The 5.56x45 NATO Parent Cartridge

On the left is the .222 Remington Cartridge, on the right is Barnaul .223 Remington sold by Academy Sports as the Monarch Brand.

The .223 came around after the AR-10 was scaled down and chambered for the .222 Remington.  However it was found that the .222  wasn't powerful enough to do the job.  The .222 Remington Magnum however WAS powerful enough.  It's extremely sharp case shoulder however would have affected feeding in a Semi-Automatic or Full-Automatic firearm.  So the .222 Remington had it's case lengthened and became the .223 Remington, which the then new AR-15 was chambered in.

After some more experimentation with the round, a new chambering with a slightly longer Leade or Throat to allow for the new longer 55 grain bullet became known as the 5.56X45mm NATO.


I bet you didn't know about the .222 Remington.

Neither did I until my daughter's fiance was given one by his dad.  He couldn't find ammo for it but I finally found some the other day, here locally, and did some research.

And now you know.

Ladies and Germs I present to you

my entry to the Dark Side.

The Franken-15

A New Frontier  LW-15 Polymer Lower with a 6 position collapsing buttstock.

A Surplus Ammo and Arms upper with FDE hand guard

A Palmetto State Armory BCG

NG-Arms folding front BUIS

Magpul FDE Folding Polymer Rear BUIS

Top of the SAA Upper Receiver showing the Picatinny Rail markings and you can see the shell deflector and dust cover.

Surplus Ammo & Arms 1:8 twist 5.56 chamber

The whole deal

I really need to get a decent inexpensive optic for it.  As long as I can put all my rounds inside the 10 ring at 125 yards I'm happy.

I need a new turkey fryer pot now

aka I hate Cosmoline.  I picked up my Chines Type 53 aka M-44 Mosin Nagant from my Sooper Sekrit Gunstore today, that I ordered from J&G Sales.  Since this is an old surplus rifle it is "packed" with cosmoline.  I got it home and ran through an entire can of brake cleaner and over 20 patches run through the bore with my jag on it, kept pushing out cosmoline.  Finally I said the heck with it and got out my turkey fryer pot, filled it with water and fired up the stove.  After the water came up to a full boil, I put the magazine/trigger guard housing in the water with the bolt and stirred it around.  After just 8 minutes the top of the water was layered in floating cosmoline.

After I got the magazine housing and bolt out and dried off I put the receiver into the pot and propped it up.  In just a few minutes even more cosmoline came out.  I let it sit for a few minutes then grabbed a coffee cup and flipped the rifle over, over the top of the pot and started pouring boiling hot water down the bore.

After running about 9 cups of boiling water down the bore , the receiver was just too hot to hold anymore even with an oven glove.  So I laid it down on the counter then ran 2 patches through with my jag.  The first patch was just covered in cosmoline, the second was actually pretty clean.

Right now the action is sitting after being sprayed down with Breakfree CLP.  Tomorrow I will go back over it on a detail clean with my dental tools and tooth picks.

The stock is also just filled with cosmoline and it is getting it's own treatment.  It is now filled with kitty litter, wrapped in newspaper and is on the dahsboard of my suburban.  With our forecast for tomorrow saying we can expect 90 degree temps, it should get rather hot in the burn tomorrow to melt out a lot of that cosmoline which the kitty litter should absorb.

I'm hoping I'll have this rifle back together and I'll be able to shoot it this weekend.  I hope.

But we will see.

As long as it doesn't rain before this weekend, the other property should be dry enough for the kids and I to go over and get in some shooting.  I got them a hundred rounds of .22LR and I still haven't shot the Franken-15 yet and I have 200 round for it's initial test.

But now I need a new pot for my turkey fryer.

ETA: 2 pics of my cleaning earlier while the sun was still out.

The barreled action draining after half a can of brake cleaner

The magazine housing/trigger guard after the other half a can of brake cleaner.

I am slowly turning to the Dark Side

If you have been reading my blog for awhile you know that I do not own any AR type rifles.  That is now slowly changing.

The other day you saw part of my progress to the Dark Side HERE.

Last month I took possession of something special.

Whats is it My Precious?

Why it looks like the pieces of an AR-15 Lower My Precious.

Yessssssss Precious....  Uh hmmmmm. Sorry.

Yes those are laser cut flats for a weld together 80% AR-15 Lower Receiver from Jack Squat's Flat Spot.  I am slowly getting together the various parts necessary, so that HOPEFULLY later this year I will go to the Sooper Sekrit Lab and assemble not one but TWO AR-15 rifles.  One will be a Standard AR-15A2 Carbine with the carry handle upper as seen on standard rifles.  The other will be specifically built as a DMR (Designated Marksman Rifle) HBAR Flatop.  Both rifles will have 1:7 twist barrels and standard A2 Flash Hiders and both will be chambered for not 5.56 NATO not .223 Remington but .223 Wylde to allow the use of both ammunition standards and hopefully give the best accuracy.  After I get these two built I might get another to make a Multi-Cal Pistol possibly in .45 ACP.

I am currently waiting on my two Lower Parts Kits (LPK's) from Palmetto State Armory, to add to my pile of parts for my two custom build rifles. If everything goes to plan, I should be able to get these rifles built before Thanksgiving.

But "That's Not All."  I also went an ordered a LW-15 from New Frontier Armory, and I picked it up yesterday from my Sooper Duper Sekrit Gun Store.

Here it is with the stock collapsed.  When it's extended it about the same length as a standard AR-15 stock which for me is about an inch and a half too short.  The AR-15A2 stock is about a half an inch too short for me as well.  My L.O.P. is almost 17 inches.  I'll be able to shoot it when I finally get all the various pieces as my budget allows, I'll just have to get a slip on buttpad for it if I want to be accurate.  However for 135.88 delivered plus the Sooper Duper Sekrit Gun Shop's transfer fee, I got it for under $160.00 less than 6 days after I ordered it.

Anybody got an upper they'd be willing to horsetrade for?  ;)

UPDATE:  If you would like to know more about the Laser Cut Flats, I'll Direct you to where I learned about them.


The puzzle piece AR15 receiver, (or my personal contribution to the gun control movement.)

The "puzzle piece" AR15 lower is now available

An update to the puzzle piece AR lower