Andrew Blade

Life After- A Sorta Nation Prepping RP

The big thing about the 6.5 Creed is its ballistic coefficient. It shoots flatter, but it also has better wind resistance than the .308. It's more popular among precision shooters, but it does have slightly less terminal performance than the .308.

accuracy-tech.com/6-5-creedmoor-vs-30…

The Sig 716 DMR in 6.5 Creedmoor Was just announced at SHOT show. I only know because it was in a video they had about the Sig MCX one-stamp integrally suppressed upper receiver that they also show-cased (if I didn't already own one, I might go that route, but they have a 6.75" barrel, and I really like 9" for my .300 BLK).

Right now I carry a Springfield XDM in a 9mm. I fell in love with the ergonomics of the grip and intuitive safety system, along with the fiber-optic front sight contrasted by the white rear sights. It has a 19-round magazine. Throw another one in my pocket, and I'm basically prepared to handle whatever comes my way. My next handgun purchase though (if it's not the Sig P365, because concealing a pistol with a 19-round magazine is a pain) is going to be a Sig Sauer P226 Tac Ops. I love the trigger feel of the double/single hammer-fired system and the de-cocker, along with the amazing way the grip feels in my palm and the four 20-round magazines that come standard with the pistol. If you can't tell, I have kind of become a Sig fanboy.

Life After- A Sorta Nation Prepping RP

<Snipped quote by Andrew Blade>

I thought that both the 6.8 and .40 and 10mm came from the... taka taka
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.30_Remington
So you can neck down any larger into a smaller. But not in reverse. That dog wont hunt.

Yes, i was aware that carrier tilt was a general problem plaguing ARs, i thought i'd get away with it for a while and didnt want to make the budget list into indevidual rifle components, thats why i included a littel redundancy, but HEY! I have a CNC that can make carrier shims or whatever.

I notice you hate the .40 :) i dont. And i think ive stolen a bit of a march on you. Heres my thinking. No Civilian or police pistol caliber will penetrate body armour these days. So what do they have to penetrate? A glass windshield for a start. So what do you do when your using a 9mm? Go up to 147 grain so it penetrates and doesnt dowhateveritdoes? But the 9mm loses some of its appealing characteristics when its as heavy as 147, range for one. Do you know what round has all the benefits and none of the drawbacks? Its the .357sig! ofco... i mean the .40+P! The .40 already has a projectile thats ~145gr and can fit enough powder to make sure it goes through that glass/wood/cardoor. Infact with a .40 you can make it replicate any caliber from a 9 to .357sig to light 10mm load, without having to switch platforms. I dont hate the .40! I hate the 9!

@Banzai Tracers

You are right about the .40 and the 10mm and the 6.8 SPC! I am so sorry. Please forgive my ignorance. I hadn't done my due diligence on the 6.8 SPC except to know that it came in SPC and SPC II and that it was better at close range than the 6.5 Grendel but worse at long range. I did some digging, and you are right- both are made from the .30 Remington. I am so sorry for putting my foot in my mouth, and I genuinely appreciate the opportunity to educate myself. Well done, sir.

And I will agree that the .40 is versatile (much like my .300 BLK), but I still can't get over the lack of magazine capacity and muzzle flip for the tiny boost in power (in factory ammo, hand-loading is another story, but you reload other calibers to better powers as well). I actually like a 154gr Federal HST round in a +P 9mm for most of the work I feel I need to do. And if I think I'm going to need penetration, I stagger in 124gr FMJ loads. If I want range, I'll bring out my .300 BLK SBR.

Edit:

@Andrew Blade@Banzai Tracers

Alright folks. You can put the firearm dicks away- no need to bring out the rulers as well.

@Irredeemable

I don't think you have to worry, Irredeemable. I don't think he seems the type to get butt-hurt about someone disagreeing with his opinion, and I'm certainly not, nor am I one to argue a point when I can just do some research and discover that I'm wrong and admit to it. In fact, judging from Banzai's comments, we seem to complement each other well in our different tastes.

Also, Banzai, did you see Sig came out with a 716 DMR chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor? Thought you might enjoy that if you hadn't.

Life After- A Sorta Nation Prepping RP

I am super-duper sorry, Banzai. I love LWRC's stuff, and I was a huge fan of their move into the piston world, but you're gonna have a bad time with an LWRC piston gun after a few thousand rounds. LWRC does not use a BCG/buffer-tube combo that prevents carrier tilt, and after a while, that BCG is going to be scraping against the base of the buffer tube. It might not be a deal breaker for you, but if you're planning on getting them for their durability... In the real world, you would be disappointed after a while.

