Category Archives: Uncategorized

A New .50 Beowulf Magazine Option: Lancers With Tromix Followers

I’m still experimenting with my .50 Beowulf (12.7x42mm) rifle and pistol that I have posted about previously. I wanted to find better magazine options – both in terms of looks and reliability – than my modified D&H aluminum magazines. I tried a number of different options and then happened on using Tromix followers in Lancer L5 Advanced Warfighters Magazines (AWM).

Tromix Followers

A small cottage industry has popped up of people 3D printing followers to center the various big bore cartridges in a given model of magazine. I’m still tinkering with some of the 3D printed models but during my surfing, I came across a machined aluminum model from Tromix Lead Delivery Systems. Tony Rumore and his colleagues at Tromix specialize in the .458 SOCOM round but they came up with a really slick follower design that would work with the really slick Lancer hybrid AWM Magazines.

I ordered in a few for testing and they are really nice. Here are a number of views for you:

Lancer Hybrid L5 AWM Magazines

So the above Tromix followers are made specifically to work with Lancer L5 5.56/.223 AWM magazines. The AWM considered a hybrid design because the feed lips are steel The lips can be a weak point in the design of some polymer magazines.

At any rate, the AWMs are really nice. You have a bunch of colors and capacities and are a very nicely made. They also have a number of capacities *but* for the Beowulf, stick to the 10 or 20 round magazines. The Tromix follower is relatively tall and can’t negotiate the curve in the 30s. It can be made to work with the 20s and I’ll detail that more in a moment. I have some thoughts on how to modify the Tromix follower to get it to work in a 30 but haven’t had the time to tinker with it yet.

The 10 round 5.56/.223 magazines can hold 3 Beowulf rounds without any tuning. The slight curve to the 20 round magazines can cause the follower to jam and we’ll cover how to address that next.

Tuning and Installing the Follower

Push the the button on the bottom of the follower and slide the base plate off. Note, the magazine spring will want shoot out so just be prepared to control the spring’s expansion.

This is an original Lancer follower stull attached to the spring. It’s really hard to get the assembly oriented wrong due to the design. The follower can only go into the magazine body one way. and the spring can only attach to the follower one way.
The spring can only fit into the Tromix follower one way also.
You then slide the assembly back into the magazine and slide the base plate back on. It is that easy.

The tuning required has to do with making the follower slide as easily as possible in the 20 round magazine. If you don’t then you are going to find that the Tromix follower jams inside vs. reliably pushing the cartridges upwards the way it should.

Now whether you do it before you install the spring or after, use a buffer and go all around the Tromix follower and make it nice and smooth. I used a 6″ buffing wheel with buffing compound. The reason I said you could either do it before or after is that I had already assembled four magazines before I realized I needed to do the polishing. Just rub off any buffing compound left behind. You’ll notice that the follower surface is far smoother to the touch than before.

I have used this 6″ Harbor Freight buffer a ton over the years as you can probably tell from the photo. It’s what I used along with some black/emory buffing compound to polish the followers.

The next step is to apply three coats of Teflon to the follower and the inside of the magazine body. I’d recommend using a dry lubricant inside a magazine body so it doesn’t attract dirt the way a liquid or grease would.

My preferred lubricant for inside a magazine body is Dupont’s Non-Stick Dry Film. It sprays on wet and leaves a layer of Teflon as the solvent evaporates off. Be sure to shake the bottle before spraying so the Teflon is floating in the can when you spray.
Due to health and environmental concerns over Teflon, the Dupont formulation now uses a ceramic technology. It seems to work just fine and I have been using the ceramic-based product for several years now. Click here for the Dupont Dry Film Aerosol that I use now.

The trick I do is to use a heat gun to warm up the parts before I spray and then hit it with the spray lightly. I then warm it up again, let all of the solvent evaporate and then repeat for a total of three coats. I’ve hard far better luck getting a consistent thick layer of Teflon this way vs. trying to do it all in one spray.

The white dull look you see is the Teflon residue that will enable the follower to slide easier in the magazine body.

I spray the inside of the magazine body and all sides of the follower. Your goal is or there to be Teflon where ever the follower males contact with the magazine body. When everything is dry, reassemble each magazine.

Coat all four walls of the inside of the magazine body as well.

Testing

One quick comment – I do not recommend testing with live ammo. There are just too many things that can go wrong. I use A-Zoom 50 Beowulf Snap Caps to do my testing. They come in packs of two and I’d recommend having 4-8 rounds total for testing. Ideally, you’d like to load the whole mag you want to test so it really depends on what you plan on testing.

