guest article

GUEST ARTICLE
As usual, my regular article posted at the regular time.  I'm grateful for this guest article.  I blathered on with second hand info and he gives you personal experiance.  Onward!
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My quest for a .30 caliber semiauto MBR

I have been reading Jim’s wisdom for 3 years and while I do disagree with him about peak oil, (I think there is lots of it to be had, [Gull island in Alaska has possibly enough for the U.S. for 200 years] TPTB will severely limit our access to it, or control it so it is yet another monopoly). Either way, we are going to pay more for energy and therefore it is an issue.

I am not new to putting stuff away, and have my own nitrogen setup to long-term pack stuff. There is a guest article on it here at the Bison blog, and there is also a radio archive with notes on suppliers on how to do it step-by-step on Buckshot’s Survival Hour. The archive can be found at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/buckshot59 then go to the April 21, 2010 show and you can download it for free. The point is that I have most of the basics covered, but am certainly not done.

I took a multi-tiered approach to guns:

There are .22’s, but that is beyond the scope of this See-if-Jim-Sets-An-Upper-Limit-On-Words guest article.

Pistol – Rock Island Officers size 1911 in .45 ACP. Throat polished so it feeds hollow points just fine. Very reliable.

Backup pistol – Colt WWII vintage GI model 1911 .45 ACP
Hideout pistol – North American Arms .22 Mag with extra cylinder for .22 long rifle

Handouts (If the time comes) Asst. Hi-Points
Pistol ammo – At least 400 rounds each

I’m not saying this is the end of the pistol list, just all I’m mentioning at this time.

Shotguns: A brace of Mossberg 500A’s that will accept 2 ¾” or 3” 12 guage shells with at least 200 rounds each

Remington 700 .308 Winchester Bull barrel, Leupold Vari - X III 3 ½ - 10 x 50 scope, with a Harris bipod. Very accurate.

Remington 700 .270 Winchester with see-through scope rings so you can still use the iron sights, Nikon Prostaff 3x9x40 scope

Remington 700 .30-06 with iron sights.

A brace of Mosin Nagants, one with a turned-down bolt and Bushnell 4 x 12 x 40 scope

For something that hits a bit harder, there is the custom Czech Mauser chambered in .375 H & H magnum. Think of it as a poor man’s 50 cal. It moves a 300 gr. projectile at 2600 FPS. It can shoot soft point, FMJ, or my personal favorite ‘Solids’. Basically a 300 gr. bullet shaped piece of brass moving out at 2600 FPS. If the eco-Nazis put Kevlar on the deer, it won’t matter. The muzzle energy is 2.1 tons from this rush-to-shoot-guaranteed-smile-maker. I am a bit short on ammo for this one with only 189 rounds. All other bolt guns have at least 300 rounds.

There are dies for the calibers listed, (except .22’s) as well as hundreds of pounds of lead, 20 bullet moulds to make pistol and rifle projectiles, at least 2000 primers and at least 2 pounds of powder.

So now that the bolt guns are covered, let’s move on to the subject many have been waiting for …….Semiautos.

I had to have the obligatory 7.62x39 so I chose a Norinco Mak 90 with chrome-lined barrel. This thing will digest anything I put in it. They normally shoot a projectile slightly larger than a .30 cal at .311 - .312. I slugged the barrel and discovered it was .314! No wonder it eats anything. I consider this to be about a 150 yard gun. Not a tack driver by any means, but I wouldn’t want to be within 200 yards, and within 150 yards it works just fine, and very reliable. There are at least 3,000 rounds for it.

Now being American and all, I wanted something with a bit more horsepower, so the quest began.

I cashed out most of my gold to fund this project and was determined to find a rifle I liked in a MBR caliber. A box magazine was mandatory. Since there isn’t a box magazine fed .375 H & H mag, I had to settle for the .308. The Browning BAR in .30-06 is an interesting option, but decided against it. Between the cost of the rifle and mags, it was just too much. The Garand is a great rifle, and I got an original Springfield but decided to sell it to fund other options.

The FAL was an option, but the mags are now up to about $20 - $25 dollars and there is the issue of inch or metric versions. The parts kits are mostly dried up too. To get a non-Century built one they run around $1300 for a well-built rifle.

An M14 / M1A / SOCOM was a good option, however, I don’t like how scppes mount, the mags are $25 plus each, (I have heard ok reports on the import Korean mags) the gas tube system can be very picky on ammo, parts have become quite high, and the surplus stuff for these is long since gone. Many are bringing $1100 - $1500 or more sometimes.

