SigTac CP1 Prismatic Optical Scope (3X)

I'd had my eye on this optic for some time now, and so when PSA dropped their price, I was eager to get a hold of one. The optic is made by ITac (apparently their products are Chinese made, and they are commonly rebranded. Sun Optics sells the exact same scope, but you save about $75 on your Sig Tax) The adjustment turrets are capped, and offer .25 MOA adjustments. The body is aluminium and is anodized black.

View from the right. Note the SigTac branding on the mount.

The integrated mount is secured to a 1913/Picatinny rail by tightening two nuts. This can be accomplished with either a wrench of the appropriate size, or a flat-headed screw-driver.

The ranging tics are intended for 5.56 x 45mm NATO M193 Spec (Federal XM193). The zero is meant to be set at 50 meters if you intend to use the ranging marks. From the 600 meter to the bottom of the thick portion of the reticle is roughly five feet and six inches at 100 yards (168cm @ 100m)

The reticle illuminated red on its lowest setting (so that my camera could capture it in all its glory).

While experimenting with the illumination, I found that none (black) was best during the daytime hours. I spend three hours peering through the glass down the street and observed that the glass is clear enough that no adverse affects were felt aside from the fagigue of holding my left eye closed for such an extended period of time.

For some reason the picture of the green illumination turned out better. Forgive the glare.

During the late evening/nightime hours (late dusk to early dawn), I found that the red reticle was the easiest to make out without obscuring the target too badly. I spent most of the time on the lowest of the five settings.The green illumination I found most useful on its highest setting when I was having trouble making out the reticle against dark backgrounds during daylight hours. This color was too overwhelming for me at night and seemed to overpower whatever I was looking at. If you look at the left of the image of the green illuminated reticle, you will notice a rather pronounced artifact. That is not a trick of the camera, and is present in both this, and the red illumination modes. The severity of the effect is directly related to the brightness of the reticle.

I noticed when looking at the reticle through the scope the wrong way (through the objective lens) that the reticle was visible while illuminated. I had intended to perform an experiment to determine how far away the was visible, but time was prohibitive these past few weeks, so I will have to get back with you in the upcoming weeks, with pictures if at all possible.

Practical technical specs are as follows.

Magnification: 3X

The red and green illumination modes feature five settings each.

The field of view is six degrees or 10.5 meters at 100 meters.

The eye relief is 14.9cm/5.9in..

The exit pupil is 1.02cm/.4in..

Parallax is set at 100m.109.36yd.

For those of you who care, the scope weights 13.9 oz.

Something interesting: The scope includes two crush washers. If anyone knows why, leave a comment.

Damage Industries Enhanced Spring, Recoil Buffer (Carbine and Rifle)

The carbine length springs come in plastic bags that are heat-sealed at one end

I purchased these four springs from Damage Industries LLC last year (today being 1/9/2014) during one of their Deals of the Week sales. They are made from chrome-silicone and sports a black oxide finish. Each spring is estimated to last more that 750,000 rounds a piece, according to their website and a video on YouTube, titled "AR-15 Buffer Springs - More than you need to know". That's probably more than I'll ever shoot in two years (most likely held back because of a lack of money and time, not lack of desire).

The rifle-length springs a shipped using an older method: paper wrapping.
Personally I think it looks pretty sweet.

I bought these springs when I was still making up my mind about whether I was going to build a full-sized rifle or a carbine, which is why I have two rifle-length springs and two-carbine length springs. As you may have guessed from the receiver extension/buffer tube I chose, I am building a carbine. I will be doing my best to purchase a lower receiver and tools to put everything together.

PSA Premium 6 Position Mil-Spec Diameter Buffer Tube Assembly

I purchased this kit from Palmetto State Armory this past November. It is pretty straight forward as to what it includes. The actual buffer tube (receiver extension), is standard Mil-spec diameter. The buffer is standard carbine weight. The spring included is mil-spec, carbine length that I do not intend to use, opting for a spring that claims to be better than those made to military specifications (like that's hard to believe - I'll have a post on the spring I intend to use sometime later this week).

The premium buffer offered by PSA features a black anodized coating, as
opposed to the gray anodize on standard mil-spec buffers

Mil-spec (six position, carbine) receiver extension, end-plate and castle nut.

