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Purple resin lower? Check.
6.8x43mm barrel from a defunct manufacturer? Check.
$65 Chinese ACOG clone on a carry handle? Check.
Today we confirmed, with Marv's FACOG, that the Chinese cloners are using the same threads as Trijicon and that Trijicon's thumbscrew will secure the scope to the carry handle.
It fits into the carry handle groove like it's supposed and doesn't wobble even a bit.
The only issue was the threads needed cleaned up a bit where they break into the little tunnel in the base.
The M61 lamp in the M951 light will light up the whole back yard!
The X300 just lights up a spot.
First the control: The X300.
M951 with P60 xenon bulb:
M951 with M61 LED bulb:
If you've an old, surplus Surfire M951 or M961 still rocking the OG xenon, you should consider the M61 upgrade from Malkoff Devices.
Note: I did not end up needing to use the $1 fitting ring on my light, but that seems to be an as required item with some needing and some not.
Some of the best content here comes from Willard and I screaming at each other making barely related points.
Today's shouting match:
The Rifle, 7.62 M14.
First off, something we both agree on. The FAL is simply better. Hands down. Disagree and you're wrong. Learn to accept it.
Where it goes off the runners is how good the M14 was and why it was withdrawn from primary issue faster than any other service rifle save the Krag.
Individual riflemen fondly remember their issue M14 and only complained about relatively small issues. Like the front sling swivel ripping loose.
Why, then, was it shitcanned after a mere five years?
I've said many times that the US Army doesn't give up on equipment that's working like intended. Hell, they stick with things that aren't working correctly so often that you KNOW something is fucky when they nuke their service rifle so fast.
The reason the M14 left service so fast was that it was failing acceptance testing at an appalling rate.
Which is shocking considering that Springfield, H&R and Winchester successfully managed to make a shit-ton of Garands under wartime conditions.
Especially after spending ten damn years doing the development only to have Beretta create almost the same thing in less than two, the BM-59. Did I say ten years? That's not right. A clear ancestor is the wartime T20 so we're looking at 15 years.
Beretta was on time, under budget and had an excellent acceptance rate.
Plus those ten years of development and testing just kept revealing scandal after scandal with our arms procurement process and a sinking feeling that caving to politics, false familiarity and buying outright lies about tooling... we'd bought the wrong gun.
The Royal Army and Canada were making something very similar to what we would have made had the T48 won the competition.
The incandescent bulb in the Surefire M951 light was noticeably dimmer than the X300.
Whats to do?
LED upgrade!
Not cheap, but far cheaper than a completely new light.
Using the GPS Status app on my phone, I can measure for lux.
The X300 shows 21,000 lux at 6" and 1,319 lux at 8'.
The incandescent bulb gets 11,000 at 6" and 520 at 8'.
The LED upgrade does 33,000 lux at 6" and 1,374 at 8'.
That's a fair upgrade, I think! I think it might be hard to get a better light for the $100 total I've got into it.
The upgrade throws a slightly larger circle than the X300 without much of a hot-spot in the center. The X300 has a very hot spot.
Building on our post here, how does a shorter barreled 5.56 gun and a 16" .300 Blackout fare?
Loaded 14.5" M4 with optics and light is 8.4 lb.
Loaded 16" 5.56 M4gery with optics and light is 8.8 lb.
Loaded 16" .300 Blk M4gery with optics is 8.7 lb.
Even though the magazines are the same, .300 Blackout is heavier per round so a loaded mag is 1.2 instead of 1.1 lb.
Basic loads are 15 lb., 15.4 lb., and 15.9 lb. respectively.
You will notice that you take a range penalty with a shorter barrel and 5.56 and that .300 Blackout doesn't reach out as far either.
5.56x45mm from a 14.5" or 16" barrel will do 4d+2 pi doing 1,260 to 5,460 points of damage with an average of 3,360. That gives 224 points per pound for the 14.5" and 218.2 points per pound for the 16".
.300 Blackout will do 1,260 to 6,510 points of damage with an average of 3,885 for 244.3 points per pound on average.
