Archive for the 'AR-15s' Category

We’ve covered this before.  Softer metals can wear down harder metals if they make contact long and vigorously enough.  And he tells you so again in the video.

Travis Haley and Chris Costa go over height over bore very well in Art of the Tactical Carbine, but if you’ve never thought much about this or seen the series, this is a good explanation of what you should think about in CQB concerning the axis of the bore versus the axis of the optic.

Ammo.com has a lot of great articles. We’ve been following them on social media. You may find the Resistance Library interesting. On to the AR Calibers article:

5.56 Is Great, But…

Let’s be honest about one thing, the 5.56 NATO/223 Remington is a battle-proven cartridge that has valiantly served the US military for decades. The 5.56’s effectiveness is well documented, and it is one of, if not the, most popular centerfire rifle cartridges in North America.

Yes, the 5.56 NATO is awesome. It has low recoil, a flat trajectory, is inexpensive, and has more varieties of ammo than you can shake a boomstick at.

But sometimes you want to shoot something different out of your AR, and that’s ok. One of the greatest aspects of the AR-15 rifle is its versatility, as many caliber conversions can be accomplished with a simple upper receiver swap. However, with so many different rifle calibers available, some shooters might be confused as to which cartridge is best for their AR-15 or AR-10.

In this article, we are going to break down the top 13 best AR calibers that aren’t 5.56 NATO so you can understand which one will best suit your shooting needs.

If you can’t wait, the best AR caliber is .22 Long Rifle, however if you want to see the full AR caliber list then keep scrolling.”

The article breaks down; the best overall, home defense, long-range, varmint, hunting, and more. It’s well worth a look.

Just wow.  If this is the level of reasoning present in the courtrooms of American, it’s no wonder we are in such trouble.  The judges are just awful, especially Thacker (while Neimeyer and Richardson are only slightly better), and while Neimeyer and Richardson should probably be disallowed from doing anything more complicated than sweeping floors, I’m not certain that Thacker should even be allowed to answer phone calls.

I’m also not very impressed with the first attorney, but the second one (arguing for the state of Maryland for the AWB) was as dishonest as he was disrespectful of the judges.  He had the gall to argue that the fact that so many people own AR-15s didn’t mean that it was in common use for self defense.  He wanted the case to be remanded back to the district court to develop that argument (he doubts that it’s ever been used).

It’s astonishing that the judges didn’t hold him in contempt for making such a ridiculous argument.  Even after Bruen, the state of Maryland still cannot abide the ownership of America’s Rifle, and also cannot seem to come up with good arguments against it.  If the judges allow that bit of stupidity he expressed to hold the day, it’s a stupider court than I had even imagined.

And I’m very unimpressed with the 4th Circuit.  For what it’s worth, the entire edifice of whether a weapon was once in military use is silly and was never a good foundation.  All weapons were used in the military, pump action shotguns, semiautomatic shotguns, bolt action rifles, semiautomatic rifles, machine guns, cannon, knives, etc.

Listen to it all, or begin at 24 minutes if you want to hear someone actually argue that ownership of said weapon doesn’t count as common use if it hasn’t actually been used in a self defense scenario.  He wants you to suffer a home invasion in order to kill his argument in court.

Gun controllers are such awful people.

Source.

The writer has it at (5) Lee-Enfield, (4) AR-15/M-16, (3) Mauser Gewehr 98 / Karabiner 98k, (2) Mosin-Nagant, and (1) AK-47 and derivatives.

They don’t do much in the way of producing evidence for their assertions and I have my doubts.  For example, who is to know how they counted AR-15s/M-16s?  If you sum the total deployed to SE Asia, Iraq, Afghanistan, other armies across the globe, and AR-15 and variants, including upper and lower receivers sold separately, would you have come up with their number of 20 million?  I seriously doubt it.  I think there have been more than 20 million full ARs sold in America just in the civilian market alone.

However, it’s worth nothing that the gun that was built for conscripts (AK) who didn’t know how to shoot and didn’t want to mechanically understand the gun has been quite successful.

That’s one observation that should be made, of course, that genius Eugene Stoner designed his rifle for the professional soldier who needed MOA or sub-MOA performance, and wanted to understand how to work on his rifle.  As it is said, the AR is an MOA gun, while the AK is a minute-of-man gun.

Furthermore, America was built, at least up until the 1980s or so, with garage, backyard and farm mechanics working on cars, gun, and machines of all sorts, repairing them, cleaning them, and making them better.  Eugene Stoner knew this, I suspect, and didn’t worry too much that it was “too professional” of a rifle for the professional soldier.

From my point of view, Stoner understood the AK about as well as Kalashnikov did. Watch and tell me I’m wrong.

Here are the preceding two videos of Stoner and Kalashnikov at the range (Link 1 and Link 2).  One day I’ll embed the entire Eugene Stoner tape library for viewing.

We wonder if Herschel has made the pilgrimage to Stoner’s gravesite. OTOH, we probably shouldn’t joke about this; avoiding a pay cut from Herschel seems prudent right now.

Our buddy Andy at Practical Accuracy has some real world data for you.  I think the case is closed, at least for me.

One corollary point is that the only real expert is you after shooting thousands of rounds down range.  Use your own gun, your own tuning, your ammunition, your eyesight, and your optics, and spend time at the range.  There are no two pieces of equipment exactly alike.

