AR-180

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I assure you that it wasn’t planned, but it seems that I am, inadvertently, testing all the non-direct-impingement AR clones these days. I picked up a couple JAKLs which are using the long stroke gas system of the AK. And, for no reason that I can think of except for a wild impulse, I seem to have picked up one of the new Brownell AR-180 reintroductions. This particular flavor of AR-wannabe uses the short stroke piston system. What both of these designs have going for it is that they allow for a folding stock, and they are a bit more hygienic in terms of keeping fouling out of the action.

Years ago, I took a defensive carbine course. Unsurprisingly everyone was using some flavor of AR-15. I recall that I could fire about 400 rounds before the gun needed a couple squirts of lube or some quick cleaning to keep it running. In theory, the non-direct-impingement guns should run way past that without needing cleaning. Guess I’ll find out.

For those who are a bit unfamiliar, Brownells took the concept of the AR-180 and ran with it. They updated the design to work on any milspec AR lower, which is a huge win since it allows the gun to use plentiful AR mags rather than the proprietary AR-180 mags. (Although, yeah, you could modify an AR mag to work. Usually.)

The tradeoffs are the usual ones when moving away from the direct impingement system…a hit to accuracy since there are now moving bits along the barrel. In fact, best I can tell, the only semiauto .223 carbines out there that dont have moving parts on the barrel are the direct impingement ARs, the gasless HK93, and the wierd lever delay of the FAMAS.

If someone would bring out an HK93 that takes AR mags and has a bolt hold open I would buy a dozen. (And, interestingly, Hk did exactly that.)

So, as soon as a couple accessories show up for this thing, I’ll take it out and see if it’s got anything going for it. Right now, the most interesting thing about it is that….its NOT an AR.

Travellin’ man

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Still here. Every once in a while, for various reasons, I have to travel. When I travel I try to update the blog but sometimes scheduling won’t allow it. And, for PerSec reasons, I usually don’t mention I’m leaving town until after I return.

So…where was I? America’s first post-apocalyptic city: Detroit. Which, as it turned out, wasn’t as inhospitable as I thought but, then again, I was probably only seeing the better less bad parts of it.

And, as always, flying sucks and the grepos at TSA will be the first ones up against the wall when the revolution gets here. That and the idiots who recline their chairs all the way. And people who travel with babies. And ESPECIALLY people who bring a sandwich onto the plane and funk up the atmosphere next to me with pepperoni or whatever the heck was in that thing. C’mon people, have a little consideration for your fellow passengers who have to sit next to you.

Need to inventory

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I need to do some inventory this month. I’ve been a bit lax about adding things to the preponomicom and I simply cannot afford to be caught unprepared (or overprepared) given how it seems like everything in the country is in some sort of race to Third world lifestyle.

By the way, how can you be overprepared, you ask? Simple….you inadvertently acquire more of something than you could realistically need and that commitment of resources prevents you from being prepared elsewhere.

I’m reasonably confident that the future of me needing to use my preps does not look like Red Dawn, Jericho, Last of Us, or Walking Dead. I am more inclined to believe it looks more like …what it is now – inflation, scarcity, violent crime, homelessness, reckless government, and that sort of thing.

I know I keep saying it, but it’s true: Your likelihood of being in an emergency that requires remediation using $50 bills is magnitudes of order greater than being in an emergency that requires remediation using .50 BMG.

Not saying it won’t or can’t happen the other way, just saying that my experience says the odds favor the personal EOTWAWKI occurring more than it does the civilization-wide one.

A personal EOTWAWKI is something that directly impacts you a lot more than it impacts society as a whole. Job loss. Health crisis. Divorce. A close death. Bankruptcy. House fire. These are all things that bring your life to a screeching halt but barely make a blip on the radar of anyone outside your immediate circle. Those are the things that will happen far more often than UN troops going door-to-door giving forced Covid vaccinations.