Get yourself 4-8 Snap Caps for testing. They are far safer than live rounds and hold up very well.

The Result

With the Tromix followers, the L5 AWM 10-round mags can hold three Beowulf rounds and the 20-round mags can hold seven. They are far, far more reliable than what I have been trying thus far.

The 10-round L5 AWM is on the bottom and the 20-round model is on top. You can see the big Beowulf rounds loaded to the capacity of each.
The weapon used first is this 7.5″ Beowulf pistol. Yeah, it bucks but I am trying to figure out the brake to use. There is a massive amount of unburned powder blowing out that pepper pot helical brake.
Target from 50 feet – rapid fire free hand. Yeah – feeding is way, way better.

The bottom line is that I am very happy with the pairing of the Tromix big bore follower with the Lancer L5 AWM 10- and 20-round magazines. I’ll experiment more to see if I can get the 30-round L5 AWMs to work but that is for another day.

I hope this helps.


Note, I have to buy all of my parts – nothing here was paid for by sponsors, etc. I do make a small amount if you click on an ad and buy something but that is it. You’re getting my real opinion on stuff.

If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@*********ps.com. Please note that for links to other websites, we are only paid if there is an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay and only if you purchase something. If you’d like to directly donate to help fund our continued report, please visit our donations page.



What Are Good Commercial AKs You Can Buy In The USA?

If you ever want to start an argument on the Internet, ask what is the best AK brand you can buy in the US or at least ask what is good a good brand. You’ll get a ton of opinions, hear say and even a few people with real experience will chime in.

Paul Popov is the admin of the AK-47 Group on Facebook and an avid AK hobbyist and industry tracker. He also runs a website called the Kalash Connection where he maintain information about AKs.

The other day he sat down and took the time to create what I will refer to as “Paul’s List” to try and answer that question above:


Current 12-12-20
Question one: What new Ak do I buy?
Current new production mass market AKs that are proven and a safe bet.
Alphabetically
· Arsenal,
· Century imported WASR or Draco
· IWI Galil ACE,
· K-USA KP9p/r,
· M&M Cugir AKs,
· Palmetto State Armory GF3 – up, GF4, 103, AKv, 74 (the only 74 in new prod),
· Riley Defense is hammer forged where it counts, should be ok? (test is not completed, ammo is expensive currently for just putting rounds through one for testing)
· WBP Poland. Still pretty new, hard to say on this one. Maybe ok
· Zastava should be ok, the ones Century imported were hit and miss. New ones have chrome lined barrels (yay and about time) and lets hope better metallurgy than Century imports.
o Atlantic firearms often have decent kit builds to purchase, but are not mfg. new AKs. So do many kit builders, we have a list in announcements along with a list of where you can buy kits from.
o Please let me know if I forgot any.


