Retail Therapy (Gear Porn / Gun Porn)

[marzie]

I was browsing through the forum on Friday and saw a post with someone's new gun and I thought I might share some of my recent purchases.  I have been saving for a LONG time and I finally reached my goal, which included enough money to buy a bunch of new toys.

First I bought an Aero stripped lower (from Primary Arms), CMMG parts kit, BAD Lever, ATI Buffer Tube Kit and CTR stock.  OK, so I'm an AR parts dealer and had the last four things on my shelf, but I still "bought" them.

Next I got a Redding Competiton Seating Die for 223 and two boxes of 124 gr +P Speer Gold Dot from Midway USA.  Looking back now, I wish I bought more ammo. Oh well, there's always another order down the line, like when they get 9mm Redding Competition Carbide 3 die sets in stock again.

On Friday, I went to Cabela's and took advantage of the deals I saw posted here.  Got a new gun case and 5 10/22 mags, one for a friend from work, one for the missus, and the rest for me.  Also got a Galco holster to use until my Crossbreed comes in.

When I got home, there was a package waiting for me from my parts distributor.  Got a Midwest Industries  free float tube and gas block, Harris bi-pod, two more parts kits, one "less trigger group," another BAD lever, and a Crimson Trace LaserGuard.

On Sunday (today), I went to Gander Mountain and got a couple ammo boxes.  They weren't quite what I was looking for so I went to Dick's Sporting Goods and found the ammo box I had in mind. I'll still keep the ones from Gander Mountain (larger) because I'm sure I can find a use for them.  I also got a bottle of M7Pro, which I've never tried before.  It's harder to find than you would think!  And because my PC monitor died last week, I bought a new Asus monitor from Best Buy.  Same price as online retailers, so it's hard to argue with that.

On Monday, I'm expecting 1000 rounds of 9mm to show up.  500 rounds of 115 gr RN and 500 rounds of 124 gr HP from Freedom Munitions, decent priced reloads.

On Tuesday I should (hopefully) be able to pick up my new XD-m 3.8" Compact in 9mm.

Wednesday I'm expecting a large order from Dillon.  For the 650: 2 new toolheads, 223 rifle dies, 223 conversion kit, small rifle casefeed plate, 223 case gauge, 9mm conversion kit, small pistol casefeed plate, 9mm case gauge, bottle of rapid polish, bottle of case lube, Super Swage 600.  Finally I can start loading the ~10k 223 cases I got a few years ago.  Can't wait to start increasing my 223 stash!

Who knows when my Crossbreed order will come in, I believe they are about two months behind so I'm not holding my breath.

There may be one or two more goodies that I will pick up as well, but I'm not sure yet.

I'll update this post as new things come in.  Let me know what you guys think!  

Now for the pics:

[Big Frank]

Nice haul. The last gun related thing I bought was probably a mag coupler for the Ruger BX-25 mags. And I got a pair of solid firing pin retaining pins for my AR-15s.

[alfsauve]

Wow!   I'm not worthy.  I'm not Worthy.

I went to the large Atlanta Gun Show Saturday and all I bought was a measly adapter bushing.   Since my latest 686 I just been a piker.

It's great therapy isn't it?

[JC5123]

No pics, but here is the list of latest purchases:

Liberty 28 Gun Safe
S&W M&P 15 VTAC Lower w/ Larue Stealth Upper
2 Vortex Viper PST Scopes
Ruger Mini 14
1000 rds. of 5.56
Springfield EMP 1911 in .40 cal. (Blasphemy, I know)

[marzie]

Frank- Thanks! How do you like the mag coupler?  I figured since the 50 rounders were $65, I could just as easily use electrical tape to stick two of the 25 rounders together.  How much did it cost? Also, I've never heard of a solid retaining pin.  What is the reasoning behind it? Is that because the cotter pin style pins fail or work themselves loose?

