Christmas Aftermath

I thought I'd take a moment from the holiday festivities to jot a quick post to tell you all about our Christmas this year. We're spending it in a new place. Perhaps you've not noticed, but we recently moved from the Republic of Texas all the way up to Oregon.

The Mrs., being Canadian and all was hoping for a white Christmas this year. She always wants a white Christmas, but in Texas the chances of that happening were slim to none. Christmas weather in Texas normally meant barbecuing in T-shirts more often than snow.


It kind of looked like everything was going to cooperate this year to give her a white Christmas. This picture was taken only a few days ago, but all of that white has since retreated to the high elevations, much to her dismay.


The boys are pretty much oblivious to the move. For them Christmas is Christmas no matter where you are. As usual, they made out like bandits again. Above you see the favored toys of the moment, LEGOs and transformers.

As for me, how did I make out? well I think I did pretty well. I got a number cool items, but what's my favorite one you ask. Well let's put it this way... Nothing says "Let there be peace on Earth and good will toward men... Or else!" better than a nice, fully loaded tactical vest! (frequent readers can expect a full detailed review in a while.)

I hope Christmas was good to you and your family this year. Here's to wishing all of you a very happy New Years!

Reflex Sight Final Verdict

Some time ago I did a review post wherein I showed you a reflex sight that I ordered from CDNN Sports. In that post I outlined the deficiencies that I had found thus far on this sight. Namely, as you switch through the various reticle patterns, they are not registered to each other... In other words each reticle pattern points in a different direction. Well I've finally gotten a chance to go try to shoot this sight on my PLR-16. In short, I can not recommend this sight to anyone, based upon my observations. I fired the first round and the concussion cause the reticle to blink out. So after switching through the brightness settings, it eventually came back on. So I began adjusting the sight in. Every third or fourth round... Out it would go again. Eventually I got it to hit in the center of the target. So I tightened the lock screws down and started firing. slowly the point of aim started to wander. So, I'd loosen the lock screws and adjust it back in. Eventually I sick and tired of the reticle going out and having to readjust it back in and tore the thing off of my PLR-16 and finished my shooting session with the plain iron sights and the laser sight. As far as a sight goes, this one in the ultimate cataclysmic failure. It is not accurate or robust, nor is it a good value. I can think of a million things that I could spend $50 on and this would not be one of them. Hell, at this point, I wouldn't even give you a buck fifty let alone $50 for this sight. I have yet to contact CDNN Sports to see if they'll accept a return on this item. I will report back to you either way.

The PLR-16 on the other hand performed flawlessly. I fed it several types of ammo today and again there wasn't a single misfeed. In fact, this thing has eaten somewhere near 2000 rounds already and it has yet to misfeed a round. I'm also really impressed with the Levang linear muzzlebrake... But that does bring up one issue. When a muzzlebrake is attached to the PLR-16 you can not loosen the nut that holds the front handguards on without removing the muzzlebrake. That means that when the piston vents bore gasses, the carbon builds up on the covered portion of the barrel and you have to try to clean it through the vent holes... Not a big problem mind you, but certainly an inconvenience. I'd also like to reiterate the problem with gaining access to the breech. It is extremely difficult to use a chamber brush on this gun. If I were asked for any advice for Kel-Tec regarding this gun, it'd be those two deficiencies.

There was a funny occurrence at the range today that I must relate. I was firing at an indoor range. The RSO directed me to stall #2, right next to some young gal firing a dainty Bersa 380. I unloaded the PLR-16 and my spare mags from my gun rug. Set up on the firing line and ran the target a ways downrange. I loaded the first clip, slammed a round home and with no further thought lobbed the first round downrange. The PLR barked its deafening bark as usual, startling the gal bad enough that she actually dropped her pistol off the firing bench. The RSO had to call a cease-fire so that her gun could be retrieved. After that, she asked to be moved to a more distant lane. Have I mentioned lately that the PLR is louder than the bark of a hellhound?

Firing the PLR at a public range will get you noticed. Just today two range employees (the RSO & assistant RSO) asked if they could try a few rounds. I happily obliged. The assistant RSO left asserting that the PLR-16 had just made it to the very top of his must-have toy list. After I finished shooting, I spotted him out in the gun store in front of the range. He told me that he had been saving up to buy a Kimber, but that he had dipped into those savings and ordered a PLR right then and there.

New Accessory Reviews

I've purchased a few new gun accessories and thought I'd put a review of them up here for you all to benefit from. both of these items were purchased from CDNN Sports Inc. The transaction went without a snag. Communication was great and prices were fair.

