Redhawk's Ramblings

Rio Salado "Legacy" Match

2011-03-14T09:01:00.000-07:00

So, I choked with a 204 out of 300 at Washington's Birthday.

I did much better at the 2011 Legacy match at Rio. This was a 50 shot match, all shot at 200 yards. I shot a 412-2x out of 500 possible. That's a personal best at 82%, and I'm pretty happy about that.

I ran this match with my 1:9 twist AR-15, shooting factory Prvi Partizan 75gr match ammo. No keyholing, so my 1:9 can stabilize 75gr ammo.

Things learned:
1. I shoot seated MUCH better with an AR than an M14. The extra height to the sights, and the extra vertical distance on the grip due to the pistol grip, help me with my long body from the seated position. My seated was my best component yesterday, and I got away with a 94-2x on it.
2. I think I've picked up on something with standing. I'm eager to try again. I did a 72 on my standing this weekend, which is certainly not spectacular. I had 1 miss. But, towards the end, I realized I could control a component of my natural point of aim with my support arm, based upon my wrist's angle at the delta-ring (I support the AR's barrel with a reversed hand grip at the delta-ring for standing). Rotating my wrist helps "settle" the rifle in the direction I want to go.
3. Buttstock tension into the shoulder pocket is really important from prone. When I shot slowfire prone, I noticed that my 7-ring hits were all happening when I'd slack off on pulling the buttstock into the pocket. When I'd tighten back up and pull with the pistol-grip straight back into my shoulder firmly, my shots would tighten back up into the 10 and 9 rings. Tight-tension into the pocket = hits in the 10-ring. Light-tension into the pocket = hits in the 7-ring, down 2MOA.

Washington's Birthday CHOKE!

2011-02-21T06:04:00.000-07:00

204-1x out of 300.

[hangs head in shame]

That's 68%, whereas my last two matches have been 80%.

I think I got bit by a lack of environmental knowledge. We went directly from standing to rapid prone with no sighters. I was shooting low, by about 3-4 MOA. Part-way through my rapid prone my spotter team-mate told me I was hitting low. I adjusted hold from 6-o'clock on target to center of target for 3MOA increase. That moved me from the 5/6 ring area to the 7 ring. I dropped off-target with 1 shot, scoring 1 miss. Part way through that string the sun peaked out. "Lights up, sights up!" When the light gets significantly brighter, you tend to drop your shots 2 MOA on target. So, my 3MOA sight hold adjustment got mostly negated by the increase in light.

So, I now know I lose about 3-4 MOA when going from standing to prone.

And I'll remember to compensate for increased light (or a decrease in light by dropping my sights 2MOA when the sun is obscured by a cloud).

Not happy with that score. But, there's always next year.

Who Says Nickel-Plated Brass Isn't Any Good?

2011-02-07T13:32:00.000-07:00

So, previously in January I wrote about a need for new brass. I ended up ordering 500pcs of Remington nickel-plated new brass.

I went out Sunday morning to test my loads.

Load:

New Remington nickel-plated brass

168gr Hornady A-Max bullet

CCI #34 primer

IMR 4895 powder

2.790 OAL

Lee FCD, moderate crimp

Case trim length: 1.990

I found a LOT of case weight variation. 164.0 to 167.5. I'm not certain if that's because it's Remington brass rather than something with a higher reputation for consistency (Nosler, Norma, etc) or due to the nickel plating that could introduce greater variation. I grouped the cases into similar-weighted (+/- 0.2gr from a center standard) lots of 5 for each powder charge below:

Powder charges:

5 rounds 39.5gr

5 rounds 40.0gr

5 rounds 40.5gr

5 rounds 41.0gr

5 rounds 41.5gr

I did confirm the weight of each powder charge, though I allowed for a variance of +/- 0.1gr rather than trickling for a perfect target weight.

I didn't weigh the bullets.

Discard farthest "flier" from each 5 round group. All fliers were called as sight picture was brought into question. Measure group with 4 best confident shots. Shooting position was improvised prone rest on top of range bag and padding. Target was 100 yards. Groups measured with a tape measure since I'm too lazy to go hunt down my micrometer right now.

39.5 group: 1.875"

40.0 group: 2.375"

40.5 group: 1.125"

41.0 group: 0.5"

41.5 group: 1.625"

Pretty clear what it likes. I've never found a sub-MOA group before. Nifty. I've never shot a sub-MOA group before, even with a scoped rifle. Yeah, it was from an improvised field rest, but it still wasn't some stupid caldwell lead sled from a concrete bench.

And... did I mention I trimmed all my new brass for this load development (25 pieces) in about 4 minutes? I love my new Giraud trimmer.

I'm happy with the nickel-plated brass. It's not nicked/dinged on extraction so far, whereas new brass will pick up a nice gouge on the side of the case as the extractor flings the case against the front of the op-rod. These cases are tough enough to escape unscathed. Extraction groove on the case also has no visible deformity, whereas a typical Federal brass case will have a visible scratch or dent on the rim from even the first firing. After 4 firings, the rim becomes difficult to seat into a reloading shell holder due to the scratches in the extractor groove. We'll see how these hold up over time.

The Nutnfancy Project (TNP)

2011-01-27T16:40:00.001-07:00

I've stumbled across this fella who goes by "Nutnfancy" and has a long-running series of videos on YouTube.

I found his stuff while doing research for a .22 "tactical" rifle.

Gotta say, I like a lot of his reviews. He doesn't seem afraid of saying "this thing right here sucks!" In particular, his candid disavowal of the FNP-45 and the FNX series of pistols due to magazine design caught me as thorough and honest.

In particular, I like his methodology of weapons testing. Take the thing out and run-n-gun it! See if you can make it malfunction. Don't just jerk around with Caldwell bench rests, shooting for sub MOA groups. Tell me about the ergonomic fumbles and foibles as you're engaging a mix of steel and paper targets. Put 50-100 rounds through it in a minute or two and warm it up properly.

And, those of you who read my blog who already have your firearms situation squared away, you might like his ideas on techniques and gear to carry magazines, and holsters, and slings... as well as knife reviews, outdoors gear reviews and just philosophy videos.

Check him out on YouTube: http://youtube.com/user/nutnfancy.

Rimfire steel pistol match

2011-01-24T14:38:00.000-07:00

I had very mixed feelings about the rimfire steel pistol match I was looking forward to in earlier posts. I went and participated in it yesterday.

A lot of new shooters were there. I love new shooters. I am constantly looking for new shooters to mentor. I teach them proper technique for best accuracy, and then I teach them how to sacrifice technique for speed (to the best of my own limited skills) if it's necessary to do so.

However, in my opinion a timed steel match is not the place to go if you don't know the manual of arms of your gun or don't have the strength to run the bolt on a .22 pistol.

I was particularly irked by the notion that a person can show up with an absolutely filthy gun where the bolt on a Ruger MkIII acts like it's been lubed with a 50/50 mix of peanut butter and elephant snot. They shoot and get malfunctions. They can restart the stage for a failure to feed, failure to eject or failure to fire. You do the math and find out how many times that particular type of gun can manage to get 10 shots off with 0 failures.

Other irksome discoveries were new shooters who didn't know how to turn on their red dot sight on their ninja-ized Ruger MkIII, new shooters who came with 1 magazine and had a 50 round course of fire until their turn was done, and new shooters who need to be told a dozen times inside of 3 minutes to keep their finger off the trigger while loading.

I love new shooters. But new shooters belong with a coach, in a low pressure environment, where they can learn proper fundamentals and gun handling skills. Not at novice-to-intermediate events where people are looking to move to another stage of marksmanship.

A lot of what I saw would have people kicked off the range at other events. Too many muzzle sweeps, too many fingers on triggers.

I left after two stages. I left because the pace was so accursedly slow and there were too many of the new shooters in line in front of me, and because I was cold and didn't wear appropriate clothing, and because I was moderately worried for my safety.

That being said, I did learn a little bit in my short stint there. I started to REALLY get a feel for that fine window that comes after recoil but before conscious recovery, where you can settle the front sight on the target and squeeze again, getting 5-6-7 shots off a second. I experienced just a hint of that feeling, and I think the shot timer over my shoulder helped me to focus on it, along with the steel giving auditory feedback of acceptable accuracy.

I need to run more, but I think I'm going to build my own steel setup for rimfire rather than going back to this rimfire match. I want to experience more of that link between the front sight and the trigger. It was enlightening and I think the Buckmark is going to end up being a great tool to explore it in greater detail.

That's it. Militarize the Border. Marines, RFN!

2011-01-14T10:21:00.002-07:00

http://www.elpasotimes.com/ci_17087113?source=most_viewed

That's 1 of 2 possible things:
1. An act of War.
2. An act of International Terrorism.

I don't care which you call it.

