Category Archives: PTR

Two Great Videos Explaining How Roller Delayed Blow Back Actions Work

I’m a fan of the Roller Delayed Blow Back firearms for a while and have had opportunities to own and shoot ones from HK, POF, and PTR. I knew the rollers were locking the bolt head in place but never really understood the details of the action. I’ve tracked down two great videos to help show you what is going on.

This is a PTR PDWR in .308 – basically a cut down HK-91 style pistol with a SB Tactical SOB Brace and a Vortex Optic.

Forgotten Weapons

In this short video, Ian @ Forgotten Weapons does a great job explaining just how this system works.

MouseGunner

This is one of MouseGunner’s cool x-ray renderings where he shows the MP5’s action at work. He’s done this for other weapons as well and watching the weapon operate really helps.


I hope this helps you out. Be sure to subscribe to both guys’ channels – Forgotten Weapons and MouseGunner.


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Great Deals On Pistol Braces and Pistols With Braces At PSA

When the ATF reversed the ruling about braces and enabled folks to use them however they saw fit, the demand and supply of pistol braces went into orbit. I have carpal tunnel and a hereditary tremor so for me, using a brace is the only way I can wield a heavy pistol – such as one based on an AR, AK or MP5 type of action.

Examples of Braced Pistols

SB Tactical’s PDW brace is great on AR pistols
IWI Galil Ace in 7.62×51 with a SB Tactical SBA4 adjustable brace
PTR PDWR .308 pistol with a SB Tactical folding mechanism and SB Tactical SOB brace

Palmetto State Armory (PSA)

PSA has come a long way. I’ve used them as my go-to AR parts supplier for years and now they have great deals on parts, kits, receivers, and firearms. They also offer some great deals on braces – by themselves as parts, as part of a kit offering or even on firearms.


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PTR PDWR In The Leaves

The lighting was right, the leaves were on the ground and it was a great chance to get some new photos of my PTR 105 PDWR pistol.  This big pistol is the interesting brain child of PTR.  It’s essentially a cut down HK 91.

The PTR 105 configuration has a PTR metal handguard installed.  After messing with it some, I decided to install an MP5 handguard as I like the angle on the MP5 handguard more.  This also means I should have just bought the PTR 110 that comes with that handguard.

Now, the only problem is that the MP5 handguard is not as rigid as I would like.  I’ll experiment some with different handguards in the future.

The PTR 195 and 110 are big pistols at 23.5″ overall, 8.5″ barrels and weigh about 8 pounds.  I wanted to install a brace but needed to be mindful of Michigan’s odd 26″ maximum pistol length law.  This isn’t legal advice, but my understanding is that the Michigan State Police say that a pistol with a brace is measured from one end to the other in the minimum operable condition.  So, by installing a side folder, I could have a brace for when I wanted to use it but also had the minimum operable length at 23″.  What you see in the photo is an SB Tactical BTFA folding mechanism, buffer tube and SOB stock.  When open, the weapon measures 32.5″. 

Thanks to the BTFA folding mechanism, I can swing the SOB brace to the left and it locks open.  This keeps the brace out of the way of the ejection port.  You can configure the BTFA to go either left or right.
It definitely has clean lines.
The PDWR definitely likes the PPU battle packs of .308 FMJBT 145 grain ammo.  It works great and is plenty accurate within 100 yards.  I’ll need to try and shoot the PDWR for accuracy some day and see what it can do.

As you can see, the brace is folded open and operating side of the PDWR is nice and clear of any obstructions.

Given the PDWR is chambered in .308 and uses 20 round HK G3 magazines, that is a lot of firepower in a small package.  Overkill?  Sure.  Fun at the range?  Absolutely.


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Tips on Finding Decent Gunsmithing Tools on eBay

One of the challenges when starting out working on guns is building your tool collection.  It’s hard to find cost effective tools so you wind up making do with stuff, creating tools ad hoc, etc.  Interestingly enough, this is where eBay just might help.  While I’m not happy with their anti-gun position, there are a lot of tools that pop up there – ranging from low-end Chinese stuff all the way to some beautiful vintage tools.

So, I want to show some example searches with 20 live feeds from each section:

Gunsmith and Gunsmithing Tools

The trick is in the searching.  For example, here are the top 20 matches for gunsmith tools or gunsmithing tools and you will probably see a mix:

[ebayfeedsforwordpress feed=”https://www.auctionrequest.com/arfeed.php?uid=inf5efd3d98495c&keyword=%28gunsmith+tools%2Cgunsmithing+tools%29&sortOrder=BestMatch&programid=1&campaignid=5338063879&toolid=10039&listingType1=All&feedType=rss&lgeo=1″ items=”20″]

Of course there are brands I will steer away from such as NCStar and others that I will look closer at such as Brownells, Lyman, Tipton, Weaver, etc.  I also read the ratings of the seller.  If a seller has a good rating and more than 30 sales, that’s a good sign.  Less than that and you are taking a gamble.

