Asking for advice, and getting the advice you want

I was talking with a friend last night on the phone, and he mentioned that one of his friends, who I've met a few times, was looking to buy a new AR for himself, and that he wanted something "cheap.  When my friend suggested to his friend that he talk to me about it, the friend-of-a-friend said he didn't think he would get a good response from me based on "what he wants to do with it."  I thought that was interesting.  Of course, at first I wanted to think "why would anyone not be willing to ask me for my advice", but the truth is I can see how someone might read what I've written and think that if they come to me asking about something they think that I see as frivolous they'll get a harsh response.  The truth, however, is that if you're just honest about what you want and why I will always try my best to help anyone I can.  If a guy tells me "I want an Oly to defend home and family" then yes, you may get a little tough love.  But if you tell me "I want a 300 WTF just 'cause and for fun and to have something to play with and maybe shoot a hog with to see how the round performs" I can respect that.  I may still be inclined to ask if your training and practice time is being constrained by funds or by time, and offer that if it's being constrained by funds you may be better off spending your money learning to hit with the bullet you have rather than worry about missing with a bigger bullet, but if you want what you want and you're honest about what it is that you want and why, I'll offer whatever knowledge and experience I have in that realm, up to and including simply telling you "yeah, I don't know much/enough about that and can't really help you".

As it turns out, in this case the friend-of-a-friend wants a second, less-expensive, AR as a range toy and also as a platform to check out new parts and accessories that come onto the market.  He may be surprised to find that I think this is a GREAT idea.  In fact, I think it's such a great idea that I do it, and have done it, myself!

If you have read A Tale of Two Carbines (ToTC), and followed it up by reading Back in Black (BiB) you will see the beginnings of this process.  What happened over time was that the gun that started out as the Green rifle stayed pretty much as it was in the first article, while the gun that was the tan gun went on to become the Black gun and beyond.  And in fact, to this day, the Black gun is my training/competition gun where I change and try new parts, and the Tan gun is the HD gun that gets only the best New Hotness that I try on the Black gun.  For example, in ToTC both guns wore Tango Down BG-16 pistol grips, but in BiB the Black gun wears a Magpul MIAD. Once I realized which inserts worked best for me in the MIAD and Magpul released the MOE which happened to use those same two inserts, the MOE made it's way onto the Tan, or HD gun.

There is a method to this madness.  What you don't want to do is have one bone stock 6920 and one 6920 with every little bit and piece on the market bolted on to it.  I suggest changing one part at a time, and if possible having both guns otherwise be identical, or very nearly so.  You could do what I did and have a 16" Colt 6720 (mine is actually a 6520 flattop conversion because they didn't make the 6720 at the time) and an 11.5" Colt 6933.  That way you have two guns with slightly different capabilities but that are similar enough to be able to evaluate parts and pieces between them.  If you are just starting out you might consider getting the 6933 and 6720 and putting a different version of each part on your gun.  When I was starting out with ARs after the ban expired I assembled two guns, figured out what the top two examples of each part were, and bought one of each.  I wound up with two guns, with different parts on each, and then figured out which parts worked best for me and used those parts on the gun that eventually became the Tan, and later on the Black, gun.

Eventually you will wind up with a Test-Bed Gun (TBG) and a Serious Use Gun (SUG).  If you see a new pistol grip on the market, such as the BCM Gunfighter coming out next month, and you would like to try it, buy one and attach it to your TBG.  Try it out, run it in a class, a match, some practice, etc.  See if you like it.  If you do, get ANOTHER ONE and install it on your SUG.  Don't just move the one you have over.  If you've established that you like a part, keep it on both guns until you find something better, and when you've evaluated something and found it to be better on your TBG, then install the same thing on your SUG.  If you go backwards on your TBG to your old favorite part then you lose the ability to objectively compare parts.

Let's say you have both guns set up the same way, and a new optic comes out that you find interesting.  Buy one, and install it on your TBG.  Take both guns to the range and run them side-by-side.  See if you are now more accurate with one than the other.  Or if you're now faster with one than the other.  If so, and you can live with whatever negatives may exist (there are ALWAYS negatives, it's just a matter of finding a product with negatives you can live with), get the same optic to install on your SUG.  You may keep your "old busted" and not sell it, and if they are all on throwlever mounts you can always move them around as the situation dictates, but you still want to keep both guns as close to the same as you can.

Many people find hypocrisy in the fact that I tell new shooters (Buy a Colt 6720, 11 Magpul Pmags, 2k rounds of Federal XM193, a BFG VCAS, and go take a Randy Cain Carbine 1 class) to do one thing but then appear to do another myself.  Don't let a gun you see me shooting or posting pictures of confuse you.  Most of those are guns for articles or T&E, not personal guns.  Many people would be surprised to know that I only own 4 ARs personally, and only three in 5.56 (the other is a 9mm).  I now use those T&E guns as my TBG, and my personal guns are the SUG.  and guess what?  Since I wrote BiB in 2008, the only things that have changed are:

• Surefire Millenium on Larue Mount became a Surefire Scout on Larue Mount
• Tango Down Stubby VFG became a Larue Hand Stop
• Ladder and slab rail covers became Larue Index Clips
• Redimod came off (and back on, and back off, and back on... it's off right now)

So when you ARE considering that new hotness for your SUG, you might consider that someone that has access to a good bit of new hotness himself rarely finds it to be quantifiably better than his old busted.  But if you want to try it anyway, don't risk mucking up your Serious Use Gun, get yourself a Test-Bed Gun.  and by all means feel free to ask me about your project.  As long as you're honest about what you want and why, you'll never get more than perhaps a little tough love.