2022 - Will 2022 Be the Year of the Restoration of Gun Rights?

There are several court cases against the various firearms restrictions implemented by States against their People. 2021 and 2022 have the potential to be ruinous for the forces of Authoritarianism in states like California, New Jersey and New York who, for decades, have labored yearly to envision new ways to regulate firearms and infringe on the Second Amendment. It's like these states are a think tank for an infringement strategy.

The Supreme Court has opted to take several of the most important cases from these states such as a magazine ban limiting magazine capacities to 10 rounds, restrictive issuance policies regarding pistol carry permits and the ever hated but incredibly popular "Assault weapons" that are available in 90% of the rest of the US.

This could be so ruinous for Authoritarians such as Michael Bloomberg that the current President Joe Biden has created a commission to "investigate" changing the number of Supreme Court justices. Basically, the idea is to add something like four more justices to the Bench so that Biden can pick all four, stacking the deck against any "Conservative" ideals. Can't win? Cheat.

Concealed Carry Permits

New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen is the case from New York state that is changing the restrictive concealed carry permit issuance policy that has been in place for decades. For me, this is the most important case since it will impact the average everyday Citizen in these Slave States the most. The unhindered ability for the People to exercise their Right to self-defense in those Slave States will help drive down the wildly out of control crime rate in said places.

When I did the math on this, a favorable vote for the People and the Right to Keep and Bear Arms would potentially add an additional 4 to 7 million concealed carrier permits in the areas where No Issue is the policy. The US is reportedly to have around 19 to 21 million carry permits. I'm looking forward to an additional bolstering of those numbers.

Magazine Bans

This and the AWB are the darlings of gun control in the US. They are low hanging fruit and easy to target with cheap propaganda and media manipulation. Association of N.J. Rifle PistolnClubs, Inc. v. Attorney Gen. of N.J is one of the cases that is dealing with a blanket ban on magazines with capacities over 10 rounds. Previously, a person could posses previously acquired magazines but the newest law and a similar one in CA require disposal or modification of those magazines. 

"Assault Weapons" Ban

Assault weapons is a term created by gun control advocates based on the same term for a different weapon. Generally, assault weapons are semi-auto firearms that have specific features, those guns are bad according to may Authoritarians and need to be banned. They claim it's about making it harder to commit mass shootings but these are the same people who track incidents with BB guns as shootings and ANY mass shooting with something like a traditional handgun under the guise those incidents are Sandy Hook repeats. You can commit a mass shooting with a cowboy cap and ball revolver but that doesn't really matter does it? The magazine ban case is James Miller v. Bonta. A win in the Supreme Court for the People would immediately crush the push for gun control in the US on the Federal level pretty much whole-stop. There just simply isn't much more that is as big as semi-auto firearms with those banned features that gun control advocates have pushed. 

I know I said that the carry permit case is the most important case and it is because it impacts more people on a daily basis. There are literally 10s of millions of American's who can't exercise their rights because they live in CA, HI, NY, NJ, MD, etc. Most people don't care about magazine capacity or semi-auto rifles until they need one. If it really came down to it and I needed to fight for my Rights, I can make a featureless goblin of a substitute for an AR-15 pattern rifle work. If I had to fight with a muzzle-loading rifle or club, I'd do it. Screw your anti-American, anti-Republic, Authoritarianism and your gun control.

03 OCT Update: The NY case for concealed carry is getting huge. The list of groups both pro-freedom and anti-freedom who have filed briefs is LONG. See the below page for the list.

https://www.supremecourt.gov/search.aspx?filename=/docket/docketfiles/html/public/20-843.html

09 NOV Update: The Supreme Court has listened the oral arguments for the NY carry permit case. According to folks who know more about this sort of thing than I do, it isn't looking good for New York. We shouldn't expect to hear back from the Justices until sometime around summer 2022.

07 DEC Update: The California magazine ban case was upheld in the 9th Circuit which isn't a surprise. No details on if the Supreme Court has opted to pick it up yet.

Short Range Hunting Rifle - Same Job; New Tech or How an AR-15 is the Spiritual Successor to the Winchester 94

I starting hunting deer with a used, clapped out Winchester 94 built in the 1970's that I got running again and this year I replaced it with a brand new, high tech, custom built AR-15. 

Why do you need an AR-15? Because it does all the jobs a long gun really needs to do; put food on the table, defend the home and defend the Heartland from all threats foreign and domestic and do it in a way that is cost effective. 

BUT YOU CAN"T HUNT WITH AN AR-15!1!!! Blah blah blah.

Yes you can but just because you don't understand what's going on, doesn't mean you can't hunt with an AR-15. Firstly, bullet selection is the most important part of this discussion. While you can go hunting with full metal jacket bullets, you really shouldn't. In Georgia, you legally can't, therefore necessitating that we choose a cartridge that has suitable bullet designs. Thankfully, that's pretty much most commercially available cartridges, including .223 Remington or 5.56 NATO, on the market which has a loading using either a hollow point or soft point bullet. 

