Real Guns

[a6m5]

Make sure to give us a thorough report once you tested your suppressor - I have to admit suppressors is the one thing I have no experience with in the firearms world. They are very hard to get here where I live and I've never considered them for any of my SHTF rifles.

I think we had this discussion before, but suppressors are effective in muzzle flash suppression, not really silencing 5.56 they say. I've also heard suppressors makes detecting where shots are coming from more difficult? Don't ask me how. 🤷‍♀️

You are still supposed to wear hearing protection with the 5.56 suppressors, but I'm of course going to try a shot or two without my muffs. I hope they don't hurt my ears. lol

Edit:

So I got the 3-prong Surefire suppressor adapter on with that special adapter. I drove out to the woods after work Friday before last, briefly shot steel gong with it & it was great. Without hearing protection, it sounded like how I remembered .22LR rifles sounded like without hearing protection. Still loud, you should still protect your ears, but absolutely doable. It's nothing like when somebody fires a AR-15 before you could put your muffs on making you jump & swear.

This weekend, I was going plinking Sunday with some friends, so Saturday I went to the local gun store to pick up another Surefire flash hider/suppressor adapter, for my AR pistol.... Except none of my tools fit this one either, because flat surface they cut for the wrench's too narrow for any of my wrenches(including AR/Armorer's, crescent, etc.).

With the 3-prong flash hider from the earlier post, they had that adapter which slides onto the tip, but this one is "closed tine". I just stuck a larger flathead screwdriver in it from the side & spun it. 🤷‍♀️ God Surefire sucks.

So Saturday afternoon, I did a real quick trip to the woods. Other than the muzzle device installs everything went smooth. My full size 16" AR functioned flawlessly with the Surefire RC2(Daniel Defense DDM4V7 upper), and also this pistol with DD Mk18 upper.

I don't have lot of pics from Sunday, but I finally did shoot paper to see if there were any shift in point of impact. I shot 5 rounds with & 5 rounds without suppressor from 100 yards(don't judge, it was rushed lol):

I want to say that I shot the top right paper before putting the suppressor on & top left paper with the suppressor on. I don't really see any shift other than my crappy shooting. Maybe next time I can stabilize the rifle benchrest style & get more accurate results.

Couple of interesting notes:

• One of my buddies shot for the first time with his Aero Precision Lahar suppressor. While he was shooting a AR(5.56) I believe he said it was compatible upto .300WM? It seemed very effective with the 5.56, sounded similar to my Surefire.
• My wait time for the Surefire with new improved ATF check was just over a week. His Aero Precision took well over one year.
• We tried the Surefire on AR with Surefire comp(instead of flash hider), it seemed to be pushing more gas into the face of the shooter?

That's my report to you @Michael88

 

[Michael88]

Thanks for the report, @6m5!

Got to say the rifles look really sweet with the can installed and .22lr noise is also really quiet, should work well to make the direction you are shooting from hard to detect. - 22lr from 50 meters sounds like a branch breaking when somebody steps on it.

POI shift looks negligible and I wouldn't worry about it, its a fighting rifle and that's plenty accurate enough for that task. Only thing I'd worry a little bit is the rifle heating up during prolonged fire from so much more gas being trapped inside the rifle, I read reports from soldiers in Ukraine who ditched the cans because they heated up the barrels so much till they shifted POI themselves. (The barrels warping from getting too hot)
Might be worth to test that out - like I said, I only heard that from Ukrainian soldiers running 14.5 AR's with suppressors

BTW I replaced the flash hider of my rifle with a muzzle brake and there was no fitting wrench for either of them, it was like the FH in your pic - I used brass shims to protect the surface of the muzzle devices and used locking pliers. Man I love locking pliers, there is no limit to their usefulness. I want to be buried with that tool so I can still use it in the afterlife.

 

[a6m5]

Thanks for the report, @6m5!

Got to say the rifles look really sweet with the can installed and .22lr noise is also really quiet, should work well to make the direction you are shooting from hard to detect. - 22lr from 50 meters sounds like a branch breaking when somebody steps on it.

My pleasure. 👍 You bring up something interesting. I think it would be neat to hear suppressed fire from say about 50 yards away, 100 yards away vs unsuppressed. We'll have to try this sometime.

POI shift looks negligible and I wouldn't worry about it, its a fighting rifle and that's plenty accurate enough for that task. Only thing I'd worry a little bit is the rifle heating up during prolonged fire from so much more gas being trapped inside the rifle, I read reports from soldiers in Ukraine who ditched the cans because they heated up the barrels so much till they shifted POI themselves. (The barrels warping from getting too hot)
Might be worth to test that out - like I said, I only heard that from Ukrainian soldiers running 14.5 AR's with suppressors

That makes sense. One good thing is Daniel Defense seems to have reputation for durable, high quality barrels so there's that, but shifting point of impact would be no good, especially in a AR I consider my fighting rifle, SHTF rifle, etc. 😬

Speaking of gases my buddy told me about these charging handles by Radian which directs gases away from the shooter's face when shooting suppressed:

Spendy, but it seems they also come in gray, FDE & OD. Nice!

Bonus: I mentioned these two in the post last year, but here are the actual pics:

M-16 type, or replica rifle. I couldn't really decide which way to go with it, like modern take on a M-16, or replica lookalike. I feel like eventually I'll buy the M-16 style carry handle & handguard. Both upper & lower are Aero Precision. Scope is my old Burris prism scope I took off my Bushmaster 308(sold). It's a combo with their mini-red dot Fast Fire 3 sitting on top.

