I will be taking off tomorrow for the Fifth Annual Northeast Bloggershoot at a sooper seckRit location in New Hampshear. I'm hopeful that Brendan will be coming with me but he is still suffering severe tendinitis after taking Levaquin. His doctor prescribed him Prednisone to alleviate the tendinitis but guess what the warnings for Levaquin say - that the risk of tendinitis and tendon rupture increase when taking corticosteroids, and Prednisone is one of them. So he has not taken the Prednisone and has been suffering. He is awaiting a call back from his doc and has an appointment to see a rheumatologist on Monday. It is going to suck if he cannot make it to the bloggershoot.
Well, I went ahead and packed today anyway, for both of us as far as guns and ammo and accessories go. That means I actually decided on which guns to bring along, well almost decided anyway. If Brendan does not go, I will probably shorten the list a bit. Since he is eager to shoot pistols, I packed the following handguns:
Beretta 92FS (9mm)
Beretta 92SB (9mm and the gun responsible for my Ballseyes moniker)
Beretta 70S (.22LR)
Remington R1-1911 (.45 Auto)
Ruger MKII (.22LR)
Glock 26 (9mm)
I also have 500 rounds of 9mm ammo ready to go and have about the same of .22LR.
As for the long guns, I decided to be practical. I am not bringing the Remington 870 or my Yugo 24/47 Mauser, nor any of my Mosin Nagants. The rifles I am bringing will be:
Marlin 25 MN (.22 WMR)
Marlin 336 (.35 Remington)
Romanian AK 47 WASR (7.62x39mm)
As you can see, I will bring along only one rifle that has a good amount of kick to it, that to protect my recuperating right shoulder. The only reason that I am even bringing that one is because it is one of our primary deer season guns and we need to practice with it this year - so it is being brought along out of practicality. The AK is going along for shooting lots of bullets, I have about 500 to 600 rounds for that, and the Marlin 25MN for if and when my shoulder starts to ache.
If Brendan comes along, I am sure he will bring one of his ARs and possibly will bring his Mossberg 500 shotgun. He mostly wants to shoot my pistols and in the FREE state of New Hampshire, he can do so legally without a permit. Speaking of permits, I called MA officials and found out there should be no problem transporting the long arms, or hi-cap mags (all pre-ban), I plan to bring on the trip so long as the rifles are locked in gun cases in the trunk. Also no problems with my pistols under LEOSA.
Even though I have pretty much made up my mind on what to bring, there may yet be changes due to trunk and gun case size. I am not too sure that all of the gun cases, ammo cans and gear bags will fit in the trunk of my car. I hope so though because I would like to shoot everything I mentioned.
I almost cannot wait for this shoot. It promises to be loads of fun. I sure hope Brendan can come along, that is what makes shooting the most fun for me.
All the best,
Glenn B
Friday, August 10, 2012
Thursday, August 9, 2012
Tonight's Squirrel Report
I listened to The Squirrel Report tonight, most of it anyhow, as I was back and forth to do some things during the time it was on. For example, I got up to grab the Remington R1-1911 and some gun cleaning equipment about half way through the report. I gave the pistol a good cleaning as I listened. What got me to cleaning it was not that the show was boring, in fact it was quite enjoyable, but that someone on the show had mentioned the Northeast Bloggershoot this coming weekend and I realized that I still have a few guns to clean in preparation for it. Then again, I am in the middle of my regularly scheduled gun cleaning binge and I only have about 4 more pistols and 4 or 5 rifles to go before my whole collection has been cleaned. Earlier this evening, I cleaned my Yugo SKS. That took me about 2 1/2 hours (or more) bit it was a pretty complete cleaning. I did not disassemble the trigger group or bolt although, I tried to disassemble the bolt but could not get the pin out (I need to invest in some good brass and steel punches).The show is just a few bloggers who get together for a couple of hours on Thursday nights to talk about current events, gun stuff, blogging or whatever suits their fancy at the moment. They also accept calls from listeners. (No, I did not call in, I started to but got distracted. Maybe next time.) Tonight they talked some politics, about guns, about the upcoming Bloggershoot, about Pennsic (where Breda just spent some time) and some other assorted topics. The hosts are Alan of Snarky Bytes, Breda of self evidence, Jay G of MArooned, and Weerd of Weer'd World. They sure sounded like they were having fun. As I said, the show was rather enjoyable for me too. I am not a regular listener, mostly because I don't think of it when it comes on as I am usually glued to the tube at the show's starting time of 9PM Eastern time, on Thursday nights, but I do hope to get in the habit of listening more often and I hope to listen again next week.
This weekend, if all goes as planned, I will meet at least one of the four hosts at the Northeast Bloggershoot. That would be Jay G. I am not sure if any of the others are attending but it would be nice if they all could make it. I am sure to have clean guns when I get there, more gun cleaning tomorrow!
All the best,
Glenn B
Product Review - GUNZILLA
Whenever I hear or see the word Gunzilla, I imagine a Japanese man, shouting "GODZILLA, GODZILLA" while looking and pointing up, above the nearby shoreline, at a huge vicious beast headed toward Tokyo. If ever there was an apt choice of names for a gun cleaning product, GUNZILLA has got to be just that. While the people of Japan have nothing to be afraid of regarding this modern day scourge - lead buildup, rust, powder residue, corrosive primer residue, and copper fouling should be trembling with fear because when it comes to barrel fouling - it seems that Gunzilla destroys all in its path.
Since I can remember, I have been a died in the wool Hoppe's 9 user. I literally have used Hoppe's products since I first cleaned a gun back in summer camp in the 1960's. Thankfully we did more shooting than gun cleaning back then but Hoppe's 9 was the gun cleaning solvent of choice. When I got older and got my first gun - a RG .25 auto, I cleaned it with Hoppe's 9. I kept using it throughout my 32 year law enforcement career and during my 14 year stint with collateral duties as a firearms instructor. I have used it on both work issued guns and personally owned guns. I also started to use their copper solvent, Bench Rest 9 Copper Solvent, probably 15 years or so ago. I got, what I thought were, great results with each. The thing was though, several years back, I was advised to start wearing rubber gloves when using Hoppe's products. This advice came along with the posting of a product safety sheet for Hoppe's. Yikes, I was surprised I was not glowing yet. Yet, I figured, heck, I had been using it for years with no problems, so why not continue despite the warnings and anyway, I liked the aroma of Hoppes 9. As for the Hoppe's Bench Rest product, I think the odor was horrendous. Like I said though, they got the job done and did it well as far as I could tell.
Then, this past year, I decided to change what I use for gun cleaning. There were a couple of few reasons. One of the driving reasons was that I had acquired a few com bloc military rifles that qualified as curios and relics. All of them utilized corrosive ammo throughout their military lifetimes and that particular ammunition is still widely available for them today. Furthermore, that ammo is cheap. Yes, I bought it and fired it, then soon learned it is a pain in the ass to clean the gun through which you fired it. A lot like black powder, ammo with corrosive primers used to require a chemical not often found in many modern day gun cleaning solvents. That chemical was/is ammonia. I did not know this when I bought my first C&R com bloc rifle, a M44 Mosin Nagant. I learned that getting the rust out of the barrel, once it started to corrode, was an almost never ending struggle, if using a product like Hoppe's, because once cleaned out it just rusted all over again. I finally learned that cleaning the bore with soapy water would help but that required cleaning, rinsing thoroughly and drying, then cleaning with Hoppe's and oiling. There had to be a better way and it seems there was one. Someone let me in on the fact that Windex, sprayed onto a cleaning cloth, and some directly sprayed down the bore, would clean the corrosive chemicals out the of barrel before it got a chance to rust (if you cleaned it right after shooting it). So I started using Windex, followed by Hoppe's 9 and or Bench Rest Solvent and then by oiling with another of my favorite gun care products - Breakfree CLP. I thought little of using the combination of cleaners and lubricants and always got the job done with good to excellent results.
Then, last year, I got cancer. I beat it or so they tell me, at least temporarily. Having had it gets one to thinking about things one may not have considered before. One of those things was my choice of gun cleaning solvents. While still at work, I noted that they had a product called Gunzilla in the firearms cleaning area. it sat right next to a bottle of Hoppe's 9 and Hoppe's bench rest that also were on the cleaning table. I picked it up and gave it a try. It had much less odor than Hoppe's Bench Rest and certainly none of the pleasing aroma of Hoppe's 9. One run of a cleaning cloth, with some Gunzilla on it, did pretty much what I expected to the frame of my Glock 26. It wiped off a lot of fouling. In the same time it took me to clean my Glock with Hoppe's, I got the job done with Gunzilla. The results looked pretty much the same to me but there was one difference, the Gunzilla seemed to have left behind a light protective sheen that Hoppe's did not.
