Category Archives: USA

Sniper / Precision Rifles, USA

Who Is The Rifle Maker Bergara?

To be honest, Bergara wasn’t even on my radar until the Summer of 2023. I was talking to my good friend, Scott Igert, who, along with his wife Alicia, own Michigan Gun Exchange, about a slick looking bolt rifle he bought for inventory to sell – it was a Bergara B14 HMR. I’d not heard of the brand before and he told me they were known for their barrels. If I had heard of Bergara before then, I really hadn’t paid attention and what was in front of me was a very nicely done bolt gun with a sub-Minute of Angle (MOA) guarantee.

The Bergara B14 HMR looked and felt good – nice trigger, smooth action and shouldered well. My only problem was that I knew nothing about them so I didn’t buy it and decided I better do some digging. What I found out was impressive and want to share it – by the way, I did go back and buy the rifle a few weeks later.

Corporate and Brand Structure

Like many arms companies these days, understanding the organizational and brand structure around Bergara took some research. Bergara is basically a brand owned by Dikar S Coop of Spain who is owned by Mondragon. Let me show you a chart to better explain this – click on the diagram to see a full size copy:

That diagram is the best I can come up with after reading Mondragon, Dikar S Coop and BPI Outdoor websites, 3rd party stories, etc. If anyone from BPI or Dikar want to email me some corrections, I’d very much welcome them.

Let’s Look At Each

  • Mondragon Corporation – Books could be written about this firm and their cooperative business model – I can only summarize a tiny bit. Mondragon was founded in 1956 in Mondragon, Spain. Today, Mondragon is the seventh largest corporation in Spain (based on asset turnover) and is a worker cooperative [Click here for a ton of webpages that cover their “co-op” model in more detail]. In 2024, it had over 70,000 workers, 30,660 in the Basque Country, 29,340 in the rest of Spain and around 10,000 abroad. It has four broad categories of business – finance, industrial/equipment (I’ve seen this group mentioned three different ways – industrial, equipment and manufacturing), retail, and knowledge. To me, I think of them as a holding company with a very interesting set of management principles.
  • Dikar S Coop – Is a cooperative owned by Mondragon Corporation. It’s part of the industrial/equipment group. Dikar S Coop focuses on sporting goods. It was formed by the merger of two Spanish gunmakers in 1969 Mendi S Coop (shotguns) and Jukar (muzzle loaders). Jukar was looking for access to the US market and Mendi mainly sold there. It joined Mondragon in 1991. In 2003, Dikar bought BPI Outdoors who was their largest barrel customer at that time. Today, Dikar it has over 300 people and markets in 45 countries. Note, their website links to online stores for Quake and Bergara direcly.
  • Dikar Portugal – Launched in 2003 initially to produce products for Quake Industries. There are current references to them making products for Bergara, CVA and Quake.
  • Bergara – the brand was launched in 2010 initially focused on barrels and introduced rifles and accessories to the US market in 2015. Within five years, Bergara sales exceeded the other brands. Note, the Dikar website is ambiguous but I think they mean within five years after the introduction to the US market. What I find interesting is their early emphasis on producing high quality barrels. They actually retained Ed Shilen, the brains behind Shilen custom barrels, to help them understand the process and methods behind quality barrels. While you may know Bergara for their rifles, they make a ton of different barrels for other big name companies.
  • Quake Industries – while focused on the American market, Quake products are sold in 45 countries. They make various accessories for shooters including bags, belts, optics covers, staps/slings and more.
  • BPI Outdoors – Black Powder Inc (BPI)was founded in 1999 and bought Connecticut Valley Arms (CVA) that same year. BPI Outdoors is directly owned by Dikar S Coop and isn’t surprising given Dikar’s history of muzzleloaders. As of September 2024, they employee about 75 people in Lawrenceville, Georgia.
  • CVA – is the #1 brand of muzzle loader rifles in the US. In 2020, they entered the centerfire market. They did get a black eye with a barrel quality problem in 1995 and 1996 model years but that was before BPI bought them in 1999. My understanding is that Bergara makes the CVA barrels now.
  • PowerBelt – is a leading brand of muzzle loader ammunition launched in 2002.
  • Durasight – is a brand of sights, scope bases and rings for CVA firearms launched in 2005.
  • Bergara Custom Rifles – In 2012 BPI hired retired USMC Msgt Dan Hanus. Mr. Hanus was schooled and then led the USMC’s Precision Rifle Section in Quantico, VA. He then brought in a few more builders he knew plus BPI invested in CNC machines for them to use. Their custom rifles were almost immediately adopted by a number of Georgia SWAT teams. If I had $5-6,000 + money for a comparable optic, I’d sure get in line for one of their BCR19 Heavy Tactical rifles.
  • Bergara Academy – they offer long-range shooting classes in Montana and Wyoming. Small class sizes and all-inclusive pricing makes their offerings very interesting. [Read that as “I would go in a heartbeat if I could afford it!”]