Summing up, per pound from best to worst...
16" .300 Blackout = 244.3 but you slam into 1/2D range 250 yards sooner than even a 14.5" 5.56 gun.
16" 6.8x43mm = 224.2
14.5" 5.56x45mm = 224
16" 5.56x45mm = 218.2
20" 5.56x45mm = 212.4
But this is a bit unfair... The heavy ARs have fixed rifle stocks, and that's 0.3 lb. heavier right there.
That'd drop the damage per pound of the .300 to 239.8.
Putting a carbine lower on the 6.8 would increase it to 228.1.
The configuration matters and this ends up being an oranges to grapefruit comparison. You can shave mass from any of these guns to the tune of half a pound just changing furniture. Magpul stuff is heavy compared to USGI. KAC's RAS is very heavy.
For example an M16A1 and aluminum USGI 30-rounders is 7.8 for the rifle and 14.8 for the basic load. Damage is 1,050 to 6,300 with an average of 3,675 for 248.3 points per pound. But no optics and range of just 500/3,200.
Just in case you're curious...
A 6.5 Grendel M4gery does 6d-1 pi out to 730/4,000. Weight is 7.5/1.3 with 24 round PRI magazines. Add 1.4 for a 5x prism and X300 for 8.9 lb. for the gun and 16.7 lb. for the loaded gun and 6 spare mags.
168 rounds down range will do 840 to 5,880 points of damage with an average of 3,360 which gives 201.2 per pound. GURPS doesn't like Bill Alexander's furry nation either.
Your pistol/rifle/shotgun is a weapon, it is not a weapon system.
A battleship fires its guns with a weapon system.
A tank fires its guns with a weapon system.
A fighter fires missiles with a weapon system.
A bomber drops bombs with a weapon system.
Weapon systems fire weapons.
What system fires your small arm?
What range, lead, wind, and cant compensation is part of your small arm?
You sound like a fucking moron calling small arms weapons systems.
The Tomorrow War is proof you can tell this story without gutting a cornerstone of science fiction and wearing its skin.
The Tomorrow War is essentially the same story as Paul Verhooven's Starship Troopers without ass-raping Robert Heinlein to make it.
Someday...
There was someone test firing their "new" .500 Nitro Express double at the range yesterday while I was zeroing Dottie and Linda.
The owner said that they were shooting reduced loads and getting information so they could send it back to the gunsmith to have the sights adjusted to point of aim.
It was hitting high and right at 30 yards, but both barrels were hitting about the same place.
Is an M16A4 clone better than a 16" AR in 6.8x43mm?
As you can see, the 6.8 starts lighter, does more damage and does it at about the same ranges with the same accuracy.
You need to be stronger for the 6.8, but the ST requirement is still below average.
Loaded weapon, optics and light: M16A4 = 10.7 lb. 6.8 carbine = 9.9 lb.
Six-Eight is 0.8 lb. lighter.
The M16A4 catches up when you add four spare magazines. The A4 also has 15 more shots at this point.
But basic loads are generally six spare mags and the 6.8 will tip the scales at 17.7 lb. with 189 rounds.
The M16A4 is 17.3 lb. with 210 rounds.
BUT... The 189 rounds will sling 1,134 to 6,804 points of damage, averaging 3,969.
210 rounds of 5.56x45mm M855 will do 1,050 to 6,300 points, averaging 3,675.
This becomes, on average, 224.23 points of damage per pound for the 6.8 and 212.43 for the A4.
Dottie and Lavender Linda are the 6.8x43mm SPC II twins and they now shoot to where I'm pointing them.
Dottie's optic is now dialed in for a 100 yard zero.
The LaRue MBT trigger and a 5x optic make a difference getting the groups smaller. Also, all this shooting lately is doing a good job of knocking the rust off.
It's like riding a bicycle!
Thanks to Marv for reminding me to take the dust cap off of Linda's muzzle! I've sent so many of those things down range it's not even funny.
