smokshwn

STI Gunner, I used SV tubes both 140mm and 170mm with Dawson Basepads and Bevan's newest generation springs and followers. They have run like a dream. I have yet to experience a mag related malfunction in 7k rounds. As a matter of fact I have not experienced more than a handful of malfunctions in my Bedell 9mm Shorty. Craig

They live to reproduce because you neglected your duty to thin the herd when you had a chance I can say this cuz I have spent the last ten years picking these idiots up and taking care of them. I can't tell you the times your last thought has crossed my mind. Take care, Craig

I have a 650 but I have often wondered about the ease and simplicity of having a SDB setup for each pistol caliber that you load. No monkeying or changeovers, just loading.

Alex, Thanks, that is a nice barrel and comp isn't it? I am actually very excited to see how the final reticle/illumination turns out. If it comes in right I think Mueller will have a winner on their hands. Craig

FWIW I will go out on a limb to be shot at and heckled but I have the stock Dillon dies in both .40 and 9mm and I have not experienced any "glock brass" problems at all. I load for a factory SVI limited gun and a Bedell Custom 9mm open gun. I know that many here have excellent results using other die manufacturers but so far the Dillons have worked great for me. Take care, Craig

more pics

Recently there was a post discussing a new CQB/ 3 Gun optic to be offered from Mueller Optics. I made contact with the original poster and discussed some of the reticle ideas and specs for the scope. Through these discussions I agreed to test and review one of the preproduction models. To give some background here is this earlier reviewAR15.com Review. I will reference it in my review a few times. The target price for this scope should be in the $300 range give or take. The idea was to offer an optic that would perform similarly to the IOR, USO SN 4, Trijicon, etc. at a more reasonable price point. In the early discussion it was decided that a combination reticle was necessary. The latest version of the reticle is in the attached pics. The technical specs of the scope are in the above AR15.com post. In my initial testing I did not find anything to contradict those specs. For those wondering, the reticle is supposed to be in the first focal plane which will allow for ranging on any power setting. The scope I was sent was not in its final configuration with respect to the reticle design and a few minor details. The housing and tube is as it will be in production with the exception of an index knob on the power ring to assist in its operation. Also there has been recommendations to attempt a reduction in the power ring travel. The scope I was sent had a basic duplex reticle with a 1MOA illuminated center dot. Again you can see the proposed reticle in the attached pics. So first things first. I am no optics expert but I have looked and shot through some very expensive pieces of optics, I also regularly shoot 3 gun through an EO Tech. The glass in this scope is very clear and I had no troubles getting the scoped focused for my eyes. The resolution and color separation seemed to be very impressive as well. I do have a US Optics scope on my MOR and this scope is definitely not in that class, however it is exceptionally better than the Tasco, Simmons et al crowd. I would say for comparison sake that the optics would rank within the realm of Nikon, Bushnell 4200 series that I have looked through. I mounted the scope in a set of Weaver See Through rings and for me it was the perfect height on the AR. I was able to get a very solid cheek weld and with the rings in the forward most part of the flat top (see pics) eye relief was dead on as well. I put my nose on the charging handle as reference for my cheek weld. For those who sit a little farther back there is plenty of room to move the scope rearward. I did notice that if you move the scope to the rear you may need a tactical latch for your charging handle in order to easily operate the handle. I sighted the scope in at 100 yds. mainly because the range I used only has one rifle range. It only took 4 groups to get it dialed. Windage and elevation come from traditional adjustment knobs and adjust POI 1/4" @ 100 yds. I agree with the thought that target knobs are unnecessary on this scope, however I would like to see better feel and operation from the elevation and windage adjustments. They worked fine but they were a little coarse for the intended price range. I shot one box test and the adjustments tracked fairly well, only requiring a click or two at each corner to bring the group to "dead on". Be advised this could easily be accounted for my own lack of skill and patience when shooting groups. I then proceeded to shoot several groups with the dot both on and off. The groups were fine, but the illumination does need to get at least 25% brighter. I know there is a push for Night Vision capability, however my personal preference for 3gun use would be that the night vision settings be used to add brightness to the upper end of the scale vs. below the visible spectrum. Having been shooting the EO Tech for two years now I love the 1 MOA dot for precision work, with the outer ring making 100 yds and in very easy work. If the brightness is increased I think it will make for a very good setup. In looking at the proposed reticle both lit and unlit the only change I would make is to illuminate either both lower stadia lines or at least a dot at the intersection of the stadia lines and the post. This would assist in not only low light reticle acquisition but also help if the lighting on the target puts the target in a shadow or low light. On day two of testing I was able to get the scope to a range where I could shoot however I wished. I set up a 100 yd target and one at 25 yds (I set them 5yds apart in lateral distance) in order to see how transitioning from the scope to my handguard mounted irons would work. With the scope on 1x it was exceptionally easy. I tried the same drill on 2, 3, and 4x with the same results. This scope is listed as a true 1x and I found that there was no difference in image size once you were looking past 5-7 yds. I understand this is standard for 1x optics (I am open to any input if you are more educated than me on the subject). I then tried the same transition looking only through the scope. As you can imagine on 1x and 2x the drill was very easy. As I proceeded to 3x and 4x the FOV did slow me down a bit however I was still able to make solid hits with reasonable split times. So far these are the only two shooting sessions I have had a chance to complete. I will post another review shortly. I have a night/lowlight 3gun match on the July 23, and a regular 3 gun on July 30th. I will be using this optic and report back. At this point my recommendations are simply: Keep the scope as close to $300 as possible. Increase the brightness range to allow a higher overall brightness. Illuminate not only the dot and ring but stadia lines or markers as well. Take care, Craig

+10 for Dan Bedell. His wait time has grown slightly but as Wakal said noone I am aware of is building as much gun for as little money as quickly. Take care, Craig

Eric Wasn't that a Baz Lurhman song a few years ago?

