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July 4, 2023 - Louder with Crowder
43:06
GUN WEEK w/ Mrgunsngear | Ep 2. Long Guns 101
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It's Gun Week!
Now the Founding Fathers understood that only an armed people could truly be a free people.
So this week I invite you to join me and Mug Club resident gun aficionado Mr. Guns and Beer as we tackle the subject of firearms from every angle possible.
Today's episode we take on all of the basics that you need to know About rifles and shotguns, this is Long Guns 101.
Day two of gun week with Mr. Gear.
You know him as Guns and Gear, but Dr. Gear, depending.
Honorary.
Yes, honorary doctor.
Today we'll be discussing why the four firearm safety rules or the universal safety rules of firearms handling are wrong.
I had a high school teacher who I found out he had an honorary doctorate in philosophy.
So I just call him Bob.
We're doing long guns today.
So we did pistols, we're going to do common myths associated with firearms, and we'll also do a ballistics gel video with some pretty cool cameras.
But long guns encompassing rifles and shotguns.
If you're not a gun person, again we're trying to provide you with an entry point.
Let's explain to people first, I guess, what you would be taking into account why you might need a long gun, right, and what might be appropriate.
So, long guns increase lethality, generally speaking.
The cartridges they fire are more powerful, they have longer barrels, it has more energy.
Traditionally, think of like hunting.
You're going to be using a rifle in most cases for that.
Additionally, they're just easier to shoot well.
The reason for that is you have more points of contact on the firearm.
So, just as an example, as opposed to if we had There's no good way, by the way, to aim.
There's not.
We're in a very limited space, okay?
We know it's unloaded, so... Corey doesn't like me.
I didn't like you.
But so, your point of contact is here, you also have a contact point on your cheek, your hand here, and then out here, so it's much easier to control and get accurate hits than it is with a pistol that's just out here in space.
Additionally, depending on the type of firearm you get, an AR-15, for example, your capacity can go up as well.
Right, and so really with long guns, a little bit different from handguns, we were talking about a bedside firearm, and you recommended, you said if people are getting their first gun, you recommend a handgun because it can be more multi-purpose.
Correct.
With a long gun, you're probably looking at hunting, home defense, or really target shooting.
Right, maybe competitive shooting.
Yeah, maybe competitive shooting.
So we have a couple of different firearms here.
We have a basic pump shotgun, we have a Benelli M4 semi-automatic shotgun, and of course, America's favorite rifle, The AR-15.
We have a couple of variations here.
Actually, they come from Watchtower.
It's the last American firearms manufacturer.
Every single component is American.
They're doing it here in the United States, and it's a pretty cool company that just formed, so thanks to them for providing these.
Just to be clear, we have this because it's patriotically themed.
I would never I wouldn't either.
But you know how hard that is to do?
Very hard.
It's very difficult.
It's a work of art.
But I mean, I would have to be like a pimp who loves his country.
And this is their base model AR-15.
You know, kind of an easier point to entry.
These have been zeroed in.
So let's go first, before we get to the AR-15, we'll probably have a lot on that.
Explain to people the difference.
Shotgun, rifle, I know that everyone watching who's a gun enthusiast, you know the difference.
A lot of people don't.
I'll get asked that.
They're like, well isn't it the same thing?
Yeah, so shotguns, generally speaking, are going to fire 12-gauge or 20-gauge, those are the most common.
And what that means is it's just a larger projectile, and most shotgun rounds, not all, have multiple projectiles in them, whether they be birdshot or buckshot.
Birdshot, generally speaking, is designed for exactly what it sounds like, birds.
Buckshot is designed for what it sounds like, animals.
Buckshot typically is going to have anywhere from 8 to 12 pellets in it, which is individual pieces of metal, whereas birdshot can have tons.
People say, spread, if you just aim a shotgun in the general direction, right, it's going to eviscerate it.
And typically, you have two different types of shotguns, which this one here is a pump-action shotgun.
This is a Remington 870, probably the most manufactured shotgun in the world.
Very, very common.
You have to manually work the action with each shot.
So basically, you're going to press the trigger.
And then at that point, you'll be able to cycle the next round into the action.
And it just keeps going until it's out of rounds.
Whereas we have the Benelli M4.
Arguably the best semi-automatic shotgun in the planet.
And this one is semi-automatic, meaning every time you pull the trigger, it will cycle by itself, rather, and self-load until it's out of rounds.
And same thing with the AR-15.
Just to be clear, semi-automatic.
Again, I know it's remedial for some people.
That means you pull the trigger once and it fires one round.
Did that hit?
They use the term automatic, semi-automatic.
They try to say semi-automatic so you think it's a machine gun.
We'll do another installment on that.
AR-15 is a semi-automatic rifle.
For more on these, go to Watchtowerfirearms.com.
Veteran owned and the last true American firearm manufacturer.
Let's go, we'll shoot all of these, but I guess we might as well, it's pretty easy to pick which one you want, you know, a rifle or a shotgun.
Any of these would be suitable for home defense.
Yep, for sure.
Now, for shotguns, if you're using defensive loads, they're going to have more recoil, for sure, especially than an AR-15.
