Mail Call – NEA barrel and receivers

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Got my NEA package in the mail today. This will be the core of  my SPR build.

NEA parts

NEA 18″ heavy barrel and match receivers

I picked up the NEA-15 Z marked matched billet upper and lower from SFRC for a great deal. NEA is a relatively new Canadian based AR manufacturer that has had mixed reviews over the last few years. I have had a chance to shoot several of their rifles and a have one of their bolt carrier groups. For the price, nothing else could come close to the NEA receiver set. The upper is, surprisingly, complete. The lower however is stripped, as expected. I’m not super sold on the colour of the receivers, the finish is a dark grey.

I also ordered an NEA 18″ heavy barrel. Originally I was planning on exporting a White Oak Armament 18″ SPR barrel out of the US. Again the NEA product was priced incredibly low. This barrel is made of 4140 CMV, and features 1:7 polygonal rifling, and ARC+ finish. The NEA 18″ heavy barrel is set up as a mid length gas system, and while I was planning on using a rifle length system, I’m willing to try the mid-length to get an idea of the quality of the NEA barrel. 

Mail Call – Tricon Trigger

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The trigger I selected for my SPR build came in the mail today! Well yesterday but the postie doesn’t seem to leave any parcels or delivery slips at our house. Fortunately the tracking info online is updated when the parcel gets to the Post Office.

Super Tricon Trigger

Geissele Automatics Super Tricon Trigger

I selected Geissele Automatics’ Super Tricon Trigger for a few reasons. Since I’m putting this trigger in and SPR build specifically to shoot Service Rifle and maybe some Precision Rifle it had to meet the 4.5lb minimum weight for National Service Conditions Championship and Dominion of Canada Rifle Association rules. Secondly I liked the new design with the trigger bow flattening out towards the bottom and promising less sympathetic moment at the muzzle. Third its Geissele will almost certainly going be a good trigger.

Mail Call – SPR Handguard

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I got a new Samson Mfg 12.37 rail in the mail today. I ordered the 12.37″ rail direct from Samson Mfg on Dec 31. The order processed on the 6th of Jan and I have as of the 13 of Jan.

Samson handguard

Samson Evolution 12.37″ rail

Made in the Free State of New Hampshire Samson Mfg is great to deal with. Cathleen Samson handles international orders and is great to talk to about their products and shipping options. When you order a rail from Samson, tell ’em we sent you!

Mail Call – Vortex PST

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I got a new scope in the mail this week from a boxing day sale. It’s going to ride on the new 18″ AR15 I’m working on.

Vortex Collage

Vortex Viper PST 2.5-10×32

That’s right I decided I’m going to build an SPR type rifle for Service Rifle this season. I’m using this optic; The Vortex Viper PST 2.5-10×32, first focal plane, EBR-1 reticle, with milliradian adjustments.

This should prove to be a bad ass optic for the purpose of engaging targets out to 500 yards. I have a shooting buddy that used the same model optic on a precision AR build and we were shooting man-sized targets at 1000 yards, ya that’s right 223 Rem form an AR15 at one thousand yards – monopoding off the magazine!

This is my third Vortex PST, they’re multiplying all on their own, I swear. I used a Viper PST 1-4x24TMCQ (MRAD) on my CQB upper build last year, and have a Viper PST 6-24×50 FFP EBR-1 (MRAD) on my 308 WIN bolt gun. I’m sort of a fan of Vortex’s products. They work great! The clicks are solid. The reticales are easy to use and not cluttered. The glass is in my opinion, on par with more expensive scopes from Leupold. For the price they are hard to beat. They also come with a no BS life time warranty. I had a problem with my 1-4×24 last year, after being out at a match in the rain all day running around with it malfunctioned. I noticed the next week I took it to my home club, the seals had failed and I had serious fogging issues. The Vortex distributor for Canada is in the same city as my home club, so I dropped it off, and had it back as good as new in about 3 weeks. No arguments, no delays, no issues. These guys stand behind their products.They aren’t going to give the quality you’d find on a Nightforce or Schmidt & Bender, but they beat the hell out of any scope at the same price point that I’ve been able to compare them too.

Building an Improved First Aid Kit

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So you were at the range, or in the car, or at the mall, and some how you’ve wound up with a hole in your body that you didn’t start the day with. People have negligent discharges, tons of steel moving at velocity down the highway sometimes collide, and now shopping centers are getting shot up (in New Jersey, and Kenya). Sometimes bad things happen, it’s all about being prepared and having the right tools to react. Today we’ll dive into Improved First Aid Kits, Blow Out Kits, Ventilated Operator Kits, etcetera ad nauseum. The tools I carry, and think every one else should too.

contents of my IFAK

contents of my IFAK

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Canadian Service Conditions Radio episode 46

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I was invited back to Canadian Service Conditions Radio to join Bryan, Dave, and Tim, to talk about guns, gear, and service style shooting.This time we talked about the outcome of the CQB match I held, Guelph Rod and Gun Club on October 19th.

Head over and have a listen at cscrpodcast.wordpress.com, tell ’em I sent ya.
Listen directly CSCR046.mp3

Remembrance Day

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Today marks Remembrance Day, formerly Armistice day, in Canada and the Commonwealth, America calls it Veterans Day. This day memorializes the end of the of the First World War in 1918. Go to a cenotaph, watch or listen to the National service, thank a veteran. And do not even consider wearing a white poppy today.

You should listen to the Canadian band, The Trews, play Highway of Heroes this afternoon.

We’re also going to remind everyone to read In Flanders Fields, especially if you haven’t read it since grade school.

Flanders Fields Poem

Flanders Fields care of Australia’s Department of Veterans Affairs

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.

Fenix LD10 Review

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Do you ever find your self in the dark? Not the metaphorical darkness, I mean a power outage, or place with little or no available light. We recently had a rash of power outages at the office and the emergency lights did just fine to get everyone out of the building. During a power failure at home I tried to look for two flashlights I keep for black outs. I knew I had the lights but couldn’t see in the drawer or the toolbox they live in. Time to carry a flash light, I suppose.

The other place I often find I need a light is my outdoor rifle range. The shooting benches are closed in on three sides plus the roof. This is great for keeping the weather out, but when we stop shooting at dusk, it can be awfully dark by the time I’m finally packed up.

I picked up a Fenix LD10 light for everyday carry to address the few times I find myself in the dark.

Fenix LD100

Fenix LD10

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