B!ngo

Dogs are like little kids that never grow up. They need attention, care, love, interaction, exercise and discipline. Most are smarter and more communicative than you might expect but it takes some time to try to understand what they are 'thinking' and asking for. Again, like very little kids. But all of this comes after the following: By way of background my wife and I have adopted three consecutive large rescue dogs. A Chinook (stray in CA), a Lab (that was emotionally destroyed by a prior owner) and our current 80 lb. one-eyed great dane/lab mix. Anyway we hired a trainer who spent most of his time teaching about the dog psyche and it was both perfectly accurate and extremely helpful. It goes like this: Dogs are social pack animals. None of them want to be pack lead but they will assume the role if they think no other dog (or human) is performing the role. Much of a dogs questionable behavior is because they are not being dominated by the pack lead. They really want this and you have to provide that for them. When they know they are second fiddle, they are attentive, compliant and manageable. Oh and fun. There are lots of methods for assuming that role, but large or small they all need that pack lead above them in the pecking order all of the time. That is you. B

Isn't his name Bill Springfield? Stand up guy. He worked on my USP (night sights, LH and light LEM conversion). Perfect work delivered just as promised. I'm about to send my wife's USPc to him for similar work. I believe he has a son at the USAF academy. B

Mr. Springfield?

I can't help as I live in CA. They are a bit heavy, and are also somewhat larger than they appear. And even the M8/10's/13's have the heating problem at the range when you are shooting multiple mags in succession. End of the bad stuff. On the good side, they are perhaps the greatest tactical/defensive (i.e. non-target) pistol ever made. They are unusually safe with the squeeze cocker design, fully ambi with the squeeze cocker but no other explicit controls (there is a small slide lock that is 'non-ambi' as I recall), they are extremely accurate, easy to point, very fast with follow-up shots. Finally, they are sufficiently 'different' that in the hands of an inexperienced shooter, they may be sufficiently alien that it can't readily be used against you. Again, once you get used to their unique design, it's hard to imagine preferring something else. They do not, as far as I know, accomodate a light/laser. Finally since they do have a unique operating system, getting proficient with the P7's takes a bit of time, and it will be a bit of a challenge to move from it to a more conventional design. I have four (including the M13) and thus may be just a bit biased. B

Thank you. B

About a dozen years ago I purchased a Benelli MP95E Atlanta .22LR target-quality pistol. It's a beautiful gun, great visual design and allegedly quite accurate though in my hands, it's quite limited by the shooter. Not a competitive shooter, I use it for targets at the range, and it has some great plinking potential as well. Because it's not a very common piece, it's hard to get the details on specs, usage, etc. Some thing I always wanted to know was what constraints, if any, there are on ammo for the gun. Can I use CCI mini-mags? Stingers? Any of the high-powered .22LR ammo? And any limitations on the subsonic side? Any recommendations for ammo in these categories? If anyone here has either direct experience with the MP95E (or it's more sophisticated brother the MP90) or otherwise knows the history and specifications of the pistol, I'd really appreciate some help. Thanks, B

FWIW, I had a KB recently, with, of all things, an H&K P7M13. A tank of a gun due to it's heavy steel construction and relatively slow action due to the delayed gas system. I was using some old factory reloads which, in retrospect, I should have ditched. Not catastrophic in the classic sense although the 'chambered round' indicator flew in to my eye protection (thank goodness for always wearing them but it's rare that I'm not wearing a pair of gloves which would have saved some odd marks) and my hands and lower arm had black streaks. I don't know if it would have been any better or worse had it been a Glock or something else. But I suspect so. Took a minute or two to assess the situation (took a knife to get the failed brass out), take a deep breath, find another pistol and get back to shooting. BTW, the H&K people were great in putting it all back together, checking it out and sending it back. A perfect customer experience. I'm a relative amateur but FWIW, it happens. And I'm sure it will happen to everyone. But no injury so no harm no foul. B

I've heard that as well. As a 'new' AR shooter (but a long-ago rifle shooter) I was assuming it was going to be a subtle issue for experts and not one for someone with my long-forgotten skills. But, now that you mention it, do others agree? Is there consensus on a replacement? Not even sure how it's secured on the 3G. Screwed and pinned? Just screwed and loc-tite? Regardless, I'll still just shoot it for a while to determine the gravity of the potential issue, but might as well learn as much as I can. And thanks. B

No need for competitive ammo at this time. Just something to get started. Just didn't want to end up with a bunch that would not work properly but that seems like a non-issue. The PMC stuff looks like the best for now. Thanks again, B

I thought more about this last night. I ran about 2500 rounds of federal xm193 through my rides and I can't remember any problems with hard primers. I have has several fail to fire with the Hornady steel match ammo with my S3G trigger in my Stag and an AR Gold trigger in another rifle. They must be using a hard primer in that stuff which is a real bummer because match ammo is usually shot by match triggers. Thanks Jesse. Yes, this is the kind of thing I was referring to. But I thought I read (or perhaps just assumed) that these 'hard primers' were NATO-spec 5.56. I haven't checked, but I didn't that that the Hornady you referenced was NATO spec. Can't imagine that any match-rated ammo is spec'd that way. But you've helped a lot. Not as big an issue as I thought. But it seems that there are a few to avoid. Wonder if there is a way to figure it out before buying a particular type?

Thanks Jesse (amazing to get my questions answered by you). Should I go with a mix of .223 and 5.56 in 55 (and I presume you've specifically had no issue with the 5.56 with your 3G?)? And if you have a chance, please thank Mark M. for supporting the left-handed minority. Thanks again, B

I hope I'm not hijacking this thread, but a few questions about the 3G(L) model. I'm new to AR's, left-handed, and have one on order. I'd like to sight the optic and take care breaking in the barrel (if indeed that is necessary) when it arrives. Thus I'd like to start with 55gr ammo to match the calibration of the optic. Any tips about what I should use? Related to that, I had read somewhere that the trigger in the 3G's might too lightly sprung to light up NATO ammo primers. Is that true? Hope not. But if there's any truth to that, does that steer me away from a bunch of 5.56? Thanks and apologies for being a rookie, B