Vintage Gunsmith Tools

“Vintage” seems to be a popular term for “used”.  You tend to find a lot of unique stuff that was made by a gunsmith to fit a special need as well as high-quality tools that were made with care vs. mass produced.  Be careful though.  I’ll zoom into the photos as much as I can plus look at the seller’s description and the rating of the seller to try and decide if the tools are in good shape or beat to death.

[ebayfeedsforwordpress feed=”https://www.auctionrequest.com/arfeed.php?uid=inf5efd3d98495c&keyword=vintage+gunsmith+tools&sortOrder=BestMatch&programid=1&campaignid=5338063879&toolid=10039&listingType1=All&feedType=rss&lgeo=1″ items=”30″]

Used Gunsmith Tools

“Used” is still a popular term and is worth checking also.  Bear in mind the cautions I gave under vintage.

[ebayfeedsforwordpress feed=”https://www.auctionrequest.com/arfeed.php?uid=inf5efd3d98495c&keyword=used+gunsmith+tools&sortOrder=BestMatch&programid=1&campaignid=5338063879&toolid=10039&listingType1=All&feedType=rss&lgeo=1″ items=”30″]

Brownells Gunsmith Tools

Brownells has been around a long time — they were founded in 1939 and have always been known for their quality tools, parts and supplies to gunsmiths.  Because they have been around for so long, you tend to see a fair amount of Brownells stuff hit eBay by name so that is worth searching.  Still look at the photos closely and the seller’s rating to play it safe.  By the way, if you have never read their Gunsmith Kinks books – be sure to pick them up.

[ebayfeedsforwordpress feed=”https://www.auctionrequest.com/arfeed.php?uid=inf5efd3d98495c&keyword=%28Brownells+gunsmith%2Cbrownells+tools%29&sortOrder=BestMatch&programid=1&campaignid=5338063879&toolid=10039&listingType1=All&feedType=rss&lgeo=1″ items=”30″]

Antique Tools

What is “antique” really is up to the seller.  You’ll see stuff that ranges from a few years to over 50 years old.

[ebayfeedsforwordpress feed=”https://www.auctionrequest.com/arfeed.php?uid=inf5efd3d98495c&keyword=antique+gunsmith+-%28ratchet%2Cair%29&sortOrder=BestMatch&programid=1&campaignid=5338063879&toolid=10039&listingType1=All&feedType=rss&lgeo=1″ items=”20″]

I hope this helps you out!  There is a ton of stuff out there if you experiment with the search terms some.


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Switched to Super Lube Multi-Purpose Synthetic Grease For All of My Firearms

I’m always searching for better lubricants.  Many of the so-called specialty weapons lubes are just marketing hype with some bulk lubricant poured into their container.  In terms of greases, I’ve used quite a few over the years including wheel bearing grease and Tetra Gun Grease.  I wanted to find something effective, non-toxic and less expensive.

A name popped up when surfing – Super Lube.  To be honest, the first few times I totally dismissed the name because it sounds like some overly-hyped wonder lube that is sold in infomercials.  However, the name did keep popping up so I actually started reading up on it.

Super Lube products are made by Synco Chemical Corporation of Bohemia, NU, that was founded in 1980.  Their specialization is in the space of synthetic food grade lubricants and hold a number of patents.

There are a number of interesting characteristics about their grease that should be noted:

  1. It is designed to disperse very finely ground micron-sized PTFE (Polytetrafluoroethylene) which is a non-stick coating and lubricant.  You probably know it by the brand name of Teflon.  The approach they developed is one of their patents.
  2. It does not contain silicone
  3. It will work in a wide range of temperatures from -45 to +450 Farenheit
  4. It’s thickness is NLGI class 2, which means it’s about the same as vaseline or peanut butter.
  5. It’s non-toxic and food safe – here is the MSDS/SDS
  6. It will not melt or separate
  7. It will not dry out or get gummy
  8. It is waterproof
  9. It does not stain and is odorless – for you folks who do concealed carry or shoot a lot in uniform, you might want to take note of that.

Their website has a ton of information on Super Lube and also on lubrication in general if you want to spend some time reading.