The first item I purchased was their model TAR96 tactical flashlight. This light is insanely light, weighing less than 4 ounces. It has built in mounting hardware and is blindingly bright. The flashlight and mounting hardware is sturdy anodized aluminum. The only downside I could identify is that it takes a CR123A battery which may not be readily available. I purchased a few and tossed them into my shooting bag just so I'd have spares. At $25 I thought this little flashlight was such a good piece of equipment that I bought one for my son to take along to Iraq to mount on his M4 for MOUT work.

So moving right along. The next item I'd like to talk about is CDNN's model TAR45 reflex sight. I had seen these at the gun show. I thought they looked pretty nifty with their switchable reticles. I ended up not picking one up at the gun show and instead wound up ordering from them off of the internet.

Once it arrived, I mounted it on my PLR to use as a testbed. I immediately saw a problem when I tried to bore sight it. It adjusted in just fine mind you, but when I switched through the other reticle patterns I found that the reticles were not aligned to the same aim point. Here, I've taken pictures through the sight with each reticle and the PLR's laser sight turned on and cast on a wall 30 feet away. These images show how much the sight varies from reticle to reticle. The sight picture doesn't seem to vary much vertically, but does vary greatly in windage.
Note that the second reticle pattern from the left is supposed to be a dot, but I jiggled the camera a little when I took the picture... hence the odd "V" shape. I must say that I had harbored illusions that one would be able to switch reticle patterns on the fly. Of course the shooter could adjust in their favorite reticle pattern and simply not use the others. Personally though, I'd rather be able to switch on the fly to that pattern which I find most appropriate. I've not shot this sight yet. It may end up being a very accurate sight once you've gotten it adjusted in, but it certainly can not be used on any of the reticle patterns beyond that one you used to adjust it in. Note that the reticle does seem to remain positioned once you switch back to it however.

Father's Day & Some Product Endorsements

It was a pretty good father's day for me. We wound up heading out to a gun show in Austin. I didn't make any gun purchases, but I did pick up a few accessories though. The main thing I wanted to highlight was a rug (weapon case) that I found for my PLR-16. Yeah I know that Kel-Tec sells a rug specifically for the PLR-16, but I've heard that these cases have a few deficiencies. First off there is only space in the Kel-Tec case for three magazines (One in the weapon the other two in bungees straps). The bungee straps for the extra magazines are located inside the case. That means that if the PLR-16 shifts inside the case, then it could bang up against the magazines. Further because the magazines are held in bungees, the magazines themselves can also shift. While at the gun show I located an Ace Cases rug that fits the PLR-16 like a glove. The extra magazine storage is located in velcro flapped pockets external to case, providing space for four magazines and isolating them from the firearm. The price was also comparable.
I've had a number of other items from Ace Cases. They make a quality, well thought out product for a fair price. Drop by their website and check them out.

I actually considered a possible firearm purchase today. Everywhere you looked, there where Hi-Point handguns for sale for nearly nothing. For example, on dealer was offering the Hi-Point .45 for $149.
Now, don't get me wrong. These guns are butt ugly! -BUT- I've owned them before and I can attest, they are quite accurate, fun to shoot, tougher than nails as a damned good value to boot. They have an excellent trigger and and will eat damned near any ammo you throw at them. If you are looking for a low price beater these guys fit the bill to a tee! I'm not the only one that says that either. Here is an article from the Shooting Times that echoes my sentiments and I'm sure you can find any number of other articles and reviews that sings the praises of these low-priced ugly guns. Who knows, perhaps I may just buy one of these ugly bastards just to make people at the range laugh... Until they see the targets that is.

Handy Equipment

If you have an AR, check this gear out:

Add-A-Rail from Mounting Solution Plus

Easily and affordably add rail mounted accessories without the cost and frustration of adding a full railed forearm. ADD-A-RAIL SYSTEM works with factory standard AR-15 carbine, A-2 and M4 forearms.

Designed to allow use of a detachable flashlights, foregrips, or other rail mounted accessories. ADD-A-RAIL comes in two version and can be used on either TOP/BOTTOM or RIGHT/LEFT side of your forearm.

Mounting Solution Plus specializes in tactical mounts and gun accessories for professional and competition shooters

Click Here to learn more

I've checked these things out. These make adding rock-solid rails to your AR fore-end a piece of cake. They are designed to to fit directly onto the factory fore-end. That means that you won't have issues with poorly fitted after market front-end parts that wiggle and fall off at the least opportune moment.

