More practicool, and less tacticool. Saving money!

Re: More practicool, and less tacticool. Saving money!

Elfstr1234...where were you when I started my AR hobby? :) I almost think you wrote about me. Oh, I always had my reasons for each purchase, but deep down I also knew I was buying, in many cases...crap! HOWEVER, I did really enjoy the learnings and slow journey of developing some gun-smithing skills. I love working on my guns in the garage workshop, which also grew into a pretty serious affair as I purchased tools and equipment to enable me to do even machining work. I spent too much, to be sure. I have boxes of parts from JUNK to pretty good 'take-off' that needs to be sold in a meda-garage sale after buying one LR, one AR and building two AR's from scratch and take-off parts. But I had FUN! A lot of fun over the past 4 years from quick 15 minute installations, longer efforts like installing things like a Gieselle trigger, to multiple day projects, and then the range time to 'test' my new gizmo. Im now at the high-performance-just-whats-needed stage and finally shooting pretty well up to 400 yards. At the end of the day, I love the AR platform and the 'man's-barbie-doll' nature of the AR for accessorizing. My harley hobby became the same thing for the same reasons with the same results...a lot of money and time spent, with a lot of learnings and a whole lot of fun, but tons of 'take-off' I must get rid of. I now have the LR and two AR's (had to sell the first build when I was out of work for a while). The last AR build was quick and cost effective, buying EXACTLY what I knew I needed/wanted and waiting until I found all parts at good prices before I built the thing one fun afternoon. Would I do the whole AR thing different knowing then what I know now....maybe not, but it would have been a completely different experience. My current effort will be to apply the DuraCoat Camo to my FAL and FDE to the few black parts of the last build...what lessons will I gain this time?? :) For those who did their research first, talked to a lot of experienced and expert sources, and bought the right thing the first time, my hat is off to you. It took a lot of discipline, patience and wisdom and Im sure you are pretty proud of the results, but it is a completely different experience to the more typical one written by Elftster1234. To those who mock or look down upon others who arent at your level...get a sense of humor and chill! I see and hear some guys at the range and gun shows who dont know what they dont know, and some never will, but we all share one thing...a gun hobby, and thats pretty cool! Thanks elfster1234 for taking the time to write this post, and thanks all the guys who added interesting comments. It was a fun subject!
Now...is anyone interested in buying any of my 4 years of 'take-off' in order to embark on the same journey??? ;-)
 
Re: More practicool, and less tacticool. Saving money!

Been some time since I checked out this forum post and sorry for getting back to you so late operator57 and your kind words. I'm glad you enjoyed the post! It really is all about the humor side of starting out on the AR platform. It really is an experience and I think sometimes you just need to learn the hard way. I just started reloading about 2 months ago and with the help of everyone on sniper'shide and loads of google searching I think I got a really really good start in the right direction. Like someone else said on this post, buy once, cry once.... and that is why I went a little bit over board on my reloading equipiment and every penny spent so far has been totally worth it. I now treat my firearm purchases the same way. Lots of research, lots of review reading, and hopefully making the right purchases. I don't know everything and I never will say I do, but hopefully someone starting out in with the AR platform can learn a thing or two with the origial post,,,, and someone that has been there / done that can get a good laugh at the same time!

