Range Day and Upcoming Reviews

Today ShipLane and I had the opportunity to make it out to the range and try out some new items that have recently come in, and it was honestly the best weather we could have hoped for. If you have seen some of my other range videos you know that most of them are plagued by wind noise because of Oklahoma being so flat, well today was not one of those days!

Not only was the weather great but the people at the range were great too. Unlike other times that we have been there and it was crowded and people either walked in front of the firing line or didn't stop shooting until they had gone through all their rounds; no today was a day that everyone was courteous and made sure that everyone got their fair chance to head down range.

We got to meet Tim and his 11 year old daughter whom he has done an awesome job training to shoot, she shot a number of guns but the one that I thought was awesome was her dad's .223 Savage Bolt Action. He had started her off at the 100 yard targets and it took her a few shots to get the hang of it, but she quickly was on target and hitting steel. He moved her to the 200 yard and she hit steel first shot, and the same at 300 yards, Tim was a proud dad for sure.

Today was all about getting to the range to test out the newest items we have received so we could start some write ups on them, also it was the only weekend that I could make it out since next weekend I will be in a Combat Focus Shooting course being put on by DRFTraining.com. So while we took a decent amount of ammo with us, we really didn't have that many firearms to shoot. There were 3 items that we were testing out today, and are looking forward to completing the reviews on.

First was the Average Gun Guy .300 Blackout complete AR-15, I had actually headed down to OKC this morning before we headed out to the range so I haven't had any time with it other than the time spent throwing rounds down range.

The second was the Strike Industries J-Comp that was just released, it is an interesting comp for sure but I am not sure how sold I am on it yet, need more range time with it before I will be able to make a decision.

And the third item also came in new today, I found it sitting in my mailbox waiting for me to get back from OKC. It is the newest muzzle device from 556 Tactical the StrykeHyde. Just like the Stryker Comp, this flash hider looks brutal, but the quality is great. Cannot wait to get some more time behind this one either, including some night shooting.

Left- 556 Tactical Stryker Comp

Middle- Strike Industries J-Comp

Right- 556 Tactical StrykeHyde

Make sure to check back for these reviews, a few of them might take a little longer but they will be up at some point, along with videos of us shooting them!

EPLowers Polymer Lower

A few weeks ago I had talked with Chris from www.EPLowers.com about the 80% polymer lowers that they are producing, he was really informative and helpful. He was awesome enough to engrave the SpartanTC81 logo into the lower, which made this already cool project even better in my eyes.

The reason that the EP Lowers can be finished using a Dremel and a drill, is that the firing control group pocket contains a white polymer. The idea behind it is to remove all of the white polymer from inside the pocket until you get to the solid black (or whichever color your lower is). Once you get to the solid color you will still have to remove some of the colored polymer to allow for the proper fit of the firing control group.

In the picture above you can see a good majority of the white polymer has been removed. Notice the black "bars" that are on the sides, these help you gauge where you are at while using the Dremel to remove the white polymer. They do disappear when you are close to the bottom and at that point it is important to take your time and watch for the final layer of white polymer to give way to the colored polymer below.

Above you can see that there are a lot of shavings from removing the white polymer. If you have access to a shop vac I highly suggest rigging it so that it will aide in the removal of the shavings while you are working.

As you get further down and the walls of the white polymer become thinner you can actually use a set of pliers to remove it.

Above you can see that the white polymer has given way to the black polymer below. You will also notice that the trigger hole will need to be milled/dremeled out to allow for the trigger to fit in. When you do this be careful not to remove too much or it will be possible for your springs to fall through the hole.

When drilling the holes for the trigger and hammer pins I highly suggest drilling straight through from one side to the other. The directions on EP Lowers site say to do them one side at a time, which I did and because I was doing it by hand the drill walked and ended up miss drilling the holes (this was my fault). I ended up with the left side holes sitting lower than the right side, and this lead to the hammer being off center, which lead to the trigger not releasing it. 

Also my selector hole was off, it still worked but was extremely stiff due to it being angled.

Even though I miss drilled the holes I was able to fill them with epoxy (double bubble extra strength epoxy) and drill from the right hand side. This straightened out the issues and will be strong enough to hold the pins and selector in place (however I chose to go with KNS anti walk pins just to make sure they won't move).

As for the quality of the lower, I cannot speak on the durability of it yet since I haven't had the opportunity to toss an upper on it and run it to the range; but it does have a solid feel. It has very little give compared to some of the other polymer lowers I have messed with before and the polymer has a nice feel to it. The "finish" of the polymer is clean and some people who have seen the pictures of the lower have actually mistaken it for a billet lower. 

Once I have a few hundred rounds on it at the range I will be writing a follow up post along with some videos of it performing at the range. I have no doubt that it will work just fine and will be a great range rifle.

Overall this was an awesome learning experience, it gave me a whole new appreciation for building a lower. If you like to tinker on your own firearms and are looking for a new project head on over to www.EPLowers.com and check out what they have to offer.

Strike Industries AK TRAX Rail System

I am sure that many of you have seen the video on the Strike Industries AK TRAX hand guard that I posted earlier in the week, for those of you who haven't I have imbedded it below.

I have been extremely happy with this hand guard so far, but then again the standard Saiga hand guard leaves you with absolutely no mounting options and honestly it looks just a bit weird since they "sporterized" it. So having the option to put a hand guard on that has quite a few different ways to mount rails is pretty awesome.

