GunsAmerica Blog

I recently completed a video with the American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI #346DVD), “AR-15: Practical, Tactical, or Tacti-Cool, which looks at many of the current components that can turn your AR-15 into a rifle that best suits your needs or wants. There are many great companies making quality rifles and even more companies making great add-on components to upgrade those rifles. Some components are very practical and enhance the rifle platform with minimal cost or work. Some components are more “Tactical,” meaning they assist in a specific mission or purpose, whatever that may be for you. Some components are “Tacti-cool”, meaning they don’t necessarily help with a real need… but they enhance the look and you “just gotta have it.”You can take any AR-15 rifle and reconfigure it yourself to fit whatever purpose or desire you have. In my video, we take a look at many components, add-ons, optics, and tools. We discuss gas impingement vs. gas piston systems, along with the pros and cons of each. Let’s take a look at just a few of the components that I think are the most practical enhancements to a rifle.

With many things in life you get what you pay for. If you remember, back in December, we reviewed the Wheeler Professional Reticle Leveling System, which, if you click through to Midway, is currently $45. Within about an hour of that article coming out, we got a comment that there was a much more affordable system that was "much better" than the Wheeler, called the Segway. Rather than let the commenter hijack the post, we asked the manufacturer, Straight Shot, for a sample, and we got one of what we found out later was the old model right away. The owner of the company then stopped by our booth at SHOT to drop off the newest model, the Segway Mark III, and we are finally getting around to telling you guys about it now. But don't worry, if you already bought the Wheeler, it is a far superior device, and uses an overall superior approach to making sure your reticle is plumb with your bore. The Segway is available also from Midway for $21.99, but it isn't half the product of the Wheeler. The Segway Reticle Leveler isn't a bad product. Not by a long shot in fact (pun intended). But if you are shooting truly long range, over 300 yards it is probably better to stick to the Wheeler.

In the Law Enforcement Market, the weapon mounted light is pretty much standard. That’s because when you carry a gun for a living you owe it to yourself to have a light ready for things like searches of a dark room, etc, and it’s better to have that light mounted to your gun to keep your off-hand free. Weapon lights have also gained wide acceptance in the civilian world as well, but when you don’t depend on something for survival, it is difficult to spend over $300 for what is really just a flashlight.What you may not know is that most law enforcement officers buy their own gear, and a lot of them have discovered that the UTG/Leapers lights are good enough. They may not be as bright as a SureFire or Streamlight, but they aren’t that bad either. A lot of LED patents expired in the early 2000s so we now have a host of new lights that don’t use an incandescant bulb but “Light Emitting Diodes” instead, or LEDs. They put out a tremendous amount of light at a fraction of the battery drain. One set of batteries in my new LED light outlasts five sets in my old incandescant light, and they don’t break as easily either. These new lights are now part and parcel of the tactical light world.

The concept of “accuracy” reaches far beyond a 3 or 5 shot group when you shoot your rifle in competition or varmint hunting, where 3 or 5 shots is nothing. It isn’t unusual these days to find off the shelf, inexpensive rifles that guarantee “MOA accuracy” out of the box, limited to a 3 or 5 shot string. But when you get up into 10, 20, and even 100 shot strings, it is a virtual guarantee that the accumulated heat in your barrel will throw your shots into a much bigger circle than MOA, (which is roughly an inch of dispersion at 100 yards). Back in 2010 we first examined a product called the “Straightjacket” from Teludyne Tech that was designed to cure the effects of heat in rifle barrels. The Straightjacket is a 1 1/4″ wide sleeve that is fitted around your existing barrel. It is filled with a heat-wicking media of a proprietary metal alloy, and the overall system is much less weight than would be a comparable 1 1/4″ heavy, or bull barrel. Our original look at the Straightjacket was on bolt guns, but now in its 4th generation of the Straighjacket, Teludyne has come up with a system for the AR-15 that is said to make your best 3 shot group into your average 10 shot group. What we originally called the “Ultimate Accuracy Makeover” has become the “Ultimate AR-15 Makeover,” and we got some amazing results from our two test uppers. The Straightjacket is still a niche product for people who shoot a lot of bullets, fairly quickly, at things far away, and it ain’t cheap. AR-15 upper conversions are currently $1049 and bolt guns can be converted into Straightjacket guns for $849 ($1049 titanium). From its introduction to this day the Straightjacket challenges everything we “know” about accuracy, and that alone makes it exciting to play with, and worth the investment if your budget allows it.

