gnatshooter

I'm afraid I might have left a bad impression with this remark and if it was taken amiss, I apologize. It was my lurid prose in post #6 that I thought would be suggestive, I thought blue picked up on that -- I should have added a smiley, just like blue did. Here's the smiley. :)) No offense meant, dude.

A much better article on this case is here. It turns out, there are lots of courts that say there is a constitutional right to keep & bear outside the home: "The Second, Fourth, Fifth, Ninth, and Seventh Circuits and the supreme courts of Illinois, Idaho, Oregon, and Georgia have held or assumed that the Second Amendment includes a right to carry a handgun outside the home for self defense." That "for self defense" proviso is bogus, IMHO. "Shall not be infringed" is plain language. It establishes a personal right and you shouldn't need to have excuses -- such as self defense -- to exercise that right. That right follows you around everywhere, for the simple reason that you're an adult US citizen. Speaking of excuses for concealed carry in this case that the Supreme Court just turned down, here's a few that look pretty legitimate -- and were turned down as good excuses to keep & bear: One of the litigants, John Drake, runs a business that services and restocks bank ATM machines. The work requires that he carry and handle large amounts of cash. His application for a gun permit was denied because he failed to demonstrate a “justifiable need” for a firearm. Another litigant, Finley Fenton, is a reserve sheriff’s deputy who wanted to carry a firearm while off duty for protection from criminals with whom he interacts while on duty. His application was denied for failure to demonstrate a “justifiable need.” If these aren't clear violations of the Second Amendment, it's hard to imagine what is. Maybe we should be grateful the Supreme Court did not take the case.

Are y'all saying that any pistol big enough to kill a bear is gonna hurt you when you shoot it?

In this case, the U.S. Supreme Court "declined to weigh in on whether gun owners have a constitutional right to carry handguns outside the home." The court let stand a lower court decision that found it was OK for a state to require people who want to carry handguns to show they have a special reason before they can get a permit. But not long ago, in California, a Federal court struck down a law that required citizens to show "good cause" in order to receive a permit to carry concealed. --Court overturns concealed-carry rule in blow to California gun law - Reuters - Feb 13, 2014 http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/14/us-usa-guns-california-idUSBREA1D03D20140214 The Supreme Court tends to step in and review a case when different lower Federal courts are reaching contradictory decisions. So now, in one part of the US, states can't require citizens to prove they need a concealed-carry permit, while in other parts of the US, they can impose that requirement. Weird.

How does the recoil of these compare to the recoil of a 10 mm? For a guy who weighs in at about 110 lbs., there's something of a tradeoff between recoil and knockdown power to consider.

What do you think about the recoil of the 10mm? Supposedly it's brutal and nasty.

I think the real point is to have something in the luggage that can be pulled out when bears are not in season, but the bear has to die. Sure it would be great to have your trusty .308/7.62 to gun down the Beast from Hell, but the notion is to have something that doesn't look like poaching, and doesn't take up a lot of space.

Blue, you are a wicked man with a lurid imagination. I promise, I was only talking about a rifle.

Y'all still have to consider -- post #22 above -- that the ATF might consider muzzle brakes like this to be silencers/suppressors. Sure, the manufacturer won the case, while the judge said the ATF was completely bogus in calling the brake a silencer, he also gave the ATF another chance to prove its claim. The ATF might come back and make the judge happy with some claims about muzzle brakes like this. I personally have a Kaw Valley linear compensator on my DPMS LR308 that redirects the muzzle blast away from the shooter, so the ATF could come after me, too -- after raiding Kaw Valley for their customer list. Sorta like what they did to Ares Arms over their 80% lowers. Would the ATF like to make the President happy with a big roundup of 'people with assault weapon silencers'? Hm. Considering Operation Fast & Furious, and the Ares Arms abuse, uh, yes.

Friends, First off, thanks to the moderators and webmaster for making room for pistol discussions. Secondly, thanks to members for paying attention to this in what's a .308 black rifle community. Here's the deal. My son is looking for a semiauto pistol that can take down a bear. He hunts bears in season, but he also does camping, and, well, sometimes a bear shows up when you're just trying to have a quiet night in the woods. My son is looking at getting a 10 mm from Rock Island Armory. He's concerned that the recoil from a 10mm might be excessive, as he's heard that law enforcement abandoned the round for that reason. Also, that 10mm ammo is hard to find, and that there's a 'light' grade of 10mm that's OK for recoil but not all that good for rampaging bears willing to kill you for your s'mores. He lives in central Iowa and nobody rents guns that he can find, so he's looking at buying a pistol without shooting it first. Any advice will be appreciated. Edit: P.S. If y'all have some good advice, he might get a .308 and join up.

