Frankly

A couple of years back I got a new Franchi Affinity with adult and youth stocks for $500 from a store on Gunbroker who had dozens of them, now long gone because I should have bought several but I wanted to see how they were. Comparing them to the M2 I can't find any quality difference and the only design change is the location of the recoil spring around the magazine rather than in the M2 stock. Had Rose Action Sports do some work on it and it's great. Even at $750 it's a good base gun and is better finished than the Stoeger.

I have a ~$50 plastic Wheeler and while it seems accurate and reliable, the way the arm works to mimic your finger is kind of clumsy to fit into a trigger guard. But perhaps that's the nature of all of these? I have zero experience with others. I also have no good way to calibrate it but I think that holds true for a lot of lower priced instruments like micrometers and postage scales, you just trust they did it right at the get go and I'm not going to buy calibration weights that cost more than the scale. At the worse it still provides relative information and you round up.

Owned both, the manual of arms is different so you pretty much have to stick with one. Personally I didn't like the 1301 bolt release or cleaning the gas block. Now I own a M2 and a Franchi (basically a M2 with recoil spring in different place). To me they feel more solid than the 1301. Note that Beretta owns Benelli, Franchi and Stoeger so they make guns at every price point. Don't overlook Bredas.

$600 Vortex Viper II or Steiner $1200 Vortex 1-6 Razor or close competitor for less $1800 Vortex 1-10 Razor $3000 Kahles Isn't it that simple? Decide how much money you can budget and get the best value at each price point.

Not suggesting this but... my hunch is an awful lot of guns have been sent as everyday packages of machine parts or sporting equipment for hundreds of years. Again not recommended for many reasons.

Just start with something basic ~ Magpul CTR or Moe stock if you can't decide ~ and shoot until you find a reason to change. Probably applies to all your questions, a mid-grade off the shelf Aero Precision is plenty of rifle for starting out with. Get a Vortex Viper or a Trijicon Accupower, a lot of ammo and go shoot for 10-20x and make friends. When you start with any new thing your inclination is to get the best one-time purchased camera, golf clubs, skis, bikes, house, even girlfriend. But it's the process that matters and will skew your future decision making. Get a good quality gun but think $1500 decent mainstream Joe Average, not a $5000 exotic. If you've got extra money just get a 16" JP CTR and take what they give you, it will not be bad. Was your first car a $500k Lambo or a $500 Chevy?

Just buy it from a vendor like Brownells, Midway, etc. Agree it's stupid but they probably don't want to micro-manage or spend hours on it for a dozen sales.

I really try to avoid slow as molasses OP but it says in stock and with Honey coupon they're $255 plus tax. Since we're not in a hurry that's a great deal. Thanks

Do you mean this one? https://criterionbarrels.com/products/ar-15/ar-15-hybrid-barrel-rifle-gas-chrome-lined/ 2.05 pounds isn't bad either. However Brownells and the other dealers listed don't have them listed right now. So full retail from Crit sounds like the only way to go?

Is there an easy way to do this without painful gyrations or cutting wheels? Don't axe why Thanks

