Guns & Ammo

How To ATF Form 1 Laser Engraving

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What’s going on guys? It’s Hai.

I previously made a video detailing Silencer Shop’s eform 1 Beta service. Well, after 16 days my Form 1 was approved by the ATF and it was time to move on to the next phase. If you’re unfamiliar with the Form 1 process, there are really only two major steps. First, is to submit your Form 1 application. Second, is to get your firearm engraved with some information from your application to designate that this firearm is now an SBR or whatever it is that you applied for.

The ATF requires for the engraving to be at least 1/16" in height and .003" in depth. If you have the machinery or know how you can, of course, get this done yourself but most of us are going to find someone to do the work. I’m located in the Puget Sound area of WA and went to Hyperion Precision in Kent. I found this business after doing some research on the topic and saw that they were recommended by a few people. After checking out their website, I saw that they also offer same-day turnaround times, and that sold it for me because I didn’t want to drive back and forth or ship my lower to anyone. I just wanted the job done.

If you’re around the area, I can definitely recommend this business. Trevor, the owner, sets everything up and allows customers to proofread to make sure that everything is correct. Then the actual laser engraving process for a Form 1 is pretty quick. It literally takes about a minute to get it done but that depends on how much you’re getting engraved. The ATF requires that all Form 1s be engraved with the manufacturer's name, then city and state. I submitted my Form 1 under a trust so my trust name was engraved instead of my name. Also, Trevor has a lot of experience in doing these engravings and recommended that I should also include the caliber submitted on my Form 1. So, I agreed to also include that. As you can see, I did my engraving in the magwell. I did this because I wanted the engraving to be as unobtrusive as possible. As far as I know and what I was told, you can put the engraving pretty much anywhere that’s visible.

I do want to point out that again, the ATF only requires for the engraving to be .003” of an inch in depth. Trevor actually engraves quite a bit deeper and that’s a good thing because .003” of an inch is barely anything. If you engrave only that deep and decide to do a coating like cerakote or something else that adds material, the engraving will likely be covered over and you’re back to square one. Even bead blasting in preparation for a coating can damage that shallow of an engraving so keep that in mind. It would be wise to go quite a bit deeper than the ATF’s minimum requirements.

Finally, since I was already getting my lower engraved and because the Primary Weapons Systems lower that I was using had a big canvas on the side, I decided to also engrave my logo onto this lower. This turned out extremely well and really helped to make this firearm my own.

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Lee Sporting AR Style Lower for the H&K MP5

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What’s going on guys? It’s Hai.

Because I primarily shoot 9mm, the H&K MP5 is pretty up there if not my favorite firearm. This is just one of the smoothest, soft shooting, and overall easy-to-handle firearms. However, I’m not a die-hard fanboy, pun not intended. Although the radial delayed blowback operating system is fantastic, there are shortcomings elsewhere, at least compared to more modern options.

First and foremost, the lack of a last round bolt hold open. That just is what it is. If you want an MP5, you just gotta understand that. Another issue that I have with the MP5 is just the entire lower. At the back, we have an integrated, molded into the lower, grip. This is going to be a hit or miss depending on the user. Me personally, the grip angle of a stock MP5 is a bit too angled back for my taste but it’s something that I can deal with. Moving forward, we have the safety. With this particular lower and safety, the safety is extremely stiff and basically impossible to use with my right thumb. When I want to use the safety, I actually use my left hand. With my right hand, the safety switch is not the right shape so it only catches the edge of my thumb. This doesn’t allow me to employ any leverage. Because of this, I pretty much always leave the safety off on this MP5 because if I had to defend myself with this firearm, I wouldn’t want to put myself at a disadvantage having to deactivate this safety. Finally, we have the trigger. I think it’s universally agreed that the MP5 trigger isn’t that great. It’s pretty heavy, pretty mushy, and there’s a lot of travel. It’s functional but leaves a lot to be desired. But that’s kind of the theme with the entire MP5 lower. All of it is functional but leaves a lot to be desired.

Really, all of these problems can be fixed by hitting the aftermarket and buying new parts. I personally haven’t because I haven’t found anything that I like. That is until recently when YouTube randomly advertised to me this video, asking about a Geissele SD3G AR trigger in an MP5. I was very intrigued and after some research, it turns out that Lee Sporting, the people who made that video, actually makes aftermarket lowers that essentially allow you to run AR parts on an MP5. My mind was blown by this and I had to try this lower for myself.

Lee Sporting offers housings for the various MP5 variations out there so there should be something that fits most people’s needs. I received a comment from a viewer that does a good job of explaining the various versions of the MP5 lower attachment systems and will include it here for those who need it.