Elfster1234

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: operator57</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Elfstr1234...where were you when I started my AR hobby? :) I almost think you wrote about me. Oh, I always had my reasons for each purchase, but deep down I also knew I was buying, in many cases...crap! HOWEVER, I did really enjoy the learnings and slow journey of developing some gun-smithing skills. I love working on my guns in the garage workshop, which also grew into a pretty serious affair as I purchased tools and equipment to enable me to do even machining work. I spent too much, to be sure. I have boxes of parts from JUNK to pretty good 'take-off' that needs to be sold in a meda-garage sale after buying one LR, one AR and building two AR's from scratch and take-off parts. But I had FUN! A lot of fun over the past 4 years from quick 15 minute installations, longer efforts like installing things like a Gieselle trigger, to multiple day projects, and then the range time to 'test' my new gizmo. Im now at the high-performance-just-whats-needed stage and finally shooting pretty well up to 400 yards. At the end of the day, I love the AR platform and the 'man's-barbie-doll' nature of the AR for accessorizing. My harley hobby became the same thing for the same reasons with the same results...a lot of money and time spent, with a lot of learnings and a whole lot of fun, but tons of 'take-off' I must get rid of. I now have the LR and two AR's (had to sell the first build when I was out of work for a while). The last AR build was quick and cost effective, buying EXACTLY what I knew I needed/wanted and waiting until I found all parts at good prices before I built the thing one fun afternoon. Would I do the whole AR thing different knowing then what I know now....maybe not, but it would have been a completely different experience. My current effort will be to apply the DuraCoat Camo to my FAL and FDE to the few black parts of the last build...what lessons will I gain this time?? :) For those who did their research first, talked to a lot of experienced and expert sources, and bought the right thing the first time, my hat is off to you. It took a lot of discipline, patience and wisdom and Im sure you are pretty proud of the results, but it is a completely different experience to the more typical one written by Elftster1234. To those who mock or look down upon others who arent at your level...get a sense of humor and chill! I see and hear some guys at the range and gun shows who dont know what they dont know, and some never will, but we all share one thing...a gun hobby, and thats pretty cool! Thanks elfster1234 for taking the time to write this post, and thanks all the guys who added interesting comments. It was a fun subject!
Now...is anyone interested in buying any of my 4 years of 'take-off' in order to embark on the same journey??? ;-)
</div></div>
 
Re: More practicool, and less tacticool. Saving money!

I had $4,000 to spend on a AR 308 last month. I looked at the high priced guns, pretty, fit and finish were excellent, would shoot a gnat out of the air at 600 yards!!!! Tacticool all the way!!!!!!! But I'm 64 years old, bad knees and back, and just wanted something that shot fairly accurate. All I do is shoot from a bench at paper targets and that didn't require a $4,000 rifle. I resisted the urge to go all Tacticool.

So I bought a DPMS LR 308, spent another $800 out fitting it the way that I wanted it to be and bought a Vortex Viper HS 5-15 X 44 scope for it. It shoots great and is all the 308 I need. Sometimes people need to step back and analyze what they really need. IF you have the money to burn by all means do so. I was never a sniper in the Army, didn't even play one. Now I can pretend and that's all I'll ever do!!! It is fun but you don't need to spend a fortune to do it.
 
Re: More practicool, and less tacticool. Saving money!

Seriously? no advantage to a red dot? Have you ever used any of this stuff from your "humorous" progression?

Shoot it with irons on a timer. Shoot it with your 4-16x on a timer, then shoot it with a red dot.

Each sighting system has its place.

Further evidence of the pointlessness of this thread, you go on to explain using mrad is silly because you grew up in the US with fractions and your range is in yards, not meters. Do you even know anything about the system? Looks like YOU didn't comprehend it when you googled.
 
Re: More practicool, and less tacticool. Saving money!

oh my god tylerw02,,, calm down...... sheeesshh.... I don't think you totally understand the point of the OP... <span style="text-decoration: underline">IT'S A JOKE!!!</span> Oh lord.

Yes, I've owned an eotech exps2-2 with magnifier and it was awesome! It just wasn't for me. No, there is nothing wrong with mil's...

All I'm saying in the OP was think out your purchases. Just don't think you are reading into the humor of it I guess. Nothing I can do to help you out there. You are taking this all tooooo personal.

Calm down my friend. I think you are taking this all in the wrong direction. Don't take it so darn serious.....

WOOSAH........

Maybe Acro could let you use his funny bone for a day or two:
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Acro</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Thank you so much OPie.Having a hectic day.I just had the best long uncontrollable laugh I've had in three years.
The vid was great too. </div></div>


<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: tylerw02</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Seriously? no advantage to a red dot? Have you ever used any of this stuff from your "humorous" progression?

Shoot it with irons on a timer. Shoot it with your 4-16x on a timer, then shoot it with a red dot.

Each sighting system has its place.

Further evidence of the pointlessness of this thread, you go on to explain using mrad is silly because you grew up in the US with fractions and your range is in yards, not meters. Do you even know anything about the system? Looks like YOU didn't comprehend it when you googled.
</div></div>
 
Re: More practicool, and less tacticool. Saving money!

I am calm, I didn't rip you a new one. I understand the point of the post: think about what you're goals are before you commit. The sad thing is you're trying to be funny. But you should at least be factually accurate if nothing else. There is nothing personal to me in this. Maybe you are taking my response a bit too personal? Consider it constructive criticism---if you're going to make a big long post about a topic, coming from a position of "experience", at least have the experience to make it factually accurate.

