Umbrella Corporation Weapons Research Group Limited Edition Lower

Posted by Lonely Raven on Jan 18, 2013 in Articles, Lonely Raven, New Products | 0 comments

  A quick photo review of the Umbrella Corporation Weapons Research Group Limited Edition Lower featuring some of Rick’s excellent photos.   Umbrella Corporation Weapons Research Group – UCWRG is a newer manufacturer to the field(since 2007). They’ve licensed the red and white umbrella logo you might be familiar with from the Resident Evil movies, and are in the business of design and building of parts and weapons systems for civilian, LEO, government. The lower featured below is a limited edition run of 200 lowers they used to promote Umbrella Corp and drive some interest in their upcoming limited edition billet lowers.   We picked up 3 of these lowers, and barely got our order in before they ran out, judging by our late serial numbers. The lowers were manufactured by Mega Arms for Umbrella Corp, and are every bit of awesome that we expect from them. Specifications Precision machined from Aerospace 7075 Aluminum Alloy forging, T6 Temper Certified MIL-A-8625F, Type III, Class 2, Hard Anodic Coating, Flat Black Dye, Non-Reflective, NiAc Seal TDP/Mil standard take down and fire control pin dimensions Chamfered interface for ease of aftermarket grip installation (patent pending) Precision broached magazine well Dimensional accuracy inspection Sharp edges meticulously de-burred by hand Inert media blast for uniform finish Pictograph selector markings No caliber specification for build versatility AR-15 classic model designation Text and logo high power laser engraved prior to anodize Deep magwell bevel All components, material, and packaging made in the USA           GIF...

AR500 10″ Steel Target

Posted by Lonely Raven on Jan 18, 2013 in Articles, Lonely Raven, New Products | 1 comment

Part of my personal training is learning to quickly and accurately engage a target at distance. Both with the AR platform, and my Remington 700 in .308. To make that training more effective, I felt I needed to start using steels for that near instant feedback. Below is my first of what I expect will be many steel “gong” style targets. This steel was purchased off of eBay. There are many shops offering steel targets, some at fairly reasonable prices and some that would quickly clean out my pocketbook. Since I was just testing the water with steels and I wasn’t sure what I was getting into, I went with what was cheap…pretty much like many of us do when we want to get into something we aren’t sure of. This target is made from AR500 steel, and is 1/2″ thick and 10″ around. I went with the 1/2″ because I knew I’d be hitting it with .308, and sharing it with friends who may have much more powerful rifles. I figured 10″ round was a good starting point that would be easy to hit with pistol at 25 yards, AR15 at 100-200, and still visible and challenging  for scoped .308 at 300-600 yards. Here is how the steel showed up at my door. A little surface rust, but clearly a solid piece of metal! The triple bolt holes give me many options for hanging/mounting. So far it feels like I’m getting my monies worth.   Close enough to 1/2″ for our needs.     For the quick and dirty test, we just used some camo bungie cords I had in the car, I’m pretty sure these were on sale for $3 at Harbor Freight.   A quick coat of Rustoleum white – This paint came highly recommended by steel shooters. The Rustoleum has a higher solids/pigment content and covers the steel with less spray, and is supposed to stick to the steel longer than cheaper paints. It’s easily spotted by the naked eye at 200 yards.   The results speak for themselves. After a couple dozen .308 hits at 200 yards, and many, many .223 hits, the steel is still solid and ready for more! The bungie...

Seekins Sling Rail System – Review

Posted by Lonely Raven on Jan 18, 2013 in Articles, Lonely Raven, New Products | 0 comments