Summary

You’d think “Who is Bergara?” would get a simple answer. I guess it depends on where you stop but I learned quite a bit. For example, I had no idea that Bergara started with barrels and that partly explains why my B14 HMR was so accurate. I also didn’t know about the business model set forth by Mondragon.

In short, there is a lot of experience behind Bergara not to mention capital for innovation and expansion. I also think there is a lot of good momentum pushing them forward and we will see more and more from them.

I hope this helps you out.

References

This post took some digging so I want to provide the source pages in case you are interested:

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**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

AK & Related Rifles, USA

PSA AK-E: First Range Trip

Well folks, we finally had a chance to go to the range for the first time this year. It was a beautiful day and the only shortcoming was that we had a number of rifles and pistols to test and not enough time to shoot a ton of rounds through each. To be honest, we had a blast 🙂

One of the rifles that went was my PSA AK-E. It was the smoothest cycling AK out of the box that I have encountered and I think it’s due to a combination of pretty good fitment and their nickel-boron coating of the bolt and bolt carrier. I’ve written a number of posts about my journey with the AK-E so click here to open a tab/window and see those posts.

Palmetto State Armory (PSA) has a stunning array of Kalashnikov firearms now. AK-47s, AK74s, 100 series, rifles, pistols … it’s impressive. Click here to go to their main AK menu.

We were shooting 124 grain 7.62×39 FMJ ammo by Golden Tiger. This is great ammo and my favorite to use. For AK bulk ammo, it’s relatively accurate, reliable and consistent — notice that I say relatively. It will hold its own with any of the bulk steel case ammo or even do better. I’m not comparing it to hand loads or specialty ammo.

Niko is a heck of a shot and is familiar with AKs as well. He had to do Slavic Squat shot 🙂

I wish I could tell you that we shot hundreds of rounds but there just wasn’t time. We shot three mags through it – 90 rounds and did not have one problem. Yeah, it’s not many rounds but I figured some of you would like an update and I’ll post again after the next range trip.

Observations:

  • The little Vortex Crossfire did a great job and we had fun punching paper. The scope and the RS!Regulate optic mount worked out just fine. I’ve used the combo before and expected such.
  • The rifle functioned just fine with no feed or ejection problems
  • The rounds were grouping pretty well – we were not shooting for accuracy – more for function testing
  • The trigger was very nice – ALGs are great in general and what I like to use these days.
  • The brake did a decent job. I think a JMAC RRD-4C brake would have reduced recoil further but out of the box the recoil was not bad at all. When you think about it, even an AK with no brake is surprisingly pleasant to shoot during semi-auto fire
  • I definitely liked the feel – the weight and balance – of the rifle – the RS!Regulate handguard, our AK-12 grip and a Magpul ACS stock worked very well together
Me with my favorite AK shooting shirt 🙂

When we were done, I did take the rifle apart and did not see anything concerning. So, I definitely want to shoot it more and the rifle is off to a good start.

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**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

USA

WWI 4.7-inch Gun Number 395 At The VFW Post 1137 in Watervliet, Michigan

One day when we were driving around, a WWI-era cannon caught my eye. It was positioned in front of VFW post 1137 in Watervliet, MI. Artillery of that era has a number of distinct markings – notably wooden wheels! So, I stopped and took photos – two times actually. One time in the Winter of 2019 and again in July of 2020.

