D
Dervish
Guest
So, I figure I'm not the only one here who enjoys the finer things in life like owning a few boomsticks and killing pieces of paper/ expired fruit/ pop bottles with them, so it's show and tell time, men and women of this fine establishment. Show us whatchu got and tell us a bit about your beloved gat and how you're finding it and points of interest on the weapon.
I put this as a picture thread because it's going to be photo intensive, but I hope to have some discussion and it'd be kinda nice to get updates once in a while and see how things are working/ new modifications or whatever for a gun, how range time or hunting's going, and so on.
Putting this disclaimer here now, keep the political stuff in another thread, unless something comes up in the news that interests/ concerns you. I'd rather not have this turn into a debate about gun control or what political party needs to go suck an eggs. Like I said, other places are good for that.
If you aren't a gun owner, but are thinking of buying one or are curious and interested about them, feel free to post and join the discussion! Aren't sure how they work or what the difference between a full metal jacket and a hollow point is? Somebody here can sort you out like the gentlemen/ladies they are.
Introduction concluded. Onto the gud stuff!
Disclaimer: There's a shitload of pictures inbound. Cellphones might hate it. You have been forewarned.
The most recent picture of my Tavor, the only aftermarket stuff I have in it is a 10 round pistol mag and the MEPRO 21 sight, which I'll touch on later. Fire selector and safety switch is set up similar to an AR-15 and it's very easy to hit with your thumb, it's off safe right now, but the rifle isn't loaded. An interesting thing about how you're supposed to hold this rifle properly is with five points of contact; cheek on stock, the pistol grip, trigger hand's arm against the magazine, support hand on the ribbed front grip, and your support wrist resting vertically against the trigger guard frame. It makes for a very stable and comfortable shooting position, and it's something you can aim standing for a very long time without feeling fatigued. Most of the weight is in the back of the rifle since that's where the action is. The weight distribution and compact size are the major advantages of a TAR-21, along with having a full-length barrel in a package that's shorter than an M4 with the stock collapsed with a much longer barrel. It's pretty heavy, coming in around ~9 pounds before you start bolting shit onto it, so it puts it on the heavier end of modern tactical sporting rifles, but the bullpup design and ergonomics makes this pretty comfortable. It's not like my Lee-Enfield where you have the crazy heavy front because of the wood furniture, and it weighs only a bit more than the Tavor. Tavors are nifty that they fire both .223 and 5.56x45mm, so ammunition's plentiful and cheap.
The Tavor's bolt stays open after the last shot, which I think is a must for modern tactical rifles. That oversized block behind the magazine is the bolt catch, hit that and it chambers a new round from a new magazine and you're ready to shoot again. You should only ever have to touch the charging handle once when you first load the rifle. The magazine release is that lip just in front of the magazine, you pull that in as you grab the mag and it comes out easily, this isn't a drop-free kind of rifle, but it's still pretty quick to reload. I'd put up a video if my camera wasn't busted and could still record video. Sigh.
Not much to say about this one, I just wanted to get another angle of the rifle and a front look at the MEPRO.
I tried to get a picture of the open X reticle, but my toaster of a Kodak isn't the greatest of cameras. It's pretty clear and shows up really well in low lighting, although it's easy to lose on bright back drops. It's not nearly as bright as battery powered units, but a big draw for the MEPRO sight is that it is visible day and night with no batteries, using tritium and fiber optic sighting apertures. I quite like the sight, although I do want to get a magnifier for it, the X kind of starts to get pretty wide when you're shooting out to 200 meters and I ideally want to have my Tavor be set up as a 300 meter rifle.
Basically, I have it sighted so at 50m and 200m, you aim center X, and for 100m, you aim between the bottom points of the X to account for the ballistic curve. The owner's manual for the MEPRO was pretty handy, I gotta say.
One of the really nifty parts of the Tavor is they come with built-in flip-up backup sights that can work with a reflex sight if your main optic is down for whatever reason. The front post is actually tritium coated (I think is the chemical, although part of me thinks that's only in encased optics like the MEPRO or Elcan C79/ SPECTER), which means it glows in the dark. Very nifty feature, if I do say so myself!
Back when I had the Trace ACOG on the Tavor and had just picked up 1100ish rounds of .223 Chinese surplus for 280 bucks. All Tavors come with that red cable lock, because a standard trigger lock won't fit on them because of the oversized trigger guard. It's kind of like an AUG in that way, and it's handy if you're shooting with mitts in cold weather.
This is mainly to show what I meant about using the trigger guard as a wrist brace. Keeps shit tight, yo.
Out of the box, iron sights, and sitting at a bench. I'm probably going to try this at 100 meters with my MEPRO and see if I can't tighten this up the grouping a bit now I got it all nice and sighted in.