·Question two: What are good used AKs to buy?
This is a great list Darryn Eugene compiled.
AK variant buyers guide (models and variants G2G)
7.62×39 AKm/47 Variants
· Mitchell Arms Imports, M-90/m-70
· Mitchell Arms Imports, M-72
· Zastava M-92 (inspect due to varying QC)
· Zastava NPAP/OPAP (inspect due to varying QC)
· Cugir/Romarm/Century AES-10B not to be confused with AES-10 (basically a long barreled wasr)
· Cugir/Romarm/Century Sar-1
· Cugir/Romarm/Century Cur-1
· Cugir/Romarm/Century Wum-1 (check for “moon cuts” meaning a dish shaped portion cut out of the rear of the receiver to dissuade the use military stocks.
· Cugir/Romarm/Century WASR-10 variants (only upon inspection)
· Cugir/Romarm/INTRAC Romak-1
· Cugir/Romarm/INTRAC Romak-991 (dimple-less single stack pre WASR import.
· FEG/Hungary/KBI/Kassnar Sa-85 variants post and pre ban.
· FEG/Hungary/TGI Amd-65 builds (not to be confused with Clearview Investments builds)
· Valmet, Literally any of them they’re all excellent.
· Arsenal of Bulgaria/Las Vegas/Legion SLR 107 variants, SAM-7 Variants, SLR 101 Variants, SGL-21 Variants
· BlueRidge/GordonTech/INTRAC SLR100h builds (Hungarian Type3 AK-55 kits on Bulgarian Receivers)
· Norinco/Polytech AK47S series.
· Norinco/Polytech MAK90 series milled and stamped models. (on stamped models identify whether it is slant cut or straight when figuring your price to pay.
· Norinco/Polyech NHM-91
· Norinco/Polytech MAK-91 (20-inch barrel milled receiver rifle, neutered Polyech legend national match).
· Norinco/Polytech Hunters. (great for galil/valmet conversion)
· GSAD/Kengs/Siles Type 56, AK47S
· Molot Vepr 1&2 models (model 2’s being the integrated front sight gas block set up)
· Robinson Arms Molot Vepr Conversions
· IWI Galil Ace series.
· Izhmash Saiga series.
· Intrac Maadi ARM
· Century Maadi MISR SA (avoid MISR 90)
· Intrac Maadi RPM, RML
· Steyr Maadi
5.45×39 AK-74 Variants
· Cugir/Romarm/Century SAR-2
· Cugir/Romarm/INTRAC MK-2
· Cugir/Romarm/Ratmil WUM-2
· Cugir/Romarm/Ratmil CUR-2
· 1st Gen Waffen Werks (identified by Nodak Spud receivers and Bulgarian barrels)
· Arsenal of Bulgaria/Las Vegas SLR 105-104 variants
· Arsenal of Bulgaria/Las Vegas/Legion FIME SGL 31 variants.
· Marcolmar/InRange Ak-74/AKS-74
· Molot Vepr 1&2 Series
· Robinson Arms Molot Vepr Conversions
· Interams Tantal
· Izhmash Saiga Variants
AK-101/5.56 Ak variants
· Romarm/Cugir/Century SAR-3
· Royal Tiger/FB Radom/ Beryl Archer
· Arsenal Of Bulgaria/ Las Vegas SLR 106 series ( research serial number prefixes to identify potential problemed models)
· Izhmash Saiga Variants
· Norinco/Polyech 84S
· Norinco/Polytech NHM-90
· Norinco/Polytech BWK-92
· Zastava/Century M85 (cannot verify quality of m85NP series)
· Mitchell Arms M-90
· Arsenal USA (not to be confused with KVAR) K100 model. (Bulgarian milled receiver assembled with Bulgarian 5.56 barrel on 74 parts.
· Arsenal Of Bulgaria SAM-5
· IMI/IWI Galil and Galil ACE variants
· TENN Galil builds.
· Valmet M72/65 variants.
· Valmet Bullpup. M82? Can’t recall model during time of this list. And yes i know i could use google. Don’t judge me…


So for all you folks new to AKs, take a look a the above. The last AK I bought was an IWI Galil Ace and they are superb.

Also, be sure to check out Paul’s site at: https://thekalashconnection.com

I hope this helps!


If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@*********ps.com. Please note that for links to other websites, we are only paid if there is an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay and only if you purchase something. If you’d like to directly donate to help fund our continued report, please visit our donations page.



PSA AK Webstore Links

Interested in an American made AK? Consider Palmetto State Armory (PSA) as a source. Click on the following links for the associated webstore categories for AK-related rifles, pistols and parts at PSA:

Will A Bulgy ARM9 Grip Fit An IMI Galil? The Notch Is Definitely Different

A recurring question I get is if a Bulgarian ARM-9 grip can be used on an IMI Galil rifle. Not easily is my answer and I took a bunch of photos so you can decide for yourself. You would need to add black epoxy to the inside back of the ARM in order to Dremel or mill it open further to duplicate the swing of the Galil’s lever – at least that’s how it looks to me because I don’t own an IMI Galil to experiment with.

So, here are some photos so you can see what I mean:

Note the difference in the shape of the ARM-9 grip’s notch on the left vs. the IMI Galil’s notch on the right
Here are the notches even closer.
Here’s the ARM sitting on top of the Galil for another perspective.
Here’s where you can see that the ARM-9’s original wall design is hollow behind the notch. It’s not an impossible change – if you were to abrasive blast the inside of the ARM grip and then use wax stripper, you could then fill that back in with black epoxy. It wouldn’t be an exact color match by any means.

Summary

So there you have it. They are different and definitely not a simple swap with out doing some epoxy work and then maybe a top coat of some finish if you want the colors to match. I hope this helps you out as you think through your options.


If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@*********ps.com. Please note that for links to other websites, we are only paid if there is an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay and only if you purchase something. If you’d like to directly donate to help fund our continued report, please visit our donations page.



What is the 12.7x42mm cartridge? Is it the same as .50 Beowulf?

The short answer is that they are the same thing. The bullet’s diameter is 0.50″ which is 12.7mm and the case length is 1.65″ or 42mm. The reason you see some vendors say they have something to sell in 12.7x42mm is they are trying to avoid a trademark problem with Alexander Arms.

