barrysuperhawk

Bazooka Brothers is what you seek. I have #18 out of the first 20 ever made, and it is awesome.

Well, most of the glock mags I have seen have ambi cuts in them, so it does not seem that it would be terribly difficult for some company with a CNC to "reverse" the plan for machining the upper and lower...

My main PCC is a Bazooka Brothers AR45 that uses Grease Gun mags, which if anyone has seen them are 2 feet long and weigh 11 pounds each. Ok, that might be an exaggeration, but you try to keep your pants up with 90 rounds of 230 ball on your belt... The point is that reloading is kind of like grabbing a 2x4 from the belt. Up at the WIIT in Rockford earlier this year, I performed a reload and kicked the empty mag hard enough with my shin to draw blood through my pants AND dent the front of the mag badly enough that it won't feed. Grease gun mags are pretty sturdy, and I would have bet that my entire squad could have stomped the mag with no ill effects...but its busticated now... Night before last, I discovered that fully loaded ETS 30 rounders swell enough to make inserting in a PCC problematic. In a regular Glock, they are just snug, like the old non-FML mags, but in my PCC,..well I still have a red mark on my palm 2 days later... Since I started shooting PCC, I have killed 3 red dots and a mount so far. The funny part is my $19 Amazon red dot is still going strong. I just picked up a Vortex SPARC AR and we will see how well it does...

My main PCC is a Bazooka Brothers AR45 that uses Grease Gun mags, which if anyone has seen them are 2 feet long and weigh 11 pounds each. Ok, that might be an exaggeration, but you try to keep your pants up with 90 rounds of 230 ball on your belt...lol. My point is that reloading is kind of like grabbing a 2x4 from the belt, and in my case, I have determined that bullets out is fastest for me. The other problem I have is that since the mags are so long the draw stroke is doubly awkward, and my solution for the 9mm gun at least was to mount the magpouch on a DOH attachment. I am still working on something for the 45 mags, they are just so darn heavy that nothing is both secure (non flappity) and easy to draw from. Part of the problem is that PCC mags are normally pretty long, so if you grab them at the end they are awkward, and if you grab them in the middle, then you are back to fumbling with your grip.

Well that was my main goal, to make the gun louder. Experimenting with ammo was more just a function of the ammo that I had with me when I was testing.

Tim, you always have the coolest stuff...

I am blaming y'all for this. 2 hours ago I had a 6 pack of Tapco Chamber flags in my Amazon cart and they had plenty "in stock". 10 minutes ago my phone beeps at me that my amazon cart had changed....because the flags were no longer in stock... its hard to keep up with the joneses here...lol

I am actually intentionally shooting hotter ammo to see if the comp I just put on the barrel can be made to work. The jury is still out on that, but it is at least louder and less of an issue for the RO to pick up my shots...

the Range I zeroed at has a convenient 15 yard line, so thats where I zeroed. I just remember than any long shots are 6 oclock hold...

I can get 42 in my Taylor Freelance ETS 31, or 43 with NO give (not reloadable) it was kind of jammy but I swapped a Glock #5 follower and now it is good to go....

I am going to add a vote for Universal clays. I don't load minimum power puff loads, and the 124 load I use has enough gas to make the comp worth it, as well as being fairly clean.

I just purchased this one, independently of this thread, and I am SUPER happy with it. It does not do much for minimum power factor puff loads, is almost noticible with factory winchester 115s, but is actually good with winchester 124 +P NATO and really likes full on 9mm major loads.for a $20 INCLUDING a crush washer, I couldn't be happier. It is noticably louder across the board, and I and my PACT time picked up every shot, outdoors, when clipped to the back of my belt, even with the puff loads. - which was my actual goal.

Yup. Mil spec. I'm glad I'm not the only one that decided I did not like the stock... it almost seems like it enhances the marginal 9mm recoil.

Ok, to be clear, the failure of knowledge is mine, not his, to the point where I probably used the wrong terms. I know that he hasn't milled a glock slide before, so he asked me to come up with some type of specifications for him to work with. I want the dot as low as possible, I would be happy if the bottom edge of the window was flush with the top of the slide... but I don't know how deep it can be cut. On the other hand, since the optima requires a cover, mounting it higher would simplify turning it off...

Ok, the next step in my no-glock-parts-faux-glock is to mill the slide for my red dot. I have a machinist friend that has a milling machine in his garage, a blank lone wolf slide, and a Tasco Optima mrd, (which I have been told is the same footprint as the JP). What neither my friend or I have is any experience milling slides for mini red dots. He asked me about things he would need like cut depth, what type and size of cutter, thread pitch.....ok, I will come out and say it, I am not a machinist, and he is a retired mechanic that owns a mill and dabbles. So, do I spend the $$ to pay a professional machine shop like adco (or a more glock specific place like lone wolf) to do this or do I get details from you and try to have my friend do it? To be clear, I am not disparaging my friends ability, he has made some really cool stuff, and I don't think that this is a terribly difficult job, but neither of us knows for sure what to do.