Source:

The standard AR-15 chambered in 5.56 NATO is truly America’s rifle and is a symbol of American ingenuity and freedom. Although the 5.56 NATO has proven itself in the jungles of Vietnam and deserts of Iraq, some gun owners wanted something more…

They wanted more stopping power, better terminal ballistics, and a rifle cartridge that could be used for both home defense and big game hunting.

The 458 SOCOM cartridge is the answer that these gun owners were looking for, as its heavier bullets can deliver bone-crushing kinetic energy that can stop feral hogs or whitetail in their tracks.

However, is investing in a big bore 458 SOCOM upper receiver really worth it? Or is it better to stick with the AR-15 platform mainstay, the 5.56 NATO?

In this article we will help you answer these questions and more as we compare the 458 vs 556.

what is the difference between 5.56 and 458 SOCOM?

The primary differences between 458 SOCOM vs 556 is bullet diameter each cartridge fires and the intended engagement ranges. The 458 SOCOM fires a 0.458” diameter bullet that is intended for close-range engagements while the 5.56 fires a 0.224” diameter bullet that excels at long-range shots.

 

 

Muzzle Velocity and Kinetic Energy

When it comes to muzzle velocity, there are only a handful of rounds that are faster than the 5.56 NATO. However, the 5.56 cannot keep up with the 458 SOCOM in terms of muzzle energy.

For this example, we will compare the Hornady Frontier 55 gr FMJ (M193 clone) for 5.56 and the SBR Ammunition 300 gr Barnes TTSX load for 458 SOCOM.

At the muzzle, the 5.56 round is blazing down range at 3,240 fps compared to 1,835 fps for the 458 bullet. Although this is only one example, essentially every 5.56 factory load will have a higher muzzle velocity than the 458 SOCOM since the 5.56 is firing lighter bullets.

However fast the 5.56 bullet might be, the 458 SOCOM is using a considerably heavier bullet that carries a lot more muzzle energy. At the muzzle, the 458 SOCOM bullet delivers a whopping 2,243 ft-lbs of kinetic energy compared to 1,282 ft-lbs for the 5.56.

Although the 458 SOCOM round has almost double the kinetic energy at the muzzle, the round quickly loses fps and ft-lbs of energy as it travels downrange due to its bullet design. By 300 yards the 300 grain bullet has gone subsonic and by 600 yards it carries around 500 ft-lbs of energy. To put that into perspective, that is still more than a 45 ACP +P round has at the muzzle, but it illustrates the primary difference between 5.56 and 458 SOCOM. In contrast, the 5.56 55 grain bullet goes subsonic around the 700-yard marker.

The 458 SOCOM was clearly designed for close-range shots at self-defense distances where it can use its massive kinetic energy advantage to devastating effect. While the 5.56 had long-range shooting and marksmanship in mind for longer engagement distances.

There’s a lot of data at the source.

With a good manufacturer you shouldn’t have to worry about this.  It could be the BCG if there’s a head space problem.  Otherwise, send the gun back and demand your money back.

Many Traditional Americans have bought an AR-15 recently but have used it little or not at all. (Ahem, you know who you are!) The first thing to do is read the whole manual that came with your weapon. The manual should have a parts list diagram. This will be important info providing proper terminology. Most say what to do next is to take it partially apart (field strip), clean it, and reassemble it, even before shooting. You should at least field strip it and wipe down the excess manufacturer’s oil.

There is a lot, and I mean a lot, of information about the AR-15 platform on the web. Most of it is useless. It’s super high-speed operators, the bulk of whom are total jerks, trying to impress and one-up each other, whose language and decorum are despicable, which doesn’t help the average family with their homesteading, church, or team-building needs.

The object should be to train with the AR platform to get beyond your hunting knowledge. Your women folk also need to learn to run the gun.

Get very familiar with the weapon platform, how it performs, its capabilities, and its uses. Training with an AR is different than hunting; the platform is designed primarily for defense. That’s why you bought it, right!?!

Well, you need practice in all phases; handling and manipulation, including loading/unloading/reloading mags, safety, sling, sights, how and when to use the “ping pong paddle” – bolt catch/release lever, safety positions, the six-position buttstock, learning/running drills, shooting static/moving targets, shooting while you’re moving, etc.

You can see how this is definitively not a bolt gun and not like hunting! The time to learn your AR isn’t when your family is in trouble but before.

Some background reading is here: The AR15 as the Rifleman’s Weapon.

This video is pretty good at showing terminology and the basics of manipulation.

Next: how to field strip and clean your AR-15.

John Lovell at Warrior Poet Society is the rare exception. Instead of being a rude, know-it-all tough guy, he’s an experienced action guy with the heart of a teacher. Here’s his How To Shoot an AR-15/M-4 Carbine video, including some step-by-step written instructions.

In this video, we learn a wonderful beginner’s shooting drill. The reason for three shots is, again, defense, not hunting. I like that he teaches to get the hits on target first and, with practice, increase the rapidity with which you can run the drill. When proficient, increase the distance from the target. Later, add mag reload. This is also a fantastic handgun basic training practice. Found at this channel with other good vids.

I’m a proponent of the idea that every adult, 12 years and up, should have at least basic proficiency with every weapon type in your household. A father can determine if children are mature enough to begin serious training, but they should be training in their youth, boys, and girls.

Readers, please weigh in with beginner to helpful intermediate knowledge, books, channels, links and etc. Thanks.