I bought a 14.1oz tub of the Super Lube Multi-Purpose grease off Amazon – very affordable to say the least – clicking on this will open a list on Amazon.

To apply it, I use either a chip brush that I store in a zip loc bag to keep from getting dirty (as shown in the featured photo above) or a small flux / resin brush that I also keep in a baggy.

So, for the last few months I have been testing it.  When I cleaned one of my rifles or pistols, I would replace whatever I had been using as grease with the Super Lube Multi-Purpose grease.

I go by the old saying that if it rotates, oil it.  If it slides, grease it.  That is my rule of thumb so it goes on AK rails, bolt carriers, where the trigger hook grabs the hammer, etc.

It works great!  The weapons feel well lubricated after cleaning and they function great.  When I take them apart again for cleaning, the Super Lube shows no sign of breaking down, drying out, becoming gummy, etc.

If you are looking for an excellent affordable grease, check out Super Lube.  I’m definitely very happy with it.


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Shooting the 7.62×51 PTR PDWR – So Cool!

Folks, the PTR PDWR is a fun gun!  Yeah, I said the “gun” word because it just fits.  After taking the time to lubricate and clean the pistol as I wrote in the last post, my two brother-in-laws and I took it out to the range.

Plain and simple, it ran like a top.  We did not have one single problem of any kind.  We were running surplus aluminum mags from Robert RTG.  The ammo was Prvi Partizan (PPU)  .308 M80 145gr FMJ.  I’ve had great luck with PPU ammo over the years and have run a variety of their calibers and loads.  This .308 ammo comes in a heavy plastic sealed “battle pack” that SGAmmo sells.  If you don’t know SG Ammo, they are a great ammo supplier that is a family run business.  I buy most of my ammo from them and have nothing but good things to say about them.

We sighted the Vortex 1-6×24 Strike Eagle scope in at at about 25 yards and then just had fun.  We weren’t shooting for accuracy but were having fun shooting “zombies” as we called them with the big Splatterburst 18×24 silhouette targets that I really like.

This time out, I was using my new Howard Leight electronic ear muffs.  These are cool because they have directional sound amplification for normal sounds – like talking with your friends.  When you shoot, they immediately cut the sound off and protect your ears.  This is a real nice feature for me as I can’t hear a thing when I wear ear muffs due to my hearing loss and have to take them off to talk to someone.  At any rate, these Howard Leights have a great reputation and I must say that I am very happy with them.

One of my brother-in-laws was wearing my new MPOW headphones and thought they did a really good job on cutting down the sound.  These are a bargain price at Amazon and work way better than my old cheap Silencios in terms of hearing protection.

Now we did have a funny lesson learned – see how short the barrel is relative to the Caldwell front bag?  Yeah, if you get the muzzle brake over that bag and fire, it will rain some kind of brown pebbles (corncob media maybe?) down on you as the muzzle blast shreds the top of the bag 🙂  I have to confess, I am the one who did it and had to use duct tape to seal the top up so we could use it the rest of the day.

The whole point of the range visit was for me any my two brother-in-laws to have fun and function test the PDWR.  It performed admirably – neither of them are shooters and, for Jamie, this was his first time shooting anything – I think he did great.

Not one single problem – no feed issues, no ejection issues – it just performed great through about 200 rounds.

At any rate, I did learn a few things:

  1. It upheld the good opinion I have of PTR firearms.
  2. The SOB brace can handle .308 recoil just fine and lines the eye up for the scope great.
  3. As expected, the Vortex scope was great.
  4. The weight of the PDWR absorbs quite a bit of recoil making it a pleasant shooter but there is still recoil that moves you off target with any kind of rapid fire.
  5. The muzzle brake does an okay job but I am going to check into alternatives to cut the recoil down further.  The bird cage design is okay but there are definitely better designs out there.  The PDWR has a 5/8″-24 TPI threading so there are definitely options.
  6. The PDWR handguard moves forward and backward more than I care for.  I am going to experiment on tightening it up or either moving to a DTAC handguard or back to the original PTR handguard.  Note – the PDWR uses a MP5-style handguard.

Bottom line, I am very happy with the PDWR and plan to work with it some more on the above plus see how it does as I work my way back to 100 yards.  Everything in this sessions was at 25 yards or less and I am curious how it performs as the distance grows.  I would recommend the PDWR to anyone looking for a short HK91/G3-type roller lock for short distance use.


