I was wrong about “X” - a misconceptions thread

[StainlessSlide]

Many of us have had strongly held beliefs about our favorite machine, that turned out to be way wrong.

I thought it might be fun to have a thread were folks confess their misconceptions. Of course, this is against everything the Internet stands for.

I’ll start:

1. I really thought that a chrome lining meant NO corrosion

2. I thought black was a GREAT color for a rifle

3. I thought nickel boron was the very best BCG coating

Then

1. I saw some very slight pitting in a chamber (with a bore scope)

2. A few walks away from the range, and I saw that black stands out a bit almost anywhere

3. I got the freezing-up effect of the BCG on an uncleaned, cold carbine

Anyone else want to confess?

[MSW]

My dad had chrome-plated auto bumpers back in the 1960s & they corroded, so i never thought hard chrome would prevent all problems.

I DID originally buy into the “shits where it eats” as my brother, who joined the US Army repeated that nonsense after training with an M16A1 & how the M14 & FAL were “superior” to the M16A1. I bought a Mini14 at my brother’s suggestion & some BS about how it “was the better choice for Nam…” but vertical stringing and the A-Team accuracy made me sell it. After shooting a friend’s AR & hearing his opposing view vs my brother’s “learned” opinion, I bought an AR (a Bushie, back in the late 1980s) & realized my brother was only smart enough to be a tanker—so, his opinion on ARs was the proverbial “everybody has an….opinion” moment.

I was never a fan of black rifles as a color—even in the mid-Atlantic states, the sun gets hot in Summer & those black rifles got pretty toasty without firing on a really sunny day.

Never looked back with the AR—great gun! Yes, I upgraded to BCM & DD when I learned more here. My Bushie was an HBar & was one of the first times I shot a 1” group with 5 shots. I’m not saying it was an sub-MOA rifle—but compared to the Mini14, i could hit clay pigeons resting on the 100 yard berm at the range with more frequency than with a Mini14! Ah pity da fool!

[Hank6046]

This could be a good thread, lots of lessons learned on here I imagine.

1.) Cleaning my rifle, when to clean it, what is considered dirty, if I'm not running 10 patches through the barrel to get ever last bit of carbon... needless to say that Marine Corps didn't prepare me for how dirty a rifle can be and continue to fire just fine.

2.) I need this because X,Y,Z instructor uses it. When I got out of the service I remember watching Magpul's Art of the Carbine and thinking to myself that "here are two guys who have it all figured out, and that prior cadre who had been in Ramadi and the mountains of Afghanistan didn't know what they were talking about", all I needed was the entire 5.11/Blackhawk catalog of gear and Magpul up my rifle I would practice firing from my back and I too would equivalent to a Delta/Ranger/Recon/Seal/Sniper. Turns our, I suck because I don't train.

3.)High price over high value, I have a lot of really nice, expensive rifles, I also have some piecemeal beaters, my piecemeal beater BCM upper/ Aero lower with a 1-6x Primary arms scope has a lot of capability that my high end DD, ADM, etc. does and weighs less, and for the price difference I could afford an extra 1k rounds and a carbine class to train on. Now I'm lucky enough to get to a point where I can have both, but if I really wanted dual tube night vision, or the time and money to get down to TUSC, then that high end rifle(s) don't look as appealing as they once did.

[Sidneyious]

Spending a little more has diminishing returns but the cheaper stuff will usually never fit the bill and I wasted money.

[docsherm]

Thinking Colt ARs were the best.

[Hammer_Man]

I bought into the nickel boron hype, and found it wasn’t any easier to clean than good ole phosphate.

I used to think if it was mil spec then it was the best.

[Budget]

I thought heavy barrels and mid lengths were the pinnacle of technology. "This spikes must be better than a 6920"

Youtube is entertainment, not real world experience.

Ive learned that many BTDT types are terrible firearms instructors.

I should have bought 2 ARs, 2 Glocks, and spared myself all the milsurp, 1911s, and other BS. I could have had PVS 31s with all the money I've spent.

[MA2_Navy_Veteran]

I actually once believed that Libertards couldn't become any dumber...

But with each passing day, I'm repeatedly proven to be ever more wrong.

MA2

[Stickman]

I thought I was too good to shoot steel ammo... then ammo prices became obscene, and I didn't want to waste "the precious" good stuff, the next thing you know I was buying steel cased ammo. I still cry myself to sleep over this, but at least I don't do it with an empty wallet.

[MA2_Navy_Veteran]

I thought I was too good to shoot steel ammo... then ammo prices became obscene, and I didn't want to waste "the precious" good stuff, the next thing you know I was buying steel cased ammo. I still cry myself to sleep over this, but at least I don't do it with an empty wallet.

This made me laugh soo hard. Thanks for that Stickman!