I want some bloodthirsty, rampaging Devil Dogs down there YESTERDAY.

New Brass

2011-01-10T15:27:00.001-07:00

One of the points of frustration I've been dealing with for rifle shooting has been quality of reloads. In particular for .308 Winchester. I've been fighting some extreme velocity variation that manifested itself in a very embarrassing way at a match, with one round falling about 6-8 feet short of the target at 500 yards and slamming into the concrete berm that shields the pit crew.

That particular problem was due to my case trimmer having an oversized case mouth pilot. I've learned that I have to resize after trimming in order to get ideal case neck tension.

Last match, I shot a 176-3x from slow prone, and once I got dialed in to my zero I was ringing 9, 10 and X hits with only the rare 8. I lost out with about 8 or so rounds while I tried to "dial in" from the 7 ring. Lowest score I got on any one shot was a 7, but I walked almost all the way around the bull before finally finding the center. I could have had 10 more points if I started zeroed or at least closer to it.

However, my brass is all part of this batch of Federal once-fired stuff that gets soft easily. Then there's 100 rounds each of various other headstamps. I've got brass in so many varied stages of firing (once fired, three times fired, four times fired, Winchester, Remington, Federal, MagTech, Lake City, etc) that I can't predict how the lot will shoot.

I've been in need of some new brass for awhile, so today I ordered 500ct of Remington nickel-plated brass. The nickel will make my brass easier to distinguish from other competitors, and the lot of 500 will allow me to shoot new virgin brass at the next 8 or 9 competitions before I have to start shooting once-fired brass. It's my hope that the nickel coating will better protect brass from dings during extraction and give me extended brass life. It's about a $20 premium over standard brass in lots of 500 so it wasn't too painful as an experiment. If I get one more loading out of them than standard brass then they'll be worth it.

And the lot of 500 will make it easy to work with:
-the same headstamp
-the same firing
-in lots of cases in the same weight

January: 2 down, 1 to go

2011-01-09T20:51:00.001-07:00

OK, I'm already 2 for 3 for January shooting events.

I did Steel last week with a time of 119.24 seconds. There's a 10 second penalty for doing 3 hits on one target rather than a 2+1 combo (5 seconds per miss).

I learned: Don't go with multiple batches of reloads. I have two different types of 124gr LRN bullets. I know that one batch hits lower than the other. I suspect it's because one bullet is significantly shorter than the other despite being the same weight. This results in more case capacity and lower pressures on ignition. Probably lower velocity is causing the lower impact. Or less recoil somehow due to the lower pressure causing less muzzle rise, or something. But one set does hit lower than the other. Part of why I had that 10 second penalty was due to this. The 2+1 was in a vertical arrangement. I put 3 on the "1" target that was below the "2" target.

So, I've spent the last week loading up about 1000 rounds of pistol ammo, all 100% identical.

I imagine that some of my other misses can be attributed to my mixed loads too. At this point I'm good for 6 or 7 sessions. Maybe as many as 9 if my accuracy is high enough... each night requires 96 hits, typically. I tend to shoot about 125 rounds a night.

And, I did High Power today. This was a 50 round match with 20 slow prone, 10 rapid prone, 10 rapid seated and 10 slow standing. I did a 176-3x, 80, 80 and 66 for a total of 402-3x.

No misses, so that's good. I've had bad results with standing the last few times out, flubbing up 1 or 2 shots with misses. My rapid prone was well centered, but low. 2 minutes higher and it could easily have been a 92 or higher, with a couple more X's. I muscled the seated too much. I tried cross legged and couldn't find a good NPOA from there, and I went open legged instead. Even then, I was muscling my support hand upwards. Need to rediscover how to control seated elevation. I was all over with it. 2 10's, 2 9's, 2 8's, 2 7's, 2 6's.

Standing, I'm lucky if I can hold 12MOA. More dryfire practice. A must.

All in all, I'm pleased with the 402-3x score. And the slow prone score. And that I've concretely identified places to improve. with 3-4 months off of shooting rifle in a disciplined manner, it's better than I had anticipated. I also think it's a personal best for this format of match.

Shooting Resolutions

2011-01-04T18:06:00.000-07:00

I've made some New Year's resolutions related to shooting:

1. Shoot centerfire pistol with a purpose at least once a month. Steel match, a class or some sort of competition.
2. Shoot centerfire rifle with a purpose at least once a month. High Power, a class, or perhaps a 3-gun match.
3. Shoot rimfire pistol at Rio Salado's rimfire steel matches once a month until there is nothing more for me to learn from the experience. I bought a Browning Buckmark pistol, a decent holster and 5 magazines to facilitate this.
4. Shoot rimfire rifle at Rio Salado's Tuesday Tactical Rifle matches once a month. Start off with my Marlin 795 with Williams peep/fiber optic sights, but consider the purchase of a more "tactical" .22 rifle once I learn more.

This is a LOT of shooting. That's about a brick of .22 a month, 150 rounds of pistol and 50-100 rounds of rifle ammo. 1800 rounds of pistol ammo a year (~$150 or so if 9mm reloads), $240 worth of rimfire ammo, and $400 worth of .308 ammo.

I've added all these events to my Outlook calendar on my computer. Fortunately, the rimfire rifle and centerfire steel matches happen on the same nights. This is still a 3-day per month commitment at a minimum.

Putting it to print right now, to help keep myself honest in regards to it.

Handgun Grip Angle: Practice, dummy!

2010-12-22T14:07:00.000-07:00

I've recently come to the conclusion that, with few exceptions, handgun grip angle and so called "ergonomics" are just about the most pointless thing to consider when shopping for a pistol.

Why?

For two reasons.

1. The new shooter. If this is truly a new shooter, then he or she has little or no fundamentals to draw upon. His evaluation of a grip angle may be done while gripping a pistol incorrectly. We've all seen the actors in cop procedural shows that grasp handguns way too low on the grip, or even those actors that think it's good practice to put your thumb directly behind the slide of a striker-operated semiautomatic. These are over-dramatized examples of improper grip... but if you don't know how you're supposed to hold a gun then how on Earth do you suppose you're going to know if it fits right when you are holding it?

2. The serial gun buyer. The guy who is looking for the "perfect gun." The guy who spends $500-$1000 on a gun and runs it for half a dozen range trips before getting bored with it (or blaming supposed deficiencies of the gun for less than optimal results downrange), then spends another $500-$1000 on another gun, and another half a dozen range trips with that one. This guy doesn't have 10k rounds through any 1 of his guns, and any one of his guns is barely past the break-in period before he's drooling over the counter at the gun store again. This guy listens to the Glock "grip hump" bashing, all the praise for the 1911 grip angle, but probably couldn't tell you what gun was in his hand if you blindfolded him and tested him... with his own handguns.

I've seen phenomenal Glock shooters.

I've seen phenomenal 1911 shooters.

I've seen phenomenal CZ/Witness shooters.

I've seen phenomenal revolver shooters.

I'm worse than the people in any of the above 4 categories that I'm citing. Heck, the revolver shooter I see regularly at the steel matches outshoots my times, using his revolver, and me using my XD.

I guarantee that there is a common thread with all those shooters above: They all have tens or hundreds of thousands of rounds through the same gun or at least the same platform. They all took classes using those same guns (though now they are the people that TEACH the classes). And they spend more time practicing draws and magazine changes than they do learning about the latest Glock or 1911 blessing/curse/fad.

After tens of thousands (or even a few thousand, depending on practice techniques) of rounds, it doesn't matter if you're shooting a Glock with "an unnatural grip angle" or a 1911 that "feels like St. John Browning poured its blue steel goodness into your hand and it molded to your form..." You'll have an instinctual feel for where your thumbs and hand webbing are supposed to have contact with your pistol. You'll instinctively know how that relates to your sights, and how your hand should feel for presentation of the top of the slide to your eyes for targeting.

What matters, then, for gun shopping?

Access to control surfaces. Slide release, magazine release, safeties, decockers, the ability to clear a jam quickly. Do you have to release a positive grip on the pistol to accomplish any of these tasks? If so, you need to consider a different platform.

I've watched my complaints about my XD vanish, one by one, for each thousand additional rounds I put through it. I used to have a pretty strong dislike for this pistol, and even had apprehension about putting it back on my hip. It's been up for sale twice with no takers.

Now, I just don't care what pistol I carry. I could just as soon trade my XD for a 1911, a Glock, a Browning Hi Power, or a Beretta 92. As long as I can run a few hundred or a thousand rounds through it to learn it intimately, it doesn't matter.

The Southpaw Conundrum

2010-08-13T09:11:00.000-07:00

Been practicing magazine changes this week, after being so close to the 100 second barrier last week at TNS that it hurt! Mag changes appear to be my slowest point to work on for now.