Linda is a very light gun with her resin lower. 6.8 has more kick than 5.56 and she let my shoulder know about the difference in mass between her and Dottie.
Thag lurn!
A while back I mentioned that 7.62x51mm NATO is a lengthened .300 Savage and got haughtily informed that it was really a shortened .30-06.
Well, it turns out both positions are correct.
When the "30-06 but shorter" thing got started they actually looked to using .300 Savage unmodified to replace it. But .300 Savage didn't quite have the velocity they wanted and lacked the case capacity to do anything about it.
Never mind what this new "magnum" version of the round would do in extant Savage 99's.
So they lengthened the round just a smidge and got the velocity they were looking for.
Done! Say hello to 7.62 NATO!
Not quite.
As with so many ammunition related things, tooling and fixtures come up.
Then some finer elements of case design start showing up in testing.
Fix that angle, address that diameter, change that radius.
Until the round is almost literally a shortened 30-06...
But the path didn't start with shortening the older round.
We didn't even get tropical storm level winds here.
I'm totally not complaining.
She appeared to be a real storm right up until abreast of Sarasota and then just fell apart.
Better to be prepared for something that didn't happen than unprepared for something that did.
One downside to doing total comment moderation is you never get to see the comments that have worn my patience down to zero.
I won't describe my comment policy as zero tolerance, but...
The up/down variance is narrow.
Some commenters get a comment that's borderline irritating then get deleted later.
That's because they leave a follow-up that puts them on the other side of the deciding line.
The "good" news for y'all is I'm filtering the content, not the commenter.
Follow the simple rules in the commenting section and you get to comment.
Break them... start your own blog and say anything you want there.
Looks like my second ever hurricane is about to hit.
We're battened down and prepped as we can be.
Plus, I'm channeling my inner Johnny Rico.
I always get the shakes before a drop.
No, Representative Bush, England and The United Kingdom was not poised to abolish slavery when the Colonies started getting uppity.
In fact, England barely beat the US in ending the practice. They banned it in 1833.
Yes, they were on the road to ending it, but didn't really start in earnest until after the Revolutionary War was over and the United States had ratified our current Constitution.
Slavery wasn't the issue to the colonists you think it was and you're off on your dates by quite a bit.
The agitation to quit the empire really begins in the mid-1760's right after the French and Indian War.
England trying to refill the coffers drained by that war entirely at the expense of the colonists is the main issue, not slavery, that led to The Declaration of Independence.
Representative Bush is likely unaware that all trade had to go through Crown approved vendors who set extortionate prices to import essential items and that the colonists were forbidden from manufacturing them.
Things like iron plows and hammer heads.
Things that were produced in the colonies were subject to much punitive taxation on top of exploitatively low sale prices to The Crown's approved buyers.
But it wasn't the imminent end of slavery that spurred the signers of The Declaration to pledge their lives and sacred honors to be rid of The Crown.
It's also absurd to think that the northern half of the Colonies would sign on to preserve slavery as a primary motive. Abolition was already moving in those future states.
If The Revolution was fought to preserve slavery, why isn't Canada's southern border in Pennsylvania?
Representative Bush should hit Wikipedia for an explanation of The Intolerable Acts.
The post about my 5.56 history got me looking at other guns that I'd sold and what their values are today.
I've owned some rare ass collectables that I'd bought new when they weren't collectable! Or had not found a collector following when I was buying them.
Gen 1 Glock 17.
Mini-14.
Klackamas imported Daewoo DR200.
Anaconda.
USGI M1911A1.
Far too often I've let go of a gun far too cheaply because I didn't plan for an emergency or my planning was insufficient to the scale of the problem.
But most of the time when I unassed a gun, its replacement had just been purchased.
I really did sell the gen 1 Glock and the M1911A1 to get the Glock 21 I still have.
Why would I need two Glocks and two pistols in .45 anyway?
For a long time my "collection" was A gun in each category. A pistol. A modern rifle. A shotgun.
I didn't accumulate more than one per role.
Well, I also just checked prices on Mosins, particularly Finnish Mosins.