I really don't see the humor of "living in the US using yards" and mils being silly. Its been covered time and time again that milrads having nothing to do with meters, cms, or the metric system. But yet it gets covered every couple of days with somebody saying its "metric".

I absolutely agree, there's fools buying stuff because they think it is cool and they don't have any idea how to use it or what to use it for and maybe you fell into that category at one point.
 
Re: More practicool, and less tacticool. Saving money!

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: gunfighter48</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I had $4,000 to spend on a AR 308 last month. I looked at the high priced guns, pretty, fit and finish were excellent, would shoot a gnat out of the air at 600 yards!!!! Tacticool all the way!!!!!!! But I'm 64 years old, bad knees and back, and just wanted something that shot fairly accurate. All I do is shoot from a bench at paper targets and that didn't require a $4,000 rifle. I resisted the urge to go all Tacticool.

So I bought a DPMS LR 308, spent another $800 out fitting it the way that I wanted it to be and bought a Vortex Viper HS 5-15 X 44 scope for it. It shoots great and is all the 308 I need. Sometimes people need to step back and analyze what they really need. IF you have the money to burn by all means do so. I was never a sniper in the Army, didn't even play one. Now I can pretend and that's all I'll ever do!!! It is fun but you don't need to spend a fortune to do it. </div></div>

So "$4,000" rifles that are extremely accurate are nothing more than "tacticool" and "money to burn"?
 
Re: More practicool, and less tacticool. Saving money!

Ok, I give up. LOL. Yes, it's a unit of angular measurement... Mils, Moa, IPHY, whatever...I guess I really don't care. When it boils down to it, its just a joke that you don't find funny. I get this. shessh!

Make a nice list tylerw02 of what personally offends you and I'll change it in the OP..... just for you tylerw02. You and myself will make this OP as totally accurate 100% possible even tho it is a complete joke.




<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: tylerw02</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I am calm, I didn't rip you a new one. I understand the point of the post: think about what you're goals are before you commit. The sad thing is you're trying to be funny. But you should at least be factually accurate if nothing else. There is nothing personal to me in this. Maybe you are taking my response a bit too personal? Consider it constructive criticism---if you're going to make a big long post about a topic, coming from a position of "experience", at least have the experience to make it factually accurate.

I really don't see the humor of "living in the US using yards" and mils being silly. Its been covered time and time again that milrads having nothing to do with meters, cms, or the metric system. But yet it gets covered every couple of days with somebody saying its "metric".

I absolutely agree, there's fools buying stuff because they think it is cool and they don't have any idea how to use it or what to use it for and maybe you fell into that category at one point. </div></div>
 
Re: More practicool, and less tacticool. Saving money!

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Broker</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: gunfighter48</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I had $4,000 to spend on a AR 308 last month. I looked at the high priced guns, pretty, fit and finish were excellent, would shoot a gnat out of the air at 600 yards!!!! Tacticool all the way!!!!!!! But I'm 64 years old, bad knees and back, and just wanted something that shot fairly accurate. All I do is shoot from a bench at paper targets and that didn't require a $4,000 rifle. I resisted the urge to go all Tacticool.

So I bought a DPMS LR 308, spent another $800 out fitting it the way that I wanted it to be and bought a Vortex Viper HS 5-15 X 44 scope for it. It shoots great and is all the 308 I need. Sometimes people need to step back and analyze what they really need. IF you have the money to burn by all means do so. I was never a sniper in the Army, didn't even play one. Now I can pretend and that's all I'll ever do!!! It is fun but you don't need to spend a fortune to do it. </div></div>

So "$4,000" rifles that are extremely accurate are nothing more than "tacticool" and "money to burn"? </div></div>

You don't have to spend $4,000 to get an accurate rifle. I had the option but the DPMS shoots better than I do. Per the OPs original post, you don't have to have the newest tacticool whatever to enjoy the sport. Most of us have modest budgets that we have to live within. My wife's life insurance afforded me the opportunity to spend more than I ever have before. It was one of her final wishes that I pay off all of the bills. Then take whatever was left and buy some guns and have fun!!! I had an absolutely great time looking over the high priced tactitcool guns. And knowing that I had the funds to buy one was a real rush. But I needed/wanted a number of things I couldn't afford if I spent the money on a big $$$ rifle. So I went with practicool and got everything I wanted and it was still a rush. My DPMS now looks very taticacool and gets approving nods at the gun range. My wife would be proud of me, she was one in a million!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Re: More practicool, and less tacticool. Saving money!

i went the; I like HK and want a .308. found great deal on PTR. shot ptr and had fun. got into reloading and price of .308 factory stuff was getting high. noticed PTR liked to destroy brass. sold ptr, got POF. more fun
laugh.gif
 
Re: More practicool, and less tacticool. Saving money!

