Consumables and learned from the 90's that they can go away. So you need to not only plan on what you can carry today, but what you may need for 20 years from now.
I've purchased 6 PPS Classic magazines every year for the last decade. Why? I knew eventually it would go out of production and 20 years from now I don't want to be my friend that carries a P7 and pays over $100 for a used magazine when he can even find them. Now if I have a mag shit the bed, I've got another 50 or so still in packaging. And I did have that happen this year. I came across my first mag that had feeding issues in multiple guns.
I've purchased 10 P99/PPQM1/SW99/MR9 mags every year for almost the last 20 years for the same reason.
Just in the last month I've purchased an additional 12 Okay Surefeeds and 12 steel Duramags plus picked up my standard two P-Mags per week at my LGS.
The cheapest one I see on Amazon is called the Gfire and looks a lot like the old Condor. I'm sure it wouldn't hold up in the sandbox for 6 months, but has something like padded shoulders and should hold up fine for larping in the basement...or in case peaceful protests break out in your neighborhood for a couple nights.
But there's a reason why my slickster has Level III lightweight PE plates now instead of ceramics.
Shit that has ammo produced for it here in the USA. One of the few things Biden can do is ban ammo imports. After Obama did that with Russian ammo, and due to the prices now, I sold my Mosin's and SKS's for that reason. The era of cheap comblock surplus is over. Likewise the largest producer of ammo for historical arms is PPU out of Serbia (IIRC). And I can remember what it was like trying to find stuff like .30-40 Krag for decades at a time until Winchester or someone decided to do a product run.
Those who are bragging how they can still afford to shoot their AK's et. al. maybe singing a different tune in a couple months.
25 per gun. Magazines are consumable items and should be treated as such so you need enough on hand plus what you might need for the future. Now this may become less of a concern with 3D printing in the near future though.
I honestly don't know how many AR mags I have. There's a 35 gallon tote in my basement full of AR mags: P-Mags, Geisselle D&H Mags, Duramags, and Okay mags are what you want.
The last Condor plate carrier I saw actually had padded shoulders where the slickster doesn't. And that makes a difference with 16lbs of Ceramic Armor. There's a reason why I went with lightweight level III PE plates this time around.
HESCO 4401's for the plates. If you are talking absolute budget carrier I'm going to go ahead and say it: Condor. As much as people want to call their stuff airshit, it's actually improved quality wise. If you want something that's not made in China the Slickster is solid option between $$$ and what you get.
I was holding 2" groups at 100 yards with the C308 using factory ball (Federal XM80) using the 3x Prism. It's the first time really using the ACSS reticle that I realized there was something there, there. My groups were closer to 3.5" with irons, but the CETME iron sights are complete dogshit.
You can...sorta. Better with the 2x, 3x starts to get iffy and not really great with the 5x. The PA Prismatic have the ACSS horseshoe of death so you get a 65MOA circle more or less using both eyes open. If you are going to get one go with the 3x. The 2x & 2.5x are just enough magnification to make you want 3x.
I run the 2.5x on my AR as I'm just not in an environment where I'm shooting much past 100 yards even in competitions. I have the 3x on my C308 currently, but I think I'm going to trade it out for a full scope here soon. In fact I have the scope I'm just waiting for rings.
Looking for a southpaw general purpose bolty gun. Local BellasProAss has a Savage 110 Tactical Southpaw in 6.5 Meme and a 110 Storm southpaw in King Fudd .30-06. Thing is I have lots of old World War gats (from the original and the sequel) including stuff that spew King Fudd at the rate of $700 a minute so I bought surplus King Fudd rounds literally by the pallet. I don't have any Mememore ammo. If they had the 110 Tactical southpaw chambered in .308...that's what I really want, but even in the best of times it's fucking hard to come by the southpaw models. Fuckers like that Ian gun Judas guy buys them first.
Wonder if I should just go ahead and get the 110 Storm? It's stainless still has the same accufit aluminum bedded stock as the tactical. Just doesn't have the threaded barrel or scope base the tactical comes with. Oh and doesn't have a detachable magazines. But it's still a Savage 110 and people do make aftermarket shit for it so I could always turn it into a project gun if I wanted.
Spez: Picked up the 110 Storm. Should end up being just under $500 after theft and rebates. So probably around $550 total after I pick up scope base & rings. Will put the PA 4- 14 FFP SLx scope with x-mas tree mil dot reticle.
Well it depends, old Colt or new Colt. Old Colt stuff is great. My SP1 and CAR15 are 70's/80's vintage and both run great. They're good guns. Same with 1950's and 60's vintage wheel gats I have. Their newer stuff though...they charge for the name, but you can get the same or better quality for 2/3rds the price.
I have a couple slicksters. One with IIIA stab rated plates and another with level III PE plates. Honestly the one I have set up and ready to go is the one with IIIA plates. I have medical shit on one side and a couple cliff bars. Other side is 3xUSGI mags and a radio. Nothing on the front. You can get micro chest rigs if you want more shit but it's slick. If I need to get down low to the ground I can. With it being winter I can wear it under a coat and no one would be the wiser.
Now I also have my HSGI war belt too to go with it that I primarily use for competition. That's another 3x AR mags + 3x pistol mags. Then I have a small utility pouch that I use for notepad, pens, etc for classes or extra loose ammo for competitions or it will fit an extra adventure time trauma kit if I think it will hit the fan. That's in addition to the HSGI blowout pouch + IFAK w/2 CAT TQ in TQ Tacos. Safariland holster and I have a Condor douche pouch and double pistol pouch. Keep a flashlight and small multitool or swiss army knife in the pistol pouch. As much as people call condor airshit it's held up well and the douche pouch was $15. I don't need to spend $60 on the HSGI label. And the double pistol pouch has held up well too. Condor of the past couple years isn't nearly as shitty as it was say 5 years ago.
I've got a few G3/CETME platform rifles as well as a couple FAL's. Honestly I'd go with the PTR-91 series, specifically the model with the welded pic rail. The downside is they mangle brass so reloading isn't a great option, but the flip side is no gas system to fuck with and it just works with any .308/7.62 NATO you put in it. So shoot cheaper steel case ammo in it and don't feel bad.
I typically get around 3 MOA with either the C308 or the PTR-91 with iron sights. I haven't really put a scope on either of the rifles as I shot them in cold war matches. I think with a scope I might be able to tighten those groups up to 2.5 MOA.
I can't say that the ergos are great and the triggers are god awful, but it goes bang in just about any condition and is easy to field strip.
What's everyone's favorite scope base for a Savage 110 (rounded receiver)? I think I'm going to need a rail and would prefer a 20MOA base.