Author Archives: GunGuy

About GunGuy

Prep minded city guy who tries not to take himself too seriously.

PTR-91 Firing Issue / Ammo Sensitivity

I picked up a PTR-91 a couple of months ago without doing any research beforehand. I bought four boxes of 308 Winchester Federal Power-Shok 150 Grain Soft Point ammo to try it out with initially. I sighted in the rifle within 20 rounds and put another 40 rounds through it without a hitch. Cleaning the rifle wasn’t a big deal except for putting the bolthead back on the bolthead carrier properly. I found the following HK G3 Disassembly instructions on www.MG-42.net. The information made putting the rifle back together a lot easier. If you have had any issues putting the bolthead back on the carrier then I recommend this bolt assembly tool. After cleaning the rifle I thought I would not have any issues with it for a long time and then…..

I bought a case of PMC Bronze 308 / 7.62 Nato for the rifle and that’s when my firing issues started.

My PTR-91 did not like the PMC ammo even though it was brand new and commercially produced . It would fire one round, the rifle would cycle the next round and then fail to fire the following round. I tried about a dozen times and it would do this for every round that the rifle cycled. The only time it worked was when I manually worked the action. I thought that this was strange and cleaned the rifle and put it off to the side until I could call PTR.

I called PTR and they asked what kind of ammo I was using and they said that the PMC Bronze would be fine. The PTR rep sent me a new firing pin and spring. After installing the new firing pin and spring the firing issue was not fixed. At this point I went online and quickly realized that a lot of people were having problems with their PTR rifles. I came across forum posts about the PTR being picky about certain types of ammo. Here is the list that I’ve seen online.

South Africa
Winchester white boxes marked 7.62
Venezuela Cavim
Austrian (Hirtenberger)
Some lots of German
British (under powered) will not cycle action
Indian (Over powered)

I also checked the headspace on my rifle with this feeler gauge from Amazon.com and it was within the recommended tolerance of .004-.020 at .017. I had all sorts of issues trying to figure out how to measure the head space on the PTR-91 until I found the following instructions to check the head space on a PTR-91.

Let the bolt and carriers snap forward on an empty chamber
Set the weapon to fire
Pull the trigger
Measure the gap between the bolt head and the bolt carrier should be .004-.020

Since my ammo was not on the list but it was sold as 7.62 / 308 winchester I thought it might not be to 308 spec so I switched back to the expensive Federal 308 ammo and the rifle worked like a champ. I then tried my friends PRVI 308 military surplus ammo and it went through it with no issues. I also used Winchester 308 hunting ammo and it went through it all up except for one misfire. For the final test I loaded a mix of all three types of ammo in a 20 round magazine with 19 rounds and fired the whole thing off without any issues. I’m going to test the rifle some more this weekend a write up my final opinion on the ptr-91 next week.

S&W M&P 9mm – Grip Tape

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I’m relatively new to the pistol shooting world and I had some trouble getting a proper grip on my SW MP 9. I used a suggestion by Chris Costa from the Magpul Dynamics Art of the Dynamic Handgun dvd and put some Black Magic grip tape on the gun.

I put some tape on the left and right hand side of the grip and a piece underneath the trigger guard. This really helped me get a proper grip on the gun and made it fell more secure in my hand. After adding the tape I went to the range and refined the placement of the tape and I’m currently using the grip tape placement below.

The grip tape was an inexpensive way to improve the feel of the handgun. I looked into stippling but I was not comfortable with modifying the handgun in that way. Here is a great link on how to stipple a firearm using a soldering iron.

Target at Fifty Feet

Elzetta Flashlight Mount for Mossberg 590

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I picked up an Elzetta Tactical Flashlight Mount for my Mossberg 590 last week since I heard great things about the company. The mount is very solid and holds my flashlight in a death grip. There is no way that the flashlight is going to come off the gun short of taking a hammer to it. I also added a Mossberg Speed Feed stock and a Tac Star Side Saddle to the gun. I wanted to get everything ready for a tactical shotgun course I’m taking in three weeks. I’ll have more about the training and the gear that I brought to it after the course is completed. In the mean time here are a bunch of pics of the gun and the accessories. As a side note I greased all the internal parts with white lithium grease and the gun action is as smooth as silk.

Razor Six Hand to Hand Combat Knife 101 AAR

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by GunGuy

Last Saturday I had the pleasure of taking the Hand to Hand Combat Knife 101 class offered by Razor Six Tactical and taught by Josh Long. The training took place at a beautiful piece of property in Oregon. Rob Hicks the founder of Razor Six Tactical was onsite as well and I had a chance to tour the impressive training facility with him and talk about an exciting product he has in development.

Once everyone arrived we did a quick meet and greet of the 10 participants and had a safety brief. We started with a 30 minute presentation consisting of slides and videos depicting the serious damage inflicted during a knife fight. Josh stated that the first rule of knife fighting is that you are going to get cut. Once you accept that fact you can move forward and take the training to heart.

After the class room portion of the course we went down to a covered pistol shooting bay for the hands on drills where we used Boker rubber training knives. Josh broke down the training into easily digestible points. We drilled the different parts which stacked on top of each other to allow us to have a simple and effective strategy to engage someone attacking with a knife.

The class lasted 6 hours with an hour for lunch. The gravel base of the training area reinforced the “train hard”/”fight easy” mindset which prepared us for real world situations. Towards the end of the class we had the opportunity to drill our moves with the use of a shock knife to get the adrenaline pumping and induce more reality into the training. The shock knife was set to low and wasn’t that painful. It was more of a mental hurdle that needed to be over come and made the training more realistic.

I went into this class with an open mind and not knowing what to expect. Overall I learned that you have to take the initiative and move with speed to take your opponent down. Being hesitant when put into a situation where your life is threatened can get you seriously hurt and or killed. There is no honor in a knife fight as your sole purpose is to win. I’m looking forward to taking more classes with Razor Six Tactical.

Gary Cornilles (Photographer) 2014

Mossberg 590 Velcro Side Saddle / Shot Shell Tray How To

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by GunGuy

I’m a big fan of Mossberg shotguns. I’ve owned several over the last twenty years except for a brief stint with the Remington 870’s. I’ve apologized for my cheating ways and now I’m back in the loving embrace of a Mossberg.

I added a Velcro HSGI shotshell tray to a used Mossberg 590 that I picked up recently. Here are some notes and pictures to get you on your way to duplicating this project.

Supplies Needed

Shotgun
HSGI shotshell carrier
Industrial Strength Velcro
91% Isopropyl Alcohol
Scissors
Ruler
Utility knife
Bunch of books to weigh down the velcro

Step 1: I prepped the side of the shotgun by wiping it down with Isopropyl alcohol several times and then let it dry.

Step 2: Using the ruler and utility knife I cut the Velcro a little longer than the shot shell carrier and a little shorter then the height of the side of the receiver. The size of the Velcro strip was 5 .25 inches wide and 1.5 inches high. I used scissors to round the corners so they would not curl up.

Step 3: Carefully I placed the Velcro just in front of the trigger group pins so I could have access to them when field stripping and also allow the serial number to be seen. The adhesive is very tacky so and it won’t come up once you put it down on the gun.

Step 4: I stacked several books on top of the newly laid piece of Velcro and let it sit for 24 hours until it cured.

Step 5: Once the adhesive cured I put the shot shell carrier on the shotgun and gave it a test run by pulling it off and putting it on several times. I have a shotgun class coming up shortly and I’ll give it a thorough breaking in then.