As a stinkin' southpaw, to operate the safety on my current preferred pistol (a CZ-75B in 9mm), I have to shift my grip slightly so that my index/trigger finger can scrunch back to the mag release, push the release, insert a new magazine with the right hand, re-shift my grip back around, drop the slide release (if locked back), then re-address the trigger.

I need to eliminate those two grip shifts. They cost me at least 10 seconds throughout the course of the TNS match on all 4 stages and the several mag changes required.

I pulled the Springfield XD9 out of the safe in response to this. There's a lot of things I don't like about the XD product line: In general, I dislike striker pistols. I dislike trigger-dinguses. There's something not quite "right" about the contour of the grip on the left side of the grip safety, it grinds against the index finger metacarpal uncomfortably in a way that a CZ or 1911 does not do.

However, it DOES have an ambidextrous magazine release.

I've been practicing using my left thumb to release mags. Almost no grip shift and as I practice, the shift becomes smaller and smaller. Less attention to detail with my left hand, so I can focus on moving my right hand more quickly to the belt for a fresh magazine.

I need to find a suitable way to rig a 1911 with an ambi mag release (looking into the Smith & Alexander ambi mag release), as well as a CZ. Or, I need to find a new pet 9mm platform with ambi mag release controls and all the features I like of the CZ-75 series. Fabrique-Nationale's FNX-9 looks like a potential contender. Not sure what else is out on the market.

In the meantime, though, the XD9 is back on my hip and on rotation for TNS.

Back to Steel

2010-08-03T22:38:00.000-07:00

I went back to steel 2 weeks ago. Ran the CZ-75 with Winchester WWB factory 115gr FMJ ammo. Got done in 112.71. This week, I took some cheap reloads (mixed brass, CCI small primers, 122gr LRNFP bullet) that I cooked up. I was worried about them because I hadn't had time to shoot them at the range prior to coming out, to see if they might not work properly.

No need to worry. 100% reliability. They shot cleaner than the WWB. I cleaned the gun tonight (two weeks ago, as well), there was just a smidge of carbon blowback inside the slide and at the barrel's ramp. Leading down bore was gone after 15-20 passes with a bronze brush wet with Hoppes. Very quick and easy cleaning.

Time tonight was 104.09.

I did some light 'smithing work on the CZ, too. I replaced the factory front sight with a fiber optic one. Mounted the slide in my drill press and drilled out the necessary hole in the replacement front sight post. 100% successful, no problems encountered at all. POI = POA still.

I need some heavier CZ magazines, though: Even with the drop-free mag brake, completely empty mags don't always drop free. Gonna have to find a few mags with extended base-pads that are heavy enough to fall free. I guess it's okay if they take a few more rounds, too.

Shooting the CZ in "Limited" division, loading mags to 16rd capacity, holstered with safety on and single action first shot. If I were to shoot in "Production," I would have to limit myself to 10rds in the mags and first shot would have to be DA. At least, that's how I understand it. Still trying to fully figure out the divisions.

3rd Time High Power

2010-06-06T21:50:00.000-07:00

So, I shot my 3rd match.

357-2x out of 500. This match used three different targets: 200 yards for standing/seated, then 300 reduced for prone and 600 reduced for slowfire prone. Much like the Legacy match that was my first match.

Standing was awful. 49-1x. Seated improved, from improved control of my front leg elevation via my trigger-foot under my supporting leg. 84-0x. Rapid prone suffered from a change in ammo, to a box that was left out in sunlight and a different batch of bullets with different OAL. Center of group shifted 3 MOA down and left, and the group blew out from my customary 3-4 MOA to almost 6 MOA in size. Score on rapid prone was 62-0x. Slowfire prone was 162-1x. Took some doing to get myself back onto a proper zero after the fiasco with the alternate ammo.

Lessons learned:
- Don't change ammo through the match. Use the same load recipe or retail manufacturer.
- Don't leave ammo in the sun. It can contribute to variable points of impact of otherwise consistent ammo.
- The M14 does seem harder to shoot standing than the AR-15. I really need to work on standing, more.

Goals:
- More standing practice. Rimfire at 6MOA increased squares to begin with, then transition to centerfire using the targets we bought as a group.
- Reloading discipline. Same brass with same bullet with same powder charge with same primer, to the same OAL, and take enough of that one load to complete the match.

2nd time High Power

2010-06-03T13:13:00.000-07:00

So, I shot a CMP match at the Buckeye Joe Foss range a few weeks ago. This time I shot a 411-4x out of 500, and used my M14 rifle.

Interestingly, as my body position transitioned from horizontal (prone) to vertical (standing), my groups got worse. Part of this was probably due to the gusting winds that I estimate exceeded 15mph and pushed the muzzle sideways... but I also think some of it is inherently due to the different designs of these rifles.

The AR has sights that are very high above the bore. This lends itself to very upright shooting positions without canting the upper torso, and the pistol grip gives improved control over the horizontal twist of the gun in wind. At least, that's my working theory right now.

I'll test that theory sometime later this summer, and take both rifles out for some testing during the windy monsoon season here.

Anyways, I'm happy to see my scores climb 44 points from one time to the next. The breakdown was disappointing to me, though: 184, 96, 77, 54. The standing just murdered me, and I had 3 shots escape the bull entirely, though still on paper just outside the 5 ring to the bottom left (the wind was coming from my left and I would push into it, only to have it let off as I squeezed the trigger).

I'm thinking that in high wind, I need to "squeeze" less and firmly pull, more quickly. From standing, at least.

Seated was quite blatantly a lack of practice on my part. Bad NPOA, stringing my shots down and left. More seated dry-fire practice is in order.

Shooting another match in Payson this weekend, so I think I can add another 30+ points. Haven't decided if I'll shoot the AR-15 with the new NM 0.050 front sight post, or the M14 again. Probably the M14, but we'll see.

First Time High Power

2010-03-23T10:31:00.000-07:00

I was expecting to shoot better, being involved with the Appleseed Project as an instructor for about 2 years.

I shot a 367-1x out of a possible 500. Rifle was my franken-AR, here:

Cavalry Arms Mk-II lower with Del-Ton A2 1:9 twist upper, Hogue free-float handguard and home-brew front sling swivel. USGI cotton sling.

I tried to run the course with a Center-Of-Mass (COM) hold on the target. I typically try to shoot all my rifles with a COM sight picture, since I feel that a 6 o'clock hold is dependent on angular hold-under rather than absolute distance hold-under. If you hold 3 minutes low at 200 yards, that's 6 inches. If you hold 3 minutes low at 500 yards, that's 15 inches. An NRA bull is always 6 minutes of angle, so at 200 yards it is 12 inches, while at 500 yards it is 30 inches. If you shoot with a 3MOA hold-under, your POI will always be 3MOA high... which is 6 inches at 200 yards and 15 inches at 500 yards. Your sight picture changes on a "real" target, as a result of that. A 20" human torso (a threat) will require a belly-button hold at 200 yards, and a mid-thigh hold at 500. (Obviously sight adjustments come into play here, too).

So, I've decided next time I will bow to the game, and shoot a 6 o'clock hold.

I also noticed that I have a hard time differentiating the front sight from the target, even though I focus on the front sight. I need more contrast between the two, and I need the front sight to be smaller. So, I ordered a 0.050" match front sight and I also will blacken my front sight with a match or lighter for higher contrast in the future.

Next, I will be shooting some inexpensive 55gr reloads in the future for 200y reduced courses of fire. The 55's shoot better than the retail 62gr ammo I shot last weekend... vertical stringing was less. More consistent case length, powder measurement and crimp strength resulted in more consistent velocity, I think.

Finally, I will be going back to my Turner synthetic 1907-style sling. I definitely noticed some heart-pulse in my sight picture with the GI cotton sling, when looped up. I was even using a padded cloth shooting jacket. I see less of that with the 1907 sling due to the loop/keeper arrangement.

I was hoping to break 400 this last weekend, but I'll just have to break 400 next time out.

Obama's Budget Deficit: This cannot stand.

2010-02-05T09:12:00.001-07:00

The annual budget of the United States has been about $2.9 trillion dollars (that's the 2008 numbers I could find).

According to the Treasury department, our payments on the interest every fiscal year has never been larger than $400 billion dollars (usually down towards $300 billion), until 2006 with Bush's Medicare drug benefit and the increased costs of the Afghanistan campaign.

http://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/reports/ir/ir_expense.htm

2007 saw us have $429 billion in deficit-related interest spending.
2008 saw us have $451 billion.
2009 saw us have $383 billion.

So far, in FY 2010, we have paid $164 billion in 4 months (October 2009 to Jan 2010). Simply multiplying by 3, we get $492 billion. However, that is too naive a final number.

Obama is proposing a $3.8 trillion dollar budget. That's an additional $900 billion of debt over the $2.9 trillion dollar budget that we didn't have in 2008.

