| Firearms-UK

Hi Guys,

Today is the first part of a two-part review. I just wanted to share with you a little bit of my excitement in receiving a couple of new toys. For those who don’t know me I’m Harry I’m one of the part-time bloggers for the page.

I shoot in our clubs Practical sessions a couple of times a month and more recently I’ve shot in the UK Practical Shooting Association LBF Postal League in Mini-Rifle Standard class. From the last two rounds I’ve ended up in 3^rd place of 7 competitors. Not doing great, not doing totally awful.

Like any good sportsman I attest the largest portion of the blame for not being in number 1 to my tools, and in this instance I might actually be right. This is because the Sig 522 SWAT I shoot is a literal nightmare. It was my first ever gun. I bought it online through Gun trader and went and picked it up just a few days after my FAC come through for what I truly thought was a bargain price.

Unfortunately she is a bit of a dog. From a recent trip to the gunsmith I’ve learned that not only is the lower receiver such a poor fit for the blackdog magazines that the rounds rarely go in at the right angle and end up smacking into the roof of the chamber and stopping the bolt going into battery; but I also have a broken firing pin, a bent recoil rod and a few other minor issues.

Now fortunately I’ve got the bulk of that resolved with new springs, a new firing pin on order (has to be custom made as nobody can get hold of these anymore!) and the magwell shimmed to make it a little bit tighter, but the gun just isn’t reliable. Certainly isn’t reliable enough to shoot in practical.

So I’ve been thinking it’s time for something new, now as I’ve accidentally already spent a small fortune on innumerable other rifles, LBPs and shotguns I was left in a bit of a pinch. I wanted something affordable, that shot reliably and I could make my own. I tumbled the idea round and round in my head for the last few days and have ended up on deciding on the ever-trusty Smith and Wesson 15-22. The do-everything gun.

I’ve lined up the seller (Alex at Blue Fieldsports, a company who are doing fantastic things for the sport, for young shooters and I can only describe as an absolute pleasure to do business with.) and I’ve already started to put together a list of bits and bobs to start making the gun more competitive.

After seeing a recent review on RacknLoad I knew I wanted to grab a MagSwell. One of the Mag well conversions sold by 3Gun Nation now the idea is the MagSwell slides over your existing mag well creating a wider, sloped opening so no matter how poorly the magazine is placed, it will be directed straight into the mag well and into the right place. Immediately increasing the speed at which you can get a magazine into the rifle, and get the rifle back in the competition.

I had a chat with the guys over at 3GNUK who very kindly posted me off a goody bag with not only including a tidy Carbon Fibre MagSwell (because race gun) but also one of their load assists to help load the Smith and Wesson magazines up quickly and pain-free and a highly visible 3GN UK Chamber Flag.

The parts arrived today and what can I say? So far so good. The MagSwell is lightweight at just 20 grams and feels very robust. There are some noticeable machining marks from where it has been printed but I don’t feel this detracts from the look at all. The 3GN-UK logo is clear cut and it feels solid in your hand. Not just solid, but really solid. It’s surprising that this is 3d printed. I own a desktop 3d printer just for messing around with and this is way above anything I can produce at home. It feels seriously professional quality, and judge for yourself on the looks.

MagSwell by 3gun nation

The next part of this review is going to be on the rifle, and on the range. So there’s not much more I can say from here. So far so good, I’ll be trying to keep you up to date as more parts roll in and as the rifle build develops. I can honestly say, I’ve never been so excited to get a rifle and to really start building something. Below I’ve attached a few more pics of the MagSwell and the other parts arrived through the post today. More to come soon.