It used to be that a hunting rifle was something you took out of the gun cabinet once a year, usually around the first week in November. Whitetail used to be synonymous with hunting, but that is no longer the case. Nuisance animals, with no natural predators who hunt them, have reached an epic proportion in America, and a lot of people hunt them for sport, while serving a useful cause for weary landowners. Hogs, coyotes, prairie dogs and even alligators have turned “hunting season” into a year round experience, one that is entirely different than whitetail hunting. Ambush Rifles is a project of Daniel Defense, makers of high end customizable AR-15 platform rifles. The Ambush rifle is an AR-15, and all of the parts are interchangeable with a normal AR, but that is where the similarity ends. Anyone can dip an AR-15 in camo and cal it a hunting rifle, but Daniel Defense has taken the Ambush a step higher, by fitting it with not only premium components and a hammer forged barrel, but also a shotgun like fore-grip and monolithic upper for sturdy performance from your optics. Most importantly, the Ambush isn’t only available in in 5.56 NATO. We have used a version in the devastating 6.8 SPC, and the hottest caliber out these days is the .300 Blackout. All three calibers carry an MSRP of $1749. Our experience with the first version of the Ambush for over a year now has been incredible. Take a look at the pictures. This is only a fraction of the game that has fallen to our 6.8 Ambush. The second version of these guns is now shipping, and they are even better than the originals.

It was by complete surprise that the Beretta Nano became one of my favorite carry guns. I reluctantly took an assignment to review Nano even though I had never had much affection for Beretta firearms, and I had already reviewed a number of similar 9mm pistols. I could never have expected the Nano to become my favorite gun to carry among the micro-9s. In fact, the Nano sits comfortably in my pocket as I write this review. Despite my initial hesitation, I found the Nano to be a nearly perfect deep concealment pistol.

As America tires of war after war after war, a lot of cool military products are finding their way into the consumer market. Our friends at US Tactical Supply sent over our latest cool new toy right before SHOT Show, and we are just getting around to it now. It is called the “Hog Saddle.” Designed by a Marine Scout Sniper, the Hog Saddle has been adopted by the US Military with its own NSN number and has seen battle time in both Iraq and Afghanistan. The Hog Saddle is basically a rifle vise that sits on top of a photo tripod as a rest for your rifle. It allows you to make shots that might otherwise be outside your ability to steady the gun. For a couple years now the Hog Saddle has seen great success in law enforcement circles, and you won’t meet a military sniper that hasn’t at least heard of it, and many have used one. The problem with the Hog Saddle, of course, is that it was made for the military, to be paid for with tax dollars, not real dollars. At $309 through US Tactical, it probably is worth the money, and it is made from CNC machined aluminum, but then again, so is a whole AR-15 upper, which is about the same price. The Hog Saddle is expensive, but it could pay for itself in one outing is on expensive guided hunts. You pay for the elk, or the gator, or the wildebeest, as soon as the guide puts you in front of it. Whether you take the shot, hit or miss, you pay the same generally. The Hog Saddle is an elite tool for elite operators, but it could also be the saving grace between an empty wall in your den or one graced with the trophy of a lifetime.

The most intimidating piece of reloading your own ammunition is the choice of a gunpowder. At $20-$30 per pound, powder is not the most expensive component in the whole operation, but it is the one that can get you in the most trouble if you don’t get it right. Powders can have a name, like Varget or Bullseye, or they can have numbers, like 4064, 231 or N150. Don’t worry, there is no guesswork to choosing the right gunpowder for whatever caliber you are trying to reload. But it is easy to get confused as to which is the best powder for a particular caliber and bullet. Some powder and bullet combinations will work better in your gun than others, but as long as you stick to the parameters in your reloading manual, including the authorized online manuals, you will end up with ammunition that is within the acceptable tolerances for your firearm. Right now gunpowder is almost impossible to find, but if you know where to look, you may find a powder that is less common, but that will work for your caliber and bullet. This article is primarily about brass cased centerfire rifle and handgun ammunition. We will get to shotgun reloading later.

Hold your rotten tomatoes for a minute ok. There are important reasons why we need to level the playing field when it comes to internet sales, and gun sales in particular. I will primarily address guns. But beware that this isn’t a “soundbyte” explanation. Our attention spans have grown so thin that anything longer than a Facebook status tends to fall on deaf ears, and lazy readers. If you care about the future of 2nd Amendment freedom, you should support a nationwide internet sales tax. It will force merchants to do some work collecting taxes for states in which they do not reside, but remember, these are internet merchants who have very little if any other overhead. We have organized 20 points, but they are not to be taken individually. However you can jump to the end if you have to check your Facebook.

With some things, once you try it you can never go back. That is the case with the Redring, a unique illuminated sight for shotgun sports. It doesn’t fit a Picatinny rail. The Redring is for shotguns that have what is called a “vent rib” on the top. You probably have one on your duck gun, but you never thought to yourself that a red dot type sight would be useful. Shotguns, as a rule, are pointed, not aimed, so nearly all shotguns meant to shoot actual shot loads have nothing more than a plain brass BB on the end, because that should be enough to get you on target. The BB works great, and historically served sportsman well over the generations, but it might just be time to move on. The Redring isn’t a dot, it is a dashed circle, and the circle represents your shot pattern edges at roughly 20 meters. We found the Redring a pleasure to shoot, and it solves a lot of problems that can get you into trouble in the field. At an MSRP of $899, currently discounted from Redring for $749, this is definitely a luxury toy to enhance your shooting, but if you can afford it, the Redring is something you won’t want to shoot without after you give it a try.