98Z5V

It's not the casing - it's the powder load.

That pic is almost 4 years old, guys... <lmao>

That robber was NOT expecting that. The Fur Missile whipped his a$s! I hope he ate him once it went into the street. Good Dog!!!

Same F/A that's used on other .308 stuff.

Pair of pliers and a blowtorch. Get medieval on it. DPMS loc-tited that thing on there during assembly. You'll need a good strap wrench and some heat, as well as something to hold the rifle. That's only to get the tube off - the barrel nut will probably have to go, also, so you're gonna need a barrel nut wrench. This will not be an easy fight. Someone made this battle not long ago, and the thread on it is pretty good. Someone will link it in here.

BWAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAHAHAHAAAAA!!!!!!

Oh, I'm right here! Talking about Ron's new Elite Iron bipod again? When did he get it?!

HAHA!!! <lmao> Good one, Owl. <thumbsup>

Yep, that's 3 years per stripe, saying he's completed 15 honorable years... I hate people like that. Hate 'em. There's so much $hit wrong with that dude's uniform it's not even funny.

^^^ EXACTLY what I thought!!! EXACTLY!!! <lmao> Gawd Daymit! They made a 300 Win Mag or .338 LM semi!!! WooHoo!!! Hey, wait a minute here... That's a 5.56 mag in there... <laughs>

IF you're specializing in 300BLK, how will you talk to your customers about making their own cases from 5.56 or .223 brass?... It's perfectly safe, and perfectly functional - if you do it right. Do not fear it, brother...

Another BIG one gets the big picture. This is the beginning - or middle, in a way - of a landslide. Beretta to move out of Maryland Published July 22, 2014Associated Press ACCOKEEK, Md. – Beretta U.S.A. announced Tuesday that company concerns over a strict gun-control law enacted in Maryland last year have made it necessary to move its weapons making out of the state to Tennessee. The well-known gun maker said it will move to a new production facility it is building in the Nashville suburb of Gallatin that is set to open in mid-2015. Beretta general manager Jeff Cooper said that a sweeping gun-control measure that was passed last year initially contained provisions that would have prohibited the Italian gun maker from being able to produce, store or even import into Maryland the products that the company sells around the world. While the legislation was changed to remove some of those provisions, Cooper said the possibility that such restrictions could be reinstated left the company worried about maintaining a firearm-making factory in Maryland. "While we had originally planned to use the Tennessee facility for new equipment and for production of new product lines only, we have decided that it is more prudent from the point of view of our future welfare to move the Maryland product lines in their entirety to the new Tennessee facility," Cooper said in a news release announcing the move. The company anticipates the plant in more gun-friendly Tennessee will involve a $45 million investment in building and equipment and employ about 300 people during the next five years. Beretta said it has no plans to relocate its office, administrative and executive support functions from Accokeek, Maryland. "Beretta is one of the world's great companies, and its commitment to excellence and Tennessee's rich history in manufacturing make a great match," Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam's spokesman Dave Smith said in an email. Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley pushed for the legislation last year in response to the December 2012 shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. The law, which went into effect last fall, includes a ban on 45 assault weapons and a limit on gun magazines to 10 bullets. It also contains a variety of other provisions, including a licensing requirement for handgun purchasers to submit fingerprints to the state police. "We're disappointed with this decision, but the common-sense gun safety law we passed, which includes licenses for handgun purchases, is keeping schools, communities and law enforcement personnel safe," said Nina Smith, an O'Malley spokeswoman. Beretta has operated in Italy since 1526. The family-owned company makes a variety of firearms, ranging from hunting shotguns to pistols for the U.S. Armed Forces. Beretta started operations in Maryland in the late 1970s. The plant in Accokeek makes finished pistols from raw materials for the military, law enforcement, and civilian markets. Beretta said the transition from Maryland to Tennessee will be managed so as not to disrupt deliveries to Beretta customers. The company noted that production of the U.S. Armed Forces M9 9 mm Beretta pistol will continue at Accokeek until all current orders from the U.S. Armed Forces have been filled. Cooper said no Maryland employee will be impacted for many months, and the company will meet with employees to discuss their interest in taking a position in Tennessee.