According to the label on the Gunzilla bottle though, Gunzilla had done something that Hoppe's 9 could not do. It had removed copper fouling from the barrel of my Glock. I figured that had to have been a plus in that I would not need to use Hoppe's Bench Rest, to clean out any copper fouling, as I detested using it because of the smell (as opposed to the aromatic properties of Hoppe's 9). I read the label further. TopDuck, the company that manufactures Gunzilla, claims that Gunzilla:
"Removes rust, lead, copper, carbon, plastic and cleans corrosive ammo" (I am sure they mean corrosive ammo fouling).
They further claim, and it is right on the label, that:
Gunzilla cleans blackpowder firearms. Hoppe's 9 and Hoppe's Bench Rest, as far as I know, were not formulated to clean black powder from muzzleloaders. Gunzilla also claims the product: is low odor, non-flammable, does not contain ammonia, is non-corrosive, has no hazardous chemicals, has no petroleum products, contains no water, can be cleaned up with soap and water, and is natural based (from plants). It is also supposedly airline safe and it meets USDA bio-preferred requirements (a veritable green gun cleaner from the look of it).
In the small print, there is a warning to saying that if ingested, you should drink two (2) glasses of water and call a physician. And there are the usual warnings like to use it in a well ventilated area, that proper skin and eye protection is recommended, that if it contacts skin it should be washed off with warm water and soap, if skin irritation occurs then contact a physician, and to keep it away from children. This is in marked contrast to the warning on the label of a bottle of Hoppe's 9 (which I decided o look at after reading the Gunzilla label). The first line of which says, in bold face: "DANGER: HARMFUL OR FATAL IF SWALLOWED". The Hoppe's label then goes on to say that Hoppe's 9 contains: kerosene, is flammable, that you should avoid prolonged contact with skin or contact with eyes, if ingested you should contact a physician immediately, do not induce vomiting, keep out of reach of children and keep away from fire or flame (is there a difference between a fire and a flame). I don't even want to read the label on the Hoppe's Bench Rest solvent for fear it would make my head spin and knees knock but I suppose I would do that for my readers if I still had any of it. I threw it out not long after I got my first bottle of Gunzilla.
Now, on the plus side, Hoppe's 9 claims to prevent rust, remove leading and metal fouling (does not say copper fouling) thus the need for Hoppe's Bench Rest I suppose), and that it removes corrosive primer fouling and residue. The list, on the label of Hoppe's 9 as to its gun protective properties, is not as long as what TopDuck claims their product, Gunzilla, can clean but it sure is a lot scarier as to the contents and the dangers of Hoppe's over Gunzilla.
For me, pre-cancer, and even when first diagnosed with it, I did not care all that much about the dangers of one over the other. I had been exposed to dangerous chemicals, fumes, pollutants in water and air, kerosene fumes (jet fuel), narcotics residue, diseases, physical attacks and the like throughout my law enforcement career. What I did and do care about most was and is which one gets the job done better. The bottom line between these two product would have to be, at least for me, which cleans and protects my guns the best. Well, a few months back, I bought a bottle of Gunzilla, the 16 fluid ounce size. It looked pretty puny next to the 32 ounce bottle of Hoppe's 9 that I have on hand. Yet, when it came to doing the job, it was not the size of the bottle that mattered, at least not for the Gunzilla.
Here are my observations:
General Gun Cleaning Properties:
Both Gunzilla and Hoppe's 9 seem to do a good to excellent job as far as routine firearms cleaning goes on guns that shoot modern smokeless powder from cartridges with non-corrosive primers.
Copper Cleaning Properties:
I really did not notice a difference between gun cleaning using Hoppe's 9 and Gunzilla until I also ran some Hoppe's Bench Rest solvent down a barrel just cleaned with Hoppe's 9 and then down one just cleaned with Gunzilla. Copper jacketed ammo, in the amount of about 500 rounds, had been fired through two pistols (same make and model of pistol Beretta 92FS). The one that had been cleaned with Gunzilla came out clean, the one that had been cleaned with Hoppe's 9 came out fouled and a tiny bit greenish. I figure I had cleaned each of them equally well, the only difference being the solvent used, one cleaned with Hoppe's 9 and the other with Gunzilla. Only a one time test mind you but good enough for me to make me think of changing brands. Note, TopDuck also makes Copperzilla, a stronger copper solvent for tough to remove copper fouling. I have not tried the product yet but probably will do so in the future, especially to compare it to see how well regular Gunzilla does against it.
Corrosive Ammo Cleaning Properties:
I found that when cleaned with Hoppe's 9, bores that had corrosive ammo shot through them often tended to rust within days to weeks of cleaning. This has not happened yet after a cleaning with Gunzilla except with one gun that already had a rusted bore when I purchased it and that had been left unmaintained for several months in a closet up through and including a couple of humid summer months; that one rifle may have even been shot after the last prior cleaning and then left in the closet uncleaned (shame on me). All the others cleaned with Gunzilla remained rust free. The Hoppe's cleaned bores would sometimes rust up even when kept in the ammo locker along with a desiccant, that did not happen to my guns that had been cleaned with Gunzilla. There was no need to use Windex or another ammonia based product to clean the corrosive chemical out of bores that had been cleaned with Gunzilla, it seemed up to the job while the Hoppe's seems to have failed in that aspect regardless of what it says of the label about removing corrosive primer fouling and residue.
Rust Protection and Lubrication:
I have never known Hoppe's 9 to be a rust preventative although the Hoppe's label claims the product does just that. I have always used a high quality oil to lubricate the firearm and to prevent rust after using Hoppe's based on, the recommendation on the Hoppe's label, and on several experiences when I did not use oil and the gun rusted seemingly in much shorter time than if oil would have been used after cleaning with Hoppe's 9. The Gunzilla label states that Gunzilla will remove old coatings of oil and that it removes rust. Gunzilla also claims to lubricate firearms and protect them against rust. Gunzilla, does seem to me to provide some level of rust prevention and lubrication. They do not recommend using it on naturally rusted/brown finish barrels as it will remove that finish.
Head To Head Test:
I cleaned several rifles and handguns multiple times with Hoppe's 9, then after they appeared to be clean, I ran a patch soaked in Gunzilla down the bore and over other parts that appeared clean. Just about each time I did so, the Gunzilla patches came up dirty. I also cleaned several rifles and handguns with Gunzilla, then after they looked clean to me, I ran a patch soaked with Hoppe's 9 down the bore and over other parts. The patches had a bit of fouling on them but nowhere near as much as the patches from guns that were first cleaned with Hoppe's and then followed up with Gunzilla. That seemed to me as if Hoppe's was leaving more fouling behind.
My Conclusion:
I arrived at the conclusion that it was time to change gun cleaning solvents and that I would stick with Gunzilla for almost all of my gun cleaning needs. The whole thing I mentioned about warning labels above also came into play with this - not so much for me but for Brendan. From what I saw on the labels of Hoppe's 9 and Gunzilla, Gunzilla just looks like the safer product and I would like to keep him safe. Guess what, he already had been using it before me. He bought a bottle of it at a gun show a month or two before I ordered mine from TopDuck - smart young man.
Now, this was not a scientific product comparison. It is a telling of my experience with both products and my opinion of them both. Gunzilla seems to do more with less bother and with less product (only needing the one product to clean, lubricate and protect), seems to be less hazardous and thus safer, and seems to do a better job than did my old stalwart - Hoppe's 9. As much as I often stick with what has worked for me in the past, I just cannot see ignoring the what I think are the better cleaning properties of Gunzilla and that is what I intend to use for most of my gun cleaning from now on. As for harsher conditions or longer short term storage (like months unshot in the gun locker) I will continue to use Breakfree CLP to lubricate and protect my firearms from rust. I have found nothing to beat Breakfree CLP when it comes to firearms lubrication and rust prevention, but the Gunzilla sure beats Hoppe's 9 and with some testing I may find it beats Breakfree (but who wants to see if their firearms rust to prove a point). From now on, Gunzilla will be my main gun cleaning, lubricating and protective product of choice.