Cheers! Have fun reloading. I reload all my own handgun, but though I have a Dillon 550B as well and all rifle calibers, I keep putting off reloading the rifle rounds...maybe this winter!
 
Re: More practicool, and less tacticool. Saving money!

Heres my AR experience.
1. Google AR15
2. Browse forums like arfcom m4c snipers hide.
3. Read all the brand snobs comments
4. Start looking at ARs under 1.2k and compare notes to what some tacticool douchebag posts about xyz gun.
5. Narrow my options down to Forum reccomended brands like lmt bcm noveske dd spike.
6. Go to fun store all they got is 1500$ colts and bushys. Leave gun store go to another one closer to home. Ask the salesman for the wholesale catalog so I can look and see what they can get.
7. Realize they can only get DPMS Bushmaster and DD I bought the Daniel Defense.
8. Bought 1000 rds of 55gr federal and odds and ends of .223 hunting rds
9. Shot 20-30 deer with iron sights ranging from 20-350 yds.
10. Google low power AR scopes
11. Read comments about Burris Vortex Trijicon.

Where I'm at right now***
12. Work a little harder so I can buy a low variable power scope preferably 1-6x.
 
Re: More practicool, and less tacticool. Saving money!

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: gunfighter48</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Broker</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: gunfighter48</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I had $4,000 to spend on a AR 308 last month. I looked at the high priced guns, pretty, fit and finish were excellent, would shoot a gnat out of the air at 600 yards!!!! Tacticool all the way!!!!!!! But I'm 64 years old, bad knees and back, and just wanted something that shot fairly accurate. All I do is shoot from a bench at paper targets and that didn't require a $4,000 rifle. I resisted the urge to go all Tacticool.

So I bought a DPMS LR 308, spent another $800 out fitting it the way that I wanted it to be and bought a Vortex Viper HS 5-15 X 44 scope for it. It shoots great and is all the 308 I need. Sometimes people need to step back and analyze what they really need. IF you have the money to burn by all means do so. I was never a sniper in the Army, didn't even play one. Now I can pretend and that's all I'll ever do!!! It is fun but you don't need to spend a fortune to do it. </div></div>

So "$4,000" rifles that are extremely accurate are nothing more than "tacticool" and "money to burn"? </div></div>

You don't have to spend $4,000 to get an accurate rifle. I had the option but the DPMS shoots better than I do. Per the OPs original post, you don't have to have the newest tacticool whatever to enjoy the sport. Most of us have modest budgets that we have to live within. My wife's life insurance afforded me the opportunity to spend more than I ever have before. It was one of her final wishes that I pay off all of the bills. Then take whatever was left and buy some guns and have fun!!! I had an absolutely great time looking over the high priced tactitcool guns. And knowing that I had the funds to buy one was a real rush. But I needed/wanted a number of things I couldn't afford if I spent the money on a big $$$ rifle. So I went with practicool and got everything I wanted and it was still a rush. My DPMS now looks very taticacool and gets approving nods at the gun range. My wife would be proud of me, she was one in a million!!!!!!!!!!! </div></div>

There's a big difference in your opinion and other peoples opinions of accurate, but since it makes you happy that's all that really matters in the end...
 
Re: More practicool, and less tacticool. Saving money!

It's a satire, people! That means there is NOTHING meant to be taken seriously! I can't say I'm surprised this thread is turning into a bunch of guys getting butt-hurt over something so trivial. It's pretty common and most people can't take a damn joke for what it is
 
Re: More practicool, and less tacticool. Saving money!

There is no right or wrong rifle. There is no right or wrong optic. What ever works best for you! All rifles and all optics have different purposes with different operators. In short, just think out your purchases and do some research before you dump your hard earned money.