You can either buy a complete lower or a stripped lower. A complete lower comes with a grip, safety, and trigger pre-assembled. Installing the complete lower is one of the easiest installs you can do as the entire lower stays together in one piece and is held in place by only two pins. Even if you purchase the stripped lower and have to install your own parts, the lower is an AR-styled lower so installation for all the parts is basically the same as on an AR-15. Again, pretty straightforward. There are plenty of tutorials on YouTube if you need help. I do want to note that there are some requirements as far as what parts will fit in these lowers so if you are interested in a stripped lower, definitely read the description of the product. All the necessary information is laid out there.

Alright, now that we got all the informational stuff out the way, what’s actually use of this product like? In terms of shooting with it, I can’t say because I haven’t had the chance to live fire with this lower yet. I’m recovering from an injury that’s affecting my shooting hand so I’m letting that heal. It’s also raining quite a bit so I haven’t been able to get to the mountains and do anything fun. For this video, I was pretty excited to share the lower with you guys so this is more of a first impressions. I’ll come back with a more in-depth review in the near future so make sure to subscribe for that.

Now, how’s the Lee Sporting lower in terms of improving the MP5? For me, great. The Lee Sporting lower solves all the problems that I had with a stock MP5 lower. First of all, with the Magpul MOE K grip that was included in my lower, I get an overall more comfortable shooting position. Not only that but this lower actually moves the grip slightly higher and more forward. From my experience, this does help with the overall balance and feel of the gun in hand. Something interesting that I did notice was that because everything is now a bit more forward, I’m actually now able to use the side mag release button of the MP5. This was basically useless to me before because it was too far away but now that it is functional, I can do some more practical mag changes.

Something else that’s more practical is the safety. It’s actually now usable and is as easy to use as it would be on an AR. It’s light enough for me to flick with my thumb and I’m now able to use this thing without worrying about it slowing me down if the firearm is actually ever needed to be used in a defensive scenario.

In terms of the trigger, this particular lower came with the Geissele SD3G. I have this trigger in my Primary Weapons Systems AR so it’s nothing new to me. However, having it here in the MP5, it’s a night and day difference compared to the stock trigger. Obviously, trigger feel is very subjective so I don’t want to blatantly say that this is better but I will say that the Lee Sporting lower gives you more opportunity to find something that does work for you. The AR platform is extremely popular and has massive aftermarket support. There are so many options out there and this lower allows for the opportunity to use many of them. The stock MP5 lower, on the other hand, there is really only a few handful of options and as with many other MP5 specific things, the price can get pretty high. This Geissele is relatively expensive, but you don’t have to go with this. There are plenty of other options that are more budget-friendly. One thing that I do want to comment on is the minor attention to detail that went into the Geissele that Lee Sporting installed. To get the SD3G to work in this lower, you have to file some edges down for proper clearance. I knew this but didn’t expect for Lee Sporting to actually polish the hammer the way they did. This type of attention to detail is just something that I appreciate.

Overall, I’m very happy with this lower. It really improves the utility of an MP5 for me. But I know that this isn’t going to be for everyone, especially the traditionalists out there who think that the MP5 is fine the way it is and that we shouldn’t try to turn it into an AR. That’s perfectly fine and I can appreciate that. However, I personally try to make all my firearms as practical as possible for my uses. I personally love the MP5 because of the radial delayed blowback, not necessarily because of the MP5 clout. So, if I have the radial delayed blowback and can make the controls more functional for me, I’m going to do that. This lower provides me with just what I need to get that done. So, if you have a similar mindset then the Lee Sporting lower for the MP5 is definitely something that I can recommend. This thing is such a game-changer for me. It takes something that I already love in the MP5 and makes it even better. Now, if someone can ever figure out last round bolt hold open, then I’d pretty much have my perfect firearm but I don’t think that day is coming any time soon if ever so for now, we have the Lee Sporting lower.

If you're considering buying any of the products mentioned, please support my work by using the links below.

https://leesporting.com/

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Shadow Systems CHPWS Holosun HE509T Adapter Plate

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What’s going on guys? It’s Hai.