I have bought a bunch of these, starting with when they first came out. By now I probably have 3 dozen or so, from 17 to 31 rounds. I have been buying a few every time ETS offers a holiday discount, and am 100% happy I have used them in uspsa and 3 gun matches, and I have nothing but good things to say about them. First, I am a big fan of leaving them loaded. I have only found one that had a bad spring, and it was immediately replaced. They seem to stand up to abuse like stepping on them post reload with aplomb. I will also give them props for being the only mags that worked in my kel-tec, when even factory glock mags jammed. I am the guy that manages to Break almost every thing, and I am satisfied with ETS mags.

Ok, I really was not trying to pick a fight on this, and I apologize for derailing the thread, but I really dislike it when FUD is spread (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt) via "what if" that when examined, are at best wildly unlikely or at worst outright false. We can "what if" until doomsday and there will always be a possibility of something bad happening, especially if your "what if" scenario includes the worst possible thing that could happen and portrays it as the only logical outcome. I am quite sure if anyone lost fingers or other body parts in the incident, you would have told us. What seems to be being missed is that blowback guns do not need locking lugs to contain the explosion that occurs when you pull the trigger because they rely upon mass and spring pressure to stay in battery. if a blowback gun fires out of battery, that mass and spring pressure do not magically go away, they still exist. The pressure may bulge or blow out a section of the brass, and in the case of a blowout, the pressure exits the receiver along the path of least resistance, which in most guns, is down through the magazine. I too have seem my share of kabooms, both as an RO and when I was first beginning reloading, I blew the grips off a 1911 with what I presume was a double charge. I have kaboomed an AR pattern .308 rifle with an overpressure factory round (new bolt guts and extractor and I was back in business.) . While RO'ing I have seem 3 glocks, an STI, a M1A, and AR-10, and several ARs go boom, mostly due to squibs (except the Glocks, I blame .40 for those, because, well, .40). I have about a 75% lifetime squib "save" rate overall (manage to get the competitor stopped before they pull the trigger) so I have a fair bit of experience in this. There has been blood and/or shrapnel involved in about a third of these incidents, but no fingers/eyes or other body parts were lost. Most of the rifles were salvageable, and only a couple sustained damage that could not be repaired. Kabooms suck, but they do not happen as often or as easily as you are implying, and are not the "fault" of a forward assist. damn, I did it again. Sorry. I really don't mean to derail this thread, it looks like a fine bolt, and now I have to go buy one because I can't keep my mouth shut...

Oh come on are you guys are saying that you could never smack the back of a slide to seat a pistol round that was slightly out of battery? If anything the AR chamber and bolt setup is as strong or stronger than most pistols. And yes I'm sure it's possible to develop some overpressure but it is not nearly so serious as you're making it out to be. Especially if you're not even running major caliber rounds if you are just squeaking in above the bottom of minor power factor.. please don't go telling any of the nine millimeter major guys how impossibly unsafe every single one of their pistols are firing what amounts to almost proof loads at every shot. People of Kaboom AR with full power 5.56 and even full power 308 rounds without losing any fingers or anything similar so to say that using a forward assist might possibly endanger one's fingers on a pistol caliber carbine is disingenuous at best.

Oh, I am not actually arguing the point, I was more just pointing out that some people may find it a handy feature, and it is much easier to ignore the cuts if you don't use them than it is to add them if you want them. I have had stages where the forward assist saved me from being unable to complete the course, and imho, slow and ugly is better than dnf...

Ah, you must be the guy that cleans his guns after every trip to the range...lol...my BLOWBACK PCcarbines get DIRTEE, so I can appreciate being able to, er, encourage things in a pinch.. to each his own though.

What? You can't use a 9mm bolt in an upper with a forward assist?

Damn one of my local gun shops has one of those for sale but I almost wrote it off as being too damn expensive and too much I had to do with it to make it competitive but now you are talking me back into it... darn it, BE is too good at spending my money. Can you comment on magazines, you mention the extension but have you tried other than factory magazines and had any issues or can you report that they are good?

I intend to assemble this myself, and when I am considering cost, I am only counting the 9mm specific parts. I have enough other parts...stocks, tubes, triggers, etc. One additional question I have, though, when you compare the premium receiver sets with me low-cost ones on a standard AR platform like, say Wilson Combat to Bushmaster, you can clearly see where the extra money goes. Sometimes it's just fit and finish, sometimes it's extra things like Wilson's beveled Magwell. What do the premium (more expensive) receiver sets in nine millimeter bring to the table over there low-budget counterparts? What makes a Lone Wolf lower worth $100 more than PSA? Honest question...

