Introduction: I'm Mike at PA, educate me about California please!

[PrimaryArms]

Hello everyone, I'm known as PA_Mike on AR15.com and Marshall asked me to snag a login for Calguns and start monitoring our Vendor page here. Gotta say, it's lookin' kinda quiet around here.

PA puts an emphasis on the California market. I don't know if you guys realize this but the sales you get from us are different than what we send out to the rest of the country. We have California-specific emails that we do every week so you guys don't get taunted by a bunch of stuff we aren't allowed to sell you, and you don't have to worry about whether you can actually buy the products we sent to your inbox.

I've tried to keep up with the Cali scene about as well as anyone in Texas can, I suppose, but honestly I only have a couple of friends in Cali and both of them just got dual residency in a neighboring state, where they keep and visit their "cool" guns, so they aren't great sources of info for me on what's going on with you guys.

I know California shooters feel pretty abandoned by a lot of the industry, and I know all the "Gunpocalypse" laws have been in effect for awhile now, but I don't really have my finger on the pulse of what's going on with you guys.

So, please school me. Tell me what your issues are, what's important to you, what you want to see from PA, what you think people NOT living under California law should know about your situation. Tell me what kinds of shooting you enjoy, what kinds of guns you tend to see out at the range and in the field, all that stuff.

I'll be lurking here to answer any questions you have about our products, especially the PA brand optics, I'm really knowledgeable on the stuff we make and I'll give you honest answers to your questions as best I can.

[97F1504RAD]

Welcome Mike, I got an order in route to me from PA as I type.

[PrimaryArms]

That's another question-- where else do you guys like to do your online shopping, and why? Who are you ordering from, if not from PA?

[tomrkba]

Calgunners need to be able to build nonscary semi auto rifles. This means traditional stocks, muzzle breaks or no muzzle devices, non detachable mags or compliant, rails for optics and accessories, etc.

Good looking, magazine fed bolt, pull, and lever actions (aka manual actions) with modern accessories are needed.

Personally, I want manual action rifles using 10 round MAGPUL or AICS mags.

[romukom]

Welcome!. I am interested in the new Cyclops 1x optics. So what is the latest estimated time of release?

Oh by the way, I just got a ACSS 3x prism 5.56 optic. Can I use that as well for a 9mm carbine as well? I know that the bullet compensation markings will not match but for 100 yards is ok?
Thanks!

[tonester99]

Originally Posted by PrimaryArms

That's another question-- where else do you guys like to do your online shopping, and why? Who are you ordering from, if not from PA?

I recently bought a PA micro red dot but not directly from PA's website because I found a better discount via another online vendor. Does PA usually have any discount codes available to use. Another factor for me is the shipping rates. I've come across a few vendors that had great prices but their shipping rates killed the deal for me.

[sfe187]

Originally Posted by tonester99

Another factor for me is the shipping rates. I've come across a few vendors that had great prices but their shipping rates killed the deal for me.

Same here. PA has good sales at times but shipping just too much and kills the deal. If somehow you guys can improve and make shipping charges lower, I'm back in.

[PrimaryArms]

Originally Posted by tomrkba

Calgunners need to be able to build nonscary semi auto rifles. This means traditional stocks, muzzle breaks or no muzzle devices, non detachable mags or compliant, rails for optics and accessories, etc.

Good looking, magazine fed bolt, pull, and lever actions (aka manual actions) with modern accessories are needed.

Personally, I want manual action rifles using 10 round MAGPUL or AICS mags.

We carry Cali-specific "featureless" furniture sets. Some are sort of add-on fins, but my favorite is the Hera Arms CQR, which somehow manages to stay Cali legal while looking totally cyberpunk futuristic.

I have a Rem 700 in one of the Magpul "Hunter" stocks and I love it. I was astonished by how much smoother the action is to run using the detachable box mag setup instead of the internal blind magazine setup. I didn't think swapping out the stock and magazine setup could possibly change the feel of the bolt, but wow. I totally recommend it.

EDIT: Your sig line cracks me up. So sadly true.

[PrimaryArms]

Originally Posted by romukom

Welcome!. I am interested in the new Cyclops 1x optics. So what is the latest estimated time of release?

Oh by the way, I just got a ACSS 3x prism 5.56 optic. Can I use that as well for a 9mm carbine as well? I know that the bullet compensation markings will not match but for 100 yards is ok?
Thanks!

We will be doing a pre-order on 1x Cyclops soon, I'll make a post here in this forum when we do it. It will only be open to a limited number of people. We are anticipating the actual release of Cyclops in about a month or so. I want one for myself!

You can definitely use the 3x prism scope on a 9mm carbine. I crunched some numbers using the StrelokPro ballistic calculator app just now. Assuming a 16" barrel and typical cheapie 115 grain ammo, if you sight in 1 inch high at 100 yards, the first BDC cross bar (400 yards in the user manual) will be on at 150 yards, and the very bottom BDC cross bar (600 yards in the user manual) will be pretty much on at 200 yards (maybe just an inch or two low, but close enough to be handy).

So, that's kind of a substitute BDC concept for you there since we don't have a 9mm ACSS. I like playing with the StrelokPro, isn't it amazing that a 9mm round has roughly the same amount of drop at 200 yards that a 5.56 does at 600 yards? That really gives you an idea of what ballistic coefficient and velocity does.

[PrimaryArms]

Tonester99, sfe187, we don't run any coupon codes at the moment due to technical reasons I don't understand. I know there is a project to incorporate them in progress but I don't know how far long that initiative is. We have a lot of people that inquire about coupon codes so we want to make it happen.

In terms of shipping, we are working on that too. We ship fast, we are pretty famous for that, and we don't upcharge on our shipping, we get packages out the door as cheap as we can for folks. We never want to lose business because the shipping price scared someone away, but we also have to be honest that shipping is a significant expense in this business.

We are currently doing a promotion where you will get free shipping on your entire order, no matter how big, when you order a Primary Arms scope. So Tonester99, if you had ordered your red dot from us we would have zeroed out the shipping on that and whatever else you bought at checkout (great time to buy something super bulky like a Magpul furniture set).

[romukom]

Originally Posted by PrimaryArms

We will be doing a pre-order on 1x Cyclops soon, I'll make a post here in this forum when we do it. It will only be open to a limited number of people. We are anticipating the actual release of Cyclops in about a month or so. I want one for myself!

You can definitely use the 3x prism scope on a 9mm carbine. I crunched some numbers using the StrelokPro ballistic calculator app just now. Assuming a 16" barrel and typical cheapie 115 grain ammo, if you sight in 1 inch high at 100 yards, the first BDC cross bar (400 yards in the user manual) will be on at 150 yards, and the very bottom BDC cross bar (600 yards in the user manual) will be pretty much on at 200 yards (maybe just an inch or two low, but close enough to be handy).

So, that's kind of a substitute BDC concept for you there since we don't have a 9mm ACSS. I like playing with the StrelokPro, isn't it amazing that a 9mm round has roughly the same amount of drop at 200 yards that a 5.56 does at 600 yards? That really gives you an idea of what ballistic coefficient and velocity does.

Thank you for the information regarding the Cyclops. Much appreciated with the 9mm ballistic info using the 3x prisim scope.

[naszero]

Originally Posted by PrimaryArms

That's another question-- where else do you guys like to do your online shopping, and why? Who are you ordering from, if not from PA?

I jump between P/A and DSGArms. Both companies offer comparable prices and military discounts. My go-to is P/A as customer service is awesome and shipping is lightning fast.

[PrimaryArms]

Question: Are you guys seeing a shift to different guns entirely, are guys running bolt actions in "Scout Rifle" configuration and M1 Garands and such, or is everyone still running ARs and AKs as best they can in compliant configurations?

I always thought, if I moved to Cali, I would probably become a big M1 Garand / Springfield M1A guy, and also run some tactical bolt actions like the Ruger Scout in .308. What do you guys actually see at your local range?

[romukom]

From what I have seen, I would say about 50/50 between semi autos and bolt action rifles depending on the day of the week. Weekdays are mostly long range shooters. Weekends are mostly AR or Ak type of shooters from 100 to 200 yards.

[Treyzian]

Originally Posted by PrimaryArms

That's another question-- where else do you guys like to do your online shopping, and why? Who are you ordering from, if not from PA?

You guys have amazing customer service and you guys will sometimes do sales on specific items which is awesome, but never any sitewide sales. Brownells is usually where I make general online purchases because of their sitewide $10/$20 off + FS deals.

Hoping for some good 4th of July deals though

[Crazydave]

Buying from brownells when there is a 10% off + free shipping coupon

Buying from Optics Planet with 10 or 15% off coupon + free shipping

Palmetto State Armory when there is good deal with free shipping.

Primary arms never seems to offer free shipping except for on their optics.

[PrimaryArms]

CrazyDave,we have been working all year on a free shipping program, and I believe it is coming closer to becoming reality. Believe it or not, it isn't because we don't WANT to do it, we know what a great motivator it is, it's because it's technically more difficult than I ever would have imagined. But the IT team has been testing it out and hopefully soon it will be ready for the "live" website!