I've already decided that when my son deploys to Iraq here in a few weeks, a full kit of upgrade gear to strap onto his service rifle will go with him and these rails will be in that kit!

Here's another accessory that these folks offer that I'd like to get a chance to check out. It's a foregrip with an integral bipod. Everyone knows the benefit of both Bipods and foregrips -but- the bipods have some rather serious issues. A bipod is a fantastic thing when you're using it, but when it is folded up, there's nothing worse for getting tangled up in things. This solution shrouds the bipod inside the foregrip, thereby eliminating all issues with entanglement. The only issue that would concern me would be whether this arrangement would be sturdy enough to stand up to tactical use... Hence the desire to check it out. It looks like a really good idea.

A Range Report

I know, I know. I said it would be a while before I got to range test my alterations to the PLR & 1911, but I decided to head out to the range this evening on a lark. So here's a little range report.

1.) The new Levang Linear Muzzlebrake - Functions very well. It projects the majority of the PLR's throaty roar down range. The muzzle flip reduction was moderate. It was less effective in reducing the muzzle rise than the Veriforce Tactical muzzlebrake, but it had none of the annoying side effects of that muzzlebrake. There was one interesting side effect of this muzzlebrake's forward facing ports... I had just finished firing a new pistol (detailed below) for the first time, so I had the target spooled down to only about 8 yards away when I loosed the first tentative shot through the new muzzlebrake just to see how it acted. The forward ported gas was sufficient to blast a fist sized hole through the target that had already been perforated by the other pistol. That was enough to make me giggle. All in all, if you are looking for a muzzlebrake for your PLR-16, I'd heartily suggest this one.



2.) The polish job on the 1911's feed ramp - This functioned much better than I had hoped. I fired 150 rounds through the freshly polished gun without a single mis-feed. While I was polishing the feed ramp, I also polished the slide's mating surfaces. This made the slide's action smooth as silk. This is definitely one fine shooter now. If you have any semi-auto pistol with feeding problems, a polish job on the feed ramp may well solve your problem. Here's how I did it. I took my Dremel tool and mounted a polished wheel (small white felt wheel that fits on a screw spindle). First I load the polishing wheel up black emery bar to remove the worst roughness. This does remove some material so use it very sparingly. Once I'm satisfied that the worst roughness has been removed, I thoroughly clean the area I'm polishing. I then load up a new polishing wheel with white rouge and begin working the area with that. Once satisfied, I change the wheel again, clean the work area again and finish the job off with blue rouge bar. Once I'm finished, the surface has a mirror finish. What in the hell would I do without my Dremel tool?



3.) We hit a gun show the other day. I picked up a batch of ammo, a nice bipod for my FN-FAL and this for the Mrs.:



It's a Polish P-64 in 9mm Makarov. This is the pistol that perforated the center of the target with, that the muzzle blast of the PLR popped out. I have to admit, I had under estimated this little gun! The recoil from those dinky looking rounds is surprisingly vigorous. With a barrel only about 3¼" long, this thing is not going to be making tight groupings at 50 yards, but it is actually more accurate than I gave it credit for. On a close target (8 yards) I was easily putting all the rounds under an area about the size of my fist. At 15 yards I was having no problem keeping it on the target. There's one last thing I have to cover... The Warsaw Pact countries seem to have known a thing or two about making a gun easy to disassemble for cleaning. To tear this one down, all you do is pull the front of the trigger guard downwards, then pull the slide all the way to the rear; tip the back up and then slide it back forward off of the frame. All in all I have to say, due to it's sub-compact size and acceptable accuracy; one of these guns would make a very suitable concealed carry piece.

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I've noticed a lot of interest in my PLR-16 related posts. Here is a list of other PLR-16 posts I've made:

Father's Day & Some Product Endorsements

More on my PLR-16

A Few Reviews

My PLR is Finished

40 Rounds, 50 Yards

My New Kel-Tec PLR-16

More on my PLR-16

After the dismal failure of the Veriforce Tactical muzzle brake on my PLR, I did a little research and happened on the DPMS Levang Linear muzzle brake from Midway USA. I think this thing looks pretty fly!

