Gun Show Report - The Gun Show At Middletown

We hit the road this morning about a half hour later than expected and because of rain added another 15 minutes on top of that. We wound up in the parking lot at the Orange County Fairgrounds at about 0945. I had hoped to be there by 0900 when it opened. No matter though because as it turned out while we had a lot of fun looking at guns we did not buy one. They just did not have anything that I wanted and had something Brendan wanted but I talked him out of it. He was sort of salivating over a Mossberg shotgun with pistol grip. When I explained that it would be about near impossible to practice with that at any local range he saw the light. He started looking at Mossbergs and Remington 870s with either conventional or collapsible stocks. When he realized how much money he had already spent on AK mags (two of them), T-shirts (two of them), an AK-47 bayonet, a pocket knife and 3 bullet key chains he realized he had spent over a $100 and did not have enough left for a shotgun. I told him if he wanted one to go for it but maybe he should first look at some stores like Dicks Sporting Goods or Gander Mountain. I explained to him that when I go to a gun show, unless I see a really great deal on a new rifle, shotgun or pistol I would not buy it at the show because chances are I could get a better deal at a store that sells guns. I also clued him in that mostly I am looking for a good deal on something used at any gun shows I attend. He decided that maybe the old man knows something after all and held off for now.

As for me, I was in the market for some ammo cans and a Marlin XS7. There was not one new Marlin in .308 to be found in the place let alone the specific model I was seeking out. I also wanted some odds and ends like a good bore light, some .50 ammo cans and maybe some gun cleaning supplies. The ammo cans usually go for $6.00 apiece from a certain vendor at this show and today was no exception for single cans at that price. I was disappointed to find out that they were not less expensive if bought in groups of 4 or more. They usually price em at 4 cans for $20 but would not do so today. I bought only 2 of em - all I really needed for now but would have taken 4 had the price been right. I also picked up a field surgical kit (small one in OD pouch with scissors, hemostats, a couple of 18" sutures, and two surgical blades. Not a bad thing to have in with the survival or hiking gear. I don't know if it was a good price on that or not, but you don't see em often so I figured I'd go the $22 for one. As for the bore light - forget about it. All any vendor had was the same junk type I got there last time, or one other type that looked even junkier. I have a junk one already (the thread stripped within a year) and a better one I have had for many years. I will buy a better one at a sporting goods or gun store at a later date. I also brought Brendan a small AK 47 sticker, some strike anywhere matches (impossible to get where I live), and a really neat cut metal sign that you have already seen in the picture herein.

We left at about 1230 and headed out to eat with an idea of maybe going back in. We stopped at Gander Mountain before eating, looked around at prices on rifles and shotguns and left there empty handed too. I was a bit miffed at myself for forgetting my bait bucket and portable air pump. I had wanted to buy some minnows for my turtle tank - fish on the fin for my turtle - gives him exercise as he tries to catch them and nourishment too if he actually does catch any. Oh well, next time for that. After Gander Mountain we got ourselves some nourishment at a Ruby Tuesday. The service was good and the food fair to good. Not bad at all. We then moved onto Dick's Sporting Goods just about right next to the restaurant. It turned out that neither they nor Gander Mountain had the Marlin XS7 in .308. GM had one that was a XS7Y (I imagine that Y stood for youth model as it was shorter in the stock than a regular one). GM also had the XL7 in .30/06. I'll wait for the XS7 in .308 if I get one. We also saw a few Remington 770s and a few Remington 700s. Brendan told me the Remington 700 was supposed to be a great shooter as per an American Rifleman article he had read some time back. Of course, because I would have liked to have read up on them, we don't seem to still have that issue. I also want to do some checking on the Remington 770. They were going for about $300 scoped. The Remington ADL with bull barrel in a dull finish and camo stock was going for about $500 with a $45 or $50 rebate making it even a better deal. They had another Remington 700 with dark blue finish - no bull barrel - but it looked nicer than the ADL and cost more money.

I will be looking again at the Remington 700 though, it looked pretty nice and I will be inquiring about a Marlin XS7 locally too. I may yet buy a rifle in .308 before the weekend is out but now have more decisions to ponder! Then again who knows, if I break from my usual luck of pretty much never winning anything, maybe I will win a rifle in the raffle I am entered in that goes off tomorrow. I am not betting on it though!

After Dick's we headed home. A quicker ride home than it was going to the show and nicer for me because Brendan did the driving on the way home. Allin all it was a good day. There are two things though sort of irking me though that I should have done before leaving the gun show that I neglected to do. One thing I should have done was to look at a Mosin Nagant 91/30 that they had for sale for $89.99 at one table. The problem there was a big jerk who would not let me get in to look at it. He was standing in front of it for over 15 minutes and would not move despite me politely asking him to do so. The dealer heard me ask at that and did not ask the guy to move. Seems he was waiting to buy a rifle for about $50 more than that one while the dealer was already busy with someone else. Oh well, if the dealer did not want another sale that was okay with me. Now it is not the fact that I did not get to look at that rifle that irks me, it is the fact that I did not tell the guy blocking the table to go screw himself.

The other thing I should have done was to have looked at a Remington rifle they had at another table. It was chambered in 30/06 and looked nice on the outside. It had a bent bolt and it looked a lot like some sort of Mosin Nagant and the ticket on it said it was built for Russia by Remington. They were asking $150 for it. I have to look that one up on the Internet tonight. I planned to look at it then sort of forgot when we left, and I suppose I thought we were going back again before shoving off for home but that never happened. Oh well...those rifles I want in .308 were in my sights.

All the best,
Glenn B

Centennial Bridge Shooting (account of shooting corrected)

Check out the video.

A police officer is seen to stop a suspect (of an assault) on a bridge by way of the view from his dashboard camera. The suspect does not obey the commands of the officer and the officer is starting to back away and finally shoots the suspect with a TASER. The TASER shot is ineffective and the suspect then attacks the police officer. They go off camera, and you can hear the police officer struggling and taking punishment as he does so. Then an off duty police officer from another state arrives on scene and renders aid to the uniformed officer. As he renders aid, the uniformed officer is able to draw and fire his service weapon fatally injuring the suspect - all off camera - but from the looks of the uniformed officer when he comes back into view I would have to think the shooting had been justified. Of course I am taking a few other things into consideration. The suspect was much bigger than the police officer, he attacked failed to comply with the legal orders of the officer, he attacked the officer violently, the officer was heard to be gasping and struggling, one of the officers after arrival of the off duty one was heard to command the suspect to cease his attack repeatedly, the audible leads one to believe the suspect kept on attacking, an officer is heard to say something to the effect if you don't stop I'll shoot, shots are fired, the suspect comes back into view of the camera and is now compliant to the commands of the officers. One would probably think, as did I initially, that the off duty officer fired the shots but this article explains how it came to be that the uniformed officer, the one who was being attacked, actually fired the shots that killed the suspect. The article also explains that the shooting was found to have been justified and gives some more info about how savagely the officer was being attacked saying one of the officer's eyebrows had been bitten off by the suspect.



Imagine what would be the case had there been no video and audio footage of this event. I can assure you there would be marches, there would be tons of accusations or racism against the police officers, Al Sharpton and his gang (or those like him) likely would be protesting (they may be anyway for all I know), there would possibly be race riots. I don't know what is happening as a result of this shooting - maybe all that is taking place despite the video but I don't know one way or the other because this is the first I have heard of this event. Of course, this took place at the end of July this year so if it bad things happened in reaction to the shooting they may have calmed down already. I would hope though that anyone who saw this video realized that the use of deadly force by the officers was in all likelihood necessary and justified.

