The Loadout Room
Professional Gear Reviews
The home defense AR-15 has become quite popular in recent years. The AR-15 is America’s most popular rifle, and it’s easy to see why someone would choose the AR-15 for home defense. An AR-15 by itself gets you most of the way there, but there are a few accessories you should consider investing in. These […]
Fire as a weapon has a very long tradition. Notably, in the 7th century AD, Greeks created Greek fire. The flamethrower truly rose to prominence during World War I, and the Germans were the first reported widespread users of flame weapons. By the time World War II came around, everyone was shooting fire at each […]
The AR rules everything around us. It’s easy to see why. The AR 15 is an accurate, ergonomic, modular rifle made by about a million different companies at all price points. It comes in a variety of calibers and can be used for anything from home defense to hunting and even long-range marksmanship. However, aren’t […]
When Eugene Stoner designed the AR-10 platform in the late 1950s, it is unlikely he could have imagined the success this rifle (and it’s progeny) would achieve. While the total number of AR platform rifles in civilian hands isn’t known, estimates range from 2-30 million. Combine that with the multitude of M-4’s and other descendants […]
The guys at Lee Armory know AKs. They run a manufacturing operation and have all the jigs fitting and parts for building AK rifles. They also have a cadre of gunsmiths who know and love the Kalashnikov design in all of its variants. Most importantly, Lee Armory wants to help you build that perfect AK […]
I grew up in a family full of Veterans and one of my favorite memories was heading to coffee with my Grandpa Jim and all the other WW2 Vets in town. Hearing the way they bullshitted with each other left a strong impression.  Deja Vu set in once I joined the Army, as hearing a group […]
The concept of a company bundling an 80% completed firearm receiver with a kit to finish the product has been around since the ’90’s. The last 10 years have seen a massive increase in both the number of kits and the variety of firearms they’re available for. Defense Distributed (DefDist) is producing the Ghost Gunner […]
In anticipation of my upcoming review article and (official) review video, I wanted to drop a little teaser video about Defense Distributed‘s flashpoint CNC machine, the Ghost Gunner 2. A primer for those who aren’t familiar with the product: The Ghost Gunner is a small, open-source programmable CNC machine. Designed first for finishing 80% AR […]
Many of the millions of AR platform owners are content to buy a factory rifle and run it as is, trusting the manufacturer to put together a good rifle. For others, a more hands-on approach is the méthode du jour. This usually involves putting together a firearm starting with a stripped receiver, or at the very […]
Since the Ghost Gunner CNC mill came into my house, 80% receivers have been in daily conversations. Not just limited to AR pattern rifles, the 80% movement has expanded well beyond to Glock and 1911 pattern handguns, among others. In this video YouTube user “shooting tips and tricks” goes step-by-step through finishing a Polymer80 Glock […]