Well, age and the elements are taking their toll but you can still see the 4.7″ M1906 and get a pretty good idea of what it looked like in its prime. Kudos to someone for making a stand to take the load off the old wooden wheels that could never handle it at this point.

Getting The Clues I Needed To Research The Cannon

In most artillery of this age, you can find what you need to start digging on the muzzle and the carriage. With this in mind, I made sure to get some photos as best I could of the info at those points.

The markings were hard to make out with the naked eye due to paint but with some digital photo editing, I could pull out the details. Northwestern Ordnance Co. 2665 Pounds. No. 395.
Getting in even closer and seriously tweaking the photo to enhance clarity, you can see that it says Northwestern Ordnance Co. 1918. The weight is definitely 2665. The initials in the lower right I am not sure of. I wonder if they were the inspector’s initials or some code. I can make out the letter H but not what is before it. You can see the bore area near muzzle still has its rifling.
It looks like there were three initials to the right of the gun’s number – “NO. 395”. The first two initials are too worn for me to make out but the last one looks like an “H”. I’m guessing but “R.B.H” maybe?
The emblem on the carriage was far easier to read and also our single best clue as to where to start digging. It was carriage number 702 for the Model 1906 4.7 inch gun. The carriage was made by Studebaker in 1918.

Doing The Research

From the carriage, I knew to start my Internet searching on M1906 4.7″ guns and Google immediately returned images, books and blog posts that confirmed that.

Here it back in the day! This is from the Handbook of Artillery: Including Mobile, Anti-Aircraft and Trench Materiel, May 1920.

Wikipedia gave me some info but then thanks to the Internet Archive Project, I found two scanned copies of US Army books that had lots of old pictures, diagrams and really comprehensive information about the 4.7″ gun. There is so much detail in these books that I am just going to give a quick overview in this post and you can learn more from these books:

Source: Handbook of Artillery: Including Mobile, Anti-Aircraft and Trench Materiel, May 1920.
Source: Handbook of Artillery: Including Mobile, Anti-Aircraft and Trench Materiel, May 1920.
Source: Handbook of Artillery: Including Mobile, Anti-Aircraft and Trench Materiel, May 1920.
Source: Handbook of Artillery: Including Mobile, Anti-Aircraft and Trench Materiel, May 1920.
Source: Handbook of Artillery: Including Mobile, Anti-Aircraft and Trench Materiel, May 1920.
Source: Handbook of Artillery: Including Mobile, Anti-Aircraft and Trench Materiel, May 1920.

More Details

The 4.7 inch (120mm) field gun was designed and issued by the US Ordinance department beginning in 1906 with the first units being delivered in 1911. It was manufactured by the Northwest Ordinance Co and carriages were made by three firms groups: Rock Island Arsenal, Walter Scott Co and Studebaker Co.

Apparently there were logistical problems with the unique ammunition it used resulting in limited numbers being built. Despite larger orders being placed, only 209 guns and 470 carriages were produced. 64 of the units were sent to France. 994,852 of the 4.7 inch shells it used were produced. Most of the units were used for training and the guns stayed in reserve storage until 1932. [Source – Wikipedia]. Note, that Wikipedia link is pretty cool for a quick high-level summary of the 4.7″ gun.

More Photos of Number 395

The photos below were taken on the two different visits mentioned above. If you click on one, you can see the full-size photo and navigate around as well.

Summary

I’ve heard from guys who grew up in this area and they tell me the gun moved around some over the years before landing at its current location in front of the VFW post. If anyone has more information, I’d sure be curious to hear it.

With that said, I now know a little bit more and hope you found this post interesting.

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**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

ARBuilds, USA

Looking for a Cool AR Rifle Project? Build a .50 Beowulf

Interest in the Beowulf round is growing as people buy the low cost 12.7×42 chambered pistols, rifles and kits. 12.7×42 is the metric designation for the Beowulf and is being used by groups wanting to avoid a trademark problem with Alexander Arms.

