A year ago today, I pulled up a stump to this here fire.

[Texas Sheepdawg]

I joined this forum back on 11/05/2010. Today marks a whole year of what has become quite an experience. A year ago today, I knew very little about the AR 15 platform and the 450 Bushmaster. I did have a basic knowledge of firearms and maybe a bit better than most, but the AR platform was not a system that I had familiarized myself with mainly because up to 2009, I thought it would be a rifle that would be super expensive and I also perceived that the government pretty much had made them unavailable to private citizens, so why bother? I did have a couple of decades of experience reloading but until I got on this forum, I had no idea how much more that I was about to learn. I knew next to nothing about building a lower half, or doing a trigger job. I would have never considered building an AR upper. It is amazing what one can learn in a year. As of today, I have built two lowers from the ground up. One Stag Arms lower now resides under my 450 Bushmaster. Once I completed that project, I started looking for another upper to put on my other naked lower that was still sitting in the safe. I had no idea which direction or what caliber, I just wanted something special. After a lot of reading and looking through catalogs, nothing jumped out at me. I would see a upper receiver and hand guard that I liked but the caliber wasn’t interesting or the ammunition was outrageously high and/or hard to find. There is definitely a lot of flavors to choose from. But nothing clicked. The 308 sounded great in the AR platform. But the parts were generally higher in price, even though, ammo is very affordable and about as available as a bag of Doritos. Okay, so that may still be an option, but then I remembered, I wanted something “special”. I started reading about some of the 6.5 and 6.8 discussions and something clicked. (Sort of like Ted Nugent snapping Bill Maher’s neck.. WHAT?! Hey! I can dream too, can’t I?) I gotta hand to Hoot, and Wildcatter, BD and others who influenced my decision to go with the 6.5 Grendel. Thanks guys. This caliber, though not a powerhouse, has so much to offer me. But the complete uppers that I was looking at in the 6.5 Grendel were either too expensive, too ugly, or both, at least through my eyes. And I wanted something special. I finally convinced myself that to get what I was looking for, I was going to have to build it from the ground up. So I did. My 6.5 Grendel is almost finished now. And it is turning out to be a very handsome rifle. And it is going to be one of a kind. From the stock, to the brake, to the trigger group, to the custom bolt carrier group, it’s all customized, built with parts that I chose and that I assembled. Now that is what I call a special rifle. And now I can say that I have built my first upper receiver from the ground up. Wow! Where did I learn all this? Who has inspired me to get creative, and spend God knows how much $$$$ on this black rifle love affair? YOU GUYS! It’s a good thing I ain’t married. A wife would have killed us all.
Another random yet Ironic thought.....
I sometimes snicker to myself when I think of all the parts that came to me in the mail box. I even purchased the 2 Stag Arms stripped lowers while eating an Egg Mac Muffin at McDonalds while my FFL guy called to do the background check. He was sitting across table from me. All those 10,000 laws and I have abided by all of them and it has been a blast! Oh, and one more throbbing middle finger to the anti-gunners…. I use my tax refunds to buy GUNS! SO THERE! Sorry guys, I just love rubbing their noses in it. But I digressed.
It is hard to believe this all started back in February 2010, when I bought my first ever AR 15 Bushmaster at Cabelas. And now, almost two years later, I finally have built my first custom rifle ever.
Thanks for all the support and advice guys. That’s what makes this forum shine.
-Texas Sheepdawg

[MudBug]

welcome to the 6.5 club.

I have two rifles chambered in 6.5 Grendel and just recently bought a new barrel for my T/C Encore pistol (which used to wear a 12" 6.5 Grendel barrel) turning it into a 6.5mm Swede rifle.

[Jim in Houston]

Ditto for me. I didn't join until Jan 2011, just after Midway had a sale on the 450 upper for my BM XM15 E2S lower. It is the first high powered rifle I have owned. Since that day I have started reloading my own 450 cartridges and am about ready to place my order for parts to build a dedicated lower for it. All thanks to this board, their encouragement, and the benefit of their experience.

[Colohunter]

I did a lot of research into the bigbore AR cartridges. I already had a 223, 6.8 and a 300 Fireball and wanted to add something with a little more of a thump. I finally settled on the 450 Bushmaster in large part because of the price of factory ammo compared to the others and the ability to use inexpensive 45 pistol bullets. I jumped on a Bushmaster upper sale and bought a complete 16"upper. I was amazed how accurate the big bullets were and how much fun it was shooting the bigger round out of the AR platform.

It's great to have this site to come to, we have some true experts here and threads tend to stay much more respectful here than most other forums.

[Hoot]

I too went through the weighing process when considering a thumper. I liked the .458 SOCOM due to it headspacing on a shoulder. I liked the 50 Beowulf for sheer size and actually had a 24" Overwatch on hold waiting for the go-ahead. I liked the 450 Bushmaster for the fact that it was IMHO a better parent case for a thumper. What got me off the fence was Bushmaster starting their Tax Time sale early in 2010. Had one of the other two gone on sale first, we probably would not be having this conversation.

These mortars are very forgiving of shooting technique shortcomings if they can shoot sub-MOA for a bolt-gun convert like me.

I assume the other two calibers are equally forgiving. I had an AR15 long before the 450b, but only because everyone should have a tinker toy gun, they built from parts, for the experience. Until the thumpers came along, I just thought of them as poodle shooters though.

Hoot

[Texas Sheepdawg]

All I can say is that I have made some good friends here and I have learned a lot of things here. And it is simply amazing that I have found a forum where there is an atmosphere for learning and sharing and the people don't condescend, attack and troll looking for a fight. We all have a good time, sharing experiences, tips and tricks and we even have a sense of humor, taking care to not take ourselves too seriously. I wished my work place was this civil. New members are welcomed to this electronic campfire just like a road weary pioneer looking for a hot cup of coffee and a place to rest his horse.
This is not just a forum, it's a family.
Thanx guys. Keep it up.

[9x19MdM]

All I can say is that I have made some good friends here and I have learned a lot of things here. And it is simply amazing that I have found a forum where there is an atmosphere for learning and sharing and the people don't condescend, attack and troll looking for a fight. We all have a good time, sharing experiences, tips and tricks and we even have a sense of humor, taking care to not take ourselves too seriously. I wished my work place was this civil. New members are welcomed to this electronic campfire just like a road weary pioneer looking for a hot cup of coffee and a place to rest his horse.
This is not just a forum, it's a family.
Thanx guys. Keep it up.

[commander faschisto]

MegaDittos to all the above...this place is the most unusual, friendly, fun, and informative forum I've ever seen. I sure hope it remains a knucklehead-free zone in the future! My thanks to all of the members here for keeping it what it has been so far. I love you, man!

[Hoot]

I think you have to thank Eric and more recently Robin for their work, but mostly Eric. If this were a for-profit forum, it would probably be different. Once a forum grows to the size where serious capital has to be laid out to accommodate large numbers of active members and a complex sub-forum structure, money becomes an issue. A "knuckleheads" mouse click is worth as much to an advertiser as a "nice guy's", so more is allowed to slide in the interest of volume. Thank goodness for philanthropy. There are other forums like this one out there, but IMHO, they are the exception, rather than the rule.

Hoot