Really wish sometimes that M4C had a like button for post like yours.

[Sidneyious]

I thought I was too good to shoot steel ammo... then ammo prices became obscene, and I didn't want to waste "the precious" good stuff, the next thing you know I was buying steel cased ammo. I still cry myself to sleep over this, but at least I don't do it with an empty wallet.

During the ammopocalyps I didnt have anything to do anything and now just getting back on my feet, still wont bother with steel.
That reason is most people dont bother looking an when they do find steel they think its just going to be automatically cheaper.

I will dig to the end of google to find good prices on the ammo types I use.
people dont really do this anymore

[markm]

I used to think the only appropriate bullet for AR was 55 gr FMJ/M193 ammo, and the 77gr stuff was goobers trying to make the 5.56 a bigger gun.

Now I never shoot 55 gr bullets.

[TommyG]

I know something about how this thing works because I put a couple of them together with brand new parts and they work great.

Trying to diagnose rifles that someone else bought/built/worked on to make them run reliably was a lesson in just how much I didn't know.

[ndmiller]

I thought I was too good to shoot steel ammo... then ammo prices became obscene, and I didn't want to waste "the precious" good stuff, the next thing you know I was buying steel cased ammo. I still cry myself to sleep over this, but at least I don't do it with an empty wallet.

Good one. I had so much wolf 762X39 from years and years ago and sold all my AK platforms. Thought I would never shoot it as steel case was taboo. Bought a Ruger Ranch bolt in 7.62X39 (for $350) and have been lobbing them down range at the steel plates 100-300 yards (silhouette range at my club) for hours. Complete fun, had my daughter out and she loves it too. Had no 22LR left, so cheap 90's-2000's wolf to the rescue...kept us all shooting.

[Rmorris]

Scout rifles. I thought they were stupid fudd guns until I used a scout to hunt with. It has a place in my safe now, and gets used a fair amount.

[Ned Christiansen]

"I thought I was wrong one time but I was mistaken" har har.

When I was a kid my Dad was white collar but had come up from blue collar (as a lineman). The outfit he worked for had a well-equipped maintenance shop that was definitely not off-limits to him on weekends, in fact, the big lathe they had, they had bought from him. He and his brother had had a welding shop in the UP right after the war. The lathe was war surplus and Dad said they took a trailer down to Detroit to get it; there were acres of machines out in a field-- for sale, cheap. They built the shop's framework from steel that had been brought in to the port, steel that was going to be part of a new shipyard for making some kind or warships (this was the Great Lakes, not the East or West coast).

Anyhoo. One day, on a weekend, we were there at the shop. Dad had his own shop in the basement (that place really fertilized the toolmaker seed in me), but when the job called for something bigger, we went to the shop at his work. They fixed their own equipment there. Line trucks, "Ditch Witches", boom trucks, even an old White half-track (never saw it run but often begged, "let's fix it, Dad!" It had bullet holes in it, at least that's how I remember it.

This day there was a line truck that was under repair on the drive shaft and the guys had left it for the weekend. In those days they didn't just buy a new drive shaft, they fixed the old one. For reasons I didn't understand at the time, and because of that I can't say now exactly what the situation was, the old drive shaft had been torch-cut and was just laying there. I observed that the shaft was hollow-- just a piece of tubing. Hollow!?

"Dad, you guys got gypped on that drive shaft, look, it's not solid all the way through!"

In my mind, my 9-year-old logic said that such a drive shaft could never be strong enough. If it wasn't solid steel, how could it propel a big ol' truck? The logic was absolutely irrefutable.

Dad explained to me how they were all tubular, if they were solid they would be too heavy and maybe get out of balance, and just the outside part (9 YO terms) was enough to take the power from the engine to the wheels. The "inside part" would not really help. Yeahp, after that, it all made sense and I never forgot the lesson that day-- that what is so totally, perfectly obvious, so logical and certain in theory, sometimes does not match up with reality. It applies very much to firearms.

PS, the "UP" is: https://www.michigan.org/upper-peninsula

[OutofBatt3ry]

Hard chrome is far superior to bare iron, but there are better ways of rust/corrosion proofing, like starting off with a metal that doesn't rust or corrode(excessively) with salt slurry.

[Dutch110]

I thought I was too good to shoot steel ammo... then ammo prices became obscene, and I didn't want to waste "the precious" good stuff, the next thing you know I was buying steel cased ammo. I still cry myself to sleep over this, but at least I don't do it with an empty wallet.

