All posts in Magpul Accessories

A recent stock failure and no time to mess around

I’ve had 2 stock failures in recent  years and one was my fault for not checking the carbine to make sure it was tight after thousands of rounds of use and the other was during a Carbine course where I showed a student how to clear a malfunction by slamming the butt stock on the ground.  There is a YouTube video of someone hurting their  hand with a CTR stock but there are obvious limites on how much banging around a gun or accessory can take.  When there is a fire and you have to break the glass to get to an axe, you don’t need to hit the glass hard that you break the axe handle and end up with a metal wedge.

I’ve had issues with firearms in the past, usually finicky handguns where I just got tired of the intermittent magazine failure that I just replaced all of the mags springs and recoil springs and was done with it.  If you are looking for gun accessories and not sure what you want, take a serious look at the Magpul accessories for the AR15 rifle and  you’ll probable find what you are looking for.   You can’t beat the MOE stocks and accessories but there are always unique things out there that the major firearm accessory companies don’t have.

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Clearing Malfunctions on an AR may mean finding out how good your stock is

I found out the hard way while taking a newby to the firing range and teaching them how to clear malfunctions from an AR15 if they couldn’t get the bolt back.   When I showed them how to clear the malfunction, they told me they were afraid to hit it hard on the ground because they thought they might break the stock, I told them to just got ahead and hit it hard enough to have the bolt fly back and they did.   When I checked the stock to make an adjustment on it, I found out that the stock was broken and I could not shorten it.  This was an AR15 that I built myself and very much consider it to be a hobby rifle, but I will not be putting hobby gun parts on it in the future.

I have no reason to deviate from using anything but the best for my AR15 hunger, the gun parts I have on my M4 rifles are what I like and it took me a long time to get to this point.   There are several choices to make for your magpul accessories and the most popular CTR stock is hands down my favorite.  I like the way the stocks lock   into place and they feel very sturdy.  I have done slam down malfunction clearances and never even cracked the stock.  I expect at some point it may break, but I’ve already got my monies worth.

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Might need to rethink your grip

When it comes time to mounting a flashlight on your M4 Carbine you might have to rethink the placement of your grips.  If you  have a tradition A2 it might not be so bad, I have for several years not used pressure switches on my M4 Carbines because I’ve seen them snag or fail so many times.  Putting one more switch or screwed on attachment on my carbine means one more thing that can fail on me.  Considering the number of failures I’ve witnessed with guns, I don’t want to have to worry about getting a light on at a crucial moment.

Depending on your level of vigilance, you may be in the same camp as I am, but really want to add on those lights and switches.   Always knowing  how to deal with a failure is important and many have changed their magpul accessories out on firearms only to realize they can’t move the same way.   There are some very nice light mounts being made that actually sit very far forward and close to the barrel of the firearm which in all reality, is the best place for a laser or a white light. The magpul angled foregrips are something that I really feel comfortable using, but it’s hard to turn a light switch on and off without a pressure switch in this position.

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Do you get a new gun or just modify what you have?

Do you get a new gun or modify the one you own?  That would really depend on what you are  intending to do with it.  I would not take a hobby gun to a serious carbine course unless you want to make a fool out of yourself.  The real trick is getting good parts and replacing second rate extractors and springs.  That really is something that can make a huge difference in keeping your firearm up and running.  I have never seen an AR15 go down because it was dirty, most of the ones I saw go down where due to magazines being inserted improperly or an operator error.   The rest of the time it was from parts sheering or breaking.

The things that people tend to one to do with firearms is hang crap all over them, now the trend is towards getting light weight uppers to keep your weight down.   The best product line for accessorizing your AR15 are the Magpul accessories.   We sell about a half a dozen lightweight upper receivers and they all have the new MOE stock accessories.  I  personally have not taken that ride yet but I do see some advantages in it.  Most of my AR15 rifle are close quarters rifles and I have very little use for lasers or large flashlights.  I moved on to the magpul angled fore grips after not having good luck with folding grips.

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Gun magazines and tactical vests and accessories

Every time you make a modification to a firearm you might have to either learn how to adapt to the the changes with your body or move things around.  I have always preferred to use a standard rifleman grip when shooting an AR15, but I stepped into the M4 Carbine world and messed around with various styles of foregrips.   I tried the Magpul, CAA, and some others that I can’t seem to remember.   I had a folding fore grip that I liked a lot but after about a year of using it, I noticed that it was cracking around the screw that locks it on and that was a real bummer because I didn’t trust the setup anymore.

Recently I started messing around with the Magpul products because we sell so much of them that I ought to start learning about them.  The Magpul accessories for the AR15 are very tough and I have yet to have anything break or crack on me.  All firearm accessories will break if you slam them around enough, but some products out there just royally suck.   One thing that I am in a bit of  a bind about is what to do about light placements.   There are some very unique flashlight mounts out there and they can really move the lights out of the way of your hands and give you more space to move especially during weapons transitions.

