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Official - Weapons Banter Thread


Mechamaniac

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couldn't you just have the dealer sell you whatever you wanted after it was "lawfully" traded and accounted for in inventory for the deptartment? You could probabbly get a deal on whatever you wanted depending on just how much your dumping on him. Not saying kickback or anything :rolleyes:

then again maybe I am. Couldn't some be "designated" scrap?

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that's the one.

when i get in tonight, i'm going to thoroughly look it over, and i might happen to deem it junk and just have our chief sign it over to me for research purposes. ;)

they owe me big time anyway, i just got passed over for promotion because i was not minority enough. or not the right minority...being one in a city of over 12000...well, ok, there's at least a dozen illegals we've been trying to catch...but, that's another story.

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they owe me big time anyway, i just got passed over for promotion because i was not minority enough. or not the right minority...being one in a city of over 12000...well, ok, there's at least a dozen illegals we've been trying to catch...but, that's another story.

Funny, that's the reason I never got hired by a full time PD after I got out of the Army.

Apparently, I am not minority enough either, and I don't squat down to pee. Gotta love affirmative action!!!

By the time they offered me the academy, I was making more than the starting pay, and had a kid on the way, so I decided that was probably not the best time to enter into a somewhat dangerous career (Baltimore City) and work crap hours, my wife would have killed me.

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Anyone have any experience with these conversion-kits?

I have a wee amount of training and conversion experience with Simunition FX gear so I might be able to help you out a tad... not a whole lot though as my experience with it was only one day.

For what it is worth there are two types of Simunition, the FX marking bullets and the CQB bullets. As logic would suggest the FX marking bullets are the "paintball" rounds whereas the CQB jobbers are basically hard plastic "mega airsoft" rounds meant as a safer close quarters substitute for wadcutter ammo. If you are going force on force or encounter training then you really want the FX marking kits.

From what I could tell the pistol kits were nothing more than a barrel and striker swapout, you use your exsisting slide assembly. Changing out the striker can be a bit of an issue if you are not used to shop stripping your weapon and as you can guess the switchout is not as fast as it might seem. You just use your normal magazines to load the rounds and the Simunition barrels are necked down so you can't accidentally chamber a live round. Rifles and carbine kits actually replace the entire upper receiver (as the FX marking bullets only come in 9mm and .38 special).

My personal experience with FX marking ammo was once again with the SLCPD at their training facility. They had dedicated weapons already built out with the kits so I did not have to bother with setting up anything. They had heavy vests, helmets and face guards for the FX munition training as those things hit with paintball ferocity and at close range getting nailed with a burst is not fun at all if you would not be wearing the kit. Guns function just as they would running normal ammo. The loss in range from the CO2 power rather than powder is not noticable as most police action training using FX munitions are within 20 meters. The only thing that I might see as a "limitation" to FX munitions training is that you need a different color for each shooter so you can know who shot what. When you are doing ERT training (like what the SLCPD uses those kits for) you only have four to six guys at a time plus the tangos (tangos use all one color as no one cares about who shot who for the bad guys). From what I saw colors came in the primary and secondary lots... blue, red, orange, green, yellow, purple, pink, aqua and a few others. So you are sort of limited in your training as to how many colors you have in your ammo box.

For what it is worth my minimal experience with FX munition training let me see that it is indeed a very, very useful tool in training. If you go the conversion route it would be even more useful as then you would have the shooter using their exact duty weapon which would eliminate any possible "unfamiliarity" with the training gear.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Hey, has anybody here seen THIS, the world's most expensive GLock accessory?

Oh jeez. I'm not really an expert, but that.. that thing look hideously unuseable.

I can definitely see the potential in what it does... the clip shows a uniformed policeman sweeping under a car, that's definitely useful; I can think of a few other situations where a tool like this would be useful.

But gawd.. this thing is clunky, sounds awfully loud when you clack it back into a straight line, looks like a SMG or short assault rifle but shoots as a pistol, and has a teeny LCD. I can't wait for the first poor sod who fixate on the LCD and fail to see a clear and present danger.

Nice concept, but I cringe at this execution. I'm not sure whether the concept can be actualized in a decent way at this time though.

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Seeing as how my airsoft threadya while back got Duke Togo'ed, I figure I'll just post here, as we've had plenty of Airsoft in this thread...

Anyway, I picked up a new GBB today. A TM Chrome M9 (the one that's a normal M9, but chrome, and with the elite-style grips). I'm not a big fan of chrome guns, but, hell I needed a sidearm, and a TM M9 is just what I wanted. Now, the reason I bought it: Very lightly used, for 70 bucks! For a gun AEX sells for 155 new! Pretty good deal, if ya ask me. The guy just got relocated to NY (he's in USMC), and can't take his guns with him. He, by the way, sold his MP5 RAS for 100 bucks, also in nearly-new condition!

