.223 Remington to .22 Pellet Conversion

Here's something I haven't seen before.  The Sportsman's Guide has a .223 Remington to .22 pellet conversion shell.  It looks like a brass shell casing, but you put a 209 shotshell primer in one end, and a .22 pellet in the other, turning your .223 Remington rifle into a pellet gun.

Pretty neat.

Midway Coupon Codes From AR-15.com

From AR15.com e-mail newsletter

To receive your Savings:

1. Place in-stock products in your shopping cart totaling:
   $50 for $10 off - Use Promotion Code 171510
   $500 for $50 off - Use Promotion Code 271510
   $1000 for $100 off - Use Promotion Code 371510
   Enter the promotion code in the box entitled "Promotion Code" on the shopping cart page.
2. You will see the discount on the Confirmation page before placing your order.
3. Remember, this promotion code is valid for orders placed on MidwayUSA.com.
4. Limited to in-stock products, one per Customer and one promotion code per retail order.
5. Excludes Gift Certificates and Nightforce products, Sale priced products and Clearance products.
6. Offer valid for retail Customers only.
7. Offer cannot be combined with Birthday or Special Pricing.
8. Hurry, offer starts at 12:00 AM CT July 15, 2010
   and ends at 11:59 PM CT July 31, 2010.

What I've Been Up To

I got some sights in from Richard Heinie on, er, Wednesday or Thursday, I think.  I got a tall front sight for my Glock 21, which was shooting high.  I also ordered a Ledge rear sight with tritium for the Glock 19, which I bought a couple years ago, but have mostly ignored, except for shooting 1200 odd rounds through it.  The old front sight from the 21 went onto the 19.  The 21 is now shooting to point of aim, and I'm ready to carry the 19.  The 19 will also likely go along for a carbine training class at some point in the future.

I also ordered a tritium sight set for the Kahr PM9, hoping it would fix my problem of hitting high with that pistol.  It didn't.  The pistol still shot 9 inches high (!) at 50 feet.  I can bring it down a bit by filing the rear sight, but probably not enough.

Heinie night sights for Kahr pistols

My Kahr With New Heinie Sights, and Custom Pocket Holster

I shot a Ruger Rimfire Match earlier today at Delaware County Field & Stream.  Although I didn't shoot all that well with the AA Glock conversion pistol, I did pretty good with the 10/22, and it was fun.  The same range is running rimfire pistol plate shoots on Wednesday nights, but I work nights and haven't been able to go.  I now have a legitimate purpose for the 10/22 that I've used to burn through 25-round mags of cheap bulk ammo.  See. . . I can shoot a rifle offhand. . . I just need 40 M.O.A. targets!   :-P 

UPDATE, 8/1/2010:  Looks like I took second in unlimited class somehow, placing just behind the gentleman who set up the shoot.  Don't quite know how that happened.

Oh, and my AA Glock conversion upper is now sporting LPA adjustable sights.  The rear sight holds a zero pretty well.  Although the front sight is much taller than the Glock front sight, and may cause holster clearance issues, I like these a lot better than the plastic Glock sights.  I can now see light between the edges of the rear notch and the sides of the front sight now.  Another issue may be the hinge pin of the rear sight, which is a cheap roll pin.  I've heard several stories of broken hinge pins in Bomar-type sights, and I don't imagine that roll pin will hold up to very many major .40S&W loads.  I'll post more on these sometime later.

LPA adjustable Glock sight set


AA Rimfire Slide with LPA Sights

LPA Adjustable Glock Sight

UPDATE, 11/20/11: The LPA sights are still doing well.  I don't recall ever adjusting the sights, after the initial adjustment just after installing them.  I'm quite impressed, and would buy another set in a heartbeat, if I needed them.

A quick shopping note:  DSG Arms is selling 5 PMags with 150 rounds of Fiocchi 62gr ammo for $109.  I've got lots of AR mags, and I'm reloading .223.  If not for that, I'd probably jump on this deal.  Scroll a bit down this page for a free shipping code I posted recently if you're buying.

I updated the Spike Network shooting/self-defense show post.

Tapco U.S.-Made SKS Bolt

I just discovered this item in the Midway Gunsmithing catalog.  Tapco is making, or at least contracting, replacement SKS bolts.  The bolts are cut so that detachable magazines can be removed with the bolt in battery, which you can't do with origional equipment bolts.  The bolt also has a spring-loaded firing pin to prevent slam fires.  Even better, the bolt is made in the U.S., and counts as a compliance part if you need that, due to a "non-sporting" configuration.

Although my Chinese SKS is a pre-ban, I'd like to get one for use with the detachable Tapco mags, and for the spring-loaded firing pin.  I'll probably pick one up from Midway at some point in the future.  Cutting away the ridges for removing magazines isn't that hard, but I don't want to modify the Chinese bolt, because the rifle is worth decent money in ulaltered condition.  New communist bolts are nearly as expensive from Numrich.

EDIT: Er, on second thought, the reviews on the Midway product page are not completely good.  The price of a Chinese SKS bolt seems to have gone down significantly since the last time I checked also.