Now imagine another thing, no matter what else takes place, both of these officers will live with this for the rest of their lives. Because of what they did a man died. Because of what that man did they were forced to do what they did and the suspect died as a result. One of the officers lost his eyebrow because it was bitten off of his face. My bet is that you would not give a second thought to his returning to work - but do exactly that for a moment. Think about having all of that stuff happen to you - your weapon not doing the trick (the TASER), a guy taking control away from you and beating you like a mad man then biting off part of your face, it all probably seeming helpless, then help arriving and still the guy keeps attacking you , then you having to shoot him, then the guy dying. Would you be able to go back to that same job? Man oh man that has got to be a tough thing to do. Remember this is not the army during war - this was just another ho-hum day on the streets of Davenport, IA. My bet is he goes back to the job and does it until he can retire. Don't forget the other officer, it cannot be easy for him either. Yeah they both did right, they were both justified, but I'd be willing to bet my pension both have ethics, morals and an upbringing that told them killing another human is bad. They will live with that forever, hopefully they will be able to come to terms with it. They both did damned good.

A Side Note: Being an LEO for virtually 30 years (my 30th anniversary is on the 28th of this month) I find myself compelled to point out what I think was one mistake, but a big one, that the uniformed officer made in his handling of the suspect (my opinion). He had the suspect climb over the railing and he was between his cruiser and the suspect when the suspect came over the rail. I think it would have been better for the officer to have climbed over toward the suspect from a good distance after he first had him kneel. This way the officer could not have wound up basically pinned between his cruiser, a moving lane of traffic, the rail and the bad guy. Sure the officer could have arranged it so the suspect would have been in that pinned spot, but the officer still would have been in danger from oncoming traffic had the suspect then attacked him. Just look at it again and imagine the suspect had pushed the officer in the other direction and that cars had kept coming. On the other hand, had the officer gone over to the side of the rail on which the suspect had originally been standing there would have been much less potential for the officer to be pinned with moving traffic on one side of him. I am not making note of this to fault the officer but rather to give him and others something to think about when handling a suspect in the future - don't let yourself get boxed in - you need to be able to get away and get some maneuvering room should things go bad.

Of course, as I see it, both of the officers acted in exemplary fashion. I know some may find fault with the big bad officer who used politically incorrect words and cursed at the suspect. To them I say - great a life - that officer was saving one and I don't care what he said while doing it the right way.
All the best,
Glenn B

If I Buy A Rifle Today...

...and then win one in the raffle, for which I have tickets tomorrow - what am I supposed to do? I would almost bet that if I buy one today, I will win one tomorrow, probably something similar to that which I buy today. Oh well - who could complain about that! I guess in answer to my own question I would just have to enjoy shooting both of them.

All the best,
Glenn B

Biweekly Gun Shots 18 - Marlin XS7

Both Brendan and I have had a hankering to find ourselves a current manufacture bolt action rifle suitable for big game. he has specifically suggested something in .308 caliber. he must take after me somewhat because I think the .308 is a great all around caliber and besides that for a large rifle caliber the ammo can be had at a decent price. Most decent rifles in .308 probably start at around $450 to $500 in price. But there may be a less expensive offering out there that while costing less gives as much value as the more expensive rifles. That would be the Marlin XS7.
The Marlin XS7 received a great write up in a recent issue of Outdoor Life magazine. They compared about 10 or so newly available rifles on the US market. The XS7 received note as the best value. It received something like a C+ for workmanship a B for accuracy and a B+ for value. Not bad marks. While I am somewhat concerned about the C+ for workmanship, I am not that concerned because they gave a marlin lever action rifle the same grade for that. I have owned three marlin lever action rifles and I always thought the craftsmanship was at least a B+ to A. I would risk this rifle being close to that in my estimation.

As far as accuracy was concerned they said that out of the best eight groupings this rifle achieved, the average group was about 1.4 inches. They did not mention at what distance they tested the rifles, but my guess would be it had to have been at 100 yards. That is none too shabby. Not as good as some others they tested maybe, but ones with much better accuracy seemed to have had a much higher price tag by about double the price of this rifle.

So what is the price that I keep mentioning. Well, it is an amazing one at that. It has a MSRP of about $340. At that price I may buy two of them. Well one first to check it out and if a good shooter, and if well made, and if it fits me and Brendan - I may have to buy another. If not then just think of all the ammo I can buy for this rifle with the money I would save by buying it over one of its more expensive competitors.

Here are the specs from the Marlin website:

Calibers: 7mm-.08, 243 Win. and 308 Win.

Capacity: 4+1

Action: Centerfire bolt action, Pro-FireTM adjustable trigger system; fluted bolt; two-position safety; red cocking indicator

Stock: Pillar-bedded black synthetic with raised cheek piece and Soft-Tech™ recoil pad

Barrel: 22” precision button rifled, target crown (6 grooves)

Twist Rate: 7mm-08 - 1:9.5” r.h., 243 Win. - 1:10” r.h., 308 Win. - 1:12” r.h.

Sights/Scope: No sights provided. One-piece scope base included

Overall Length: 42 1/2"

Weight: 6¼ - 6¾ lbs

I kind of wish this came with a wood stock as does the Marlin XL7, but it is not yet available in wood. I just like the heft of the wood stock especially since it usually helps cut back the impact of recoil. Then again, unlike a couple of my military-surplus rifles this one comes with a rubber recoil pad.

I am off to the gun show at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Middletown, NY tomorrow and may just have to shop around for one of these. I have already seen it at The Little Store in Roscoe, NY for $325 (or was that an XL7?), so I am hopeful to get it for a bit below MSRP. If I don't see one there I can always order one at my local gun shop or check with Dick's Sporting Goods to see if they stock it. (I have a love hate thing with Dick's Sporting Goods if you have not realized it yet; lately they have been pretty good as compared to other times when I could not stand their service.)

All the best,
Glenn B

Early To Bed...

...and early to rise, left lots of sleep in my eyes. Man, I hate having to wake of at 0350 to get ready for work. It is an early one for me to day hunting down some bad guys. No blogging last night because of the early bed thing, only a smidgen of a blog this morning because I am short on time, so I'll try to blog this evening when I get home from work.

All the best,
Glenn B

6 More days - Wish Me Luck Or Buy A Ticket Yourself

The title of this post refers to the fact that Greybeard by way of this post at Greybeard's Gripes was good enough, not all that long ago, to remind me that: On Sunday, September 13, 2009 the Eastern Arenac Sportsmens Club will be holding its annual raffle for 2009. More info on the raffle can be found here. You safely can bet I purchased a few tickets, and you also can bet I was quite surprised because Greybeard threw a couple of freebies my way this year. I have not had any luck on the past couple or three raffles for which I have bought tickets from this club so I guess he was feeling sorry for me which is okay by me! Nice guy.

If you went to the link above for more info on the raffle, you can see there are some really good prizes being offered - all firearms. In all, there are 10 prizes and as per the site only 700 tickets at most will be sold. Odds of 1 out of 70 seem pretty decent to me - if it does to you why not see if they still have any tickets for sale. If you are not going to buy a ticket or a few, then please wish me luck. If you are buying a ticket, now that I told you about this raffle, well then I wish you luck. Of course I want to win, but with 10 prizes there is a lot of winning to go around. I have got to say, that 1st prize sure sounds extra nice since Brendan and I have been hoping to get a bolt action rifle in .308; then again all of them sound nice.

