Tag: guns

Gratuitous Commercial Endorsement

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As you may recall, I bought an M1 Garand through the Civilian Marksmanship Program. I received it in mid-November, and wrote a post about it over at Say Uncle’s Shooter’s Carnival. I broke down and bought a new stock from Boyd’s when I concluded that nothing I could do was going to make the original look all that good, and I’d already planned to refinish the mostly bare metal surfaces with Norrell’s Moly Resin. I bought a quart from Norrell’s before I figured out how to build an oven to bake the barrelled receiver in. No way was that going to fit in the oven in my kitchen, and after smelling the resin, no way would I have tried anyway.

On a recent trip to the range, I found a business card for Mac’s Shootin’ Irons. All Mac does is refinishing, mostly using Gunkote. Well, nothing ventured, nothing gained, I dropped Mac a nice email asking if it would be possible to have him refinish my rifle using the Norrell’s I’d already bought. He actually looked up Norrell’s site, researched their moly resin, and emailed me back that he would be happy to do the job, but he wouldn’t be able to guarantee the durability of the finish – although he thought that Norrell’s was probably the same as Gunkote.

I made arrangements to drop of the Garand on the Saturday before Memorial Day, and I spent some time talking with Mac. His prices are higher than John Norrell Arms for refinishing, but Mac does the teardown and reassembly that Norrell’s doesn’t. If you have a pistol with sights that cannot be coated or cannot withstand the curing heat, he removes and reinstalls them, and Mac’s pricing includes return shipping. Since he lives in Tucson, I got a break on that, but Mac doesn’t have a storefront. Most of his business is done via mail-order. Further, Mac zinc-parkerizes the firearm as a FIRST step before applying the Gunkote, something that Norrell’s doesn’t do.

I picked the Garand up today. Yes, that was three weeks after dropping it off, but he was doing an experiment with a coating he’d not used before, and he was cutting me some slack on the pricing to boot.

All I have to say is: Just DAMN! That beat-up old 1943 vintage Springfield Armory M1 looks GREAT! It looks like it just rolled off the assembly line! Every metal part on the rifle has a smooth, gorgeous, uniform dark gray matte finish with a slight greenish tinge to it that beautifully compliments the walnut Boyd’s stock. I can’t wait to take it back to the range and try it out.

Thank you, Mac. And every time someone asks me about it, I’ll tell them who did it for me and how happy I am with it.

Want to Know How Far We’ve Come?

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Go watch the video that Seattle’s NBC affiliate KING5 did on this year’s Boomershoot. Lots of pictures of people shooting, even evil black rifles, and not a hint of negativity. The piece opens with:

One weekend a year the quiet of rural Idaho is blown to smithereens, by gun-toting, target shooting, explosion loving… regular folks.

And then they show some of them! They even get the reporter on camera shooting a target, and the anchor at the conclusion of the piece states:

Boomershoot organizers say that no one has ever gotten hurt blowing anything up there. The same cannot be said about the bowling balls. If you want to find out more about it, and I have to tell you it looks like a heck of a lot of fun, go to King5.com.”

No fear-mongering here. It’s a great video, about four and a half minutes. I bet King5 got some pretty vicious hate mail about it. They are in Seattle, after all.

Did You Ever See Moscow on the Hudson?.

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The scene where Robin Williams’ expatriate Russian character goes to a New York grocery store for the very first time? He’s there for coffee, and instead of standing in line for the one size of one choice, he sees shelves stacked three high and three deep, lined with brand after brand; Maxwell House, Folgers, Chase & Sanborn, in choices like Columbian, Arabica, French Roast, Dark Roast, etc., etc., etc.

He hyperventilates because of the sheer volume of choices.

I can relate.

I made a pilgrimage to the Mecca that is known to Houstoninan gun nuts as Collector’s Firearms. YOWSA!

That’s the biggest gun shop I’ve ever been in, and the selection is INCREDIBLE. I felt like walking down the aisles and saying “I’ll take one of these, and one of those, and a couple of them, and…”

In the class I’m taking here in Houston, two of the guys taking it with me and my counterpart are here from China. One is a Scottsman on temporary assignment, the other is a native of mainland China. They went with us. I don’t think they’ve ever imagined much less seen that much ordnance on one place.

Too bad I couldn’t buy anything on this trip…

Happy Birthday to Me, Happy Birthday to Me.

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I just got in my birthday present to myself. A thousand prepped and primed .223 cases from Top Brass. These are Lake City headstamped, cleaned, resized, trimmed, and primed with Winchester Small Rifle primers. All I’ve got to do is dump a powder charge in and seat a bullet. I’ve got enough WCC-846 pulldown powder (from Jeff Bartlett) left to load a thousand cases already. Now I’ve got to order a thousand Hornady 75 grain BTHP Match bullets from Sinclair. That’ll be next month, though.

