The Guns and Weapons Thread

[raptor9k]

The 22 mag is a 20" barrel and the 22lr is 16". Other than that they are identical. Even the same capacity due to the shorter length of the 22lr.

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[Deacon]

Heh, so just sort of a for fun purchase?

[FirebirdNC]

When ever I see this thread has a new post I know it is either Deacon or Raptor.

[raptor9k]

We gotta have hobbies

Yep, for fun mainly, though they'll see plenty of hunting time. I sold a Ruger 10/22 that hadn't left the safe in probably 4 or 5 years for $60 over what I had in it. The 22mag was a birthday/father's day present and while I was shopping I figured I might as well grab the 22lr. The actions are insanely smooth. They're a little heavy but I love the solid feel and the balance of them. $800 for the pair to my door. I even managed to snag 250 rounds of Hornady V-Max 22WMR at around $12/box of 50 which is basically $5/box off the going rate most places.

[Deacon]

Nice! Hunting what? Small rodents like squirrels and rabbit, I presume?

[raptor9k]

Yep. 22mag for anything but deer and turkey out to 100 yards. The only reason those 2 are excluded is regulations. 22mag is actually a popular caliber among game wardens (and poachers) harvesting does for study. I may try my hand at some fox and beaver trapping this year. We always have beaver and nutria on our deer lease. 22lr for squirrels/crows/opossums and other nuisance animals within 40 or 50 yards.

[FireAza]

You guys ever played "Hot Dogs, Horseshoes and Hand Grenades"? It's a game for the HTC Vive. As the game's name clearly implies, it's a virtual shooting range. None of this "press R to reload" silliness, you gotta eject that magazine, grab a new one, insert it, chamber a round as well as take of off safe/select fire mode. All with your motion controllers!

It's level of detail impressed me! For example if you reload before the magazine is empty, not only does the ejected magazine still have it's remaining bullets in it (you can pick it up again and finish it off later) but the hammer is still cocked and ready to fire. In fact, if you cock it again in this state, an un-fired bullet will be ejected! Naturally, there is also hot dogs and hand grenades in this game too. Protip, don't pick up the grenade by the pin.

The reason I bring this game up is because I have a design/usage question about the M16. You see, my real-world firearms experience is with pistols only. You stuff a magazine into it, pull back the slide and you're good to go. But with the M16, I couldn't get the damned thing to shoot even after chambering a round and taking it off safe. Turns out you need to hit the magazine catch first. Uh, why? What's the point of this thing? You insert the magazine and it locks into place, so what exactly is the point of the magazine catch?

[Deacon]

How did you chamber a round, exactly? If you're starting from a cold, decocked weapon with a full magazine locked in, you can pull the charging handle back and drop it, which should chamber a round and make it ready to fire (if the selector is set to Fire). That's not a "magazine catch" that you're hitting, I don't think, but rather the bolt catch release. It's on the left side, above the magazine release lever/button, right?

On a semi-auto handgun, think about how when you're out of rounds, generally the slide will lock back. You replace the empty magazine and thumb the slide catch lever so that the slide falls forward and chambers a round (and leaves it ready to fire). That's essentially what happens (internally) when you slap that bolt catch release on the side. You're allowing the bolt to fall forward and lock into a firing position.

[FireAza]

How did you chamber a round, exactly? If you're starting from a cold, decocked weapon with a full magazine locked in, you can pull the charging handle back and drop it, which should chamber a round and make it ready to fire (if the selector is set to Fire).

Yep, that's how I'm doing it.

That's not a "magazine catch" that you're hitting, I don't think, but rather the bolt catch release. It's on the left side, above the magazine release lever/button, right?

Yeah, the little button on the left side. It's a bolt catch release is it?

On a semi-auto handgun, think about how when you're out of rounds, generally the slide will lock back. You replace the empty magazine and thumb the slide catch lever so that the slide falls forward and chambers a round (and leaves it ready to fire). That's essentially what happens (internally) when you slap that bolt catch release on the side. You're allowing the bolt to fall forward and lock into a firing position.

I see the comparison, but at least with a semi-auto pistol, the slide is only locked back after it's fired the last round from it's magazine. If you're starting from scratch, you just need to put the magazine in and rack the slide. Why does an M16 need the extra step?

[raptor9k]

It doesn't. Probably just a procedural thing but the folks that wrote the game probably just modeled the gun with the bolt locked back as it's initialized configuration. I suppose you could always leave your bolt locked back to avoid the weirdness of the AR charging handle location in the heat of the moment. Fire it and the bolt locks back on the last round; You just leave it till it's fired again. The dust cover will pop open no matter which way the bolt is travelling so there's no issue with the weapon being left with the bolt locked back. As far as I know no serious trainer advises or teaches this in any credible weapons course.

The M16 bolt is essentially the same as a semi auto handgun slide, you just can't easily see it like you can a pistol slide.

[FireAza]

Hmmm, I think they might have updated the game or something, because starting a fresh game starts with the M16 bolt forward. But I can see what you mean, if you flip the gun over you can see that the bolt release lever does indeed release the bolt.

[Deacon]

Flip it over? Can you take "screenshots" of all this? Not hand drawn.

[raptor9k]

How about a vidja:

https://youtu.be/pOF0TORV3oY?t=4m

[Deacon]

Pretty neat, but the operation all looked normal to me. You called it an m16, he calls it an AR, but theoretically it should be an m4 since it has full auto.

[raptor9k]

Sort of. If we're getting technical it's an AR15 lower with a drop in auto sear and an M4 upper. The absence of a pin directly above the selector eliminates the presence of a traditional M16/M4 auto sear. The M4 was generally safe, semi, burst. The M4A1 is generally safe, semi, auto. I probably spend too much time looking at guns...