Mil-spec recoil spring (will be kept as a spare part)

Weaver 3-9X40mm Rifle Scope

In case you have no idea how these things work, the

magnification is adjusted by rotating the ring with the

numbers engraved on it

This was something of an impulse buy, but only just. I have a set criteria of what I am looking for when I shop online for parts and accessories for my rifle. This optic made its way onto the clearance page of PSA's website, so I decided (after about a week of contemplation) to go ahead and make the purchase, which only cost me $29.99 (plus shipping and handeling), which isn't too bad for a scope with an MSRP of $200.00 when it was new. One of the things on my list of stuff to get for my rifle was an optic with a minimum magnification of no lower than three power. This fits the bill until I can afford a better one. This post is going to be mostly pictures, but I will leave you with a note that the objective end makes contact with any rail that it sits over when the stock rings are used, so if you get this optic, I suggest getting medium height if you have a continuous top rail. The model number for this optic is 849990.

Includes rings, a lens cloth, and transparent lens covers

(shown on), as well as a 3/8 in. hex wrench for fastening

the rings to the scope, but the rings are attached to

whatever rail system you are using by means of a flat-head

screw (less than forward thinking on the part of Weaver's

Research and Development team).

The objective (bell) end is marked with numerical

representations of its optical specifications

EDIT (12/19/2013) Something that I forgot to mention is that the windage and elevation adjustments are actually underneath what look like turrets in the pictures. They are 1/4 MOA adjustments (nice solid clicks) that can be manipulated with bare fingers, but that is painful, so I suggest using a small screwdriver instead, as there is a slot just for that in the middle of the little "bars" that you need to turn to make adjustments.

The covers fit on quite nicely, and take a while to take on and off, so be certain that you are comfortable with your zero before putting them back on. I would not recommend leaving the covers off for any period of time during which debris might get into the interface, because the face is made from a flimsy looking and feeling piece of metal, and the markings are printed on instead of engraved.

Damage Industries Multi Mount Sling Mount

Sorry for posting three days late. I fully intended to get back to you on the fourteenth, but came down with a lovely case of food poisoning. So here I am! Back, sore, and eager to bet back on the ball with this young blog.

This was really the second step on my path to building my rifle. I got them as part of one of their weekly deals. This particular deal (one of my favorites), was a "we'll double whatever quantity you order for free*." They offer two quick detach (QD) slots and one loop for a snap hook, Mash hook or cordage (the website says paracord), as well as leaving enough clearance to simply loop a strand of nylon webbing through once mounted on a Picatinny (Mil-Std-1913/STANAG 2324) rail.

The Damage Industries LLC Milti Mount Sling Mount comes
in Flat Dark Earth, Hard Brown, and Black (pictured).

The method for mounting them is rudimentary, requiring the complete removal of the hex key (1/8") before sliding it onto the rail from the very end (which shouldn't be an issue, because there's only really one place with Picatinny rails that you should really be thinking about mounting a sling: as far forward as you can get it).

With the considerable protrusion these accessories , I would be willing to speculate that these could be used as a hand stop in a pinch, albeit with a degree of discomfort, and I definitely would not recommend it as a substitute.

As I mentioned earlier, these will mount to any standard Picatinny rail, so don't be shy about mounting to anything with that style of accessory mounting system, be it AK, M14, Mini-14, 10/22, bolt action rifle, shotgun, whatever. These are made from billet aliminum, and are finished with a "Mil-A-8625 type III class 2 hardcoat anodize" (sic), so I wouldn't worry too much about beating them up. Also, the finish has a bit of a rough texture to it, so I believe that they will take an aftermarket coating (Duracoat, Ceracoat, or even spray paint) rather well, even without prep. For fifteen bucks, I can;t say this was a bad purchase.

Anyway, that's all for now. I'll see you again in a few days with more on parts I have acquired for my build. Thanks for reading. Please leave a comment (keep it clean, and I'll pass it through).


*Not a direct quote.

Magazines

These are the subject of quite a bit of controversy among any community of firearms enthusiasts. Polymer versus steel versus aluminum. Then you (sort of) have a factory versus aftermarket debate (at least in the handgun community). Below is a picture of three magazines that I own.

From Left to Right: Colt USGI, Lancer Hybrid, IMI Defense Polymer

The first of which is a Colt USGI magazine (generation I, black follower). This was actually the first "part" for an AR-15 that I ever purchased. I got it in 2011 at a gun show for five dollars. At the time, I still had it in my head that I was going to purchase an AR-15 as a fully assembled rifle, and had everything budgeted to purchase a twenty-five hundred dollar rifle. Certain unexpected unexpected expenses put a quick end to me delusions of grandeur.