I can build a sub-MOA load good for 600 yards for about $0.20 per round, or I can go to Ammoman and pay the same price for stuff that won’t hold 2 MOA, and isn’t really any good past 300 meters.

Or I cay pay $0.36 a round for Black Hills ammo no better than my handloads.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why I handload.

Edited to add:

And this is what my pet load is capable of out of my AR-15 at 100 yards if I do my part:

Range Report: M1 Garand

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I took the Garand out to the AR15.com shoot at the Casa Grande public range Saturday. I only brought 40 rounds for it (I’d purchased two boxes of Korean Milsurp, not three). It fed and functioned flawlessly, and I was able to score repeated hits on one of my 9×11″ swingers at 100 yards, offhand. Now I need to load some ammo and shoot it on paper to see what kind of accuracy it can actually give me, but it works, and works well.

Oh, if you get a chance to shoot an FN P90 submachine gun? DO IT! Damn, that’s fun!

Expensive. But fun.

More on the “Aggressive Edge” and the Joy of Shooting

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Just ran across this post by SondraK via Curmudgeonly & Skeptical (who refers to Ms. K as “Our Lady of Perpetual Moistness”… Hmmm.)

I had a fear of guns for a long time. Not that I thought they were bad or dangerous, but mostly because I thought I might be with one in my hands. Lack of experience was largely to blame and a fear of having so much power. I waited until I was 28 to get my driver’s license for pretty much the same reason.

I decided a couple years ago to get a grip on this and hooked up with a local Libertarian group who were sponsoring a women’s rifle class at a gun club nearby. On a whim I signed up and showed up on a Saturday morning with a girlfriend who had a little experience but wanted to brush up on her knowledge. There were about 50 women and about 20 instructors, mostly gentlemen intent on making the experience fulfilling, comfortable, and safe. It was. I ended up coming in 3rd place out of 50 and was hooked. It was so exhilarating! I went out shortly after and procured my concealed weapon’s permit.

About a year later I hooked up with my blogger blastorama boys. Their goal too, was to get as many folks out there learning and shooting. I must say that spending time with these guys was the best thing I could have ever done for my firearm training. They are patient, knowledgeable, and generous with both their time and their vast collections of guns to share. I started out fairly slowly, my confidence building each time I put a gun in my hand.

Read the whole thing. Really excellent! Read the comments, too.

Have You Seen These?

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I ran across this news. A fellow IHMSA shooter, Lee Jackson from Kentucky got burglarized. A bunch of his guns got stolen. Here’s the link to everything.

Here’s a list:

Remington XP-100 7BR Pistol built by Kevin Randolph. Rear grip HS Precision stock in gloss metallic black. 15″ fluted barrel. Jewell trigger. Model 700 bolt handle.
Serial Number: B7518883

BF 7US, single shot, falling block action, 10 3/4″ barrel, electroless nickel finish. Burris 10x intermediate eye relief scope was on gun when stolen.
Serial Number: 12020015

BF 22 LR, single shot falling block action, 10 3/4″ barrel, electroless nickel finish. ISGW front and rear sights.
Serial Number: 07000029

Freedom Arms 41 Magnum Revolver. Hooded adjustable front sight. 10 1/2″ barrel.
Serial Number: JF051

Freedom Arms 22 LR Revolver. Hooded front blade sight. 10 1/2″ barrel.
Serial Number: G-PP-243

Anschutz Exemplar 22 LR. 5 shot clip fed, bolt action. 10″ barrel. ISGW front and rear sights. Lansing flip up hood.
Serial Number: 1327790P

Browning Buckmark 5.5″ Target. Thumb rest grip.
Serial Number: 515MZ17523

Thompson Center Contender ( TC ) blue frame. TC Rynite grip, Pachmyar forend. Had a Bullberry Stainless match 15″ 22 LR barrel and Tasco 6x Pro Class 30mm scope on it.
Serial Number: 429581

Marlin Model 336 30/30 caliber lever action rifle with a Burris 3-9X scope.
Serial Number: 1800792

Remington Model 700 22/250 caliber Varmint Synthetic stock, stainless fluted barrel with Tasco 6-24X Varmint Scope.
Serial Number: 56271295

Colt AR-15 Model MT-6601, heavy barrel target rifle.
Serial Number: CMH036571

Keep your eyes open, would you? This really sucks.

OK, ONE More Tonight

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It’s another one of those blog memes. What’s your workspace look like?

James Lileks started it. Kim du Toit showed us his (so to speak.) Well, here’s mine, taken with my el cheapo Largan Chameleon Mega camera.

That’s my loading bench off to the left there with my single-stage Lee Challenger press and my Dillon Square-Deal B. In the back corner is the stock for my M48 Yugoslavian Mauser. Not seen further off to the left is my reloading component cabinet where I keep my powder, primers, loaded ammo, range bag, etc. All the bullets, my scales, powder measure & other stuff are in the bench itself. The kiddie gate keeps my grandkids out of the drawers. They got into them once.

