It was a typical Saturday for the G. household, except that Mrs. G. had to work. Other than that, pretty standard day: Got TheBoy off to his "Black Belt Bootcamp" (he's testing in April); did the grocery shopping with BabyGirl G.; had enough of the kids sitting around playing Wii so I sent them out into the backyard to build snowmen. It was a good day, all things considered.
Then Mrs. G. came home and it got better - I went to the range... I took the new and improved Bushmaster with the primary goal of determining if I'd solved the issue I had with it the last time I shot it. In a nutshell, it was binding up, not allowing the bolt to come fully forward so that it could be taken apart. As I mentioned in a follow-up, what happened was the buffer retaining pin came loose and boogered up the works; caused most likely by the collapsible stock having worked itself loose.
I solved that, in part, by replacing the collapsible stock with the ACE skeleton stock and actually following the damned instructions on how to secure the buffer retaining pin. However, before I got it right, I got it wrong - I had the buffer extension tube snugged against the retaining pin, not over it, and sure enough, a few dry fires later and the retaining pin came loose and jammed the bolt again. Thanks to aepilot jim and the Brownells video series, I realized what I'd done wrong, fixed it, and tested it again, with proper results.
And, finally, I got it to the range yesterday to test it. I had secondary goals of testing the LaserLyte green laser and the LaserMax Colt CGL foregrip laser, but given that the range faces west, resolving the dots at 50 yards in direct sunlight was an exercise in eyestrain. I suspect that shorter distances will yield better results there. However, I was quite pleased with the ACE Skeleton stock - it's very comfy and the rifle-length is fine for me as well as the UTG handguards - they held the CGL foregrip rock steady for off-hand shooting.
End result: Three magazines through the Bushmaster without a single hiccup. The first shot was the toughest - I loaded the magazine into the rifle, released the bolt, and acquired my target. My finger inched towards the trigger, not knowing if I'd hear *click* or *boom*...
...And *boom* it was. Everything functioned as intended (although I didn't realize I'd be able to *hear* the buffer spring with the Ace Skeleton stock!) and everything worked fine. The buffer retaining pin stayed firmly in place - imagine that, put it together the right way and it works!
I love it when a
That is all.
4 comments:
First you make it go "Boom!"
Then that spring says, "Shickkkkkkk....roinnnnnnggg!"
After a while you forget you're hearing it.
Or buy a Cavalry Arms lower... all polymer and about as quiet as it gets! That as my big problem with the AR... that bloody SPROINGGG everytime you shot it. Found out about the Cav Arms single piece lower, bought one, and shot it a lot. ASM826 is right... after a while you cease hearing the spring! My friend has it now. Besides, if I find myself hating the sound again, I can always go shoot my Robinson Armaments M96!
First time I fired an AR, that sound had me thinking something had popped off the gun...
I love the buffer spring sound. It sounds like...victory.
Post a Comment