All the best,
Glenn B

Not Quite A Bad Night Fishing - Even If I Was Looking Green

This post should have come before the last one 'Not Quite A Bad Day At The Range' but then I have never had great timing. I went out fishing on Saturday night - despite the shoulder, neck and back pain. The fishing actually made it worse by at least a bit but then went I went to the range yesterday the knocking about my shoulder took may have made it better just a bit. Maybe it knocked something back into place. For sure it bruised my right shoulder like I have not seen in a long time.

Oh well, back to the fishing trip. Since it was a night trip I did not have much choice of that for which to fish. It was bluefish and striped bass or nothing. It really was bluefish or nothing. I say that because while the Captain Al out of Point lookout, NY advertises they will be fishing for both, the truth came out when a mate told me that stripers rarely if ever go for cut mackerel baits in our neck of the briny deep. That was okay with me. I boarded the Captain Al at about 1815 (6:15PM) and there were already a few souls aboard awaiting the trip. By 1900 (7:00 PM) there were about 25 to 30 people aboard. We shoved off from the pier at about 1910. I am guessing it was about an hour before we got to the fishing grounds. Any other boat in the area would likely have been there in 1/2 to 3/4 that time - the Captain Al is a slow boat. Slow or not I choose her more often than not when I go fishing on a Party Boat because the crew has a reputation for remembering that the paying fares are the customers who put the money in their pockets both by way of the $45 fare and tips.

Once we started fishing, calls of fish on came within seconds. People all around the boat were hooking and reeling in 4 to 12 pound bluefish. The action was frantic, yet I had not even a bite. This went on for hours and the tide was slack for most of that time. Not a good thing a slack tide when you are hoping to reel em in. A moving tide, often the beginning of the outgoing seems to really spur their appetites. Saturday night was no exception because at about 2230 (10:30PM) fish started to bite again and the action picked up as the tide moved faster. The sad thing about that was that it was all too soon time to leave. Nonetheless, I hooked into what I thought was a fish, then thought was the bottom, then knew was a monster blue. The guy next to me kept yelling "you got the pool fish" and I was sure I did until I realized my line and another guys were tangled. I thought he had the fish, then he said nope it was on my line. Then we saw the fish, it was only a few pounds. So why did it feel like a monster blue - not because of the lines being tangled but because my blue had wrapped my line around an anchor line. I was pulling up a small amount of fish and a lot of anchor line. Oh well. After about another 1/2 hour I hooked a pretty good sized one, my guess is about 10 pounds which is pretty big though not huge. It really looked as if it could be the poolfish. Then soon after that they tooted the horn three times and we were headed back to the dock. Me with only two fish, the guy to my left with one, the guy to my right with three (he only caught his after I got my first one). We were back at the dock by about midnight. The trip went from 1900 to 2400 - not that long being not everyone had done to well. Some though had up to about 7 or 8 blues aboard. Others had a mixed bag with mostly blues and maybe a seabass or two. One guy caught a pretty big eel.

I was a bit disappointed because they did not stay out longer. One of the reasons I choose the Captain Al again and again over the years is because they usually stay out an hour or two later if people are not really catching a lot of fish. ) I suppose this was the exception, I hope it is not a new trend. Oh well, on the way back in, I had my two filleted, and another guy gave me a smaller one and a huge one. That could not be beat since it would make for two good meals for my family. While they were filleting them I had the mate pause and throw mine on the pool fish scale. Wow it was the best so far. Then they weighed a few others and mine held out, though I was pretty sure the guy who gave me the two fish had a bigger one. Not longer but fatter. He had two that beat mine, and his heaviest stayed on the scale. Both of his fish barely beat mine so I was not too disappointed, I had a good one beaten probably only by an ounce or two of weight. About 15 minutes later into the filleting of the fish for other people, an older gentleman had his weighed and it won out handily. It was a real monster blue, my guess is 12 pounds or more and yes they do get quite a bit bigger than that but that is around the starting size for monster bluefish. So as it turned out, I had the fifth biggest fish on the boat.

I also should point out something about the picture of me I have included in this post. I took it of myself with my camera phone while on the boat under whatever type of light the boat had shining. The little red streak over my left shoulder is the moon just above the horizon a bit and streaked from the movement of the boat (click it to make the pic bigger). The overly greenish pallor of my appearance was not due to my becoming seasick; I have never had that pleasure -close, very queasy and sick feeling, but never spewed forth chum. Instead the sickly hue of my complexion was due only to a trick of the boat's lights. There was a young lass who did get ill and obliged her fellow fishermen by chumming a bit and I have to say I just don't get it. The seas were almost a smooth as ice on a lake. I suppose for some folks all it takes is the suggestion to get them going. Her side of the boat benefited from the chum though, I kept hearing yells of fish on from near where she let loose.

All in all, it was for me a good trip, and as you have heard me and others say before it beat working because 'a bad day fishing is better than a good day working'. My friends this was not a bad day (night) at all. More fish would have been better, a little longer fishing would have been nicer, but it was a good crew, the company from the other fishermen nearby to my spot at the rail was excellent, and I had just an out and out fun time.

Besides that, I grilled the bluefish a couple of hours ago and it was absolutely delicious. I also sauteed some in a pan along with a special marinade I use just for oily fish and that too was excellent. My wife and daughter both liked it too (which was a real surprise since bluefish does have a strong flavor to it). When Brendan gets home my bet is he will gobble up the leftovers to which I was looking forward.

All the best,
Glenn B

Not Quite A Bad Day At The Range

I went to the range today even tough I only left my house late and wound up there at about 2:15PM. Maybe I should not have gone. Some knucklehead in a grey BMW SUV almost drove me off the road. I think he was drunk. I called the police; they never responded but that is another story. It was an omen too.

Of course that story blends into this one, because the police called me back, just before I was about to start shooting, to say the officer was in the range parking lot looking for me. I went up to look for him and he was nowhere to be seen - apparently he went to the wrong range - there are one or two others in the vicinity. Well I thought he went to thee wrong range, as you will see he probably never even showed up. When I started to go back down to the range, there was some guy moving my cased rifles over to a bench looking over his shoulder at me. I asked what business he had to move my rifles without asking me and he started to yell and scream that he was a range Nazi officer, and he had every right to do so, and how dare I leave my cased rifles in an open case on the ground. I explained, rather loudly myself, the another range officer had instructed me to leave them right there until a cease fire and he had better ask me to ever again touch my firearms. Well yet a third range officer, one I know as a senior or supervisory range officer, came over and he tried to butt in calm things down. I explained that the guy yelling at me had a knack for yelling at folks at the range and the butting in guy knew it because I had witnessed this same act before a few times with him yelling at other people. The rifle moving range guy started to more or less say I was a jerk who should be expelled from the range and we went back and forth a bit. It soon was over or so I thought but low and behold there came the first guy who told me to put the case where I had left it. The place from which the guy who moved it said it should not have been, and what does this first range officer ask me. "Sir, can I move or would you move the rifle case to over there?" Over there being exactly where I had it when the other guy picked it up and moved it saying it was a violation of range rules to have left it there. What is it they say about too many chefs spoiling the broth! It was going to prove to be a day - wouldn't you say.

Back to the police for a moment. As it turned out the police later called me again to say there would be a delay in an officer responding to my call and if I wanted to wait quite some time I could do so. This was about 20 minutes before the range closed and over 2 hours or so since I had made the call to the police. I told them to forget it. Allow me to get back to shooting which I somehow managed to squeeze in between this call and the range officer and me getting into a tiff. By the way we both apologized to one another for getting loud with one another and all turned out fine. I guess maybe the guy had a point - he did not know me and they get lots of assholes to deal with and I have to agree with him they do get a lot of assholes as you will see was the case today. No not me, don't go there because even the range officer agreed that I was not one once we got to talking and once he saw me shooting.

Before I got into the tiff with the range officer, I had gone to the range shop, bought about 8 targets, and paid my fee. The total was about $23.50. A lot for only about 2 hours shooting time - that was all the time left since they close at 4:15. Oh well, I figured it was then or wait another couple of weeks because next weekend I have other plans that do not allow for range time. I got to the range and somewhere in the whole mess mentioned above I actually had the time to set up on the range with a decent selection of rifles and get to shooting them. I had my new Mosin Nagant 91/30, my Mosin Nagant M44, my Yugoslavian SKS, and my Marlin 336.

I shot the Mosin Nagant 91/30 first. I used a Shoot-n-C target. It is one of the targets that shows the greenish ring around the bullet hole for great contrast. As it turned out the 91/30 is a shooter. From the bench with no support except for the bench (as in no sand bags) I did purdy near good at 50 yards. No competition grade shooting, but I certainly could have lit up a whitetail deer at that distance. Why 50 yards? Because it is easier to sight in a newly acquired rifle at 50 than it is at 100 yards. Maybe the next trip I will try to shoot it at 100 yards. Besides that I rarely get a shot at a deer over 50 yards, and i may just take this thing hunting with me. I'll have to remember to use the lollipop sight picture though. Aiming dead on at 50 yards and it shot high even with the rear sight set to its lowest position. It was pretty much right on for windage. In the pic there are three groups of 5 shots. The first group is slightly to the right and high. The second group is slightly to the left and high but not as high - using Kentuckty windage (and elevation) to adjust for having shot right and high the first time. The third group (yes that is five shots, look very closely) is the result of using the lollipop sight picture which made it near perfect for elevation although I again shot to the right a bit, but I did not compensate for windage this time. I need to adjust the front sight slightly for windage and it should be as good as it will get for me.

I then fired the M44 but was not impressed. It did not shot okay now that the bore is clean. My first group was not so good, the shots were pretty low. I needed only to adjust the rear sight up to notches to get the right elevation and I got a decent 3 shot group with the 2nd set of 3 rounds (see the pic two pics down, look at the shots fired on the buff colored paper to the right of the target. There are 6 shots, those were from the M44. I aimed at that area to not mistake those shots with my shots fired from the Marlin when I was sighting it in. The M44 also needs front sight adjustment a bit to to the right but not all that much. I was aiming in the center of the buff colored area and as you can see the shots were to the left somewhat (the right edge of the pic was pretty much the right edge of the buff colored paper).

I also fired the Yugo SKS which has never been all that great of a shooter. Still though it shoots consistently to the right, so again I need to do some adjustment for windage on its front sight. Yes a common factor among these three rifles is that the front sights are adjustable for windage. In all I fired to 10 round groups for a total of 20 shots out of the SKS. The first group was higher up, the second was lower and tighter in together. Not great shooting but not terrible either.

I also sighted in the Marlin 336. I took the scope off of it to clean it when I noticed a smidgen of rust at the edge of the scope mount the other night. Much to my dismay the area under the scope mount had a sizable rusty spot, like half of the area. I cleaned it and took off some of the finish doing so; shame on me for not removing the scope mount at the end of the hunting season last year. Live and learn.

In all I fired 15 shots out of the Marlin to sight in the scope. I fired 3 way to the left, then 3 closer to the center, then 3 even closer, then 3 way off to the right. I think what sent them way off to the right was that I probably adjusted the sights further right to get them from the 9 ring to the center, got distracted by a range officer BS'ing to me to tell me how I was shooting, then readjusted the sights before shooting again. So I essentially doubled the adjustment and look what it did, it put me right in the same area of the 9 ring on the opposite lateral side of the target (except for the one flier in that group). When I adjusted back to the left half of the last adjustment to the right - well, the shots were right where I wanted them. I fired 15 more shots, on a new target later on, with ammo from a few different manufacturers with pretty much the same results. I use a 200 grain bullet from Winchester, Federal and Remington ammo brands. The Marlin is ready for the hunting season for me. Now Brendan has to try it out because the scope usually needs some adjustment between where it has the rifle shooting fine for me and where it does likewise for him. Either way it is good enough for either of us to bag a deer.

Now when you looked at the second target for the Marlin, the one with all but one of the holes in the red, you may have noticed that there are 16 shots instead of 15 on the paper. That has a bit of explaining needed. I was firing on a 50 yard target. The guy immediately to my right was firing a pistol at about 7 yards (maybe 10). The range is set up with 2 rifle lanes next to the pistol lanes, followed by all rifle lanes to the right of that. I was pretty uncomfortable with the asshole next to me a few times that I noticed he had laid down his pistol on the bench pointed at my position. The bench for pistol shooters is a bit too far back in relation to the benches for the rifle shooters, so that if you fiddle with a pistol over the bench and it turns left or right it is pointing at the shooter next to you who is shooting rifle. The set up sucks, and his shooting safety skills sucked. So did those of the woman accompanying him. She pointed her pistol at me at least once while racking the slide and once again while trying to clear a jam -of course trying to clear the jam with finger on the trigger. I said something to the range officer and I suppose he spoke to them. But I digress - don't I and I certainly do not need my blood pressure to rise again today.

That shot - number 16 - all by its lonesome self out of the red and into the white - was not fired by me. In fact, I was looking through binoculars, to get an idea of where I had been shooting, when I suddenly saw a new hole appear in my target. That was right after one of those two assholes next to me fired off a pistol. I almost could not believe it, there is no way he could have been aiming at his target and actually hit mine, or her either for that matter, no matter how bad a shot could be either one of them. I figure it had to be either on purpose, or maybe one of them was again trying to clear a jam with finger on trigger and the gun pointed awry - but at least downrange this time if that was indeed the case. I figure it was on purpose because I think it was pretty obvious I had complained about their lack of range safety to the range officer. Luckily they finished up right after that and left before me so I had some safer time to shoot during the last round of shooting. Man oh man, public ranges can be frightening. I wonder where the range officers were when these two were pulling there goofball stunts with their pistols! Did I mention above somewhere I should have known this was going to be a day!

Oh well, it was a decent day at the range regardless of all the shenanigans that went on. How could I think it was even a decent day. Well I did not get shot or otherwise injured. I fired all 4 rifles I had brought with me. I did fair to middling with two of them and purdy darned good with the other two. Finally, a mediocre day at the range is better than a good day at work (unless you are at work shooting at the range) - so it was a decent way to spend a couple of hours on my day off. Note I did not say a bad day at the range is better than a good day at work as you would say a bad day fishing better than a good day at work. Why not? Because a bad day at the range means your gun blew up, or you got shot by some jerk who had no concept of firearms safety. Be careful out there - please shoot and handle firearms safely.

All the best,

Glenn B

Wasted day - well maybe not...