That's $900 billion on the national debt, not the deficit. The interest payment on that, at perhaps 3%, is $27 billion dollars.

That's more than the entire budget of NASA, in debt obligation. NASA has less than $20 billion for its operating budget.

So, if Obama gets his budget, or even close to it, we will breach the $500 billion debt obligation threshold in our budget.

That makes the deficit payments (and really just the INTEREST payments on the deficit) a larger line item on the annual budget than the Department of Defense. The DoD operates with $481 billion dollars.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/rewrite/budget/fy2008/defense.html

This cannot stand. The center will not hold.

The interest component of our nation's annual budget will be the second largest item on our budget.

With DoD at $500 billion, the interest at $500 billion and Social Security at $650 billion (http://www.socialsecurity.gov/budget/FactCard2009.pdf), that's $1.65 trillion out of $2.9 trillion of the Bush underfunded budget. When we start to consider what it means to borrow $500 billion to $1 trillion dollars a year and adding that to our existing interest payments as a component of the budget, it quickly becomes apparent that this cannot stand.

Adding insult to injury is the well documented tradition in Washington to fund projects and NEVER de-fund them. If the budget for one year is $3.9 trillion, then it will be at least $3.9 trillion forever more. That's a trillion of borrowing every year. And an additional $30 billion of interest (at 3%) tacked onto last year's interest bill. And, whatever capital payment might be in place against the actual working debt.

Fight, people. Take this up with Congress, with the President. With your governor and state legislature. Beware any deficits in any budgets. We are on such a financial precipice that our country is in jeopardy. Drunk-spending Washington will not stop.

Success

2010-01-13T08:32:00.000-07:00

Well, sort of.

All my rounds fed successfully, without any cleaning of the firearm between stages. No failures except for one I caused by myself: I thought I fully inserted a mag and it ran for 7 out of 8 rounds, but it turns out it didn't secure itself on the mag catch. I guess it's a testament to Wilson 47D magazines if they can feed my gun without being fully seated.

124.28, despite about 10 seconds of fussing with the one mag problem.

Next week, the 9mm's. Starting with the XD9 since I have a decent kydex holster for it. Need to get one for the CZ-75, still.

Progressing at Steel

2010-01-12T15:35:00.001-07:00

Last week I improved to 121.24 seconds, and ran flawless for 3 out of 4 stages as far as reliability was concerned. I was all set to break 100 seconds, actually.

Then I shot the last stage and came across some rounds that turned out to be too large in crimp diameter, measuring 0.474" across at the mouth. Grr. Argh.

So... this week I went through 200 rounds that I made on my Dillon Square Deal B, and hand-chambered them in my Colt Government 1991 barrel (removed the barrel from the slide to do this quickly and easily). Of those 200 rounds, 182 seem to chamber reliably.

I have those 182 rounds set aside. I will run them in my 5 known good magazines (3 wilsons and 2 ACT's). In theory, I should run a flawless night, and hopefully clear 100 seconds tonight.

In theory. :-)

I also cleaned the lube-sludge that oozes out when loading .45 with lead bullets, so the chamber should stay cleaner longer. I'll also run the bore snake through it once between the 2nd and 3rd stages, just as a preventative maintenance issue.

More Steel

2010-01-05T08:39:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm finally shooting halfway decently at the steel matches.

Last time I went, I ran the course in 142.32, right-smack in the middle of the pack of D-rank shooters. All the Grand Master shooters are still running the same courses in about 45 seconds with the tricked out race guns in the space-man holsters.

I had one gear issue that appears to be caused by my lead roundnose reloads. I wasn't flaring the case quite enough and I was getting wax/lead residue on the case mouth, affecting headspace. I changed my press to flare the case a bit more, and I went out and tested the results this last weekend. The cartridges look cleaner and function just fine.

So, that should save me about 10 seconds hopefully. Put me closer to the top of D-class if my reloads work properly tonight with no malfunctions.

Also got a really good pointer last time: To build speed, I need to assume that my shot is good and bring the gun down out of recoil and onto the next target immediately. Right now, I am bringing it down out of recoil and preserving sight picture onto the previous target, like I do with rifle shooting. I'll try that tonight.

So tonight will be my Colt 1991 government pistol.

Steel guns: Updated

2009-12-02T12:19:00.000-07:00

So, I've updated the gear a bit.

1911 platform: I have 2 Wilson and 2 ACT 8rd magazines, and I'm going to test both of them to see which performs best in both my 1911's. Ordered a quad mag carrier from Blade-Tech, should arrive this week or next. Taking forever to get here. Once a mag platform is chosen, I'll pick up half a dozen of that type. Personally, I'm rooting for the ACT magazines. They're half the price of the Wilsons. The 1991 has the Ed Brown safety installed. I did it myself and it works great. Very educational experience. Still need to get off my duff and begin experimenting with making 1911 grips. I need some wood grips, cut to accomodate the ambi safety notch on the right side.

.44 Redhawk: Got the correct moonclips from TK Custom, but realized after my first shoot that I only have 60 rounds staged up in my 10 moonclips. I probably should have about 150 staged up in my range bag, ready to go. I don't want to moon/demoon between stages. Gonna have to order another 20 moonclips.

Smith K-frame: Got the gun, been out shooting it, really like it. Ordered a kydex holster from Blade-Tech for it, should arrive with the quad mag carrier. Have 3 HKS-10 speedloaders as well as an Uncle Mike's dual speedloader carrier, but I probably need at least 2 more, probably 3 more. Gonna familiarize more with this gun and let the Redhawk gather dust in the safe until I'm a deadeye with DA .38 shooting and can rapidly operate the speedloaders.

CZ-75: Up to 5 magazines how, and also ordered a dual mag carrier from Blade-Tech along with the other stuff. However: I only have my IWB holster for this gun. Need a decent OWB holster. I'll keep working the 1911 and K-frame until then.

And... I drank the blue kool-aid. Got a Dillon Square Deal B. I still refuse to run a progressive for rifle rounds, but if I'm gonna shoot 100+ rounds a week from handgun, then I can't replenish that supply on a single stage. Ain't gonna happen. I don't have the time at 50-75 rounds per hour. Once all my gear is "tested" and approved functional, I intend to predominantly run the CZ-75 since 9mm cast bullets are by far cheaper than anything else I shoot, followed by .38 boolits. I've got SDB dies for .45acp, 9mm and .38/.357.

So, all my half-completed platforms are getting closer to being complete.

1st Shooting Match - "Tuesday Night Steel"

2009-11-04T17:06:00.000-07:00

I went to Tuesday Night Steel at the Usery Pass shooting range. Wow, was that awesome. There are some amazingly talented shooters there. I'm going to learn a LOT from these guys.

I'm having gear-drama in regards to my 3 "best" guns for pistol competitions, though.

First up, a CZ-75. This 9mm handgun is great and I shoot well with it, but I only have 3 magazines and 2 separate single magazine pouches. I need a couple more mags and more mag carriers. So I couldn't run it for my first time out. That's okay... I wasn't planning to anyways. Fully equipping this gun can wait until next spring.

I intended to run my custom 4" .44 Redhawk, cut for moonclips. Only problem was the moonclips that came in the mail this week were cut incorrectly for a Ruger extractor star. TK Custom is sending me the right clips... but it wasn't in time for this week. I also didn't have a holster really suitable to this type of competition. I don't go for "race" holsters as a rule, but my leather holster for this gun is too high and tight and the nylon one I have has a retention strap that would slow me down quite a bit. I'm waiting for a custom kydex one to be finished, which I should be able to pick up tomorrow.

My other gun I was considering running is a Colt 1991 full sized .45. But, it has a standard right handed safety and I'm one of those gawd-awful southpaws. I've been trying to get an ambidextrous safety from Midway with no success. They've sent me two Colt 1911 ambidextrous extended thumb safeties so far...at least the wrapper says so. The part in the bag is a right side only safety. So, no full sized Colt. Finally changed the order to an Ed Brown safety and we'll see if that gets me the right type of part. I think Midway has an inventory bug in regards to the Colt ambi safety.

That really only left my lightweight Colt Commander to run. It's a nice and accurate gun, but competitions are easier to be competitive if your gun is heavier and comes down from recoil quickly. I sorted through my magazines and found I had six that I considered reliable enough: 2 factory Colt 8rd, 2 ACT 8rd, and 2 ACT 7rd magazines.

The course of fire required 96 hits over 4 different bays. The fastest guys were in the 46 second range! I don't know what their hit rate was, but you can never miss fast enough to win... so I guess it's pretty high. I ran the course and had malfunction drama from my Colt magazines (but the ACT's all ran fine). Failure to lock the slide back mostly, but also one stovepipe and one failure to strip a round from the mag at all. I don't know exactly what my round count was that I shot... somewhere around 125.