An AR-15 is a very light recoiling gun, whereas a shotgun, if you're using slugs or buckshot, is definitely going to have some punch to it.
So if you're somebody who's recoil-averse, just keep that in mind as well.
And look, I will say, I don't want to veer you one way, but an AR-15 does make a lot of sense for people looking for a rifle for home defense.
It is versatile, it can be used for hunting in the proper scenarios, very easy to control, very light recoiling, very reliable model of firearm, and there's a reason that it's incredibly popular.
It's something that's pretty easy for people to use.
I mean, right, it'd be tough for someone to go wrong with a good quality AR-15.
Yes, assuming it's a good quality one, that's your point, yes.
And we do know with Watchtower they are, and we do know that there are a lot of them, but there are some out there that are awful.
I mean, that bullet would hit them sideways.
Yes, that's a real thing.
Now, like Hugh's saying though, I take a lot of new shooters out just doing what I do, and a lot of them, knowing nothing about guns, will gravitate to the AR-15s just because they're very pleasant to shoot, and they don't even understand that it has more stopping power than pistols.
They're just looking at it because it's more pleasant to shoot, easier to shoot well.
So let's really quickly, what we'll do is we have the magic of a time warp.
We'll clear the table and then focus on kind of a basic AR model and we'll do a safety check, explain the basics in and out and then we'll go to the rink.
Sounds good.
Okay, so basic safety checking, like we do with the handguns, the scariest rifle in existence, as we well know, the AR-15.
This is Watchtower's kind of more basic model, obviously high quality, but without as many bells and whistles as this being skeletonized.
So, Mr. Guns and Gear, show people if they approach an AR-15, you know.
Sure.
So if you actually find one of these in the street, good for you.
But it's going to be most likely in this configuration here with our bolt carrier group, which is this part here, forward.
So basically the way to check and see if it's loaded is we're going to pull on our charging handle and then on the left side of the rifle we have this piece here which is our bolt lock and bolt release and so doing it on camera is a little weird but you're going to push in and lock that back At that point, you can look in the chamber, verify that it is unloaded, and proceed accordingly.
The other controls that you need to know about here are going to be your safety.
On this gun, it's ambidextrous, meaning it's on both sides of the gun.
However, many of them will be left side only.
That is the fire position.
That is the safe position.
Unfortunately, this one doesn't have a third position, but if we had our rights, we would have a third position that would go forward, and you'd be able to fire it.
At first I was like, hey, watchtower sent us free guns, there's a sponsor, but then I realized it was a rights thing.
Yes.
So, unfortunately, this one doesn't have that.
Here is our trigger.
Of course, in order to fire it, it will have to be in the fire position.
This is actually a match trigger, so it's kind of a fancy one.
And then over on this side of the rifle, we have our magazine release, which is this button right here.
And so if we had our magazine in there, you could push that.
We'll call it out.
Those are your basic controls on an AR-15.
Yeah, it's pretty simple.
We'll take it apart after we go to the range and kind of show people how to clean it.
A little more involved than some of the handguns, but not nearly as intimidating as you would think.
So, this is one where definitely we'll bring in Gerald.
And I haven't fired actually an AR in a while because I've been firing a 9mm carbine the last couple of years and I gifted it.
I did a legal transfer to my friend who had moved here so we could have a long gun and he couldn't have a handgun.
It was my only AR.
So I haven't used one probably in a couple of years.
So this will be remedial.
Let's go to the range and you show us how to hit the broadside of a barn.
I'll do my best.
So on the range with long guns, one of us has significantly more experience than the rest of us.
So we'll be doing seated shooting, which you just said is almost impossible to screw up.
It's pretty hard.
I'll do my best.
So when we were zeroing in the sights, I kept hitting the target a hundred yards.
I thought, hey, that's not, then he was like, well, basically a nutless monkey can do that.
We'll set the bar so low I still have to shoot.
And then we'll do some standing.
But the AR is something that a lot of people probably want to focus on because it's very popular and it's very likely that they'll be choosing it.
And one thing that people here notice, it's a lot louder than it is recoiling.
And so do you think that's maybe kind of why people get the wrong impression of it?
Well, that's certainly part of it.
It depends how your rifle's set up.
These ones are set up with muzzle brakes, which help with mitigating recoil and getting fast follow-up shots.
Some people like that, but they're definitely louder.
If you had a flash hider on there, it would cut that down.
Oh, okay.
To be clear, he doesn't like muzzle brakes.
It's a matter of preference.
He was like, I don't like muzzle brakes because of how loud it is.
He's like, it does make it easier.
He's like, it's not worth it.
So show us kind of the basic need-to-knows about firing a rifle.
Some tips, just like you did with the handgun.
Yep, sure.
So with an AR-15, it's not as applicable seated, but what you want to do is set your length of pull.
Most AR-15s are going to have an adjustable buttstock.
How it actually articulates is going to vary on the brand, but this one's a Mission First Tactical and you just push this little button.
and you can set it up to whatever length you want. I'm six feet tall so for me when I'm seated or
prone I tend to like it about this length but some folks are a little bit smaller will want to put it
down just just so it's comfortable. The military typically even still teaches that you want your
nose to be close to the charging handle.