My post is <span style="font-weight: bold">NOT</span> about MOA's, MIL's, scopes are better than red dots, eotechs are better than scopes, blah blah blah. Just a humerous take on my own experience with some made up stuff from reading other people's forum posts.... If you see it any other way, then you are taking this forum post TOTALLY WRONG.... It is all about someone NEW starting out and for someone that has been there / done that to get a laugh or two (well, hopefully, can't make everyone happy..... atleast I try my best!!)....

When I first started with the AR platform I purchased a DPMS LR-308. It was a great rifle and rather accurate. BUT DAMN HEAVY!! OMG!! After about 2 scopes that LR-308 ended up with a SFP buckmaster 4-16 scope. It was a killer to drag thru the woods. Soon after I purchased a .308 DPMS oracle with a plastic hand guard. My oracle ended up with a 2pc drop in quad rail and some nice GG&G back up iron sights (yes, with the front sight on the damn gas block) with an eotech exps2 sight with a primary arms magnifier and a grip pod....... THE EYE RELIEF SUCKED A$$!!! It actually ended up turning out to be a nice little AR-10.. Well, I'm not going to list out every thing I did and every single accessory, but I had some <span style="font-weight: bold">serious money</span> invested into those two rifles but all I really found myself doing was punching holes in paper at 100yards and beyond. I just wasn't totally happy with what I had.

I think it really boils down to is how serious you think you might be with this sport or hobby. What ever you might call it. Someone on here once said, <span style="font-weight: bold">buy once and cry once</span>. After all the money and time I've spent starting out in the AR platform I'm really starting to believe what this person said. If I would've JUST done it right from the get go, then I could've purchased not only the LMT I currently have (from selling those two DPMS rifles),,, but another OBR to boot!!!!... I learned some info from those two rifles and I didn't make the same mistake when it came time to purchase my reloading equipment... <span style="text-decoration: underline"><span style="font-weight: bold">Am I saying everyone needs to go out and buy GAP's, OBR's, and LMT's??? NO!!!</span></span> Just think it out before you spend your money on rifles that might not fit your situation or gear / accessories like laser and flashlights!!! Maybe learn a thing or two like free float hand guards and such. It will atleast get you thinking about your future purchases like the difference between a SFP and FFP scope.. I'm not going to do the homework for ya, this you need to do on your own like everyone else that is rock-n-rolling on sniper's hide. Learn from other people's mistakes by reading forums like sniper's hide, google search, and reading loads of reviews.

I hope this helps those just starting out,,, while giving those that have been there / done that a good laugh.. atleast get you thinking about what someone else has been thru.


<span style="font-weight: bold">(just waiting for the reply from someone on how bad ass they are and how they never make any mistakes, start stop watch now,,,, will give it about 1 hour for this post)... </span>
 
Re: More practicool, and less tacticool. Saving money!

thank you .260ackley!! he totally get's it!!!


<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: .260Ackley</div><div class="ubbcode-body">It's a satire, people! That means there is NOTHING meant to be taken seriously! I can't say I'm surprised this thread is turning into a bunch of guys getting butt-hurt over something so trivial. It's pretty common and most people can't take a damn joke for what it is </div></div>
 
Re: More practicool, and less tacticool. Saving money!

I've bought a lot of useless crap for my guns in the past. For the most part it was originally AK shit. It was cheaper to make mistakes with that. I do think that now, it's way worse for the newbie. There's lots of shit to choose from. Not so much only 10-15 years ago. The learning process is part of the fun of being into firearms.

In the past I used fixed 3x, 1-4x scopes on my AR's. I have a reddot magnifier. But I mainly use it to help zero my reddots. I've ditched most of this stuff for either higher mag scopes or just pure reddots.

Really a nice 2moa dot makes reddots even more practical. I can see it and hit stuff better at distance. Still with a 4moa dot I can hit practical targets up to 300yds with relative ease. I also have high power scopes on my SPR type rifles that help me stretch their legs up to 940yds. (Pretty darn hard.) Still I make hits at 750yds with relative ease and the right load. It's all about having the right tools for the job.

Really the stuff I've ditched is mainly vertical grips. On the carbine builds I've ditched quad rails in favor of things like the TRX Extreme. Since flashlights are now smaller, I use the smallest of them. Lumens above 150 aren't really that useful. For the stuff that I don't always use with a flashlight, the light has a throwlever. Same with a bipod. Besides this, I learned early on to buy the good stuff instead of the cheap shit. Optics is where this lesson seems hardest for people to learn.