So: I geared up with a Fobus paddle holster for my Commander, a Fobus 2-mag carrier, and pockets full of extra mags. Ran each of the four courses and ended up with a total time of 208.46. I'm pretty happy with that, considering everything.

I have more gear on the way to better-equip myself for this type of competition without going overboard.... the proper ambi safety for the full sized 1911, extra mag carriers, things like that. Some replacement springs for the Colt malfunctioning magazines. Probably next year I'll replace all my magazines in one batch for matching ACT's with bumper pads.

J.D. Hayworth

2009-10-30T16:23:00.000-07:00

Let me preface this with the declaration that I like most of JD's political stance...

But I can't stand his voice or his style of radio programming.

Biggest gripes:

#1 - Open line Friday. Thank God he finally got rid of this. "Open lines" is the laziest form of talk radio possible. His particular version of it encouraged telephone "actors" to call up with skits and corny voices, and they even became regulars. Devolved into a not-funny parody of 1940's era Pappy O'Daniel radio.

#2 - Weenie of the Week. His theme song for this sucks and makes me turn the volume down on the radio. His attempt at clean language insults isn't even childish... it's just lame. JD: Either get as dirty as the FCC will allow you, or attack from the heights of intelligence rather than from the mediocrity of this skit.

JD, please put McCain out of the Senate and get off of the air waves.

The only S&W's I own

2009-10-30T10:48:00.000-07:00

I own two Smith and Wesson revolvers.

Actually, for full disclosure, I'm not sure if I really own the second one yet.

The first one and solidly in my possession is a 2008 S&W model 642-1 snubnose .38 revolver. Double-action only, lightweight aluminum frame, no internal lock system. I refuse to buy any S&W revolver with a lock installed in it.

The second revolver is a S&W model 65 K-frame in .357 magnum. It was shipped to my gun dealer of choice this week and I'm picking it up on Saturday. I've paid for it, but I haven't taken possession of it or undergone the mandatory NICS check since it is an interstate purchase yet. I have a CCW permit so I'm not likely to have my NICS check denied... What do you think? Is it "mine" at this point?

Looking forward to this K-frame. I'm going to be using it for my earlier stated uses in this post. Lots of .38 to put downrange. Last night I scrounged up all my .38 brass I could find. Definitely don't have as much of it as I wish I had... maybe 500-600 pieces total. Historically I've just kind of walked on by .38 brass on the ground, looking for .357 to feed my SP-101. Wish I picked up those thousands of cases over the years. Well, I can change that from here on out.

Going to tuesday night steel at the Usery Pass range this week. Gonna either take the 4" moonclipped redhawk with moonclipped specials, or this K-frame with .38's and speedloaders, depending on which I shoot better this weekend out plinking at the range. Probably the redhawk.

I sure wish someone still made a K-frame .357 sized gun today. Dan Wesson M15, Smith K-frames, Colt Troopers, Ruger "sixes." I don't like L-frames and I don't like locks. The GP series from Ruger is too big. Colt and DW are gone. Sigh.

Jim Deakin: A Freakin Idiot

2009-10-13T14:55:00.000-07:00

I'm all for ousting McCain in 2010. RINOs suck. McCain, despite his service in Vietnam, doesn't have any fight in him. And he's an illegal alien sympathizer. He's also interested in working with "my friends" across this aisle to pass a Health Care bill. Since I believe in deregulation of (just about) everything, I don't trust McCain and his "friends" to increase the amount they leave me the heck alone.

I've been very interested in learning more about McCain's primary challengers as a result of this.

First up: Chris Simcox. Founder of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, he's been embroiled in more scandal than you can shake a stick at. Huge dust-up with Jim Gilchrist over Minuteman tactics and future of the organization resulting in a split in memberships and organizations. Restraining order against him by his ex-wife and son. Embezzlement of MCDC fence funds (allegedly). Getting in bed with Deiner Consulting and other DC Beltway insiders, allowing them to tap into the finances of the volunteer driven MCDC. A financial efficiency rating of about 8%, last I heard, after all of that. Just abysmal financial management. Another dust-up with the Arizona MCDC core group resulting in another fracture of the Minuteman coalition and the creation of Patriot's Border Alliance by the dissenters. Simcox is a schmuck.

Next up, and the topic of this blog post for today: Jim Deakin.

I was initially excited over this guy... his page sounded good.

Then one day, Stacey O'Connell (formerly of the MCDC, PBA, and Phoenix City Council) sent me this email, part of Deakin's mass mailing strategy to get his name out to more folks:

Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., is teaming with Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., to back the Fighting Real Estate Fraud Act of 2009.

Apparently Jon Kyl has not learned that reaching across the aisle to Democrats is what will cost John McCain the election to Jim Deakin. Jon is giving $200 Million in borrowed tax dollars to prosecutors to investigate and target everyday Americans who are down on their luck and who resort to stripping their homes prior to foreclosure.

HEY JON, BANKS ALREADY RECEIVED HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS OF OUR TAX DOLLARS. IF THEY CAN NOT REPLACE A FEW TOILETS AND LIGHT FIXTURES THEN THEY SHOULD GO OUT OF BUSINESS. FAILED BANK MANAGERS SHOULD NOT GET ANOTHER BAIL OUT FROM THE TAX PAYERS.

HEY JON, IT IS NOT IN YOUR CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY TO GIVE MY TAX DOLLARS TO STATE PROSECUTORS.

Maybe John will challenge Jon in the 2012 Senatorial race?

Whoever reads the US Constitution first should win.

While I do give Deakin minor approval for discerning between federal and state law enforcement and revenue streams...

I have a HUGE issue with this statement: Jon is giving $200 Million in borrowed tax dollars to prosecutors to investigate and target everyday Americans who are down on their luck and who resort to stripping their homes prior to foreclosure.

Jim, you just lost my vote. You've revealed your lack of moral core, populist sympathies and unsuitability for the office of Senator.

A Senator must be a man above the fray who is armed with reason rather than bribes to hand out in his pocket, and a proponent of the Law before mob rule. A Defender of the Republic rather than a promulgator of Democracy. We've all heard Ben Franklin's famous saying, right? Democracy is two wolves and a sheep deciding what to eat for dinner. A Republic is a well armed lamb contesting the vote.

Deakin revealed himself here, hoping to garner the votes of the types of low-lifes that once it becomes apparent they cannot make their mortgage payments, lower their behavior to the point of petty vandalism.

Ask yourself: If you are about to lose your home, is it your right to vandalize the property by stripping copper wiring and piping from it for salvage? How about rolling up the sod from the backyard and selling it? Perhaps you could disassemble the drywall, shingles and lumber to sell to another home builder? Or, maybe, you can just have a house moving company pick up the house and move it elsewhere in one big chunk?

What sympathy could anyone possibly have for thieves? Mortgages exist as they do under the assumption that both sides act with honor. When the borrower attempts to steal valuable infrastructure from the house upon default, the value of the house drops so that the lender cannot recoup their losses. The result is an increase in mortgage costs for everyone. What other industries do we see behaving like this?

Health Care. Auto Insurance. Retail, as a result of shoplifting.

Get the idea? It's another case of self-sufficient people (healthy people in the case of health care, safe drivers in the case of auto insurance, honest purchasers in the case of retail, and responsible borrowers in the case of home loans) being forced to bail out the dregs of society who refuse to accept responsibility for themselves. The twinky-munching fatsos in the electric scooter at WalMart that buys nothing but junk food with his food stamps and complains of being "big boned" rather than fat-headed when he goes in for a heart attack on my dime. The texting idiot driving in one of the lanes beside you, on his third car this year. The shoplifter. And now the mortgage defaulting vandal.

So, I say again: While I give brief acknowledgment to Deakin for at least discerning the difference between state and federal law enforcment budgets and priorities... Deakin did more than that. He revealed deliberate sympathy for petty vandals.

I hope Terry Goddard puts every one of Deakin's apparent voter base behind bars.

Double Action Revolver: Week 1

2009-10-11T13:22:00.000-07:00

So, it's been forever since I shot any of my DA revolvers. Ever since I got my Colt Lightweight Commander .45 and my CZ-75, the allure of the wheelgun has just been less potent.

Headed out in the desert with the following objectives. Some of them are woefully behind the times and inappropriate: Should have been done months ago, but set on the wayside until today.

The shameful objectives include function checks on both of my Redhawk revolvers. The older 5.5" blued one has had a lot of modification done to it: Fiber optic front sight, V-notch rear sight blade, lightened hammer spring installed. Who knew if it would even function, or shoot to point of aim? All this was done over a year ago, and I hadn't put a single round through it in that time. The newer 4" stainless Redhawk was heavily customized from this summer up until September: bead-blasted finish, chromed cylinder turn line, lightened hammer spring, lightened trigger return spring, optimized trigger for double-action shooting, fiber optic front sight, and the big one: cylinder cut for .44 moon clips.

Aside from the health checkup on my pet wheelies, I had these 5 skills to begin working on:

1. 1-handed DA target shooting.
2. 1-handed DA point-shooting.
3. 1-handed SA target shooting.
4. 2-handed SA target shooting.
5. 2-handed DA defensive shooting.

My tools for skill development include a Taurus model 94 5" .22 revolver, a Ruger SP-101 3" .357 revolver and the above mentioned Redhawks.

I began with the 1-handed DA target shooting with the .22. I set out a target at approximately 20 feet and put on my shooting glasses: the right eye is taped on these glasses as I am trying to get my left eye to become my dominant shooting eye (since I shoot left handed). My target was a bull circle about 2 inches across, and I didn't get a single shot inside that bull. Predominantly high and right, but some went high and left, too. I noticed during trigger pull that I had a tendency to not put tension on the grip with my pinky, which caused the front sight to climb during trigger break. I practiced dry-firing with the spent casings in the gun for a bit and reloaded, targeting a fresh target on the paper each time. I was now getting about 1/3 or 1/2 of each cylinder into the bulls, and the remainder were around the upper perimeter of each target, no more than 1-2 inches from the edge of the bull. I was happy with that, but this Taurus was a dog of a gun. The DA pull was horrific on it even with the lighter spring I had put in it.

My shoulder was starting to get stiff from the 1-handed target shooting, so I switched to some point-shooting for a bit. I found an old bottle out in the desert and from 15 feet fired at it on the ground, holding the revolver at my hip. The goal was to fire rapidly but not out of control, about 3 shots per second or so, going for an instinctual alignment of the gun with the target in my eyes, not unlike pointing at it with my hand. My first two shots hit just in front and just behind the bottle, missing by inches and the third shot sent it flying. I repeated this several times, bringing the gun back into the holster between sets. Draw, present, shoot: fire until the bottle is moved. With the Taurus .22, it was never the first shot but never more than 5 before I found my mark. More practice would be required.

I switched over to my SP-101. I was shooting some old ammo I had loaded up years ago... plated .38 reloads pushed by a light charge of Titegroup powder. Definitely not +p material, and not even knocking on the door of max standard .38 loads. Very soft stuff. I started in with the 1-handed DA target shooting.

I did extremely poorly with the little SP. The trigger pull was so drastically different from the Taurus. Though a lighter spring than the rimfire revolver needed, it stacked differently and increased tension as I squeezed. I gave it a good try, but couldn't find a rhythm with that gun with this drill. After 40 or so rounds, I gave up and found myself doing 2-handed SA shooting. I asked myself the point of this with gallery .38 loads and a short-barreled gun: I'm not likely to hunt with the SP-101 and especially not with light .38's. I was practicing nothing, so I put the gun away and switched to the next one.

This was the 5.5" Redhawk. I tended to carry this gun on hiking or hunting trips, in a Hunter leather holster and cartridge belt, and the 25 cartridges in this belt had been there for about 2 years. They were starting to build some tacky residue from being in leather loops too long. A goal for this rig is to locate some nickel-plated .44 magnum cartridges so the tackiness is less of an issue for long term storage. For today, however, I intended to shoot off these cartridges and reload the belt with fresh ammo.

I shot the gun 12 times in single action two handed, and from 25 feet. It hit about 4 inches high at 25 feet, even dialing the rear sight all the way down. The load was a 240gr lead semiwadcutter pushed by 16 grains of AA #7 powder. This is my standard load. It grouped consistently so my sights aren't loose or anything, but apparently either the rear V-notch blade is taller than the stock square notch, or the front fiber optic blade is shorter than the stock front sight. I'm going to need to do some range testing with this load, as I love how it shoots from both my Redhawks and it's my standard load... find out where the load comes back "down" to intersect with my sights, and what the peak height it reaches is, and where? I shot the remaining cartridges in the belt double-action two handed: I'm not ready for .44 magnum recoil in a one-handed grip yet.

Finally, I moved on to my pet gun: The customized 4" Redhawk. I started out with some 200gr lead roundnose .44 special loads. I shot six rounds single action, seated on the ground, with elbows braced against my knees, to confirm zero at 25 feet. Spot-on. I did do some 1-handed target work with this gun, using the .44 specials. Nothing to write home about. I found the gun had a tendency to twist in my hand slightly from the recoil, and my shots tended to move high and right from this. The mating of the grip backstrap to the webbing of my hand was critical to avoid this. Even slight variations would send the bullet in wildly different directions. After a dozen rounds like this, I moved on to DA two-handed shooting: Draw, fire 3 rounds, crouch and fire 3 rounds, get off the X and move sideways while reloading, keep moving and fire six more.

An aside: I don't have any spare moonclips for the gun yet, so I'm using HKS Speedloaders. These rely on gravity to drop the cartridges into the chambers. I found that after a handful of lead rounds downrange, gravity couldn't overcome the gunk that provided friction. I had to assist some of the cartridges to seat. This won't be an issue with moonclips, as a moonclip can be seated from the center with mild assistance from a single digit of the shooter.

The drill went well and exposed a weakness of my revolver when it comes to using speedloaders. I'll be ordering moonclip tools in the next couple weeks. Marksmanship was acceptable for defensive standards: Everything was getting inside of a 6" circle while firing, crouching, or moving sideways. Of course, the target was stationary. :-) Ken at Wild West Guns did a fantastic job on the DA trigger of this sixgun.

For grins and giggles I put a dozen full magnum loads downrange at about 50 feet, seated on the ground, single action. two handed. All in the bull and with touching circles. Probably a 1.5" group or so. Seems like the 4" is the only one cleared to go hike with me, until the 5.5" one gets its sights regulated back to normal.

Things I've realized:

1. I've been spoiled by 1911's and single action CZ's.
2. My trigger finger has the beginnings of a blister. I don't shoot often enough. Gotta fix this.
3. My left wrist is weak, as are the muscles responsible for holding that arm up. Push-ups and light weightlifting should help that, along with dryfire practice.
4. I trust the 4" Redhawk to carry as a daily defensive piece.

Drastic CCW weapon change

2009-10-08T22:46:00.003-07:00

I've had some interesting evolution in my choice of concealed personal defense weapon.

When I first started carrying, I found myself most easily carrying a 3" Ruger SP-101... a 5-shot .357 magnum revolver. I had a Glock 21 (.45), a Springfield XD9 (9mm), a Charles Daly 1911 (.45) and a Redhawk (.44) to choose from as well... but they never seemed to fit my body right.

The G21 was too wide, had too long of a grip, and "bit" at me with the squareness of the frame when carried inner-waistband (IWB). The grip of the gun was the heaviest point when fully loaded with 13 rounds, and it had a tendency to rotate behind my waist and print noticeably.

The XD9 had a shorter grip and was lighter, but it still had the square-slide bite issue against my hip... even with a high quality holster.

The full sized 1911 was fine in regards to width and contour, but was a bit too heavy, and the Redhawk with its 5.5" barrel was simply too big to carry in a concealed manner.

So... the SP-101 got the nod.

I tried out other guns as I got more and more proficient at carrying: I got a CZ-75 at one point when capacity became a concern of mine. Despite its drawback with weight, it was otherwise very concealable and some day I will have a lightweight PCR or P-01 variant of that product line as a potential carry gun. I think I enjoy the platform even more than 1911's. Blasphemy, but it's true.

I got a Colt Lightweight Commander last spring... that finally trumped the SP-101 as daily carry. And how! Same weight, thinner profile, 8+1 rounds of .45, single action trigger, faster reloads.

I carried that all spring and summer quite happily.

Now that fall is setting in and the low, low 90 degree fall Arizona temperatures are upon us, I've taken to carrying my project gun: A customized 4" Redhawk in .44 magnum. This is largely an experiment, and we'll see how long it lasts.

This Redhawk sports the factory rubberized finger groove grips, which I like alot: But I'm considering changing them out for the other hardwood factory grips and a Tyler T-grip. I'll experiment on the larger Redhawk first and then migrate those changes to this one. Aside from that, this Redhawk has its chambers cut for moonclips, so I can run .44 Russian, .44 Special and .44 Magnum in moonclips for extremely fast reloads. The trigger was tuned for swift and smooth DA work by Ken Feinmann up at Wild West Guns in Alaska (he also cut the cylinder for me). The finish was matte bead blasted and a chrome turn line is on the cylinder to reduce drag of the bolt stop. I also have a fiber optic front sight on it.

I'm carrying it with 200 grain Speer Gold Dot .44 Special hollowpoints. I practice with 200 grain lead roundnose equivalent loads.

I have two ways I can carry this gun: Out in the woods I have a Wilderness Tactical Products Instructor Belt, with an inexpensive yet sturdy Uncle Mike's 4" large frame revolver holster with hammer retention snap. Around town (and the dominant way for as long as I can stand to do so), I have a Simply Rugged pancake holster that fits OWB on my Beltman 1.5" belt.

I'm going to try and make it all year until next summer with this gun on my side. The 4" Redhawk weighs in slightly more than a GI 1911, @ 47 ounces. Just shy of 3 pounds, unloaded.

Why? Why on Earth would I set aside a perfectly good, comfortable, powerful Colt LW Commander for this thing?

-Because I can. :-)
-I'm just drawn to Redhawks.
-I've got a goal to be able to one-hand operate a Redhawk in a defensive manner, accurately, with .44 magnum ammunition. Helps to treat the Redhawk as my primary defensive platform if I want to attain that goal.

So, range trips are going to be a revolver-oriented pursuit for awhile: I'll be practicing with .38's to build eye-hand coordination in both hands (I found a model 65 to buy, I think), and practicing with .44 specials at least with the left dominant hand to keep defensive proficiency.

At least I won't have to chase brass!

(Actually... I intend to "dump" my brass during reloads so that I practice correctly. I'll pick it up after practicing the reload and re-holstering or otherwise setting down the revolver depending on range rules.)

Sixgun Handgunnery

2009-10-08T08:19:00.003-07:00

I just got done reading Pale Horse Coming by Stephen Hunter. Not to ruin it for anyone, but the last part of the book REALLY made me want to work on my DA revolver work.

I've committed to finding an inexpensive DA .38 service revolver... possibly even a pair, and maybe even in .357.

I've got a pair of Redhawks (with my monicker? go figure...) but my one-handed shooting is not ready even for .44 special in my dominant left hand. I've also discovered that my Hogue monogrip on my "first" redhawk is great for two handed target shooting, but not so great for one-handed shooting. I'm going to put the factory grip back on, but with the addition of a Tyler T-grip to block in the area behind the trigger guard. That's the whole reason I went with the monogrip in the first place... that space behind the trigger guard. If the T-grip and factory grips work out well, I'll outfit the "second" redhawk the same way. It's a 4" model with the new cushy rubberized grips.

I want to work up to where I can ultimately run a pair of Redhawks (one in each hand) with moderate .44 magnum loads, accurately. I've started with my crapper Taurus 94 in .22 already, but I'm about ready to move up to .38's for the next phase, with the intention of progressing from gallery .38's to standard .38's to .357 magnums to .44 specials and ultimately to the .44 magnum.

Anyways, I'm looking for used, pre-lock S&W's, Colts or Rugers: S&W K-frames 10, 19, 65, 66.... Colt Trooper or Cobra (though less desireable since these tend to cost more than they are worth to me for this project)... Ruger security sixes. Condition isn't an issue: cosmetic flaws are welcome as these guns are going to shoot a LOT of rounds while I train my hands up. Worn bluing or old worn chrome is just fine: These things will see a LOT of Hoppes in the next couple years. I'd like to have a pair of the same model so left and right hand don't get accustomed to a particular gun's action type.

And, I'll need gun leather appropriate to this. Since I'll be shooting these often, I'm probably going to be putting my trusty Commander in the safe for awhile and relying on these guns instead as my carry weapon(s). I'll need left and right handed OWB holsters without an aggressive retention system, I'll need a left handed IWB holster for one of 'em... and I might even want to experiment with cross-draw, though most ranges around here don't allow for cross-draw practice.

Arizonans! Independence Day Appleseed!

2008-06-24T21:26:00.000-07:00

Ladies and Gentlemen, you've heard of these shoots on this forum. Now, those of you in the Phoenix/Payson/Show Low/Camp Verde/Winslow area have the opportunity to participate in an Appleseed Shoot.

Over the weekend of July 5th and 6th, you have the opportunity to be immersed in the tradition of the American Rifleman and the epic history of our country's founding in 1775.

You'll learn about the great personal sacrifices made by men and women of the day, the chain of events that led to our Declaration of Independence, and how the role of the American Rifleman played into that great saga.

You'll also put approximately 400 rounds down-range in an instructional course that will teach you to fire your rifle from real positions, accurately, and to be effective with your rifle out to the "Rifleman's Quarter Mile."

The best part of all, though, is you'll spend the Independence Day weekend with other Americans who have a deep respect for the sacrifices made by those 18th century patriots, and wish to preserve the memories of those who stood for us today.

For more information or to sign up:

General Info:http://www.appleseedinfo.org
Event-specific Info:http://appleseedinfo.org/smf/index.php?topic=3032.0
Sign-up:http://www.appleseedinfo.org/as_schedule.htm

Payson is a great place to visit for Phoenicians looking to escape the summer heat of the Valley below. Camping is available as well as hotels.

The Tonto Rim Sports Club was gracious enough to offer their range for this event, and we get to use a quality NRA High Power range with sun shade for the event.

Directions to the range:From Phoenix, drive North on Highway 87 (Beeline Highway). Keep an eye out for milepost 248... it's about 2 miles just south of Payson city limits. Drive 0.6 miles north of milepost 248 and turn right onto Forest Road 208. The range is approximately 1.8 miles down the road.

From Payson, drive south on Highway 87. At milepost 249, go about 0.4 miles to the left-turn cutout in the highway and turn left onto Forest Road 208. The range is approximately 1.8 miles down the road.

map: http://www.tontorimsportsclub.com/pages/map_l.html

I hope to see you there.

Ammo budget looking grim? Afraid of a new AWB?

2008-04-25T15:53:00.002-07:00

The AWB ending was the best thing in the world for Bushmaster/DPMS/Stag/RRA/Cavalry Arms/{insert favoritepoodlepopperplatform here}. Sales lifted through the roof under speculation that "Y'all only have a little while ta git 'em, so stack 'em deep!"We now have LEGIONS of EBR owners with everything from inexpensive SKS's to top-dollar M14 Match rifles or AR-10's. Daewoo's, AK's, PSL's, M1's, Keltecs and other evil rifles abound.

Those rifle owners, who thought that the rifle would be the target of the ire of Politicos, decided they might like to learn how to use these new-fangled doo-dads... so they bought ammunition for them.

They bought more ammo. Then still more.

The surplus .223, 7.62NATO and x39/x54 dried up in a hurry. Add in a war, and prices for new ammunition almost tripled in the last 10 years.

Gun grabbers realize there is a new glut of EBR's out there, with bullets for them. Their goal now is to regulate/ban/tax/hinder the ammo out of existence, helped by your desire to train and familiarize yourself with your rifle.

Don't help them.

The best political statement you can make right now regarding firearms (aside from membership in AT LEAST 2 prominent organizations of your pick) is to shoot a LOT. A lot of .22.

Trick out a .22 to handle like your EBR. It may be a 10/22 rigged like an M14/M1, or it may be a Ceiner conversion for your AR. Learn mag changes, learn to shoot from something other than the bench, and learn to make HITS rather than just to shoot for the thrill of shooting.

Take a rifle class. Appleseed, NRA High Power, Gunsite, Frontsight, anything... as long as you:
1. Build your skills.
2. Network with other shooters and likeminded folks.
3. Become involved in local politics as a result. ALL POLITICS IS LOCAL. Lexington and Concord were local.

Keep familiarity with your EBR, but keep your ammunition reserves at a secure level. Shoot just enough that you can afford to replace.

Then go shoot that .22 some more.

Victory At AZGFD Headquarters!

2008-01-23T15:29:00.000-07:00

Common sense prevailed over raw emotion at the Arizona Game and Fish Headquarters last Friday as the board members elected to continue with the current voluntary compliance policy regarding lead ammunition and the California Condor.

NRA supporters, Second Amendment activists and outdoorsmen of all stripes showed up in force for the all-day public discussion forum that addressed a range of issues from the hotly debated lead ammo ban to poaching concerns to procedures to replace Duane Shroufe as director of the AZGFD.

Also present were approximately twenty or so Condor supporters of various stripes; some of scientific prominence in the raptor and birds of prey fields of study.

I spoke and presented my abridged findings (which were cut short by the premature failure of my bullet trap), but I hardly swayed the decision; AZGFD knows its duty to its constituency and needs to be congratulated in keeping their priorities in focus.

Box of Truth?

2008-01-14T16:54:00.000-07:00

I went out in the desert this last weekend to experiment with various weights and versions of copper jacketed lead hunting bullets in response to the AZGFD's "discussion" on January 18th.

Here is my hastily constructed version of a "Box o' Truth." It holds up to nine 1-gallon jugs of water roughly six inches deep each. The box is ten inches wide and about five feet deep.

It turned out to be insufficient to the power of my targeted cartridge, the .308 Winchester. I loaded up one round of Federal's 150gr PowerShock ammunition and fired it into my BoT.