...that is not if I go fishing tonight. I had been planning on going to the outdoor range at The Long Island Shooting Center of Brookhaven today but let too much of the day slip by to make the trip worthwhile. They charge about $23 per day for shooting pistol and rifle, and $5 per trap session; the drive is about 60 miles each way to reach the place. Well by the time I got done puttering around the house it was about 1:30 and they end shooting at 4:15. Since it would take me over an hour to get there that would not be worth it at all. So I decided to go to the nearby indoor Nassau County Rifle and Pistol Range. They are closed on Saturdays and Sundays and I would swear it is September already, and well within their business hours, but they just did not - maybe would not - answer the telephone. Not like it was when Republicans ran the county - oh well. maybe they are still closed since this is Labor Day weekend. You would think they would be open though since the Nassau County website only says they are closed on weekends during July and August.

So, tough noogies for me I suppose. I had wanted to try out the latest acquisition - the Mosin Nagant 91/30, and to shoot the Yugo M44 too. I was also going to sight in the Marlin 336 since I removed the scope and scope mount to clean the rifle (much to my dismay finding some pretty bad rust under the scope mount but nothing terrible). Now that I had the scope on and off and on again, it needs zeroing for sure. I also had half a mind to shoot the Yugo SKS and to find out if the stripper clips I bought actually are made for the SKS and function properly in it. Well, I suppose there is always tomorrow for the outdoor range. I think I will leave right after breakfast.

As for the remainder to today, there is not much to do. I may go out fishing tonight if the party boats are not too crowded. yeah, I know, good luck this weekend. Then again I may get lucky. They are fishing at night for Striped Bass and Bluefish; I always bring a bottom rig too to see whatever down there might be biting if the blues and strippers are not. I have gone home with a bagful of Ling in past years when others had nothing. The boats leave at 7, I like to be there by 6, so I have plenty of time to do whatever else I can think of before heading out at about 5. I suppose I ought to spend at least an hour or two making sure my rod, reel and tackle box are in order. If I do go out it will probably be on the old and very slow captain Al. A slow boat but usually excellent mates and good fishing. There area lot of other boats to choose from, but in recent years I have chosen them for the few trips on which I have gone fishing. See: http://www.thefishingline.com/party.htm.

I also suppose I am taking a chance that I will throw out my back or shoulder. They are still both aching but not as bad as they have been over the past week, especially the past couple of days. The Arthrotec pills I was given by the doc are working somewhat, but not all that much to tell the truth. Still though I am feeling a bit better. Maybe that bit better is good enough to handle a bite from a nice bluefish or a cow striper. Mmm, broiled Striped Bass and grilled bluefish sound really good for tomorrow after the range.

All the best,
Glenn B

Heosemys depressa - Supposedly Spotted For The First Time...

...in the wild, or so says this article. Now while this gives me sort of a thrill, because I am into reptiles and amphibians and am a turtle/tortoise keeper, I am not necessarily writing about it here just because of the sighting. Rather, I am writing about it because of the ridiculous claim in the article about the sighting. You see, the article states:

"Known only by museum specimens and a few captive individuals, one of the world’s rarest turtle species — the Arakan forest turtle — has been observed for the first time in the wild."

Hmm, do you see anything wrong with that sentence. No not grammatically, rather with what it is claiming. It is trying to say that this species of turtle has never before been encountered in the wild by mankind until an intrepid team of naturalists found it recently. That is absolute bullshit (sorry I just hate it when reporters make ridiculous claims). You see in order for this turtle to have been discovered in the first place, well someone had to find it in the wild. In order for there to have been captive specimens, someone had to observe it in the wild and then catch at least one of them.

The article then goes onto say that a few specimens turned up in Chinese food markets in 1994. I wonder where does the author or the article think they were found. Does he think they came from an Arakan Forest Turtle farm? Is it possible that maybe they came from the wild and that it stands to reason whoever caught them observed them in the wild? Then the article says that before that they had last been seen in 1908 when one was collected by a British army officer. I wonder, did he collect it on sale at the turtle farm, or did he 'collect' it in the wild?

Besides the sort of silly sounding statement that none have ever before been observed in the wild, it seems they may have the wrong picture to go with the article. When I checked on the Internet the pictures I found looked more like this one (click on the pic once at that link for a slide show) than the ones pictured in the article. Now then, they could be youngsters that look different than adults, or they could be a subspecies that has a darker color.

I don't know about you but poor reporting like that kind of bugs me. That is especially true when talking about more important things in my life than the Arakan Forest Turtle. No it is not that I consider these turtles unimportant, just that reporters screw up often on things that are of more importance - you know like so called Global Warming (now amazingly referred to as climate change). Of course, the AP had an even more ridiculous claim in an article about these very same turtles and all you have to do is read the headline to see what I mean: Discovery of Extinct Species: Arakan Forest Turtle. I mean it would be pretty hard to discover a living example of an extinct species - would it not? I give them credit though as they immediately explain in the first sentence of the article that the species was "...believed extinct...".

As for the turtles themselves, well I am always interested in such things. Turtles have always fascinated me, maybe because my first pet was a Red Eared Slider. My uncle took me to a pet shop on Broadway in Brooklyn, NY to buy that little guy many years ago. Sadly his future probably was not as rosy as that of the Arakan Forest Turtles in question, he did not live all that long - just a couple of years. Then again, having that little turtle created a lifelong interest for me as to collecting, keeping and breeding reptiles and amphibians. They get only top notch care from me, maybe even better care than is given to some of the handful of Arakan Forest Turtles in captivity. When it comes to hard to breed animals, especially reptiles and amphibians, many breakthroughs are made by private keepers as opposed to zoos and wildlife sanctuaries. My bet is that if the zookeepers would be humble enough to seek the advice of some advanced/expert (not me mind you) private turtle breeders they might improve their success rate with this species markedly. To date very few have been propagated in captivity.

All the best,
Glenn B

NJ State Trooper To Motorist: "Sir Are You Tired?"

So what if you answer yes? Are you guilty of anything? Is there a law against driving while tired in the police state of New Jersey? Is this just another excuse for the storm troopers State Police in New Jersey to pull someone over so they can search their car?

Don't get me wrong, if you are behind the wheel and swerving all over the place because you are falling asleep then the police should pull you over. I have to wonder though just how the New Jersey State Police intend to determine if you were tired while driving giving them enough reason to pull you over. You see, according to this article, that is what they intend to do along with pulling over drunk drivers this Labor Day weekend. They also plane to pull over distracted drivers.

So let's see, a police car up ahead pulls over someone, you are driving along and see it, you rubber neck as you drive by and the officer sees you. Does he radio ahead for another officer to pull you over because you were distracted?

How about this - an officer is working the midnight shift. He is tired, so he goes to buy a cup of coffee at the local doughnut shop. He also buys a chocolate creme doughnut. He drinks the coffee that he loaded with sugar and eats the sugar slimed ringed morsel. About 20 minutes later he is feeling sleepy as he drives his cruiser down the highway and its only 4AM. His partner realizes that he is sleepy - does he make him pull him over and issue him a citation?

A motorist is driving down the road and an officer in a car in the next lane realizes the motorist is talking. There is no one else in the car with said motorist. Should the officer pull him over because he is: a) obviously distracted because he is talking on his hands free cell phone, b) pull him over because the guy is acting loopy from lack of sleep as evidenced by his talking to thin air, c) pull him over because he must be drunk and singing along with his stereo?

I hate driving through New Jersey because over the years that I have been a licensed driver I have come to the conclusion they incessantly look for new and absolutely ludicrous reasons to pull someone over for nothing in what mounts to a witch hunt. I have heard tell they have pulled people over for race (racial profiling not racing mind you), length of their hair (guys with long hair and beards must be hippies who have drugs), if you drove over the Washington Bridge into NJ at an early AM hour (must mean you were in Harlem buying drugs), if a guy was in the car with a younger female companion (must mean she was a runaway), if you were driving at the speed limit in the left lane (you must have been impeding traffic) and on and on. Next thing you know they will be reading your mind and pulling you over because you were thinking about speeding. Of course they also pull people over for motor vehicle infractions as they should do - but how about they just stick to pulling people over for actual violations.

As for you, if you plan to drive in NJ, or anywhere, be aware you just may get pulled over for being tired while driving - and then what - maybe get a tongue lashing! Folks I just don't know, there was insufficient information in that wee article but you can bet you are going to get hammered by the police if you drive while hammered. So you should be.

As for me, yawn! I am going out to take a drive and get the wind in my hair so I can wake up. Now really folks - I do not recommend driving while to tired to drive safely, nor do I recommend driving while distracted (do not try to drive with closed eyes to avoid all the distractions), and I definitely recommend against driving while intoxicated. Be careful, stay sober if driving, use a designated driver if drinking and traveling in a motor vehicle, stay alert and awake, drive safely. Your life and the life of others may depend upon it.

All the best,
Glenn B

Oh My Achin Back...

...it hurts so much, along with my neck and shoulders, not to mention most of my joints, that I have decided tonight will definitely be a good night for a good stiff drink - or two - or three. I went to see a rheumatologist tonight but only got to see the doc's PA. She had a number of x-rays taken and told me the great news. I have disc problems and arthritis in my neck that have worsened since last x-rayed (from an old injury most likely), I have arthritis in my spine that was not there about 2 years ago when last x-rayed, and I probably have bursitis in my right shoulder. I already know I have it in my left shoulder. In addition she is checking me for Lyme disease because the reason I had an appointment in the first place was pain in my joints. The neck, back and shoulder pain all flared up strong after I had already made my appointment for the joint pain in general. She also told me that last time I was there I was diagnosed with low iron levels. That was news to me tonight, but I am pretty sure that my iron levels are normal now because I recently had blood work done and was told all was normal.

She gave me a prescription for some sort of anti-inflammatory and for Nexium because anti-inflammatory meds screw over my stomach. She also gave me some samples to start me off. She also suggested a shot of cortisone which I hemmed and hawed about and she did not give me yet. She said if it gets worse she can still give it to me. I said not to worry because I was planning on having a shot tonight, a shot of another sort. She said not with that anti-inflammatory stuff I am not. I said okay. I meant it too. I will hold off on the medicine until tomorrow and try the booze first. It has worked like a charm in the past and after all the good news, I need a drink. Now to choose between potato vodka, or Irish whiskey with a couple of beers on the side. Then again just straight whiskey might do the trick. Decisions, decisions!

All the best,
Glenn B

Side note: I just realized that today is one week short of a year from when I was diagnossed with Lyme disease. That coincidence itself calls for a stiff drink. Hopefully I don't have it again.

Range Day Today - Quarterly Qualifications

I went up to the NYPD Firearms' Range at Rodman's Neck today to qualify for my agency. I only got to shoot my issued Sig and my personal Glock 26 due to the fact that my issued Remington 870 was sent in for repairs not too long ago. it had already been returned to the PFI but he did not get a chance to turn it back over to me and it is sitting in a vault in our office. That could be a good thing as my shoulder has been feeling a bit out of sorts for the past few days; I must have pulled when I should have pushed.

I did pretty good with the pistols. I shot a 249 with the Sig, then shot a 250 with the Glock. The 250 is the top attainable score. I was going to say perfect score but my grouping was certainly not perfect, yet good enough to have em all in the 5 ring.

It was a nice day for shooting and we had a good crew at the range. The instructors are top notch, but sure were short handed today in that there was only two of them there. It went well anyway and I had a blast - no pun intended.

The pistols have both been cleaned. I did that right after getting home because happiness is a clean, lubed and functioning gun. I mean I would sure be happy if they worked as planned if I ever needed to pick em up at 0400 to shoot an intruder bent on harming me or my family. So they had best be cleaned, lubed, functioning and therefore ready when and if ever needed.

All the best,
Glenn B

Today In History - The Invasion of Poland Begins WWII...

...and CNN gave all of about 30 seconds to this newsworthy information this morning. Robin - whatever her last name is, the red headed reporter - closed out by saying there were 50 million dead as a result of WWII. She had, I think, a momentary dumbfounded look on her face immediately after she said that - like the number had really sunk in - but as I said it was momentary and she was smiling and on to the next piece of news which was pretty much pointless - something about a contest. That piece of news took up about double the amount of time that she had just used to mention the commencement of WWII in passing. That was it though, about 30 seconds (maybe less) dedicated to the commencement of WWII, a war which killed 50 million people! Folks I am sorry I cannot beat CNN at the lack of information game when it comes to noteworthy events, and I have already been typing for more than 30 seconds.

On today's date September 1, 1939, German land and air forces attacked Poland. They did so with a new invasive tactic - massive bombardment attacks from the air that were then followed by a huge surge of troops, artillery and tanks. This would later become known as the Blitzkrieg. The Poles had an army with outdated equipment and with generals who had outmoded ideas of how to conduct warfare. They, in some instances, countered the German advance with cavalry charges - cavalry charges as in on horseback. Horse mounted cavaliers, regardless of their bravery and devotion to duty, were no match for the mechanized German artillery or for German tank and infantry divisions. Poland possibly could have held out more than the several days before its army retreated had they used better strategy but probably not much longer on their own. Whether a few more days would have been of any great help to them withstanding the German attack is doubtful simply because the 1 million man strong Polish army was so ill equipped. Of course, it would have been possible that within a few days other nations' forces may have had time to muster to Poland's aid. Great Britain and France started to attack Germany within 3 days. The USSR, a former ally of Poland, was nowhere to be found in the fray - at least not on the side of Poland. Why not? It was because of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Nonaggression Pact that had been signed between Germany and the USSR early on the morning of on August 24th (sometimes attributed to the date August 23rd because that is the date which appears on the papers). In addition to it being a nonaggression pact between the USSR and Germany there were secret clauses that brought the USSR into the war on the side of Germany in its attack on Poland. The USSR attacked Poland on September 17. These two countries were to divide eastern Europe between themselves. A curious thing about this nonaggression pact, or about them in general, is that Hitler had also arranged one to be signed between Poland and Germany so it is remarkable that the USSR would also have signed one without realizing that Hitler was up to no good regarding any pact he signed. The USSR learned the hard way, as did great Britain and many other European nations who all believed that Hitler and Nazi Germany were not a threat until hostilities broke out.