So..I need to print out the preponomicon, grab a clipboard, and hit the shelves. Its a not unpleasant way to spend the afternoon when it’s 95 degrees outside. Hanging out in a cool basement working on that warm fuzzy feeling from knowing you can take care of your needs for the next year or so……not a bad way to spend a few hours.

 

The new economics of ammo

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So, while some opportunistic Ferengi at the gun show was trying to get $110 for a brick of small pistol primers, it appears that even at dealer prices its around $.07 for primers. Lets run some numbers:

  • Primer = $.07
  • Jacketed bullet = $.13
  • New brass = $.15
  • Powder = $.02

Thats about $.37 per round to reload a simple 115 gr FMJ 9mm. Now, to be fair, if I use once-fired brass the price drops to $0.22 each. But, here’s the thing, I can buy factory ammo at about $.24/round.

It’s hit the point where it is literally cheaper to buy factory ammo than to reload your own. And that isn’t because the price of factory ammo has come down, but rather because the individual components for reloading (esp primers) has gotten so ridiculous.

Well, if its  a case of pay me now or pay me later…I guess I’ll just buy factory ammo for now and spare myself the work.

There’s a reason to stockpile things, especially consumables, in large quantity and this is a good example of why.

Its heavy even when empty

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SO, just got back from the Missoula Gun Show.

It’s always a good show with lotsa interesting stuff. First thing I want to say is, if I were selling a brick of small pistol primers for $110 I would be ashamed of myself. Yes, I want to make as much money as possible, and I won’t tell you that you’re wrong for doing it…but I couldn’t do it.

For the first time in a couple years I ran into Johnny Trochmann, the in-your-face ‘leader’ of the Militia of Montana back when stuff like that was all over the news. He’s a nice guy, friendly, polite, and waaaaaaay out where the buses don’t run. Conspiracy du jour was blue helmeted UN types being hired for law enforcement roles here in the US. Ok, John….whatever.

However, Johnny T. has always treated me right since we both wear the same brand of tinfoil. (Mine is shiny side out, though.) He had several hundred rounds of once-fired commercial .50 BMG for sale and I got it at a little discount of $0.90 each. Good guy, that Trochmann.

And, by the way, even empty that .50 BMG stuff is heavy. My hands were cramping trying to carry two 100-rd bags of the stuff to the truck.

As for .50 BMG primers….well….I guess $0.80 each is a bargain in some circles these days but my brain could not reconcile paying that kinda money. No doubt I’ll regret this down the line when they either $1.50 each or completely unavailable. A good case for the .338 Lapua whcih does a decent job of being a ballistic Pareto’s Law example compared to the .50.

All in all a good show. Saw some familiar faces, got a deal or two, saw some nice stuff, and didn’t go too overboard on spending. (Although I might go back and pick up a Ruger M77 in 7×57 that looked pretty sweet.)

Still gotta drop the money and get the BMG presd and dies. That Barrett is an expensive mistress.

Missoula Gun Show

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The big Missoula gun show is this weekend. I…can’t think of much I need. Really, about the only thing I need is some BMG optics and BMG reloading gear. Thats about it.

On the other hand, sometimes you never know what you need until you see it.

Regardless, it’ll be fun to wander around and see familiar faces. If you’re in Missoula this weekend, I highly recommend swinging by the show. It’s at the Hilton Garden Inn on Reserve St, across the bridge from CostCo.

OKC arrival

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A little while back, I mentioned that Ontario Knife Co. was no longer a going concern. It appears that it was sold, without its manufacturing equipment, to another knife distributor. Not maker, but distributor. I suspect that soon we will see the marketplace full of Made In China knives sporting the OKC brand on it. This is pretty much what happened to Schrade. Sad, but thats how things go in the real world.

Although my personal prefs run towards the KaBar and BKT products, I did order a couple knives while they were still available. They arrived today:

And. fortuitously, I still have a bunch of the very recommended SpecOps Brand knife sheaths that were on closeout a while back. Fit like a glove.

