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Posted: 12/15/2005 7:14:24 AM EDT
I picked this up last Friday. Supposedly it's Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 is going to have much on building your own AR.
Decent book so far, written by a local MI guy. I say "local" because one of his test crew works at one of the ranges I go to. If you see it, give it a read. Edit: order it off Amazon... Save yourself some money! Also... It's the book of the AR-15 but... there's a .308 AR on the cover.  Whoops.
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Posted: 12/15/2005 7:15:12 AM EDT
[#1]
I'll read it when he gets a HAIR CUT!
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Posted: 12/15/2005 7:31:09 AM EDT
[#2]
You're talking about the guy with the pony tail and the glasses who goes to Double Action right? The guy who wrote an article about managing your mags in the first "Book of the AR-15" magazine by Guns and Ammo. That guy is an idiot. I was up at DA one time shooting my AR, and there were sparks coming off of the backstop when my rounds were hitting. Mr. Gun Writer comes over and says, "Hey, your ammo is causing sparks on the backstop, that means you're shooting steel core ammo (which was banned on that range), and if you don't stop shooting I'm gonna report it." I, not knowing any different stopped shooting and went and talked to the owner (the dude with the beard and glasses), since I bought the ammo from him. He told me that the sparks were caused by the friction of the projectile hitting the backstop, and that all rounds over a certain velocity will cause friction sparks. He said "If bigmouth says anything else to you about it tell him to mind his own business, or to come see me and I'll tell him. He doesn't work here and I don't want him giving my customer shit." I went back, shot up the rest of my ammo and added another guy to my dingbat list. |
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Posted: 12/15/2005 7:33:45 AM EDT
[#3]
That would be the guy! 
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Posted: 12/15/2005 7:45:46 AM EDT
[#4]
Some people feel compelled to spread there vast knowledge!
By the way. He has an account here. I've seen him post! |
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Posted: 12/15/2005 7:50:36 AM EDT
[#5]
haha I don't get why you'd think that's a bad thing... The book seems solid thus far. I also read the Special Weapons book by him and liked it enough. |
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Posted: 12/15/2005 8:09:03 AM EDT
[#6]
If someone knowledgeable like Troy or Tweak writes an AR book I'll buy it. I don’t read most gun rags because there are too many clowns posing as writers. A memberships here is better than a year subscription to any dozen gun rags. |
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Posted: 12/15/2005 8:16:48 AM EDT
[#7]
I'm sure he has alot of solid knowledge, and I doubt that the book is a bunch of BS. He's written several good articles that I learned from. |
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Posted: 12/15/2005 8:18:44 AM EDT
[#8]
You can add FALARAK to that list. He's a walking encyclopedia of AR information. |
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Posted: 12/15/2005 8:27:29 AM EDT
[#9]
Well, his Glock book was extremely comprehensive and easy to read. I like him as an author, personally.
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Posted: 12/15/2005 8:39:06 AM EDT
[#10]
OH SNAP! HOW EMBARRASSING!  |
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Posted: 12/15/2005 8:43:26 AM EDT
[#11]
I can sympathize with MOTOWN, however.
As a shooter/gun owner, I'm inherently turned off by people who can't mind there own fucking business! Hall monitors and the AWB police that we used to have here on this site are just wastes of oxygen! |
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Posted: 12/15/2005 10:55:36 AM EDT
[#12]
For $18 plus shipping I can sell you a link to a website that has better AR info, is updated daily, and has more details on building an AR than any 5 volume set of books. I'll even throw in an online Tweak(er ) to help out if you run into any problems. Wait there's more. I'll even throw in an ammuntion and optics forum. If you need something to read in the bathroom you can always print out the faqs. 
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Posted: 12/15/2005 11:24:31 AM EDT
[#13]
+ a zillion |
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Posted: 12/15/2005 11:32:32 AM EDT
[#14]
As long as you're careful who you listen to. The board certainly has its share of idiots. |
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Posted: 12/15/2005 1:34:35 PM EDT
[#15]
The brisk Magpul sales are proof of this! 
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Posted: 12/15/2005 1:39:34 PM EDT
[#16]
I have never met Mr. Sweeney. But I can say that I own 4 of his books and have read countless articles he has written. He knows what he's talking about and he "walks the walk". His books are some of my main reference materials regarding gunsmithing and certain firearms in general. Not only has he done plenty of smithing, but he's also done PLENTY of shooting and competition. He has my respect.
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Posted: 12/15/2005 1:41:07 PM EDT
[#17]
I noticed that too. I just bought it this weekend and have been reading it. I was fascinated to hear of the forging process. I especially liked the part where the magwells are "cut" out. Interesting stuff there. I eagerly await Volume 2. |
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Posted: 12/15/2005 3:00:47 PM EDT
[#18]
For AR15 newbie’s sake I hope the author is a member here and used the search function to correct all the bad info that made it into the last AR15 book of errors.