There are quite a few things to like about the AK TRAX, from the key mod rail system to the multiple mounting options for the hand guard itself. The overall quality is really good, there aren't any rough or sharp "unfinished" spots to be found, and the finish is also great quality.

So far I have had it on my AK for around 2 months and have used it on the range quite a few times, I figure it has been on for around 1,000 rounds so far. Like I mentioned in the video I did have an issue with the front mounting screws falling out because I didn't loctite them in place, but that was an easy fix thanks to the awesome customer service over at SI. Other than the one hiccup with losing the small screws there have been absolutely no other issues with this hand guard, the key mod rails mount nice and snug to it and do not loosen up during use; it has been great having the ability to run a flashlight and the gopro on the rifle.

If you are looking for a good hand guard to install onto your AK I would highly suggest taking a look at the info at www.StrikeIndustries.com.

I will be posting follow up reviews as time goes on so make sure to check back!

11,000 Facebook Likes and 200 YouTube Subscribers Giveaway!

Without all of your support the SpartanTC81 Reviews Facebook page would not be where it is today, and as a thank you I have planned another Giveaway!

Now it's not as epic as last time but that does not mean that there are not some awesome prizes to be given away. As a matter of fact there are some really cool items that will be in this giveaway and below I will give you an idea of what they are.

First off Double D Hydrographics has been gracious enough to send out 2 Nite Hunter Flashlights. One is  the 600 lumen Tactical flashlight that has been dipped in a Skull pattern, and the other is the NHI Rifle Mounted system which includes both the red and green heads (review and video to be up soon).

Second Oklahoma Patriot Supply has hooked the giveaway up with 5LBS of their Patriot Boomer Exploding Targets! That's one big boom!

And Zombie Defense Armory will also be involved in this giveaway, and once I hear from them what they are tossing in for the giveaway I will make sure to update the Facebook page.


The giveaway will be kicking off August 8th and Ending August 23rd, this will give everyone ample time to get in on it. The giveaway will be run through Rafflecopter as always, so make sure you go up to the giveaways tab and follow the directions!

Click this post to order your SpartanTC81 Custom Engraved Mag Plates

Magazine Plates W/O Color

Glock 9/40 $15.00 USD Glock 45 $15.00 USD M&P 9/40 $15.00 USD M&P 45 $15.00 USD SPR XD9/40 $15.00 USD SPR XD 45 $15.00 USD

Mag Plate With Color

Glock 9/40 $18.00 USD Glock 45 $18.00 USD M&P 9/40 $18.00 USD M&P 45 $18.00 USD SPR XD9/40 $18.00 USD SPR XD 45 $18.00 USD

Glock Rear Slide Plate

Survival Elite Paracord Bracelet Video

Recently Broken Art Custom Murals and Design asked if I would be willing to check out the Survival Elite Paracord Bracelet that they produce, and since I am always looking for cool items to have on hand or toss into our GHB I figured this would be a fun one to check out.

Lantac Dragon Compensator

Lantac USA recently announced the release of their Dragon Compensator for 5.56/.223 with plans to release a 30Cal version in the near future. They have done a great deal of hyping for the release of the 5.56 Dragon comp, so the question in my mind was "does it meet all of the hype?", and of course the only way to find out was to get my hands on one and take it out for some range time.

SPECIFICATION:

Caliber: 5.56X45mm / .223

Material: Super Hard Milspec Steel

Finish: Nitride QPQ

Dimensions: L: 2.570'', DIA: .870''

Weight: 3.2oz

Thread: 1/2-28 UNEF R/H

Serial Numbered for Quality Control

Made in the USA.

When you first catch sight of this compensator you immediately see a resemblance to the muzzle device of an AK-74, with the 4 top ports and the 3 sleek open ports on either side of it. It is one extremely nice looking compensator that just seems to scream that not only does it look good but it will perform just as nicely as it looks.

As soon as it was installed on the S&W M&P AR-15 the range began to call out to it, and once it was out on the range it answered that call.

Out of the handful of different compensators I have shot with over the past couple of years my biggest complaint was that each one of them when being used under the range cover rattled my brains and made my sinuses hurt. However this was not the case with the Lantac Dragon, instead of forcing the majority of the concussive force upwards in an effort to keep the muzzle down the majority of the concussive force was pushed foward and away from the shooter. This resulted in a much more pleasant shooting experience when under the range cover. 

Now even though the majority of the force is pushed out the sides and forward, it doesn't mean that the compensator was not effective at doing its job of keeping the muzzle from rising. Instead this was one of the flattest shooting compensators I have used, there was literally no muzzle rise after each shot; and to top it off the amount of felt recoil was also reduced. Pair the lack of muzzle rise with the reduced feel of recoil and you have the ability to quickly aquire your target.

At 100 yards using a Lucid Red Dot I was able to continually smack the 10" metal gong, and double taps were amazingly easy to control and still ring the gong. It brought a sense of controllability I have been looking for when it comes to using an AR and firing quickly.

Overall I was extremely impressed with the performance of the Dragon Compensator and cannot wait to get my hands on one for each of the AR builds that I am currently working on. 

If you have been looking for a great compensator to slap onto your AR, this is one that I highly suggest you look into.

You can preorder one through Harris Tactical using the following link.

http://www.harristacticalonline.com/Lantac-Dragon-556-Muzzle-Brake-LAN-DGN556B.htm