Once the hostilities in Poland had begun it was too late to avoid an all out world war. Great Britain and France, in keeping with an alliance with Poland, subsequently declared war on Germany along with other allies such as Canada and Australia. France and great Britain attacked Germany on September 3 but they offered little direct aid to Poland. So the invasion of Poland was over by early October, 1939 by which time the entirety of the country was occupied by German and Russian forces, Germany had annexed former territory ceded to Poland after WWI, and Germany had set up Hans Frank as civilian leader of Poland. Frank through his actions in Poland paved the way for what today is known as the Holocaust. The truth be told the Holocaust is a biased contortion of the facts in the sense that it is a vast underestimation of how many were killed during Hitler's purging of Europe to creat an Aryan supremecy. When someone mentions the Holocaust today, all that people usually think about or discuss are the Jews who were killed - 6 million of them. While the execution of 6 million Jewish people was indeed a terrible thing - to only remember the Jews as victims of the Holocaust is sad state of remembrance biased by the solidarity among a religious group. You see, in doing so we selectively have forgotten millions of others also killed during the Holocaust. Why have we forgotten or chosen to not remember millons of others? I imagine it is in great part due to the fact that there was no singular unifying factor among the other groups as there was among those of the Jewish faith, but that is no excuse not to remember them or to consider their deaths at the hands of the nazis any less important that the aninilation of the Jewish people of Europe.The sad reality of how many the Nazis killed during these purges is much more terrible than 6 million. What started in Germany with poilitical prisoners, homosexuals, criminals, and the mentally ill would blossom in Poland with the round up and execution of Jews, non-Jewish Poles and others. It would ultimately lead to the murders of 12 to 13 million (some estimates are as high as 17 million) people throughout Europe. Yes folks the 'real' Holocaust not only killed 6 million Jewish people but also up to 11 million more people in ethnic, religious, criminal, mentally ill purges in an attempt to attain Hitler's twisted goal of an Aryan World. They were ethnic Poles, Romanians, Germans who opposed the Nazis, the mentally ill, homosexuals, Gypsies, Soviet civilians, Soviet prisoners of war, and many more. Had the German invasion of Poland been thwarted the world would have been a much different and better off place.

For more information on the start of WWII, the Invasion of Poland, Hans Frank and the Holocaust, apparently more than you are about to get at CNN, see:

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=Article&id=6503
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?ModuleId=10005070
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_of_Poland_(1939)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Frank
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocaust

All the best,
Glenn B

Biweekly Gun Shots 17 - Mosin Nagant 91/30 - Again

Yes, I recently wrote about the Mosin Nagant 91/30 here and here. Yes, I am about to talk about the Mosin Nagant 91/30 again but this time there is a difference. This time I am writing about my Mosin Nagant 91/30. I finally got around to disassembling it, cleaning it, and reassembling it tonight. I have to tell you that I had forgotten what a joy it is to work on these rifles. They are of simple design for sure, and therefore are easy to disassemble and reassemble. That makes for ease of a detailed cleaning, and probably also makes for ease of replacing parts if worn or broken. I only have the one other Mosin Nagant rifle, the M44 (both pictured, the 91/30 at bottom). I have not taken the M44 down for a detailed cleaning lately - working on getting the bore cleaned on that one was chore enough as I described in another recent post but that was not the fault of the rifle or its design.

I ordered a 91/30 from R-Guns on August 10. They shipped it on August 10. You do not get quicker service than that these days, heck you did not get it quicker than that not even in the old days. It arrived a few days later. I liked the look of it when I took it out of the box. It seemed to have been wrapped well in bubble wrap and shipped in a single cardboard box (some dealers ship rifles in double boxes). It had some cosmoline like preservative on it but was really pretty clean overall so when i finally cleaned it tonight it only took me about 30 to 45 minutes to do it all; that included reading the instructions for how to do it and do it right. (See this site, SurplusRifle.com for instructions on how to disassemble and reassemble many surplus rifles.) Everything inside the rifle looked okay to me. The only thing that even showed any really noticeable tooling marks was the ejector. It may be a replacement, but if it works - who cares. The only difficulty I had was removing then reinstalling the ejector spring. Man that was a tough nut, but I got it. I'll probably never remove it again, or if I do so it will be years between attempts. Everything else was easy as pie and if you have ever baked an apple pie it sure is easy - almost as easy as eating it. I am guessing that disassembling and reassembling the Mosin Nagant 91/30 will have proved to be almost as easy as shooting it.

All the parts show typical wear for a rifle this old. The bolt looks very good, the magazine had some surface rust barely noticeable until I wiped it down with an oil soaked cloth. There was no hidden rust on metal parts under the wood. The trigger assembly, a very simple one at that, seemed fine to excellent. The rear sight seems to be in great working order. The front sight is another story. Well, I should say the front sight hood is another story. It is dented out of round, but it does not appear that the sight itself was damaged. This was its condition upon coming out of the shipping box. I only noticed it a day or two after first looking at it, but since it did not take any falls once I took it out of the box it had to ship that way. No complaints from me so long as the front sight is right on. If I can find a replacement I will replace it. It not, and if I can get it off of the rifle, and apart from the front sight, I will try to fix it. Otherwise it stays just as I found it. The wood has something to be desired. There are some portions that were scraped when refinished or not finished properly in the first place but that is no big deal. I will probably strip the wood and refinish it with boiled linseed oil or something along those lines. I'd like to get the wood to look like that of my M44 as in the pic.

The bore, of the 91/30, while shiny has somewhat weak looking grooves but that too should be okay as they look to me to be more than good enough for a few thousand rounds more of shooting fun. Shooting a few thousand rounds through this beast will prove no easy task. Yes, I know I just said shooting it should be easier even than cleaning it turned out but I was talking about maybe 20 or 40 rounds per session and I'll probably shoot it about 6 times per year at most. Shooting thousands of rounds through this will take years for me if only because I value what I have left of my shoulders and figure 20 rounds is good enough for one session - then I'll switch to the 22 rifle in my collection or to the SKS. If this proves to be anything like the M44 it will have some good amount of kick. Not terrible mind you, but enough to make me respect it.

Obviously, I have not shot it yet. I am waiting on a shipment of 240 rounds of Silver Bear ammo for it. That should arrive in the next day or two. If I get lucky and it arrives before noon tomorrow - a day before its scheduled arrival time - I may be able to take it to the range with me tomorrow for my first range outing with it. If not tomorrow then maybe I can go to the range with it this weekend. I may as well also bring along the Mosin Nagant M44 since it shoots the same ammo. I'll let you know how it works out.

All the best,

Glenn B

He Is In The Ground Now...

...and all I can say, and all I have thought about him over the past few days, has been good riddance to a despicable man, but that is simply my personal opinion.

All the best,
Glenn B

(This was initially a longer post but I figured that the one sentence said it all for me so I shortened it.)

Biweekly Gun Shots 16 - Tornado Bores Down - Wipes Out Almost Everything In Its Path...

...or should I have said a tornado went down the bore of my Mosin Nagant M44 and cleaned out all of the fouling and all of what I had thought was pitting. Yep, I cleaned my Mosin Nagant M44 barrel once again today making for about the 5th or 6th cleaning this week. Each time prior to today's cleaning I used a normal wire bore brush, Hoppes' #9, Break-Free CLP, a good number of cleaning patches and repeated elbow grease. Each time prior to today's cleaning - when I got done the bore still looked as if it had either rust flecks or pitting inside of it. There was a lot of it too through the length of the bore. I had thought for sure that the barrel was ruined due to use of corrosive ammo that had been sold to me as 'non-corrosive'. Well whatever it was - surface rust, fouling, or whatever else it could have been, it is virtually all gone now and the bore once again looks like it has a mirror bright chromed finish with only a small speck or three that could be pitting or freckling.