Why did y'all waste your money in real estate?
This is Vortex's anti-reflection device.
It's not a Killflash™ because that's a trademark of Tenebraex.
It's a simple thing, really. Just a bit of a honeycomb mesh with enough thickness to keep light from the sides from glinting back at an observer. It really doesn't help prevent reflections from being seen by something you're pointing the scope at when the light source is behind them.
But it's exactly the kind of thing that the anti-gunners will decide is a "military" feature and try to ban.
I don't know if it's much help, but it doesn't hurt anything so... I like to have one on.
I need some for the 5x Primary Arms scopes now too.
By request, a compare/contrast of the FDE defense guns.
Brenda is the Behind Every Blade of Grass carbine.
16" "gov't profile" midlength gas 1:7 nitride barrel from PSA. F-marked front sight base with bayonet lug, A2 flash-hider.
Kevina has a 16" M4 profile carbine gas 1:7 chrome-lined barrel from Del-Ton. Modified Yankee Hill Machine folding sight with the bayonet lug and sling swivel replaced with a p-rail, Troy Medieval flash hider.
Brenda is made on a KE Arms KP-15 monolithic lower using a CMMG lower parts kit.
Kevina is made on an Anvil Arms (now defunct) A2 type lower with Magpul MIAD grip and milspec CTR stock using a Del-Ton LPK.
Both use a Magpul MOE handguard appropriate to their gas systems, with Brenda having M-LOK holes.
Brenda's rear BUIS is a Magpul MBUS, Kevina's is a YHM-9680.
Brenda sports a Vortex Strikefire II red dot on the supplied cantilever mount, Kevina a Primary Arms gen 1 3x prism on an American Defense AD-B3 mount.
Both wear a Surefire X300 weaponlight because the night is dark and full of terrors and we want to see them to aim.
Without magazines, optics or lights: Kevina is 6.7 lb. Brenda is 6.2 lb.
A loaded 30-round PMAG M3 is 1.1 lb., a 40-round is 1.5 lb.
The X300 is 0.2 lb.
Primary Arms 3x prism on an AD-B3 mount is 1 lb.
Vortex Strikefire II on its cantilever mount is 0.8 lb.
The "seatbelt" style sling on Brenda is another 0.3 lb.
Grand totals, as pictured:
Brenda: 8.6 lb.
Kevina: 9.4 lb.
Adding up all the parts for both guns...
$638 for Brenda, $199 for the red-dot and $200 for the light.
$1,159 for Kevina, $346 for the optic and mount, $200 for the light.
Brenda was purchased recently and during successive sales for Memorial Day, Father's Day and has a blemish lower.
Kevina was made during the full-on Obama gun-parts shortage, and the pricing shows in my spreadsheets!
If Independence Day is a white, racist, holiday:
Why did we see so many black people at the fireworks stands?
Why did they happily wish our white asses a "happy independence day" or "happy July 4th"?
It's almost as if someone is lying about racism in America.
Again.
In the way back...
I was fully convinced that the absolute best 5.56 rifle was the Stoner weapons system because it looked so entirely cool on pages 2403 to 2404 of volume 22 of Weapons and Warfare.
I've never even seen one in person.
My lust moved to the Galil next.
It was perfect and because it had 35 or 50 round magazines in Twilight: 2000's RDF Sourcebook it was better than any other 5.56 rifle. The Galil had also appeared on my radar in Top Secret.
Plus, looked damn cool. Besides, does your assault rifle have bottle opener built into it? *mic drop*
I had no idea, at the time, that the IDF had essentially dropped the Galil in favor of the M16A1 by then.
The first 5.56 rounds I ever fired were from a buddy's AK just before I left for the Army. Taki was a 'Nam vet and MAC-V SOG Marine. What he learned about shooting and fighting didn't apply to anything I'd see later. Very short sight distances, very short ranges, nearly always in the dark.
I didn't take to the M16 in the Army thanks to assholes being assholes and demanding a level of cleanliness that was not needed for the function or longevity of the weapon. It throws one off one's feed about a rifle.
