28 years ago
 

I bought my first AR, a 13 pound behemoth caller the RRA varminter. I was really impressed with the way the thing shot. that year I was averaging 94% first round hits on woodchucks from 350 to 440 yards, even managed to hit two at 500. carried that beast for miles hunting groundhogs and crows in the river bottom hay fields of eastern wv.
Even though I also possessed a Ruger #1V in 22-250 I carried the RRA because I was so much more accustomed to the trajectory of the 223, with the 250 I was good from 200 to 350 yards and then things got iffy.
With the new push toward gun control from the democratic trolls in DC I did what I always do, went out and bought another EBR (evil black rifle) this is my 5th one, I decided to go with the AR10 platform and after hearing about a round called the 50 Krater, ordered a lower. Well the 50 is not yet available for some reason so I ordered a verioforce tactical 22" complete upper in 6.5 creedmoor. still some work to be done on it, needs a trigger for one and a change in optics. That will have to wait due to the fact that the engine blew in my '03 dodge 3500 work truck, so there goes 5 grand of play money ( course 3 days before the cummins grenaded I purchased a bass boat, that didn't help much)
Anyway, these darn things are getting heavier as I approach my 60th birthday, not sure what it weighs but not sure how much I can carry it. Y'all have a good day

RR

What!!!! You have a Black Rifle (I can't make myself say evil) without a beautiful walnut stock! Oh the perfidy!

:jaw:


p.s. Happy Birthday in advance. Youngin!! :party:

Noice. :cool2:

Hey RR I know what you mean about the heft of those AR-10s. Compared to my AR-15 my 10 seems to weigh almost twice as much. And getting an upper in a 6.5 CM I believe you will be pleasantly surprised with it. Can't wait to see the range results.

was looking forward to see how it will run some 140 Bergers but that will be postponed till mid summer, been an exciting winter, sent a rifle off to be built in 338 edge, then bought the AR, then a to good to turn down deal came up on a bass boat, the next day the engine in my dodge 3500 dropped a valve leaving the engine ruined. Thats 2 months pay to get it up and running. will post results of roadwork as they come up. Life is still good!
RR

It's only money. And with Christ by your side you'll be fine. Keep them in the 10 ring!

scored on a RRA NM trigger that some guy replaced with a Giselle single stage, I tried them both, I think I prefer the RRA, gave the guy 40 bucks for it.
RR

Maybe I'm just not used to my Geisselle single stage, that I put on one of my RRA's...but it seems way too fast for me; even though I don't have the light hammer spring installed on it --- Like it's way too easy for me to bumpfire with it.

For reliability in combat training courses...I would not rely on the RRA match trigger group, or possibly even the Giselle types; since I'll stick with mil-spec hammers in such scenarios --- due to the spindly looking (breakable) hammers of most of the other trigger groups for the AR's.

I still love the beefy looking hammers in my AK's.

Erno86 - have you broken many Geissele or Rock River match triggers? Have you specifically broken them during the defensive carbine type classes you referenced? Is there a certain number of rounds you expect these to fail, or are you also suggesting these fail due to a rate of fire contribution as well? Could you comment to the incorrect selection that military agencies have specified the Geissele triggers in some campaign rifles? Could you also comment to the design differences between the Army SDMR trigger from KAC which has a thinner neck and larger head than the RRA and Geissele hammers which would make the KAC somehow more durable than the lower inertia Geissele or RRA?

Of course not. he has only seen black guns in pictures, he never owned one. All hat and no cowboy!

I've broken three Rock River Match hammers. All occurred at around the three thousand round mark --- Only the incidents occurred while using a 22 long rifle dedicated upper. Rock River replaced the trigger groups for free. But I later switched to a mil-spec hammer --- Though I have mothballed my two dedicated 22 uppers...due to the danger of OOB's occurring. The OOB's happened three times for me...though fortunately, no one was hurt. Appleseed has banned the use of 22 lr S&W M&P 15's in their competitions, some years ago, due to the danger of OOB's occurring. Though the dedicated 22 uppers I used were not Smith & Wesson.

I believe it was Clint Smith...of Thunder Ranch Training Academy, who insisted that anyone going to train at Gunsite...only use a mil-spec hammer in their AR's --- due to evidence of match grade hammers breaking during training. He also advised them to bring an extra mil spec hammer and other assorted AR parts.

I have never used a KAC hammer in any of my AR's...but I'll check into it --- Thanks

Interesting that you had three OOB events and broke three hammers at 3 thousand rounds... What other fictitious series of 3 have you had........

Interestingly enough, I have over 20,000 rounds on one of my RRA National Match triggers, and the only thing I have done to it is replace the hammer spring and disconnector spring, as I fell below the minimum 4.5lb trigger pull required for Service Rifle as my springs aged (tuned to be 4.5lbs when new). Another RRA Varmint has trigger has around 8,000 on it currently. One of my Geisseles NM 2 stage triggers is over 15,000 rounds over it, with no hiccups. I install a handful of these triggers every year still, if they were breaking for the high volume shooters who buy from/through me, I’d certainly have heard about it. Many of these guys are pumping out 3,000 rounds in a month or so.

:biggrin::biggrin::cool2::happy0001::D:hail:

You sound quite sure with yourself...like you've been reading tomorrow's newspapers.:action-smiley-099:

I would not stake my life on a non mil-spec AR hammer.

"Rock River Arms National Match Trigger - Failure and Repair"


In the vid...the hammer piece broke-off in the same exact place as my 3 other Rock River Match hammers.

I am very sure of myself and my judgement.

Can you comment to support your opinion of the “thin” design of the Geissele match hammer, compared to the thinner necked Mil-spec hammer with a greater head mass?

Have you ever actually seen these components side by side? Or ever?

I’m coming up on my 20yr anniversary with the AR this month. I bought a Spanish Mauser at a local gunshow in the fall of ‘99, which was mis-identified as a 7x57. After a week with it at home, I sought help from a local smith who had done some Garand work for my Service Rifle the year before, in hopes to identify the chambering - turned out to be a 308win, rebarreled with a Springfield Dual Groove. I began apprenticing under the smith shortly thereafter; an old school Mauser and Garandsmith who favored the 70 and turned his nose up at 700’s coming into his shop, and who abhorred AR’s. As a Garand builder for Service Rifle competitors at that time, he was seeing a lot of loyal customers turn toward AR’s, and he was too stubborn to welcome the new business, high customer demand and low labor demand as it was. I none-to-subtly suggested he let me take on the AR builds/rebuilds he didn’t want to keep old and draw new customers, and by March I’d swapped time for parts and built my own Service Rifle (to the tune of about $200). Bushmaster A2 clone with a Krieger barrel and their 2 Stage National Match trigger, nothing fancy, but compliant with NRAHP/CMP, and certainly shot smaller at 600yrds than I was capable.

Fast forward to today, I’ve built and rebuilt over 600 AR’s, uppers, and lowers, over 200 from the ground up. I’m much slower in the last ~8yrs than I was in the 2000’s, but I still crank out a dozen or so every year - I’m sitting on 8 uppers and complete rifles in queue at my bench right now.

Wait for it!!!!:D