Bill Alexander, of Alexander Arms, did all the engineering to bring to life both the round and the AR components to use it. He also trademarked the term “.50 Beowulf”. As such, anybody who wants to sell something and refers to it as being for .50 Beowulf would need to get the permission and/or license the use of the term “.50 Beowulf” to avoid legal problems. So, a lot of vendors use the generic metric designation of 12.7×42 to avoid legal hassles.

With that said, bear in mind that not all engineering is equal. I have never had a problem with Alexander Arms parts but myself and others have had plenty of headaches with 12.7×42 components from budget AR vendors who haven’t done the engineering. In my case, it was poor extraction with a Radical Arms bolt and extractor. So, buyer beware and research a vendor and their offering before you buy plus make sure they are reputable in general in case you need support. For example, Satern worked great for me and I wrote a blog post about the build.

Conclusion

So, short post this time. 12.7×42 and .50 Beowulf are the same round with different descriptions but be cautious to check out vendors selling parts using the metric designation. Some of them are selling junk so search for current reviews of products before you buy them.


If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@*********ps.com. Please note that for links to other websites, we are only paid if there is an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay and only if you purchase something. If you’d like to directly donate to help fund our continued report, please visit our donations page.



Simplify The Installation of AK Triggers With Our Slave Pin

The typical semi-auto AK trigger has four parts – the trigger body, disconnector, disconnector spring and pin. Installing it can be a challenge because you need to properly align the disconnector while sliding the pin through from one side of the receiver to another. For me, with big hands, this task takes more effort than I want.

This is your typical semi-automatic AK trigger group. On the left is the trigger body, top right is the disconnector, under the disconnector is its spring and at the bottom right is the trigger pin. The challenge is getting this all assembled inside of the AK receiver as the pin needs to pass from one side of the receiver, through one side of the trigger, through the disconnector to capture it, out the other side of the trigger and finally out the other side of the receiver. Trying to get it all to align inside of the trigger takes some patience.

The Solution – Use A Slave Pin

There is an easier approach. We can slide a properly sized dowel pin to serve as a “slave pin” during assembly to secure and properly align the disconnector and trigger outside of the receiver. This simplifies life tremendously. The unit is assembled outside where you can see what is going on, is lowered into the receiver and then the actual trigger pin is pushed through and it displaces the slave pin – the slave just exits the other side of the receiver.

This is the slave pin. Note how one side is beveled more than the other. That is the side that is inserted first. The bevel helps move things around during insertion and then the 5mm body provides the actual alignment for the trigger pin.
This is the assembled trigger group with the slave pin holding it all together.
Normally this would be in the receiver but I want you to see what is going on. As the trigger pin is inserted, it pushes the slave pin out of the way and it exits via the opposite receiver hole.
This photo shows how when the trigger pin is fully inserted, the slave simply drops out.
This is an ALG semi-auto trigger and you can see how slave pin is exiting the receiver as the trigger pin is installed.
So there’s the end result. A slave pin makes a world of difference. Note, that is one if our fire control group plates retaining the trigger and hammer pins.

Click here to order one of our AK Trigger Slave Pins

Click here if you are interested in one of our Fire Control Group Retainer Plates

In Conclusion

If you’re like me and want an easier way to install AK triggers, these new slave pins are the way to go!


If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@*********ps.com. Please note that for links to other websites, we are only paid if there is an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay and only if you purchase something. If you’d like to directly donate to help fund our continued report, please visit our donations page.



Here Come The Mosquitoes and Ticks! Argh! How To Find Talstar P Pro Now And The M4 Sprayer

One of my favorite move lines comes from Aliens when Ellen Ripley says, “I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.” While I would like to do that with mosquitoes, it’s just not an option currently.

Not on the table for mosquitoes yet though it does sound effective. The collateral damage is hard to justify though 🙂

The best approach for dealing with the little winged horrors and ticks still seems to be Talstar P Pro. Seriously, we live in an area that can described as a reclaimed swamp (it really was) and the mosquitoes used to be unbearable. I blogged about this first in 2018 about my move to Talstar and using a Ryobi battery powered sprayer and then a second post in 2019 that covered my continued use of Talstar and my purchase of a My 4 Sons sprayer.

This will be our third year using it and I just applied our first dose the other night – 1oz Talstar per gallon of water and than I go spray it on the bushes, around the buildings, under the eves etc. When I went to buy more Talstar off Amazon, they would not deliver it to my area and never really explained why so I figured I better blog about where to find it and also the My 4 Sons sprayer that isn’t on Amazon any longer.