But I didn't think there was anything about 5.56 that was inherently bad for most personal problems. (Que Willard and a treatise (that I'll agree with) on the superiority of 7.62x51mm.)
In the wide world of sports, just like the Primary Arms scope vs an ACOG; 5.56 vs 7.62 is a matter of "ideals vs good enoughs" and 5.56 will do for nearly everything I am legally allowed to do with a rifle in a self-defense or anti-looting scenario.
The advantages 7.62 brings to the table become overkill, bulky and heavy for my now civilian butt. The Willard treatise will explain why this isn't necessarily true in a war; especially for feeding a machine gun.
But, back to me, post-ETS and getting into guns.
As with so many catalysts in my life, FuzzyGeff is to blame. He decided, out of the blue from my perspective, to buy a semi-auto rifle. Because I knew a lot more about guns than he did (and as it turns out, not near as much as I thought I did) he asked my opinion on the "best" gun.
Once we'd determined that the Bush Import Ban had made the obviously best gun, the Galil, unaffordable; we discussed the alternatives.
FuzzyGeff's drill sergeant shaped scars were deeper and more painful than mine with regards to the AR, and the only AR you saw in Iowa in 1991 was a Colt with all of the neutering they could muster. Plus they were expensive.
This led us to consider the Mini-14. There didn't appear to be anything wrong with them, they were in a price range we could afford and... Wow you could accessorize the shit out of them.
Shortly afterwards, I bought one too.
Then Software Janitor, then Technomad... and three other friends.
We all standardized on the Mini and prepared for the end of the world that never came.
Remember all that accessorizing?
I made a heavy pig out of a light, handy carbine. Polymer folding stock, Harris bipod, B-Square scope mount and Aimpoint 1000. Plus replacing the front sight with a flash-hider/bayonet lug combo. It was heavier than a Galil by the time I'd finished.
And the zero wandered.
The front sight combo thing didn't stay put, so the sights moved around.
The B-Square scope mount didn't hold zero between sessions if you removed it, and we always removed it...
It was a love-hate thing.
Then the AWB hit.
Suddenly magazines were scarce.
AR magazines were plentiful.
So I sold the Mini to Anglave and got me a Daewoo DR200 with a thumbhole stock.
MUCH lighter than the Mini, decent military sights and a pedigree of being made by a nation who might just be going to war in a moment (just like Israel!).
'Round about here two of the Mini-14 converts changed 5.56 guns. One, just as the AWB took effect, went to a Bushmaster AR from parts. FuzzyGeff went with a Bushmaster M17 bullpup (because we hadn't yet learned that bullpups suck and the M17 took AR mags).
Then I moved to Florida.
ACE Limited even made a stock conversion that conformed to the 922r rules and let me have a normal pistol grip on my DR200.
I still had it in 2007 when I started getting into ARs...
 |
| Top to bottom: My DR200; FuzzyGeff's M17S; FuzzyGeff's first AR, Olga; my first AR, Kaylee; Marv's first AR. We still own the bottom three, but none of them still look the same. |
He started rolling his own AR's as soon as the AWB expired.
That led to me learning that my problems with the AR stemmed from assholes yelling at me and inadequate cleaning materials being milspec issue.
You might even have noticed that I have a couple three 'round here now.
Even FuzzyGeff overcame his scars to own a couple.
He's completely his old self!
All three cats like the new urinary and hairball food.
All three cats LOVE the expensive prescription food.
If we get to the end of the prescription food without a recurrence I think we're out of the woods, but I'll get another bag or two to be sure.
It's interesting that both The Lovely Harvey and I settled on flat dark earth for our go-to home defense carbines.
She more by choice than I.
I locked into FDE because the KP-15 blem lower was on sale in that color.
We fully expect no need of them at all because Elsa doesn't look to be all that strong (at the moment).
I've been saving the boxes for the ammo that's loaded in the magazines around here.
Because if something catastrophic happens, and it's the ammo, the manufacturer of that ammo will wanna know what lot the problem was in.