That's just for consistency.
So that's for having a consistent sight picture when you look downrange.
If you notice with sights, like this one has backup iron sights, if you had your iron sights up and you move your head around, it'll look like where you're shooting moves.
So they want your point where you actually mount the rifle on your face to be consistent.
That's why they teach it.
I'm not sure that's necessary.
Just throwing that out there because I know someone's saying it in the comments.
So, where you actually want to place your hand, obviously this one we have a light which is going to drive that to some extent, but seated, honestly you just want it wherever it's the most comfortable and you can get the most stable.
Some of you are shorter, might have to come back here.
Some of you are real tall, may have to go out here to this grip that we have.
One thing you will see, it's a leftover from the 80s military training, is a lot of folks
will grip right here.
I don't recommend doing that.
Number one, you don't get any stability and additionally it can cause malfunctions if
you actually had one of these, if you had one of those, which this gun doesn't.
But yeah, that's pretty much it.
And the key here is, unlike with handguns where you have to stabilize the gun while
you're shooting it, essentially if you're at a seated position like this, you just want
to mount the gun to the table, i.e. press it in, so that way you get the added stability
that you get.
So with that, loading it is pretty simple.
We have this locked back, but if it wasn't, again we're just going to push this button
right here, pull our charging handle back.
At this point, take our magazine, bullets downrange.
Set it in.
At this point we can either charge the charging handle, just like the pistols we talked about, or we can just hit this button and now the rifle is loaded.
And just, I'll take a few shots to show that, but, so, at this point.
Got a bunch of ears on.
And, uh, safety.
We're just going to rotate it down to fire like we talked about.
This one is ambidextrous.
Are those your daughters?
They don't fit.
Yeah, I'm the one who beat this.
You think I picked this?
Look at this!
Look at this!
There's an intern getting fired.
Okay.
So, what I mean by that, in terms of getting on the table, is physically get on the table.
And you're aiming at 100 yards?
Yeah.
Okay.
The same would be true if you were firing from the prone, i.e.
laying on the ground position.
Okay.
With older magazines that in theory could cause malfunction, but if you have modern
AR-15 magazines it will not.
And the reason for that is it's just changing the angle of feed.
Modern magazines account for that, so it's not an issue.
So get in there and use it as a point of contact.
Alright, so again, to fire we're just going to push the safety down.
No, he's 64!
And at this point, you want the rifle to be somewhere in your shoulder pocket.
Some instructors will teach more center line.
Some will teach a little bit in the meat of your shoulder.
With an AR-15, I generally don't think it really matters.
There's so little recoil.
And that's really it.
That is the loading, operation, etc.
of an AR-15.
Well, since Mr. Gear made it look so easy at 100 yards... Ears!
Ears!
Our lovely senior producer, Nancy, just came in, but she doesn't have ears.
I don't want her to be deaf.
She's got ears then.
She'll be saying, that was great, can we do another take?
Alright, let's see if Mr. Guns and Gears is going to make us all look like hacks, which
we are.
Well, I think we'll just assume that the rest of the magazine was going to go that way.
Oh, come on!
You know, I just don't want to wear it out before you guys get to it.
Yeah, that's fair.
I appreciate that.
It's very patriotic.
I mean, most of the work was done by earth.
Again, we're sitting, so it's not very hard.
I think it'll be very different from what we stand.
But Gerald, you have fired an AR-15, I believe Gerald has.
Yeah, it's been, I think, quite a while.
I don't even remember.
But I think it was at range up north one time.
Oh that's right, we did.
Really quickly, again these come from Watchtower.
This is kind of a specialized, obviously it looks really cool, American flag.
It's very patriotic.
But this is meant for people who kind of really like tricking out their ARs and sometimes you run into compatibility issues where it's a little more finicky with magazines.
This is their base model here that they sent to us from Watchtower, an American firearms manufacturer.
Everything here in the USA and they really do have a great mission statement.
A reason for founding the company, veteran-owned, and not just, by the way, veteran-owned, but people who are aggressively pro-Second Amendment, and you have to worry about them.
That's not always the case.
That's for sure.
No, I don't, it's just for men.
Alright, this one, let's see, because, by the way, I should say that Mr. Gunslinger
spent some time getting the red dot on this adjusted, so if I miss, it's because he's
no jeweler.
Now you should know, when it comes to shooting, I suck.
So there's a reason that a lot of people would pick an AR-15.
It's very, very easy to shoot.
And we'll have, Gerald, I'm sure we'll have pointers, but like you said, it does seem, as far as from a defensive perspective, if you're sitting, It's pretty tough to screw up.
It is.
Especially if you have an optic on there.
Yeah.
It definitely makes it easy.
It's just, put the dot on it, press the trigger.
Well, and the trigger on that thing is, again, really easy.
Alright, Gerald, we'll do musical chairs.
Do you have your eye protection?
I've got it.
Oh, you've got it?
Okay.
You've got your normal glasses.
They're built in.
I keep them.
There's a story behind those comfortable glasses.
He's married now.
Alright, so, you're freakishly tall, so.
A little bit.
You might want to extend that buttstock all the way out.