Oh man. Two weekends ago I took a new 11.5 7.62 x 39 build out to the range to break it in. Was getting a horrible failure rate on rounds not lighting off. Both suppressed and non suppressed. When they DID light off the ejection patterns were exactly where they should be. I have an identical 16 inch set up so I pulled the BCG from that one and no luck. It has a full power hammer spring in it but just in case I swapped that out too. Out of 100 or so rounds, 20 did not light off. And the primers were struck deep and even. This past weekend I grabbed 100 rounds of PMC bronze and took it back out. Ran like a top. Now I have a buttload of Russian steel that is even more unreliable than before lol.

[Dutch110]

1.) Quantity is no replacement for quality. I'd rather have 3, really well built and tuned ARs than 6 bargain bin ARs
2.) Nickel Boron - just like everyone else. Learned that one the hard way.
3.) Instructors bring their own personal bias to the range with them. Not everything they teach may work for you. Take as many courses as you can and pick and chose what best works for you. Adhering to any single doctrine without applying critical thinking is dangerous (example is I took a class from a former IDF member who taught the Israeli draw. Thanks, I'm good, Ill keep one in the chamber - but I understand why they do it)

[hotbiggun42]

I dont need a bunch of mags and ammo because in SHTF i wont live long enough to use them. Now i know this is a defeatists attitude.

[nick84]

Credentials are helpful and worthwhile, but they don't guarantee wisdom or ability, especially the ability to teach.


Variety is overrated when it comes to shooting. One thing that works really well for me is worth 5 things that are 'almost it.'

[mr h]

i fell for the nickel boron too but my main issue was it tarnished really bad with suppressors and i feel like the one i had went to gas rings really fast. like 2000 rounds.

maybe the surface is just too hard for the rings?

[JiminAZ]

I thought chrome lined barrels were inherently inaccurate
(my 6920's said otherwise)

I thought most optics held zero just fine
(lost count of the number of scopes that let me down)

I thought a brake was a big improvement over the A2 flash hider
(great way to waste $100 and just make the gun more obnoxious)

I thought you couldn't shoot very accurately with a ghost ring sight.
(until I tried it)

I thought I wouldn't like shooting an SKS
(until I tried it)

I thought I would like shooting an AK
(until I bought one)

I thought 55 gr M193 ammo was plenty accurate (ie not much to gain by going with the heavier stuff
(until I realized 55 gr ammo was sort of 2+ MOA even in good guns, and tried heavier bullets and proved it to myself)

[tkoglman]

(1) I was wrong about LPVOs. I thought that, for my purposes (home defense), I wouldn’t need to engage targets outside 100m (if not 10m) so I was best served with a red dot. I assumed a red dot was faster and could be used even in unconventional shooting positions. I assumed an LPVO would be like other magnified optics I’ve used (fixed 4x and 10x in the Marines and 3-9x hunting) and I would be slowed down getting my eye positioned behind the scope. Then I tried a Trijicon TR24 and was blown away. Now I’m a believer.

(2) I thought I was a good shooter and didn’t have anything to learn from shooting “games” like IPSC and IDPA. I mean, I was an “expert” in the Marines and a “top gun” in law enforcement. I went to my first IDPA match and couldn’t believe anyone could shoot that fast and accurately. Worse, it was everyone but me who could. There was a lot I had to learn. That was pre 9-11, and I’m happy that since then a lot more cross-pollination has happened.

[davidjinks]

Something I learned in a previous life/job testing small arms for the military…

Compressed loads in 5.56mm after a bad feed is safe to shoot.

Of course, I made the head guy do it first before I would even think about it. It was M855A1 and we were testing the acceptance of the Gen 3 PMAGS and the new enhanced followers.

[OldARShooter62]

Hey Everyone
I obviously don't post much but I sure have learned a lot from you guys.

My misconception was about the AR-15 in general.

I had never been around them until I bought one (Ruger AR-556). I got it before the Trump/Hellory election because I was afraid if she won AR's would be banned.

I took it home, cleaned and lubed it and went out and shot it. It was like a bolt from the blue hit me and I thought "THIS Is what I've been needing in my life!" To say I was hooked would be an understatement. The following week I bought a second then,within a month, I began building my first, then my second, third, fourth....

My bolt guns sit in the safe now. Even for deer hunting. I built a 6.5 Grendel that drops them like they've been hit with a freaking axe.

The AR-15 totally revolutionized my shooting and gun budget. Today I honestly have no idea how many magazines I own and I could probably scrounge up a fair amount of ammo if I had to.

I'm hooked for life!

[rifleman8]

The list would be long with me.

Recently: With my life experiences, I can jump on here and make an intellectually lazy post that still adds something of value to this community.

Older: One could no longer get by with 1 in 12 / M193.

[Sidneyious]

I thought 55 gr M193 ammo was plenty accurate (ie not much to gain by going with the heavier stuff
(until I realized 55 gr ammo was sort of 2+ MOA even in good guns, and tried heavier bullets and proved it to myself)

whos 193 were you using