The bolt in my DPMS LR308 makes a nice slurping sound moving back and forth inside the bolt carrier. Works flawlessly. But then I'm running it wet.

"In developing the Stabilizer Brake, Innovator thought it had solved the latter problem by directing the noise forward, away from the shooter." --and that's what made the ATF decide the device was a silencer/suppressor. The company took the ATF to court, and won! ATF Jumped the Gun on “Silencer” - The Truth About Guns - March 26, 2014 http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2014/03/robert-farago/atf-jumped-gun-silencer-designation/ Edit: The text of the court's decision can be found here: https://ecf.dcd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show_public_doc?2013cv0581-17 Guns.com seems to think that this is the actual diagram of the muzzle brake in question -- I haven't been able to verify the claim http://www.guns.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/innovator-enterprises-muzzle-brake-2.jpg

I keep telling myself I'm gonna sell all my extra parts on eBay and then I keep thinking, I could have a use for them. Which means I still have them and they aren't being used... Do you guys count as group therapy for this addiction?

The "Ferfrans" CQB Modular Muzzle Break can be found here. They basically admit that the part of the brake that redirects concussion forward also makes the brake less effective. Weight of 4 ounces is not bad.

seasprite, I really like all your pix in this post and how you handled the whole thing. Great example of how to make great posts.

Holy spitballsi! I just placed an order with DPMS itself for a "DPMS Style" upper, and with the forward assist and tax it cost me only $200. There's something wrong with this. Is it made of unobtanium?

I hereby nominate you be our test subject for checking out one of these brakes. I like your skeptical approach to how this design might work -- or not work. I personally have a JP Cooley 'large' brake on my .308 and it works, but it's totally brutal on concussion.

Friends, Every so often I go looking for muzzle brake options. People are always coming up with new ideas for how to 'tame' recoil or handle flash. I always get a kick out of one brake option, which is supposedly designed to stab zombies in the face. But that's an old one. There are two new items I just came across on Amazon, which I've found is the best source for muzzle brakes. Better than Google, even Google Images. There is a new Ultra Low Concussion Shrouded Muzzle Brake available that looks good. There is also a Kineti-Tech Muzzle Brake with Sound Redirect, which looks to be built along the same principles. Now it used to be, the better the muzzle brake works, the more concussion you have blowing your hat off your head and annoying everyone within 30 yards or so. Looks like these offerings are supposed to be brakes without concussion. Is this like fishing lures, that catch more fishermen than fish? Or maybe these two brakes are a design revolution that will amaze everyone. Not long ago, some guys here said they were going to video some muzzle brake comparisons. That thread is out there, I can't find it. But surely there's an opinion on these brakes somewhere.

With that much ammo on hand, you're set for a very long, relaxing and prosperous retirement. Or being the local warlord after SHTF and groceries are precious. >:D

Survivalshop, At least my options are still open. There's a lot of various advertising that people offer for stuff on the ejection port cover. Like, 'Molon Labe' or 'Death to Zombies', etc. A cover in solid brass would probably get my money, just cuz.

Yeah there's a lesson there -- if you want to make headlines, get a black rifle. Equivalent firepower will put you on page 5. Maybe. Ever notice nobody does shoot-ups with FDE-colored rifles? Maybe there should be a law. >:D Heck, and when's the last time someone shot up a place with a camo gun? I see some real opportunity for law-making here. <munch>

Zero shots fired, zero injured -- but big news. An 'assault rifle' is involved. Minnesota Teen Carefully Plotted School Massacre for Maximum Carnage, Police Say http://www.nwahomepage.com/fulltext-news/d/story/minnesota-teen-carefully-plotted-school-massacre-f/21067/aPxsM_6n0UyLqOkfUAz0nw ‘Too scary to put into words’: Minnesota town blindsided by ‘normal’ teen’s massacre plot http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/minnesota-town-blindsided-normal-teen-massacre-plot-article-1.1776912 Pictured with an assault rifle: The teen who plotted to 'murder his family before going on a rampage through school setting off pressure cooker bombs, throwing Molotov cocktails and gunning down students' http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2618704/Pictured-The-teen-plotted-murder-parents-sister-rampage-school-setting-pressure-cooker-bombs-throwing-Molotov-cocktails-gunning-students.html

For those who have shot too much .308 without ear protection, here are the lyrics: http://www.songlyrics.com/gang-of-four/armalite-rifle-lyrics/

All from DPMS: 308-FTT-EA .308 A3 Receiver (Stripped) $169.95 308-UR-07 .308 Forward Assist Spring $1.75 UR-06 Forward Assist Pin $0.75 UR-08-RA Forward Assist (Round) $13.95

The lube I use is one part air compressor oil and one part brake fluid.