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What holster should I use?

Is usually the question we get when people walk in the door for the first time and want us to give them advice for their first gun holster.  There are  more and more people carrying firearms in the Country that before and mostly that is because of the status of the economy. The best mode of carry would probable be inside the waistband because this is where you can get the most access as well easy easy concealment.  Being able to get your firearm out fast enough might be the difference between winning the fight and losing it.

When it comes to home protection I am a big fan of people putting the handguns away and using a shotgun or M4 carbine with a light as a weapon.   Each firearm can be used like a baseball bat, easier to handle  under stress and ballistically both firearms.  You can modify your firearms with Magpul Accessories and customize them to you or your family members.   Many people are transitioning towards the MOE because it does help  lighten your gun up compared to the traditional Quad rails that nobody seems to want to use anymore.

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One thing I learned about SHOT Show 2012

Is that Magpul Industries is the leading AR15 accessories company by far and that will not change anytime soon.  I was watching some of the YouTube recaps of SHOT SHOW 2012, and the guns that I see coming out look like the same old overly designed  handguns and carbines that I will stay away from until they’ve had at least 5 years of service.  Just look at the pattern of recalls and redesigns on the Springfield XD and M&P guns and also the Glock Gen 4’s.   I don’t know why anyone would be the first to jump on a new design until it has been proven on the streets or in military service.

 
I am a big fan of the LWRC gas piston design and even though I love the LWRC REPR, it is a very expensive invenstment, Magpul accessories are even showing up on LWRC guns like the lighweight uppers and that is a great match.   Magpul accessories are the premier AR15 stock accessories. Sig Sauer has a couple new M4 variants and even a new gas piston 308 for about $2000.   Great idea but even my LWRC M6A1 has been through several production changes and the M6A1 I have now is not the M6A1 that are being made.   If you have the money to spend and want to have your first production that’s  your choice, but buyer beware because nothing seems to perfect off of the first run.

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Stop screwing around with those inferior gun magazines

I just pulled out one of my gun cases and noticed that I had a couple 30rd magazines still in it.   I never stow loaded magazines in gun cases, but there have been times that I have gone to gun ranges and realized I had a bunch of Mini 14 magazines and not the GI AR15 magazines I thought they were.   I still have a few GI magazines laying around but I never bring them to the range.   It’s funny that I view my AR15s in a different light now that I have been using PMAGS.   Almost a decade ago I use to spend a lot my weekends at a gun range about an hour from me, and use to watch the guys with the AR15’s in amazement because of how much money they had tied up in the firearms.

I finally broke down and picked up a Bushmaster XM15E2 and took it to the range.   I must have had close to 6 malfunctions with it the first month I shot the thing and almost retired the gun.   I heard about Magpul Pmags after a friend sent me the link to a Youtube video.  I picked up one magazine because I didn’t want to end up getting screwed if they weren’t good, well, needless to say I ended up picking up more magazines a few more AR15s.  Magpul industries really has their stuff in order when it means creating combat reliable magazines and accessories.

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Gloves and grips and the AR15

We’ve recently been getting in some tactical gloves from various companies to figure out what we should be stocking in 2012.   There are big differences in the types of gloves we are getting in.  Some are designed for heat resistance and others are basically designed for protection.   One of our favorites so far are the Vickers tactical mid-length gloves which sadly have dried up since Eotac ceased to exist.  These gloves are designed for an operator to cut off the trigger fingers on either hand if the shooter wants to and they will not fray beyond certain points.

Some of the other gloves we are stocking now are the turleskin safety gloves for Law Enforcement protection while searching suspects.   Body armor has improved in many ways and gloves and boots are catching up.   One thing that does change when an operator does wear certain gloves and Magpul accessories have the answer are changes to trigger guards.   If you look at something like an AK, the trigger guards are designed to be very large because most of the individuals using these were wearing thick winter gloves.

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Thinking about another AR15 upper?

I would definitely suggest you consider a MOE configuration for your AR.   Magpul is the #1 AR15 magazine parts and accessories manufacturer and  as far as I know they all of their products are Made in the USA.   I have had to force myself to actually think about that recently after several people walked in our shop and were asking about the knives and clothing we sold and asked if they were Made in the  USA.   Sadly so much is not made in this Country anymore but there is definitely a trend away from China but hopefully it won’t turn into an all our trade war.

If people work in the Law Enforcement community or understand the economics of the gun industry and our present economic situation it is important to look into buying things made in the US.  When it comes to AR15 rifles, Magpul accessories are what you are going to want to put on your  gun and know you aren’t dressing down your firearms with made in China crap.   There is a certain pool of shooters though that just want save the money for good stuff and rarely have an item last.  The Magpul MOE can help you lighten and customize a firearm even more without wasting rail space and needing to put rail covers on all of that un-used space.

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