Next, we need to identify what we are doing with the gun. In this case, we want to hunt deer and since most of my shots are under 120 yards, I have no need for a rifle that shoots further. That statement right there is what makes the Winchester 94 in 30-30 an American mainstay for hunting. The Model 94 has been around since 1894 and there are several companies making surrogates such as Marlin, Mossberg and Henry. Why does Winchester and friends continue to sell lever action rifles in 30-30? Because 30-30 works great for deer in short ranges and people LOVE level action rifles. ROMANCE!

Since those parameters of sub-150 yard range and 30-30 level performance is achievable we just need to find something that isn't 30-30 that is close. In 2018, Olin released a new cartridge called 350 Legend. Both cartridges operate around the 2200 FPS range with bullet weights around the 150 to 170 grain range. This should put us in the 1600 to 1800 ft-lbs of energy range. 

 

350 Legend on the left with 30-30 on the right.

Ultimately, the 350 Legend has a very similar ballistic performance envelope compared with 30-30. The differences are that the 350 Legend is a .35 caliber or 9mm bullet to 30-30's .308 caliber bullet and that 30-30 has a much larger case but the pressure rating is much lower than 350 Legend at 42,000 PSI vs 55,000 PSI chamber pressure. This means that the 350 Legend can have a shorter, smaller case for the same performance of the 30-30. Thankfully, Olin (who owns Winchester) was able to package the 350 Legend into an over all length that makes it work in the AR-15's magazine and action. This is how we are able to use the AR-15 platform for taking deer as a dead replacement for the Model 94. There are other cartridges such as 300 HAM'R but since 300 HAM'R isn't as widely offered, 350 Legend seems to make more sense. 

I added a few extra requirements that my replacement build needed to achieve. It needed to be lighter than or equal to the Winchester in it's in-field weight which is 8.5 lbs, It needed to be able to host my silencer and be able to use modern scopes such as the low power, variable optic type scope. It needed to be more ergonomic and finally, not too expensive. 

The AR-15 easily can be built with all of those accessories to reach well into the 9 lbs range so I started looking for lightweight parts to reduce the build weight. When I built out the upper receiver and added the scope, the weight was right at 5 lbs. When I added the original A2 style stock I have for another build, I ended up right at 8.5 lbs. Changing over to lower with a CAR stock brings the weight down a little but we can do better. Thankfully, Lancer has options for carbon fiber handguards and the awesome dudes at InRange TV worked with KE Arms to put together a lower receiver and stock combo that weighs under 2 lbs.  With the WWSD (What Would Stoner Do) KP-15 lower and stock we reduced weight even more. Sadly, no one is making a 350 Legend barrel in a sporter profile so I had to use a standard profile barrel. 

I was able to build this rifle to just at 7.6 lbs with scope but without the Dead Air Wolfman silencer and 8 lbs with the silencer using a fixed mount. I'd say I nailed the weight part. 

In the end, I was successful in assembling a replacement for my Winchester 94 with an AR-15 for hunting deer. I haven't been able to tune AR or do any real testing or corrective action as ammo is so incredibly expensive right now. The best I could do was zero the current Primary Arms LPVO it has on top. It is an absolute struggle to find any usable ammo let alone any ammo loaded for hunting. I'm still waiting for the Federal Fusion 160 grains to become available but when they do, I'll be stocking up for testing.

#ProjectCarbine - 7 Month Short Update

It's been 7 months since #ProjectCarbine took life. I haven't been able to shoot it nearly as much as I would like but I do get to take it out every once in a while. Over the recent weekend I was able to hit up a 100 yard range to verify zero. I am pleased to note that the Primary Arms 1-6 is still holding zero even in the soft shell UTG bag.

It still doesn't have the accuracy I would have liked but I may just need to put more or better ammunition through it than the M855 I've been feeding it.

Carbine Build - #ProjectCarbine

The main focus of this build was to create what I call the 'Cool-Guy' AR15. Initially, the project started off as a buildup of a cheap DPMS Oracle, however, after examination of the parts list on the DPMS, I determined that the 4140 steel barrel and commercial spec buffer tube were not 'Cool-Guy' enough for this build. Therefore, replacements were needed. In essence, the parts that needed to be good such as the barrel and action should be of excellent quality where the rest can be re-purposed from existing parts. As the project progressed, the idea, while satirical, ended up being to build a legitimate firearm that I could grow into as I become more proficient with a rifle. 