The Beowulf is one heck of a thumper delivering massive kinetic energy on target from the base AR-15 platform. That’s the remarkable part – it uses a standard AR lower! To give you an idea of the size of the round take a look at this photo. From top to bottom: .50 Beowulf 350gr XTP, 5.56×45 55gr FMJ , 7.62×39 123gr FMJ and a loose 9mm 124gr Hornady HST. The Beowulf sure dwarfs the little 5.56×45 round!

I’ve owned two .50 Beowulf’s and my current one was built using an Alexander Arms DIY kit that allows you to add the handguard and brake that you want. They are built on standard AR lowers so if you have an AR today, it’s just a matter of adding an upper in this caliber or you can do a whole new dedicated build – it’s up to you. I’ve also done a number of posts about my builds in case you want to learn more – click here to see a list.

A Beowulf upper can mate to any in-spec AR lower. This is a Spike’s lower with an Ergo group, Magpul PRS III and Geissele trigger.

What caught my eye the other day and prompted me to write this post is that Primary Arms has noticed the growing interest in .50 Beowulf and is now carrying a variety of parts and ammunition. They have a lot of products in stock and they ship fast. I’ve placed a couple of orders with them for parts over the past month and they are still shipping stuff out either the same or next day – that’s remarkable given how busy the industry is right now.

To give you some examples of .50 Beowulf products that Primary Arms has currently, they have the Alexander Arms DIY 16″ barrel kit and also the Timber Creek Heart Breaker muzzle brake, which is my favorite Beowulf brake.

This is the 16″ DIY kit. Alexander Arms has done all the fitting for you. It comes with one magazine as well. In terms of the upper kit, I found the machining and parts fitment to be excellent.
This is the Timber Creek Heart Breaker and it does a remarkable job of reducing the recoil. It has three heart shaped ports on each side that redirect the blast backwards to propel the rifle forward and reduce recoil. The three circular ports on the top help reduce climb. Seriously, this is a solid brake.

For ammo, there is an increasing variety out there – Alexander Arms makes their own with a variety of loads plus there are other sellers out there with their own offerings. I’ve found the Alexander Arms 350 grain Hornady XTP ammo to be accurate and the XTPs really open up on impact.

The is older packaging. In 2019 I noticed Alexander was using an eye catching color scheme of navy, black and white – same ammo just a different box. The Alexander Arms .50 Beowulfl 350gr XTP ammo is packed 20 rounds to a box and Primary Arms has it in stock.
Here’s the whole Beowulf.

So, if you want a fun build, get the kit, the handguard you want, the brake you want and take it from there. For folks who like optics, I’d recommend something that can help with fast moving up close targets as well as out to about 200 yards — I paired mine up with a Vortex 1-6×24 Strike Eagle and the 1-8×24 model would be great also.

This is my 1-6×24 Vortex Strike Eagle using a Vortex cantilever mount on my current Beowulf rifle.

One last comment, I make my own magazines using the reliable but inexpensive aluminum D&H magazines that PSA sells. They typically go for $9.99 on sale to $12.99 normally and right now they are on sale in case you want to snag some – they also have their special going on where you can get one of their 36″ rifle cases plus 7 D&H magazines for $109.99

This is one of the 30 round D&H 5.56 magazines that you can use to hold up to 10 Beowulf rounds.
This is the very well made 36″ PSA rifle case deal that includes 7 D&H mags.

Conclusion

That’s it for now. I hope you found this helpful and have fun building and shooting a .50 Beowulf.

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**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

ARBuilds, USA

My Favorite .50 Beowulf Muzzle Brake

I now have built my second Beowulf and guys ask me about the recoil all the time – the short answer is that it’s very manageable. With just a bit of tuning, I’d put it somewhere between a 20 and a 12 gauge shotgun shooting 2-3/4″ magnum loads. Now that there are a ton of options both from Alexander Arms as well as generic 12.7×42 uppers (the metric designation for the Beowulf so they don’t have to pay royalties to Alexander Arms), a lot of guys are getting into the .50 Beowulf cartridge and ask me about what brake to run with.