This is my Shadow Systems MR920 War Poet 2.0 Edition and mounted on top is the Holosun HE509T-RD X2. If you’re unfamiliar with these two products, with Shadow Systems, a major selling point is their optic cut that allows users to mount optics with a wide variety of footprints. This is done by cutting an overly large space into the slide, then using spacers to fill the gap depending on the optic footprint. The system isn’t perfect but does offer the least amount of compromises in my opinion. However, with the 590T, this is a closed emitter red dot that doesn’t allow you to screw it in place from the top down like many open emitter red dots. Instead, you would typically install the provided plate that has an RMR footprint on the bottom onto your slide that’s cut with an RMR footprint. This plate has the proprietary 509T lugs on the top, so this plate essentially allows you to convert the RMR footprint to the 509T footprint. Finally, you tighten a bolt from the side of the 509T and it clamps onto the top lugs of the adapter plate.

In terms of mounting a red dot onto a handgun, although simple, that’s kind of a convoluted process. Especially so if you’re slide is cut for another footprint. This means that you’ll have to get another adapter plate to convert whatever you have to the RMR footprint, then the RMR footprint to the 509T footprint. So, what you get is stacking multiple plates on top of each other which is not exactly ideal. Not only would the mounting system be structurally weaker, but the optic would sit very high. It’s already difficult to co-witness now with my suppressor height sights, I can’t imagine stacking even more plates. The best way to mount the 509T is probably to get a slide direct milled for the 509T but obviously, that comes with its own cons. I wasn’t sure how committed I was to this optic so I wasn’t going to do that. Especially considering that I run the 509T on the Shadow Systems so that wouldn’t have been possible anyway.

For a long time, that mounting process was just what you had to do. Until recently, when C&H Precision released an adapter plate that allows you to go directly from the Shadow Systems footprint to the 509T footprint. This means no RMR adapter plate and no spacers are needed. The benefit of this would mean a stronger connection between the slide and the optic.

Unfortunately, I can’t show you the install process for this plate as that would go against YouTube’s terms and service because it can be misconstrued as modifying a firearm but if you’ve ever mounted a red dot it’s essentially that. The plate is held in place by two T10 screws and that’s about it. But if you want to have a little more peace of mind, you can use a torque driver and torque the screws down to 10 in-lbs as suggested by CHPWS. I have a torque screwdriver from Olsa Tools that I keep around for torquing red dot and scope rings and it does the job. I find using this screwdriver is easier than something like the Wheeler Fat Wrench because, with this, you can precisely set the torque value whereas the Fat Wrench has a bar that raises up and down with no exact indicator as to what value it’s set to. This Olsa Tools toque screwdriver is a nice item to have if you install a lot of optics.

Now that my 509T is reinstalled with the new CHPWS plate, I have to say that I’m pretty happy with how things turned out. The fit and finish are fantastic and as someone who’s had a lot of time with this combo and has looked at it a lot, I would say that aesthetically, the gun looks a lot better. The new plate just makes things look like they belong together.

In terms of this specific combo, the Shadow System optic cut and the 509T mounting system, I do want to note that this isn’t exactly supported. In the past, Shadow System has put out statements saying that the 509T doesn’t mount properly on their optic cut and that’s largely because of the screws. The Shadow Systems slide mounting holes thread pitch is a specific diameter, one that does not match the thread pitch of the screws that come with the 509T. So what you end up having to do is use the screws that come with the Shadow System optic cover plate and hope that that works. This definitely is a hit or miss as some fit and some don’t. My Shadow Systems screws didn’t fit the 509T adapter plate properly and were a bit oversized. I had to bore the holes of the plate out just a bit for the screws to fit. This is not the case with the new CHPWS setup because they provided exact fitting screws. With the old setup and because the screws were oversized, you can see them sticking out from the sides. That’s not the case anymore. Everything is slick and streamlined.

I also want to point out that with the old setup, the spacer was in the rear and CHPWS has moved it to the front with their plate. From my research, this is more of a durability thing. People will argue that with the forces that the slide and optic endure during recoil, having the spacer up front with be able to endure that energy better than having it in the back. I don’t know. It’s worked for me in the back but I would say that it looks better in the front. There’s less of a gap between the optic and the rear sights so I’m happy with that.

To conclude things, if you’re a Shadow Systems user with the newer universal mounting footprint and you want to use the Holosun 509T, this CHPWS plate is the absolute way to go. Spend the money and do it right. Forget about the included plate, just go with this.

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Wall Control Metal Pegboard Firearm Wall Mount Panels

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What’s going on guys? It’s Hai.

I recently made a video showing the Wall Control panels that I installed in my garage and gym. In short, Wall Control is a metal pegboard option that includes holes for the typical pegboard hooks and also slots to be used with the proprietary Wall Control accessories.

Aside from being used as a way to hang up tools, I have seen Wall Control being shown a lot as a way to display firearms and that’s what I’ve decided to do with the last two panels that I had.