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gotta love when white people play the race card  when they don't get a job.

Uhhhhhh... okay....

What exactly does this have to do with anything? :unsure:

Nothing really, let's move on.

Speaking of weapons, I need to clean my pistol. I've been pretty lazy lately.

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Oh jeez. I'm not really an expert, but that.. that thing look hideously unuseable.

I can definitely see the potential in what it does... the clip shows a uniformed policeman sweeping under a car, that's definitely useful; I can think of a few other situations where a tool like this would be useful.

But gawd.. this thing is clunky, sounds awfully loud when you clack it back into a straight line, looks like a SMG or short assault rifle but shoots as a pistol, and has a teeny LCD. I can't wait for the first poor sod who fixate on the LCD and fail to see a clear and present danger.

Nice concept, but I cringe at this execution. I'm not sure whether the concept can be actualized in a decent way at this time though.

The notion behind that little guy is rather straightforward and very practical. It seems that unlike the military Land Warrior system this little bugger is intended for police ERT team use. In an ERT team you have a couple of guys rather than just the one holding the doohickey so the man operating the contraption does not really have to do much but focus on what he is doing, his teammates guard him from reverse angles while he works. The basic thrust of the camera system everyone seems to be using in today's world is to allow the shooter/officer to look around corners or obsticles with his weapon and not expose himself in any substantial way to enemy fire. The Land Warrior mounts the camera on the handguard of a normal M4A1 carbine but this, which seems to be a police varient, needs to use a pistol. Police, even ERT teams, rely the most on their handguns rather than the heavy stuff like SMGs and long rifles mainly due to the killing capacity those bigger weapons have. Remember that the goal of an ERT team is to defuse a hostile situation with no loss of life or with minimal casualties if violence is unavoidable. This little bendie pistol seems to give the ERT operator the advantages of the Land Warrior camera system without the penetrating power of the carbine. Yes it is a bit awkward looking but it has useful merit, and when used with the propper team ERT tactics a device like this could give yet another edge to the officers and take some advantage away from the perps.

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Like I said, I see some merit in the system, but the exact execution of the idea leaves me cold.

I definitely see the advantages of this in CQB, but honestly do feel the "commercial" has overhyped the product.

My major concern is really two areas: the reset time and noise (between bended and straight), and the potential for user fixation on the LCD. The latter can be overcome by training, but I'm not so sure about the former.

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The problem is that the unit is for a handgun and they made it bend. If it did not bend and was for a carbine or rifle it would be the Land Warrior (which by all accounts is a much better and more stable system). Watching the screen should not be a problem with your team backing you up outside of a hostile area, say waiting to breach. The baddies should be inside the danger zone and not outside staring at you... if they are you are in deep poo, magic bendie screen or no. This very expensive tool seems to only have one use and if used for that use it would be a nice thing. Actually bending it and unbending it durring a takedown might be too much to ask, they did get a little carried away with the bendie feature in the "commercial". Like I said before I can see a fifth man in an ERT breaching team using it at a window entry or a doorway to scope the room before the team breaches... but ERT teams aleady use angle lookers, spotters and mirrors to do that sort of thing. The commercial is trying to make out the user to be a one man ERT squad what with all his "looking" and such... but if you watch closely you'll notice the rest of his team poking about... chances are if this was a real CA he'd just be spotting and they'd be doing the door dropping and perp stopping.

I think the real drawback to this device is that it is not really all that useful in every tactical situation. It looks very expensive and expensive and used almost never are two words a purchasing agent does not want to hear. It is a purpose built toy designed to really only do one thing... an ERT team would use it mostly in training and maybe once in the field. I can name five or six special ERT tools they only use once in a blue moon but when they do use them they are worth their weight in gold... but those special tools don't cost all that much.

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Like you said -- The main purpose of this is to give the option of remaining in cover while looking around corners. I definitely can appreciate this, but this is already possible now, although probably without the ability to poke a gun barrel around said corner.

I think, and you point out, that the company's attempts to push this product as being capable of turning a single man into a one-man ERT team is the basis of my annoyance at it. It's like giving said man the wrong set of confidence.. very dangerous.

Personally, if a tool has value and will be very useful to the team, cost should be a secondary concern. I won't mind spurging if it works well!

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What a ripoff. That's the same one that can be had for half that just about anywhere. Less if you buy the kit and gun seperately. (Especially if you go for a used Thompson)

Hmm...something just occurred to me. I wonder if one of those kits could be adapted to a real M1?.......

