but in a rifle they have more velocity and power, so it’s a little better.
.223 (5.56X45mm)
The .223 and its very close relative, the 5.56X45mm, are most commonly found used in the AR15 rifle. Although often thought of as the same, the 5.56 is the military variant of the .223 and has more power behind it, and it’s therefore important to only fire 5.56 in a 5.56-chambered rifle. Larger than a .22lr, but not by much, many states don’t allow hunters to use .223 on large game like deer because it’s considered inhumane. It’s used, therefore, more as a varmint round, used to kill prairie dogs at long range or predators such as coyotes.
Pros: Easy to find and reasonably cheap, you never have a hard time finding .223. More than adequate to kill a four-legged predator (coyote) and designed specifically to kill the two-legged kind (as the U.S. military proves daily in Afghanistan).
Cons: Limited hunting applications due to its small size.
.30-30
The .30-30 has killed more deer than any other bullet and has been doing it since 1895. Primarily used in lever-action rifles, most .30-30 rounds have a blunt-nosed bullet, limiting their effective range to about 200 yards. With a light recoil and the ability to take deer or small bear, the .30-30 continues to be one of the most popular hunting cartridges in North America even more than a century after its introduction. Hornady’s line of LeveRevolution rounds are pointed with a soft polymer tip, giving you the performance of a pointed round in a lever action. I sold my .30-30 to my father after he used it to kill the biggest deer he or I had ever seen, and while I’m glad he has it, I’m sorry I don’t.
Pros: Light recoil, moderate power, easy to find in sporting goods stores.
Cons: The blunt nose in most .30-30 rounds make them inaccurate compared to sharp-nosed spitzer bullets.
7.62X39mm
The 7.62X39mm cartridge is a Russian round designed for use in the venerable AK-47 and SKS rifles. With the importation of these 
rifles to the U.S., the 7.62X39mm has become a popular round, and some bolt-action rifles, notably from CZ, and semi-autos like the Ruger Mini-30 use it. The round is large enough for medium sized game such as deer and more than adequate for self defense.
Pros: Big enough for hunting and self defense, very light recoil, comes cheap from Russian and East European suppliers.
Cons: Both Russian and American manufacturers make 7.62 rifles and both countries make the rounds for them. However, the primers in Russian-made 7.62 tend to be hard, designed for Communist Bloc weapons like the AK and SKS. The U.S.-made 7.62 is made with softer primers. So using soft U.S. primers in Comm Bloc rifles can sometimes result in a slam fire while using hard Russian primers in U.S. weapons can result in a failure to fire. Best rule of thumb: Comm Bloc ammo in Comm Bloc weapons.
.270
The .270 Winchester is another popular hunting round that first came out in 1925. Fast and flat-shooting, the .270 made a name for itself as an elk-hunting round. It’s still one of the most popular hunting cartridges today and can be found in multiple weights, letting a shooter choose a weight that works best for what they intend to hunt.
Pros: Flat-shooting, fast, devastating terminal performance.
Cons: Price (but worth it)
.30-06
Everyone has heard of the “thirty-aught-six” even if you weren’t sure what it meant. The .30-06 began life as the .30 government and was made the primary U.S. military round in 1906 (hence the “06” in the name), replacing the .30-03 round. Though it was eventually replaced by the 7.62X51mm round in the military, the 06 remains a popular bolt-action hunting round capable of killing any animal in North America. Just about every company that’s every produced a bullet in the United States makes .30-06.
Pros: Power, accuracy, easy to find.
Cons: Kicks like a sumvabitch.
.308 Winchester (7.62X51mm)
Another popular round that started as a military round, the .308 Winchester is the commercial version of the 7.62X51mm round that replaced the .30-06. It has since been replaced by the 5.56X45mm round, but is still used by military and police forces as a sniper round and is a popular and common hunting round. Although it’s similar to the 7.62X51mm military round, the two are not the same. Only shoot .308 in .308-chambered rifles. Putting them side-by-side, one might think the .308 is less powerful than the .30-06, and they would be right, BUT not as much as their difference in size would make you believe. One of the reasons the .308 replaced the .30-06 was that advancements in powder chemistry made it possible to get near-.30-06 performance in a much shorter case. The result was the .308.
Pros: Power, accuracy, easy to find.
Cons: Recoil
.357, .44, .45LC
An honorable mention needs to go out to the .357 magnum, .44 magnum and .45 Long Colt. Although they are primarily pistol rounds, there are many rifles, most notably cowboy-action lever rifles, that use these cartridges. Ruger even makes a bolt action .357 and used to make a .44 magnum version of the famous Ruger 10/22. They’re not as powerful as center fire rifle rounds, but are strong enough to take deer at short ranges. You have to be careful, however, choosing the right kind of bullet as some types of bullet shapes can get hung up in lever-action rifles.
Pros: Manageable recoil, 50-to-a-box rather than 20.
Cons: Have to be careful of bullet shape in lever guns, not as powerful as regular rifle rounds.
In his book, The Art of the Rifle, Jeff Cooper says, “Personal weapons are what raised mankind out of the mud, and the rifle is the queen of personal weapons. The possession of a good rifle, as well as the skill to use it well, truly makes a man the monarch of all he surveys.” But the rifle is only half the weapon. Without the cartridge, the rifle is just a club. Choosing the right cartridge is every bit as important as choosing the right rifle. This is a very short list of the options that are out there, and if you’re just setting out looking for a rifle, it’s important to also research what you intend to shoot with it.
Happy shooting.
TJ
*”Explosive tip” obviously means they explode on impact, and believe it or not there are bullets that do that. U.S. Air Force fighters use explosive tip rounds in their 20mm cannon. “Caseless” refers to the bullets being encased in hardened propellant that doesn’t need a brass case to hold it. This keeps weight down. It’s also disproven an hour later when Vazquez is blasting xenomorphs in the air vent and throwing brass cases everywhere.
Like what you read? GunNoob is now part of Pew Pew Tactical. Check out the rest of our awesome resources: