Yearly Archives: 2022

It’s STILL not an AR9…

…but we’re going to call it that because I’m lazy. So a while back I found an 80% Hybrid Polymer kit pretty cheap and picked it up, less because I wanted one than that I was curious how difficult it was to complete one. I answered that question here.

For assorted reasons I decided to make it into a 9mm range-toy/PDW/home defense gun. I ordered a bunch of parts, put them together and it worked. It’s fun to shoot and I am not hopeless with it.

For other reasons I have not been entirely happy with the adapted mag-well. It works fine the parts are good quality but I never liked the look. *Shrug* I didn’t dislike it enough to do anything about it. It worked fine, which was what really mattered.

Then the BATF launched another game of ‘No-it-isn’t-Yes-it-is’ about braces being stocks and making these guns illegal SBRs. I’m getting sick of this and was considering just filing for an SBR and calling it good, but that spooky receiver might be problematic. Then I had an issue at the range which I erroneously attributed to the magazine-well adapter. Chris at McCallen Defense had a purpose-built 9mm lower right there for $140, and no mag-well adapter meant no issues with one, so…

*Aero Precision EPC-9 ‘Enhanced Pistol Caliber’ lower.*

The lower in question was the Aero Precision Enhanced Pistol Caliber unit. I’ve had good luck with AP products, they come highly recommended and they’re local. I had to ask online what was enhanced, and there’s quite a bit, actually. My friend and gun demi-god Tim informed me, “Enhanced equals billet machined, integral trigger guard, set screw for takedown detent spring. We sell the 556 version, very nice.”

It certainly looks very nice. After dinner I took the gun and lower and headed out to the shop to swap things over. This was accomplished with no particular drama, and I was impressed with the construction and details of the lower.

*Instead of a roll-pin the bolt hold-open uses an Allen screw. Nice. A little Blue Loctite and it will be there until I remove it.*

In a reasonably short time everything was back together and functioning correctly. I really, really like the look; it makes a handsome gun. Tomorrow it’ll be back to the range for test firing, but I am confident it will work as it should.

So, to recap the build-

Aero Precision EPC lower and lower parts kit.

Foxtrot Mike Glock-Compatible 5″ M-Loc Upper with blast-can

SBa3 Brace

Timney Impact Single-Stage trigger and 45-degree ambidextrous safety

Magpul handgrip

Angstad 5.4 oz. 9mm buffer

ETS 31-shot clear composite magazines (which will be replaced by Glock magazines eventually…)

Bushnell TRS-25 red-dot optic

Monstrum quick-release riser

Generic pop-up iron sights that co-witness with the optic.

Here’s some pics of the finished build-

*The flip-up back-up sights are generic Amazon fodder. They work and are relatively robust…*

*…and the front sight makes a pretty good thumb-stop.*

*The blast-can starts inside the handguard. I had to Loctite it to keep it from unscrewing.*

*The Bushnell TRS25.* *It’s not fancy and it lacks a lot of features of more modern optics, but it works, it’s tough and affordable.*

So, there it is, struttin’ in its new suit and looking good. Tomorrow we’ll see how it works.

Stay safe and take care,

Michael Tinker Pearce, 15 January 2022

If you like what you see here please consider supporting me on Patreon by clicking the link above, and look for Tinker talks Guns on Youtube! Early days yet, but more content is coming!

Videos and Magazine Hacks.

Nice Gun You Got There. It’d be a shame if your magazines cost a fortune, wouldn’t it?

(Insert evil laughter here)

So I got this cool little mouse-gun. Kind of a Christmas present. The Duo .25 ACP, a semi-clone of the Colt 1908. Neat little gun, fun to shoot. A lot of people feel a .25 ACP is useless. I disagree, but it is seriously never going to be my first or even second choice to use for self-defense. Technically I don’t need a spare magazine. OK, it’s not always about ‘need;’ it would be nice to have one just because. I mean, how expensive could it…

Mother of God!

Even the Triple K version, which is only moderately likely to be capable of being made to function with some work, is pretty expensive. Correct magazines are… *gulp.* Nope. OK, all is not lost. A Colt 1908 magazine will probably fit, and they’re… Oh dear God. Nope, not affordable. Not even close. I reminded myself that I didn’t really need a spare and got on with my life.

Then I found I could make the Beretta M1951 magazine work in the Sig Sauer P6 and thought, ‘I wonder…’ Ben’s Loans, a long-time favorite gun shop, has the Bins of Random Crap on a bottom shelf. Miscellaneous scope mounts, old pistol grips, several, uh, I don’t actually know what those are, and a random assortment of not-easily-Identified pistol magazines. Worth a look, right?

Man, if I were building a single-stack .32 Auto they would have me covered! As it was I did happen to find a .25 ACP magazine, and darned it if didn’t look like it would fit the Duo with minimal persuasion.

As I was coughing up $4.99 plus tax for my find the cashier asked, “Hey, do you know what that magazine fits?”

“Not a clue,” I said. “But I’m pretty sure I know what I can make it fit!”

It’s Not Rocket Science. No, really.

The new magazine was longer and holds 7 rounds instead of 6. I can work with that. It sticks out the bottom. I can work with that. Sometime in its past an angry punch attacked it and the follower sticks. OK, I gotta’ fix that. A judicious combination of hammer and grinding got the magazine magazine-shaped again and working smoothly.

*Using a cut-off wheel and a jewelers file I carefully cut a slot on the back of the magazine for the heel-release,* *Yes, I removed the spring and follower first.*

*The magazine sticks out, but so what? I get an extra round and it’s easy to strip out.*

I could have shortened the magazine and re-worked it so it could be flush-fit, but I didn’t mind it sticking out slightly. It works correctly and easily, and that’s the important thing. I refinished the mag with some Oxpho blue, gave it a good cleaning and oiling and it works a treat.

*Extra magazine, no second mortgage* *required. Just a few bucks and a little ‘sweat equity.’*

It’s a thing to consider when working with old pistols; there are a lot of old magazines out there waiting to be adapted…

Stay safe and take care,

Michael Tinker Pearce, 11 January 2022

If you like what you see here please consider clicking the link above and supporting me on Patreon.

NO, Ballistic Gel Isn’t The Same. It Isn’t Supposed to Be

3 Replies

*rant begins*

Since the dead horse won’t lay down I’m going to beat it again. Apparently I’m going to have to keep beating it until at least most of you get it. Let me break out the Ibuprofen and heating pads, because it seems like this is going to be an ongoing process.

*115gr JHP fired into Clear Ballistics 10% ordinance gel through four layers of 16 oz. denim. This actual bullet penetrated 12-1/2″*

Many, many years ago someone came up with Ordinance Gel in an attempt to simulate what happens when a bullet hits a person. Fair enough; it’s not legal to shoot humans just to see what happens and if it was you’d probably run out of volunteers pretty quickly.

There were problems with this. It was was finicky about temperature, annoying to make and handle, and as a representation of the human body it was frankly kind of useless. Muscle, bone, fat, organs with varying composition and toughness… all of these combined to make it terrible at predicting a bullet’s terminal performance in human or animal targets.

OK, time and technology has marched on. We now have products like Clear Ballistics ordinance gel. Not identical to the old pork-based stuff, but it’s close enough and it’s much, much more consistent. It’s also hugely less temperature sensitive, easy to handle, reusable and, let’s face it, less icky. But from the old-school perspective it still doesn’t have bones etc., so it is a lousy simulation of a human being. So why do we keep using it? Because we’ve changed our perspective, and it’s no longer supposed to simulate a human being. Let me explain.

A few decades back people got really, really interested in how handgun bullets performed in human bodies. Having noted that hollow-point bullets can clog with fabric they determined that four layers of 16 oz. denim was a reasonable approximation of ‘average’ clothing to see if a hollow-point would expand or clog up and not expand, so they placed this over the gel. While they were aware that ballistic gel sucked as a representation of a human body they noticed something: actual bullets that worked well on actual human bodies in actual shootings performed similarly to each other in these ballistic gel tests.

This allowed them to establish a performance baseline for bullets. If bullets that work in real life perform similarly in the comparative media it is logical to assume that bullets that perform similarly to these bullets in the comparative media will perform comparably in real life.

Let me make this crystal clear for those that might have missed it- . These tests were absolutely not simulations. They were using it as a comparative test media. As such is is completely irrelevant that ballistic gel doesn’t simulate a human body, doesn’t have bones or variable densities etc. It’s not supposed to, it’s supposed to be a consistent test media to compare bullets to a baseline met by bullets noted to be effective in real life.

That baseline, established by the FBI over decades of study, is that bullets fired through four layers of 16 oz. denim into 10% Ordinance Gel will penetrate 12-19″ and if they expand in the test they will probably do so in real life. Bullets that meet this standard in the test are likely to perform similarly to bullets that have worked well in real life. Without going down the rabbit hole of handgun stopping power (for once) the use of FBI standard tests can establish that, if all other things are equal, a load has what it takes to get the job done. This isn’t a guarantee that it will, just that it can.

*Eyes the dead horse, gets a good grip on the club and prepares to resume.*

Modern ballistics gel tests are not simulations. The simply show you if a) the round meets the baseline for performance established as desirable by the FBI and b) whether the bullet is likely to expand in human tissue.

Why the FBI Standard?

Unlike television law-enforcement shootings involve suspects that are doing things, not just standing and squarely facing the shooter. They may be taking cover, trying to dodge bullets, trying to flank the officer etc. A bullet might have to pass through more or less tissue, bone etc. depending on the angle it enters from. It might have to pass through an arm-bone before striking the ribs, and it still needs to have the oomf to reach the heart, spine and/or other important bits despite this. Bullets that meet the FBI standard can reliably do this, and it doesn’t matter that the !@#$%&*! ballistic gel doesn’t have !@#$%&*! bones.

Conclusion

SHUT UP ABOUT THE FACT THAT BALLISTICS GEL DOESN’T HAVE BONES AND DOESN’T SIMULATE A HUMAN BODY. We know that. We know it isn’t supposed to. We know what it actually is supposed to do and why those standards exist. Those of us who aren’t utter, complete muppets also get that these tests measure bullet performance, not stopping power. So please, please PLEASE just stop it.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

*rant ends*

Stay safe and take care,

Michael Tinker Pearce, 10 January 2022