I don't think it's quite all the way.
So what we're going to do is pull up, yep.
Oh no, it is all the way.
Alright, well that's good, that's where you want to be.
Basically you're going to want to orient the gun towards the target.
Did you just say aim at the target?
I did, but I tried to say it in a nice way.
Yeah, you tried to say it in a way that didn't make me feel.
So, and then basically get the buttstock in your shoulder, somewhere in this region.
Lean into it, so that way it stabilizes it.
Okay.
And then you just have to... Put the dot on there and pull the trigger?
Yep.
You say aim that way?
Yes.
Okay.
Yes.
Orient was my word.
Can I take just a second to say, this is nice.
This is nice.
This is nice.
Very nice.
That's nice.
It's good to be with you all.
I've enjoyed your cup.
Yes, sir.
Yes, that-a-way.
I feel like I have to really lean down into this thing.
Yeah, it's cozy and tall.
Well, yeah, because you're a giant.
Alright, shut up!
You know what helps?
Safety.
Safety first.
I was seeing if he knew and he didn't say anything about it.
Well, we found out it works.
We're just testing it.
Part of the review process I got it!
I got four!
You only did three.
Put your finger still on the trigger, dummy.
It's not.
It's not.
And the gun's pointed that way.
Well, yeah, but you know what?
That's where old Susie Range hangs out.
So, we're safe.
Let's, obviously, if he can do it four times in a row, we need to do something standing.
Oh, come on.
Don't make it harder on me.
It doesn't mean anything.
So let's time warp and let's go to stay and we're going to learn some real techniques.
Zoom jump, okay.
So now we're standing, which is... Did you have that show on the stage, Zoom?
No, no.
No, okay, that was a Canadian thing.
All right.
All right.
So going over... Never mind.
Going over firing the AR-15 standing, just like I talked about with the stock, you want to adjust it to you.
This is more applicable standing than it is from a bench.
So kind of a rule of thumb, if you will, is you want it to be about the length When you grip it to where your elbow joint is and then adjust from there.
So that's like the starting point.
Then move it in or out depending on what you like and how it feels to you.
So again, like we talked about, you want your stock to be somewhere in this area.
The proponents of keeping it more center line say that it's going to help with recoil mitigation, which Might be true.
But some folks who want it... It's kind of hard to tell because there's not much recoil.
Exactly.
And so, when it's a little bit more on the outside, people who have more of a bladed stance will prefer that.
Whichever one you have.
Are there certain set points, like for people who are, you know, like, okay, your cheek should be here.
If it just kind of gives them something that's almost, you know, like clockwork that they can do every time.
Right.
Yeah.
When you have your rifle set up for home defense or whatever the case may be, like ready to go, you'll have the stock already in that position.
When you pick it up, it'll just naturally go there.
So, one thing that... And you want your cheek, you're saying, is this right along here?
Yep, that's where I was going to go.
One thing that new shooters... I hear maybe part of it, so I don't even know if I'm asking questions that you've already answered.
It's all good.
You've been very patient with us plebes.
So, one thing that a lot of new AR shooters will do is they'll put it like this, and then you'll see them craning their neck down.
What you want is it's just like martial arts.
So, if you're standing shooting, you want to be able to move and be athletic, essentially, because that might be required of you.
So, what you really want with an AR, most of your stocks are all a little bit different.
Like, for example, this one.
The reason that curve is there is actually for what I'm about to say.
So the reason that curve is there is so it fits better when it's high up.
And so when you want to bring your rifle up, you want to minimize how much you have to move your head.
You're going to have to move it somewhat with most optics.
But you want to minimize it and have it be as natural of a position as possible.
Like that.
There are different optics that are different heights, so if you're uncomfortable with the way it is, you can change that.
And then with your non-dominant hand, there's different schools of thoughts on this, similar to like we talked about with pistols in terms of being all the way out or being a little bit bent.
I personally like to be slightly bent, so my arm's going to be somewhat like that.
So it's more important than when you're sitting?
100%.
Because what you're doing is you're using that hand to pull the rifle into your shoulder.
This hand is doing virtually nothing in terms of Controlling recoil.
All you're doing with this hand is manipulating switches.
That's one of the reasons that sometimes learning on lever actions are valuable, because that, when you learn to do it, this, they taught me, this hand should basically, there should be no weight.
This is supporting it, so that's how you can operate it quickly.
And that kind of drilled it in my head, where sometimes with a semi-automatic, you don't really think of it, you're just thinking, just grab it and support it.
Yep, for sure.
And, uh, again, you want to pull it back into your shoulder to mitigate that recoil.
And, uh, other than that, I mean, that's pretty much it.
You'll see some competition shooters shoot like this, but the reason they shoot like that and they're not pulling it back so hard is because they don't care about follow-up shots.
Uh, whereas in the real world, you want to put as many shots on target as possible until whatever caused you to start shooting stops.
Right?
Does that make sense?
Right.
Makes sense, yeah.
Alright, so essentially it's going to look something like this.
That's it.
So that was three right there.
That was at 100?
Yep.
Did you hit all three?
I don't know.
I haven't seen the replay.
Yeah, he did.
He did.
