Anyone here into firearms?

MacCool

All good points. I'd add that the emergence of mid-length gas systems on the DI guns has made a difference in heat and parts wear on the BCG, in addition to softening the recoil impulse even more. Additionally, it's a mature system with a wide variety of parts and accessories readily available. The SCAR may get there, but DoD dropping the Mark 16 hasn't helped the penetration into the civilian market. With Iraq winding down and given the cost of the system, it's not clear to me where the SCAR project is heading. I'd be leery about buying into a less-than-widespread weapon system.

BlackZeda

Since I have been firing my pistol exclusively for the purpose of getting good a double action shooting I have neglected to fire the mid-length AR that I built I am looking forward to comparing it to my carbine ARs.

After reading about gas-piston AR systems I was all jazzed up to purchase one. But, after talking to a couple of gunsmiths that I have a lot of respect for I was dissuaded, hence I now have that sweet DI mid-length.

On the other hand I wouldn't mind owning a H&K MR556 (the civilian version of the 416 I believe), but for that money I will probably buy some Volks for my Z instead

MacCool

I have a shooting buddy that markets his own company's brand of gas piston AR's....the Huldra (Fleet Farm) is an upscale gas piston AR15 using Adams Arms gas system. It's a nice rifle, accurate and reliable, but about 30% more than a similar DI version and I just don't see the advantage.

BlackZeda

I checked out that site and wandered into the uppers section and noticed they have a full upper for $545. My first thought was "that's a pretty good deal". Then I checked out other gas-piston complete upper offerings from other manufacturers; a Bushmaster goes for around $1100 and a LWRC is almost $2000...Just for the upper! I have read the this about 5 times now thinking "what's the catch"?:

Huldra » Uppers » Huldra 5.56x45 Mid-Length Complete Upper

If that is indeed a full gas-piston upper, it is cheap enough just to give it a try at some point!

As far as the advantage of a gas-piston AR system, I recalled some study the military performed comparing the M4 to newer gas-piston rifles:

Newer carbines outperform M4 in dust test - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

I tend to agree with you...big whoop. There really isn't a chance that I will be getting rid of my Bushmasters even though some people want to convince me that they are going to blow up and take out anyone withing a 50ft. radius the next shot I take with them. To me it is all about maintenance and what gun you have in your hands. All my ARs have FailZero BCGs and even before that I don't recall a single stoppage.

On the other hand I love my H&K pistols, so that MR556 is something I might consider if I have an extra 6 grand to blow (I would have to buy two...one for shooting and the other one for parts). But since I have this thing called a Z guns have taken a passenger seat to guns for the near future.

Speaking of gas-piston ARs....I watch this goofy show "Sons of Guns" where the last episode they were designing a revolutionary AR that was as dependable as an AK for the DOE. Yes they milled out their own receivers, but it looks like they just ordered a gas-piston from another manufacturer. It's like they don't expect gun-nuts to know that the H&K 416 or ACR or SCAR have been out for awhile now.

With that being said, I am anxiously anticipating an email from Rainier Arms letting me know that my Noveske matched upper and lower are ready for me to buy!

MacCool

To call "Sons of Guns" a "goofy show" is being excessively kind, IMHO.

tvfreakazoid

They should of thrown in the AK as well. It would of been nice to know how it would of done against the AR's.

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Mudders milk

tvfreakazoid

Ok here is my small collections of guns. The sks i had since i was about 18yrs old and the AR is new and the AR style .22LR is about 5 months old and the pistols are about 3 months old. I had a browning Hi-power, but it was stolen about 3 or 4yrs ago. I got that when i was about 21yrs old. I miss it.

I really want an AK for my next rifle. But the arsenal AK's are way over priced, the century is crap or unless you get lucky and get a decent one. Building my own i can't cause well i don't have tools and wouldn't know how to begin. Getting parts would be a mish mash of god knows what and quality you would get. And i wouldn't know how well it would stack up against an Arsenal build. Well that's my dilemma on my Ak issue. =(



I also noticed that the barrel thickness between my XDm and the glock. I wonder if that makes any difference in durability. The little crap on the side of the barrel of my XDm is probably froglube.

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Mudders milk

MacCool

Wow! That's a telling picture. I would think that a heavier barrel would be more robust. I can't say whether the Glock is overly strong or the XDm is overly weak, but I haven't heard of any significant number of XDm barrel failures, so in practical terms I'm guessing that it probably doesn't matter much.

Glocks are known to be pretty well built. I know a lot of bomb squad deputies that have run hundreds of rounds of the surplus POF 9mm submachine gun ammo through their Glocks. No barrel problems, no slide cracking.

BlackZeda

I would think the AK would fare pretty well actually. Too bad they didn't include it in the testing.