T2K Small Arms Guide 2025 Edition

Now with KaBar, taped magazines and dog tags!  The angle of the painting is impossible in real life.

 

The original:

I noticed that you can't insert the magazines taped like they are.  Wanna bet a nickel that the original artist didn't try and only had a short period of time to paint what they had?

My previous attempt in 2016:

If anyone recognizes the crate from the OG artwork, please let me know.  I'd love to get one.  I don't recall ever seeing one that used hex-head bolts and didn't have a rib at the ends of the lid.

Arms Room Card

Feeling nostalgic, I dug out my arms room card and took a pic of Andrea.

This is also evidence that not everyone who makes a "ghost gun" skips the serial number portion of the event.  Not shown is the required information for my trust in case I ever wanted to go NFA with this lower.

 With a 20" barrel and a fixed stock, Andrea is not an NFA item of any color.

Two

There have only been two A2 uppers that have passed through this house since I started getting into AR's.

Andrea wears the only one left.

The first one through was on The Lovely Harvey's second AR.

Cheyenne does not look much like this anymore.  She's now a clone of a R651P from Platoon because she likes SSG Barnes.

Cheyenne's old upper got sold off.  I can't remember if it went with the HBAR 20" barrel or not.  Andrea's came with the barrel from pre-Remington Bushmaster.

A2 stocks...  About five of those things have passed through here and been snatched up by eager cloners.  Usually just in time for me to decide I wanted to make an A2 clone again.

Now that I have an A2 and A4 clone, I think I have enough stocks to last for a while.

I Remember When

When I first started making AR's from kits, I was firmly set in making clones of retro guns.

Fortunately for me, I caught the bug when retro parts were practically being given away.  You cannot buy a vintage A1 upper receiver for what I paid for Bubba's complete A1 upper assembly.

I was ahead of the trend.

At the time kits were pretty evenly divided between A2 uppers and flat-tops; but the utility of the flat top took hold and there was suddenly tons of unwanted A2 uppers to be had.

I dabbled a bit at making an A2 clone but didn't really commit for years until I made one from an 80% lower engraved with the serial number from my issue M16A2.

I am glad I hung onto that A2 upper receiver now!

Just as quickly as the market was awash in A2 uppers... there were none.

A2 uppers just weren't around.

That appears to be changing, because the trend is now to make M16A2 clones.

What was old is new again!

I wonder if Beretta M9 and Model 92FS prices will spike along with it?

That Could Have Gone Better

I'm dubbing it the Polymer 40 because it's only half working.

The slide stop engages on its own.

It misfeeds.

It stovepipes.

It fails to go into battery.

It has dead trigger.

Sometimes more than one of those things at once.

Marv has gotten some advice from SoftwareJanitor and will tinker further.

This has given me an irrational desire to get a Glock 26 as close to the $435 invested in this project as possible, just to be a dick and rub in that MY gun works.

But I won't.  My Glock 26 is a Shield Plus.

And this is my last post of the year!  See you in 2022!

What Gun I Don't See A Gun

Marv has dipped his toes into no-a-Glock making.

The moment it ceases to be a piece of plastic and becomes, legally, a firearm:

It's pretty simple.

Drill a couple of holes with the provided bits.

Remove some material that blocks the installation of other parts:

Then it goes together just like a normal Glock 26.

It would have helped a lot if we were more familiar with how a Glock 26 goes together...  There was a major but easily correctable misstep with the trigger bar.  I had it outside of a part it should have been inside...  A quick comparison with my Glock 17 showed us the light and Marv pressed on.

A wider, shorter, heavier, cheaper Sheild Plus.

 The plus 2 magazine gets you a wider, shorter, heavier, cheaper Shield Plus that's missing a round.

But Glock 26 magazines are much cheaper and more available than Shield Plus magazines; and you can use Glock 17 and 19 magazines as well.

So far everything appears to work as it should except the slide stop.

If you have the trigger pulled to the rear and you lock the slide back, the stop will not disengage when you slingshot the slide.  Typical Glock, you cannot just press that stop down with your thumb either.  To get it to disengage you have to press down and slingshot the slide.