Edited by Commander McBride
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I bet you could adapt the kit to a real life M1A1 but it would be very very bad for two reasons: real live M1A1s only come in two flavors, SMG Class III weapon and 16" barrelled semi-auto weapon. The classic SMGs are uber rare and go for super duper high price tags ($10,000+), not to mention the form 4 transfers and legal items aside... while the new 16" post-ban carbine versions are common they have a lot of mechnical differences between them and their SMG cousins like the action, barrel and mag port. Lastly a real live M1A1 heats up like a stove when being fired. Unless those conversion kits can take the heat you might end up melting most of the parts or shaking them loose. I'd think those kits are for the purpose they were intended: wall hanger applications.

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Yeah, that's kinda what I thought. Still, it would be awesome to have a real, working, one, after all, the movie one used a real M1. (and a SPAS, I believe)

One of the other reasons that occcurred to me is that the kits are likely fine for an airsoft, but might break under the stresses of a real weapon's recoil.

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I wouldn't recommend using one of those kits on a real Thompson anyway. Aside from the heat issue (the film props used a body made from aluminum, not plastic) they supposedly had trouble getting the things to even stay together. If you look closely at a "real" pulse rifle, and in turn the replicas, you'll see several plates and brackets screwed on just to keep everything in one piece.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hey guys! Got a bonus last week with my paycheck and I decided to go and buy me a Springfield M1A rifle last Thursday. Just got it tonight after work at Chesapeake Guns in Stevensville, MD on the Eastern Shore. Had to wait 7 days though, because Maryland considers it an "assault weapon". Go figure that one out. You can buy a Colt or Bushmaster AR-15 over the counter here, but not this rifle... I paid about $1700.00 after taxes. Probably a little too much for the standard M1A, but I didn't mind. I'm going to devote most of my Memorial Day weekend firing off some rounds through this rifle along with some trigger time with my Bushie. I've been wanting one for a while, and am wondering how you guys feel about this civilian version of the M14. I know the original M14 had its quirks, and have read that Springfield has worked a lot of the bugs out of this rifle and that it is damn near perfect now. Guess I'll find out on Saturday, but I wonder how long it will be before I get tired of loading that ten round mag that came with the rifle. I'm going to order a few 20 rounders off of Springfield's site when I get the money, unless someone out there knows where I can get them cheaper.

And this brings up another subject: Where do most of you buy your ammo on-line? I was getting some pretty decent 5.56mm ammo from ammoman.com for a while, but their prices are going up. Post any links you may have. I am now off to go and look at my new toy and possibly try sleeping with it like I did in the old days when I was a Marine.

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I'm sure you'll find nothing but love for the M1A from most of us. :wub:

I'd never give up my M1 Garand, but damn if I don't want one of those. It's too bad that the prices for them are getting so ridiculous these days, especially after you import them to Canada. Right now, I just can't justify spending $2000 on a rifle. I may have to settle for a Norinco M-305, and build from there.

How is the parkerizing on your rifle, Noriko? The Springfield I looked at last December had a nearly black finish.

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Which springer did you end up getting? Judging by the price I'd say it was the M1A national match milspec with the walnut stock? I'm still in line to buy one of these and have heard nothing but good things about them.

As for the ammo issue I buy all my ammo locally at shops and shows... have to support the local boys in this respect. Sure it may cost a buck or so more a box but I'd rather that money go to my local friends than to a faceless internet store... but that is just me.

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Sweet jesus, that is just too much to pay for one rifle. They are awesome and all that, but I wish Springfield had not decided that all you could get of these were big money match shooters, why not just have a regular model that doesn't have to be a tack driver?.

Like BSU said, I love the M14 design, and IMHO it was the last "true" of the real big bore battle rifles. They can keep that shitty M16 and it's itty bitty overgrown .22 calibre bullet. Gimme 7.62 x 51MM any day.