When I found out that the Oracle had a commercial spec buffer tube, I opted to re-assign the built DPMS lower to another project. I pulled a stripped Anderson lower from inventory and assigned it to the build.  I had set it aside until I could source all the parts I wanted. I had the 4140 barrel and carbine length gas system stripped from the Oracle's upper. I later removed the ejection port cover and forward assist from the upper in preparation for Cerakote finishing. I chose a Geissele MK8, 13 inch rail to act as a free-float handguard and rigid mounting point for any accessories such as a weapon light and front sight. During the planning phase, I setteled on two options for barrels but I knew it was going to be a mid-length gas system and 14.5 inch barrel. I ended up choosing the Faxon Firearms GUNNER 14.5 inch barrel with mid-length gas system. I had initially considered the FN-made, Spikes Tactical "machine gun" barrel but the cost vs benefit of the double chrome lined FN barrel vs the Faxon QPQ didn't pan out for me; I opted for the Faxon for it's QPQ finish and price. Prior to Cerakote-ing the receivers and rail, I knew I wanted and an adjustable, low profile, gas block. After searching and searching, the only suitable option came from Superlative Arms as the barrel requires a .625 inch gas block, something difficult to find in the adjustable form. Given that the barrel is under the 16 inch minimum for Title 1 firearms, I had Moss Pawn and Gun do a pin and weld using a Surefire WARCOMP to keep everything Title 1. I'm not ready to do tax stamps for firearms just yet. While the barrel was getting a pin-and-weld, I had GA Firing Line complete the Cerakote job. Both of them completed their tasks quickly and with quality results.

The Cerakote job is excellent. I ended up with Cerakote's SIG Dark Grey (H-210Q) and I really like the way it looks and feels. It's very modern looking. I've already been putting the durability to the test.

Things are happening in Yettiland. #projectpdw #projectcarbine #cerakote #gafiringline #gunsofinstagram #deadairsilencers #nfa #guns #freedom #9mm #556 #silencer #silencershop #taxstamp #stampcollector #geissele #andersonmanufacturing #sigdarkgrey #h210q #2a #secondamendment

A post shared by Ian Kocher (@der.yetti) on Mar 22, 2018 at 12:25pm PDT

Once I had the upper assembly completed, I topped it off with Magpul MBUS Pro sights because I love them. I also added a few MAGPUL MLOK accessories. With a fully built upper, I pulled the DPMS lower assembly off of ProjectBasic for testing. Once, initial testing was complete, I began sourcing the lower parts needed. I built out the Cerakoted Anderson lower with a standard Anderson parts kit but used a Geisselle Super Dynamic 3 Gun flat shoe trigger. The stock I used was a Magpul MOE-SL mil-spec I had in inventory; a temporary solution until I settle on the stock I want. During testing, I found I had trouble seeing the narrow and dark front sight post initiating a purchase of Blitzkrieg Component's bright yellow / green replacement front post. They also have a tritium front post.

For the final touches I scooped up a Midwest Industries cantilever, QD mount for use with a Primary Arms 1-6 Gen 3 with the ACSS reticle. It wasn't necessary but I had the fine folks at 42 North gun shop lap the mount rings and level the scope. They have done a ton of small stuff to help me get this rifle to a place where I am happy.

The build has run flawlessly so far allowing me to declare this rifle as mechanically complete. The only parts missing from the upper are a Radian RAPTOR-SD charging handle, a bolt carrier group of my choosing and a Surefire SOCOM-556 RC suppressor. I'm considering replacing the Magpul MS3 sling with a Slingster and adding a Surefire WARDEN to the mix. I will look to picking up a Bravo B5 SOPMOD Enhanced stock but we will see.

So far, I am ecstatic about how this build has turned out. It seems to shoot well enough and the trigger break is so clean and I'm running the default 4 lbs spring. The rifle isn't exhaustively heavy with everything. I haven't really been able to do any real shooting with it but as soon as I am able, I will stretch this baby's legs. I have no real changes I'd like to make!

#thisdayinhistory in 1775, the British rode to Lexington, Massachusetts to confiscate arms and gun powder from ‘rebels.’ This resulted in the battles at Lexington and Concord kicking off the #AmercianRevolution This is my rifle. #freedom #2a #projectcarbine #ar15 #thepewpewlife #secondamendment #ar #556 #acss #1776 #rifle #pewpewlife

A post shared by Ian Kocher (@der.yetti) on Apr 19, 2018 at 3:14pm PDT

Finally done. #projectcarbine #guntree #rangedayfriday #2a #pewpewlife #secondamendment #ar15 #thepewpewlife #556 #gafiringline #42northgunrange #mosspawn #cerakote #primaryarms #acss #lancerl5awm #magpul #midwestindustries #surefire #geissele #freedom #faxonfirearms #blitzkriegcomponents #cheaperthandirt

A post shared by Ian Kocher (@der.yetti) on Apr 20, 2018 at 5:24pm PDT

The Folding AR - Now Project PDW; Short Update

I had an opportunity today to take Project PDW over to 42 North to run some Tula steel case and Winchester Forge through it. I am very excited to report that she will eat just about everything; with a caveat. Apparently, neither the ETS or Magpul GL-9 polymer magazines were willing to feed the steel cased cartridges without trouble. Once the last few rounds above the follower get to the bottleneck the cases have too much friction and bind up the magazine. I will make sure to take some Glock-brand Glock mags out and try again. 

Project PDW - Continuing my testing with junk ammo. The gun will eat anything but the mags are another story. #projectpdw #thepewpewlife #steelcase #ar15

A post shared by Ian Kocher (@der.yetti) on Aug 7, 2017 at 12:01pm PDT