I've always wanted a Walther & finally got one. It's a PDP Compact with 5" slide. It's more of a range toy for me, but it's been reliable so far in the limited action it has seen. Probably due to much nicer trigger compared to Glocks I'm way more accurate with this gun. Still, I carry Glocks because I'm not taking any chances with concealed carry piece, especially appendix carry. 🥹

 

[Michael88]

View attachment 1352598

I've always wanted a Walther & finally got one. It's a PDP Compact with 5" slide. It's more of a range toy for me, but it's been reliable so far in the limited action it has seen. Probably due to much nicer trigger compared to Glocks I'm way more accurate with this gun. Still, I carry Glocks because I'm not taking any chances with concealed carry piece, especially appendix carry. 🥹

Compact as in 5'' slide with the shorter grip frame?

The Walther PDP has been THE rage around here since they released that pistol. All the stores here carry them with all their variations and they sell them like warm bread, I almost feel sorry for Glock which are getting truly sidelined for the first time I remember.
I had one in my hands, the trigger is amazing, it points really well, good sights and good optics cut - but for some reason it does not fit my hand well, I feel like my hands are too big or the grip is too skinny in circumference. That's the only complaint I have.
I'd pick it over a Glock if one of the backstrap options - which I have not tried- would fit my hand. How big are your hands?

But also good call on not carrying it, it would most likely be totally save but the trigger is a bit too light for my comfort as well. For carry I'd always choose a DA/SA hammer fired pistol but that's just me.

What I did today is cleaning dirty brass by simply soaking it in dishwashing agent and hot water and THEN putting it a tumbler. The results I get with just a brass tumbler alone is unsatisfactory. Look at that, thats 45 brass.
45 is an especially sooty cartridge and now look! Sparkly clean.

 

[a6m5]

Compact as in 5'' slide with the shorter grip frame?

The Walther PDP has been THE rage around here since they released that pistol. All the stores here carry them with all their variations and they sell them like warm bread, I almost feel sorry for Glock which are getting truly sidelined for the first time I remember.
I had one in my hands, the trigger is amazing, it points really well, good sights and good optics cut - but for some reason it does not fit my hand well, I feel like my hands are too big or the grip is too skinny in circumference. That's the only complaint I have.
I'd pick it over a Glock if one of the backstrap options - which I have not tried- would fit my hand. How big are your hands?

I'm not sure of the size difference, but compact seems to be listed with shorter grip(18rd vs 15rd capacity). My hand's medium to smaller medium, and compact grip gives me just enough to get a full grip. I do like it, but "compact" grip does feel very much on the smaller side.

In my area it seems to be Sig P320 that took away the Glock sales? I want to say the base model started around $400~$450, combine that with the Sig Sauer name & US Army contract that was enough to win over the market. Of course with the reports of accidental discharges sales might have slowed down.

But also good call on not carrying it, it would most likely be totally save but the trigger is a bit too light for my comfort as well. For carry I'd always choose a DA/SA hammer fired pistol but that's just me.

I do trust the Glock's triple safety system & the reputation. I am paranoid about the appendix carry & Glock's the only gun I trust to holster that way. I have seen a video of one incident where guy shot himself doing that, but it was reported that his shirt was caught in the trigger when he holstered it & it went off when he bent over(😭).

What I did today is cleaning dirty brass by simply soaking it in dishwashing agent and hot water and THEN putting it a tumbler. The results I get with just a brass tumbler alone is unsatisfactory. Look at that, thats 45 brass.
45 is an especially sooty cartridge and now look! Sparkly clean.

Nice. 👍 Nobody I know seem to reload ammo anymore, I'm glad to see you are still at it!

 

[Michael88]

I'm not sure of the size difference, but compact seems to be listed with shorter grip(18rd vs 15rd capacity). My hand's medium to smaller medium, and compact grip gives me just enough to get a full grip. I do like it, but "compact" grip does feel very much on the smaller side.

In my area it seems to be Sig P320 that took away the Glock sales? I want to say the base model started around $400~$450, combine that with the Sig Sauer name & US Army contract that was enough to win over the market. Of course with the reports of accidental discharges sales might have slowed down.

I do trust the Glock's triple safety system & the reputation. I am paranoid about the appendix carry & Glock's the only gun I trust to holster that way. I have seen a video of one incident where guy shot himself doing that, but it was reported that his shirt was caught in the trigger when he holstered it & it went off when he bent over(😭).

Nice. 👍 Nobody I know seem to reload ammo anymore, I'm glad to see you are still at it!

Oh yeah stores are flooded with all kinds of P320 variants, they handle really nicely and shoot really well but because of the reports of them being unsafe I took one apart (updated model) and lets say the internals do not inspire confidence in safety. I even heard the manual safeties of the military variants wear out over time to the point they no longer work reliably.

People here are well aware of the safety issues of the P320 and see no reason to pick them over a Walther or Glock, understandably.
I do think they are WAY sexier than the Walther and Glock though, especially the 5'' M17. Such a shame.

About appendix carry, I'm not allowed to carry here but I still have an appendix holster and train with it on the range. I watched some video about carry and they showed how to safely pull and re-holster. They'd lean backward a bit so even if the gun discharged for whatever reason it would miss the ''important bits'' and shoot the dirt a 2 meters or so in front of you. That's the way I do it since I'm paranoid about it too.

And yeah, I still reload! Most people probably don't reload since it makes little sense with 9mm and 223, I don't reload those either. But those in the pic are .45 cases, 100 rounds cost 60 bucks here, with reloading I can cut that in half. 308 I reload as well, and all the obscure calibers.
Couldn't afford to train with the big boomers if I didn't reload thats for sure.

 

[coryclifford]

Smith Wesson M&P (Shield Plus or not) took away a lot from Glock as well.

Shield Plus, no safety, appendix kydex, and not have one chambered is fine to me. Just mag dump for safety 🤫

 

[Michael88]

Kinda cool, largest window pistol optic by FAR: