Range Day Today With It's Ups & Downs

By Tuesday or Wednesday of this week it was turning out to be just another week pretty much full of drudgery & boredom for me here in the Texarkana area. Had it not been for me going to Sam's Club (once my membership expires they probably can kiss my arse goodbye), running a few other errands and going in to see a doc, I would have been pretty much apartment bound all week watching Star Trek Enterprise on Netflix.

Then, when Brendan got in touch with me to tell me he was going to buy a Remington Model 700, in 308 WIN, for hunting this year, I told him if he wanted it he cold have my still new in the box Savage 111 Long Range Hunter. He hemmed and hawed only a little and said that might not be too shabby.

So, I started to get things in order for a trip to see him over in Benton, AR and to bring along the Savage 111 LRH. I also started a thread on Texas Gun Talk, a local to TX gun forum, to see what others thought about the Savage 111 LRH in 300 Winchester Magnum. Some thought it a good idea, others thought it too much gun. With the thought of it maybe being too much gun, I decided to bring along a few others in 3 additional calibers: 30-30 WIN, 308 WIN, and 35 REM. I spent a good deal of Thursday night and Friday morning into the afternoon cleaning guns, mounting a scope, getting ammo ready and so on and that was much better than being bored to tears in Texarkana (not that it is necessarily a boring town, just I have not gotten to really know anyone or the town itself yet).

On Friday afternoon I headed over to his place in Benton, got there late around 645PM or so. I had planned to leave earlier to make it to him by 4 or 5 at the latest but had to make a run to the post office before it closed. On my way there I remembered that I had some Jarlsberg and Cheddar cheeses in my fridge for him and of course, in my frenzied rush to get to the post office before closing, and then to finally shove off to his place, with getting all my guns and ammo together (well almost all of my ammo as you will see), I had left them behind. Back to my apartment to get the cheeses and out the door by 445 or a bit later. Once I got to Benton, we went out to get some burgers at red Robin. They have surprisingly greasy and very tasty burgers - both things to my liking. They also have some very strong mixed drinks of which I only had one. They also have a very cute and oerky waitress that Brendan seems to like - who knows. After the eats, back to his place and more drinking was to be done of Laird's Applejack, Some Knappogue Castle 16 year old single malt Irish whiskey, some 12 year old  Redbreast Irish whiskey, a shot of some liquor that was somewhat like Yeagermeister, and a few Bitburger Pilsners. We woke up late on Saturday morning, had some strong coffee, ate a bit of breakfast, I went to Home Depot to get some packing boxes out of which to make targets and we finally got off to a pretty late start. What the heck though - we went to the range to have some shooty goodness kind of fun.

We drove about 63 miles of so from his place to Pigeon Roost Range i he in his car and me in mine. I sat in his parking lot for 10 minutes waiting for him to come down to his car only to find out he had been right behind me as I went to my car and he had already left. Damn. I wound up turning off the highway, onto the dirt road to the range, maybe a couple of hundred feet behind him. Either he drove pretty slowly or I drove too fast but I am not telling. 

It was nice and sunny ad not too hot when we got there. not humid either. The best thing was that we had the range to ourselves. We got to business setting up targets, sorting ammo and getting otherwise ready to shoot.  I handed him the Savage 111 LRH and he liked the heft of it. Then I showed him the ammo next to a 308 WIN round and a 30-06 round. Both he and I were impressed - the 300 WIN MAG is huge compared even to a 30-06 round. I think maybe he was a little hesitant to take the first shot but he did and he then loaded up another and fired again, he liked it. In fact, he liked the Savage LRH in 300 WIN MAG very much. He only took a few shots with it, because there are no sights and no glass on it, just to check out the recoil. I did not bother mounting a scope to it because Savage said they are sending a replacement stock due to a problem of the bolt hitting the cheek-piece when trying to remove the bolt and necessitating removal of the adjustable cheek piece to get the bolt out. When I get that, I will probably pick up a Vortex crossfire scope for it or maybe something a little better from the same company.

He also tried out the Savage Axis XP. We fired several rounds through it and planned to fire a lot more since I had an abundance of 308 BUT then the glass went kerflooey. One of the internal pieces of glass near the eyepiece turned around sideways. So much for cheap scopes that come packaged on a rifle. Of course, bouncing around in a van moving from NY to AR and then in another moving it from AR to TX could have had something to do with it. A new scope needed, probably also Vortex something or other this next time around. Anyway, he liked the recoil of the 308 as well as that of the 300 WIN MAG. I think he was impressed that the much larger round had about the same kick as did the 308.

On Thursday evening, while getting ready for the trip, I had mounted a cheap BSA scope on my Remington 141, slide action rifle in 35 REM. It was set to be parallax free at 100 yards - not something I usually go for in a scope, I prefer one parralax free at 25 yards or less with an adjustable adjustable objective lens. I picked up that scope somewhere I cannot recall - maybe in a combined lot of items at one of the Hessney auctions I attended and had it on hand so made use of it. Luckily, I had the 141 sighted in at the range, at 25 yards, after only 6 shots after merely having slapped on the scope and having tightened the screws. He liked that rifle too; although, the scope was pure junk. I told him if he wanted it, he could get a better piece of glass for it and he could have the 141 since he needs a hunting rifle for this season. He was undecided. We wound up only firing only 12 rounds total through the Remington 141 and I had wanted both him and me to shoot more rounds out of it but we only had one box of 35 REM being I had mistakenly grabbed an extra box of 308 in my hurry to get going to head his way Friday afternoon and I left the second box of 35 REM on a table in my living room (remember I said I had taken almost all of my ammo). We used the other eight rounds in my Marlin 336.

When we shot the remaining 8 rounds of 35 REM ammo through my Marlin 336 we found it was off maybe 4 inches to the left; both for him and for me. I need to sight that one in again when I bring the right ammo. Seems it must have lost lost zero sometime during my move from NY to AR to TX. Oh well - next time I hit the range with it, I will make sure to have enough ammo to sight it in. Things were getting a bit frustrating what with a scope going bust and without enough 35 REM so I decided to steer things elsewhere because it was getting obvious Brendan wanted to head home.

It was a lot nicer of a day than the last time we got together there maybe a few weeks ago. Back then the temp was in the high 90s to maybe over 100 and it was humid as all hell and had us soaked from sweat - one of those days where if you are not wearing a cap, the sweat just keeps running into your eyes while firing. No we did not have caps. Today though, I am guessing it was around 87 at most and nowhere nearly as humid as the day of our last range trip. So, since we were not sweating buckets, he readily took me up on my offer of a box of 100 rounds of 9mm FMJ and got in some practice with his Glock 43. I too the time to shoot several rounds through my Beretta 950BS in 22 short. Disappointingly, I discovered that the Triple-K magazine I bought for it, at a gun show last week, was assembled incorrectly and that prevented it from being loaded with more than one round. There is an obvious manufacture flaw on one side that I had not noticed when taking it out of the package. I am hopeful Triple-K or the dealer will make good on it despite me having thrown out the clam-shell packaging and not getting a receipt. Time and an email or phone call will tell. Anyway, we also both fired several mags worth of ammo out of my Glock 30.

After we were done shooting the pistols, out of ammo for either of the rifles in 35 REM and unable to aim the Savage Axis in 308 because the scope went belly up, I brightened up Brendan when I told him I had the pièce de résistance yet to come - my Marlin 36 in 30-30 Winchester (and that I had three boxes of ammo for it). No glass on this old timer - just the original iron sights. We both shot it at 25 yards first. Each of us shot a bit to the left of center with group sizes I am conservatively estimating to have been at about 1.5 to 2 inches. Then I moved the target to 50 yards and we tried again. I am guesstimating the group sizes to have been about 3.5 to 4.5 inches across at most, which I am thinking equals minute of pie plate at 100 yards. It also shot a bit more to the left. I think drifting the front sight a bit to the left will help there, that is if it can be drifted. He was very impressed with that Marlin 36 not only because it was a nice shooter but because it still has a good deal of its original case color. I should mention that two rounds did not go bang, I was firing 150 grain Winchester Power Point ammo out of the second box of it and both rounds that did not fire came from that box. It looked like light hits or hard primers. None of the rounds in the other box of 150 grain ammo failed to fire nor did any from a box of 170 grain Winchester power point fail to fire. My guess is the primers but again, time (and other brands of ammo) will tell.

I would have tried the Marlin 36 at 100 yards but as we were firing it at 50 yards, two other guys showed up to shoot. There had been no one else there while we were shooting and the new arrivals helped us make the decision it was time to leave. We have been to that range before and all I can say is each time we shot there - me by myself once and me with him at least two other times - while others were using that range at the same time - we wound up seeing people loading standing well behind the firing line and wound up with guns pointing at us and on at least two of those occasions they were loaded. Going to a public range where there are no range officers can be a scary experience. Sometimes I point out safety violations to others, at other times we just pack our gear and leave the range because sometimes you can just feel that whatever you say will be taken with an attitude of who the heck are you to be telling me anything by the offending party. Today, even though the two guys who showed up looked nice and competent enough, we just did not want to take a chance and we called it a day. For all we knew, they (my guess is a father and son) could have been the safest shooters around besides us but we had shot enough and decided to head to Bubba Brews on route 70 near Bonnerdale for some eats.

We had a couple of appetizers and  a a couple of drinks and called it a day. I truly sucks eggs having to go our separate ways and to have to wait as Roy Rogers used to say "Until we meet again" but that's the way it is, at least for now. I am hoping we can get together in a couple oif weeks either for shooting or maybe for some fishing. Next weekend is out, Brendan already has something planned with his buddies - so maybe I'll get a TX hunting & fishing license and head out to wet a line by myself.

By the way, after a nice day shooting, when I asked him if he wanted one of the rifles for hunting season this year, he told me he might use his shotgun but really liked the Savage 111 LRH. If he wants it, he can have it but he will have to buy the glass for it. Same as for any of them that need a scope, I figure giving him a rifle is generous enough. If he does not want any of them, all the better for me.  
All the best,
Glenn B

PS: I will proof read this later. Sorry no pics today.

Selling A Voere Semi-Auto At GunBroker.com (not selling it here on Blogger)

I have decided to sell my Voere semi-auto rifle in 22LR. It was made in Germany and imported by KDF of Seguin, TX back in the 1980s. It fires from an open bolt and evidently some people find that to be an extremely alluring feature of this rifle along with the fact that further importation of them was banned by ATF in the early or mid 1980s (but existing ones in this country were not outlawed). Many if not most of these rifles were reportedly converted to fire in full auto mode but one has to wonder why since the only magazines available for them held only 10 rounds. Mine was never converted and that makes it rarer and to some a more desirable one to find.

Mine in in excellent condition, I figure at least 95% to 98% of metal finish remains. The wood has been refinished but I do not think that should detract from the value as the feature that sells these guns seems to be that they fire from an open bolt. Regardless, the new finish is nicer than the original which was pretty badly marred on one side when I purchased it. In addition, I am selling it with two magazines. Extra magazines are fairly hard to come by and relatively very expensive compared to other mags for rifles in 22LR; that is when you find one.

Everything works as it should and I have test fired it to make sure of that. Had I not fired test fired it, my guess would be that it was unfired before then except maybe for test firing at the factory. That is how little wear is apparent on the gun and on the one magazine that came with it. The other mag was purchased separately.

What drove me to put this up for auction on GunBroker was that I am tapped for cash after unexpected veterinary bills over the past month or so. I would like to recoup as much as I can to replenish my savings account. I have other guns to sell and have one or two up for sale right now but there was one other thing that convinced me to try to sell this one. Someone else just sold one on GunBroker, one in nowhere as nearly good a condition as mine from what I could tell, for $899.00. It was essentially the same exact model except its stock was checkered. Then again that one's stock also had pretty bad finish damage and its metal looked not nearly as nice as that on mine and it only came with a single magazine. You can see it here until GunBroker pulls the ad for it. I am hopeful I am not a day late and many dollars short due to poor timing. Maybe I should have listed mine last month.

I am being optimistic and I figure, since there was one person out there who would pay that much, maybe there is another who would be willing to start the bidding at about $50 less for essentially the same exact rifle but one that has a better metal and wood finish and the added enticement of an extra magazine. Maybe it will achieve my starting bid and maybe not but if it does - then maybe the bidding might go up from there because of the condition of the gun and the extra mag. Time will tell.

If you want to see the one I have up for bids, you can view it at GunBroker.com, item 785816457. Please note, it is not being offered for sale anywhere other than via GunBroker.com, in other words this Blogpost post absolutely is not an offer to sell it and is merely for informational purposes only.

All the best,
Glenn B

Biweekly Gun Shots 21 - Kel-Tec SU16

A friend recently contacted me to ask what I knew about a Kel-Tec rifle he was thinking of purchasing. Well, the first thought that went through my head was something like: Danger - Danger Will Robinson - Danger. I mean most of what I had heard about Kel-Tec, up until that point, was that their guns were to be avoided at all costs because they were out and out junk. I decided though to look up the Kel-Tec SU16 (the rifle in which my friend had an interest) and I was, at least, impressed if not so much with the look of this rifle as with its features. I also decided to do some additional checking - after all - it had been awhile since I had heard or read anything about them. What I discovered, is that apparently an awful lot of people think their products are great while many seemingly still think they offer low quality - it is sort of a toss up in that regard but that was what I saw on gun forums. I did see some pretty satisfied customers, who own SU16s of one variation or another, at one gun forum. What I also saw on the sites of those who have tested this gun was a different story. They all seemed impressed in a good way - no dissention there. So, while I can not relate to you any personal experience with this rifle, I can tell you something about it based on what I have gleaned by way of the Internet at the Kel-Tec site and from the online test results.

A trip to the Kel-Tec site showed that the SU16 is offered in a variety of models. There are five of them in all by my count. The lineup starts off with the SU16A, and is followed up by the: SU16B, SU16C, SU16CA and SU16D. The main differences between these models seems to be barrel length, type and location of front sight, and type of stock.

The SU16A rifle is a gas operated, semi-automatic, chambered for .223 caliber (5.56 mm NATO) . Some of the features of this rifle are: Black Polymer stock, integrated Picatinny rail, chrome lined bore and chamber, the fore-stock can fold down to form a bipod, the buttstock can hold two spare magazines, and the butt stock/trigger group can be folded forward to make the gun more compact for carry (non-firing in this mode), it is compatible with Ar15/M16 magazines. The barrel length is 18.5 inches. There is no mention made, on the Kel-Tec website that I saw, about the sights being adjustable but my guess would be they are. Unloaded weight is 5.01 pounds. It comes with 10 round mags. More info here.

If you want something with a shorter barrel they offer the SU16B with a 16 inch barrel. The website specifically states that this one has adjustable front and rear sights. The front sight adjustable for elevation and the rear for windage. Unloaded weight is 4.51 pounds. More info here.

The we move onto the SU16C. Here we move away from the folding buttstock/trigger group as this one has a conventional folding stock. When the stock is folded under, the weapon is still capable of firing. It too has a 16 inch barrel and most of the features of the above two rifles with the added features of a dust cover and case deflecting operating handle. This one also moves the front sight back from just behind the muzzle to near the front of the fore-grip (integrated with the gas block). It weighs in at 4.71 pounds unloaded. More info here.

The SU16CA goes back to the folding buttstock/trigger group. It has all of the operating features of the C model but uses the stocks of the A model. More Info here.

Finally they offer the SU16D. This one is quite a it different if only because of the 9.2 inch barrel length and the 3.71 pound weight. It utilizes a conventional folding stock (fold under) allowing the gun to fire with the stock folded. This one looks like a real Zombie Killer to me but alas I will never be able to buy one with a 9.2 inch barrel here in NY. More info here.

If I was going to get myself one of these rifles I think for practicality's sake it would either be the SU16B (pictured up at the top) or the SU16CA (pictured to the left). I am not too sure I like the shorter sight radius of the SU16CA as compared to the SU16B but I could probably live with them and I like some other features of this model over the SU16B. I like certain features of these rifles such as the fore-stock being able to fold down to form a bipod and the buttstock holding two extra magazines. If the rifles are made to a standard of high quality I imagine these features would be great; however, if quality control is lacking I could imagine magazines falling out of the stock and the bipod shaking like Jello. As I said, I have not tested these rifles but I should also point out that others have done so. Here are links to three such tests: http://www.equipped.org/Kel-Tec_SU-16_Review.htm, and: http://www.ktog.org/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?board=105%3Baction=display%3Bnum=1107839748, and: http://www.ammoland.com/2009/03/26/kel-tec-su-16-223-remington-ar-rifle/ . The guys who tested them seemed pretty impressed in a good way but you can read the articles and see that for yourselves. Here is a link to an online gun forum wherein the users have rated their own SU16s.

Gun Tests Magazine also rated this gun in a comparison with a Springfield Armory SOCOM. Their results can be seen here but only if you are a subscriber. I will only say they gave it a Buy It rating and that the ammonland link above will pretty much show you their report on the SU16. (Shame on me for allowing my subscription to this magazine lag a few years back. Good for me, I just subscribed to it again. A great deal for $20 per year with paper magazine subscription and online availability of their articles for current and past gun tests.)

I would think that if I was in the market for a semi-auto in .223 I would consider the Kel-Tec. Of course, if I wanted something in .223 I would also consider a Ruger Mini-14 which in my estimation is probably a somewhat better made rifle especially now that Ruger has refined it in the past few years; my friend seemingly thought so too - he bought a Mini-14. Still though the SU16 is an appealing rifle to me, and it would make a great packable rifle for a grab and go kit or for a backpack. It would likely be a good survival gun, certainly in a caliber that could handle anything from varmints up to deer and then also be used in combat.

All the best,

Glenn B

PS: They apparently have pretty good customer service at Kel-Tec, see this.

Anyone Want To Guess...

...just how I spent a few hours on one recent afternoon and evening? One look at the pic should give you a pretty good idea. (I actually did not use the oven cleaner although I had thought I would need it.)

What a pain in the behind it was too, especially because once I was done I found out that the gas tube on my newly acquired SKS did not fit right. Yep, that means I finally got a replacement Yugo SKS from SAMCO after returning the one they initially sent me as 'new' but that had repaired damage on it.

This one was supposed to be 'new' too, but I noticed right away that the price was about $20 or $30 less, and then saw the serial numbers on the stock and handguards did not match one another, nor did they match any of the serialized metal parts! No wonder the gas tube did not fit properly. Then there is also the gas valve that has corrosion on it, blued over corrosion at that. Otherwise it is in very good condition maybe even excellent (mind you I said otherwise), albeit refinished condition. It just ain't new - no way - not even 'new' for an arsenal refinish.

I do not understand exactly what is up with ordering from SAMCO - but I am wondering if they have a problem with the word 'new' when they describe their products, or if they think I am a moron, or are they simply inept! I sent em an email requesting either a refund, or a replacement gas tube and if that fits told em I would keep the SKS - but if not then they have to give me a full refund and I'll return it. I don't know if I want to go through this a third time, so if I get a refund this time around I may just cancel the whole order. Then again third time could be the charm. Decisions, darned decisions!

All the best,
GB

Teaching A Child To Shoot & Getting It Right

A lot of what you read about or hear about in the news when it comes to kids and firearms is that this kid got shot in a drive-by shooting, or that kid accidentally killed a friend with his parent's gun, or some kid shot a person while out hunting in the woods. As usual the MSM (Mud Slinging Media) tells us the bad stuff. There is another story though, one that is not heard about as often as it should be heard about.

That other story is the one wherein the responsible shooter teaches his or her son how to shoot, or maybe even teaches someone else's kids how to shoot (with parental permission of course). Shooting is a great sport. In order to excel in shooting sports you need to be able to develop great eye and hand coordination, along with coordination of many muscles in other parts of the body. Shooting also requires a great deal of concentration. In addition, shooting sports require discipline. Before you can start any of this, safe sport shooting also requires that you learn about firearms safety, firearms nomenclature, and shooting in general in a classroom or sit down type situation before you ever handle a firearm. With all this in mind, shooting sports are a great pastime for children if done properly and at an age appropriate level with proper adult supervision. Starting children, as young as 7 or 8 years old in shooting sports was once common practice. While no longer as common a practice as it once was, children of that age can - under proper supervision of a responsible adult instructor - begin learning how to shoot (you will need to determine if your 7 or 8 year old exhibits enough concentration and discipline to be ready at that age). In my opinion, shooting sports are a great way to spend quality time with them.

Proper responsible adult supervision is a key element of training anyone to shoot. This goes for adults as well as children. In each instance, whether training adult or child, the responsible instructor should have a hands on approach at first. Yes, you read that correctly the responsible instructor should have a hands on approach. This need not be for an extended period and need not seem intrusive to the shooter but should take place at least for the first few shots fired by the new shooter. Simply put the responsible instructor should though use of verbal commands and helpful guidance with hands instruct the shooter in proper hold, proper direction for the muzzle, and other things like proper stance. As the shooter is taking those very first shots, it is advisable especially with young children to make sure the firearm is fully controlled by making sure the responsible adult instructor and the shooter both have hands on the firearm (or possibly that the instructor has hands on the shooter's hands for a handgun). Once the instructor is satisfied that the shooter has the basics down concerning safety, stance, grip, aim - it is then that the instructor can ease up a bit and allow the shooter to completely control the firearm. Of course this does not mean that the instructor should step back and away from the shooter; rather the instructor should remain within easy reach of the firearm should intervention be necessary in order to prevent the muzzle from pointing in a direction where it should not be pointed. With adult shooters, and even with teenagers, the instructor usually can step back and away from the shooter, out of arms reach, once the instructor is satisfied that the shooter is competent enough to continue on his own with instruction from a distance. However, when instructing younger children the instructor should remain within arms reach of the shooter for at least a few to several lesson after the instructor has been satisfied that the young shooter is competent and safe. Bear in mind that while adults and even some teenagers maybe ready to shoot on their own, young children should never be allowed to shoot without responsible adult supervision close at hand.

Before moving on to such things as the techniques and equipment I prefer to use to teach a child to shoot let me cover one word I used several times above. If you read the last paragraph again, you may notice I used a word in conjunction with the word instructor a few times and that I also used the same word in conjunction with adult a couple of or a few times. That word is RESPONSIBLE. When you teach anyone to shoot you must be responsible not only for your actions and instruction but also for the actions of the shooter (at least to some extent, and with young children you are held much more responsible than are they). The amount of responsibility changes over time as the shooter gains experience and become more competent at shooting safely; however when it comes to young children the adult supervising and instructing the child holds the great majority of the responsibility to make sure it is done both safely and correctly. So before you even think about setting out to teach someone to shoot, especially a child, you must be aware of such things as firearms nomenclature, firearms safety, the actual workings of the firearms you intend to use, how to hold a firearms, how to aim in a firearm, sight alignment and picture, trigger control, follow-trough and so forth. You must also have an idea of how you will present all of this to the potential new shooter before you begin.

Note I said to the potential new shooter in the last line above. Now, since I am mostly talking about firearms instruction for children, why on earth would I call a child a potential new shooter. For example let's say you are a parent who is adept at shooting sports. You are aware of the rules of firearms safety above and beyond the 4 rules that others so foolishly use as the only safety rules for firearms (yes there are many more cardinal rules of firearms safety other than the 4 taught by Jeff Cooper). You have thought ahead and you have prepared a brief lecture about nomenclature and safety so you can start your youngster off in the right direction, and you plan to begin shooting right after the lesson is given. You sit down your child, who is seemingly eager to learn how to shoot, and you start talking about the parts of the gun. After that you get into safety. As you are talking safety you notice that your child's mind has wandered off, and that he or she is daydreaming as children will do. My suggestion - stop the lessons - take a break. After the break of maybe 5 or 10 minutes see if the child is now paying attention or not. If the child still seems distracted, call it quits right then and there - at least for the day. Explain to the child why you are doing so, and further explain that full attention is needed for such important topics as nomenclature and firearms safety because the child having learned them will soon be shooting a real gun, and real guns can hurt or kill people. If the child does not seem able to fully comprehend the gravity of the situation, well then I strongly recommend that you hold off on teaching that child until he or she is ready to grasp those subjects with full attention geared at them. Bear in mind you are the RESPONSIBLE party in all of this; the child while needing to learn firearms nomenclature and safety before actually shooting will only do so if you make sure it is being done right. If you have any question about how to accomplish this you can take a firearms instructor course offered by NRA qualified firearms instructors, or you can take a hunter safety course and have your child take it with you. I am fairly certain that some states even allow children to young to hunt to take the hunter safety course. These course usually cover a lot to do with firearms safety and require passing a test at the end of the course. If your child is too young to take the test, he or she could sit through the class with you. In addition you could learn a lot from such a class yourself, probably enough for you to be able to formulate your own firearms safety course for your child with an age appropriate test at the end of the instruction. Am I harping on this subject, yes maybe I am. Why am I putting so much emphasis on it, well because all it takes is one bullet to ruin a lot of lives, and a stray bullet fired by your child could have devastating effects on the remainder of his or her life as well as on yours, let alone had devastating it would be to anyone who might get shot. Thin about that and make a decision now that if you are going to teach a child to shoot you will do so responsibly.

Once you are satisfied that the young shooter is ready to handle a firearm it is time to hit the range - that is if you already have selected a firearms of suitable size and caliber for him. If you have not gotten the firearms already then a trip to the local gun shop is in order. My recommendation for a first firearm for a new shooter is a bolt action rifle in .22LR caliber. This is an especially good choice of first firearm for a new shooter who is a child. There are several things about a bolt action rifle that make them inherently safer than a semi-automatic. Of course, along those lines, there are at least a few things that would make some bolt action single shot rifles inherently safer than a repeater and many folks recommend them over repeaters. On the other hand, I recommend purchasing a bolt action repeating rifle fed by a box type magazine for use with new young shooters. The reasons I make this recommendation are as follow:

1. A bolt action rifle requires that the bolt be operated manually in order to fire it, then unload it, and fire it again for each shot. This is much more preferable than a semi-automatic rifle which only requires that the shooter repeatedly squeeze the trigger to fire it so long as it has ammunition. When it comes to safety especially with a young shooter who would probably be more easily distracted than a more mature student shooter the bolt is my choice. If the shooter is distracted with finger on trigger it could be disastrous if he or she turns and lets off a round, and another and another and another. Sure you want to train the youngster to pay attention and to execute proper firearms safety but even adults make mistakes at the range and it is just so much easier for a child to be distracted. A bolt action requires more concentration than does a semi-automatic rifle in that the shooter must remember to actively operate the bolt in order to unload and fire. If you shoot a lot and shoot semi-autos and bolts then almost certainly you can recall a time that you put down a semi, picked up a bolt, fired a shot and forgot to operate the bolt before squeezing the trigger for a second shot. Yep you have to think more when shooting a bolt action rifle, and thinking keeps the child shooter's mind focused on the task at hand. You could argue for a pump action here in that it requires the same amount of operation and thought, however a bolt action is inherently safe than is a pump gun for a few reasons. With the pump it is harder for smaller children to operate the mechanism than it is a bolt action thereby sometimes having the child contort or turn in an unsafe manner with the pump gun. Also, a hand that slips off of the fore stock while operating a pump gun can wind up in front of the muzzle, or the muzzle can wind up tilting in a bad direction. Finally while operating a pump action there is too much of a chance that the finger can be left on the trigger resulting in an unsafe shot being taken while the student shooter activates the pump in its forward motion. With a bolt action rifle that is properly operated, the trigger finger hand operates the bolt and therefore the trigger finger is removed from the trigger in order to do so. I'll take the bolt action any day as a beginner rifle.

2) The box type magazine is my choice of preference over a single shot, and over a tube magazine for beginning shooters because it is more versatile. The reasons for this are fairly simple. First of all if you buy a single shot rifle, you cannot progress from single shot to repeater without buying another rifle. Buying another rifle can have some advantages but also has some disadvantages. First and foremost is cost. Why buy two rifles when one will do the chore nicely. In addition you have to retrain the shooter for any difference in the mechanisms between the single shot and the repeater when you buy the second one. I prefer the repeater as a first rifle because it can be used as a single shot and then, when the shooter is ready, it can be used as a repeater. To use a box magazine fed repeating rifle as a single shot, simply place an unloaded magazine into the magazine well (be absolutely sure it is an unloaded magazine). Then load shots singularly directly into the chamber, have the student shooter shoot the shot, eject the spent shell casing, and reload with a single round again directly into the chamber. Once you as the responsible instructor are sure the child is ready to progress to a repeater you can then load the magazine with any number of rounds up to its full capacity and have the child shoot from a loaded magazine.

3) A box type magazine is safer than a tube magazine in my opinion because it is more easily operated with less risk to the shooter. Why, well because to load and unload a tube magazine you sometimes need to turn the gun in what is not the safest direction, or at least you need to bring the muzzle closer to you even if you pull the gun straight back without changing the direction of the muzzle. While removing it, your hand is very close to the muzzle. Not the nest of situations with a young shooter. A box magazine on a bolt action rifle is much easier to reach and remove from the rifle. Remember that if there is ever a need for the young student shooter to make the firearms safe, that will require clearing all ammunition from the rifle. That includes first taking finger off trigger, placing the safety into safe position, taking out the source of ammunition (the magazine), then clearing the chamber and assuring it is clear. It is much easier, in my opinion, for young hands to accomplish with a box magazine.

4) There are a large number of available bolt action box magazine fed rifles on the market. At least a few of them are made in youth models to fit younger shooters. Get one of these for smaller shooters because a smaller shooter will have more confidence using a rifle that he or she can properly operate, aim and shoot well.

Okay, enough on the rifle, let's get to the range. Try to select a rifle range that is actually a rifle range as opposed to learning how to shoot out in a field with a hill for a backstop. I am not saying a field with a good sized backstop is a bad thing mind you, just that I prefer a professional range. Choosing a professional range actually can do a few things to help the new shooter. First of all your child shooter will see this is serious business because there are range officers at the range. Secondly the child will probably be somewhat impressed by the range set up, and will learn somethings about the: firing line, downrange, line commands such as cease fire, and so forth. In addition the child will be able to watch some other shooters and how they get good or bad shooting done. Pointing out good and safe shooters, as opposed to bad and unsafe shooters, to the student child shooter can make a big and lasting impression and give the child someone to emulate. of course you probably want your child to emulate you but the child being able to see that other safe shooters do just what you told him or her to do will fix in in their mind that you were right all along.

While using a professional range where others are firing you should allow the child shooter, or any new shooter, to become accustomed to what is going on fort at least several minutes before you beginning teaching him or her to shoot. This is especially important if anyone nearby is going to be shooting large caliber firearms. The percussion caused by such firearms can be quite distracting and even frightening to a new shooter. Once they watch for a while and realize they are not going to be hurt, then the fun of learning to actually fire a gun can begin. If possible you may want to ask if there is a section of the range where it is less likely for you to encounter someone shooting larger calibers.

Bear in mind that while you are doing all of this at the range you have to be mindful of range safety. This means that both you and the child student shooter, and any bystanders are all wearing protective eye and ear covering. Note I did not say protective ear inserts. I much prefer protective ear covering as shooters ear muffs as opposed to ear plugs, but you can use ear plugs under the muff for additional hearing protection. As for eye protection I recommend only shooters' safety glasses or shooters' safety goggles. Regular eyeglasses are often not enough and anyone requiring prescription glasses should wear additional protection over them.
Once there is a break in the action, and the range is having a cease fire for target repair or replacement, you can set up your targets. Such a cease fire is not necessary at all ranges such as those with retrievable target holders (those for which you operate a crank or electronic mechanism to bring the target to you instead of you needing to go downrange). If at all possible, set up the targets at 50 feet or less, but not less than 15 feet (these distances are usually easiest to achieve at an indoor range with target holders on a pulley system that you can set at any distance as allowed by range policy at to the maximum for that range). Use the blank side of a 50 foot small bore target to face the shooter (this is easier than shooting at a bulls eye and once the child is hitting near center you switch to the other side and then shoot at the bulls eyes). Once your targets have been safely set up, and the commence fire com and is given, or when otherwise safe to fire, you can start in with shooting lessons for real. Ease the child into the first few shots by helpfully explaining what to do, and by giving hands on direction. if the child is not comfortable with this type of instruction explain that it is absolutely necessary because a firearm can be deadly. If the child resists this, then stop the lesson and take a break during which you can explain this is how it must be for at least the first several shots after which you will allow the child to shoot by himself with you watching nearby. Remember that is is extremely important that you as the responsible adult instructor are in control of the student and that it is not the student in control of you no matter how mature the child student shooter seems to be.

As the child is shooting talk him or her through the first shot by going over the basics. Make sure the child has a good hold on the rifle and a decent stance whether standing, seated or prone, supported or unsupported (I recommend support of some sort such as a bench). Then softly talk the child student through aiming, breath control, and squeezing the trigger to get off the first shot, and then make sure the child follows though without turning toward you for your approval. You want to make sure all the concentration is on the gun and shooting it safely. Then tell the child to take another shot in the same manner and again talk him through it. Do it one more time for an third shot. Then bring back the target for a look at it, or wait until the next cease fire if necessary to retrieve it for a look. Why only three shots? Well this is because it will give you a good idea of whether or not the rifle is sighted in for the shooter, or if the shooter is making some mistakes that need correction. Three shots are enough to read the target and through triangulation you can then formulate any corrective action. More shots will only muddy up the water so to speak. Fewer shots will not be enough to grasp whether or not the child was accurate or inaccurate with any reliability.

If you are at a range that requires you to await a cease fire before being able to retrieve your target the time waiting can be utilized to shoot another target (hopefully you have two points next to each other from which to shoot), or you can observe other shooters. Better yet you can ask the student shooter how he thought he did, and what it felt like doing it. Of course if you have a good spotting scope, you can check the target from the firing line and do not need to wait to retrieve it before making any adjustments in how the shooter is shooting or to the sights on the rifle. One of these days I'll buy a spotting scope; but if anyone out there is feeling generous after reading this, well I would not turn down an offer of a free one. If you do use a spotting scope, I recommend taking pen and paper and making a representative drawing of the target, then marking off where each shot has hit the actual target. This way there is no doubt as to where later shots hit the target. Even with a spotting scope, I recommend retrieving your target and putting up a frwsh one after about every 10 to 15 shots at most. Make the shooter take his or her time with those 15 shots and if you are on a range where you need to await a cease fire the time will fly by before you know it. Another way to take time while shooting, and I think is important not to rush a new shooter, is to take a short break after every three to 5 shots. The reason for the break is that holding a rifle is new to the student's muscles, and all the concentration required to shoot is or can be pretty stressful. So take some short breaks in between sets of shots. At frst three shots is enough. After the shooter has fired off three rounds, have him or her make the gun safe. Talk them through how to do so, then have them place the gun down on the bench pointing downrange, or back into a rack as appropriate at the range on which you are shooting. Follow the range rules in whatever you do, it only helps to solidify the concept of firearms safety for the child student shooter. Talk to the shooter, give him or her some pointers, and when ready go at it again.

If the student shooter has been right on target, that is great. Keep him or her shooting and if the accuracy proves reliable that is a good thing. If on the other hand the shots have not accurately and reliabley hit their mark, then you may neeed to either critique the shooter (as during one of the breaks I mentiuoned) or you may need to sight in the gun. Before changing anything with the sights talk to the shooter and ask what his or her sight picture and sight alignment look like. You need to know if they are seemingly getting that right before you even think of sight adjustment. Of course you also want to be sure they are properly holding the rifle and squeezing the trigger, but you need to watch their techniques on those rather than just aksing about them. If you think it may be that the sights need adjustment, then you try the rifle first. Even I can fire my son's Armscor 14-Y youth model bolt action rifle accurately. Yes it is a youth sized rifle, but that does not mean I cannot fire it. If it is shooting the same way for me as it does for the child, such as all shots low to the left, then I would need to make adjustments so that the rifle will fire higher and more to the right. If the rifle was shooting all over the paper for the child and is also shooting like that for me, then the rifle may need repair or the ammunition may need changing, or maybe I had just better improve my shooting. Shooting all over the paper like that is usually indicative of shooter error. Of course it could also be that there is a dominant eye problem too. If the child is a right handed shooter and is left eye dominant, you may have to take steps to adjust for shooting with the right eye such as blurring out the left lens of the shooting glasses - but do this only after making absolutely sure that it is a off side eye dominance problem, and only after consulting with and having the child examined by an eye doctor.

Shoot over the course of an hour or two but not more on the frst trip to the range. If there has been an laxness in safety it is something you must address as soon as you see it. Don't wait until later. Have the child take finger off of the trigger, make it safe, and then explain what was done that was unsafe with suggestons as to how to remain safe. Don't only find fault, make sure to praise things done right. If the young shooter showed some improvement over the course of that time from first shots to last then congratulate him or her on it. Congratulate the shooter likewise if he or she even hit the paper and did not improve, some people rally cannot hit the broadside of a barn, and I am not kidding. Even if the child shot poorly throughout the time at the range, congratulate him or her if she or he handled the firearm safely. Make sure to remain patient. I cannot recall how many times I have lost my patience while out with my son or daughter and ruined what would have otherewise been a good day, but I do know it has happened too many times. Patience is key to having fun while learning to shoot, i goes a long way toward helping the shooter keep at their goals, and keeps thing safer at the range. If you ever do lose your cool, make sure to recompose yourself before any more shooting, or even gun handling, is done.

Next time you go to the range continue with the basics. Don't ever assume that a child has retained everything you told him or showed her for the next time. Such an assumption could lead to a tragic accident. As the second range session progresses you may want to swirch targets to make things a little more interesting. Instead of using a bullseye target, why not try one with several bullseyes, or a small game target. Sooner or later you may decide to try shooting at places other than a professional rang. if you can find someplace where it would be practical you can set up a wide variety of targets from paper bullseye and small game targets to plastic bottles full of water (add food dye to make it more interesting), to ballons tethered on a short string (this way they will move in the breeze but keep the srting very short, only an inch or two of free string otherwise the balloon may blow off to one side or the other enough to make an unsafe shot very tempting). You may even wind up shooting at exploding targets (available commercially where legal). A good idea for a true beginner are splatter targets. These are essentially bullseye stickers that you place over a target and when a bullet hits them the black covering spaltters leaving a bright een or yellow under layer visible. If your eyes are good, you can tell from a good distance as to whether or not you hit your mark without a spotting scope.

Each time you are finished shooting, either at a range, out in a field, in your backyard (should you be so lucky to have a place to shoot on your property) you should teach the young shooter that cleanup is part of a range day; and that you do not leave the area until it has been cleaned. Once you get home you can have the youngster help clean the guns. This is a good way to help assure that young shooters will develop good habits leading to them maintaining their own firearms in good condition when they are old enough to own some for themselves. Of course with children you want to be especially careful when it comes to contact with such things as powder and lead solvents, fouling from firearms, oils, and lead. Make sure that the child wears proper protective clothing while helping to clean any firearms. Rubber gloves, eye protection, and a vinyl or other spill and splash proof apron would all be good things they should wear while doing the chore. A good wash up when done is highly recommended. In additio, once home from the range you will want to change out of your range clothing and throw them right into the wash. This helps cut down on any contamination of lead dust that may have ben picked up at the range. One other note about lead and lead dust exposure. You willr ecall I kept talking about a professional range above. I like to go to an indoor range when I teach youngsters to shoot if only because a properly operating indoor range will have a good ventilation system that sucks out the air containing powder and lead residues, and pumps in fresh and filtered air. You may think an outdoor range would be better than an indoor range for giving you fresh air, but that could possibly depend on which way the wind is blowing. I am not sure it is correct but I have heard that in this regard it is much better to shoot at an indoor range with a proper and fully functioning ventilation system.

By now you maybe thinking that I left out some things about teaching a child to shoot. For example I made no mention of how a child should be taught to hold a gun, nor did I describe in any detail sight alignment, sight picture, breathing control, trigger control and follow through. The reason I did not give specifics on those and other techniques that will lead to a child becoming a good shot is because that is their instructor's job and not mine. In other words, if you are planning on teaching your child how to shoot, you had better be ready to do so. Being ready means that you have all the basics down, and also have an idea of how you will go about teaching the basics to the new shooter. If you don't know the nomenclature of a gun you will be suing, or as related to guns in general, learn it before you think of teaching someone to shoot, and make sure you have it right. Same goes for all of the techniques of the actual handling and shooting of firearsm. Of course, the same also goes for firearms safety rules. More than anything else you want it to have been a safe and enjoyable experience when the day is done.

Speaking of safety, here are a couple of safety tips that you may or may not think of when going shooting. Have a first aid kit available for minor to serious injuries and know how to apply first aid. You do not need to be an EMT to stop or control bleeding if, heavens forbid, someone is shot or otherwise seriously wounded at the range. Take a first aid course if you don't have a clue, the life you save could be your child's, heck it could be your own. Teach your child what you have learned or have them go to the class with you. In addition to a good first aid kit, always, and I mean alway take along a charged cell phone. You could be out in the middle of nowhere and be with someone who gets seriously injured, and while the phone may not help there, as you get closer to a hospital the phone may wind up back in service. It just makes all the sooner that you can contact someone for help. As it is nowadays though, you are in cell phone range in much of the USA, and the phone will get throiugh on a call to 911 when you need it. Either way it is an important item to include on any range trip. Finally you should have an idea of where you can get medical aid if needed and you have to drive the injured person there. A little planning and preparation goes a long way to avoiding a fatal catastrophe should a bad accident occur.

Now you do not have to follow everything I recommended, and you may even think of something I left out that you deem important, bear in mind the very basics of teaching a child to shoot and it should turn out well. Those basics mean that if you strictly follow proper firearms safety, if you closely supervise the young student shooter, if you know what you are doing beforehand, if you do so at a professional range where the shooters are monitored by range officers in addition to you monitoring the new shooter, if you go at it with patience and a good attitude, then things are likely to turn out to be quite enjoyable for you and the young shooter. In closing let me say one thing about you - the person who is ready, willing and able to teach safe shooting to a youngster and then actually does so even if you only teach your own kids how to shoot - Bravo For You! You. You are among a minority in today's world, and you are preserving a piece of our American heritage that should never be forgotten - our right to keep and bear arms and our liberty to do so. Without folks like you, shooting sports will become a thing of the past.

All the best,
Glenn B

Yugo SKS From SAMCO - Update

Well, if you have read along, you know I bought a NEW SKS from SAMCO awhile back. When I received it I immediately noticed repair to damage on the stock and some minor cosmetic damage to the metal parts, and one small but bent metal part. I contacted SAMCO and after quite the wait, and many phone calls, I received a return label. A supervisor at SAMCO, who was very nice and seemed right on top of the issue, told me I would get an exchange, and that was fine with me. Since it was taking so long to get that label I called American Express a couple of times and had the charge put on hold. I specifically told the folks at AMEX to take no other action than placing a hold on that charge until they heard from me but they did not follow my instructions. The rifle was delivered back to SAMCO on January 5, I ordered it on or about November 11th. An annoying amount of time for a turn around. Somewhere in there I also received a letter from AMEX saying they had convinced the seller to give me a refund. I wrote SAMCO an email saying I still wanted a NEW SKS if they could sell me one at the original price I had paid. Then, last week, I guess maybe on Thursday or so, I received a call from SAMCO saying they would indeed send me a new one, at the price I paid.

Since then AMEX has screwed up my credit card account by apparently giving me credit twice for the SKS. I have tried to take care of that to no avail, but will cal them again today. First guy I spoke to told me if they reversed the credit they would also add on another $XXX charge instead of just reversing the credit. After I hung up with him, I called back AMEX and the next person to whom I spoke said that would I would not be charged an additional $XXX if the credit was reversed, but they still have not reversed the extra credit. I know I will never wind up with a double credit in my pocket, and it would be wrong to expect such, so I have to give them yet another call and try to straighten this out before it messes up my accounting of my credit card bill.

As for a new replacement SKS, well someone is supposed to call me this week from SAMCO and tell me when it will be sent out. I was assured this one would be in 'new' condition; and I imagine they will make their best effort to assure such is the case. Time will tell, and if and when I receive an exchange I'll let you know how it turns out.

All the best,
Glenn B

Return of The Yugo SKS

At long last, after having it sit around in its box down in my basement for over a month or was it months, I was finally able to return my recent purchase of a Yugo SKS to SAMCO. I just received the return UPS label from them earlier this week. Can you imagine that, having to wait so long just to receive the return label, and companies in the USA wonder why their business has been falling off. It is not just the bank mess, nor the auto maker mess, it is the incompetence of American workers mess 9or at least the incompetence of the worker hired by the American companies mess - such as in the wetback who can barely speak, read or write English. I suppose that the reason for the long delay in my receiving a UPS label that SAMCO supposedly sent to me weeks ago (and this was the second label they sent me since I never received the first one from them) was the fact that they had my address wrong, at least on the envelope for this label. I don't remember exactly how many times I told the lady who took my information for the return how to spell Glenn, or how to spell my last name, or how to spell my street name and so on. I do remember I had to be quite repetitive because she just kept asking me to spell it over and over again because she no comprende Inglesh so bueno. After waiting a week or two for the first label they were to have sent me, I called in to ask where it was and they said they would send another, but I should wait longer first. When I called back after a further wait, I asked to speak to a supervisor. He had an accent too, but at least he was rather the linguist. Still though, when I received the label this week, the name of the street was spelled incorrectly. Go figure.

There possibly is one bright thing in all this mess to which I can look forward, well maybe it is bright maybe not. At first I was told they were all sold out of Yugo SKS rifles in NEW condition, so they would have to send me a refund instead of an exchange. When I spoke to the supervisor weeks later, he assured me that they would send me a Yugo SKS in new condition as an exchange. When I reminded him that I had been told there were none left, he laughed and said he was certain they would send me a new one. I had ordered a new one in the first place, and they sent one that had been damaged and repaired - obviously not new, not even arsenal refinished to like new condition at that. Funny how that happened isn't it - yet they supposedly still have new ones to send me as an exchange despite the big rush to buy after the election! It almost seems as if someone was pulling our proverbial ding-a-ling by acting as if there was a short supply, maybe just to get the price raised up.

As for the new one they are supposedly going to send me in exchange, I now need to hope for two things - that is is actually in new condition so I do not have to go through the return process again, and that it was not one already returned to them by someone else who already found fault with it. Yes I am a pessimist, I expect the worst to happen and imagine they will send me one that is in worse condition that the one I just sent back to them; but nonetheless I am hopeful that it will turn out to be a new one. It would be an ice surprise for a change if it turns out to be alright.

After reading the last couple of lines above, you may think I am just a whiner and complainer who is not satisfied with anything. That is only partially correct. I bitch and moan with the best of em, but I also know a quality product when I see it, and I know when something sold to me is just a bill of goods as opposed to the real item. If I get screwed then I go into the complaint mode pretty quickly, more so when the seller gives me a song and dance or when they delay the return. Of course there is another side to me, and when I get an item that meets or exceed expectation I give high praise. The thing is though, there is a lot to bitch and moan about when it comes to things we buy nowadays. I don't know if this is just an American thing or not, I tend to doubt that it is solely our problem. Since much of the junk we are presented with in our markets is made elsewhere, I figure people in other places must get the same crap presented to them. Then again, I remember though that American made items, and American service, used to be better. This is no fantasy of my memory either, this is the absolute truth. Sure there were always scam artists who tried to get over with an inferior product, but there was also the seller who sold things of superior quality and who had salespeople and service people and guarantees of a superior nature to present and back up their products. It just is not happening anymore now is it! There I go - off on a tangent, but with sales and service like what I have received you have to wonder about American businesses and how they have the nerve to whine and moan they are not making money.

Let me just say, the Yugo is in the mail, and hopefully I will soon have one that is as they were advertised when I plopped my good money down for one of them. I paid a premium price for one in new condition, and therefore I expect to receive on in new condition - plain and simple. If they again send a clunker, you can bet my dealings with SAMCO will be at an end once I get my refund, and I will post about it here.

All the best,
Glenn B.

A Nicer day At The Range...

...would have been hard to find. Brendan and I left the house at about 0815 this morning, and we arrived at the Long Island Shooting Range of Brookhaven at about 0910. A drive of almost an hour's duration and about 46 miles just to get to a decent outdoor range. Oh well not much traffic at that hour of a Sunday morning once we were on the highway.

When we entered the range area we saw the parking lot at the rifle range about 1/2 full, and that would mean a lot of shooters. We went to the office and paid our $36 for two shooters. Yes folks, you read it right, $18 each for nonresidents of the town of Brookhaven, for which you can shoot from opening at 9 until they close at 4. We also bought 4 targets for .50 each. We had other targets too, and I only wanted these 4 because they approximated the size of a deer if placed sideways on the backer. Then down to the range which apparently had not started up yet so we were lucky enough to get in on the first round of shooting. It wound up being a good thing we got there when we did. With the shortage of ranges on Long Island or near NYC, shooting space is in high demand just about one month before the firearms big game season opens in NYS. As it turned out we had taken the advice of the guy at the range counter yesterday when we had stopped there to shoot, then decided it was too expensive to kill just the short hour we had; he told us if we come back tomorrow to come early. When we wound up leaving there were at least 15, maybe 20 shooters waiting to get in to shoot.

We shot the Marlin 336 in .35 Remington, and the Remington 870 in 12 gauge over the next few hours, that is up until noon when we called it quits. The Marlin required some tweaking of the scope, yes we have sinned and put a scope on a lever action rifle - but with my eyes that is good. As for the shotgun, nothing but factory original iron sights on it. We only fired out to 50 yards, where we hunt it is very unlikely to get a shot even at that distance. After a few rounds each, I made adjustments to the scope on the Marlin, and it was shooting dead on center for the most part; that is if Brendan did it right, then so too did the Marlin. The shotgun also needed some adjusting of the sights. That seemed strange, but it was shooting quite high at 50 yards. I'll have to give it a check at the indoor range at 25 yards. We did okay with it, but I expect we would do better a little closer in than at 50 yards which would be, as I said before, a long shot where we hunt.

No pics from today. I had the camera, just forgot to make use of it; I guess because I was having fun shooting. of course I would have loved to have had it on video when Brendan beaned himself in his nose with his thumb when shooting the 870. I felt his pain - his nose was that red. He wound up hurting his shoulder too. I guess I'll need to work on how he mounts the shotgun a little bit more. I may also pick up a new recoil pad this year. Remington is making one, called the SuperCell, and they claim: "...our Model 870 pump shotgun now produces 54% less recoil than competing auto loaders with their factory pads." Sound almost too good to be true since auto loaders are known to kick much less than pumps; yet at about $20 each, I'll have to at least try one when I can find it. The kid young man will learn sooner or later, but I figure I'll make it easier on both of us, especially with not wanting his young joints to be achy like my older ones, with that new recoil pad.

Overall it was a nice day, albeit an expensive one, out with Brendan. Ammo expended in .35 Remington and 12 Gauge: $150 (at today's prices), Gas For The Car: $20.00, Admission To The Range: $36.00, Targets: $2.08, Seeing Brendan Keep Shooting Well After Whacking His Nose and Shoulder: Priceless (as were the chauffeured rides to the range and back to home since he drove).

All the best,
Glenn B

Ballseye's Firearms Training and Tactics - Breaking In A Pistol (and Glock 26 Range Report)

Old timers probably remember, in years gone by, that when you bought a new car it came with a break in period. During that period you were supposed to drive the car moderately with regard to speed, distance, and braking. It was new and it needed to get settled or broken in. Cars today are not the same. You drive em out of the showroom ready to go. Still though, I think there is a break in period for new cars, and that would be the first several hundred miles (driving here in the NYC area) or maybe the first one thousand miles elsewhere with less traffic, less stop and go, less potholes, and so on. Its not a time when I baby the car either, but rather one wherein I give it a good long once over test drive to see if it is truly road worthy for say a vacation trip, daily commuting and so forth with my family in it. What I am driving at is that if it does not show itself as having problems in that time, well then nothing catastrophic - like a wheel falling off, the brakes failing, the steering failing - is likely to happen afterwards when I am driving it with my wife and kids in there with me. My testing it like this is a prudent thing to do with a new car instead of just blindly depending on it as being truly road worthy for all road conditions.

I do likewise with guns, especially with firearms that are meant for self defense purposes. If I am going to trust my life to a pistol, or revolver, or shotgun, or rifle, well you can be darned certain that I have tested it before betting my life on it working when I need it to go bang. Of course that goes out the window in an emergency when I might just grab any gun at hand, but my regular carry pistol or revolver, or my regular home defense shotgun or rifle, has had a good deal of ammunition run through it before I will use it to defend my life or that of another.

Now many a shooter buys a new gun, and buys a box or three of ammo, then takes the gun to the range to shoot it. They shoot up a box or two and save the other box to have enough ammo to load up the gun for self defense purposes with some left over. So it turns out that maybe they fired 50 to 100 rounds through a new pistol or revolver, and probably less through a new rifle or shotgun. If they encounter repeated failures to feed, to fire, to extract or to eject - they usually guess that there is something wrong with the gun. That is a good guess, but not always right. On the other hand, if they had just a jam or three they usually attribute them to the firearm being new, and to it needing the kinks worked out of it. They, like on the other guess with more jams, may or may not be right on that one too. Some of them may even guess it is the ammo that is at fault, and they too could be right. On the other side of the coin, they may have no malfunctions at all, and therefore arrive at the conclusion that the firearm is in perfect (relatively speaking) working order. Again they may be right, but again they may be wrong.

As far as pistols go, the thing is though that running just 50 rounds, or even a hundred, through a pistol to run it through a break in period, is just not enough ammunition to test its reliability. Sure it may seem like a good amount of ammunition to shoot, but it is often not enough to make something go kerplunk when instead it should have gone click, bang, rack, click, bang, and so on. What I am driving at here is that I have, in my almost 35 years of pistol shooting, seen many a pistol fail, and most of them that I have seen fail have either failed after having many thousands of rounds of ammunition fired through them, or have failed after only having a few hundred rounds shot through them at most. What that translates to is this:

A pistol, that has been fired again and again with proper maintenance will usually fire many many thousands of rounds before it fails. When it fails, it usually fails due to things like a broken part, metal fatigue, a worn piece, a weakened spring and so on. This is actually to be expected as a pistol gets older and older and is fired more and more. Parts need to be checked and replaced as needed. Of course all of this relates to a pistol that has been broken in and that has proven itself reliable from the start.