I've not fired this muzzle brake yet, but I can't imagine that it would not work at the very least somewhat better than the Veriforce Tactical brake. With the forward facing gas ports, it should direct the blast and noise forward. I'm not certain how effective this thing will be, but I wanted something mounted on the muzzle for mere reasons of aesthetics. The PLR just looks better with something beefier than the knurled thread protector. I like the way this muzzle brake fits very close to the knurled ring that secures the front handguard. If this muzzle brake works even marginally it is all a plus. Now let me address the Veriforce Tactical muzzle brake again. I do not doubt in the least that this muzzle brake is effective. In fact it worked wonderfully at reducing muzzle rise and recoil on this gun. -BUT- This gun is too short for that muzzle brake. The guy with the AR15 that I gave it to, loves it. The PLR-16 is however a unique kind of application for these muzzle brakes. I will post a review of this new brake once I've had a chance to fire it. That may however be the weekend after next due to Easter.

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I've noticed a lot of interest in my PLR-16 related posts. Here is a list of other PLR-16 posts I've made:

• Father's Day & Some Product Endorsements
• A Range Report
• A Few Reviews
• My PLR is Finished
• 40 Rounds, 50 Yards
• My New Kel-Tec PLR-16

A Few Reviews

I figured I would write a post reviewing the items I tested out at the range this weekend.

To begin with I fired my newly modified PLR-16. The optional hand-gaurd functioned very well, but I still found myself grasping the front of the magazine well out of habit. The muzzle brake on the other hand did not function as I had hoped. Don't get me wrong, it certainly reduced muzzle rise and recoil noticeably. The thing that made it unacceptable was the other things it did... It directed the muzzle gasses back into my face with sufficient force to actually cause my hair to flutter! As if that wasn't enough, it also directed a large portion of the gun's considerable noise back at me as well. A neighboring shooter even stopped by remarking "Wow! That thing's just downright violent!" So I unscrewed it and went back to firing it without a muzzle brake. I have no doubts that this particular muzzle brake would work fine on a rifle, but this gun is just too short for it.

While picking up ammunition at a local gun shop, I happened across some interesting polymer cased .223 rounds. They were inexpensive so I grabbed a few boxes and decided to try them out.

I did a little online research and found stories indicating that these rounds have an issue with the neck separating when fired in AR rifles. I didn't have that issue in the PLR, presumably because of the shorter barrel or perhaps Natec has eliminated that problem. These rounds fed well and shot accurately. If the manufacturer has indeed addressed the reported issues with neck separation, then these rounds should be considered for our military's use. The reduction in weight of a magazine loaded with these rounds was immediately noticeable. Ask anyone that's ever humped ammo and I'm sure they will unanimously agree that lighter ammo is a good thing.

Moving on along... The 1911 fired quite accurately, but fed for shit. I sort of thought that might be the case because I had noticed already that the feed ramp was just about as far from being polished as it could be. So when the slide came forward to strip a round from the magazine, the nose of the bullet was driven into the rough feed ramp and the whole mechanism came to a grinding halt. Once I got home, I pulled out the Dremel, buffing wheels and emery stick and spent a couple of hours polishing up the feed ramp. It looked as if the feed ramp had been ground into the frame with a 60 grit sanding drum, so polishing out the feed ramp took quite a bit of effort. The feed ramp now shines like a mirror and rounds feed like a charm.

The SKS functioned flawlessly. I would even say its one if the better SKS's I've fired. So that one was a score. I guess it's worth while pawing through the crate of cosmoline covered rifles looking for the one with the sharpest rifling. I seem to have a knack for picking SKS's. Then again I've owned probably two dozen of them at one time or another all told. This should make an excellent rifle for the wife to operate.
Here you see my plans for the front end of this rifle. The grenade launcher will be trimmed off and the barrel re-crowned. The grenade sight will be removed and the bayonet mounting lug will be ground off. I'll mount a nice red dot sight on the rear sight leaf and then the action will be loaded into a new stock like this one available from CombatStocks.com:

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I've noticed a lot of interest in my PLR-16 related posts. Here is a list of other PLR-16 posts I've made:

• Father's Day & Some Product Endorsements
• A Range Report
• More on my PLR-16
• My PLR is Finished
• 40 Rounds, 50 Yards
• My New Kel-Tec PLR-16

My PLR is Finished

Well I've finally gotten all of the parts in to finish assembling my PLR-16 in the configuration that I wanted to get it into (mostly). Here are a few pictures:

I've attached the Kel-Tec standard front hand grip. This has allowed me to relocate the laser designator to the picatinny rail molded into the bottom of the hand grip. Initially I was concerned that perhaps the hand grip would be too loose to serve as a stable base for the laser designator. After it arrived and was attached however, I was rather pleased to see that it is indeed quite rigid once it's in place. After installing the designator in its new location, I bore sighted it with the laser bore sighter. I then smacked, tugged, pulled, pushed and otherwise abused the hand grip in an attempt to alter the designator's alignment... All to no avail. No matter how hard I tried, the hand grip remained stable and the bore sight setting remained unchanged.

