12/30/13

As mentioned last week, I figured out the half-cock failure to fire situation with the SKS in the SGW Bullpup stock.  I found that the problem was with the interface between the transfer bar and the US-made trigger I had installed.  If the transfer bar in the SGW stock were left loose and allowed to cock at a certain angle, or was removed completely, the hammer fell every time.  If the bar were bolted down tight however, it would fail to reset the trigger properly and not drop the hammer.  After much fiddling, I decided that I would seek out an unaltered Chinese trigger group and see if it would work.  At the subsequent gun show I did find an NOS trigger group and bought it.  Installed in the weapon, it cycled perfectly with all the force I could manage.  Friday, I went to the shop to mount the sling swivel I mentioned last week.  If you recall, the 10-32 screws I bought sat just proud of the point where the swivel would “lock in” to the socket.  I figured I could shave the circumference and make it clear.  Some time on the grinder did shave the circumference… but it was still too high.  I decided to “mill” the face of the screw down for clearance… by grinding it on the bench grinder.  This worked.  With the swivel in place, I transferred the US-made hammer and lighter main spring from one trigger group to the other for 922r compliance and “pierced primer” prevention respectively.  I then cut the Chinese trigger off just below the pivot for further 922r compliance.  My thinking is, if an ATF agent wanted to scrutinize my weapon to find fault with my 922r compliance, the ONLY trigger to be found on it would be the US-made unit which came with the Bullpup stock.  The “hidden” or “enclosed” Chinese trigger would not be there.  According to my chart, the weapon has only nine 922r regulated foreign parts: the receiver, barrel, bolt, bolt carrier, trigger housing, sear, disconnector, magazine body, and magazine follower.  The remaining, seven regulated parts are all US made: the operating rod, gas piston, trigger, hammer, butt stock, fore arm/hand guard, and pistol grip.  After removing the Chinese trigger and installing the hammer, I reassembled the weapon and worked the action as vigorously as I could.  It cycled perfectly, so I went to the range.  There, I was told it would be an hour and a half wait for the rifle range.  “What about pistols?” I asked.  “Oh, you can go right in to a pistol range,” I was told.  This was good since I’d also brought along Bertha to try it out.  The sights, in order to be as slick as possible for concealed carry, are very small… they do have nice white dots on them but they are at an angle which makes them hard to see.  I found that if I really concentrated on the sights, the gun shot right at the aim point, but anything less and the gun shot high… not so high as to be a liability though.  I'll just have to aim a little lower than center mass if I ever have to use the thing for self-defense.  When I'd burned through all fifty rounds of .380 ammo I had on hand, I went back out to wait for a rifle lane.  About an hour later I was allowed in.  I sent the target out and loaded the first ten rounds.  It fired all of them, in addition to the other forty I had with me, without any issue so I began the process of sighting in the scope.  It initially shot low and to the right so I removed the access covers on the adjusters and had a look at which way I needed to turn them.  I made a few adjustments and fired another ten rounds.  They seemed to be going in the right direction so I made another adjustment… and got totally lost.  Yeah, apparently after the first adjustment, I started turning the elevation knob the wrong way.  Once I fingered out my mistake, I made a giant adjustment to the elevation and was in the center ring of the target… more or less.  I had burned up too much ammo going the wrong way so I had to satisfy myself that it was “close enough” for now.  I packed up and went home.  As I was cleaning the SKS, I decided that it “needs” a muzzle device for æsthetics.  At the gun show yesterday, I purchased an M-16 style “birdcage” flash hider to thread onto the barrel.  I will take the gun, once again, to the Winchester gunsmith to have the barrel threaded for it.  That will add one more 922r regulated part to the weapon, but it is US made so I will still be legal.  I also purchased a muzzle brake for the Tavor at the show.  It installed easily but I have not had a chance to try it out yet.  It looks like a silencer and the video I saw of it in operation does seem to appear that muzzle rise and recoil are noticeably reduced.  We shall see.  Perhaps I will take the Tavor to the range tomorrow as I will not be working.  The only other things I bought at the show were another leather magazine pouch for the 7.62x39 Saiga, two more magazines to put in that (I wanted four but there were only two at the whole show), one more of those bitchin’ slings for the SKS, and ammo.  I needed 100 rounds of .380 to refill all of my storage cases… so I bought 200 rounds.  Yeah, that was the first miscalculation.  I also needed fifty rounds of 7.62x39 to replace what I'd used testing the SKS… so I bought 100.  Apparently I can't add… or something.  I only bought ten rounds too many of .38 Special but that was because I only needed forty and they only come in packs of fifty.  Finally, I decided that 1,500 rounds of 5.56x45 wasn’t enough so I got another 300 rounds preloaded on stripper clips.  1,800 rounds is a good start, but I'm sure I'll buy more.  So, that’s about it.  I guess, since I won't be working tomorrow, this will be the last entry for the year.  It’s been real, y'all.  Toodles.