by John | Oct 10, 2025 | 9mm G9 and Pistol Caliber
The 9mm G9 is a side-charging pistol-caliber carbine, or PCC. Whereas the G4 is chambered in 5.56, an intermediate rifle cartridge, the G9 is built around 9mm, a much more compact handgun cartridge. Whereas you will trade off a little bit of firepower (and effective...
by John | Sep 22, 2025 | AR-15 Side Charger
Thinking about building an AR-15 side charger? Don’t just build another rifle in 5.56 if you already have one (or several) in the safe, even if this one will be a side charger. There are many other cartridges out there, each of which offers unique and relative...
by John | Jul 17, 2025 | ARC Upper
Probably most shooters who build (or buy) AR-15 rifles end up with rear-charging rifles chambered in 5.56x45mm NATO or .223 Remington, which, in terms of ballistic performance, are effectively one cartridge and the same. And why shouldn’t they? Both of these...
by John | Jul 8, 2025 | AR-15 Malfunctions
Your AR-15 is a gas-impingement rifle that is a bit more complex than a rifle with a bolt action, and certainly more so than a single-shot platform. There are a whole host of things that could in theory go wrong with an AR-15’s action, and which do in practice, some...
by John | Jun 17, 2025 | Slightly Lesser-Known
America’s Rifle, the AR-15, despite the fact that it’s more than 60 years old, is a fine-tuned machine. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right? Yet, despite the fact, there’s a good bit of engineering that goes into one of these gas-impingement autoloaders, and many...