Beware of dots with astigmatism, which is pretty common with age. It makes the dot fuzzy. Prism scopes (Trijicon, Vortex Spitfire, Burris, etc.) work with us guys with astigmatism and the better $$$ red dots tend to be better than the cheap ones (ie still a bit fuzzy but usable, try before you buy). While sights can help it's more likely you'll need an eyeglass that focuses on the front sight at your normal holding distance. Something a little weaker than your reading glasses but more magnified than zero. All things considered, you want to have your front sight sharp and the target blurred rather than the versa. You can use conventional bifocal reading glasses, including cheap safety/shooting glasses with the magnification in the traditional spot at the bottom of the glasses. But you'll have to tilt your chin up to get them in position for shooting and it's uncomfortable. But as you age and adapt to needing reader glasses most of the time, and default to wearing the damn things, it's probably the best solution for EDC and defensive gun use. Not perfect but adequate in an emergency and worth practicing with. This is what my everyday eyeglasses are and I keep full frame readers by the computer/books/workshop/cooking. Better you can get top bifocals made for shooting or doing overhead work (think of electricians wiring ceilings). I wear these oftentimes although now when you want to read something you'll have to tuck your chin in tight and look through the top of your glasses! Some people, myself included, can tolerate having the dominant eye side of my glasses made to my shooting prescription (front sight of gun, slightly weaker than reading) ~ then having the other lens be clear or set to infinity. If your brain works as mine does both images will be sharp enough at both near and far. It's disorientating as Hell to drive with (don't) but works well enough for shooting and if you do planned movements like a 3G stage. Harder to use for everyday wear! May not work for you so try modifying a cheap pair of off the shelf reading glasses (pop one lens out) to see if it will work before spending real money on prescription glasses. https://www.tacticalrx.com has a lot of options but any good eye doctor - sports related optometry shop that listens to you should be able to help. https://sspeyewear.com has cheaper off the shelf options with top bifocals. I've had good luck with $20 off the shelf readers in general if you find frames that fit. If you have your ocular distance measured (width of eyes) you can order moderately priced frames online and most of the time they'll fit and be better than Walmart ones. But if you want nicer fitting, nice quality glasses then you spend hundreds. If you are the type to lose things and aren't used to glasses, like I was at first, stick to cheap glasses until your habits are modified. Your vision will not be getting better so you might as well dig in and learn more about it! Geezer on

I have a lot of JP stuff but just bought a 308 BCG from F1 and... it's really nice. No reason I can find that it won't run with the best of them. I don't care for the aesthetics of skeltonized grips but nobody's forcing me to buy one, they're kind of like Punisher logos on Glocks and those AR lowers with skulls molded in. Then again the JP hand guards are no thing of beauty either and the thermal dissipators are kind of, um, hokey like mall ninja-ey too. And I wouldn't build with JP parts for a super lightweight build either. Just my opinion, I wouldn't reject a free rifle. The nice thing is you can pick and choose and make the rifle your own with various brands. JP probably has tighter QC and tolerances than most but they charge accordingly. Anyone can true a receiver and thermal fit a barrel with inexpensive tools and techniques. Figure you'll spend twice as much for a JP barrel and trust it will be good out of the box versus maybe risking a lemon for one half the cost. But that's why some barrel manufacturers get popular, when they're outperforming their price tags.

Giant Mouse Clyde in Brass and M390, only 3"

Do you have trigger preferences from other guns or simply want something better than MilSpec? Single or double stage, super light pull or moderate, flat or curved shoe? It is probably superstitious but I install KHS anti walk pins on all my cartridge triggers, add a few bucks there. I've been using Trigger Tech non-adjustable flat blade 3.5# triggers that have come down in price, they are advertised as being short two stage like a 1911, I like their quick reset. But I've had Velocity and Timeny triggers that were good. Last month I did a build with polished Nickel Boron MilSpec style parts and the $10 JP spring kit and was pleasantly surprised that a $50 traditional trigger felt pretty darn good ~ I wouldn't hesitate to start there especially on a tighter budget.

Yeah I always put something up front as a hand stop... a Mlok QD, a section of rail, even though Magpul rubber Picatinny rail covers can be cut up. With my really short pistol (9") I use a barricade block. Very paranoid about shooting my hand.

Thanks. Fricking half an inch....

FWIW the lightweight 14.5 Faxon pencil and gunner barrels with their dedicated comps will put one of the comp ports behind a 15" Aero Atlas Handguard. Axe me how I learned this? Still haven't shot it to know what it will do to the handguard, suspect it's just cosmetics. I'll be satisfied with 3 MOA with 55 gr and under 2 with better ammo. The weight savings is significant (1.2# barrel). My rifle collection has grown but all the 223s are running JP SCS with the Brownells lightweight TIN-coated BCGs (probably Tool Craft) and adjustable gas. Working great and not too expensive either.