Bounty Hunter, I have shared in the passing of far more than my share of people and I can assure you that just as often as not death brings a calm assurance instead of fear. Not everyone will be scared. Take care, Craig

kimel, Eric, Thanks for the hospitality, but I am not going to be able to make it. I couldn't get a trade for a shift at work. I will be looking for you guys at Area 1 3 gun though. Have a great match! Take care, Craig

Yes Paul it was for you, and thanks for the great response. That was exactly what I was looking for. Take care, Craig

With your mount what hieght of rings do you find to be best for the accupoints, MED or LOW? Thanks, Craig

In all seriousness the advice from EricW is very good. Also good is the advice to give some of the Gunsmiths on this board a call. In my personal experience Chuck and Dan from Shooters Connection were great when I was building my first gun. Rich Dettelhouser from Canyon Creek (see the dealers forum) was great also and spent a couple of hours on the phone with me talking about a limited gun. Benny Hill has an excellent reputation for building great guns and knowing what does/doesn't work so his advice would be great too. I messed with the gunbuilder and although it is a neat little trip in cyberspace it is very confusing and not helpful at all to the first time builder. Shoot a bunch of different guns call some smith's and you will be further along the road to knowing the features YOU want built into YOUR gun. Good luck, Craig

HMMMM? maybe it isn't such an inefficient process after all..........

Robin Williams once said the platypus was proof God smokes pot......its got a duck's bill, a beavers body, its a mammal, but lays eggs.....hey Darwin &*(# you! Craig

+1 for Dan Bedell. Between him and Chuck they should easily be able to help you navigate the waters of building your first gun. They helped me tremendously with mine. Take care, Craig

We will meet someday. It is definitely on my list of things to do. Maybe we can get Dan and Paul together at the same time. Of course appropriate supervision consisting of a prison swat team, a midget riding a goat, and a 7ft tall transvestite may be necessary. Take care brother, Craig

cking, I have found that I shoot a gun which puts more weight in my hand better. I don't like the feel of the long dustcover guns. The only answer for you is to find a few guys and see if you can shoot there guns that have different setups. Also don't be afraid to give Dan a call, he is very helpful when it comes to gun setup. Craig

cking, It makes the gun cycle faster and reduces recoil as there is less reciprocating mass. Craig

Eric, that would great to actually see someone reloading a shotgun explaining a technique. It seems like all we do is talk about shotgun reloads and it is so much harder to describe in words than to show in person. RS, my previous method (will stick with it until this proves bulletproof and faster) was to turn the shotgun exactly as described for this maneuver but shuck one in at a time from a sidesaddle. My second load was from a forearm rig and then if I needed another reload I went to a bandolier. My times for shoot 1, stuff 4, shoot 1 from the sidesaddle is a very reliable fumble proof 4 sec. The forearm and bandolier both add about 1-1.5 secs. due to the increased distance my hand has to travel. I tried weak hand a little but I found it to be not as fast for me as what I was doing, not to mention the disaster factor is huge. I feel much more confident in this method due to the fact that as stated above it is the only method where I feel comfortable handling all four shells. Right now I am using six shell Choate carriers to load from. I may try Shawn's or just cut these down, we'll see. Take care, Craig

When I was trying to go flat with the shells I was fumbling 50% of the loads, then I accidentally gripped the shells so that I had three shells in a semi circle contacting my index finger and a shell centered in the middle of those three. On this load I easily shaved a second on my load time and found with a few more tries that the fumble factor decreased tremendously. I also found that I had to manipulate the shells less with each cycle to get them in alignment with the loading gate. I am currently starting with the shell at my index fingers and working towards the shells at the web of my hand. Today I have had the shotgun out setting on the bed and anytime I walk into the bedroom I have done a couple of loads. I am easily breaking 4.5 secs doing the loads cold without practice. I think with a little more time the speed will increase. I have only been working on it for two nights now. Eric, does Shawn go from the index fingers to the web or the web out to the index finger? Take care, Craig

+1 as a hogue fan. I like the soft grippiness and the fact that they are very easily ambidextrous. If you like a longer reach to the trigger there are a couple of grip extenders available in Brownells. I added one recently and it made all the difference in the world for trigger control on longer shots. Craig

Jake Out of curiosity what reliability issues have you experienced? I apologize if I am sounding like somewhat of a 9mm nazi but my own experience simply nullifies many of the concerns that I was warned about. A local Open GM who was very opposed to 9mm shot my gun and had to admit that it was not anything like what he had experienced or heard aboutof the 9's or the shorties. So I think it is like Paul and RTR are saying. If the gun is built and set up correctly for 9mm (shameless plug for Dan Bedell) then the differences between the two calibers is non existent. It just becomes much cheaper to shoot 9. Take care, Craig

Eric, Just playing a little devils advocate so: I was told ejection was actually in favor of the nine as there was "less brass to fit through the hole". This was from a gunsmith who builds either caliber you want. What is the right OAL for a 1911, mine feeds everything from 1.13-1.25? Take care, Craig