Buying an AR-15

I got some great info from Jay (if you're there and want me to link to you, just comment with your site or blog) about buying an AR-15, well, really guns in general.  He knows I've been thinking about getting an AR and he offered up some wisdom.  I thought I would share it with you all because I found it helpful!

From Jay: 

A rule of thumb: don't buy your firearms at a gunshop. They will rip you off.

Check online store prices before buying from a local gunshop.

BudsGunShop.com. They are 0%-10% higher then fair price value but you don't have to pay for taxes or shipping. Use this online store as a price benchmark.

CDNN have one of the lowest gun price around. Download their catalog.

CDNN Sports

If you want to order from an online shop you have to find an FFL dealer for transfer. Any gunshop that charge over $15 is a ripoff.

To find the cheapest FFL transfer fee go to this site and enter your zipcode.

GunBroker.com

You're in the military? If so you can join the Quantico gun club. I'm not sure what their policy for non-military. They got the best range in northmen VA. You can get a lot of excellent free training from them. They also hold competitions.

Quantico Shooting Club

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Once again, thanks Jay for the info, I'll be looking over all of this stuff and bookmarking them as well.  Hope it helps all you others out there!

AR-15 Builder

Over at the Firearm Blog I saw a link about an interactive AR-15 builder. How cool! You can customize it any way you want. So I thought I'd try it out last night. I made a few examples, from sand colored Iraq ready AR's to full automatic with 100 round drum SAW style AR's. Check it out, and build your own!

"Tactical Sniper"

"SWAT"

"Standard Iraq"

"Special Ops"

"AR-Sniper"

"SAW Mod"

"Old School"

"Lightweight"

"Iraq Marksman"

[Brownells AR-15 Builder]

[TheFirearmBlog]

Range Time

I love coming to the inlaws because I can shoot my air rifle as much as I want out back. I got a pellet trap too so I wanted to give it a shot. It can take paper targets and hanging metal animals. I decided to go with the biggest and the smallest metal targets.

I started with the big horn sheep and hit that a good number of times so feeling confident I switched to the duck. It's pretty small.

On my first attempt, I hit it. I also hit it so hard a few times after that the hanger piece came off. Yeah, so I can't use that one anymore.

Oh, but yesterday I tried the paper target and had a pretty decent grouping. All shots were fired from a standing unsupported position about 96 feet away. I feel pretty good!

First gun, seriously.

Ok, so a while ago, I told you my first gun was going to be the Ruger MKIII.  Cheap to buy, cheap to shoot, great beginner gun.  We'll, even though I've never owned a gun (other than my new air rifle), I'm not really a beginner.  I'm not an expert but I'm learning.

So after shooting shotguns with my brother in law, I fell way in love with the shotgun.  "That is a much better first gun; still cheap and true home protection."  I said.  

Then in one of my gun magazines, they were advertising Yugo SKS's for $150.  WHA?!  I've shot that exact rifle before and loved it!  And for that price, why not!  So the wife said that it would be fine.

BUT, a few guys from the office are going to the Dulles/Chantilly Gun Show and one friend said he knew a guy at a booth that sells Rock River AR-15's for $500-600 complete.  Whoa!  Isn't Rock River a pretty decent brand?!  

So, the wife said THAT was ok too!  Oh, I'm not getting all of these, this is just the progression.  How awesome is that!?  My first real gun is going to be an AR-15.  Dude, blows my mind.

I don't think they sell magazines there though, so if you know a good company that makes quality (semi-inexpensive) mags, do tell.  I'm not rough with my stuff so I won't be dropping them but I understand that accidents happen and they may get gently abused, hopefully not by me though.

Shoot the Baddies

Shoot the Baddies - 05 / 01 / 09
Originally uploaded by Olly Moss

Awesome! I found this on Flickr and this is just hilarious. I guess you gotta be ready for anything. Very well done.