All the best,
Glenn B
Since I can remember, I have been a died in the wool Hoppe's 9 user. I literally have used Hoppe's products since I first cleaned a gun back in summer camp in the 1960's. Thankfully we did more shooting than gun cleaning back then but Hoppe's 9 was the gun cleaning solvent of choice. When I got older and got my first gun - a RG .25 auto, I cleaned it with Hoppe's 9. I kept using it throughout my 32 year law enforcement career and during my 14 year stint with collateral duties as a firearms instructor. I have used it on both work issued guns and personally owned guns. I also started to use their copper solvent, Bench Rest 9 Copper Solvent, probably 15 years or so ago. I got, what I thought were, great results with each. The thing was though, several years back, I was advised to start wearing rubber gloves when using Hoppe's products. This advice came along with the posting of a product safety sheet for Hoppe's. Yikes, I was surprised I was not glowing yet. Yet, I figured, heck, I had been using it for years with no problems, so why not continue despite the warnings and anyway, I liked the aroma of Hoppes 9. As for the Hoppe's Bench Rest product, I think the odor was horrendous. Like I said though, they got the job done and did it well as far as I could tell.
Then, this past year, I decided to change what I use for gun cleaning. There were a couple of few reasons. One of the driving reasons was that I had acquired a few com bloc military rifles that qualified as curios and relics. All of them utilized corrosive ammo throughout their military lifetimes and that particular ammunition is still widely available for them today. Furthermore, that ammo is cheap. Yes, I bought it and fired it, then soon learned it is a pain in the ass to clean the gun through which you fired it. A lot like black powder, ammo with corrosive primers used to require a chemical not often found in many modern day gun cleaning solvents. That chemical was/is ammonia. I did not know this when I bought my first C&R com bloc rifle, a M44 Mosin Nagant. I learned that getting the rust out of the barrel, once it started to corrode, was an almost never ending struggle, if using a product like Hoppe's, because once cleaned out it just rusted all over again. I finally learned that cleaning the bore with soapy water would help but that required cleaning, rinsing thoroughly and drying, then cleaning with Hoppe's and oiling. There had to be a better way and it seems there was one. Someone let me in on the fact that Windex, sprayed onto a cleaning cloth, and some directly sprayed down the bore, would clean the corrosive chemicals out the of barrel before it got a chance to rust (if you cleaned it right after shooting it). So I started using Windex, followed by Hoppe's 9 and or Bench Rest Solvent and then by oiling with another of my favorite gun care products - Breakfree CLP. I thought little of using the combination of cleaners and lubricants and always got the job done with good to excellent results.
Then, last year, I got cancer. I beat it or so they tell me, at least temporarily. Having had it gets one to thinking about things one may not have considered before. One of those things was my choice of gun cleaning solvents. While still at work, I noted that they had a product called Gunzilla in the firearms cleaning area. it sat right next to a bottle of Hoppe's 9 and Hoppe's bench rest that also were on the cleaning table. I picked it up and gave it a try. It had much less odor than Hoppe's Bench Rest and certainly none of the pleasing aroma of Hoppe's 9. One run of a cleaning cloth, with some Gunzilla on it, did pretty much what I expected to the frame of my Glock 26. It wiped off a lot of fouling. In the same time it took me to clean my Glock with Hoppe's, I got the job done with Gunzilla. The results looked pretty much the same to me but there was one difference, the Gunzilla seemed to have left behind a light protective sheen that Hoppe's did not.
According to the label on the Gunzilla bottle though, Gunzilla had done something that Hoppe's 9 could not do. It had removed copper fouling from the barrel of my Glock. I figured that had to have been a plus in that I would not need to use Hoppe's Bench Rest, to clean out any copper fouling, as I detested using it because of the smell (as opposed to the aromatic properties of Hoppe's 9). I read the label further. TopDuck, the company that manufactures Gunzilla, claims that Gunzilla:
"Removes rust, lead, copper, carbon, plastic and cleans corrosive ammo" (I am sure they mean corrosive ammo fouling).
They further claim, and it is right on the label, that:
Gunzilla cleans blackpowder firearms. Hoppe's 9 and Hoppe's Bench Rest, as far as I know, were not formulated to clean black powder from muzzleloaders. Gunzilla also claims the product: is low odor, non-flammable, does not contain ammonia, is non-corrosive, has no hazardous chemicals, has no petroleum products, contains no water, can be cleaned up with soap and water, and is natural based (from plants). It is also supposedly airline safe and it meets USDA bio-preferred requirements (a veritable green gun cleaner from the look of it).
In the small print, there is a warning to saying that if ingested, you should drink two (2) glasses of water and call a physician. And there are the usual warnings like to use it in a well ventilated area, that proper skin and eye protection is recommended, that if it contacts skin it should be washed off with warm water and soap, if skin irritation occurs then contact a physician, and to keep it away from children. This is in marked contrast to the warning on the label of a bottle of Hoppe's 9 (which I decided o look at after reading the Gunzilla label). The first line of which says, in bold face: "DANGER: HARMFUL OR FATAL IF SWALLOWED". The Hoppe's label then goes on to say that Hoppe's 9 contains: kerosene, is flammable, that you should avoid prolonged contact with skin or contact with eyes, if ingested you should contact a physician immediately, do not induce vomiting, keep out of reach of children and keep away from fire or flame (is there a difference between a fire and a flame). I don't even want to read the label on the Hoppe's Bench Rest solvent for fear it would make my head spin and knees knock but I suppose I would do that for my readers if I still had any of it. I threw it out not long after I got my first bottle of Gunzilla.
Now, on the plus side, Hoppe's 9 claims to prevent rust, remove leading and metal fouling (does not say copper fouling) thus the need for Hoppe's Bench Rest I suppose), and that it removes corrosive primer fouling and residue. The list, on the label of Hoppe's 9 as to its gun protective properties, is not as long as what TopDuck claims their product, Gunzilla, can clean but it sure is a lot scarier as to the contents and the dangers of Hoppe's over Gunzilla.
For me, pre-cancer, and even when first diagnosed with it, I did not care all that much about the dangers of one over the other. I had been exposed to dangerous chemicals, fumes, pollutants in water and air, kerosene fumes (jet fuel), narcotics residue, diseases, physical attacks and the like throughout my law enforcement career. What I did and do care about most was and is which one gets the job done better. The bottom line between these two product would have to be, at least for me, which cleans and protects my guns the best. Well, a few months back, I bought a bottle of Gunzilla, the 16 fluid ounce size. It looked pretty puny next to the 32 ounce bottle of Hoppe's 9 that I have on hand. Yet, when it came to doing the job, it was not the size of the bottle that mattered, at least not for the Gunzilla.
Here are my observations:
General Gun Cleaning Properties:
Both Gunzilla and Hoppe's 9 seem to do a good to excellent job as far as routine firearms cleaning goes on guns that shoot modern smokeless powder from cartridges with non-corrosive primers.
Copper Cleaning Properties:
I really did not notice a difference between gun cleaning using Hoppe's 9 and Gunzilla until I also ran some Hoppe's Bench Rest solvent down a barrel just cleaned with Hoppe's 9 and then down one just cleaned with Gunzilla. Copper jacketed ammo, in the amount of about 500 rounds, had been fired through two pistols (same make and model of pistol Beretta 92FS). The one that had been cleaned with Gunzilla came out clean, the one that had been cleaned with Hoppe's 9 came out fouled and a tiny bit greenish. I figure I had cleaned each of them equally well, the only difference being the solvent used, one cleaned with Hoppe's 9 and the other with Gunzilla. Only a one time test mind you but good enough for me to make me think of changing brands. Note, TopDuck also makes Copperzilla, a stronger copper solvent for tough to remove copper fouling. I have not tried the product yet but probably will do so in the future, especially to compare it to see how well regular Gunzilla does against it.
Corrosive Ammo Cleaning Properties:
I found that when cleaned with Hoppe's 9, bores that had corrosive ammo shot through them often tended to rust within days to weeks of cleaning. This has not happened yet after a cleaning with Gunzilla except with one gun that already had a rusted bore when I purchased it and that had been left unmaintained for several months in a closet up through and including a couple of humid summer months; that one rifle may have even been shot after the last prior cleaning and then left in the closet uncleaned (shame on me). All the others cleaned with Gunzilla remained rust free. The Hoppe's cleaned bores would sometimes rust up even when kept in the ammo locker along with a desiccant, that did not happen to my guns that had been cleaned with Gunzilla. There was no need to use Windex or another ammonia based product to clean the corrosive chemical out of bores that had been cleaned with Gunzilla, it seemed up to the job while the Hoppe's seems to have failed in that aspect regardless of what it says of the label about removing corrosive primer fouling and residue.
Rust Protection and Lubrication:
I have never known Hoppe's 9 to be a rust preventative although the Hoppe's label claims the product does just that. I have always used a high quality oil to lubricate the firearm and to prevent rust after using Hoppe's based on, the recommendation on the Hoppe's label, and on several experiences when I did not use oil and the gun rusted seemingly in much shorter time than if oil would have been used after cleaning with Hoppe's 9. The Gunzilla label states that Gunzilla will remove old coatings of oil and that it removes rust. Gunzilla also claims to lubricate firearms and protect them against rust. Gunzilla, does seem to me to provide some level of rust prevention and lubrication. They do not recommend using it on naturally rusted/brown finish barrels as it will remove that finish.
Head To Head Test:
I cleaned several rifles and handguns multiple times with Hoppe's 9, then after they appeared to be clean, I ran a patch soaked in Gunzilla down the bore and over other parts that appeared clean. Just about each time I did so, the Gunzilla patches came up dirty. I also cleaned several rifles and handguns with Gunzilla, then after they looked clean to me, I ran a patch soaked with Hoppe's 9 down the bore and over other parts. The patches had a bit of fouling on them but nowhere near as much as the patches from guns that were first cleaned with Hoppe's and then followed up with Gunzilla. That seemed to me as if Hoppe's was leaving more fouling behind.
My Conclusion:
I arrived at the conclusion that it was time to change gun cleaning solvents and that I would stick with Gunzilla for almost all of my gun cleaning needs. The whole thing I mentioned about warning labels above also came into play with this - not so much for me but for Brendan. From what I saw on the labels of Hoppe's 9 and Gunzilla, Gunzilla just looks like the safer product and I would like to keep him safe. Guess what, he already had been using it before me. He bought a bottle of it at a gun show a month or two before I ordered mine from TopDuck - smart young man.
Now, this was not a scientific product comparison. It is a telling of my experience with both products and my opinion of them both. Gunzilla seems to do more with less bother and with less product (only needing the one product to clean, lubricate and protect), seems to be less hazardous and thus safer, and seems to do a better job than did my old stalwart - Hoppe's 9. As much as I often stick with what has worked for me in the past, I just cannot see ignoring the what I think are the better cleaning properties of Gunzilla and that is what I intend to use for most of my gun cleaning from now on. As for harsher conditions or longer short term storage (like months unshot in the gun locker) I will continue to use Breakfree CLP to lubricate and protect my firearms from rust. I have found nothing to beat Breakfree CLP when it comes to firearms lubrication and rust prevention, but the Gunzilla sure beats Hoppe's 9 and with some testing I may find it beats Breakfree (but who wants to see if their firearms rust to prove a point). From now on, Gunzilla will be my main gun cleaning, lubricating and protective product of choice.
All the best,
Glenn B
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
Rod And Gun Auction Blues
A few months back, I attended an auction held by Hessney Auction Company in Geneva, NY. It was one heck of a drive getting there and I had a difficult time finding accommodations. I settled on an almost flea bag motel in which I swore I would never again stay. As for the auction, it was great. They auctioned off an old Triumph motorcycle, militaria, hunting and fishing items and hundreds of guns. I went primarily for the guns and while I came home with a few guns, on which I had the high bids, I also came home with an apparent antique dagger and a mounted deer head. The deer head now hangs in my son's room, as for the dagger, I think it is up there too. The guns, I still have them all, but am in the process of selling one, the Browning Citori Lightning I have written about here before. It is one heck of a nice shotgun, in excellent plus condition, evidently unfired except maybe for test firing. Once I sell it, I will have more than enough cash to attend another auction.
I really want to attend another of their auctions and that is kind of where the blues comes into play. The same auction house, staffed by some really great folks, is having another auction on the August 18th. Once at the link, scroll down just a short way to see the partial listing of guns that will be up for bids. They are also auctioning off a really nice looking 1961 Corvette; go to the photos link to take a look. I would be tempted to bid on that one along with some guns.
Here is where the blues hit hard. I was supposed to have worked this coming Saturday (part time post-retirement job) but asked if I could be switched to the 18th because I plan to attend the 5th Annual Northeast Bloggershoot this coming weekend. Since my boss was nice enough to change my scheduled Saturday from this weekend to the 18th, there is no ethical way I can take off to attend the auction. It looks like they will have some nice guns up for auction, along with that Corvette too, and I am feeling blue, blue, blue!
I made out very well last time with the Browning Citori Lightning shotgun I bought, also with a High Standard .22 pistol that I got for a really good price. I did fair with a NEF Pardner 12 gauge, also fair to good on a Stevens 66-B bolt action rifle in .22LR, and poorly on an Iver Johnson Hercules grade SxS 16 gauge shotgun. (It is basically only good as a wall hanger or a parts gun and I am guessing only for about 1/2 of its parts at best. I thought I was bidding on another of the same type of gun; shame on me for not being attentive enough.) The deer head came at a good price too and thepiece of junk dagger was bought on a lark for cheap. In all, I had a great time and got some decent to excellent prices on the guns and the deer mount - which was well worth it considering that my son really likes it.
I would do it again regardless of the long drive there and back, and of the need to spend at least one night in a motel, and a good sum of money on guns. There is no doubt in my mind that I would do better this time around because I basically busted my cherry the last time around and am no longer a live gun auction rookie. I made a couple of mistakes, made even more good decisions and buys than I made mistakes, and am ready to go at it again - this time without the mistakes. Too bad I cannot make it this time round, I figure it would wind up being profitable in the long run one way or another. I wonder if they accept phone bids on the guns. As I recall, I am pretty sure that they did so last time. I'll have to check on that but even if they do, it is no guarantee I would bid by phone. I kind of doubt I would have the opportunity to see pictures of the items, in which I would be interested, from all angles and do not know if I want my bids to depend on an assessment, of an item, made by someone else. Oh well, maybe the time after this one.
All the best,
Glenn B
I really want to attend another of their auctions and that is kind of where the blues comes into play. The same auction house, staffed by some really great folks, is having another auction on the August 18th. Once at the link, scroll down just a short way to see the partial listing of guns that will be up for bids. They are also auctioning off a really nice looking 1961 Corvette; go to the photos link to take a look. I would be tempted to bid on that one along with some guns.
Here is where the blues hit hard. I was supposed to have worked this coming Saturday (part time post-retirement job) but asked if I could be switched to the 18th because I plan to attend the 5th Annual Northeast Bloggershoot this coming weekend. Since my boss was nice enough to change my scheduled Saturday from this weekend to the 18th, there is no ethical way I can take off to attend the auction. It looks like they will have some nice guns up for auction, along with that Corvette too, and I am feeling blue, blue, blue!
I made out very well last time with the Browning Citori Lightning shotgun I bought, also with a High Standard .22 pistol that I got for a really good price. I did fair with a NEF Pardner 12 gauge, also fair to good on a Stevens 66-B bolt action rifle in .22LR, and poorly on an Iver Johnson Hercules grade SxS 16 gauge shotgun. (It is basically only good as a wall hanger or a parts gun and I am guessing only for about 1/2 of its parts at best. I thought I was bidding on another of the same type of gun; shame on me for not being attentive enough.) The deer head came at a good price too and the
I would do it again regardless of the long drive there and back, and of the need to spend at least one night in a motel, and a good sum of money on guns. There is no doubt in my mind that I would do better this time around because I basically busted my cherry the last time around and am no longer a live gun auction rookie. I made a couple of mistakes, made even more good decisions and buys than I made mistakes, and am ready to go at it again - this time without the mistakes. Too bad I cannot make it this time round, I figure it would wind up being profitable in the long run one way or another. I wonder if they accept phone bids on the guns. As I recall, I am pretty sure that they did so last time. I'll have to check on that but even if they do, it is no guarantee I would bid by phone. I kind of doubt I would have the opportunity to see pictures of the items, in which I would be interested, from all angles and do not know if I want my bids to depend on an assessment, of an item, made by someone else. Oh well, maybe the time after this one.
All the best,
Glenn B
Our Guns For The 5th Annual Northeast Bloggershoot
Being I am now getting my full pension payments, as of August 1st, I decided to splurge and I ordered some ammo from Cheaperthandirt just a few days ago. It arrived today, just three days after ordering it. It is merely a little bit, 100 rounds of .45 ACP and 40 rounds of 8mm Mauser , to supplement what I already had in the ammo locker. The reason I say I splurged is that, about 2 weeks ago, in anticipation of my first full pension check, I also bought 500 rounds of 5.56x45 and 500 rounds of 7.62x39, that order from the Sportsmandguide. I'll really have to watch my future spending because after all, while it is my full pension check that I am getting now, and while a good one, it it certainly does not amount to my full paycheck of my pre-retirement days. The added bit of ammo, that I received today, made the bite out of my available cash a bit larger than I should have allowed. I guess, I will need to be more frugal in the future and only spend money on ammo that I have saved up after all the bills have been paid and after some money has been put away into savings. For now though, I had a reason to buy the ammo and it was not just to spend some of my first full pension check on ammo. It was to have enough of certain calibers of ammo for the Northeast Bloggershoot this weekend.