Once.

It took me awhile to sort out all the different bullets by caliber, weight, and style.

This is in what should be the breakfast area of my house. The shot is taken from the kitchen. I had all my computer and reloading stuff in a spare bedroom, but after my daughter moved home with the grandkids, no spare bedrooms anymore!

They’ve moved out again, but my wife is providing daycare for the kids, so one bedroom is my grandson’s and the other is my granddaughter’s.

And I am relegated to the breakfast area.

But it works.

KevinLeave a comment

More on Airguns

This time from THIS side of the pond.

That ever fruitful well of material, Jointogether.org, reports that the recent Daisy Settlement Shows Political Influence of Gun Industry. Let us fisk:

Before the leadership of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) changed political parties late last year, the federal agency had filed a lawsuit against Daisy Manufacturing Co., a maker of air-powered BB guns, after complaints of misfirings.

“Complaints of misfirings? No, the complaint wasn’t that the guns misfired but that they actually fired when their users thought they were empty.

The fact that their users deliberately pumped up the rifles, intentionally cocked the rifles, intentionally pointed the rifles at another person and then intentionally pulled the trigger seems immaterial.

THE SHOOTER THOUGHT IT WAS EMPTY!

That’s all that matters.

To the lawyers. And the anti-gun groups.

But now, instead of a recall, the federal agency has agreed to a settlement with the company that only involves promoting safe BB-gun usage, the Wall Street Journal reported April 29.

Well, GEE. YA THINK?!?!?

RULE #1: Always keep the gun pointed in a safe direction.

RULE #2: Never put your finger on the trigger until you’re ready to fire

AND ALWAYS TREAT A GUN AS IF IT WERE LOADED.

Follow those three rules, nobody gets hurt.

But noooooo. It must be the eeeevil gun manufacturer at fault.

In 2001, the CPSC filed a lawsuit against Daisy Manufacturing, claiming that its PowerLine Models 856 and 880 were responsible for at least 15 deaths and 171 injuries, the majority involving children. Testimony by a Daisy Manufacturing engineer confirmed that BBs could get temporarily jammed in the corners of the magazine, making it appear that the gun is empty.

The guns were responsible, not the person on the trigger.

The cult of no accountability is obviously still strong.

Obviously mommy and daddy didn’t teach gun safety. Why aren’t they responsible? It’s not like it’s difficult

Treat it as though it is always loaded, no problem.

It’s stunning how many “accidental shootings” come from unloaded guns, isn’t it?

At the time, Ann Brown, who was appointed by President Clinton in 1993, served as chairman of the agency. In 2001, President Bush (Boo! Hiss!) replaced Brown with Republican Harold Stratton Jr. Prior to the appointment, the National Rifle Association (NRA) had e-mailed a “special alert” to members warning that the government’s recall could be used in future lawsuit against all gun makers.

And were they wrong?

Under Stratton’s leadership, the agency dropped the lawsuit late last year. (The heartless BASTARD!) Instead, the government accepted an offer from Daisy Manufacturing for a $1.5 million publicity and labeling campaign to promote safer use of its products.

(If it weren’t for that meddling NRA!!!)

Administrative Law Judge William Moran strongly criticized the offer, calling it “empty.” But Stratton said the lawsuit was “burdensome and inefficient” and would have led to “years of costly litigation.”

And it wouldn’t??

Understand this: The CPSC wanted Daisy to recall 7.5 million rifles because 15 people (Children™) had been killed and some 171 people (Children™) had been injured because of the deliberate misuse of their product.

But it’s the “influence of the (cue scary music)GUN INDUSTRY” that foiled this legal assault humanitarian act.

Oh, and of course the (cue music) EEEEEVIL Republicans who WANT CHILDREN™ TO DIE!

I certainly hope they were responsible. It tells me that my dollars an my vote still count for something.

For further reading, let me recommend this piece, The ‘Daisy Airgun Case’—not CPSC’s finest hour. Money quote:

(CPSC Commissioner Mary Gall) stated:

“In my nearly twelve years of service with this Commission, and indeed, in my over thirty years of government service, I have never seen a more outrageous miscarriage of justice and abuse of the processes of public policy than this case … Some of the deposition testimony given by Commission employees show clearly that the previous Chairman ordered that the case be removed from the ordinary processes of Commission staff review because she did not like the conclusions that the career staff were reaching about the hazards associated with the Model 856 and 880 air rifles.

“… The record shows that this is a case that should not have been brought in the first place, and which has now been settled on terms substantially similar to those that Daisy proposed over fourteen months ago. Students of government who wish to see how the regulatory enforcement process can be used to harass a small company to no good purpose need look no further than this action for a splendid case study …”