Let's just assume he did.
Alright, let me try.
I'll try it with this one just because, I mean, it's gun-weak, so why not use a Patriotica fire?
So, uh, does that seem... that's too much... too long of a length of pull.
Uh, so... This is... oh, this is different.
It's a little trickier.
Some people prefer a more bladed stance, like this.
Some people prefer to be more squared up.
That comes from the Global War on Terrorism days when we, as soldiers, started training with body armor.
So folks who were wearing body armor started shooting more squared up to get the plates exposed.
It's kind of a preference thing.
I really don't think one is right or wrong.
Does that seem about right?
Yep.
You're probably going to want to be a little bit higher.
That feels like it's not bracing against my shoulder at that point.
Nope, it's not.
So one thing, if you could lower that real quick, Stephen, is that...
Oh, you want me to pick it up again?
Okay.
Alright, sorry.
Alright, like you're going to shoot it?
Yep.
Okay.
Now, I've never held this out further like this, so this is kind of new to me.
I usually have always held it here.
You really want to have that higher up so that way you're not craning your neck because that's what you're starting to do.
The way to think of it is you want to kind of like fall into the rifle.
So instead of being like this, if you just take a natural, again like we talked about.
Oh, okay.
So I almost want to feel it more in the crease of where my chest meets my shoulder.
Correct.
Okay.
What you just did, that motion is what you want to do.
So kind of almost think like a prong a little bit.
Correct.
Okay.
Yes.
Well, it's actually very similar to, you know, they would talk about in boxing where, you know, a lot of guys, they square up.
You actually kind of want to roll your shoulders in to protect your chin.
Right.
Okay.
That actually helps a lot because I was thinking I wanted it up against... Yep.
So, you're going to come up and basically just kind of naturally go into it.
Okay.
There you go.
Yep.
Much better.
Alright.
What I'm seeing now is much better.
I just stepped on a...
A little 50 cal chill?
Just a tip too, if you're starting out shooting and you don't already have bad habits, keep your elbow in.
That's just a good thing.
It's less to get shot.
In my elbow out?
In.
But was my elbow out?
No.
It wasn't?
No.
It was good.
So I did good then?
Yes.
I just assumed it was criticism, but I'm used to it.
Just making a point.
Alright, so that seems about right.
Okay.
Did that hit?
That's it?
Yep.
Huh.
Three out of four.
Three out of four.
His percentage is better than yours.
It's true.
We have to see the footage, to be clear.
So that wasn't bad.
Obviously I wouldn't be able to do fast follow-up shots because I don't have nearly the experience, but that makes a huge difference.
Now I do wonder if I got used to this, that that might make more sense.
It's just very foreign to me going out, which I know a lot of people know this is kind of the trend to go out way, way further.
For sure.
You definitely are, if you do it correctly, you're more stable with your hand out further because all of your movements are a little bit more precise on the end.
It's just physics.
But you will fatigue quickly, which is why you'll see it a lot in the competition world where they're running a stage for 20 seconds and it doesn't matter.
You're not going to see a Marine in a firefight in the real world doing that.
Right.
I was going to say.
OK.
All right, Gerald, you want to have a go?
Yeah, I'll hit with this one here.
You want to do it with that one?
OK.
And again, we are fortunate to be able to shoot pretty highly engineered rifles that do a lot of the work.
Now see, for him, that's not even far, because he has the wingspan of an albatross.
The wandering albatross has the longest wingspan of any bird alive today.
I gotta see where the dot, did we turn the dot off on this?
Nope, it's on.
Wait, can you not see the dot because you're colorblind?
I'm not even joking.
Yeah, I can see it.
Oh, there it is.
I don't know how that worked.
Ah, I did it again.
You let me do it too, Mike.
It's okay, we won.
That's enough.
That's enough.
Finger out the trigger.
He's shot enough.
Finger out the trigger.
Mike's like, you're doing the trigger thing wrong.
He picks something up and he's like, I don't know.
He's like, am I doing it right?
Ding!
Ding!
I don't know.
Is that okay?
Runs a 40.
Like, well, is Lunder 5 good?
It's frustrating.
He's frustratingly gifted.
Sorry.
It's not my fault.
No, that was good.
Any tips that we're doing wrong that we need to fix?
Gerald was a little bit high on it, but...
Yeah.
That's just because you're new to it.
When you say high on it, tell me what you mean.
Standing very vertical.
Oh, okay, so I didn't lean in like you were talking about.
Just more stable, because think about it.
Put your hands like this.
So, what you're trying to do, right, is you're trying to stop that force.
Right, because it's moving me back, but if I lean into it... Correct.
Okay, there we go.
Yeah, I keep dropping.
That's all you're trying to do.
Okay, cool.
Awesome.
That was better than I thought.
Some basic tips.
I guess we do still have some other long guns here.
Yeah.
I mean, I think you guys probably know we've fired a pump shotgun, but it probably would be pretty cool for people to see this Benelli at work.
It's a semi-automatic shotgun.
We have some of these little terrorists set up here.
So let's do that.
MTV!
Zoom jump!
I just forgot you guys don't have zoom.
So shotguns, really quickly, pretty self-explanatory.