Here's my CZ 858, one of the two rifles that got reclassified as prohibited last year and owners currently have a two year amnesty until the government can overhaul the existing firearms legislation to reclassify this rifle and others like it back to non-restricted like they mechanically are. Fun side note; it's my only rifle I bothered slapping a sling on. I don't really like slings that much, shit gets in the way.
Anywho, the rifle fires 7.62x39mm like the AKM and SKS, which happens to be my favorite cartridge. I ordered maple furniture for the rifle because it looks much nicer than the beaver barf that comes stock on the CZ 858/ Vz58 rifles. Out of the box, this is a really nicely shooting rifle that barely kicks and I can keep a pretty tight grouping at 100m with the standard Eastern Bloc-style notched iron sights. The bayonet came with the rifle, because these are based off of military-issue Vz58s, although they are limited to semi-automatic only. The rifle looks superficially like an AK, which is partially because Czechoslovakia was pretty much the only Warsaw Pact nation allowed to build their own unique design rifles and other weapons that weren't Russian in origin. In many ways, it's a superior rifle in build quality to an AK; it has a milled receiver instead of stamped, it is striker fired instead of hammer fired, its short-stroke piston has a higher cyclic rate over an AK, the rifle has better accuracy, a much better safety lever, it's lighter, has a last round hold open bolt carrier, and an absurdly massive chamber that is impossible to get a cartridge jammed up in there. They're pretty damn reliable rifles, too, which helps. I wouldn't try doing half the shit you can get away with an AK with this, but for normal wear and tear and field conditions, this rifle should never jam or miss a beat. I love it. It was also my first rifle.
This is just a close up of the bayonet. It mounts by pushing that button near the front, and it slides on from the rear and it locks in place when you release the button. Easy peezy, comes standard with all Vz58 variants as far as I'm aware. I just took a close up of it so you could look at the hideous beaver barf furniture. Imagine the entire rifle being covered in that shit instead of nice hard walnut, it's horrifically hideous and is easily the cheapest part of the rifle.
Anyone who's shot an AK or an SKS, Mosin Nagant, or any other Soviet-style rifle will be immediately familiar with these sights. Pretty much same principle; put the front post between the two notches, pull the trigger, repeat. Note; the charging handle is attached to the solid bolt carrier, which goes all the way back to the cover just at the bottom of the picture. The following picture will show just how big the ejection port is. Also a curious thing, the grey-blue finish of the rifle. It takes a while to get used to but it looks kinda nice and unique. I like it!
Sorry, not sorry. You can see the entire length of the magazine's follower and the bolt face, and this also demonstrates the bolt hold open feature of the rifle. There is a bolt catch at the bottom of the rifle that is a tiny-ass button you can't really use unless you get an aftermarket paddle, then you can make this thing keep up with modern tactical sporting rifles. I'd actually be quite happy using this rifle in a competition, I have a lot of faith in it and how well it holds up. I know the rifle looks kind of rusty here, but trust me, it's clean. The camera flash just made the wear and oil look a lot dirtier than it is.
O Canada, motherfuckers. I think this was a Wolverine Supplies exclusive, which is a Canadian firearm retailer based out of Manitoba. I do a lot of my online shopping there.
Just another view admiring the furniture. You can make out a bit of the model and serial number on the side there. Main reason I took the picture was to bring attention to the magazine release, which is only really accessible with your left hand's thumb. It's not a rifle-width paddle and is kind of recessed into the trigger guard. It's easy and responsive, but you can get an over-sized paddle so it works more like an AK mag release. Also worth nothing is the Vz58 mags do not fit into an AK and vice versa, they aren't the same shape and the Vz58 mags have a ridge along the spine that sticks out.
My most recent rifle and one I just threw a few upgrades at to turn it into a decent medium-range bench rifle/ hunting rifle. I threw a clamp-on bipod on the barrel, changed the rear cover with one with rails on it so I could mount my old Trace ACOG on there because it's short enough not to get fucked up by ejecting brass and get in the way of loading with stripper clips, and I screwed on a rubber buttstock on there, which is much nicer than the rusty and beat up metal plate that came with the rifle. This poor beast is pretty beat up, and that's how I got it, but it still shoots true and is pretty much an essential piece of any shooter's collection. I'm going to take this out to the range on Sunday and see if I can't get the sight zeroed for this rifle, since I haven't shot it since I got the parts for it.
Also feel free to be amused/ make fun of my bookshelf. If you're wondering what else is on there, the shelf above has mostly Michael Crichton, Tom Clancy, Steve Berry, Tom Rob Smith, David L. Robbins, and Stephen Hunter novels on the shelf above, and all my A Song of Ice and Fire stuff is at the top between some Direwolf stone resin bookends under a Greyjoy wall plaque.