I have pretty much whittled down the possibles list to about 4 pistols and about 6 long arms to bring along now that I have enough ammo for them all and now that I have checked with the authorities in MA about transport through the state. Transporting my pistols under the LEOSA act should not be a problem, nor should transporting my AK47 (Romanian WASR) in locked gun cases in the locked trunk of my car. Out shotguns were never an issue as far as a possible problem was concerned nor were my Yugo Mauser or my Nagants. So, here is what I figure to bring along (list still subject to change as I do not want to drag along too many):
Pistols:
Glock 26
Beretta 92FS
Beretta 70S (or Ruger MKII)
Remington R1-1911
Rifles:
Romanian AK (7.62x39) (almost definite)
Yugo Mauser M24/47 (8mm Mauser)
Marlin 336 (.35 Remington)
Marlin 25MN (.22 WMR) (almost definite)
Mosin Nagant 91/30 (7.62x39)
Shotguns:
Remington 870 (maybe and maybe not)
Mossberg 500 (probably)
There is a good chance that the list will get a bit smaller mostly because of limited trunk space and because I have a limited number of gun cases and only one full sized one for rifles. The shotguns can go into a shorter case, so too can the AK. That means only bringing 2 out of 4 of the other long guns listed, the: Marlin 336, the Marlin 25MN, the Mauser and the Nagant. Since I also am pretty certain that the Marlin 25MN will be brought along, as an easy on my shoulder gun, I still have to pick 1 out of the other 3 remaining rifles. I'll see what Brendan thinks about it and probably go with whatever he chooses from his. I am guessing the Mauser or 336. I am also going to ask what he thinks about the shotguns. If he does not want to shoot it, I may not bring the 870 since my right shoulder is on the mend after a long bout of creaking, cracking and pain. I am sure the rifles will be more than enough to chance me having the pain return and I do not need to tempt fate even more by shooting the 870 (except maybe with reduced recoil rounds, but I may not have too many of them).
Of course, Brendan may have different plans on what to bring along as far as the long arms go. I have to track him down and discuss it, maybe over a cold one (no gun handling, just gun discussion, if we are imbibing). Decisions, decisions, decisions but at least now we will have enough ammo for all of them because of the recent ammo orders. By the way, if all of that made sense to you, I guess I am not quite as confused as I have been feeling over deciding on our choices for the Bloggershoot.
All the best,
Glenn B
I have pretty much whittled down the possibles list to about 4 pistols and about 6 long arms to bring along now that I have enough ammo for them all and now that I have checked with the authorities in MA about transport through the state. Transporting my pistols under the LEOSA act should not be a problem, nor should transporting my AK47 (Romanian WASR) in locked gun cases in the locked trunk of my car. Out shotguns were never an issue as far as a possible problem was concerned nor were my Yugo Mauser or my Nagants. So, here is what I figure to bring along (list still subject to change as I do not want to drag along too many):
Pistols:
Glock 26
Beretta 92FS
Beretta 70S (or Ruger MKII)
Remington R1-1911
Rifles:
Romanian AK (7.62x39) (almost definite)
Yugo Mauser M24/47 (8mm Mauser)
Marlin 336 (.35 Remington)
Marlin 25MN (.22 WMR) (almost definite)
Mosin Nagant 91/30 (7.62x39)
Shotguns:
Remington 870 (maybe and maybe not)
Mossberg 500 (probably)
There is a good chance that the list will get a bit smaller mostly because of limited trunk space and because I have a limited number of gun cases and only one full sized one for rifles. The shotguns can go into a shorter case, so too can the AK. That means only bringing 2 out of 4 of the other long guns listed, the: Marlin 336, the Marlin 25MN, the Mauser and the Nagant. Since I also am pretty certain that the Marlin 25MN will be brought along, as an easy on my shoulder gun, I still have to pick 1 out of the other 3 remaining rifles. I'll see what Brendan thinks about it and probably go with whatever he chooses from his. I am guessing the Mauser or 336. I am also going to ask what he thinks about the shotguns. If he does not want to shoot it, I may not bring the 870 since my right shoulder is on the mend after a long bout of creaking, cracking and pain. I am sure the rifles will be more than enough to chance me having the pain return and I do not need to tempt fate even more by shooting the 870 (except maybe with reduced recoil rounds, but I may not have too many of them).
Of course, Brendan may have different plans on what to bring along as far as the long arms go. I have to track him down and discuss it, maybe over a cold one (no gun handling, just gun discussion, if we are imbibing). Decisions, decisions, decisions but at least now we will have enough ammo for all of them because of the recent ammo orders. By the way, if all of that made sense to you, I guess I am not quite as confused as I have been feeling over deciding on our choices for the Bloggershoot.
All the best,
Glenn B
Sunday, August 5, 2012
To Busy To Continue With The Gun Cleaning...
...that I started a couple of days ago. One the first day I think it was eight rifles, one shotgun and four pistols that I cleaned. Then on the second day, I spent a few to several hours cleaning just two Mosin Nagant 91/30 rifles. Remember in my blog about day one of cleaning, I said that rust had not reared its ugly head. Well the two 91/30 Mosin Nagants were in a closet up in our bedroom (my wife's room considering I usually sleep on a couch in the basement). I guess the closet gets pretty humid and maybe I had not cleaned the bores as well as I had thought when I last cleaned them. Yes there was filth and rust in them. The one I have with the bent bolt wound up coming out with a shiny bore; man those Tornado brushes sure do work wonders. The other one still seems to have a bit of frosting, or maybe it is pitting but as I recall, it was pitted when I bought it. At the time, because of cosmoline, I did not realize it. I sure found out after I cleaned it up the first time. It is not bad though and the gun shoots pretty good with heavier weight ammo (kind of all over the place with lighter ammo). But I digress...
As I said, I was too busy today to continue with the cleanings and there are several to go. What kept me busy yesterday was getting a camera put up for auction on Ebay and going through files on hard drives, from my brother's computers, to save only family photos and such that my sister-in-aw might want to keep as remembrances. Then today, I took a drive with my wife, daughter and her fiance into the Toxic Waste Dump State (commonly referred to as New Jersey) so my daughter's fiance could pick up a Chihuahua puppy he was buying. He actually bought two and gave one to my wife. He is lucky I did not make him walk back to NY and that I let him into my house again. Hell, we already had 4 dogs and watched his first most of each week. Now we have five dogs, plus his first to watch and his new puppy to watch when he and my daughter are both at work! Damn my yard is going to be one smelly minefield! Puppy pron at a later date.
I got to pick the name. I did an Internet search for female dog names. Number 15 on the list I looked at was Abby. I started to laugh out loud because, as soon as I saw it, all I could think of was Igor in the movie Young Frankenstein as he tried to tell Dr. Frankenstein the name of the person whose brain he had stolen. He told Dr. Frankenstein it was "Abby someone..."
This puppy will have to be, or wind up being, pretty Abby Normal to live at our house, thus the new moniker! I only agreed tolet it live let it come home with us if I could name it.
Well, I am going to be busy tomorrow and Tuesday, so maybe by Wednesday I can clean the rest of the rifles and pistols. I hope so because I want to be absolutely sure that whatever I decide to bring to the Northeast Bloggershoot, this coming weekend, is going to be sparkling clean so we can really foul them up again without any glitches while doing so!
All the best,
Glenn B
As I said, I was too busy today to continue with the cleanings and there are several to go. What kept me busy yesterday was getting a camera put up for auction on Ebay and going through files on hard drives, from my brother's computers, to save only family photos and such that my sister-in-aw might want to keep as remembrances. Then today, I took a drive with my wife, daughter and her fiance into the Toxic Waste Dump State (commonly referred to as New Jersey) so my daughter's fiance could pick up a Chihuahua puppy he was buying. He actually bought two and gave one to my wife. He is lucky I did not make him walk back to NY and that I let him into my house again. Hell, we already had 4 dogs and watched his first most of each week. Now we have five dogs, plus his first to watch and his new puppy to watch when he and my daughter are both at work! Damn my yard is going to be one smelly minefield! Puppy pron at a later date.
