M&P sport is a great rifle. Get good furniture and a Larue MBT-2 trigger and it'll run with anything else out there. Focus on ammo after that, imo.
Pistol > Rifle > Advanced Pistol/Rifle
Only upgrade rifle further after some classes. Adding a free-floated hand guard and re-using the original barrel would be the only major upgrade needed for a modern, far-forward grip. Only do this after maxing out your capabilities with what you have now, though. (My first rifle was a PSA freedom stainless build, basic everything/detachable irons. I was placing in the top half of local club matches against BCMs/JPs before building a better rifle)
a Stop the Bleed course is better than nothing, but I think that everyone should do to at least one first-aid class that covers wound packing, chest seals, ect. Survival training can be done online or through books imo, then just go out camping and practice/test your gear.
Burgers on a frying pan are perfectly acceptable out in the bush or on a rainy day inside
Both 1.0 and 2.0 Shields have manual safety models. The 1.0 Shields are just as good imo, especially after the trigger is smoothed out by use. 1.0 also is more comfortable to carry due to less aggressive stippling. If capacity is truly a concern, use the Mag-guts +1 kits, then you can have 9 in the gun, 9 in the spare mag.
Being difficult to insert on a closed bolt shouldn't be an issue.
Your link describes it perfectly, it's basically a reliability check. .308 BCG's have more mass, so if it gets too much energy to slam into the bolt catch, the bolt catch tends to break. This is compounded by the fact that many AR-10 bolt catches, such as the one in the Aero kit, are MIM and are therefore weaker. A machined, steel bolt catch would be a good longevity/reliability upgrade.
If you can feed manually, now you can try adding a heavier buffer or decreasing gas if you have an adjustable gas block. A heavier buffer would be the better bet. Or blame the D-50 for feeding too slow, especially if the problems get worse towards the end of the mag. Can you increase the spring tension in one of those?
I've seen D50's work with that config. It sounds like your mag isn't getting the round high enough, is too slow in presenting the round, or your BGC isn't low enough to strip the round out. The only one you can fix would be to slow the cyclic rate with a heavier buffer setup, if the mag feeds fine operating the bolt manually. Also check to see if your BCG is retracting too far into the buffer tube, a few quarters down the tube as spacers will fix that. A call to Magpul may fix it, or they may send you a new one to try?
.308 is what you want. Recipes for 7.5x55 are in the major handbooks. Your 1911 doesn't have fully supported case-head like the K31, though, which makes hot loads dangerous. Stay on the lower end of things and make sure you don't overcharge a case and you'll be fine.
True. I realize that I'd never actually need more than a single box of defense ammo, but it feels weird to daily carry ammo for more than a few months without shooting/replacing it. Plus, falling back on .45 ball from a German gat would be much more effective than 9mm ball, anyway.
From ballistic gel tests FMJ will just poke holes in a torso, penetrating all the way through. Not a lot of damage unless something vital was hit. I'm not sure if studies have been done on it, I'm sure there's a military or police study out there. Hollowpoint 9mm projectiles are still available, it wouldn't be difficult to pull the FMJ's and replace with something better.
Why even past 2004? I'd argue that the mini was never relevant aside from the AC556 full auto variant due to current cost. AR's are cheaper and are objectively better in every metric. A Galil, CZ, Sig 550, Tavor, AUG, 5.56 AK, or a Robinson XCR are all better alternative platforms, and are more interesting imo.