Not all too different from rifles, except you'll be using them at closer range.
Right.
For sure.
And same thing in terms of increased points of contact stability that you get versus a pistol.
Same advantages.
We'll go through some of the myths when we do that, that the idea that you just aim in the general direction.
No, there is a spread, but it's not necessarily what you've been told.
This is a classic Remington pump-action shotgun. 870.
And this is a Benelli semi-automatic shotgun.
This is one thing if you understand kinetic energy.
The kick in this is substantially more than this.
Because a part of that energy is being used to cycle the next round.
Whereas this is just basically in a closed chamber going off in your shoulder.
Yeah, that's exactly what it is.
It's the least pleasant with buckshot.
For sure.
It's no joke.
Do you want to take a shot of that first?
Yeah.
And so both of these are loaded with full power buck.
Yeah.
And then we'll use the Benelli and show Gerald.
All right.
You really had to lean into that a little bit, right?
You want to.
Yeah, yeah.
If you don't, you'll find out why.
We have a medic on site.
You guys ready?
Yep.
Range is hot.
Boom!
That really is not a lot of kick.
No, it's not.
For a shotgun.
That's why I recommend it.
Let's, uh, you know what?
Since this is Gerald's first time, let's really quickly, let's put up all those targets and just have Gerald blow them all away.
Sounds good.
Oh jeez.
Hold right here.
The safety right here?
So it's safety, push across.
So that's good now?
No.
Okay, got it.
Alright.
Sorry, Jeff.
That's years in.
Ah!
Ah!
No!
No!
They're gonna die!
Yeah, right there.
That was- That wing it!
Honestly, out of everything today, that was surprisingly inaccurate for a shotgun.
I'm kind of amazed you missed it.
Well, I didn't want to lean into it.
I was afraid.
Let's put that away.
I want another shot.
Alright.
I want another shot with this thing.
I can do better!
We weren't even supposed to be filming this one just so we got rid of the target before it, but...
Boom, baby!
Hold on.
You're supposed to go outside and shoot it in the air, according to Joe Biden.
That's a double-barreled shotgun.
Oh, double-barreled.
Okay, got it.
He put that double-barreled shotgun and fired two blasts outside the house.
Well, we were going to have Gerald do this, but since he missed... I was worried about my shoulder.
We'll talk about, you know, fast for a shotgun, four targets.
This is why you hear people talk about this thing so much.
Nice.
Nice.
It's kind of silly.
It is.
It is.
It's kind of like cheat codes.
But you have to keep in mind too, that versus the pump shotgun, huge price difference, right?
So huge barrier to entry to getting into it.
Yeah, no, it's not great if you're one of the pores.
Ha ha ha.
That's nice.
I gotta get one of these.
Oh, the barrel's hot!
Don't touch the barrel!
Don't touch the barrel.
That finger hurts!
I had Cruis'n McBacon on that barrel.
What?
It's okay.
Took a steak on that barrel?
Wow.
That was nice.
The vanilla's nice.
Alright.
If you can afford one of these, I highly recommend it.
Now the funnest part, cleaning!
No!
See, that's the magic of cameras.
And by the way, if you feel that this has enlightened you, or served you in any way, hit the like button, subscribe, and of course go check out Mr. Guns and Gear channel.
Thank you to Watchtower for providing these firearms.
The one we're most excited about is dispelling a lot of those gun myths.
Things like the .22 bouncing around in the body cavity.
Things like the firearms were only meant for muskets.
The Second Amendment.
The militia.
You don't need that kind of capacity.
All of those will be covered in another video.
Just click one of those links.
Okay, this is the least fun part for most people.
And they're intimidating with an AR because there are more moving parts, right, than a handle.
Sure, there are.
It's bigger, too.
It's scary.
Does it need to be that hard to clean?
No.
There's some intricacies to it.
First thing we're going to want to do, of course, is verify that it's clear.
This one already is, but if not, you just pull the charging handle back to verify it's clear.
At this point, we're going to pull it back and release, or...
Hit our bolt release to send it home, and we're going to push out the pins.
So there's two pins on an AR-15, one here at the rear, one up front.
On a new gun like this, it can be tight.
Well, so Watchtower said, hey, these things are very, very tight, so you may need a little help.
That's not normal.
That's one thing also, too, people may need to know, a lot of times, sometimes guns that are meant for precision shooting, they have tighter tolerances, right, because they want to be precision instruments as opposed to That's one of the myths we'll sort of get to.
Mill specs.
Sometimes they want looser tolerance that function, right, with dirt, with crap in it, but they may not be as precise.
That's true.
So at this point you can either swing your lower down... That is tight.
They're not kidding.
This is the first day we've used this.
He literally said, you're going to have to do something to get it out.
I didn't tell him beforehand because I just wanted to mess with him, but... We wanted you to realize that Mr. Guns and Gears is a fraud.
He doesn't know how to do it.
AR-15.
That is tight.
We're going to hold this over his head for a little while and be like, you couldn't even get the pins out.
He's crinkling his little pink panties.
Come on, Mike.
No.
It's odd.
This is a brand new firearm.
30 minutes later.
Don't worry.