There are problems that arise with pistols, like all of those I mentioned above, that can start happening anywhere from the first round fired through the first hundred rounds fired, or in fact anywhere after that. While I just mentioned they can happen at anytime, they are less likely to happen, to a pistol that has proven itself reliable during a break in period, before you have reached the point where several thousand rounds have been put through it. What I am saying is that the break in period is the time during which many a problem due to faulty manufacture of the pistol's parts, or due to improper assembly, will become evident.

So what does one do to properly break in and test fire a pistol to check its reliability. Well first of all, and I am talking a newly acquired pistol that is either new in the box or used, you get the manual for it and read it. After doing that you ascertain that the pistol is safe, then disassemble it as recommended by the manufacturer for a good cleaning. After cleaning it, lubricate any parts that the manufacturer recommends lubricating, then reassemble it. Now the fun begins because now you take it to the local range with at least 400 to 500 rounds of ammunition to test fire it; and that ammunition should be the same ammunition you plan on carrying in it when you use it for self defense purposes.

Why so much ammo? Well because firing that many rounds through a pistol usually makes something go pppffffzzzt or kerplunk, or splat when it should being doing otherwise. If there is a weak part, something that is likely to break, well then that many rounds through the pistol will likely bring that problem to your attention whereas 50 rounds may not be enough. In other words, from my experience in over 35 years of shooting pistol and 14 years as a firearms instructor, and from what I have been told by other instructors, putting 400 to 500 rounds though a new pistol is a fairly reliable way to make it break if it was manufactured in a faulty manner. Another thing about using that much ammo is that the gun gets kind of dirty with that many rounds through it. So if it was put together to specs that were to tight and the guns starts to action slowly after say 300-400 rounds, it may also be a good indicator that the gun will not tolerate dirt and fouling as well as one would hope. Now while you are shooting 400-500 rounds at a single range session to break in a pistol, you can bet that if you were firing at a good steady pace, the gun is prone to get hot. This will also provide another indication of if it will function properly when needed in a tight spot. Some pistols begin to seize up when they get hot. If you fire this many rounds through it and yours does not, well bravo. One other reason to fire this many rounds, doing so will smooth out the operation of almost any pistol that was properly manufactured. What I means is that when a standard commercial pistol is manufactured there are bound to be tool marks and burrs on the metal. maybe not ones visible at first glance without magnification but they are likely there. Firing a pistol several hundred times, after having cleaned and lubricated it properly will smooth off many of these imperfections. This will allow the pistol to operate more smoothly. In addition if the pistol was finished to very tight specs, firing 400-500 rounds through it should also help to loosen things up just enough to help assure smoother and easier functioning.

Besides using that many rounds, you maybe wondering why I said to use only the ammunition you plan to use in the gun when you actually use it for self defense purposes. If you were wondering, well good for you, it is a good question. The reason I recommend not mixing ammunition, or simply using a cheaper ammo for practice and a better one for self defense, is this: You want to be absolutely sure that not only does your new pistol shoot, and that it shoots reliable, but YOU WANT TO MAKE DARNED SURE IT SHOOTS RELIABLY AND ACCURATELY WITH WHATEVER YOU PLAN TO USE TO DEFEND YOUR LIFE AND THE LIVES OF YOUR LOVED ONES. You can take a pistol to the range, and then shoot Winchester White Box ball ammo (an inexpensive type of ammo sold for plinking and informal target shooting) though it for the 400 to 500 recommended rounds. The pistol may handle it flawlessly. They you leave the range, clean the pistol, and then load it with 115 grain Speer Gold Dot Plus P ammunition. You put the gun up on the closet shelf in the bedroom and that is that.

Well that was that at least until a few days later when you are awakened in the middle of the night by strange noises downstairs. Your wife is awake too and she is scared, she says she heard glass breaking and footsteps crunching the broken glass. You are sure it is a burglar. You have the wife call the cops and you get the pistol loaded with the hollow points (yes the ammo I described is HP ammo). Suddenly the bedroom door is hit and an armed intruder bursts into the room in a rage. You see him pointing a shotgun at your wife and you fire, the first shot going god knows where, and you try to squeeze off another shot, but for some reason the pistol has gone kerplunk instead of bang/rack/bang. When the police arrive they find you dead in a pool of your own blood. You wife has also been shot but she has survived. The bad guy has fled. When police examine your pistol they discover that the hollow points you were using would not reliable feed into the pistol and the somewhat rather rough feed ramp caused the jam. Too bad for you. that you tested your gun with ammunition that you did not depend upon to save your life; and too bad you assumed that if cheaper ammo fed in your pistol then more expensive ammo would feed too. Think that was too dramatic? Don't believe it could happen to you? I have seen it happen, that is the jamming thing, with many people's guns at the range. I'd rather not see the results, firsthand when it happens in a bad situation - though I have read accounts and seen photos of guns that have jammed for various reason, all when they were needed most. That is why I highly recommend using only the ammo with which you will defend yourself as your break in ammo for a new pistol, and why I recommend a break in test in the first place. Of course you can fire other types of ammo through your gun, but be darned sure you can fire the ammo with which you plan to defend yourself, that your gun operates reliably using that ammo, and that you can shoot accurately with that ammo.

There is another reason to go to the range and fire off about 400-500 rounds of ammo with any new pistol. It helps to assure that you are familiar with the pistol, and it should let you know whether or not you need to correct any bad shooting habits or if you need to adjust the sights to achieve accuracy with the new gun. Yes new guns are sort of like new cars, they are both machines, each make and model of both a car and a gun have a distinctive feel about them that you need to get used to, and they can offer quite the fun experience to use - as in drive or shoot while at the same time can also offer pure utility to the user.

Did I just mention fun, why yes I did. Shooting is good old American style past time that is lots of fun. The more you shoot, the more fun you have, well up to a point and dependent upon caliber anyhow. If you go out and shoot a .454 Casull 400 to 500 times in a day - well either you are a man of steel or are out and out nuts. Why? Well because you are bound to be hurtin bad if you are a mere mortal like me and fire that many of those big rounds in one day. Some pistol and revolvers require a few days break in period to shoot that many rounds, and those days may be spread out over weeks. With the lowly 9MM round however, it is a different story. You can probably easily shoot 400-500 rounds in a single trip to the range if you are a shooter of average build and strength.

Heck I did it today even though I have not been feeling my best lately. The truth is I had fun, and I was quite satisfied with my new Glock 26's operation at the range. I fired at least 400 rounds, and think it was actually 430 rounds I put through her today. I had a blast both figuratively and literally. I found out the new Glock 26:

1) Is an accurate shooter, probably more accurate than I can be with it.

2) Was probably made well, and will probably go a long time before breaking, since it fired every round with which it was loaded without a failure to feed, to fire, to extract, or to eject. (I had once failure to feed but only because I had not fully inserted a mag - shooter error - no fault of the Glock. I did have about 4 or 5 ejections where the shell casing came back at my face, and one or two that actually went to the left of the gun, I need to check on the ejector and make sure it is not bent at all; though most shell casings ejected properly.)

3) Can cause a blister on my trigger finger after firing 430 rounds within an hour.

4) Gets my fingers really dirty. I have to check into that, I don't remember that happening with other Glocks I have fired.

Here are the pics of some targets I shot. The one at 7 yards is the second magazine ful of round I fired from my new Baby Glock. The first 7 were shot into an already used target, I had been shooting my Ortgies Pocket Pistol in .32 ACP also. That first group looked to me to be a slightly better group, but a pic of that would have made a poor pic with .32 caliber holes and 9mm holes mixed together. All the targets are annotated to show at what distance they were set, and all have a U.S. quarter to sow scale for group size.








































As you can see, there was probably some shooter error. I don't mean as to group size, that was more than good enough for me; but you can see I am shooting a tad to the left of center of paper (where I aimed) when shooting at anything further out than 7 yards. I'll have to work on that.

All the best,
Glenn B