I had previously purchased a CETME and WOW was that a learning experience. One of those expensive lessons that you tend to remember. The idea was to get a rifle that could use HK-91 parts for the most part, (There are exceptions) cheap surplus HK-91 mags, (Cheaper than dirt has aluminum mags for 97 cents and steel ones for $1.98) and initial cost of around $500. I did what was needed to get it working pretty well and sold it to someone who wanted a ‘Project’. With newfound knowledge on these benchmarks of craftsmanship, every single one that I have looked at since has had issues. Iron sights welded on crooked, which is pretty common, ground bolt head (Been through that already), HK-91 mags don’t fit, and generally a poorly made receiver. Want to put a scope on it? The claw-type scope mounts that squeeze the top of the receiver often cause the bolt to not function. (Now there’s an interesting undocumented feature) These guns could have been terrific, and there are some who claim to have good working examples, but they tend not to come up for sale.

HK-91’s are quite good and $2000 - $3000, so I’ll pass. Note that many are 3 – 4 MOA. There are lots of surplus parts right now, mags are the best bargain out there, but not worth that much money to me. Pretty hard on brass too.

The PTR-91 was another option, kind of like a CETME that was built right, but they do have their own issues, with being picky on some ammo, and quite hard on brass. Using a fluted-chamber isn’t too much of a problem, but it does leave an interesting striping on the shoulder and neck. The extractor is the real culprit, yanking it out violently and then the case smacks against the receiver putting a nice dent up near the shoulder. Can’t reload those too many times. You can put a port buffer to ease the dinging on the brass or some have used a rubber tube cut and strategically placed on the receiver. These typically run $1100 – $1300.

How about a French MAS in .308? Never fired and only dropped once. Actually they are good rifles, but $50 mags and limited parts availability take them out of the contest.
SCAR anyone? Not for me. Way expensive and limited support. I could think of much better ways to spend $3k, even if I had that much money.

DPMS and Armalite both make a .308s based on the Stoner AR design. They are somewhat different, and the mags do not interchange. I picked the DPMS version. Similar to a Sportical, but with a medium contour 16” free floating barrel and a muzzle break. They are very accurate (This one can have 3 rounds cloverleaf at 100 yards) and 20 round mags can be had for about $20. A Leupold Vari-X III 3x9x40 went on the roof easily, but iron sights? Now it gets difficult. I like BUIS (Back Up Iron Sights) you never know when your scope will get broken, out of alignment, or there is a close-up shot that is not a good choice to follow in glass. Many people including the builder want you to turn it 45 degrees to use BUIS. If I wanted to shoot something sideways, I would have bought a Glock!

It is accurate, but you are still dealing with a Stoner design. The bolt carrier group issues are resolved and has enough mass to accomplish the task nicely. It is much heavier than I anticipated and kind of duplicates the placement rifle role of the bolt gun with an autoloader. Not the fast-pointing carbine that I had envisioned. They are pretty gentle on brass, so that is a plus.

The Com-bloc does have some interesting options and I already support Mosin Nagants. A real Dragnov will run about $2000, but there is a different version that is called a PSL. They are similar but do have some key differences. The 7.62x54R cartridge uses a .311 - .312 projectile which are larger than the .308 counterparts. I usually get Hornady 3120 projectiles in .312 for reloading 7.62x39 and 7.62x54R, however, the choices are limited compared to .308 offerings. 7.62x54R brass is also expensive, but an option is to buy Privi ammo and reload it after shooting of course. To custom load for a rifle to get to it’s potential accuracy would be much more expensive than .308. The last straw against this platform was the mags. They only hold 10 rounds, are $22.50 - $25 each, and often require fitting to the rifle. Not so gentle on brass either.

The next generation of AK's are called Saiga. They make a .308 Winchester / 7.62 NATO chambered rifle that many are hitting pie plate sized targets at 600 yards 7 out of 10 shots. So it is pretty accurate, mags are available in 8, 10, 20, 25, and 50 round drums. The best deal on mags is the $22.99 25 round version IMO.

The Saiga's have a built in scope mount rail on the side so you can get a cantilever mount for them. Pull off, use iron sights, put on and you're rollin' with glass of your choice. I mounted a Leupold Vari-X IIc, 3x9x40. Older, used, but works pretty well. With a 16” barrel, it is the lightweight hard-hitting carbine I have wanted. Not bad for about $500. Easier on brass than a CETME, but not as gentle as the DPMS. Now to get that folding stock for it…….

So to recap. For longer range, the bolt guns are it. The DPMS will reach out quite a ways, and I may get a longer barrel for just that purpose. For a lightweight carbine, the Saiga is the hands down winner IMO. This is just what worked for me, I would be interested in what solutions you have come up with. Let the debate begin!

MOFreedom

Mofreedom2@yahoo.com