We brought in a real gun pro.
He can stand in.
It's Stanley Tucci.
Oh yeah, that doesn't make sense.
In all seriousness, if you actually have a tight lower like that, sometimes if you free up the front pin here, it will loosen the rear one, which is exactly what I just did.
So, for normal maintenance, that's probably all you need to do for your lower receiver.
And then at this point you're going to pull your charging handle.
This one's ambidextrous.
And we're going to pull our bolt carrier group out, which is this piece right here.
And then pull our charging handle out.
And at this point, for normal maintenance, all you need to do is take apart the bolt and that is it.
Okay, so let me kind of, here, I'll move this so it's not in the way.
It's very cool.
I feel like it's a gun Kid Rock would have.
Yes, for a music video.
Yes, exactly.
But it is cool.
Very cool.
It camouflages, I guess, if you are at a Trump rally.
So this component, these are the main components.
Lower receiver, upper receiver.
This is the bolt charging handle for the bolt carrier.
Bolt carrier group.
Okay.
We'll carry a group.
So I just pulled this little pin out.
I'm not sure if the camera caught it, but this is our firing pin, retainer pin.
Then you're just going to tip it up like that.
Firing pin comes out.
We're going to move our bolt to the rear until it's at the back of this cam track right here.
And at this point, you can rotate it 90 degrees like that.
Cam pin will come out.
and our bolt is assembled.
Disassembled, excuse me.
For normal maintenance, this is as far as you're gonna take it down.
You can obviously take these down much further, but day-to-day maintenance, don't need to.
It's fine.
So what we'll do is probably same thing with the handguns.
I'm assuming spray it all down.
Yep.
Brush the carbon.
For sure.
If you have an old lady's tank top.
And we're also gonna...
Bore snake.
Bore snake it.
You could use patches as well.
If you want to, spray some CLP in the bore before you can, before you do so, rather.
Okay.
So if you want to spray it down while the bore snake goes down, feel free to do so.
And can I ask you something?
Because if you go online...
And you know this, there will be people saying, run ARs dry.
Some people saying run them wet.
Some people saying just a tiny amount.
There are different camps.
What is sort of correct based on the actual data?
Because there's a lot of data out there now.
There's a ton of data.
DOD has done a lot of testing on it.
It's all public.
You can look it up.
In virtually all conditions, it's going to run better if you have it on the wet side.
Okay.
So a lot of people think it'll attract dirt with the oil and it'll stay in there, which is true, but the oil suspends it and it still works fine.
Okay.
So we do that and then I would assume spray all these components.
Yep, correct.
And the lower receiver and the upper receiver, just right on in there.
Get rid of the excess.
Yep.
And we're going to wipe it down.
And basically you're just going to spray in a trigger group there.
Mm-hmm and wipe it all down.
Additionally in the AR-15 it has what's called a start chamber which is this portion right here and we're gonna want to make sure that we get into there with some sort of cloth.
Is that because you get a lot of buildup specifically there?
Yes, the way the AR-15 works, that spot gets very, very dirty and it's also right where your rounds are going into the chamber, so you kind of want that to be clean.
And you said that with an AR-15, we didn't necessarily need this with the handgun, but you do recommend maybe a couple drops of oil, a thinner coating oil?
Yes, that's for sure.
Petroleum based lubricant now on the bolt here.
Same thing I just sprayed it with that CLP and make sure you want to get a bolt face as well.
The reason is that right there is where the cartridge is going to lock onto the rim and you want that to get a good purchase so that way you can pull it out reliably.
And then here on the bolt carrier group, same thing, we're going to spray in there because that is where this bolt is moving back and forth inside there.
Sort of like a piston engine if you guys are familiar with that.
Spray down the outside of it.
And how often would you need to clean and lubricate an AR-15?
You read my mind, literally.
Not very often is the answer to that.
Realistically, if you have a good AR-15, Easily, a thousand rounds should be able to run reliably, provided it's lubricated.
If you add a suppressor, it speeds that up.
You have to clean it a little bit more.
But what I would recommend is if you're using it as a defensive gun or a hunting gun, something that you want to depend on, I would clean it after each use.
Okay.
If you're going to actually depend on it.
Like a basic clean?
Correct.
Okay.
That's what I do.
So I'm just going through now and wiping everything up.
And then can you do us a favor and put it back together so people see the order and we can get those right in different close ups because I know with some people these little, it can be intimidating because there's some little tiny pieces but once you know it, it really does become second nature.
Yep, for sure.
Alright, so with that.
And are you able to do this wrong?
Like that, when I was, we were talking about the handguns when I was practicing on the PPS after we finished, I just wanted to do it.
I had this stupid thought in my head, I was like, what if I do it wrong?
I don't know if it's even possible.
Are you able to do this wrong?
The answer is yes.
The general human being out there doing this.
Myself as well.
So, on most of your AR-15s, if they're mil-spec, i.e.
compatible with All the other AR-15 parts?
No, you can't.
They kind of go one way to make everything fit correctly.
There are some that have bolts that can be put in backwards, but that's not normal.
Like 99.9%?
No.
That's helpful to know because it makes it to where it's like, okay, I can't quite screw this up and then go out to the range and blammo.