  Early in 2012 I had a little fun money to spend, and decided it was time to learn to shoot past 200 yards reliably and consistently. To start, I needed a fine rifle, and I needed a fine platform for that rifle. I’ve had my heart set on a nice Remington 700 for a while, with an Atlas Bipod setup (review to follow), so I picked up a Remington 700 .308 SS 5R “milspec”. The very experienced shooters over at SnipersHide recommended this rifle highly for my skill level and budget. Now I needed a solid way to mount the Atlas Bipod – Enter the Seekins Sling Rail system.   Previously I had only heard of Seekins in passing, it wasn’t until I hit their page to check out the Sling Rail that I realized these were the guys that made that cool, almost gothic looking AR lower that I’ve seen once or twice around the web (which I just picked one up for myself – another review to follow). What sold me on this rail over other, more inexpensive ones, was twofold. #1 I’m a strong believer in using slings. I fear sling use is a lost art in modern times, and slings are just something to hang the rifle from. Anyone who’s seen the WWII marksman training videos, or been to an Appleseed event knows how important a sling is. #2 I was impressed with the machining of the Seekins Rail over other less costly rails. It looked thicker, has well defined shape, and a fantastic finish – all of which shows an attention to detail from beginning to end.   For my $35 I received the fine Sling Rail, a set of stickers, a nice PVC Patch (of which I’ve become a collector) and some fancy promotional cards.       You can see from this closeup, the Seekins Sling Rail has nice hard but not sharp edges, the picatinny spacing is perfect and well squared off, the sling attachment point is solid, and the screw spacing gives you a little leeway to match many different mounting points.   The Seekins Sling Rail lined up with my rifle, looks like the spacing is...

World’s Finest Trimmer (WFT) VS CTS Review

Posted by Lonely Raven on Oct 19, 2012 in Lonely Raven, New Products, Reloading | 2 comments

Brass Trimming…the scourge of rifle reloading. We are always looking for faster, easier, and more inexpensive ways of trimming our rifle brass. I mean, most of us really enjoy the *me* time of reloading, but the crank, crank, crank X 1000 of trimming brass down to size gets even the most monk like reloaders bored and frustrated. Enter a new breed of “precision trimmers” – they are under $100, drill powered, *and* they measure off the case shoulder rather than the overall case length like most budget trimmers do. I picked up one of each, a World’s Finest Trimmer (as described by the makers Little Crow Gun Works), and the CTS trimmer (Jim of CTS Engineering) in .223 and .308 respectively. Let’s give them a (close-up) look! Note: I started this article several months ago and got side tracked by other projects and work. I’ve since run several thousand pieces of brass through each, and have recently picked up the famed Giraud Trimmer. My feelings on these two trimmers still holds true today. I like to talk with my photos, I’m a very visual person, so lets look at some macros as I describe some details of these trimmers. Here we have the two trimmers side by side. They chuck up into a drill like any drill bit or other tool. They both have ports to allow the brass shavings to escape, and the WFT is clearly labeled with a warning about eye protection. Both trimmers use an allen key set screw to lock the trimming bit in place. Both devices are solid, well made, and the CTS just looks sexy with the machined sides and big windows showing off the Ti coated cutter. Top view, you can easily see which is .223 and which is .308. Both trimmers size off the case shoulder, so the mouth of the trimmers are basically case holders precision cut to SAMMI specs. The trimmer is setup by loosening the set screw holding the bit in place, and popping a properly sized and trimmed case into the trimmer mouth, then sliding the bit up till it just barely kisses the case mouth, then locking down the set-screw again. You can...

Winter Hammock Camping 2011 – Pictorial

Posted by Lonely Raven on May 8, 2012 in Articles, Lonely Raven | 0 comments

I’ve been doing my best the past year to try and get out more. I was invited to a small winter camping event in upper Minnesota!

It an attempt to be brief and let the photos do the talking: It was a 9 hour drive, first night was -10F second night was -14F, 9 hour drive back. Sleeping in a hammock with great down quilts is the best at any temp! Snowshoeing in traditional snowshoes is tough, but a requirement in soft “float” that’s knee deep at best!

It was a tough weekend, but we had good support from some very experienced outdoorsman, we had a warm tent in case of emergencies, and being well equipped and knowing how to build a good fire made this a great weekend. I’d absolutely do it again!

Gun Safe Refurb Part 1 – Exterior

Posted by Lonely Raven on May 5, 2012 in Lonely Raven | Comments Off on Gun Safe Refurb Part 1 – Exterior