The second magazine I acquired is a Lancer Hybrid magazine. This magazine has a polymer body and hardened steel feed-lips. The internal geometry is a consistent curve, apparently aiding in smoother function. Their current generation of magazines, called L5 Advanced Warfighter Magazine comes in five flavors: Translucent Smoke (pictured, loaded w/thirty rounds), Translucent Brown, Opaque Black, Opaque Olive Drab, Opaque Foliage Green, and Opaque Flat Dark Earth. If you do a quick internet search, you'll find raving reviews about Lancer's magazines. The current iterations go for about twenty dollars a piece.

If you look closely at the magazine in the middle, you can see

the bullets (yes, bullets; not the whole case is visible) as they

sit in the magazine.

The third magazine I got is the IMI Defense Polymer AR-15 magazine. I actually bought seven of these on clearance from Palmetto State Armory for about eight dollars a piece. The reviews I found online about these are somewhat mixed. An interesting feature that this magazine possesses is a catch on the right hand side for use in an AR-18, or an AR-180 (semi-automatic version).

I put the yellow electrician's tape around the bottom for two reasons. First, quick identification when I take them shooting. Second, I found that the tape provides better traction for bare hands than even the ribbing on the polymer magazines, which surprised me considerably.

Once my rifle is built, I'll let you know how they hold up.

I will make another post tomorrow about other parts I have.

Supplemental

At the time the images were taken, the IMI magazine has been fully loaded for three months. Ten rounds were left in it and the thirty were loaded into the Lancer Hybrid. They will be left there for thirty days while the others are used. Results will be posted as they become available.

Getting to Know You...

...and by "you," I actually mean me. Because let's face it, why would you be reading a blog post about yourself? Unless you wrote it and are looking back at it to see how [counter-intuitive] you were more than five minutes ago, or you have been the victim of identity theft and are trying to see what you said that wasn't really you.

Me a few years ago. I look pretty

much the same.

Anyway, as you could probably see somewhere on this page, my name is William Richardson. The purpose of this blog is to take you on a journey. A journey that does not follow any person, but a thing. A thing that I feel will be dear to me. This thing, is my first rifle.

Actually that's a lie. My first rifle is a Schmidt-Ruben 1911. Yes, you read that right. I own a 1911 rifle. Now before you freak out about me doing something terrible to one of John Moses Browning's masterpieces, let me tell you a thing or two about the SR 1911 (sorry Ruger for that. I don't mean to use the prefix for your AR there, it's just easier to type than "Schmidt-Rubin."). First, it is around one hundred years old. Second, it is a straight-pull rifle chambered in 7.5x55 Swiss. Third, these rifles, even though they were around for WWII, never saw any action (Switzerland being neutral and everything), so they're all in really good condition if you can find one. It was given to be by two of my best friends for one of my birthdays. I love it, but it's not very practical.

I choose to call this my first rifle because it is going to be the first one that I get with the intend of actually using regularly. This will be a "practical fighting rifle" that I intend on using for the purpose of home-defense.

Now, the thing that I think will be fun about this, is that this rifle does not actually exist yet. That's right, I am writing a journal about building a rifle. But that's been done already, right? Yeah, it has. But has there ever been one about the life of a rifle? I did a fifteen minute web search and didn't find one, so here's how this is going to work. I will post with a frequency of no less than once a month (in case it's a really slow month), and you get to read, and watch (pictures for sure, videos maybe later on), the conception, life and (I hope it takes a long time to get there) death, of my first rifle.

This blog will not outline building processes and tips, as there are literally thousands of sources on the internet on how to build an AR-15 (and about a quarter of them are worth the space they take up). I will, however, discuss my choices in parts, and the philosophy behind the eventual customization of my rifle, as it evolves and grows into the loyal friend I'll carry with me as long as I can.

I hope to both entertain, end enlighten you in my endeavors as a first-time AR builder.


Sincerely,

William Richardson

P.S. This blog will be family friendly, so any crass language that may be here will be [absolutely] edited like so, and encompassed [these] brackets, and any posts that may have "questionable" content will be marked with the words QUESTIONABLE CONTENT in the title. Such content will still be SFW (Safe For Work), and will be marked as questionable at my discretion, and may not mean the same to you as it does to me.