In addition, the 6.8 SPC does not use .40 casings, not even close. the .40 casing is way way way too short to accomodate the 6.8 round, not to mention the 6.8 is 6.8 mm and the .40 is 10mm in diameter. The 6.8 SPC and SPC II use the .30 Remington case.

I love the Sig 716 DMR :) They solved the carrier tilt problem by using a proprietary BCG design that floats the bcg over the buffer tube floor.

Life After- A Sorta Nation Prepping RP

I like it. :D

Life After- A Sorta Nation Prepping RP

Oh! And don't ever get a rifle chambered in 5.56 "because in the case of the apocalypse, everybody else has the same thing, so ammo will be everywhere!"

... If you find ammo laying around, you know what else is probably within the vicinity? A firearm chambered in that caliber. No one is going to take a dead guy's AR-15, but leave all of his ammo for the next guy to grab. If you scavenge ammo, you're also scavenging guns, so no need to get the most popular offering just because it's compatible. There will be no shortage of compatible weapon systems.

Life After- A Sorta Nation Prepping RP

On the contrary, the New Mexico is connected to the Rocky Mountains, so it can get quite cold, and in northern New Mexico there is large swaths of forest land.

@Andrew Blade

@Dusty

Huh, learn something new every day, I guess.

Life After- A Sorta Nation Prepping RP

@Andrew Blade

Did you ever critique my guns by the way?

@Irredeemable

I did not, actually. I think the word "Sample" caused me to gloss over it, since you were the GM.

A CRAZY long explanation of my opinion of your choice in pistol calibers. TL/DR? Your Glock 22 is fine. I just hate the .40 S&W

You chose a Glock chambered in .40 S&W. There is nothing wrong with this at all, many people make the same choice, but I want to provide an out of character perspective for you to decide if you'd like that to transfer to in-character or not. Many people select the .40 S&W over the 9mm or the .45 because they believe it is the perfect middle ground between the power of the .45 and the low recoil and magazine capacity of the 9mm. This is strictly my opinion, but I think you might find it to be a very popular one among the firearms community- the .40 S&W is the worst of both worlds, rather than the best.

The .40 S&W was actually invented as the 10mm back in the late 1980's. After a bank robbery in 1986 in which the FBI ended up losing several agents, they decided that their standard-issue 9mm and .380 pistols were not powerful enough, so they commissioned a new round to be designed that would provide at least 500 psi of force on target impact. And so Sig Sauer developer their Sig P220 chambered in 10mm and it proved to be more than capable. It quickly became apparent, however, that the round was actually too powerful. Not only was the recoil difficult for smaller agents to manage, the size of the round meant that grips were wider to accommodate a magazine filled with larger bullets, so smaller hands had an even more difficult time trying to hang on. In addition, the powerful round was actually beginning to destroy the firearms that were chambered for it. Frames and barrels were found to need replaced at a rate that was unacceptable for standard wear and tear.

So, Smith & Wesson came along and they took the 10mm and trimmed the casing down so it was carrying less powder. The bullet slowed down, the power behind it decreased, and it became much easier to manage. The FBI and several other police agencies began purchasing pistols chambered in the new caliber quickly.

Fast forward to the modern era, and our metallurgy and manufacturing techniques have advanced considerably. No longer is the 10mm too powerful for the barrels and frames it operates in. Still, it is a very powerful round, and because it was not adopted as originally expected by the FBI, it did not gain the popularity that the primary 3 calibers (.45 ACP, 9x19mm Luger/Parabellum, and .40 Smith & Wesson), and so the price remained much higher due to lack of demand.

As technology advanced in the realm of durability of firearms, so too did it grow in the realm of ballistics. Over-pressurized ammunition (known as +P and +P+) made it was on to the market, as well as new projectile designs that produced significantly more devastating soft-tissue damage to a living target. This mean that a +P 9mm jacketed hollow point (JHP) round was capable of delivering even more powerful terminal performance on target than the original .40 S&W. Now, the .40 S&W was also able to receive the same upgrade in technology, but with the 9mm capable of doing as much or more damage than the initial offering of the .40, many shooters began to see the benefits of the 9mm's lower-recoil (much easier to get back on target for follow-up shots) and extended magazine capacity (in some magazines, 19 rounds vs 14). And so, gradually many professional shooters and law-enforcement began to transition back to the 9mm, except on the military side, where many service members still prefer something chambered in .45 ACP over 9mm or .40 S&W because the Geneva Conventions mandate that they have to use non-expanding ammunition (full metal jacket, or FMJ), because of the tendency for hollow-point ammo to cause more devastating wounds that would be considered inhumane.