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Lubricating the PTR PDWR and Cleaning the Barrel

The last step in preparation for my first trip to the range was to clean and lubricate the PTR PDWR.   One thing I learned with my for PTR was that proper lubrication makes a world of difference and I could tell in working the PDWR that it definitely need lubricating so here’s what I did.

Also, if you need any parts diagrams or more detailed questions, be sure to read the HK G3 Armorer’s Manual.

In general, you know you need to lubricate all moving parts of the firearm such as the trigger and bolt.  So let’s start with the trigger.

Lubricating the Trigger Pack:

I employ a very old rule of thumb – If it slides, grease it.  If it rotates, oil it.  That simple rule has helped me take care of a ton of rifles and pistols over the years and can help you too.  [Click here for more on lubricating a firearm in general]

I used a small squeeze bottle filled with Mobil 1 Full Synthetic 5W-30 to reach in and lubricate all places where a part rotated on a pin.  I then worked the various parts of the trigger pack to make sure the oil go to where it needed to go.I used Tetra Gun Grease to liberally coat the top of the hammer.

Lubricating the Bolt Assembly:

Now the HK bolt assembly is involved and the following is a diagram from the HK G3 Armorer’s Manual:

In short, I oiled all of the internals but did not fully disassemble the bolt.  I put the assembly into a non-marring vise, twisted the bolt head off and then reached in with the squeeze bottle to lubricate the rollers, locking piece, firing pin, etc.

After that I applied a thin coat of Tetra Grease to the bolt carrier body and put more on the bottom and sides of the bolt where it would be making contact with the receiver and riding over the hammer.

Cleaned the Barrel:

One thing I always do before heading to the range is to clean the barrel.  If you look down in most, you will see varying levels of crud ranging from oil to dust to stuff left over from machining.  In the case of the PDWR, the barrel looked pretty good but I still wanted to clean it.

Over the years I have tried all kinds of different approaches to cleaning barrels.  The fast and easy one I use now on non-precision firearms that just need a touch up is a bore snake.   These things are caliber specific and give you everything you need in an “all in one approach”.  I spray CLP on the snake and down the barrel then I drop the weighted cord down the barrel and pull the snake on through.  I repeat this until the bore is shiny bright.

Note, there are a ton of brands including cheap generic imports.  I’ve used Hoppes and Sage & Braker brands with no problems at all.

At this point the PDWR was ready for the range.  The action felt and sounded good.


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Fixing a Bent Sight and Cocking Lever Tube Bur On The PTR PDWR

Okay, when I received the PTR PDWR I did a quick inspection and noticed two small problems that needed fixing.  I’m a bit disappointed that PTR quality control did not catch these two items but they are small issues.

First, the front sight blade was bent sideways – to canted, bent.  I’m not sure how this happened but thankfully the HK-style hooded sight uses a sheet metal insert for the front post.  The following illustration is from the HK G3 Armorer’s Manual:

I figured the easiest thing to try was to simply reach in with pliers with padded jaws and see if I could simply bend it to the right to straighten it.  Out came my purple art pliers 🙂  I literally bought these things back in 2013 for some kind of work that required padded jaws.  I don’t recall what and as odd as they look, they have held up to light use.  My only complaint is that the nylon jaw covers can slide off under very much stress but that was not an issue here at all.

They actually fit perfectly and I was able to bend the sight post straight.  Plan B would be to take a pair of needle nose pliers and slide rubber fuel line hose over the jaws.  My one concern would be whether the relatively thin jaws could adequately support the post during bending.  The art pliers below fit and did the job perfectly.

Fixing a Bur on the Cocking Lever Tube

The second problem I needed to fix was a steel bur on the tip of the cocking handle catch.  It bugged me every time my hand hit it and should not have been there.  Here it is in the next photo – sharp and pointing out.

In terms of the repair itself, first, I reached in with a Dremel using a small medium grit sanding drum and the tool on slow speed to knock down the sharp irregular edge from the inside.  Take your time – remove a little and look.  Your goal is always to remove as little material as possible.  As the old saying goes, it is easier to take more off than try and put it back on 🙂

In the next photo, you can see the “point” has been sanded down but there is still material on the surface:

Next, I used a 120 grit small flap sander in my bench mounted rotary tool to sand down that lip.  I could have used my Dremel but I use the little flap sander attachment so much that I routinely leave it in my bench tool.

Again, the trick is to go slow and take your time.  After that, I used compressed air to blow out the tube and receiver and then used carb cleaner spray to “wash out” anything that might have stuck and blew it out one last time.  The bur was gone and now it was on to lubricating the weapon.

(Note, that last photo above has the bolt back in when I was testing it later).



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