PMag Coupler = 50 or 60 Round AR-15 Magazine

California Competition Works has developed a PMag coupler.  It's made of anodized 6061 aluminum.  You remove the baseplates and lockplates from your two Magpul AR-15 magazine and connect them together with the coupler, using the 30-coil magazine spring included with the coupler.  You can use two 30-round magazines (which would be bloody long), or you can use a 30-round magazine and a 20-round magazine.

Although a little on the expensive side, it would definately make for a fun outing with an AR, and it would probably be good for 3-Gun matches.

EDIT, 7/20/2010: I've just remembered that 11 round magazines aren't legal in California, much less 50 or 60 round mags.  I wonder how they do their engineering and T&E.  Drive to Nevada?

also edittedd for speelng

Shooting/RKBA Shows on Spike Next Saturday

I was checking out what's on next week, and I happened to notice some new shows on the Spike network next week.

Sat, July 17th, 10 a.m. EST
Practical Tactical

Sat, July 17th, 10 a.m. EST
Conceal + Carry = Survive

Before those is Because Lives Depend On It, at 9:30 a.m., but the name of the show and the description given by the Comcast Cable DVR is vague, and I'm not really sure what it's about.  I can't find anything about these shows on the Spike network Website.

UPDATE, 7/18/2010: Conceal + Carry = Survive now called Concealed & Carry School.  Because Lives Depend On It is a self-defense show, and, so far, is the only one to feature a significant amount of shooting.  Although the shows are pretty short, I like the content so far.  I think they are showing shooters, and those concerned with self-defense in a positive way.

UPDATE, 8/1/2010: Found the website.  http://www.dontbeavictimtv.com/

Because Lives Depend On It is a tactics show.  This weekend they had Larry Vickers on to show how to work with a pistol and weapon-mounted or hand-held flashlight.  Last week they did drills with 9mm, .45ACP, and .40S&W pistols, and discussed the pros and cons of these calibers for defense.  This show seems to have the most shooting.

Practical Tactical seems to revolve mostly around home defense.  Last weekend they focused on a hi-tech home with a lot of panic room features.  This week they brought in K-9 professionals to talk about the use of a dog for home defense.

Concealed & Carry School is about what it sounds like.  Mostly it is interviews with people that are going to the school.  Why they went, how they felt about it, what they are getting out of it.

UPDATE, 8/21/2010:  Another show added last week, I think.  It's called What If.  Last week it covered the shooting at the Holocost Museum in Washington, D.C..  This week it was a shooting at a restaurant in San Francisco's Chinatown.  The show suggests things you might do if you mind yourself in these kinds of situations.

"CRANE" Extractor O-rings for AR-15/M-16 - $9/100

I was recently reading an article about direct gas impingement AR-15s and reliability.  The author was stressing the need for good springs, and a proper buffer.  It reminded me that I should post about extractor o-rings.

You might have noticed the D-Fender extractor inserts or "CRANE" extractor o-ring upgrades available for AR-15 rifles in Brownells catalogs or wherever.  You can use a pretty ordinary o-ring and get the same effect.

What you want, specifically is:

Viton AS568A Aerospace Standard ID Number: 006 Inside Diameter: 0.125 In. Thickness: 1/16 Outside Diameter: 0.250 In.

That's that description from MSC Direct*, where I bought mine for $8.48 (in November 2009) for a bag of a 100.  The part number from MSC is 09265067.  McMaster Carr has them even cheaper, part number 9464k11, but I needed a 1 1/2" die stock, and MSC had those a lot cheaper.

The D-Fender and "CRANE" o-rings will probably cost you $3 or more each from a gun shop.

Installing the o-ring is pretty simple:

1. Remove the bolt from the bolt carrier.
2. If the bolt isn't clean, then clean it. :-)
3. There are two pins in the bolt, one is solid, the other is a hollow roll pin.  The solid one is the one that holds in the extractor.  Push in on the extractor, and push out the solid pin.  It should not resist too much, and no hammer should be required.  The roll pin holds in the ejector and spring, leave that one alone, it is harder to remove and replace, and if you're not careful when removing the punch from the bolt, the ejector and spring may fly across the room, and you may never find them again.
4. The extractor spring should be captured in a hole in the extractor.  In the middle of the spring there should be a little rubber insert.  If the spring is broken, get another one.  If the insert is missing, or crumbled, get a new one.  All you need to do to install the o-ring is to roll it over the extractor spring, and seat it up against the extractor.
5. Reassemble the rifle and test fire.  Make sure it still works.  Just in case.

You're supposed to remove, clean, and inspect the extractor each time you clean an AR-15 type rifle, but I've noticed that some of the instruction manuals have this step out from the cleaning procedure.


On a somewhat related note, I'm also told that a #41 O-Ring over the front takedown lug of the upper receiver will help keep your upper and lower receivers from rattling together if there is a sloppy fit.

* - MSC runs a lot of coupon deals, check retailmenot.com for coupon codes if you're going to order.

DSG Arms Free Shipping Coupon Code

DSG Arms is offering Free UPS Ground Shipping on all orders over $99 for the month of July. Use promotional code FREEUPS99. Apply this promo code in your shopping cart as you check out at dsgarms.com

They've got Fiocchi .223Rem for $339/1000 rounds.


Sorry folks, that's kinda all I got for now.

Happy Independence Day!