Really can’t have too many well-made, quality knives on hand.

Two is one…

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So a while back I purchased a Palmetto State Armory JAKL. It’s basically an AR with an AK gas system. So, you get the top-notch ergo of Stoner and the better-than-direct-impingement reliability of the long-stroke gas system. Yup, there’ll be a tradeoff in accuracy since the barrel has moving parts attached to it that the AR does not. But, for my purposes, I’ve no doubt it will be plenty accurate for my needs.

It had some teething issues, but after about 200 rounds it was nicely broken in and its been running like a champ since. And, since we know that “one is none” it was time to…uhm…get another one.

What’d I get? Same thing but with a slightly longer barrel. In olive green, naturally. One thing I have to give PSA credit for…in a world of black guns (or is it ‘guns of color’?), they offer most of their products in green or desert. It’s nice to change things up once in a while. From a tactical standpoint, black seems a bad choice for when you’re out running around playing ‘Red Dawn’. Black objects stick out quite a bit during the day, and at night pretty much any dark color looks black.

The two things that, for me, make the JAKL attractive are the lack of a buffer tube which means a folding stock is a breeze, and the can-take-more-neglect-than-an-AR gas system. It’s also rather handy for logistics that the JAKL lower is simply a regular AR lower with a couple parts changed out.

So, I’ll grab a couple hundred rounds of .223, a couple pmags, and head to the range this weekend and break this little guy in.

By the by, from a mathematical standpoint, the AR pattern rifle makes more sense than the JAKL. They are much cheaper, probably more accurate, and are easier to accessorize with third-party parts. However….I rather like the side charging handle and the compactness. If/when this wrist brace nonsense blows over, the pistol version of this thing with a ‘brace’ makes for an exceptionally handy little carbine.

Article – Ontario Knife Co. in Franklinville sold, 56 employees to lose jobs

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FRANKLINVILLE — The Ontario Knife Co. has been sold to an out-of-state interest and is expected to close by the end of the month, the Olean Times Herald learned Thursday.

The move would put 56 employees of the Franklinville cutlery out of work effective July 27. Ontario Knife makes tactical, outdoor and home edged products. Before moving to Franklinville, the company had its roots in Naples, N.Y., where it was founded 134 years ago.

The parent company, Elma-based Servotronics, which is primarily involved in manufacturing aerospace components, announced plans to sell Ontario Knife on March 30.

Its always sad when a long-running American company finally succumbs. I have no experience with Ontario knives but everything I read says their RAT series of knives were quite good. Being a sentimentalist, I ordered some of their knives right after having this news brought to my attention.

For knives, I use Spyderco folders, Glock field knives, and Becker designs from KaBar. And, lately, the Mora knives for less tactical uses like fishing and hunting (good knives at a great value, by the way.)

H/T to the person who told me the news in email.

Article – Family Who Died Trying to Live ‘Off the Grid’ Told Loved Ones About Their Plan: ‘We Tried to Stop Them’

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Before leaving, they “watched some YouTube videos” about “how to live off the grid,” a family member said.

A family member of two sisters and a teen whose bodies were discovered “fairly mummified” in a remote Colorado campsite earlier this month said their deaths should serve as a warning: living in the wilderness without proper experience can be deadly.

Look, I wanna run off inna woods and live in a cabin far away from the world as much as the next guy…but I’m not doing it in a tent, in the winter, in Colorado. Oh, sure, some people can do it, but those people did a bit more homework than watching a few YouTube videos.

When I go Galt and shut the door on humanity, it’ll be in a very well stocked, well fortified, well heated, well constructed little cabin. Believe me, living in a tent is no way to go when you don’t have to. Sure, plenty of hunting camps have wall tents in the winter. But shouldn’t we want better than a canvas house?

I’ll be interested in learning more about this as time goes by. If you see any articles with more info, please link in the comments.