It occurred to me that I don't need to keep the boxes if I record the lot number in some other manner.
There's a lot more space on my little gun-shelf now.
Having mentioned my old Mini-14... I checked to see what the $400 not-an-AR from 25 years ago was going for.
$1,500 to $3,000?
Are you kidding me?
I really shouldn't be surprised, the current production Mini is a lot more expensive than the average AR, so it stands to reason that the vintage models would be raised by the same tide.
FuzzyGeff put it very well when I told him about the dramatic increase in value, "Only because we sold them already."
Ain't that the truth?
That's a bolt lock cover plate p/n MS06700 from a Mini-14 I have not owned in 25 years.
It was replaced on the rifle with a plate from Square-B to mount a weaver base to the gun. That plate and the base went with the rifle to its new owner.
I found it hiding in the bottom of a ammo can when I was organizing and inventorying.
Every once and a while I get a nostalgia hit and want an old 181 to 186 series Mini-14. It passes quickly.
I was a fairly early adopter of 6.8x43mm in SPCII spec.
Dottie was the second AR I ever pieced together.
She doesn't get out much any more.
I couldn't think of a better excuse to drag her out and take some pics.
It's a damn fine round and it's dropped every animal I've shot with it, dead right there.
One animal, total, in fact.
A growling and advancing pit-pull that had just shredded a cat adjacent to my driveway. At all of five yards. Got a "good shootin'!" from the responding deputy who also wrote citations to the owners of the dog rather than arresting me as they demanded.
The whole story there was them not getting their yard dog-proofed and the dogs running the neighborhood.
One morning a friend who lived down the block was pounding on my door asking if one of my cats had gotten out, because the dogs were shredding one that looked like Licorice. Licorice was safe, but the other kitty was toast.
The dogs were defending their kill when I tried to see if it was the next-door neighbor's cat.
Plus!
K-6 grade kids were starting to accumulate at the end of my drive opposite the dead kitty and the dogs were threatening them.
My friend and I corralled the kids into my house and I grabbed Dottie then tried to shoe them away.
That got the smaller one to give the "I'm gonna get you" body language and that got her shot. The male ran off.
Cops called, accolades received, citations written.
Two weeks later the cops showed up at my door again. This time asking if I shot the other dog. "Nope." I replied.
It'd been found shot dead and draped over the owner's fence-gate.
I still have the deputy's card he gave me when he said, "have your lawyer contact me if they sue." They never did. It's been 12 and some years, I don't think they're gonna.
They moved out about a month later.
The things that I'm ready for never seem to happen.
So we're all set for the incoming tropical storm, Elsa.
The local weatherman we're following is comparing it to Eta late last year.
That was pretty much a non-event here as we're high enough that tropical storm flooding is a not a threat.
The Aimpoint Comp M4s and Vortex Strikefire II red-dots have the same threads for the Killflash anti-reflection device.
Aimpoint wants $50 for theirs, and Vortex wants $35.
I'd get the Vortex and an(other) PMAG.
Are you looking for a BUIS to complete your clone of a modern USGI rifle or carbine?
Then you need a Matech BUIS!
They're $100.
But on Ebay, you can find them much cheaper.
BUT...
Nothing before the but matters...
Look at the pictures carefully.
Do they show the sight with the rear aperture folded down?
If not, stay away.
The Matech is known for two flaws. First is the screw on the clamp breaking, the second is for the latch that holds the aperture stowed wearing down.
If it won't stay stowed, it's a spring loaded rear sight, not a back up iron sight.
Pay attention out there!
My M16A4 clone is no longer chasing the willow-d-wisp of being any sort of period correct.
This configuration suits me just fine. Except for the optic, I'd call it legal (and maybe even with the optic if a CO was being nice).
The people in the A4 clone world are farb catchers like the worst of the flight-sim rivet-counters.
They basically only allow the fire control group and a semi-auto lower to be anything but genuine real deal parts. And Gods save you if you put an M150 ACOG with a KAC rear BUIS!