Yeah but unless your physique resembles Arnold's (in his prime), I doubt carrying this would be much fun. I have used a Drilling as a stage gun, but it was only for bonus targets...

I have been shooting PCC since it was announced and my local club added it to the signup. I have actually had the PCC carbine that I shoot MUCH longer, since before the AWB expired. I have had a gob of Pistol Caliber Carbines over the years, 2 Marlins (45 & 9), 2 Rugers (old and new .44 mag), 3 Kel-Tec's (Sub 9, 2 - Sub 2k), a couple of Mec-Tech conversions. an Uzi, a MP5 clone, and the only one I kept, a Bazooka Brothers AR45. I love that gun, and I have been shooting it pretty well, but until PCC class starts recognizing major/minor, there's not much point in hurling .45's other than the sheer manliness of the thing. I am not going to sell that gun, I'm going to keep it forever. I have been looking for a more competitive replacement, though. I think a Tavor might be good on some stages where it is necessary to go around barricades, etc, but they are SO damn heavy and unbalanced, maybe make one out of Carbon fiber.... But I digress. Sig's are cool looking, but they are too damn much cash, not to mention that despite the vehemence they are defended with, I have not witnessed the claimed 100% reliability. The Just Right Carbines seem less so with their lack of last round hold open and because they seem way heavier than they ought to be for their size. The kel-tec's seem more reliable now than they were when I had mine, and they open up for easy cleaning, but the optic mounting options still seem sketchy at best, since you seem to either have to give up the folding feature or accept a certain amount of inaccuracy. So, I have made up my mind that I am going to get or assemble a 9 mm PCC gun, and have been researching madly, reading or watching every review I could find, and it now finally seems like people are starting to run purpose built guns instead of just whatever thing they had laying around. It seems like the most competitive guns are shaping up to be 9mm AR style guns. So, my wish list is: 9mm red dot compatble mounting Lightest 16" barrel 30+ round mags AND shorter mags available Lightest free float tube Good trigger magwell separate from grip (to facilitate reloading) collapsible stock (I like to run a short LOP) last shot BHO (more on this below) trigger finger BHO manipulation support hand charging either with big tac-latch or side Charging That wish list does not really narrow the field much, especially because there is the choice between the Glock mag varieties and the COLT mag varieties. So, if I arbitrarily start with a budget of $500-ish for this project (for the 9mm AR specific parts only), it seems the Glock mag varities have a distinct advantage since I don't have to purchase mags, but the Colt mag varities seem to have an advantage in the BHO department. And speaking of last round, bolt hold open, is it really a big deal when you can run 32+ round magazines? My AR45 does not have it, and most of the "other" models (Just Rite, Kel-tec, etc) don't have it either. I remain unconvinced that it is not necessary, and it's partially a safety thing as a click on a gun with a functioning BHO indicates a possible squib, misfire or Failure to fire as opposed to just time to drop the mag and insert another. Maybe not a deal-breaker, but something to think about on a competition gun whose whole purpose is to be run as fast as possible. The Glock mag varieties appeal because I already have a GOB of Glock mags, in everything from 15 to 33 round capacities all in proven good magazines. The downside being that apparently the last shot hold open is still problematic on some guns, some don't bother to try, and even the ones that claim to have solved the problem still have issues. There is also the fact that the Glock mag lowers also require a slightly angled -82 degree magazine insertion angle, that I have seen really mess up some shooters that are evidently very used to the AR pattern 90 degree angle. There is also the over-insertion / monopod issue that Pat Kelly noted and fixed on his own gun, but as far as I can tell has not been addressed by a manufacturer. Colt mag guns seem to have sorted the BHO issue out much better, and as long as you are running good mag springs, you are mostly golden. The downside is that since Colt mags are only Colt mags, nobody that doesn't already have one has a bucket full of magazines for it - which includes me. Colt style 9mm mags do seem rather plentiful, however, with alot of companies beginning to produce them, and the pricing seems to be similar if a bit below comparable capacity glock style magazines. Colt mags can also be used with an adapter in standard lower receiver, but I am not really considering this a viable option considering the cost of the adapter can exceed some of the dedicated lowers, and there are plenty of threads on people trying to get them to work. The youtube reloads for adapter equipped guns also seem noticeably slower than dedicated lower guns, so overall that seems to be a less-viable option unless someone was in a situation where they had to use an existing receiver. So, have I thought of everything? I am not meaning for this to be so much of a "what should I buy" thread as a "what should I consider before I buy" thread. For the most part what should I buy threads always produce a bunch of "this is a PERFECT option, but it's on a 1000 month back order" responses. Since I am shooting to my ability with my current gun, there is no time limit on switching, I have plenty of .45 ACP in the meantime...LOL.