Friday, October 10, 2008

My Plain Jane gets TACTICOOL!!!!!1111

I kept my AR carbine as stock as possible. Carry handle rear sight, no free float, standard pistol grip, collapsible stock that only holds batteries if you tape them to it, you know, just the regular work horse that's been hard at work all over the world.

I wanted to make sure I didn't become one of those guys who spends more on accessories than they do on their AR, so I kept it simple until I was satisfied with my skill level.

I've experimented with different sling styles enough to add my first deviation;

AN UBER TACTICAL CYBER L337 SINGLE POINT SLING ATTACHMENT!


The vltor is ambidextrous, which beats having loops on both sides, and it is unobtrusive enough for my sensibilities. I rather like this style of sling mount point since its design is both clever and functional. Attaching an attach point to the rear of the receiver gives a great balance point, and since only one mounting point is required, detaching and reattaching is simple and quick. I also very much like the idea of being able to comfortably shoulder my carbine while it is in the slinged (slung?) position.

Regular slings certainly have their place, since dangling a rifle across your chest is a tad cumbersome, but being able to wear an empty single point sling with a small clip waiting to be attached in case it becomes necessary to have the rifle in a more ready position is valuable. I'll be experimenting with different sling styles to find out what works best for me.

The only other addition was an ambi-safety.

Being a lefty hasn't much affected my ability to shoot my AR. The lefty upper has done little more than keep the cordite from my side of the rifle since most of the controls are on the standard lower I have. The military standard grip says I have to hold the pistol grip with my thumb on the same side as my trigger finger so my finger can be on the safety until I'm ready to turn it off. I have practiced this, and have found it annoying, and troublesome. Without my thumb on the opposite side, my grip wants to tip to the left. The ambi-safety was something I wanted to do without, but I also wanted to be able to take advantage of Mr. Stoner's great design that allows the user to disable the safety without compromising a full firing grip. It was there, and it was a good price. I went for it, and am glad lack of it won't be bugging me in the future.

The only other thing was the monsterman grip.

The monsterman grip is the culmination of a bunch of California gun owners staring at the California Assault Weapons Ban for months. Gaps, loopholes, and downright omissions were discovered. One of which was the definition of a pistol grip. Notably, it was described as "protruding conspicuously beneath the action" So, why not make a grip that doesn't protrude?


But, is it legal? Ever since "off-list" lowers in combination with gaps in the configuration laws to allow California gun owners to own legally configured AR and AK type weapons, the California DOJ has been very tight lipped. At the beginning of this year, they lost the ability to update the list to include current manufacturers, so they can no longer threaten us with that. Even if they could convince someone to update the AWB laws, it would result in an amnesty, and registration, and a dramatic increase in the "Assault Weapon" count for the state, and no politician wants that number to jump under their watch.

Even so, all that aside, Calguns has publicly orchestrated shoots where many people showed up with monsterman grips, bullet buttons, and mag locks (legally configured), with no arrests or confiscations. They know they screwed up, and they know they can't fix it with the tools they have.

BUT! Is it legal? Well. Prosecutors are unwilling to try these cases after one was lead to believe the case was airtight by the CaDOJ, and got burned on it.

Where was I? Oh yeah, so I got the monsterman grip to build up my other lower into the second legal configuration for California semi-automatic rifles. No evil features (flash hider, telescoping or folding stock, or pistol grip), with detachable mags. The other configuration (the one I have now) is evil features, and a fixed (removal requires a tool) 10 round mag.

My next build should look something like the above, I'll probably go with a varmint 20" bull barrel free float upper, with a full length stock, monsterman grip, and detachable 30 round mags that I have from pre2k. The possibility of using the 30 rd mags in a shtf situation made me realize I haven't used them since they were given to me, so their reliability may be in question. Maybe I'll just replace them with pmags and forget about it.

4 comments:

Mike said...

Nice. The only downside of the single-point is that if you want to wander around for any kind of distance with your hands off the gun, it doesn't work out so well. I'm pretty happy with a two-point sling like the one 5.11 sells, since you can use it as an uber-tacticool "I need my handgun NOW!" sling, and you can simply carry your rifle on your back with it.

And welcome to the world of the MMG. You won't be disappointed. :D

NotClauswitz said...

I went with the regular grip and Teh Button so I could have EvilFeaturez.
I'm still leery of a 30-round mag simply because. The Ambi Safety seems like a great combo for the MM grip.

Mike said...

Eh. 30 round mags are nothing to be afraid of. I've never even heard of anybody catching any trouble for having a 30 round mag. It's so hard for them to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you acquired it illicitly that it's pretty much impossible unless they're standing right there when you open a UPS package with a high cap in it. You'd pretty much have to give them a confession that the mag was illicitly obtained, and they know it.

If you're not scared of an off-list rifle with evil features, there's nothing you need to fear from an off-list featureless and some full-capacity magazines.

Fletch said...

dirtcrashr, when you first mentioned that the ambi-safety was probably a good addition to the MMG I realized you were right because your thumb isn't on the other side of the rifle. This made me wonder why I had put the ambi-safety on my "evil" rifle. Then I realized I'm a lefty, and the safety's on the same side as my thumb with the MMG :)