We're thinking the holes for the trigger pin are slightly misaligned and the trigger is binding the slide stop.  I'm thinking, because that pin is MUCH tighter than any of my real Glocks that we can hog it out a bit and see if that helps any.

Ghost Guns

I don't object to DIY guns.

I've done one or two myself:

I know my motives for Andrea and Tonya.

Where else was I going to get a clone of my issue M16A2 down to the serial number or a GOOD clone of a Polish Tantal?

Lavender Linda was just for fun and to see if a resin lower was viable.  It is, sort of.

What I am marveling at is someone I know making a LOT of Polymer 80 pistols and 80% AR lowers and I don't get it.

Is it for the fun of making them?

Is it a thumb in the eye of the powers that be?

For me, it's not saving money because, being a veteran, I can get a Blue Label Glock for about the same price as making a P80 kit, but I get three magazines too.

I am curious, though.

Comments?

Man With A Plan!

For when the resin Freedom 15 finally breaks at the receiver extension...

Getting my last 80% engraved thusly.

Hidden joke in here too.  Lemme know if you see it.

Lo Ma! No Serial Number!

Lavender Linda is, again, mostly a complete firearm.

The lower is a poured resin from AR15 Mold.

You will note the complete lack of a serial number, making this a (insert scary music) "Ghost Gun" woooooooooooo oooooooooooh!

Linda doesn't have a bolt carrier group, and the parts bin is much lighter.  I had not intended to make her a 6.8, but that's what parts I had.  Palmetto has bolt carriers on sale...  Sigh.

The lack of a serial number will not matter in the slightest unless I wanted to sell or give it away.  Or if it's stolen.

At this exact moment in time, this is perfectly legal.  There are some who are hoping to change that.

Considering that I've had the damn thing for over five years and have yet to sell it...  I think we can remove that motive from why I made it.

Marv and I did it because it's fun.

The AR15 Mold lower, by the way, is notably more fragile and less durable than a real aluminum one.  When it finally breaks, I'll smash it with a hammer and finish the 80% lower that's sitting in my gun safe.

In fact, I should scrape some money up and send it out to be engraved with something...  Dunno what.

After that comes the expense of anodizing (and the anodizing place makes me do a background check to get my lower back from them too).

I'm sure not saving any money making these things myself!

But I Was Told...

Listening to some anti-gun snippet that I didn't get a source for...

Did you know that the only reason that people build 80% guns is to have unregistered and untraceable firearms?

"That's why they never have serial numbers!"

Never?

Having this serial number was the entire point of the 80% exercise for me!

Andrea bears the serial number of the M16A2 my tank was issued.

And just to show that this is, indeed, an 80% gun.

But the only reason to make a "ghost gun" is nefarious?

The constant, and deliberate, misunderstanding of why many gun people are into guns is downright irritating.

Making things is fun!

But, given the short shrift writers get in Hollywood and all the accolades given Dancing Monkeys... Liberals don't seem to understand the creative impulse any more.

During The Freak Out

While the banners are freaking about 3D printing what amounts to zip-guns...

These are still out there.

And this ain't no zip gun.

The only computer involved was used to make artwork that was milled into the not-yet-a-firearm 80% lower.

Reasons

Who needs reasons when you've got heroin?

Wait.  Wrong intro.

I am a Twilight: 2000, or T2K, junkie.

I've updated the T2K 1.0 ruleset to GURPS no less than three times.  Twice for 3e and ongoing for 4e.

The scenario laid out in the game made enough sense that it influenced what branch of the Army I joined.

I've played it long enough that it's gone from speculative fiction to alternate history.

My M16A2 clone is a double nostalgia trip.  The tank was issued one and it's still the primary weapon of the US Army in T2K.

That photo is a recreation of one of the game's book covers!

The nostalgia trip to make an AK-74 stems from this game too.

The original scenario of the game begins with the last big battle of a big war where the opposing forces are essentially and finally spent against each other near Kalisz, Poland.

The next five adventure modules are set in Poland as well.

The Poles went their own way on weapons design so the Kbk wz.88 is distinctively Polish, and appropriately period for the game.

The M16A2 project is also my first foray into more serious hobby gunsmithing.  She started out as an 80% receiver because I wanted a specific markings and serial numbers.

Building the wz.88 from a parts-kit continues the tradition.

Subversive

I've a friend whose living situation precludes having a firearm where he lives.

It's not a legal problem, but a social one.

He'd be asked (ordered really) to find other accommodations should he keep a gun at his home.

But we formulated a sinister plan...

What if the landlord did not know it was a gun?

Legally, the part of a gun that's a firearm is the serialized part.  For an AR, that's the lower receiver.

So he made himself a Freedom 15 lower!

Not only does he now have a "firearm" right under the nose of the oppressive family member renting him a room, but it's a dread assault weapon and a ghost gun.

The candy colors assist in it remaining undetected.

Me, I'd have gotten myself kicked out with what I would have done.  I'd have bought an 80% lower and assembled an entire gun on it, without finishing the lower.  A complete AR, less fire control group.  Despite appearance, that is NOT a firearm.  But it would attract instant notice and would trigger as strong a response as a real, complete, gun.

By the way, names are not being named for a reason.  If you can figure out whom I am talking about here, don't comment on it.  That's also the reason there's no pics.

100% Gun From An 80% Lower

Got my lower back from Freedom Finishing today!

Next time I do one of these I have to remember to have it sand-blasted.  That'd make the finish more matte.

And with the rest of the parts to make it a real firearm instead of just a legal one.

Now I need to stencil A23 on the buttstock to complete the cloning of "my" rifle.

Feed Rate

I've decided that the reason that Marv is 6'-6" tall is that he's part ogre.

I've come to this conclusion watching him finish two 80% lowers.

He's managed to slay two 4-flute, 1/4" end-mills now.

When you use a router to hold the mill you've got to have a deft hand on the mill and only move as fast as the mill is cutting.  Marv is putting too much pressure on the router and it causes chatter and breaks the mills.

In more positive news, his second lower is the one we drilled way to deep on the rear shelf.  Some 1/4-28 all thread rod and a nut have replaced the pistol grip screw and there seems to be enough thread to hold the grip on!  We did have to relieve the inside of the grip for tool-clearance so you can get a socket down there, but it works.

Happy Independence Day!

And what better way to celebrate than to make 80% lowers into 100% lowers?

Gun Christmas In June

Got my engraved 80% lower back today!  Now it's back on me to finish the fire-control pocket.

Then it will be on someone else for anodizing.  Then it'll be part of an M16A2 clone.

Got the M16 type D stock I won on GunBroker today too.  It's in unissued condition and the seller included a nicely mottled A1 pistol grip too.

Aside: I hate the term "A1 pistol grip" because that grip is used on all the black furniture guns until the M16A2 style comes around.

Just Like Making A Chocolate Rabbit

Whereas when you're making a chocolate bunny, you start with a block of chocolate and remove everything not contributing to a general impression of rabbittity...

...so also do you remove a lot of aluminum from an AR-15 blank forging to make a completed lower.

25.3 ounces at the start.

12.1 ounces at 80%.

8.4 ounces at 100%.

80% Lower Engraving

I doodled this up this afternoon.

Using my MLP:FIM Colt logo and changing the manufacturer block will prevent the unlikely event of it being mistaken for a real Army owned, Colt made, M16A2.

I think I will change "NOSTALGIC RECREATIONS DIV." to "MYLASTNAME TRUST" though.

The auto-sear hole shown in the drawing is a place-marker for scaling the text from:

COLT'S FIREARMS DIVISION
COLT INDUSTRIES
HARTFORD, CONN.
            U.S.A.

Almost A Gun

80% of a gun...

There's no hollow space for the trigger and associated bits to go in, or holes in the side for the pins.

I'd intended to take this pic with an upper on it, but there's not enough material taken out around the rear take-down for the rear lug to seat.

Definitely need to think of something creative to put on it for engraving.  Perhaps even the correct markings for M16A2 5.56 Cal Auto Rifle, 1005-01-178-9936, Serial # 6300574...  That'd be hilarious to me to make a really accurate clone of the gun rifle issued to my tank.