Lone Ranger from United States, TX Public Profile

Running this on my MK18 10.3” that is suppressed full time. The MK18 is inherently violent out of the box. It was designed to eat anything and the designers erred on the side of caution in that it slams the round into the chamber with a vengeance ensuring reliability above all else. It is also notorious for premature breakages in bolt and carrier. If you’re shooting one that belongs to Uncle Sam, you can’t afford a failure but at least it doesn’t come out of your check. This one is mine and I’d like it to run fail zero. To get that done, I wanted to lighten the bolt carrier (added a JPBC-3A low mass bolt carrier with enhanced bolt) and move the weight into this JPSCS2-15H2 buffer assembly. This speeds the bolt up but, because it is significantly lighter, dramatically reduces the mass that normally ‘slams’ the bolt home. I also added a Superlative adjustable gas block allowing me to tune the entire package into what is the least violent, lowest recoil AR I have ever shouldered. If running unsuppressed, you would want to add a muzzle brake instead to achieve the same results. Followup shots are effortless. This setup is absolutely as good as it gets for a short barrel gas gun…period. Top shelf parts = top shelf performance and Optics Planet can’t be beat on price or service. A+++. As an aside, yes it is quieter than a mil spec buffer assy. THAT IS NOT WHY YOU SHOULD BUY THIS. IT’S JUST A PLEASANT SIDE EFFECT. BUY THIS TO REDUCE RECOIL AND IMPROVE RELIABILITY ON YOUR AR.

So, this is on the higher end of the price spectrum for a rifle sling. I will say that, not having seen one in the field, I was a bit nervous that I would be disappointed when I got it. I was wrong. The quality of materials and construction are top shelf. But the design features are what set this one apart from others. To begin, I don’t particularly care for slider adjustable slings. I’ve never really found one that was really useful throughout the adjustment range I needed and the sliders themselves leave much to be desired. I have always been partial to a fixed length two point adjusted to just long enough to be functional with my plate carrier on.
This sling is comfortable and really goes a step further. The fact that I can use the bungie section to make slack a variable AND lock it out with the extra buckle had me drilling and transitioning for a couple hours. I couldn’t put it down. For me, slings are like holsters. Everybody has that box of failures in the closet. Not this one.
I’m running it on my supressed MK18 which is my go to rifle that I train with at least bi-weekly. I’ll give it a few months and update on durability, but… yikes I like this thing.

So, I bought this scope for a 400yd AR build. Needed a solid cqb optic capable of reaching out to mid-range targets when necessary. As has always been my experience, Vortex did not disappoint. At 1x you get a crisp, uncluttered picture with a brilliant red dot. Dial it up and a well thought out ranging BDC Reticle comes into view. Because it is first focal plane, the graduations are correct at any magnification. The glass is better than I anticipated for a scope at this price. Once properly zeroed, putting rounds on target at various ranges with no elevation adjustments is a breeze. After a hundred rounds or so, transitioning from 100 to 300 to 200 yards is seamless and reliably accurate. I have but a single complaint… it is moa based versus mrad. Given that it’s a bdc optic, it isn’t a deal breaker, but wish that was an option. Gotta give this one an A+ regardless. Well done Vortex.

This is a tiny piece of plastic. The concept is sound and it definitely has a place as I love paranoid attached slings, but this is a $10-$15 piece of gear at best. I get I have to pay for the R&D and initial set up cost associated with manufacturing, but Edgar went a little off the reservation on this one.

This stuff was a game changer for my suppressed MK18. Really clean low flash powder properly charged to match an SB AR. Hard hitting, accurate at SBR distances and lends itself to a suppressed platform nicely. Minimal fouling, nearly zero flash which really shows up while using NVGs or NV optics. Honestly pretty affordable for the quality / technology you get in return. Bought 200 rds to try it out. Just bought 1000 more for the shelf. A+ on this one from our friends at Hornady.

I’m running this on a MK18 (full time suppressed) which was violently over gassed out of the box. Bearing in mind that it was engineered specifically to be fired dirty and in austere conditions, that resulted in the trade off with respect to durability in favor of reliability. The bolt carrier group and buffer assembly have a much lower useable service life expectancy than the rifle and carbine versions of the AR platform. This gas block allows me to not only control the amount of gas that is used to cycle the action VERY accurately, but it does it by expelling the hot gasses and fouling debris out the front end of the weapon versus just choking it off (= a filthy weapon very quickly). The weapon really runs much cleaner (= more reliably when suppressed) and 16% cooler on average (measured via infrared thermometer). This block does everything these guys said it would and the construction is solid. It took me ~15 rounds to dial it in and I rolled through the balance of 500 rounds in one session at a relatively fast pace. No cycling issues at all and the adjustment mechanism is clean and not bound up with carbon (very common mode of failure with typical adjustable gas blocks that don’t vent). I ordered two more today to retrofit my 14.5” and a 16” versions. A+ on this one kids, well done.

I own 4 of these - 2 on G45s and 2 on G19s. They live in Safariland 6378USN-283-701 holsters and the fit is fine. I run mine in light + laser mode all the time. Changing modes is a bad plan when bad things are happening and training in the mode you will use when bad things happen is advisable. I don’t use the activate on draw feature. There are situations where you don’t want your light on. The switches are big and tactile. The adjustment range for zero is more than adequate. The adjustment screws ARE loose and require a very small (no drips) amount of threadlocker (blue) to be applied to the threads. Zero the laser, count turns as you back the screw out, use a toothpick to apply only enough threadlocker to wet the threads and reinsert with the same number of turns you used to remove. Screw is tiny, be careful. You’ll have 2-3 minutes to adjust before the threadlocker sets up. I’ve put hundreds of rounds through each of those guns and zero holds up on all of them. Light is bright enough, laser is great unless you’re in bright daylight. In this price range you won’t find a better combo IMO. A- is for the threadlocker.

Well built, well thought out design. Allows you to securely move a holster from chest rig to belt to dash to anyplace else you want to mount a receiver half without needing to remove the weapon first. Allows for some adjustability for cant and such and is compatible with several different mounting options. Solid kit like everything else Safariland makes.

What a well made holster. Retention is solid and fit is excellent. Note that this is a working man’s holster versus a concealment holster. The firearm does not hug your body, rather it stands away enough to make drawing with essential speed and repeatability possible. It was purpose built for duty applications and excels in that realm. The ALS system is smooth, decisive and intuitive both on draw and reholster. Having both the belt loop and paddle parts included makes it very versatile as well. I generally shy away from paddle style holsters as the stability tends to lack, but not on this one. The paddle is very stable and ‘locks’ to your belt via a sturdy tab that acts like a hook. Donning and doffing are both easy with a bit of practice. Another winner from Safariland.

I have been carrying the Multicam version for several years now. Very durable materials of construction and room for everything. I especially like the closure. It’s simple and secure. Also has several places where you can stash an extra hundo that you don’t want the wife snatching! A definite winner that I would recommend highly.