bfilbey

I run the biggest, brightest lights I have on my long guns. I use a 1000 lumen light on my pistol.

I have two of the older Mossberg 500s. I bought them both years ago with the wooden stocks, short magazines and 30" full choke barrels. I ordered 20" barrels and eight round magazine tubes from Brownells. They are frequently "out of stock" so register and set up the "get notified" feature and wait. Besides the barrel and magazine tubes I did the following: 1. Added fiber optic front sight. Just pick out one you like. I prefer a large bead with no rear sight. Some like the ghost ring rear, your call. 2. I polished the action. 3. I changed the plastic safety slide for a steel one. 4. Replaced wooden stock and fore end with Magpul. The older 500s have a longer action bar than the newer ones and the fore-end for a 590 will fit. I really like the stock. IF you have a later model shotgun with a short action bar the longer ones are available from Brownells, Midway USA and others for $75. I also have a flash light mount since I use the shotgun for night matches. I have done no loading port mods to this gun since the local club matches I use it for don't require many reloads. My handicap is cylinder bore barrel. I have not bothered with modifying for choke tubes. When I have a spinner I bring some 1-1/4 or 1-3/8 oz. loads. It shoots slugs to point of aim.

I have an old Xd9 I bought years ago. It has been 100% reliable except when I got it full or sand. A little cleaning and lube and it hasn't failed to run since. The Internet information is like river water, it needs a little filtering prior to consumption. Plenty of people buy pistols, watch a couple of u-tube videos, shoot a box or two of war ever they find a Walmart and declare themselves experts. With the rare exception of an occasional lemon, most problems are owner induced.

I think you will spend a lot of money for little to no performance improvement. My Armalites just work.

They used to call that a national match type trigger. Rock River makes a similar one. I have had a couple that were outstanding. They are generally far better than the mil-spec varity.

I built a 6.5 Grendel last year. After a few growing pains and tuning it shoots and functions well. I bought Elander magazines. To make them work smoothly I filed and stoned some rough edges and gently adjusted the feed lips. That said, prior to buying mags I read the reviews on them all. Most brands were praised to some degree as good functioning and equally declared junk by others. I believe the reason for the conflicting reports of performance is caused by two things; lot to lot variations in production magazines and variations in parts selection in individual rifles. Tolerance stacking may require a little tuning with a new gun and new mags to get it to feed and run reliably. Also check out the 6.5 Grendel forum. Lots of good information there interspersed with well meaning but woefully poor analysis. (like most Internet sites) Cheers Buck

I have been using the Midway bag for a couple of years. I use a relatively short shotgun so the bag is long and a little floppier than I would like because of the excess length. It would be fine if I would get a longer shotgun.

I have been lengthening the throats on my 9mm barrels for years with a Clymer throater. I first ran into the problem with some 124 grain truncated cone lead bullets. I tried loading short but was not satisfied with the results. It is very easy to re-cut the throat and I see no down side. Re-cutting the throat does not change the chamber or head space. The reamer is $100 and after that the work takes less than 1/2 hour for a pistol barrel and if done prior to assembly the same for the AR barrel. With a extended holder I can ream an AR chamber without disassembly. Honestly it is no big deal, why is everyone so insistent on the factory getting a throat cut for bullets which require a long throat?

I have an old Spikes Tactical. I use Black Dog Machine mags and it has run great with Federal bulk pack. I also have a 50 round drum and it will cycle a quick as I can pull the trigger and as smooth as a sewing machine.

In a short throated barrel the longer bullets probably will hit the rifling. That is why I check the cut and re-throat them as necessary. For a pistol caliber carbine the extra long throat will increase reliability and have minimal effect on accuracy.

I have had this little problem a few times. I use a 3/16" brass rod I got from Amazon. Cut the rod to length and use a hammer to tap the round out. I have used this method with the Armys M-4s, M-16s, Various AR15s and a few others. You have not discovered a new and unique problem here, like Grumpyone said, get medieval with it.

You may have a short throat. The remedy is to ream the throat with a throating reamer or load your rounds short enough to chamber properly. The problem with the short loaded rounds is feeding and pressure. I have recut a number of Lone Wolf 9mm barrels because I shoot a 125 gr truncated cone lead bullet and they hit the rifling at the oal I like. I am hearing that this issue is common with a number of 9mm AR barrels as well. CH makes a throater. Use plenty of oil and go slow. This will not change you headspace because the throating reamer cuts the throat ahead of the chamber, not the chamber.

I am a southpaw and have home-built CMMG lower with a slick top. I wish I had a gas deflector but it has not been an issue yet. I do run the heaviest buffer I could get it to run with.

I may be completely out of touch, especially with scoped service rifle but I shoot three AR 15 service rifles. I have a Armalite National Match flat top with detachable carry handle, The other two are home baked rifles with A2 uppers. All have NM free float tubes which means they are hidden under standard hand guards, A2 butt stocks and iron sights. Everything has to look like a service rifle for this class. Either Rock River or Armalite will come with a pretty descent two stage trigger. Shoot it before you decide you need a new trigger. If you are willing to learn to shoot with irons you can do a lot with one of these flat tops. An "across the course" match is fired at 200, 300, and 600 yards. There are also reduced distance matches fired at 50 or 100 yds with scaled down targets. Go with a 20 inch barrel with 5.56 chamber. I know most will contradict this but the looser throat will keep you from having pressure problems you will get when firing 5.56 in a 223 chamber. The small theoretical advantage you might get with a tighter throat is best passed over until you have shot a rifle a lot and then a new barrel is easy to swap out. And an 18 inch barrel is not going to cut it in Service Rifle class, it has to be a 20 inch.

Welcome, I lived in Moscow during 2008-2009. My apartment was on Tverskaya half a block from Pushkinskaya. I very much enjoyed my time with the Russian people.