My favorite is the Timber Creek Heartbreaker. It does a remarkable job of venting gasses backwards to compensate for the recoil it would otherwise have. I liked it so much on my first build that it was what I used in my second build. It’s very affordable and I’d be surprised if you can find a brake that does a better job!

Side view of the Heartbreaker and you can see where it gets its name.
View from the top. Note the brake includes a jam nut.

Finding The Brake

You may need to go direct to Timber Creek. Primary Arms is out of stock and they are sometimes on eBay.

My Alpha Wulf

I did a series of blog posts when I built my second rifle. My pet name for it was the “Alpha Wulf” or the leader of the pack. It’s all premium parts and probably my best AR build when it comes to paying careful attention to details during assembly. Here are the posts:

I’m a big fan of the .50 Beowulf cartridge and hope you find this post helpful!

3/6/24 Update: I’m not sure if Timber Creek is still making these or just what. I haven’t built a Beowulf for a few years and don’t have any alternative suggestions.

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**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

Military, USA

Motivational Video: US Navy Seals and SWCC – “Never Quit”

Many folks have heard of the US Navy’s Sea Air and Land (SEAL) teams. The SEALs have been in a ton of movies and books but they are supported by another critical special warfare group – the Special Warfare Combatant-craft Crewman (SWCC). These are the teams that man the small boats that deliver and pick up the SEALs.

I have a lot of respect for the SWCC crews and get a real kick out of their boats – wow. These things are packing some serious firepower.

So, I ran across this cool motivational video this morning and thought I would share it:

Please note that all images are extracted from the video and remain the property of their respective owner(s).

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**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

AR & Related Rifles and Pistols, USA

The Fastest Way To Convert Aluminum 5.56 AR Magazines For Use With .50 Beowulf

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Back in 2018, I documented how to convert a basic aluminum AR magazine using a Dremel and a small drum. With the new Alpha ‘Wulf build, I made four new ones real fast using a slightly new method.

With the Alexander Arms (AA) .50 Beowulf DIY Upper comes one actual Beowulf magazine built to AA’s specifications by E-Lander Magazines of Israel. This gave me a chance to see what they did differently to support the ‘Wulf and it comes down to a relief in the front of the otherwise normal AR magazine. This allows the shoulder of the cartridge to pass by without hanging up on its way towards the chamber. Everything else appeared the same in terms of the feed lips and the follower.

E-Lander of Israel makes the Beowulf magazines for Alexander Arms. One is included with the DIY Upper Kit.
This is the top front of the E-Lander magazine. Note the notched out area. On a normal AR magazinet his goes straight across,

So, armed with how basic this was, it immediately hit me that a flap sander could make a quick angled surface faster than the drum mag. So, I loaded up a 3/8″ 120 grit flap sander with a 1/8″ shank into my bench rotary tool.

The magazines I convert are D&H 5.56/.223 magazines that Palmetto State Armory sells. They are reliable and well made plus they are very affordable with sales prices starting around $8.99 and normal price around $12.99 for buyers in a rush. They also have regular combo deals such as a case and seven mags for $89.99. You have to love PSA’s deals. Click here to see what they have.

The first step is to remove the floor plate of the magazine. On these D&H magazines from PSA, I just use a screw driver to lift the floor plate for the tabs to clear the magazine body. Pull the floor plate off while trapping the magazine spring. Remove the floor plate, spring and follower so they are out of your way.

I slide a small screw driver between the magazine body and the bottom plate to then lift and remove the plate from the magazine. Note, the magazine spring will come fling out.
See the tabs/ridges stamped in the floor plate? That is why you need to use the screw driver to lift the plate so those tabs can clear the magazine body.
Any rotary too will use. This is my benchmounted unit that I use on grips and what not, Any Dremel or other rotary tool would work.

So you basically use the flap sander to to cut a ramp on the inside edge of the magazine. You do not need to replicate the notch – just use the flap sander to quickly remove the material.

The left magazine is an original unmodified magazine. The middle has the ramp cut and the right unit has been reassembled. Be sure to blow out the mags before reassembly.