In all seriousness there have been too many mistakes making it into gun rag print. I was reading about ammo in Blackrifle II and found well written press copy designed to cover up the truth in ammo development. In softcover would be bad enough, but to make it into hardcover reference books is disgraceful. The truth is too difficult or does not pay well enough for the authors. Most gun rags have gone so far downhill I won’t even pick them up off the rack. Even my cherished SWAT published a press copy like review of cheap Weaver nightvision what was all BS. I knew it when I saw it and everyone here who bought one because of that article is disappointed. Since then I can’t read SWAT cover to cover anymore. They broke the trust I had in them so I prefer to just keep up with things here where people actually own the equipment they write about. And then to come full circle (to laugh or cry about all this), there is that famous ad in the previous book of the AR15 that read: "Hesse Overwhelming Choice of Special Forces!" |
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Posted: 12/15/2005 5:42:07 PM EDT
[#19]
Robert I have to say that thus far, the book has been quite good. Almost like reading Arfcom, without the Brokeback Mountain threads and most of the negative reviews of stuff. (in both books by Sweeney I've read, basically, the stuff that didn't pass muster didn't make it into the book...)
I just read the Ammo chapter last night and it read very well. Things that don't usually make it into regular books and reviews of ammunition... Fragmentation and the like. |
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Posted: 12/15/2005 5:50:35 PM EDT
[#20]
Book of the AR15 yet it has a picture of an AR10 on the cover.
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Posted: 12/15/2005 5:54:24 PM EDT
[#21]
Already addressed, we don't get it either 
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Posted: 12/15/2005 6:39:03 PM EDT
[#22]
I'm currently reading it and can't wait for Vol. 2
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Posted: 12/15/2005 6:50:00 PM EDT
[#23]
I met Pat at the Second Chance shoots in Michigan years ago. I havent read much of his stuff, but he's a damn good shot.
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Posted: 12/16/2005 5:51:02 AM EDT
[#24]
Yeah, I'm looking forward to the next book myself. |
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Posted: 12/17/2005 8:13:25 PM EDT
[#25]
I thumbed through an overpriced bookstore copy today, mostly looking in the ammo section. He seemed obsessed with the tumbling word and gave me the impression he doesn’t know what he is talking about when it comes to ammunition.
This kind of thing tears at me because I want to learn more about the AR and some of the subjects in the book are very interesting to me. But if he is making stuff up in one area I am very familiar with, how can I trust he didn’t do the same all the way through? The simple answer is I can’t. Reading such a book would give me 50% knowledge and 50% fairytale and I wouldn’t know which is which. So for now I pass. 
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Posted: 12/17/2005 8:17:20 PM EDT
[#26]
You had me excited for a minute there. The president of our UAW local's name is Pat Sweeney and we are in Michigan. I thought for a minute that maybe our union was lead by a "not so liberal" weenie. Guess not though.
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Posted: 12/18/2005 10:05:13 AM EDT
[#27]
Lemme skim that section again. My impression of the ammo section was much different. He talked about tumbling but only with regards to the bullet breaking at the cannelure and causing injury that way. He discussed tumbling a bit when writing about the best bullets for certain twist barrels though... My take on it was that he was pretty much right on. |
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Posted: 12/18/2005 11:26:45 AM EDT
[#28]
My impression was that he read the Ammo Oracle very quickly then attempted to rewrite several selected pages of it in a few paragraphs, with his own ideas mixed in. The result was poor.
It would make more sense if he had quoted the Ammo Oracle and Dr Fackler directly. It would be an authoritative book that way. Right now it just some guy that borrows others peoples research and writes it up in his own words with his own ideas mixed in, just like what some journalists do. It does not make a definitive book. |
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Posted: 12/18/2005 12:03:24 PM EDT
[#29]
Robert: Sweeney only discusses tumbling in the context of "tumbling occurs in certain mediums which leads to the bullet breaking apart at the cannelure", not as the main component of the damage the bullet does. In fact he goes so far as to list a few ranges at which a M193 spec bullet stops fragmenting at, and then simply tumbles- and goes further to say that past that range, the bullet does neither.
Also... What else do writers have to go on, other than doing it themselves - which is difficult to do when putting together a comprehensive book such as this? Credit him with at least going to the right sources for his research. I'll also give him credit for putting Ammo Oracle type conclusions in a mass market book instead of dredging up the stuff we're accustomed to seeing in books (either outright fallacies or simply ignoring it because it's an ugly subject). Note, I've noticed many typos and an inaccuracy here or there, but nothing is perfect and frankly, I still think the book is a solid buy. Get it from the Amazon link so you don't have to pay full price like I did.
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Posted: 12/18/2005 2:01:42 PM EDT
[#30]
The one I thumbed through was $24! I'm not sure if I'll get it, maybe I will wait for the 2nd edition (with corrections) Still, I think at the Amazon price it beats those Guns & Ammo, Book of the AR15 mistake filled minimags. But please, get the AR10 off the cover. It's only a matter of time before newbies at the range tell me about the .308 AR15s they read about. |
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