In addition to the front hand grip, I've also added a stylish anodized aluminum compensator that I picked up from Veriforce Tactical in Phoenix Arizona for $19.99 (note: shipping was only $.10!). The PLR-16 barrel is threaded to accept standard AR-15 flash suppressors and muzzle brakes (½" x 28TPI). Installation was a simple matter. I simply unscrewed the stock thread protector and twisted the new muzzle brake on with a little high temperature loctite. I did however use a very small amount of the loctite because I was debating purchasing one of these 5½" muzzle brakes just to see what in might look like on this gun. Anybody have any opinions?

Now it's time for me to engage in a little rant. There was one more accessory that I wanted to mount on this gun to make it just right... A vertical fore-grip. Unfortunately, after consulting experts, I've been told that adding a vertical fore-grip to this gun would be a federal crime! You have got to be kidding me! So I took a vertical fore-grip I had laying around and set it against the gun to give you all an idea of how cool this would have looked. Let me reiterate what I just said for those with reading comprehension problems. The fore-grip IS NOT ATTACHED, merely set adjacent to the forearm of the pistol for the purpose of snapping a picture.

Attaching a vertical fore-grip to a pistol turns it into a NFA-regulated Class III, "Any Other Weapon". How in the hell does attaching a purely aesthetic appliance to a firearm make it any more dangerous than it already is? These ignorant sons of bitches banning guns simply because they are scary looking are going to make my fucking head burst! Logic just is not their strong suit!

With that out of my system, let me address some of the e-mails I've gotten in regards to my posts about this gun.

First, no, this is not a machinegun nor is it one of your dreaded assault rifles. Just because a gun looks scary does not mean that it is an evil machinegun or an even an evil assault rifle. It does not fire full-auto, only semi-auto, Further, it is a pistol and not a rifle.

Second, let me respond to the question "why do you need such a thing?" with a few questions of my own... Why do you need an expensive car? Why do you need a jet ski? Why do you need high-end graphite golf clubs. The answer is the same in all four cases. You don't need them, but you garner enjoyment from having them and one of our ineanlienable rights in this country is the pursuit of happiness. On another note, you are far more likely to be killed by a car (expensive or otherwise) than you are by a gun of any kind and I don't see too many people clamoring for cars to be banned.

Lastly let me respond to the question "What would you use that thing for?" I'd use it for target shooting and home defense.

I have yet to test fire the gun in its new configuration. That will be accomplished this weekend. I have a rather full bill of items to test out this weekend.

I picked up a Yugo 59/66 SKS at the last local gun show. I've finally managed to divest the thing of all of the gooped on cosmoline, so it's time for a test firing. Eventually it will be stripped down, reconfigured with the requisite compliance parts and fitted with a new stock for my wife to use.

The other item I'm going to try out is this:


This may look like a run-of-the-mill M1911 pistol, but it does have some very interesting features. First off if you look at the slide, you'll see the inscription "Remington-Rand Inc. Syracuse, NY, U.S.A.", but if you look at the frame, you'll see "Interarms Silver Cup". What this means is that this is pretty much a parts pistol... However all of the parts of this pistol except the frame and the plastic hand guard slab on the side facing the camera all appear to be original 1940's vintage military parts. The fit on all the parts is extremely tight (no wobbling) and the action and trigger are very smooth. The rifling in the barrel is sharp. I managed to talk the pawn shop owner into a sale price of two bills, so how could I go wrong? The history behind these particular pistols is interesting. My research indicates that Interarms found a bunch of original WWII era 1911's caked in cosmoline and stowed in crates in England a few years back. The guns were sold to England during WWII to equip British troops for the invasion of Normandy. When Interarms tried to import them, the BATF of course would not allow them to without first demilling them (oxyacetylene torching the frames). (Again more gun grabbing ignorance!!! Destroying historical relics!) So Interarms imported the remaining pieces and assembled them on new frames. My research indicates that these guns can be pretty much hit or miss in terms of quality, but nothing I've seen in regards to this pistol seems dodgy, so we'll see how she behaves at the range this weekend. At the very worst, I've picked up a low-price tuner 1911.

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I've noticed a lot of interest in my PLR-16 related posts. Here is a list of other PLR-16 posts I've made:

• Father's Day & Some Product Endorsements
• A Range Report
• More on my PLR-16
• A Few Reviews
• 40 Rounds, 50 Yards
• My New Kel-Tec PLR-16