I got to pick the name. I did an Internet search for female dog names. Number 15 on the list I looked at was Abby. I started to laugh out loud because, as soon as I saw it, all I could think of was Igor in the movie Young Frankenstein as he tried to tell Dr. Frankenstein the name of the person whose brain he had stolen. He told Dr. Frankenstein it was "Abby someone..."
This puppy will have to be, or wind up being, pretty Abby Normal to live at our house, thus the new moniker! I only agreed to
Well, I am going to be busy tomorrow and Tuesday, so maybe by Wednesday I can clean the rest of the rifles and pistols. I hope so because I want to be absolutely sure that whatever I decide to bring to the Northeast Bloggershoot, this coming weekend, is going to be sparkling clean so we can really foul them up again without any glitches while doing so!
All the best,
Glenn B
Saturday, August 4, 2012
Canon EOS 5D Mark II Digital SLR Camera
My brother, who passed a few weeks ago, considered himself quite the photographer. I will admit, he sometimes took some truly excellent photographs; yet, whether or not he was as good as he thought he was did not matter. He had fun with photography and had a passion for it. I imagine that is what mattered.
In 2010, he upgraded his equipment and bought a professional model camera, a Canon EOS 5D Mark II. It is one heck of a big and heavy digital camera and is heavy in the mega pixel department as well. It shoots 21.1 mp. I do not know much about it other than that, except that my sister-in-law wants to sell it because she needs the cash. I would have thought of buying it for myself, to putz around with now and then, that is until I saw the going prices on Ebay. Just the body can go for well over $1,000 and that is for used ones. My brother had more than just the camera body, including a Canon 24-105mm EF lens, a Canon Speedlite flash, a battery charger and 2 batteries as well as other accessories.
Now, my sister-in-law is not all that computer savvy, so I told her I would put it up for sale on my Ebay account for her. I posted it on Ebay today, it took me three hours to get it right. That was somewhat due to the laptop I was using losing its wireless Internet connection a few times but also was due to me getting the Ebay add just right. It did not seem worth the effort especially since I was uncertain it would sell both because of the starting bid price and because I am selling it "as is, no returns". It apparently is in excellent condition as far as I can tell and I took some shots with it and they came out fine. I figured I could change that "no returns" thing, to returns accepted, for a second try if it did not sell on the first attempt.
I need not have worried if it would sell. Just hours after I posted it, it had a bid at the starting bid of $1,800, and that with less than two dozen views. I think it can probably get, and will likely get, a good deal more than that, maybe at least $2,400. If not, then at least it is going to bring in at least $1,800 for my sister-in-law.
If you are interested in viewing the auction, it can be seen at this link:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Canon-EOS-5D-Mark-II-21-1mp-Digital-SLR-Camera-24-105mm-Lens-Accessories-/320958118878?pt=Digital_Cameras&hash=item4aba983bde
I think it absolutely amazing, and a testament to how good a camera it is, that it is going to bring in quite as much as it will, just with the first bid, considering it is a used camera. From what I have seen with other auctions for the same camera on Ebay, they are in very high demand!
Now you may remember I just mentioned I had thought of buying it until I saw the price. I need a camera since my old Canon Powershot whatever went belly up. Well, my brother also has a Canon Powershot G9. I offered to buy that one but my sister-in-law is kind hearted and she gave it to me. While I am not the high caliber that was my brother, I shoot a good shot now and again. Stand by for some upcoming gun pron soon.
All the best,
Glenn B
In 2010, he upgraded his equipment and bought a professional model camera, a Canon EOS 5D Mark II. It is one heck of a big and heavy digital camera and is heavy in the mega pixel department as well. It shoots 21.1 mp. I do not know much about it other than that, except that my sister-in-law wants to sell it because she needs the cash. I would have thought of buying it for myself, to putz around with now and then, that is until I saw the going prices on Ebay. Just the body can go for well over $1,000 and that is for used ones. My brother had more than just the camera body, including a Canon 24-105mm EF lens, a Canon Speedlite flash, a battery charger and 2 batteries as well as other accessories.
Now, my sister-in-law is not all that computer savvy, so I told her I would put it up for sale on my Ebay account for her. I posted it on Ebay today, it took me three hours to get it right. That was somewhat due to the laptop I was using losing its wireless Internet connection a few times but also was due to me getting the Ebay add just right. It did not seem worth the effort especially since I was uncertain it would sell both because of the starting bid price and because I am selling it "as is, no returns". It apparently is in excellent condition as far as I can tell and I took some shots with it and they came out fine. I figured I could change that "no returns" thing, to returns accepted, for a second try if it did not sell on the first attempt.
I need not have worried if it would sell. Just hours after I posted it, it had a bid at the starting bid of $1,800, and that with less than two dozen views. I think it can probably get, and will likely get, a good deal more than that, maybe at least $2,400. If not, then at least it is going to bring in at least $1,800 for my sister-in-law.
If you are interested in viewing the auction, it can be seen at this link:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Canon-EOS-5D-Mark-II-21-1mp-Digital-SLR-Camera-24-105mm-Lens-Accessories-/320958118878?pt=Digital_Cameras&hash=item4aba983bde
I think it absolutely amazing, and a testament to how good a camera it is, that it is going to bring in quite as much as it will, just with the first bid, considering it is a used camera. From what I have seen with other auctions for the same camera on Ebay, they are in very high demand!
Now you may remember I just mentioned I had thought of buying it until I saw the price. I need a camera since my old Canon Powershot whatever went belly up. Well, my brother also has a Canon Powershot G9. I offered to buy that one but my sister-in-law is kind hearted and she gave it to me. While I am not the high caliber that was my brother, I shoot a good shot now and again. Stand by for some upcoming gun pron soon.
All the best,
Glenn B
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Northeast Bloggershoot Legal Concerns
In 9 days, I will be taking off for the Northeast Bloggershoot. Hopefully, Brendan will accompany me. Right now he is planning on going if he can get off from work. Earlier today, I started my biannual gun cleanup (maintenance-wise). As I did so, I pondered which guns I should bring along to the bloggershoot. I was and remain at a bit of a loss when it come to making that decision. Late last night into early this AM, I read up on gun laws in both CT and MA, states which we will have to pass through (to get there in a reasonable amount of time) with our guns while on the way to NH for the shoot.
While NH is pretty gun owner friendly, MA and CT are not. Heck, they may have tougher gun laws than NY State (excluding NY City). I knew one could transport guns through a state, wherein they would otherwise be illegally possessed by the transporter, as long as they were legal in the starting state and legal in the destination state and kept locked in the trunk - unloaded - while passing through the gun unfriendly state. I was and am none too sure that transporting the type of guns we want to bring along will be okay in CT or MA. I have more uncertainty about MA, I am pretty sure transport like that through CT is not a problem. I plan to call the MA state police to check on whether or not it will be okay to transport my Romanian WASR AK47 and one of Brendan's AR15s, both with hi-cap mags, though MA to our ultimate destination of NH. Since the hi-cap mags are pre-ban manufacture, there is no legal issue in NY, I think none in CT, but I am a bit confused about MA. I am also concerned about the actual guns. we want to bring. If we cannot bring them along, we will go nonetheless but we will bring along only my pistols (I can carry them nationwide under the conditions of the LEOSA) a lever action rifle some bolt action rifles, and a pump action shotgun.
I would rather we not get arrested and charged with a felony. Hopefully though. the McClure-Volkmer Act will cover us. It is a federal law that sought to overcome the Draconian provisions of the 1968 gun control act and it allows U.S. citizens, legally in possession of firearms, to transport them interstate from a starting point where the guns were legal to an ending point where they also are legal, through states wherein they are considered illegal, provided you make stops only for fuel or emergency repairs, and the guns are transported in a certain manner. The firearms must be in a gun case, placed into the vehicle's locked trunk, unloaded, and I think any magazines must also be unloaded and ammo kept in a separate container apart from the guns. Not difficult to do, my car has a trunk and it locks and I have a few gun cases that will also be locked. Hopefully MA and CT honor said law and I also hope that hi-cap, pre-ban, magazines are also okay to be transported through those states in that manner.