So, here they are. What you’re looking at is two Wall Control 32” x 16” panels, making essentially a 32” x 32” square. Installation of the panels is fairly straightforward, just drill and screw them into the wall.

For size reference, I have up top a CZ Scorpion Evo 3 S1 with an HB Industries 5.3″ Micro K Barrel swap. In the middle is a Century Arms AP5 so essentially a standard length MP5. At the bottom is an AR-15, the Radian Model 1 chambered in 300 Blackout and a 9” barrel. Finally, I have a couple of suppressors hung up, the CGS Mod9 and Dead Air Wolfman.

To hang the firearms up, I’m using the Wall Control 3” U-Shape Slotted hooks. I find that these fit all my firearms from the PCCs to ARs pretty much perfectly. They are just the right size to hold the firearms up straight without them leaning from side to side. I also have the Wall Control 4” U-Shape Slotted hooks but do find these are a bit too big for my firearms. However, if you have a particularly wide stock or forend, you may want to look into the 4” hooks or another option.

One thing that I do recommend is to pick up some rubber hook liners. They help to keep things from sliding around but more importantly to help prevent damage from metal-on-metal contact. Wall Control offers some under the Wall Control branding but it’s about $10 for 3’. That is pretty expensive considering that I paid about $12 for 10’. You may not need that much material and you can buy the liners in shorter lengths, but I’m just saying that there are other options. From the pictures, I can almost assure you that it’s basically the same thing. I’m pretty sure Wall Control just bought the liners in bulk and is reselling them under their own name. I mean at the end of the day, it’s just rubber edge trim, not some special proprietary product.

To hang up my suppressors, I found some pegboard double hooks. They’re rubber coated so should offer protection without needing anything else.

And there you have it, Wall Control panels for use with firearms. I’m pretty happy with the way that these panels turned out but I do want to point out a few things. First, you may have noticed that my setup is a sea of black on black so everything kind of blends in. I kind of knew this going into it. These black panels are spares so I already had them laying around. I didn’t buy them specifically for this project. If I did, I might buy them in a different color and Wall Control does offer them in a wide variety of colors. There are even some companies selling custom-painted panels so look out for that if you don’t want the black-on-black look like I have here. Something else to think about is a lock system if that’s something you care about. You can get some metal tabs that will allow you to lock the trigger guard or whatever else to the Wall Control panels. These aren’t exactly foolproof but do help to slow would-be thieves down a bit.

Overall, I can definitely give this type of setup a recommendation if you’re looking for a way to hang your firearms up on the walls. The panels look pretty clean once you get everything up and I would say I’m happy with everything.

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Wall Control Rubber Hook Liner https://amzn.to/3XqprNl

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Ranger Point Precision Henry Henry 22 Rimfire M-LOK Aluminum Handguard

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I just finished installing a Ranger Point Precision handguard on my Henry lever action gun and wanted to share my experiences with you.

My particular firearm is model H001 and it originally came with a walnut Handguard to match the walnut stock. This is a good looking combo but from the beginning, I knew that I was going to throw a Ranger Point Handguard on this gun and one on a Henry X when I pick one of those up.

Installation of the Handguard is fairly straightforward and Henry themselves have made a tutorial on the process so those who are interested can check that out. There are only two screws keeping you from getting the original forend off and three to put the Ranger Point on so installation is a breeze, at least it should be. From my experience, the barrel band that came with the Ranger Point did not fit, not even close. At first, I thought it was just the two side lugs that were sticking out too much so I filed those down and the band was finally able to make it over the mag tube dovetail. Then it was the entire round section that wraps around the barrel. I started with hand filing this section but quickly found out that a lot of material had to be removed so out came the Dremel.

After doing this, I was able to get the handguard installed but the process was a lot more tedious than Ranger Point made it out to be. I actually contacted them when I first discovered the problem but after a bunch of questions to make sure that I was installing their handguard on the correct gun, which I was, the answer that I got was essentially we have one of those guns in house and the handguard fits just fine. Well, that’s great and I’m sure that’s true but isn’t it possible that Henry updated some things that made your handguard not fit anymore?

In the end, I was able to install the Ranger Point handguard but was it worth it? That’s hard to say. If the installation process went as smoothly as it was supposed to, then yes. However, if you have to do the work that I did and you don’t have the tools, you’d either have to buy them or pay someone to do the work which brings the price of what should be a cheap setup higher, which may be counterintuitive.

I’m just glad that I was able to finish the installation because it is a good look to me. Now, I’m probably going to have to do something about the stock to get a matching black theme.

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