And that's enough for the time being, I'll post my Mosin Nagant, No. 4 Lee Enfield, Chiappa M1-22, and maybe some more SKS pictures later on if this takes off.
I put this as a picture thread because it's going to be photo intensive, but I hope to have some discussion and it'd be kinda nice to get updates once in a while and see how things are working/ new modifications or whatever for a gun, how range time or hunting's going, and so on.
Putting this disclaimer here now, keep the political stuff in another thread, unless something comes up in the news that interests/ concerns you. I'd rather not have this turn into a debate about gun control or what political party needs to go suck an eggs. Like I said, other places are good for that.
If you aren't a gun owner, but are thinking of buying one or are curious and interested about them, feel free to post and join the discussion! Aren't sure how they work or what the difference between a full metal jacket and a hollow point is? Somebody here can sort you out like the gentlemen/ladies they are.
Introduction concluded. Onto the gud stuff!
Disclaimer: There's a shitload of pictures inbound. Cellphones might hate it. You have been forewarned.
The most recent picture of my Tavor, the only aftermarket stuff I have in it is a 10 round pistol mag and the MEPRO 21 sight, which I'll touch on later. Fire selector and safety switch is set up similar to an AR-15 and it's very easy to hit with your thumb, it's off safe right now, but the rifle isn't loaded. An interesting thing about how you're supposed to hold this rifle properly is with five points of contact; cheek on stock, the pistol grip, trigger hand's arm against the magazine, support hand on the ribbed front grip, and your support wrist resting vertically against the trigger guard frame. It makes for a very stable and comfortable shooting position, and it's something you can aim standing for a very long time without feeling fatigued. Most of the weight is in the back of the rifle since that's where the action is. The weight distribution and compact size are the major advantages of a TAR-21, along with having a full-length barrel in a package that's shorter than an M4 with the stock collapsed with a much longer barrel. It's pretty heavy, coming in around ~9 pounds before you start bolting shit onto it, so it puts it on the heavier end of modern tactical sporting rifles, but the bullpup design and ergonomics makes this pretty comfortable. It's not like my Lee-Enfield where you have the crazy heavy front because of the wood furniture, and it weighs only a bit more than the Tavor. Tavors are nifty that they fire both .223 and 5.56x45mm, so ammunition's plentiful and cheap.
The Tavor's bolt stays open after the last shot, which I think is a must for modern tactical rifles. That oversized block behind the magazine is the bolt catch, hit that and it chambers a new round from a new magazine and you're ready to shoot again. You should only ever have to touch the charging handle once when you first load the rifle. The magazine release is that lip just in front of the magazine, you pull that in as you grab the mag and it comes out easily, this isn't a drop-free kind of rifle, but it's still pretty quick to reload. I'd put up a video if my camera wasn't busted and could still record video. Sigh.
Not much to say about this one, I just wanted to get another angle of the rifle and a front look at the MEPRO.
I tried to get a picture of the open X reticle, but my toaster of a Kodak isn't the greatest of cameras. It's pretty clear and shows up really well in low lighting, although it's easy to lose on bright back drops. It's not nearly as bright as battery powered units, but a big draw for the MEPRO sight is that it is visible day and night with no batteries, using tritium and fiber optic sighting apertures. I quite like the sight, although I do want to get a magnifier for it, the X kind of starts to get pretty wide when you're shooting out to 200 meters and I ideally want to have my Tavor be set up as a 300 meter rifle.
Basically, I have it sighted so at 50m and 200m, you aim center X, and for 100m, you aim between the bottom points of the X to account for the ballistic curve. The owner's manual for the MEPRO was pretty handy, I gotta say.
One of the really nifty parts of the Tavor is they come with built-in flip-up backup sights that can work with a reflex sight if your main optic is down for whatever reason. The front post is actually tritium coated (I think is the chemical, although part of me thinks that's only in encased optics like the MEPRO or Elcan C79/ SPECTER), which means it glows in the dark. Very nifty feature, if I do say so myself!
Back when I had the Trace ACOG on the Tavor and had just picked up 1100ish rounds of .223 Chinese surplus for 280 bucks. All Tavors come with that red cable lock, because a standard trigger lock won't fit on them because of the oversized trigger guard. It's kind of like an AUG in that way, and it's handy if you're shooting with mitts in cold weather.
This is mainly to show what I meant about using the trigger guard as a wrist brace. Keeps shit tight, yo.
Out of the box, iron sights, and sitting at a bench. I'm probably going to try this at 100 meters with my MEPRO and see if I can't tighten this up the grouping a bit now I got it all nice and sighted in.
Here's my CZ 858, one of the two rifles that got reclassified as prohibited last year and owners currently have a two year amnesty until the government can overhaul the existing firearms legislation to reclassify this rifle and others like it back to non-restricted like they mechanically are. Fun side note; it's my only rifle I bothered slapping a sling on. I don't really like slings that much, shit gets in the way.