This is the 3/4 gallon (96oz) size Talstar P Professional insecticide by FMC. I have an acre and a half. I use 10-15 gallons of spray depending on what all I am treating and how heavy I am applying it. That means I use 10-15oz of Talstar per treatment (1 oz TP to 1 oz water).

Buying Talstar P Pro Insecticide

My big problem this year that I wanted to make you aware of is Amazon – at least in my case they will not deliver it to our address. I’m getting increasingly frustrated by Amazon so I now buy it off eBay:


My 4 Sons M4 Sprayer

The next thing I want to do is give you a “one year later” report on the M4 sprayer made by My 4 Sons. I’m happy to report it has held up great and their customer service was exceptional. Note, I definitely drained it completely before freezing weather set in.

This is my actual sprayer the morning of 5/2/2020

Here are some lessons learned on my part and a couple of minor issues I encountered:

  • I bought way too much hose when all I needed was to just tow it around like a golf cart and spray stuff. I took the extra hose and saved it just in case.
  • I bought all kinds of sprayer gizmos and all I use is the wand. It has a brass tip, is adjustable and worked just fine for me.
  • The red elastic straps they provided did not hold up – the tank would fall of the cart. I just went to ace hardware and bought some 1″ nylon straps with buckles and cut them to size. I told My 4 Sons about what I did and am not sure if they changed how they are securing the tank.
  • One wheel broke and My 4 sons promptly sent me a replacement at no cost
  • The gasket on the lid was goofy and they sent me an improved model at no cost

This Spring I could not find the battery charger and ordered a replacement part from them. The price was reasonable and on their website – of course I found the original shortly there after.

As mentioned, I’ve already done my first application this year and the unit is doing great – they aren’t on Amazon any longer though. I want you to know they are a reputable firm with a good product and customer service. I would recommend that you go direct to My 4 Sons.

Just to be clear, Talstar will work in any sprayer – it’s pretty much the same viscosity as water so any pump sprayer – manual or batter powered – will work. I needed something bigger because of the size of our lot.

Conclusion

The Talstar P Pro and M4 sprayer are a great combination that I would recommend to anyone trying to deal with mosquitoes. It’s cheaper than a service and way, way more effective than the cheap stuff you buy in a store.

I hope this helps you out.


If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@*********ps.com. Please note that for links to other websites, we are only paid if there is an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay and only if you purchase something. If you’d like to directly donate to help fund our continued report, please visit our donations page.



PSA AK-E Part 1: Research

In 2019, I bought a PSA AK-V and really liked it. The little pistol caliber carbine was reliable, accurate and fun. I did an initial four blog posts about the purchase and then one on converting it.



Because I liked the AK-V so much, I started paying close attention to reports about the improved quality of the PSA AK line in general. I read the posts in the Facebook AK-47 group regularly and guys were reporting how happy they were with the GF3 series and the new AK-E that would be the PSA premium rifle with forged trunnions, nickel boron coated carrier and bolt plus a premium cold hammer forged barrel from FN. It definite caught my attention so I decided to monitor the situation.

Out Comes Rob Ski’s Videos

Rob is the creator and host of AK Operator’s Union’s video series. He was born in Poland and served in the Polish Land Forces as an infantryman. Then, when his family immigrated to the United States, he joined the US Army and was a paratrooper. In short folks, he’s the real deal when it comes to his opinions and experiences. If you’d like to read more, click here to read a 2014 interview.

Some people like Rob and some don’t – I like Rob. I think he’s a character and like his videos. I also respect his opinions. At any rate, he did a series of videos on the AK-E and the first one caught my eye because of the title “I hate new Palmetto State Armory AKE” – here it is:

He then posted an update after 2,000 rounds:

One at 3,000 rounds

After even more rounds and after pouring in a bunch of sand while it was running, accurate and Rob was impressed.

Well, between the Facebook group and Rob, I ordered my AK-E and will post about taking it out of the box next.


Please note that all images were extracted from the video and are the property of their respective owner.

If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@*********ps.com. Please note that for links to other websites, we are only paid if there is an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay and only if you purchase something. If you’d like to directly donate to help fund our continued report, please visit our donations page.



PSA AK Webstore Links

Interested in an American made AK? Consider Palmetto State Armory (PSA) as a source. Click on the following links for the associated webstore categories for AK-related rifles, pistols and parts at PSA:

James’ Sweet M92 SBR WIth Our Handguards

I think James’ M92 SBR looks pretty wicked!! That’s our handguard set on the front. It looks great James!


If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@*********ps.com. Please note that for links to other websites, we are only paid if there is an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay and only if you purchase something. If you’d like to directly donate to help fund our continued report, please visit our donations page.