Using the flap sander can get the job done in 30 seconds or so – it’s literally that fast. Be sure to blow out the magazine bodies to remove all of the grit before you reassemble them. Failure to do so may cause you problems later either with the magazine failing or getting into the rifle.

The final step is to test each magazine to make sure it feeds properly. Load two rounds to test chambering in a safe place with the muzzle pointed in a safe direction. Never take a risk.

That’s all there is to it. You can convert a magazine faster than the time it took you to read this post. I hope it 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**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

AR & Related Rifles and Pistols, USA

Building A .50 Beowulf – Part 3: Observations On Building the Upper, Lubrication and Vortex Strike Eagle

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So things were going together really well for the Alpha ‘Wulf and no, I’m not going to say “and then I hit a snag.” I was impressed by all the parts so far. In the last post I talked a bit about the lower assembly and the upper parts I picked in addition to the Alexander Arms DIY upper. In this post, I’m going to share a few observations on the handguard, brake and lubrication.

The MI Combat Handguard

I don’t recall exactly when I first found out about the Midwest Industries (MI) Combat series of rails but used one this past Spring when I built a 10.5″ 5.56 AR Pistol. The biggest thing I like is the barrel nut. Now that may sound like a crazy thing to get excited about but there’s a reason. Look at the MI Combat barrel nut – it is a knurled circle with a groove in it. The reason this matters is that the handguard can rotate however it needs around the nut and is secured by a steel key and clamping onto the knurling. If you don’t have this kind of a design, you need to use shims or do some combination of filing and potentially crazy levels of torque to get the handguard’s top Picatinny rail to “time properly” (or align properly) with the rail on top of the upper receiver and also to get the gas tube to pass through into the upper receiver’s bolt carrier channel. PSA has good prices on them so click here to see what they have.

This is the MI barrel nut that the combat rail uses along with a small tin of AeroShell – 33MS/64 Extreme Pressure Grease, MIL-21164D and an acid brush to apply it.
The key shown just to the of the screws is part of the cool design. The small nub sitcking out goes into the groove to lock the handguard into position front to back. The two screws go into the handguard to both secure the key and to provide the clamping pressure onto the knurled surface of the barrel nut – it is a very elegant and effective design.
Here the key is inserted and the two screws were just inserted. They have blue Loctite on them and will be torqued down to 55 inch pounds.

I do have a few tips for you to bear in mind. Bear in mind the Beowulf has a kick. Bring everything to a torque spec and use Blue LocTite 242 or 243. Both are “medium” formulas that can be readily disassembled with the right tools and 243 adds a bit better oil resistance. I’m moving to 243 as I use up my 242 supply but it’s up to you one which you want to use.

Install the Barrel Nut First

First, just back out the set screws and the low profile gas block will slide right off the barrel. You need it out of the way to install the barrel nut.

Next, secure the upper assembly in a vise. You will need to use a fixture to hold the upper when you do this. Absolutely do not use your lower to hold the upper. You will bend things. My tool of choice now is the Magpul Barrel Extension Vise (BEV) Block. It very securely holds the upper by engaging the barrel extension. It’s the best tool I’ve found and PSA carries it.

This is my BEV Block along with a spare bolt carrier I use to secure it into the barrel extension akong with a cross pin.

The following is the approximate process for installing a barrel nut:

  • Degrease the receiver threads and the barrel nut. The Combat rail comes drenched in oil.
  • Apply the AeroShell – 33MS/64 Extreme Pressure Grease, MIL-21164D to the receiver’s threads – I use an acid brush to get an even light coat.
  • Torque the barrel nut down to 35 foot pounds (yes, this is foot pounds unlike the gas block) using the spcial MI torque plate they provide and your 1/2″ torque wrench
  • Loosen the barrel nut – ideally not with the torque wrench to save it from wear and tear.
  • Torque it again to 35 foot pounds again and loosen it again.
  • Now, this is the final torque – take the MI nut down to 35-80 foot pounds. I took mine down to 40 foot pounds and called it even. Why the huge range? Well, if you have an old school barrel nut, you may need to torque it quite a bit to get things to align but in our case we just need to apply enough torque to call it even.