I doubt there are any positives to any of this other than people will spend more time with their families and maybe some Moms will decide to stay home with the kids if Dad has a good income. For most people they're going to have to work harder than ever to recoup. Longer term I bet people look for shorter duration, less expensive, closer to home and smaller scale matches and hobbies in general.

FWIW this page has had consistently working codes: https://gun.deals/content/brownells BDX didn't work last time. Thanks

Maximum IDPA category

I'd seriously investigate lead and ventilation, especially if you have kids around. I'm not anti-reloading but having a dedicated space that isn't going to contaminate the rest of the apartment seems like job one. Or just wait this BS and stock up when prices stabilize in theory.

You want the face of the receiver to be flat and mate up well with the barrel extension ring. A quality upper receiver should already be 99% there but five minutes with the Brownells or similar lapping tool gets it 100% so why not? Then you want the barrel and receiver to fit together tightly and you can use a variety of methods individually or in combination. I can't imagine needed to wrap a shim around the barrel unless something is out of spec but I have noticed some barrels slide right in easily and others need persuasion with a wooden block. The sexiest way is to freeze the steel barrel and heat up the aluminum receiver and put them together quickly before they normalize (freeze barrel for a couple hours, bring it out, heat up receiver with a Berzomatic torch for 30 seconds all around the mounting area, slide together ASAP as the heat cools faster than the barrel warms). If the barrel is still a bit loose then add some green (expanding!) Loctite or if really bad a piece of thin metal shim stock (never seen this in my experience, makes me think something's wrong). The shims most people refer to are like very thin washers that go between the receiver's threads and the barrel nut so that the notches in the barrel nut can be timed to line up with where the gas tube runs. You want to avoid having the gas tube touch the barrel nut lest it impart a (very) slight influence on the free floating barrel. Lots of handguards come with these shims or you can buy an assorted package for $5. Somebody will mention they could affect accuracy but now you'd really be splitting hairs. Not many people here are going to support piston systems but the sales pitch convinces a lot of people too. Also consider if you'll eventually want to use a suppressor, etc. I don't know who does superior factory built rifles outside of JP Rifles but it should be within the skill set of a careful amateur assembler. Knowing what parts work well together and make economic sense is harder than actually putting together the rifle. I think the usual progression is someone buys a moderately priced rifle, reads enough gunporn and then wants to modify or build a nicer gun as their "good gun". Or if you have the money buy one good to go from JP or another established brand name.

Ask that JP guy on Instagram? But I bet it's somebody's home built from good parts and the salesperson is representing it as a factory gun.

Agree with above mostly, well presented. Or walk away. You've done it a long time and it's had a great run compared to most internet communities but none of them last forever, the most engaging people come and go. Things get stale. Go out on top. There are almost no web presences that have lasted this long to be honest. Slate magazine maybe? Frankly I think the primary audience is 40+ to Boomer. The kids use social media, Reedit, etc. As much as I hate Facebook I'd rejoin it if I wanted to discuss this stuff and it might be more efficient (easier to post and link stuff, hands off management). And there has to be 10x more 3Gun stuff between all the pro shooter and company pages. I used to look here for questions but now my first choice is YouTube and then a broad search of the entire internet. If I ask a question here it's often ignored or not answered sufficiently so it's now a second or third choice. I don't really see a good solution to classifieds for higher end competition gear. It did draw me in when I'd be shopping but it's rare you find what you want. What things I've sold have always been at lower than expected prices. It's not that great. So why invest any energy into it? If you keep it running just nuke the obvious scammers and let everyone else be responsible adults?

My 82-year Dad still does this. I am always hollering at him not to sweep me and to keep his finger off the trigger. Of course he is used to 10# triggers. I heard that in the old Westerns they used real guns and live rounds, wonder how John Wayne never shot himself in the thigh twirling lever guns and revolvers around?