That's also why these are so popular because there's so many aftermarket parts and accessories because it's relatively standardized.
You can make an AR-15 Into almost any kind of a firearm you want, depending on your chosen kind of mode of operation, I guess.
Yeah, for sure.
I'm going to use the gun cleaning lube on my forehead.
Oh yeah, that's a good idea.
Right in your eyes.
Get a little lead in there.
Alright, so what we're going to do is take our bolt, and you want your bolt to be, excuse me, the extractor, facing to the right, because that's how it goes here on our upper receiver.
And again, with a mil-spec one, you cannot do that backwards.
Okay.
Now this is... This is our can pen.
It can go in either way.
Okay.
And basically... That's the problem, right?
We need to clean it again!
Son of a gun!
These guns actually have it... I'll just use my forehead grease, right?
That's viscous.
That should work.
This bolt carrier group actually has a very special treating on it that makes it super slippery.
So that's not normal, but regardless... But that would be a good thing for operation.
He did talk to me about that.
Low friction.
Yep, 100%.
There's a lot of stuff that he told me that I did forget to tell you, Mike.
Watchtower?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, watchtower.
Because at the last minute, he brought this in, and I said, Gerald, can you handle this?
And you said yes.
What Gerald meant to say was no.
I don't own an AR-15, but yes, I will take care of this.
Please tell me all of the details.
And I said, Gerald, what did he tell you?
He said, ah, it works good.
Works good, looks nice.
Hey, it's going to be green.
So once you put your cam pin in, you have to push it forward and rotate it 90 degrees.
If you don't rotate it, you won't be able to get your firing pin in.
So your firing pin, pin goes down.
And just drops right in there like that.
Oh wow, that's a good... And then you're gonna take your retaining pin and push it across like so.
Now your bolt carrier group is good to go.
Can I just tell you one thing?
Because I know you're probably being very polite but confused.
He's colorblind.
He thinks this is green.
What is it?
It's tan.
This isn't really green.
I wouldn't... No, it's tan.
Yeah, it's tan.
Alright.
I was lied to!
You're open!
So provided you cleaned everything out of there, are we going to go over lubrication before we put it together?
Yeah, if there are specific parts.
Again, unlike with the handgun, if you go back, we showed you a basic way to do it with the CLP.
You don't really need to do an extra step if you're just looking to keep it functioning and reliable.
With an AR, it is recommended that you do use something like, is this, do we have hops number 9?
Yeah, hops 9.
It's a lubricating oil.
Anything petroleum-based should be good, generally speaking, but we're going to put it on our bolt here.
Probably should have done it before I did it, but if you didn't do it before you did it, like I just did, you can actually put it right down on the cam track and it'll do the exact same thing.
Just a drop?
Yep.
Tiny amount.
I mean you can put a little bit more and then also on the rails here, you can see on the bolt carrier grip there's rails, so that's what's actually making contact in the upper receiver.
And we don't need to worry about this being too wet?
No.
Because you know you will get people like, that's too wet.
Yes.
See the DoD data.
They spent millions of dollars to get it.
So just check it out.
What's the matter bro?
I've heard it on YouTube.
That's what they want you to do.
I mean rumble because that's where they get it.
And so on our charging handle there's a little nub right here and these two nubs on the side you want those to be lubricated.
And we're going to put it in.
There's a little groove in your upper receiver that these two pieces go in.
So you're going to put it in, go down like that, and then to put your bolt carrier group in, you want your bolt forward, all the way forward, because if it's not, it won't go in.
And we're going to align this gasket, which is this portion right here, with the groove in our charging handle.
That's it.
Send it home.
And at this point you're just going to attach your lower receiver.
Hopefully the pins are a little more friendly now.
Going back in might be easier.
Oh there we go.
That is tight.
Oh, here we go.
And there you go.
Look.
Gun is reassembled, ready to go.
Nice.
Awesome.
So there you go.
Look, hey, Gerald started shooting, AR-15, not nearly as intimidating as many people would think.
Loved it.
Hit subscribe, like.
We are very much enjoying Gun Week.
We're going to do the next installment, if you click ballistics.
Ballistics gelatin.
Into gel?
Yep.
We spared no expense.
It's been sitting out in the hot sun because you told me that makes it more clear.
It does.
A little bit of heat on the outside tarpons it up a little bit.
And then the ones that I am looking forward to the most is two installments of dispelling the most common myths.
One will be the installment's colliter- ah, colliterally.
Literally!
Culturally!
Collaterally is what I was talking about.
You know I just applied for a credit card.
Literally!
Historically!
Politically!
Right, culturally, those kinds of myths.
And then obviously since we have an expert, Mr. Guns and Gear, we'll go through some of the tactical myths with firearms.
Hopefully this helps you with some of these rungs on the ladder, and we'll see you out in the shooting range.
I probably won't be there, but they might be there.
We'll see.
And our thanks to the folks at the TDSA range in Ferris, Texas.
It was hot, but it was wonderful.
If you like this video, click like, consider subscribing, or comment below.
And of course, consider tuning in to the live show, Monday through Friday, 10 a.m.
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