They're functioning just fine through my BLK rifles, brother. No issues whatsoever. As soon as they're shot for the first time, they're fire-formed to the chamber in the rifle, anyway. Don't tell me that you're buying loaded ammo, and not making 300Blk... <dontknow> :eek:

Nope, I'm just "that guy" that keeps wondering about the person that always has to interject or include "in actual combat..." or "In combat, we..." or something like "in sniper training, we..." or "our snipers..." I'm "that guy" that happens to find those that draw attention to themselves. You're one of those people...

That means I'm bringing some 300BLK with my in August!

^^^ Has nothing to do with that. It goes from never shooting 200 yards, to putting down a 2" group at a half mile, on your first home built rifle that is barely finished, and you've just barely shot. Then letting that go on for quite some time. It's about the rapid development of an awesome (unheard of) set of skills, in practically zero time at all.

Larry, please explain to me again, why you're not buying Lottery tickets?... <dontknow> That's AWESOME, brother!!! :hethan:

Case differences between the two - haven't tried too much .223 Rem brass yet. I'm running some Federal American Eagle "M855" brass right now that I don't think I'm going to like that much, as a BLK parent-case. I'll give updated reports on it as time goes by. Your powder charge will probably be different if you're running .223 Rem cases - don't go with the 16.1 grains of H110, under the 150 gr Hornady FMJ BT, off the bat - if you decide to run .223 cases as parent-cases.

I was reading through this thread, and wondering if this was a complete rifle that Armalite shipped to the customer, or if it had been messed with in some way... Anything at all changed from how it was delivered from the factory... Need to know what exactly (and all-inclusively) was changed from the factory rifle. Then, start looking there first...

So, please expound upon your actual combat experience...

Not annealing at this time - I will be in the future, that's for sure. Positively. I'm using the Lake City 5.56 NATO brass because they anneal it so deep - when I cut that stuff down, it's still showing signs of it's 5.56 annealing all the way under the new 300BLK shoulder. That's one of the reasons it's all I'll use right now, since I'm not doing my own annealing. Pic and link to the die set I'm using - RCBS Part # 22407: https://shop.rcbs.com/WebConnect/MainServlet?storeId=webconnect&catalogId=webconnect&langId=en_US&action=ProductDisplay&screenlabel=index&productId=6792

On my Blackout stuff, I was sorting by manufacturer, and it was a good thing. When I first started with it, I used some once-fired .223/5.56 Prvi Partizan 69-grain match cases (PPU). I love that stuff in a couple of my 5.56 precision rifles. I used a bunch of it in my initial 300BLK case-making, just because it always reloaded well for me for 5.56 heavy-loadings, and I like the brass. It doesn't like being turned into 300BLK very well, though... On the 3rd 300BLK loading, the bases of it has seen enough. They all went through the sizer die harder than the other stuff I was working on, were very hard to get out of the shell holder, and came out almost looking like small versions of belted cases. They wouldn't even go into the shell holder on the hand-priming tool after that. They went into the trash. So, by sorting by manufacturer, it was super-easy to find the rest of them that were now BLK cases, and throw them away. I'll never use them again for new 300BLK manufacture, but I sure as hell will keep loading them into heavy-pill 5.56 loads. For BLK, I'll only use Lake City 5.56 NATO, now. Moral of this story - not all brass, from all manufacturers, is of the same quality for your purposes. Sorting by manufacturer will help you later down the road.