Alf -  Yeah, that's not a cheap revolver! My uncle tried to tell me he paid $1200 for his and said I could buy it from him for the discount price of $1k.  Uhhh, no.  Then a year later, he looks at his receipt and realized he paid $850-950 for it but had also bought another gun at the same time, hence the $1200 was stuck in his head.  It certainly is great therapy though! After seeing all my new toys, the missus is starting to think she needs one of the Ruger SR22's in Lilac Purple.  I have to admit, it's such a nice gun, I would even take it to the range myself.  Like MB says (when referring to his purple Rifleman's badge from Appleseed) "Style does matter!"

JC - Which model Liberty did you get? I was looking at them this weekend, although it's going to be another LONG wait before I can afford one of those.  I notice that a lot of them come with the door panels now, plus Gander Mountain will deliver for free.  I'm not usually a fan of Gander, I've gotten about 50/50 service there, but most other stocking dealers want $300+ for delivery.  Dick's Sporting Goods has some safes too, but the insides were all tore up on their display models.  I can't imagine they have had a very rough life, I mean, no one would even put anything in there, so I don't know how they got destroyed like that. As a side note, I found out that Stack On makes all the Field and Stream models (Dick's store brand) as well as the Centurion models.  I don't have any experience with Stack On products, so I don't know if that's a big deal, but just thought it was worthwhile to note.

[Sponsor]

[Big Frank]

Marzie - The mag couplers come in pairs so I used both on my pair of mags instead of just one. They're rock solid and hold both mags upright unlike taping them together. I haven't shot it yet but the mags slide in without any interference, except with my stock folded I can only insert one mag. I never shoot it that way so it doesn't matter. I paid $13 for mine but Midway has them on clearance for $8.32. For that price you can't go wrong.

The solid firing pin retaining pin is made to the original design specs for the AR15. The cotter pin style is cheap to make and works okay but mine eventually got bent from the firing pin impacting it. It's $7 instead of $2 but I wanted to replace it anyway and the solid pin should hold up better. It's heat treated steel and even if one of the "prongs" breaks off it will still work. You can see it better in this pic.

[marzie]

I think I'll add a mag coupler to my next Midway order and try it out.  If I don't like it, I'm sure I could get back what I paid at next gun show.

Now that I think about it, my DPMS 308 has a solid firing pin retaining pin as well.  I don't take it down often so it slipped my mind until now.

New pics of ammo added.  In the box they came in, on display, and in their new homes.  Two things to note: One, despite what their website says, Freedom Munitions is putting their ammo in plastic containers within the boxes, rather than loose, at least with the 1000 rounds that I got.  I wasn't really concerned anyway, I was just going to dump them all in the storage box, but it's kind of nice to have them in their individual packages.  Two, the storage boxes I got are great, they fit 10 50-round boxes of ammo perfectly.  Also, they have really nice cutouts on the top to make them stackable. (The other boxes I got from Gander have similar cutouts on the top.) I've used other "stackable" products before, but they are more like "balanceable." These ones lock in pretty tight.  They were on sale for $10 each and have a Winchester brand sticker on them, but who knows who they are made by.  I'm sure there are half a dozen boxes made from the same mold with various brands on them. Whoever makes them, I like them a lot.

[JC5123]

My Liberty is the Colonial. I miss typed when I said it was a 28 gun. It's actually 25. But it holds all of mine plus some of my other valuables. I also have a couple of the Stack On light steel ones for ammo and accessories.

[santahog]

I must have needed some therapy because I had a weak moment on Sunday night, ... and ... I ... slipped.. Ohhh, the SHAME!!!!! 
I picked up a "floor model" G-30 on Gunbroker.. I'm so embarrassed!!...
  I'll have to do penitence with a thousand rounds of Wolf now!!! (With only two magazines!! Hard Labor, and everything!!!)
This is gonna end up costing me, too!! Not only did I spend the set-aside for the Government, I'm doomed to spend even more on sights and trigger work..
I feel real bad....

I feel like Clinton looked at Ron Browns funeral..                    

I'm gonna need more therapy...

[sledgemeister]

my latest purchases hmmmm

well I got these last week

1 x 586 blued 6" revolver
1 x set of new grips for new revolver
3 x Safariland II comp speedloaders
2 x 45 cal 6 cavity molds
1 x Mold handles
4 x cylinder hones for .357 and 44mag (1 each of 400 grit and 800 grit