Anyway, what that whole long story means, is that I fucking hate the .40 S&W and I will deter anyone who ever comes to me when they're thinking about buying a pistol thinking it might be a good option. If you have to choose, choose either the 9mm or the .45. Screw the middle ground. Or, if you're ballsy enough, just go straight 10mm. If you can handle the recoil on a .45, you can probably handle the 10mm, and you will have an absolute cannon in your holster. If you want to stick with Glock- the 19 is popular for carrying, though not as large as the 17, and both are chambered in 9mm. The 20, the 40, and the 26 are chambered in 10mm, though the 26 is much smaller, and the 40 has a six-inch barrel vs the 20's five-inch. In .45, the Glock 21 is a popular full-size offering.

Now that I have gotten past my unnecessarily long explanation of my opinion on personal choice of pistol calibers...

AR-15 options! Yay!

Your AR-15 is a great choice for something versatile, lightweight, easy to operate, and accurate. The most likely scenario is that it is chambered in the venerable 5.56x45mm NATO round (aka, .223), but since the AR is such a versatile platform, you actually have some options. Bushmaster carries their AR-15 in offerings for 5.56 as well as my personal close-to-middle-range choice- .300 Blackout, and they've actually become known for a less popular, but very interesting chambering called .450 Bushmaster.


From left to right- 5.56, 6.5 Grendel (my favorite for anything out past 200m), .300 Blackout, and the .450 Bushmaster as I mentioned.

I only bring up those four out of the wide variety of options in the AR-15 platform, because you stated that it was a Bushmaster, meaning it was bought off the shelf. Honestly, I'm not even positive Bushmaster makes an AR-15 in 6.5 Grendel, but I included it in that picture because A) It was a giant pain in the ass to find a picture with 5.56, .450 Bushmaster, and .300 Blackout, so you got the 6.5 for free, and B) I love the 6.5 Grendel.

5.56 shoots flat, but it's weaker than the other three options here. The .300 Blackout is great if you want to run a suppressor or a short barrel rifle (I could write another book on this), but it doesn't shoot as flat as the 5.56 or the 6.5, and the 6.5 has longer range and more power. The .450 Bushmaster does not shoot as flat as any of these rounds, but it will deliver more force on impact than any of the other three rounds. But you will not have as many rounds in a magazine (5.56 and .300 BLK will both fit 30 in a standard AR mag, 6.5 Grendel requires proprietary magazines, but you can get 25 in there), recoil will be substantial, and your range will be limited to approx 150 meters.

Anyway, next option.

Bolt Guns

The Remington 700 is a tried and true bolt-action platform for most hunters. Like the previous offering, it comes in a wide variety of calibers. .308 is a popular one, but there's also .223, .300 Blackout, 6.5 Creedmore, .30-06, .270 Win, 204 Ruger, 243 Win, 7mm, 6mm Creedmore... I am probably forgetting a few.



If your characters are going for typical choice, the .308- like I said- is pretty popular. Below that, you would go with .223, though it is much less powerful than the .308. The 6.5 Creed is much more popular than the .308 among long-range competition shooters- it shoots flatter, but it has a bit less power on target. The .30-06 was the initial chambering of the Springfield M1 Garand, which was popular in WWII, and it is a pretty powerful option. The others I have less personal experience with, but I know they make for solid deer-hunting options.

The Remington 700 comes in a wide variety of stock and barrel options too- from 18" short, threaded barrels made to accept a suppressor and a simple wood stock to 26" precision 6.5 Creedmore barrels with a fully-adjustable, synthetic tactical stock, so you kind of have to decide what purpose you want it for. My suggestion? The .308 in a black synthetic stock with a 20" barrel is pretty common and can handle almost any application.

As for your choice of shotgun, I am a big fan of Benelli's semi-auto series, except for their price. This is a very expensive shotgun, and stands out considerably among your collection, because most of the other guns are priced on the lower-end of the spectrum. A Mossberg 930 would be much cheaper and still effective as a semi-auto shotgun if you want to stay along the same theme for your characters. Or you could always just make up a very valid reason to have it, or not, it really doesn't matter- just an observation.

... If anyone wants to know, I've done a tour in Afghanistan, spent 3 years with a Long Range Surveillance (LRS) company (we're bad-ass airborne infantry, just ask us /kind-of-sort-of-not-really sarcasm) and I currently serve as an engineer with the national guard. I've built one AR-15 (in .300 BLK, of course), and I'm currently building my second (in 6.5 Grendel), and my night job is selling guns.

Life After- A Sorta Nation Prepping RP

A few notes on my application (WIP place holder)

@Banzai Tracers

The anticipation is killing me, seriously. In all honesty, I just want to see and critique your guns and offer suggestions.

Life After- A Sorta Nation Prepping RP

LOL... "Three Dwag"

I hope that wasn't a typo and it's actually Dwag

Edit: Dammit, it wasn't.

Also, hooray for being in the middle of the country.

Life After- A Sorta Nation Prepping RP