But then again, that's coming from a former M60 gunner... wub.gif

Alas, ammo is too expensive for me to shoot any of the calibres I really like anymore. :(

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Yeah but for a Springfield you are paying for the quality. Sure you can go to a gun show and buy a Polytech M14 or one of the Egyptian clones for between $700 and $900 but they are crap of the first order. Bad headspaces, weak bolts, cheap wood and cheap metals. Add to that that they are all pre-ban and quite old and worn out unless you get a safe queen. Springfield used to make quite a few M1A's for under a grand but they are trending towards the fancier NM ones now because that seems to be what people want from that gun. Plus they are doing what most makers of "Evil assualt weapons" are doing: trying to "legitimize" their weapons as target arms. One thing I'd like to say about the price of weapons and their function is about the Crime Bill. Besides doing nothing to curb violent crime with assault weapons that law has turned the firearms industry towards "sporting" applications for these guns. The second that thing came out in '94 the price of "Assault" type weapons has skyrocketed... (actually the price of all weapons in general has skyrocketed since that day) and the makers have been doing their best to find ways people can use these guns other than using them to shoot other people. Anyone else remember when you could walk into a gun show or a shop and walk out with a nice high quality russian AK varient for under $150? All you can find today are those crappy romanian pieces of trash for over $300... and people think they are getting a good deal. Colt AR's used to be about $600 and now the same new guns with less features from the same makers are over $1,000. Tell someone they can't have something and the price goes up... waaaaaay up. My guess is that September will either make it all a bit better or make it much, much worse for gun owners. Only time will tell.

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they are crap of the first order. Bad headspaces, weak bolts, cheap wood and cheap metals.

It's too bad you guys still have that pesky ban on Norincos down there. The current production M14 clones have eliminated the problems that JsARC speaks of. Shooters up here have tested the rockwell hardness of the bolts and receivers, and they are all well within spec. On top of that, the flash hider is bored to National Match specs. :o The only real problem people seem to encounter these days are loose gas cylinders, which is more a problem of the design that anything else. A little bit of home gunsmithing will allow you to shim the cylinder and unitize the gas assy. Will they shoot like a new M1A national match rifle? No, but they're more than servicable as a rack grade rifle.

Edit: I forgot to mention the Chinese "mystery wood" that the stocks are made of. The current theory is that they are made from compressed chopsticks, or discarded telephone poles. If I ever get one, a USGI fibreglass stock will be in order asap.

Edited by bsu legato
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Yeah, my Dad has a Norinco M14, and he upgraded the barrel, and a few other minor things, and it shoots like a house on fire. Of course, it helps that he is a crack shot with a rifle (two years in Viet Nam will do that to you) but still, it shoots great, and he has had no problems with it after at least 2000 rounds.

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I knew someone with one of those Polytech M14's (AKA Norinco) and he did the same thing, replaced the barrel, bolt, most of the action, the stock and a few other things. Gun shoots fine now... $600 later. He spent $600 on it at a gun show plus the money he put on it to make it "work" he could have had a Springfield basic (which is about how it shoots).

I myself am looking at the springfield "loaded" basic model that my local gunshop tells me I can get for about a grand. All it will need is a milspec GI wood stock purchased sepparately to be complete and look GI.

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I knew someone with one of those Polytech M14's (AKA Norinco) and he did the same thing, replaced the barrel, bolt, most of the action, the stock and a few other things. Gun shoots fine now... $600 later. He spent $600 on it at a gun show plus the money he put on it to make it "work" he could have had a Springfield basic (which is about how it shoots).

That still goes on today, I'm afraid. Part of the problem is that people were selling these things for way, wayyyy more than they should have retailed for. There is no way in hell a Norinco M305 should retail for $600 USD. We can now get them up here for $399 CDN. Dealers down there must have been making a fortune off of them before the ban.

Like I said, they work fine if you leave them stock. IF you leave them stock. It seems Norinco has a facination with metric threading, and in all the wrong places (shades of our discussion on 1911 grip screw bushings, JsARC?). The modern production M305 has proper head spacing with the factory bolt & barrel, but as soon as you put on an aftermarket match-grade barrel you're pooched on the bolt. Time to start emailing Numrich for a replacement USGI bolt assy. But the fun doesn't stop there. All that stuff that screws onto the business end of the barrel? Yeah, you'll have to replace all of that too, since the threads won't match that new barrely ou bought. Again, you're emailing the parts dealers for USGI flash hiders ( I don't recall if you can reuse the gas assembly). Like JsARCLIGHT said, it's lot$ of fun.

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I'm talking about the old pre-ban Polytechs. The new ones may be fine and dandy but the old pre-ban ones down here are prone to blowing up in your face their headspace and bolt is so fooked up. Most people won't even touch them with a ten foot pole just on that alone. Pretty much all the ones you see come up for sale have been rebuilt.

Then again if we could get those new Norinco M14s down here I bet that would take the edge of springfield big time... I have always said the only thing keeping Colt AR's at the price they are at is the fact they have so much competition.

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Then again if we could get those new Norinco M14s down here I bet that would take the edge of springfield big time... I have always said the only thing keeping Colt AR's at the price they are at is the fact they have so much competition.

Is there any chance that the 'Rinco ban will sunset?

*has no idea how your laws work in these regards*

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