Upgrading the M&P

As you may have read in my Oops I Did It Again blog, I picked up a M&P9c for an everyday carry. Of course, with a carry you get very personal with it, so I plan to shoot it a lot it tailor it to my needs. In the 3 short weeks I have owned it, I have put 310 rounds through it without a single hiccup. Even my $700 Beretta had some problems in the first few rounds. I've shot mostly re-manufactured (reloaded) 115gr 9mm, with a little Federal 124gr and 10 rds of 124gr+P Speer Gold Dot JHP since that is my carry load. I'm still amazed and how smooth this gun runs and how much I enjoy shooting it. 


Now I got her, and yes it's a her, about a month ago. It was my plan to carry her so I needed a holster. While there are plenty of options on the market, I had a few specific requirements. I want solid retention so it doesn't rattle about while I'm moving. I like a forward cant, as I think it hides the grip better and offers a better draw. I work in a corporate style office, so I wear business attire on the regular, so I wanted a tuckable holster. And of course, minimal visible footprint. After looking at many companies (Bravo Concealment, De LA Rosa tactical, Contact! Concealment, Galco, Blackhawk!, White Hat, etc) I decided on a Crossbreed... again. If you are not familiar with Crossbreed Holsters, they are worth checking out. This is the 2nd one I bought from them and I have been very happy with both holsters (first was for the Taurus TCP), I even bought one for my Dad for his PF9.  I decided to go with the Supertuck in cowhide with the Combat Cut option for my M&P.


Now, the thing with Crossbreed is, they are all handmade here in the USA. That translates to a slight wait to get the product. But I will say its worth the wait. I took about 3 weeks for me to get my holster. So in the 3 week interim... what's a man with a new gun and no holster to do? Improvise of course! I happen to have a holster for my Beretta 92 (bought from Beretta) laying about that the M&P would fit in. It actually fits way better than I expected. So this was a great temporary solution to my problem.



I have pictures here of both the Beretta Holster and the Crossbreed.The Crossbreed can be identified by their iconic cross on the belt clips.  Now I know the Beretta holster is not meant for the M&P but I want to do a quick comparison of an off the shelf holster vs custom made one. First, notice that the Beretta is plastic on leather vs Crossbreed's Kydex on leather. Well, the Kydex offers far superior retention compared to the plastic. Just look at that fine molding! Also the leather is nicer, the clips are stronger, and it has adjustable ride height. Looking at the back of holster you can see several holes for the clips to be moved up and down.One huge item that, at least me me, that makes Crossbreed superior is their use of a locking nut for the belt clips. This simple item keeps the screws on the clips from backing out and keep the clips from rotating. Most other hybrid style holsters I have seen don't have this.

 The other big thing, is the ability for me to get a full purchase on the gun in the holster, meaning a full grip like I was going to fire it. That is why I opted for the Combat Cut option. It trims away all the excess leaving just enough to cover the slide and important bits. The Beretta holster, like many other off the shelf aftermarket holster have excess material either under the trigger guard or at the palm swell. The Crossbreed Combat Cut is custom cut for my gun. As you can see, no excess.

In addition to my holster, I also picked up a full size 17rd magazine and A&G grip extender. The M&P9c takes its big brother's magazines so it is really nice for range days or competition shooting.  It seats just like the compact magazines. As you'll see in the pictures though, it leaves some exposed magazine. I saw the A&G grip extender in the store and figured I'd try it out. You can see the difference with it on. Still no problem getting the mag in or out with the extender on. 

In a few weeks I will be upgrading my sights to XS Big Dots and I will be having my slide cut with additional serrations. More on that later..

As always, any comments or concerns, please let me know below. 

P.S. Her name is Kaylee

Building the Right Hand of Feedom - Part 2

It's been about 2 months now since I showed you guys my hunk of metal that will one day be my first AR15. In those 2 months, I have accomplished a few things on it and the lower receiver is about 90% done. I want to go over what parts I chose to add and why.