The bullet smashed three water jugs, then changed course and smashed through the 1/2" particle board wall and disappeared into my backstop.

It was immediately apparent that I would have to go back to the drawing board for measuring the expansion and mass retention of big game rifle cartridges. If the .308 did this to my box, then .30-06 and larger cartridges would be even worse.

After repairing my impromptu bullet trap, I left the .308 platform for awhile and moved on to centerfire pistol cartridges, hoping that the less powerful cartridges would be less damaging to my frame.

First up: the .44 Remington Magnum cartridge. This particular loading is a 240 grain Lead Semiwadcutter bullet pushed by 16.0 grains of Accurate Arms #7 powder with an overall length of 1.575" on the assembled cartridge. It is not a very aggressive loading. Recoil in general is fairly soft. I do not have a chronometer, but I would estimate velocity to be between 1250 and 1300 feet per second. The firing platform was a stock Ruger Redhawk with a 4" barrel, fired from 15 yards.

The bullet fully penetrated six jugs of water but moved off-center far enough to miss the final three jugs and embed itself into my dirt berm, unrecoverable. I examined each of the water jugs and found a perfectly circular entry and exit hole on each one. I also checked the bottom of each container for any lead shavings or bullet fragments. None precipitated to the bottom of the jugs. Despite not being able to retain the fired bullet, between these two observations, I can conclude that the LSWC bullet used in this test maintained 100% (or near enough) integrity and left no lead residue behind.

Next, I tried a .357 Magnum loading. This particular load was a 158gr LSWC design similar to the 44 Magnum above, pushed by Hodgdon Titegroup powder measured to 5.0gr. The cartridge measures 1.600" OAL. I'd estimate the velocity to be approximately 1100fps. The firing platform was a Ruger SP-101 revolver with 3" barrel.

This bullet performed almost exactly like the .44 Magnum; it penetrated five jugs of water and moved off-center enough to miss the remaining water jugs. It brushed against the right wall of the box and bounced off again, impacting into the dirt berm. Each of the entry and exit holes of the bullet were completely round, and there was no lead residue or shavings in the five perforated containers.

I would have preferred to retain the bullets if at all possible, and a redesign of the bullet trap will allow for this in the future. That being said, I am confident that the results I have extrapolated from available data regarding lead wadcutter bullets will hold out when a better trap is constructed.

I moved on to .22 long rifle cartridges. I was using an old Coast-to-Coast hardware rifle based off the Marlin model 795 as a test platform.

The first cartridge tested was the Winchester XPERT22 offering. This is an all lead bullet with a fairly prominent hollowpoint, weighing 36gr. The bullet completely penetrated the first jug leaving behind the lead walls of the hollowpoint, and the base came to rest inside of the second jug. I retrieved the pieces of the hollowpoint from the first jug and the base from the second jug for later weighing.

The second cartridge was the CCI Stinger offering. This is a copper jacketed bullet with a hollowpoint, weighing 32gr. This bullet performed almost identically to the Winchester XPERT22; the hollowpoint sheared away in the first jug and the base penetrated into the second jug. I retrieved the pieces for later weighing. The broken pieces of hollowpoint wall appear to be almost entirely copper in construction.

The third cartridge was the CCI MiniMag offering. This is a copper plated lead bullet with a very minimal hollowpoint, 36gr in weight. This bullet performed the most impressively out of the four tested. The bullet penetrated three water jugs. No bullet pieces were left in the first two containers, and the recovered projectile from the third jug was perfectly mushroomed to 0.325" diameter and weighed 35.8gr on recovery. This two-tenths of a grain difference in weight is easily explained by bullet weight variation; I don't believe any of the bullet is missing at all.

The fourth cartridge was the Federal Value Pack offering. This is also a copper plated lead bullet with a minimal hollowpoint, 36gr in weight. This bullet penetrated three water jugs, almost into a fourth. It penetrated the far wall of the third jug and lodged in, stopping the jug from draining. No pieces sheared off in any of the three jugs, and the bullet did not expand at all. It weighed 36.7gr on retrieval. Given the relatively inexpensive production techniques for these bullets, it appears that it retained 100% of its weight on impact.

The final cartridge tested for the day was a .30-30 Winchester offering, the 170gr Power Point. I hoped that since this cartridge was less powerful than the .308, it might be stopped by my weak bullet trap. The firing platform was a Winchester model 94 rifle.

The bullet penetrated five jugs, coming to a rest in the sixth. The water shockwave from jugs 1-2 completely destroyed the rest of my bullet trap beyond any hope of repair. The bullet came to rest in jug #6 and appeared to be intact. While the first 2-3 jugs were heavily damaged by the bullet's passage, no lead or copper sediment was visible in the bottom of each. The recovered projectile had sharp copper serations on the opened mushroom, with a diameter of 0.553". I have not weighed the projectile yet, but I expect it to weigh in excess of 160gr.

From these observations, I can reasonably conclude that:

The metallic material used has little or nothing to do with concerns over lead poisoning. If we were using pot iron or soft steel as a bullet core and designing these bullets to expand while hunting, we would be talking about tetanus or internal hemorrhaging of these birds rather than lead poisoning.

The culprit is bullet construction. A light, thin-jacketed bullet will sheer its jacket off on impact and collapse on any hollow cavity it contains. Barnes bullets and similar solid copper bullet competitors eliminate this problem by eliminating the jacket; they simply make the jacket and body the same material. Judging from my tests, the same exact result can be achieved by using a solid, hard-cast lead bullet. Other, longer-established premium bullet manufacturers such as Hornady and Speer have techniques to more solidly bind the jacket material to the lead core and eliminate separation or fracture of the bullet core.

Arizona Game and Fish to Entertain California-style Lunacy

2008-01-14T15:48:00.000-07:00

I received the following email from the NRA Institute for Legislative Action:

Arizona Game and Fish Commission to Discuss Lead Ammunition and Shooting Range Issues!Commission Discussing Issues Concerning Gun Owners and Hunters!On Friday, January 18th, 2008, the Arizona Game and Fish Commission (AZGFC) will be holding a public meeting to discuss issues concerning gun owners and hunters. Of greatest interest are briefings on shooting range funding and development (Item #3) as well as general issues associated with lead from spent ammunition (Item #10). Since last year, when California passed its unjustified ban on lead ammunition for all hunting in condor range, the NRA has been keeping a close eye on the same issue in Arizona. The Grand Canyon State has an experimental population of condors and some extremists in Arizona are advocating for a California-style ban! While the Commission agenda does not specifically mention a potential ban in Item #10, gun owners and hunters must be vigilant to ensure that this bad public policy does not spread!Please take the time and attend the AZGFC meeting and make your voice heard on these important issues. The meeting will be held at the Arizona Game and Fish Department at 5000 W. Carefree Highway, Phoenix, AZ, beginning at 8:00 a.m. A copy of the agenda can be found on the Commission's website at http://www.azgfd.gov/inside_azgfd/meeting_agenda.shtml

I don't buy into this idea that Condors are bothered by lead ammunition; I think this is a horrible false assumption to take to an unsupportable conclusion that lead ammunition should be restricted or banned for use by hunters that pursue game in areas where Condors are known to exist.

Just so we all are on the same page, the left image is what the controversy is about. A vulture. It does the same thing as rats, coyotes, crows, ravens, maggots and worms (along with countless other species I haven't included). It eats dead animals.

Condors are present in Arizona in the northwest corner of the state, stretching up into the Colorado River Basin and into the Grand Canyon. If you hunt anywhere around Flagstaff, north of Prescott, or over towards Kingman, you can be affected by regulation concerning the Condor population in Arizona. This can affect thousands of elk, deer, antelope, javelina, game bird and varmint hunters from all corners of the state.

Due to the wide range of game that cohabitates in land where the Condor has been reintroduced, an ammunition ban can have the power to regulate the use of calibers ranging all the way in power from the large game calibers of the old west like .45/70 or the newer .338 Winchester Magnum, to the more commonly used .30-06 or 7mm Remington Magnum, to popular coyote and javelina cartridges like the .223 Remington or .22-250 or even the .22LR rimfire you used to hunt cottontails.

Gun Owners of Arizona, we can't allow this idea to gather any momentum at all. There are two reasons that we need to oppose any regulation of hunting ammunition in our state.

A bullet constructed of lead, by itself, does not necessarily imply contamination of a shot game animal for the Condor to scavenge. Bullet construction has an enormous amount of influence in the amount of lead left in an unretrieved carcass.
Condors are designated as an experimental and non-essential species in Arizona.

It is my goal to demonstrate that both large game and varmint hunting can be successfully accomplished with bullets constructed of lead without adversely affecting the unretrieved carcasses that a Condor might feed upon.