All the best,
Glenn B
While NH is pretty gun owner friendly, MA and CT are not. Heck, they may have tougher gun laws than NY State (excluding NY City). I knew one could transport guns through a state, wherein they would otherwise be illegally possessed by the transporter, as long as they were legal in the starting state and legal in the destination state and kept locked in the trunk - unloaded - while passing through the gun unfriendly state. I was and am none too sure that transporting the type of guns we want to bring along will be okay in CT or MA. I have more uncertainty about MA, I am pretty sure transport like that through CT is not a problem. I plan to call the MA state police to check on whether or not it will be okay to transport my Romanian WASR AK47 and one of Brendan's AR15s, both with hi-cap mags, though MA to our ultimate destination of NH. Since the hi-cap mags are pre-ban manufacture, there is no legal issue in NY, I think none in CT, but I am a bit confused about MA. I am also concerned about the actual guns. we want to bring. If we cannot bring them along, we will go nonetheless but we will bring along only my pistols (I can carry them nationwide under the conditions of the LEOSA) a lever action rifle some bolt action rifles, and a pump action shotgun.
I would rather we not get arrested and charged with a felony. Hopefully though. the McClure-Volkmer Act will cover us. It is a federal law that sought to overcome the Draconian provisions of the 1968 gun control act and it allows U.S. citizens, legally in possession of firearms, to transport them interstate from a starting point where the guns were legal to an ending point where they also are legal, through states wherein they are considered illegal, provided you make stops only for fuel or emergency repairs, and the guns are transported in a certain manner. The firearms must be in a gun case, placed into the vehicle's locked trunk, unloaded, and I think any magazines must also be unloaded and ammo kept in a separate container apart from the guns. Not difficult to do, my car has a trunk and it locks and I have a few gun cases that will also be locked. Hopefully MA and CT honor said law and I also hope that hi-cap, pre-ban, magazines are also okay to be transported through those states in that manner.
All the best,
Glenn B
Time To Check Your Guns
Once again, it is that time of year, at least in the more humid states in the USA. It is time not only to check all of your guns but to give them a cleaning and light coating of protective oil as part of good firearms maintenance. In many states within the USA, the summer months are usually the most humid. States on the east coast have weather that is usually hot and humid, weather that promotes oxidation. Even states like AZ are subject to heavy rains and higher humidity in the summer (at least southern AZ as it is subject to monsoon season). So, if you have not taken a look at certain firearms in your collection in a while and or have not maintained them with a recent cleaning and lubrication, it is high time to do it now to defeat one of the two enemies of firearms. One of those enemies is the politician, the other is rust. There could be a third enemy, the inattentive gun owner.
Today, I took a look in the gun locker. No mold growing on the wood stocks, no obvious rust on any of my rifles or handguns, everything looked fine. Regardless of how good everything looked, I set myself out to begin the task of cleaning all of my guns. I got 8 rifles, a shotgun and 4 handguns done today. It took me several hours to clean, oil that many. I also applied a wood treatment on those with wood stocks, which was all of the rifles I cleaned today. The reason this took me several hours is because I broke most of the rifles and the shotgun down instead of just giving them a field cleaning. I removed stocks, took out bolts and trigger groups, and gave them all a decent cleaning. Then I put a protective coat of oil on the metal on all of them. I did not break down most of the bolts or trigger groups but cleaned them all as best I could without further disassembly. I am more likely to take apart bolts and trigger groups when wanting to give a particular gun a complete cleaning but only if I know how to do it or have a good set of written and illustrated instructions.
I found some light rust that was hidden under the wood on two rifles. Nothing major, in fact quite minor but only because I caught it early. I try to give a fairly thorough cleaning to my guns at least twice a year (other than and in addition to a field cleaning after shooting) in order to make sure they do not rust or develop mold on the wood stocks. I once discovered one of my pistols had a light coating of rust on much of it, my shotgun metal had rusted a bit and my rifle stocks had a light coating of mold or mildew on them. Luckily I was able to clean the wood stocks without any damage to them, as for the rusted metal, well it took off a bit of the finish when I cleaned them. That was during an exceptionally wet and humid summer much like the one we are having in NY this year. To prevent that from happening, I more or less have made sure to schedule a biannual heavy cleaning time for all of my guns. I clean most of them more often because I shoot most of them but not all of them get as much use and those need to be checked every 3 to 6 months. They get an inspection at least two times a year. Based on the inspections they get either a light or heavy cleaning two of those four times and always get a heavy cleaning the other two times, in the summer and in the winter.
I make sure to keep a desiccant in both the gun and in the ammo lockers. I recharge the desiccant, I use silicone and heat it in an oven as per manufacturers instructions, each time the dampness indicator changes from blue to pink. Once it turns pink, it is not working to absorb moisture and your firearms are at risk of rusting. About three hours in an oven set at about 225 degrees Fahrenheit usually reactivates the silicone silicone desiccant for reuse. Speaking of desiccant in the oven, I have to go turn off my oven and take out the desiccant packs (with oven mitts) and get them back into the gun an ammo lockers once they cool off.
Now, when I get to the Northeast Bloggershoot, next week, at least my guns will be clean and ready to get fouled all over again!
Al;l the best,
Glenn B
Today, I took a look in the gun locker. No mold growing on the wood stocks, no obvious rust on any of my rifles or handguns, everything looked fine. Regardless of how good everything looked, I set myself out to begin the task of cleaning all of my guns. I got 8 rifles, a shotgun and 4 handguns done today. It took me several hours to clean, oil that many. I also applied a wood treatment on those with wood stocks, which was all of the rifles I cleaned today. The reason this took me several hours is because I broke most of the rifles and the shotgun down instead of just giving them a field cleaning. I removed stocks, took out bolts and trigger groups, and gave them all a decent cleaning. Then I put a protective coat of oil on the metal on all of them. I did not break down most of the bolts or trigger groups but cleaned them all as best I could without further disassembly. I am more likely to take apart bolts and trigger groups when wanting to give a particular gun a complete cleaning but only if I know how to do it or have a good set of written and illustrated instructions.
I found some light rust that was hidden under the wood on two rifles. Nothing major, in fact quite minor but only because I caught it early. I try to give a fairly thorough cleaning to my guns at least twice a year (other than and in addition to a field cleaning after shooting) in order to make sure they do not rust or develop mold on the wood stocks. I once discovered one of my pistols had a light coating of rust on much of it, my shotgun metal had rusted a bit and my rifle stocks had a light coating of mold or mildew on them. Luckily I was able to clean the wood stocks without any damage to them, as for the rusted metal, well it took off a bit of the finish when I cleaned them. That was during an exceptionally wet and humid summer much like the one we are having in NY this year. To prevent that from happening, I more or less have made sure to schedule a biannual heavy cleaning time for all of my guns. I clean most of them more often because I shoot most of them but not all of them get as much use and those need to be checked every 3 to 6 months. They get an inspection at least two times a year. Based on the inspections they get either a light or heavy cleaning two of those four times and always get a heavy cleaning the other two times, in the summer and in the winter.
I make sure to keep a desiccant in both the gun and in the ammo lockers. I recharge the desiccant, I use silicone and heat it in an oven as per manufacturers instructions, each time the dampness indicator changes from blue to pink. Once it turns pink, it is not working to absorb moisture and your firearms are at risk of rusting. About three hours in an oven set at about 225 degrees Fahrenheit usually reactivates the silicone silicone desiccant for reuse. Speaking of desiccant in the oven, I have to go turn off my oven and take out the desiccant packs (with oven mitts) and get them back into the gun an ammo lockers once they cool off.
Now, when I get to the Northeast Bloggershoot, next week, at least my guns will be clean and ready to get fouled all over again!
Al;l the best,
Glenn B
Monday, July 30, 2012
Northeast Bloggershoot Approaching Faster Than A Speeding Bullet
Wow, only 11 days and a wake-up and I'll be on the road up to New Hampshire for the Bloggershoot. I am driving up that way on August 11th and the shoot is on the 12th. Folks will be staying at hotels in NH. As for the shoot location, I do not know where that is going to be. Either in NH or MA but the location is supersekrit, so sekrit that attendees like me do not know yet. Since the blogger/shooters will be meeting up at a rib joint, the night before the event, I guess I'll be getting directions then. I probably was already told about the actual location and how to get there but I'll be darned if I remember. The info may have been saved on my old laptop but as we all know, that went belly up weeks ago. Oh well, I am confident I will get the directions from Jay, over at MArooned, before I take off on the trip.
I almost cannot wait for the day to arrive. I am thinking of bringing a few pistols like my Remington 45, a Beretta 92FS, and maybe my Beretta 70S and my Ortgies. Then there are the long guns to consider. Thinking of lugging along my Remington 870, the Marlin 336, a Nagant or two, maybe my AK or Yugo SKS, and my Yugo Mauser. Who knows, maybe I'll bring along a rimfire rifle also. I have some thinking to do in that regard, some gun cleaning too once I decide which ones to drag along. I don't want to bring too many of them; I would hate to be stopped by a cop for anything and have him search the vehicle finding all those guns. Imagine, with the recent psycho shootings, what might transpire then if the cops do not believe I am going to a friendly bloggershoot.
