AR-15: Ammo, Magazines, & Wonder Wrench

I picked up the final pieces of my AR-15 build yesterday and I'm ready to call it done. Consider it a KISS build for my first AR. Here's a pic of what I picked up:

Although the picture only shows two magazines, I actually picked up four. Three of the magazines are C-Products 10-round magazines and one Magpul stubby 10-round magazine. Because I live in CA, I'm limited to 10-rounders rather than the 20- or 30-rounders available elsewhere. Maybe one day, CA will be a Free state and I'll be able to....oh who the fuck am I kidding? That will never happen! I have better odds of wining the lottery than CA becoming a Red state.

Along with the mags, I also picked up a single box of .223 Remington ammunition. I would have picked up more, but since I'm not hitting the range anytime soon I thought I would limit the ammo purchase for the time being. Why tie up funds when I don't have to?

One item that's not pictured above is a tool that I'll be using to drop the magazine from the AR. In CA, you can't have a magazine that is easily removable (or detachable) from the rifle if the rifle also has a pistol grip. If you do, it's considered an unregistered assault rifle and that is illegal here. To work around that, a bullet button was developed so that it creates an attachable-fixed magazine condition which is legal. Basically, a person wouldn't be able to manipulate the magazine with just a finger in order to release the magazine - the use of a tool is required. The tool I chose for this purpose is the Wonder Wrench.

Here is wonder wrench on the bullet button:

Not a bad looking build. I can't wait to hit the range and to take my first carbine class!

PS - There are actually 2 more items I would like to purchase - a discreet rifle bag (so that I don't freak anyone out when I take the AR-15 to the range) and a rifle sling. Anyone have any suggestions on what soft rifle bag or sling I should get? Suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Some Goodies for the Nighthawk T3

Here are some goodies that I got for the Nighthawk Custom T3 prior to my leaving/losing my job. Now that I'm free of the work drama, I'm hoping to blog more regularly and get back to normal. :-)

First up are 2 boxes of Winchester Supreme Elite ammunition that I purchased from a local Big 5 Sporting Goods.

Ammunition is hard to come by in greater Los Angeles. I'm not sure about the rest of the country, but ammunition is still just trickling in...a few boxes at a time. The Walmarts are basically empty when it comes to handgun ammo and when I saw these 2 boxes at Big 5, I knew I had to snatch them up.

I have 2 other boxes of jacketed hollowpoints by Winchester, but these are a step (or 3) above those and I didn't want to be cheap when it comes to protecting my family. The Winchester Supreme Elite were roughly $23 per box (of 20 rounds) so a little over $1 a round. The other JHPs were $24 per box of 50 rounds. Here's hoping that I never have to use them. (Knock on wood!)

Next up is a leather paddle holster that I'll be using with the T3 when I take my next handgun training class.

It's a Safariland holster (model #560-53) that I purchased off of eBay for a little over $30. This holster will fit a full size Government 1911 to a subcompact 1911.

From what I can tell, this holster is no longer being sold by Safariland; however, the Wilson Combat Adjuster holster (that retails for $120) looks very much like the holster above. I wonder if Safariland is repackaging this holster for Wilson Combat? Inquiring minds would like to know, because the price difference (in my case) is $90. I wonder how much the Safariland holster originally retailed for?

Now, I just need to find a leather dual magazine holder for the 1911 and I'll be all set for my next class with Greg Block. Anyone have a suggestion on what I should consider/get? Thanks!

CCI Mini-Mag HP

According to the Walther Forums members, the ammunition of choice for the Walther P22 is the CCI Mini-Mag HP. We happened to pass by a Walmart and decided to drop in since some Walmarts do carry ammunition. I guess I got lucky because this store did have the CCI Mini-Mags on hand.



I bought the last 4 boxes on the shelf and now have a total of 400 rounds. This should last me a little while at the range! Each box was $6.47. The Mini-Mags are high-velocity, copper-plated hollow point rounds. They are 36 grain in weight and rated for 1260 feet per second (FPS).

Here's a short video I found on YouTube discussing ammunition for the Walther P22:


The clock is ticking down until I am officially allowed by the state of CA to pick-up my P22. I can't wait to try these with my pistol!


Update 4/11/09: Please view this post for a review of the CCI Mini-Mag and CCI Stinger with my Walther P22..