Installing the Gas Block

The gas block set screws do have a torque spec if you hunt long enough. Alexander Arms (AA) does not provide it in their general purpose Beowulf manual or instruction sheet that comes with the DIY upper. People cite 25 inch pounds (not foot pounds) with one drop of 242 Loctite per “echnical Repair Standard (TRS) SOFWEP-07-G12P-00032-00 Rev 1 Appx H” that I have yet to locate a copy of that manual. With that said, that is exactly what I did but I used the 243 formulation of Loctite.

Also, AA has done all the machining and used centering set screws to go into the divots in the barrel. You do not need to worry about needing to measure a set back from the barrel’s step lip – just slide the gas block on, put a drop of Loctite on each screw, carefully align the tube and then torque down the screws.

One drop of 242 or 243 Loctite and then torque each set screw to 25 inch pounds – I used my Vortex torque screw driver to tighten mine down.

Timber Creek Heart Breaker Brake

Based on my first Beowulf, it’s very critical to get a good muzzle brake. If you want to reduce felt recoil, the best things you can do in order are: 1) install a good brake. 2) have a good recoil pad 3) make the rifle heavier. Now, I do all three plus I use a hydraulic buffer that helps a tad but a good brake is absolutely critical. For me, it is absolutely my first priority and I knew I wanted to use the Timber Creek Heart Breaker again.

Here’s the Heart Breaker from the side and you can immediately see the heart shapes that give the brake it’s name. Also note the jam nut behind the brake.
A view from the top with the ports shown. The bottom does not have ports – just the top to reduce climb.

The AA barrel uses a unique 49/64-20 RH thread. If you are not using an AA barrel, confirm the thread before you order a brake.

To install the brake, I run the lock nut to the bottom of the thread and then thread the brake on as far as it will go, rotate it into final position and then tighten down the lock nut to 20 foot pounds using a crowsfoot head on my torque wrench. I’ve not used Loctite but you can if you want extra protection – I would still go with the medium strength 242 or 243 formula.

Lubrication

To lubricate the whole rifle, I use SuperLube grease and oil. I know it sounds like an infomercial name but it actually works really good. The base is a synthetic lubricant with “micronized PTFE” (think tiny Teflon particles) added in.

If it slides, I apply a light brushed on film of Superlube grease. If something rotates, I use drops of the Superlube oil. Now some folks will disagree with me and go with all CLP or LSA or some secret blend they like – fine. This is just what I do.

After lubricating it, everything was nice and smooth plus I did function testing to make sure everything was working properly in terms of the selector, disconnector, trigger, etc. In fact, Brownells has a nice page on attaching the upper to the lower, lubrication and function testing.

Vortex Strike Eagle 1-6×24 Optic

Before I pick an optic, I think about how the firearms it is going on will be used. For the Beowulf, it will be hunting and target shooting typically within 100 yards and maybe out to 200 max plus low light situations might well occur.

Armed with that, I decided to use a Vortex Optics Strike Eagle with a 1-6 power magnification, a 24mm objective and a lit reticle. My eyes aren’t so red hot any more so I knew I would need some basic magnification while still having a wide field of view at 1x. Also, I am a huge fan of Vortex due to their quality and no BS warranty. If anything goes wrong with a Vortex optic, they will repair or replace the unit and not run you ragged.

I also opted for a quality offset Vortex mount. You need a solid mount and not something that is going to constantly shoot loose or break under strain.

How Does It Look?

I haven’t had time to take it to the range yet, but am definitely liking how it turned out. The Alexander Arms DIY upper was great to work with as were the Geiselle trigger and MICombat handguard. The PRS stock helps balance out the rifle and adds weight plus the great recoil pad that comes with it. Now, If I can just find some time to go to the range 🙂

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My apologies but I have no way to filter out items that the vendors have sold out such as ammo. For example, most places sell out of the ammo fast but you should keep an eye on both Midway USA and going to Underwood Ammo directly – Underwood makes very good ammo by the way. I usually run Alexander Arms ammo but they are sold out most places and while you can place an order directly, you will need to wait quite a while for it to be made and shipped.