Roman, it's gonna be hard to find AK ammo that you can reload - just depriming Berdan-primed stuff is a PITA, brother. If you want to load your own stuff for your next rifle, then you're a hell of alot better off going 300BLK, by FAR... The steps I take on this stuff is as follows. It's also subject to change if I can find any other steps that will make other steps easier... Steps for my 300BLK manufacture: 1. AR-15s get the $hit shot out of them at the range. All brass policed up. 2. All AR-15 brass (.223 Rem and 5.56 NATO) goes into the tumbler once it gets home. 3. Sort out Lake City 5.56 NATO brass - that's the only stuff I'll turn into Blackout ammo anymore. 4. Run the Lake City 5.56 brass through the mini chop saw. I was cutting it right at the neck, but that leaves ALOT of trimming. I've been cutting it a little further back now, so I have less final-trimming to do. I'll get pics next time I chop a batch up. 5. Chamfer those now-straight-walled cases heavily, with VLD chamfer bits - this is important later, and for the next step. 6. Run them through the tumbler for about 15 minutes, to clear out all the brass shavings from chopping them - don't let that stuff tear up your 300BLK dies. 7. Pull from tumbler, shake 'em out, and lube 'em up on the pad (or whatever you use). You can hit straight-walled 5.56 cases with some pretty heavy lube, and it won't hurt the brass. Typically, if you use too much lube, you're gonna dent in the shoulders of brass that you're just resizing. That's one sign of "too much lube." You can run this stuff heavy and it won't hurt new-made BLK cases - you're forming a brand new shoulder, where there wasn't one before. I've yet to have a problem on a heavy-lubed pad, and any shoulder issues when making new BLK brass. 8. Run 'em through the sizer/deprimer. 9. Leave the lube on there - don't sweat it. There's still alot of steps to go here... 10. Change dies in the press - Run them through the Swager now - get rid of those crazy Lake City primer crimps. Be aggressive with them in this step, because the new Lake CIty primer crimping is a 4-Corner affair. Lake CIty wants to make sure you never blow out a primer in their brass, and they're damn good at the primer crimping process. 11. These things are going in for final-trimming now. Put them in your trimmer - lube still on them - and cut them back to 1.363" OAL. I've been cutting them shorter now so I have less to trim. If you chop them right at the shoulder, they'll be somewhere between 1.900" and 2.000" long when you start trimming - THAT'S ALOT TO HAND-TRIM!!! I chop under the shoulder now - still experimenting - and my initial length, to start trimming, has beenin the 1.800"-something range. That's not bad. 12. You may need to hit them with the VLD chamfer tool (inner and outer) while you're trimming them down. Measure often - if you have alot to go, chamfer those fuckers. It makes it easier to trim them down. 13. Once at final trim-to size, chamfer those bastards again, inner and outer, with the VLD chamfer tool. This must be done in order to make it easier to get a good, light crimp on them later. 14. Once they're all trimmed to 1.363", they go into a small tupperware of hot soapy water. Run them all around in there, make sure you wash them good. They've got lube on them, brass shavings, gunk. The hot soapy water makes that stuff go away fast. 15. Toss in a squirt of Real Lemon, right into the soapy water, for the last 10 minutes. Makes 'em pretty. 16. Out of the water, into a small collander - hot water bath, right under the faucet, to clear all that soap and lemon juice out. 17. Onto the paper towels, out into the AZ sun, to dry out. Takes less than 10 minutes here, in the middle of the day, in the summer... 18. Into the tumbler again. Polish 'em up. 19. Clear them out from the tumbler, take them back inside ('cause it's summer in AZ...). 20. Prime those bastards up. I'm running CCI 400 small rifle primers in mine. 21. Measure/drop powder. I'm running 150 grain Hornady FMJ BT projectiles, so I'm running 16.1 grains of H110 powder under them. It's very, very damn close to a compressed load in this small case. 22. Seat your bullets. 23. Toss on a light taper-crimp, if your dies don't already do this for you. I've been using the RCBS AR-Series 300BLK Small Base Die Set. The seater die has a crimp function built right into it - all in the same motion. Once you hit that final depth on the seating, it crimps it, too. No separate action the their AR-Series Dies. All in one. Saved one step that way... <lmao> There you go. That's the process I take to turn Lake City 5.56 NATO brass into 300BLK ammo. Might seem excessive, but those steps are there for a reason. I sure as hell hope I didn't leave a step out - I don't think I did... <laughs> Fire off any questions, guys. If a step I'm doing doesn't make sense, hit me up on it. I'll either explain why I do it, or change what I'm doing... <thumbsup>

Cut the 5.56 brass off just below the shoulder, so it's a straight-walled case. After they're formed, trim to a final length of 1.363" and prime and load them. <thumbsup> I'll list up all the steps I take on this stuff. I've added a few steps as I've gone along, just to make the next step easier.

That's my next build - short BLK on Roger's lower, new AP upper and rail. Can't wait to start that one!