It wasn't that the barrel sat for a few days with a coating of Break-Free CLP that loosened anything up, I already tried that when using the normal wire brush. That is - after the initial few cleanings that got out most of the crud but still left it looking pretty bad - I cleaned it again, oiled it with Break-Free, left it sit a few days, then cleaned it again for about the 6th time only to have it look almost the same as before I had cleaned it that last time. So what was the difference in my cleaning method today. Today I used a Tornado Brush. I stopped by Gander Mountain in Middletown, NY yesterday on my return home from a deer scouting trip to upstate NY to look for a steel cleaning brush. I figured steel would get off rust and fouling that the regular bronze brush was not removing. They didn't have any - well at least not the regular type brush with bristles. What they had was a brush that more closely resembled a brush made out of a coil spring wound around the stem of the brush than it did one with bristles. Its design is called a looped wire design. I decided to pick one up in .38 caliber. Yes I realize the bore is closer to .30 cailber than it is to .38 caliber but I wanted to make sure the brush would be a tight fit in the bore of the M44.

Tonight I gave the barrel a swabbing down with Hoppes #9 again. Then I put in a coating of Break Free CLP. I let it sit about 2 hours. Then I ran the Tornado Brush through the bore a few times and gave it another swabbing with a patch soaked in Hoppes. When I then took a look down the muzzle with a bore light at the breech what I saw amazed me. Virtually all of the fouling/rust was gone, and there was almost no pitting apparent; and I am none too sure what I still see is pitting it could be freckling and it indeed looks more like that. What I was sure had been pitting must have been surface rust or some sort of really difficult to remove fouling, because while it did not come off before, there virtually is no evidence of it now. The Tornado Brush effectively wiped it off right down to the sparkling bore surface except in a couple or few minute areas and as I said that could be freckling.

When I checked online tonight I saw that these brushes are touted to remove all fouling without harming the bore. A close up inspection of them shows them to look smooth and indeed they are smooth to the touch, no prickly bristle ends to scratch you or the bore. The brush itself is made from stainless steel, which I imagine could take off some steel in a bore, but my guess is that it took off just enough in my case, rusted steel at that. I have used these when cleaning rimfire rifles that shoot .22LR ammo. I don't think I ever realized how good such a brush probably is at removing lead from a .22's bore. I will check next time I clean the .22s. That ammo is notorious for lead fouling and I imagine this brush must get the lead out considering how it got the rust out of the M44 bore.

Above, I have posted two pics of the brushes side by side (click on them for a bigger view of each). Why two pics? Because in one the Tornado Brush is in focus, and in the other the Bronze Brush is in focus. I could not get them both in focus in the same shot. Note the design differences that I already described, the coils of the Tornado brush and the bristles of the bronze Brush. Note also that both of these brushes were used approximately the same amount of strokes through a bore. The Bronze Brush is obviously showing wear and deterioration after only one gun cleaning. Many of the bristles are bent backwards. The Tornado Brush, on the other hand shows no such bending of bristles because it has no bristles. Granted it is a bit compressed as compared to its original state, putting it down the bore once was enough to do that - but then the same thing happens with a bristle brush too. According to Hoppes the design will not damage a bore despite the brush being made from steel.

Sorry there are no pics of the bore but I'll be darned if I can get my Canon Power Shot A590 to focus down the length of the bore. So let me just tell you, you had to see it before, then see it now as both Brendan and I have done. The result is I and he were both impressed (I just showed it to him when he came home for dinner break from his job). That Tornado Brush was worth every penny of the $2.99 I paid for it; heck I saw it today for $4.99 at another store. Now mind you these things have been around for awhile, I have just not used them before except a few times on my 22s. I did not notice any remarkable results then, but I was not really looking for any as those guns had normal bores to begin with. The job this brush did in cleaning the bore of my M44 was definitely remarkable considering how many times I had already tried to clean it with regular bristle brushes. The results received by using the Tornado brush simply were amazing. I plan on keeping the bore coated with a fine layer of Break-Free CLP, and to use only current production non-corrosive ammunition in it from now on.

Hopefully the bore will remain in as good a shape as it is in now. If that holds true then this rifle will last for years to come. If not, oh well - I am out $75 plus gun show entry fees for the rifle, along with about $50 to $75 I spent on the so called 'non-corrosive' ammo that I now know to be corrosive. I would not have worried about this all that much except for the fact that I truly like my flamethrower M44 and they are about impossible to get now in anywhere near as otherwise as good condition as is this one. Right now I am a happy camper, if the rust stays away this camper will be happy for a long time - at least concerning my M44.

All the best,
Glenn B

A few Short Walks In The Woods

...was about all I accomplished yesterday in my first scouting trips of the year for the upcoming deer hunting season. I went to a couple of tracts of state land I have not been to before. or should say I looked for a couple of them but only found one. That one, Connecticut Hill Wildlife Management Area is in Schuyler and Tompkins Counties. It is the largest WMA (wildlife management area) in NY at over 11 thousand acres. At that size it should be hard to miss but it took me some time to find - no signs of the road that was supposed to be the access road. As a matter of fact, had I not turned off on a dirt road called Connecticut Hill Road - I would never have found it as all the land I could see from the main road was posted.

I kicked about there for awhile, but not really long enough to find any good hunting spots. That was okay because I will go back a few more times before the start of the deer hunting season in November. In October, I'll probably bring along a rifle in .22LR and do some squirrel hunting - I saw enough of them yesterday to assure me they are in good number there. After that I went to Cascade Valley State Forest in Broome County. It is a place where I have hunted before and where I immediately began to find lots of deer sign in an area I plan to hunt again. What they say about hunting deer in a funnel or corridor is right on in this instance. There is a road to the left and a swamp to the right and they funnel into the woods from the other side of the road walking through a narrow corridor at this point. Hopefully they will be funneling through when Brendan and I hunt the area.

Deer sign is not all that I saw while out and about. I kicked up a few smaller critters like turkeys, grouse, other birds, a salamander or two and a few frogs (the frog in the pic is a Wood Frog). In addition there was a lot of color out in the woods. Being it is August one might not expect to find a lot of reds, yellows and oranges out there, at least not until October, but those colors were there blazing away and saying 'hey look at us'. That hey look at us could well have been a warning shout - you see the things wearing nature's warning colors were all mushrooms. As much as I love em sauteed for a steak, I am not about to pick and eat wild ones not even the white or brown ones that I spotted. Still though, they did look pretty and were deserving of me taking the time to stop to admire them and get some photos so I could share them with you. I am sure the woods' salamanders and toads enjoy their beauty. As for their names, I don't know them, I may check on that yet, but you don't need to know exactly what they are to enjoy how they look.

As a matter of fact, one of them sort of looked appetizing in as much as it looked like a pizza pie covered with cheese and sauce. You take a look and tell me what you think - but to me it even almost smelled like pizza. As I said though, I was not about to eat a wild mushroom, and if I remember anything about wild mushrooms that was probably a good idea. You see I seem to recall this particular one as being deadly.

At least one of the interesting things I spotted had no color, it was as white as the driven snow. I am not even sure if it was a mushroom but am pretty sure it was some type of fungus. Very interesting looking - whatever it was. Again though, I was not about to taste it - especially not this one since it just looked to gosh darned alien.

There was one thing I would have gladly eaten, that is had there been enough of them to make them more than a tease to my taste buds. No its not a lobster although it sure looks like one. I found this crayfish under a stone in a stream. I was hoping to find a lot more and later went to the Susquehanna River to do just that. When I got there imagine the delight of the crayfish, and my disappointment, when I discovered that the river was so swollen with waters from a rainy last couple of days that I dared not venture out to look for the little delectable crustaceans.

All the best,

Glenn B