Anywho, the rifle fires 7.62x39mm like the AKM and SKS, which happens to be my favorite cartridge. I ordered maple furniture for the rifle because it looks much nicer than the beaver barf that comes stock on the CZ 858/ Vz58 rifles. Out of the box, this is a really nicely shooting rifle that barely kicks and I can keep a pretty tight grouping at 100m with the standard Eastern Bloc-style notched iron sights. The bayonet came with the rifle, because these are based off of military-issue Vz58s, although they are limited to semi-automatic only. The rifle looks superficially like an AK, which is partially because Czechoslovakia was pretty much the only Warsaw Pact nation allowed to build their own unique design rifles and other weapons that weren't Russian in origin. In many ways, it's a superior rifle in build quality to an AK; it has a milled receiver instead of stamped, it is striker fired instead of hammer fired, its short-stroke piston has a higher cyclic rate over an AK, the rifle has better accuracy, a much better safety lever, it's lighter, has a last round hold open bolt carrier, and an absurdly massive chamber that is impossible to get a cartridge jammed up in there. They're pretty damn reliable rifles, too, which helps. I wouldn't try doing half the shit you can get away with an AK with this, but for normal wear and tear and field conditions, this rifle should never jam or miss a beat. I love it. It was also my first rifle.
This is just a close up of the bayonet. It mounts by pushing that button near the front, and it slides on from the rear and it locks in place when you release the button. Easy peezy, comes standard with all Vz58 variants as far as I'm aware. I just took a close up of it so you could look at the hideous beaver barf furniture. Imagine the entire rifle being covered in that shit instead of nice hard walnut, it's horrifically hideous and is easily the cheapest part of the rifle.
Anyone who's shot an AK or an SKS, Mosin Nagant, or any other Soviet-style rifle will be immediately familiar with these sights. Pretty much same principle; put the front post between the two notches, pull the trigger, repeat. Note; the charging handle is attached to the solid bolt carrier, which goes all the way back to the cover just at the bottom of the picture. The following picture will show just how big the ejection port is. Also a curious thing, the grey-blue finish of the rifle. It takes a while to get used to but it looks kinda nice and unique. I like it!
Sorry, not sorry. You can see the entire length of the magazine's follower and the bolt face, and this also demonstrates the bolt hold open feature of the rifle. There is a bolt catch at the bottom of the rifle that is a tiny-ass button you can't really use unless you get an aftermarket paddle, then you can make this thing keep up with modern tactical sporting rifles. I'd actually be quite happy using this rifle in a competition, I have a lot of faith in it and how well it holds up. I know the rifle looks kind of rusty here, but trust me, it's clean. The camera flash just made the wear and oil look a lot dirtier than it is.
O Canada, motherfuckers. I think this was a Wolverine Supplies exclusive, which is a Canadian firearm retailer based out of Manitoba. I do a lot of my online shopping there.
Just another view admiring the furniture. You can make out a bit of the model and serial number on the side there. Main reason I took the picture was to bring attention to the magazine release, which is only really accessible with your left hand's thumb. It's not a rifle-width paddle and is kind of recessed into the trigger guard. It's easy and responsive, but you can get an over-sized paddle so it works more like an AK mag release. Also worth nothing is the Vz58 mags do not fit into an AK and vice versa, they aren't the same shape and the Vz58 mags have a ridge along the spine that sticks out.
My most recent rifle and one I just threw a few upgrades at to turn it into a decent medium-range bench rifle/ hunting rifle. I threw a clamp-on bipod on the barrel, changed the rear cover with one with rails on it so I could mount my old Trace ACOG on there because it's short enough not to get fucked up by ejecting brass and get in the way of loading with stripper clips, and I screwed on a rubber buttstock on there, which is much nicer than the rusty and beat up metal plate that came with the rifle. This poor beast is pretty beat up, and that's how I got it, but it still shoots true and is pretty much an essential piece of any shooter's collection. I'm going to take this out to the range on Sunday and see if I can't get the sight zeroed for this rifle, since I haven't shot it since I got the parts for it.
Also feel free to be amused/ make fun of my bookshelf. If you're wondering what else is on there, the shelf above has mostly Michael Crichton, Tom Clancy, Steve Berry, Tom Rob Smith, David L. Robbins, and Stephen Hunter novels on the shelf above, and all my A Song of Ice and Fire stuff is at the top between some Direwolf stone resin bookends under a Greyjoy wall plaque.
And that's enough for the time being, I'll post my Mosin Nagant, No. 4 Lee Enfield, Chiappa M1-22, and maybe some more SKS pictures later on if this takes off.