Ok, some of us can’t afford to drop a few grand on a new gun safe, some of us are just cheap…I guess I’m a little bit of both. 🙂 I found a goodly sized gun safe on Craigs List that I literally traded my old computer for. This is Part 1 of a multi-part Gun Safe Refurb. In later parts I’ll show the digital lock I installed, custom interior I’m designing and building, and the lighting feature for this safe. But for now, let’s see how this project is progressing, shall we? So I finally purchased a house with a decent sized basement, I figured it was time to find a gun safe to safely store my quickly growing collection of firearms. Every time I go to the local shops to pick up reloading supplies, I’d always meander through the maze of safes and had a good idea of what I wanted. I just didn’t have $3k for it! So I hit the usual suspects, forums, eBay, and Craigs List. As luck would have it, a gentleman not too far from me posted a “come and get it” ad saying he had this old gun safe that came with the house he just moved into, and he wanted it out…he also wanted a computer. Working IT for a living and I happen to be looking for a gun safe; clearly the Gods must be pleased with my offerings of lead and electrons. The photos in the ad were small, and looked just like this:   I’ll not bore you with the story of me pushing a 550lb safe up a flight of stairs and the hernia that resulted. Nor how I fit a 22 gun safe in my little Scion XB and the rear window getting knocked out while driving over railroad tracks. But I will say that I was pleased with the trade, at the cost of an old computer, some torn muscles, and a new rear window on the car. So far this cost me about $180 for the new rear window (the computer was “retired” so really had no value to me).   I was nonplussed with the combination lock…having a terrible...

Clay Target Hanger

Posted by Lonely Raven on May 5, 2012 in Lonely Raven | 0 comments

Let’s face it, for some of us, punching holes in paper from 100+ yards just gets boring after a while. Sometimes you want to change things up a bit, and you just don’t feel like dragging a couple hundred pounds of steel targets and stands out to the range only to have to pack them up again. Or maybe you want to take the youngsters out and give them something safe to shoot at the gives them a rewarding reaction when their .22 pierces it. Well here is something I found on the intarwebs that’s inexpensive and fits the bill quite well. As the name implies, this target hanger kit allows you to hang your typical clay targets from  3/8″ diameter rope (included in this kit). (obligatory toes in photo for the forum members) The hangers themselves are made from a durable plastic that doesn’t break easily (thankfully), and works quite well at holding the clays, even in high winds. The clays simply clip onto the hook at the bottom, while the hook at the top grasps onto the rope. String the rope between two points and your good to go!                                       For as simple as this kit is, it really is fun to use. We’ve enjoyed popping clays at our Mosin Nagant Range Day and just general 50 yard 22LR plinking with iron sights. The clays are both challenging and easy to sight in on. Plus having a “reactive target” gives you that instant gratification when you do your part. Occasionally we had some .22LR that would pop a chunk out of the clay without shattering the whole thing, but beyond that, it was easy, inexpensive,  fun and highly recommended....

Reloading – Part 1 – Is it for you?

Posted by Lonely Raven on May 5, 2012 in Articles, Lonely Raven, Reloading | Comments Off on Reloading – Part 1 – Is it for you?

People often ask about reloading…they’ve heard of it, they understand that you’re “making your own bullets”, but that’s the extent of their knowledge. In fact, when I’m at the range and I ask the other shooters if they mind that I sweep up their brass if they aren’t going to use it…I’m often looked at like I’m some poor hobo asking for change (granted, you can catch me dumpster diving if I see match grade brass in the bin!).  So I guess there is a basic lack of understanding of what reloading is and why we do it. Briefly, there are a few main reasons to reload. I’ll expound more on reloading in future articles. #1 Saving money! Granted, there is a bit of an initial investment in the tools needed to reload your own ammo, but when you factor in that you can save 40%-60% over a box of factory ammo, the equipment can quickly pay for itself and everything after that is just icing. #2 Precision! What? You think the factory “match” ammo is the end all, be all of accuracy and consistency? Remember, the factories are making ammunition that works in everyone’s guns, at the cheapest they can, and still be safely within SAAMI specs. Where as you can go on with your OCD self and dial in consistency four digits past the decimal, tuned *exactly* how your firearm likes it…all while saving 40%-60% per round. That’s precision! #3 Relaxing. Yes, absolutely. Some people veg in front of the TV, some go to a spa, while I personally really like sitting down at the reloading press with some of my favorite tunes in the background, and churn out the finest ammo I can; all while day dreaming about how relaxing it’s going to be to hit the range and practice. #4 SHTF/Survival/Preparedness/Manlymanness (yes, that’s far from being a word, but it fits here). Seriously, for those of you who are prepping (and/or wishing) for The End Of The World As We Know It (TEOTWAWKI), wouldn’t it be a great skill to have handy? Hell, I even know people that swage their own projectiles from brass scraps and lead wheel weights!   Who probably...