I shoot a simple competition indoors which has a dark run. Reddot and flashlights are perfect for it. Irons in case I have some sort of reddot failure.

Carbine for that kind of stuff.
ARCarbineDDbbl.jpg


SPR for longer stuffs.
SPR_2nd.jpg


I think it's possible to be cool and practical at the same time.
 
Re: More practicool, and less tacticool. Saving money!

wow, nice looking rifles.

nice write up my friend.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Salmonaxe</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I've bought a lot of useless crap for my guns in the past. For the most part it was originally AK shit. It was cheaper to make mistakes with that. I do think that now, it's way worse for the newbie. There's lots of shit to choose from. Not so much only 10-15 years ago. The learning process is part of the fun of being into firearms.

In the past I used fixed 3x, 1-4x scopes on my AR's. I have a reddot magnifier. But I mainly use it to help zero my reddots. I've ditched most of this stuff for either higher mag scopes or just pure reddots.

Really a nice 2moa dot makes reddots even more practical. I can see it and hit stuff better at distance. Still with a 4moa dot I can hit practical targets up to 300yds with relative ease. I also have high power scopes on my SPR type rifles that help me stretch their legs up to 940yds. (Pretty darn hard.) Still I make hits at 750yds with relative ease and the right load. It's all about having the right tools for the job.

Really the stuff I've ditched is mainly vertical grips. On the carbine builds I've ditched quad rails in favor of things like the TRX Extreme. Since flashlights are now smaller, I use the smallest of them. Lumens above 150 aren't really that useful. For the stuff that I don't always use with a flashlight, the light has a throwlever. Same with a bipod. Besides this, I learned early on to buy the good stuff instead of the cheap shit. Optics is where this lesson seems hardest for people to learn.

I shoot a simple competition indoors which has a dark run. Reddot and flashlights are perfect for it. Irons in case I have some sort of reddot failure.

Carbine for that kind of stuff.
ARCarbineDDbbl.jpg


SPR for longer stuffs.
SPR_2nd.jpg


I think it's possible to be cool and practical at the same time. </div></div>
 
LOL,,,,, I had to dig this original post out of the grave... I still find the AR noob timeline listed in the original post funny as shit and how some people get sooo pissed and butt hurt when they read this crap. About 2 years later I would change a few small things on the timeline, but most of it is still true to this day. Some of you might find the OP timeline funny if you haven't read it before.
 
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The OP was spot on. I could be considered guilty on all counts. I would ahve saved bunches if had known what i really wanted/needed. Ive googled literally all of those things while buying various weapons and accessories that are most certainly for me. I dont get how anyone could have been offended by the OP. wish i would have been more Logicool starting out.
 
I made LOADS of purchase mistakes (many wasted dollars) when I first started out with AR's years ago... Then, when I finally got to the point of reloading for the first time I told myself that I would not make the same non-guided mistakes that I did with my AR's and did a TON of research before making my reloading purchases... so far, my initial reloading equipment research has massively paid off and I have a reloading room of amazing equipment & is just what I need to get the job done correctly without needing to replace equipment for something better. That is where having a forum like the HIDE really pays off.

Nothing like saving some money and having a good laugh at the same time.


Guilty as well. But atleast I'm a quick learner.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk
 
I made LOADS of purchase mistakes (many wasted dollars) when I first started out with AR's years ago... Then, when I finally got to the point of reloading for the first time I told myself that I would not make the same non-guided mistakes that I did with my AR's and did a TON of research before making my reloading purchases... so far, my initial reloading equipment research has massively paid off and I have a reloading room of amazing equipment & is just what I need to get the job done correctly without needing to replace equipment for something better. That is where having a forum like the HIDE really pays off.

Nothing like saving some money and having a good laugh at the same time.

Sums up my thoughts exactly, it's amazing how much you learn over the years throwing these guns together and reloading. The amount of info you can absorb from the successes or failures of others on some of these forums can pay off immensely in saved time, money, and headaches when you have a good forum like the HIDE.
 
I've gone through the same progression myself. I've built alot of AR's over the last 10 years or so, and it is kind of fun to look back and see where I started. I've kept most of my uppers over the years and I can see how I've progressed, digressed, and came full circle a couple of times. I really enjoyed this post, and I see how my own progression almost exactly matched the OP's. Funny stuff.