I'm not dropping another two grand on the rifle to get complete authenticity.
What I had pictured here:
Meets my personal standards and you can't tell the optic isn't the correct sub-model from farther than you can read 8-point font anyway!
Imagine the vapors if I'd just used a green illuminated TA31 BAC instead of a TA31-F RCO M150 here!
One bonus of going my own way is to completely ignore the absolutely retarded sling and buttstock magazine pouch that's on every Jarhead A4.
If you look hard at it and think, "if a three-prong flash-hider was dropped for snagging on shit..." you've got to wonder what all the yards of loose 1-1/4" webbing will grab onto.
Ironically taken with my cell phone...
But that rig took this:
Focus is jacked because of high-level haze. It's been cloudy as heck lately making it near impossible give that tripod a good test drive on celestial stuff.
WOW is it a nice tripod head. I can hit the 50x zoom in the display and make the fine adjustments on stuff like the sun, and smoothly move it to track while it slowly creeps out of frame.
It was a fine Prime Day deal too. Half price!
I have finished inventorying the ammo supply here at Casa McThag.
Three times.
I keep bumping into more stashes where boxes got tucked because the cans of the main stash are full.
I'm chasing it down, but...
Buying an extra box every time I went shooting appears to have paid off.
Something very irritating has been finding several boxes of something contain not a single round of what's on the box. Like a box of .38 Special Winchester White Box that has 10 rounds of Remington and 20 rounds of Magtech in it.
I think this is from buying ammo from the Deer Hunter's "ammo that came with a gun a customer sold us" section. Things get mixed up down that end of the counter.
Marv drilled a hole through one of the screws holding the ocular housing to his FACOG and we bought some thicker fishing lead line and sleeves.
Some clipping, threading and crimping later...
...just like the real thing!
So I grabbed the Primary Arms PAC5X and drilled some holes in one of the screws...
I broke one of Marv's 1mm bits, but was able to finish with a burr mill in a Dremel!
If only Primary Arms would have sold me the rubber bikini tethers they still use on the SLx Gen III 5x scope...
No.
Primary Arms 5x Prism scope is not just as good as an ACOG for 1/3 the price.
But it might be good enough.
I don't abuse my stuff, but the PAC5X has lived on two different guns now and never had a hiccup.
It's never lost zero.
Never failed to light up, a feature I don't use often thanks to the reticle being perfectly visible in normal light.
Never fogged over.
I like the ACSS reticle slightly better than the chevron and a LOT better than the cross.
The range finding mark is handy.
But...
It's bigger.
It's heavier.
The range markings are much smaller.
It has a much narrower field of view.
I am not so well heeled as to start tossing either sight down the driveway, but I do remember someone freezing a PAC5X in a block of ice, then SHOOTING it out to find it intact and working.
Marv says,
I did well at 100 yards. Usually I'm all old and shaky.
I really like the KE Arms lower and the FACOG seems to be working well for me.
Midway has the best price on a new 4x32 TA31 BAC ACOG.
Green chevron .223/5.56 reticle, no flippy caps or killflash.
That's NEW. Full warranty, fresh H3.
$1,029.99.
This puts a lot of used ACOGs into perspective.
$900 to $950 simply isn't enough discount to take the risk of no warranty or the additional expense of refreshing the tritium.
Take note: If the milsurp ACOG you're looking at has a Bible verse, it was made before 2010 and your tritium WILL need refreshed.
How can you tell if that ACOG used to be mil? If the serial starts with a 'D' then goes 'Cage Code" "Model" then "Serial"... That was sold to the DoD originally. I asked.
The Bible verse is not a definitive marker for age, but Trijicon is responsive to giving you the born-on date via their contact link on their web page. That's how I asked.
If it's 10 years or older, because of the tritium renewal, I'd steer clear of anything more than $800; and that top end better be a nearly unused sight.
In general, I'd steer clear of former gov't sights because they're just stolen too often or the agency that dumped it routinely doesn't get it off the books properly. That makes getting your warranty honored sticky.
Caveat Emptor!