The first half of this build has been amazingly simple. Doing research, I thought I had gotten in way over my head. But so far, I have yet to hit a real snag of any type. So, probably one of the biggest factors to build the AR is the tools needed. You do need some specific tools, but nothing outrageous by any means. We'll start first with my vise.                                                                       I picked up this Pony 4" bench vise at my local Sears. It won me over for 2 reasons. 1) It was cheap. 2) It could rotate 180 degrees. I felt like that may be a useful feature in the future, so I ran with it. I have used it for this project and for other projects and it has been great. Along with my bench vise, I picked up a Promag Vise Block. The vise block acts like a magazine and fits into the magazine well of the lower receiver. The other end you clamp down in the vise. This allows you two free hands to work on your receiver.



Up next in the tool line up are all the punches. Specially you need roll pin punches. If you have never seen a roll pin before, it's basically a piece of metal that has been rolled into a cylinder shape, hollow in the middle. What makes a roll pin punch unique is that it has a little ball or rounded edge on the tip. This fits into the hollow middle of the roll pins to prevent deforming the roll pin while driving it in. In addition to the punches, it is recommended you get roll pin holder (aka starters). These basically wrap around about 1/3 of the roll pin to assist in getting the pin started. Once it's started, you finish with the roll pin punches.

In the picture above, you will see on the left the set of Schuster Roll Pin Starters. Each end of these 2 starters is for a different size roll pin (3/32", 1/8", 1/16" and 5/64"). On the right side of the photo you will see the Lyman Roll Pin Punches. These 4 punches will do pretty much all the roll pins on your AR15. The middle punch is optional, but I do recommend it. Its a AR15 Bolt Catch Punch, and you will notice it is flat on one side. This is to allow more clearence to drive the pin that the colt catch pivots on. Having this will reduce the chances you may scratch your lower. Finally, the bottom item is a non-marring hammer. This one in particular has a nylon head and a brass head. This, obviously, is to prevent marring your receiver as well. Another advantage is it's a lot lighter than the normal framing hammer everyone has, so it way easier to use it on the small punches. 


 On to the fun stuff, the actual parts. I went with a Stag Arms Lower Parts Kit w/ Ambi Safety. The picture you see to the right is actually all the parts that come in the kit. This LPK includes: trigger, hammer, bolt catch, safety selector, magazine release, grip, trigger guard, front pivot pin, rear take down pin along with all the associated springs, detents and roll pins. I promise, once you build one, all those parts make sense and it's really easy to put together. I went with the Stag Arms for two reason: from my research they were highly regarded and said to have one of the best factory triggers; and I wanted an ambi safety. Now, I am not left handed. But I like the ability to use my index finder to put the gun on safe, or if I ever needed to, use my left hand if my right one was injured for some reason.
 I would have loved to do an instructional on how to put all the parts together, but since it was first first time too, I figured it best not to have the blind leading the blind. I will tell you that I used ITS Tactical for all my info on how to assemble the lower assembly.

Now, you'll notice the LPK came with a grip, but I do not have that grip on my receiver. I decided to run a Magpul MOE K2 grip in FDE (Flat Dark Earth). What makes the K2 grip better than the A2 grip that comes in the LPK? I'll tell you... it's the angle . The K2 grip (and several other grips coming to market) have a steeper angle so they allow you to hold your rifle in a way that is more suited to today's stance. The A2 grip was designed with the old school "elbow up" shooting style.

You'll also notice that my trigger guard is FDE as well, and not the black one that came in the LPK. The Magpul MOE Trigger Guard is curved, giving your finger a little more space inside the guard. It is also helpful when you are wearing gloves. but honestly, I just wanted it in FDE to match my grip, I'll admit it.

So that's where we stand as of right now. I am currently working on getting a stock and buffer tube kit in, but with my most recent purchase (Oops I did It Again), it has set my finances back a little. Once the stock is on, It will be a 100% complete lower receiver. If you have any questions, comments or concerns, please put them below.