Whatever, I am sure to bring along some guns that will be fun to shoot. If Brendan can also make it, that will be great. I am sure he would bring at least one of his ARs and probably his Mossberg 500 shotgun. It promises to be a fun weekend, especially if Brendan can make it.
All the best,
Glenn B
My Black Cloud Takes A Holiday (or: The Surprise Of The Sealed Ammunition Spam Can Opener)
I don't know exactly what happened to my black cloud lately, it seems to be allowing in some sunshine. Maybe it has something truly nefarious planned for me and is giving me a break until it unleashes that storm upon me but I am enjoying the sunshine that has been getting through in my life lately. No, I have not won the lottery, have not had my horse cross the finish line first against great odds, have not inherited My Fortune (not even the one Ralph Kramden got in The Honeymooners), I have not found a great paying second career job, nor have I found a hot young girlfriend with lots of money who is just looking to please me. My rays of sunshine have been coming down on me in little bits for the most part and in some full sunny and gorgeous days - so to speak..
I have not had any bad news from my doctors lately (which really is a big ray of sunshine after the cancer). Other than that, most of my sunshine, or luck, has come in little things but nice things. For instance, after my brother passed away, my sister-in-law let Brendan and me take some things of his as remembrances when we visited her. I got a knife that I gave him years ago, an old Schrade sheath knife that was made in the USA. Brendan spotted a bayonet and asked if he could have that. He now owns a Fiskars m27 bayonet, a fairly amazing WWII militaria find among my brother's belongings for sure. I also recently sent a shotgun to Browning for repair, the repair turned out to be a minor one and cost me nothing except the shipping charge to the factory, add to that that the job was finished ahead of schedule and yep that made for some sunshine in my life. Then there is the fact that when I just checked, on my Priority Club account, to see if there was a Holiday Inn up in New Hampshire, close to the upcoming Northeast Bloggershoot, not only did I find a convenient hotel, but was able to book the kind of room I wanted and I had enough Priority Points to get it for free with enough left over for an additional night if I desire.
I also recently placed an order with Sportsmansguide.com. for some ammo. I had just about given up on them after a disagreement about a previous batch of ammo I got from them which they, I think, had falsely advertised on their website by showing it as very different than what it was when I received it. Same ammo as advertised just that the quality control on it has gone down markedly and some manufacturing techniques had obviously changed on it but they showed it the old way. Used to be sealed military style ammo, now no longer sealed and so on but they showed pics ofit as sealed. I got a nasty gram from the when complained and was going to drop them as an ammo supplier but their prices could not be beat and sometimes you have to go with the principal of being able to afford ammo, to have enough on hand, as a priority over other principles such as that of good customer service. As I said, I tried them again. I received the ammo today and not only was it left in a ray of sunshine on my front stoop but the ammo gods must have been smiling down to me too because something in the advertisement picture, that I did not expect to get, came with the ammo.
You see, the tin Spam-like can of 640 rounds of Tulammo 7.62x39 ammo that I ordered was actually delivered inside a sealed cardboard box. Inside that box was the expected Spam type ammo can and something a little extra. That little bit extra was a very unexpected (but highly hoped for and often sought after) Russian, ammo can opener! It used to be, when military surplus ammo was shipped in Spam type cans, an opener would be included within each ammo case. An ammo case contained two (2) ammo cans, thus there was one opener for each two cans. This military surplus ammo, in the particular types of cans to which I refer, came from the USSR or Eastern Bloc nations. When the milsurp ammo was sold by online dealers, here in the USA, it was often sold by the individual can. If you were lucky, they sent you the opener with your order of a single can, if unlucky then you were the guy who got the can without the opener. Sometimes, dealers also would not send out the openers with an ammo order at all but collected them, then offered the openers for sale at an outrageous price. The openers were none to easy to come by.
Last time I got one of the openers was when I bought a can of 7.62x54R at a gun show in Philly over ten (10) years ago! You can safely bet, I have ordered my fair share of Eastern Bloc ammo in sealed cans since then. I just was never lucky enough to get another can opener with those orders and, as my luck would have it, I threw out or lost the old one before ever realizing how tough they would prove to get. Well, now I have one. I will not have to resort to other methods to open my Russian ammo cans since the current manufacturer was good enough to include an opener along with a single ammo can. What a nice touch on the part of Tulammo. Hopefully the ammo will be up to decent manufacturing standards and will hit that at which we are shooting and will feed, go bang, extract and eject without problems. I have heard pretty good things about this budget ammo and finding the ammo can opener in the box makes me think the ammo will be okay.
Of course, if you are not lucky enough to have one of the can openers, and need to open one of the Spam type ammo cans, there are ways to do it. I have seen people use: a hammer and chisel, a big strong bladed knife, a pry bar, a pair of tin snips, and a hammer and screwdriver. The method that seemingly worked the best and seemed easiest was the hammer and screwdriver method. You can view that here:
http://ballseyesboomers.blogspot.com/2011/04/opening-russian-or-any-communist-bloc.html
All the best,
Glenn B
I have not had any bad news from my doctors lately (which really is a big ray of sunshine after the cancer). Other than that, most of my sunshine, or luck, has come in little things but nice things. For instance, after my brother passed away, my sister-in-law let Brendan and me take some things of his as remembrances when we visited her. I got a knife that I gave him years ago, an old Schrade sheath knife that was made in the USA. Brendan spotted a bayonet and asked if he could have that. He now owns a Fiskars m27 bayonet, a fairly amazing WWII militaria find among my brother's belongings for sure. I also recently sent a shotgun to Browning for repair, the repair turned out to be a minor one and cost me nothing except the shipping charge to the factory, add to that that the job was finished ahead of schedule and yep that made for some sunshine in my life. Then there is the fact that when I just checked, on my Priority Club account, to see if there was a Holiday Inn up in New Hampshire, close to the upcoming Northeast Bloggershoot, not only did I find a convenient hotel, but was able to book the kind of room I wanted and I had enough Priority Points to get it for free with enough left over for an additional night if I desire.
I also recently placed an order with Sportsmansguide.com. for some ammo. I had just about given up on them after a disagreement about a previous batch of ammo I got from them which they, I think, had falsely advertised on their website by showing it as very different than what it was when I received it. Same ammo as advertised just that the quality control on it has gone down markedly and some manufacturing techniques had obviously changed on it but they showed it the old way. Used to be sealed military style ammo, now no longer sealed and so on but they showed pics ofit as sealed. I got a nasty gram from the when complained and was going to drop them as an ammo supplier but their prices could not be beat and sometimes you have to go with the principal of being able to afford ammo, to have enough on hand, as a priority over other principles such as that of good customer service. As I said, I tried them again. I received the ammo today and not only was it left in a ray of sunshine on my front stoop but the ammo gods must have been smiling down to me too because something in the advertisement picture, that I did not expect to get, came with the ammo.
You see, the tin Spam-like can of 640 rounds of Tulammo 7.62x39 ammo that I ordered was actually delivered inside a sealed cardboard box. Inside that box was the expected Spam type ammo can and something a little extra. That little bit extra was a very unexpected (but highly hoped for and often sought after) Russian, ammo can opener! It used to be, when military surplus ammo was shipped in Spam type cans, an opener would be included within each ammo case. An ammo case contained two (2) ammo cans, thus there was one opener for each two cans. This military surplus ammo, in the particular types of cans to which I refer, came from the USSR or Eastern Bloc nations. When the milsurp ammo was sold by online dealers, here in the USA, it was often sold by the individual can. If you were lucky, they sent you the opener with your order of a single can, if unlucky then you were the guy who got the can without the opener. Sometimes, dealers also would not send out the openers with an ammo order at all but collected them, then offered the openers for sale at an outrageous price. The openers were none to easy to come by.
Last time I got one of the openers was when I bought a can of 7.62x54R at a gun show in Philly over ten (10) years ago! You can safely bet, I have ordered my fair share of Eastern Bloc ammo in sealed cans since then. I just was never lucky enough to get another can opener with those orders and, as my luck would have it, I threw out or lost the old one before ever realizing how tough they would prove to get. Well, now I have one. I will not have to resort to other methods to open my Russian ammo cans since the current manufacturer was good enough to include an opener along with a single ammo can. What a nice touch on the part of Tulammo. Hopefully the ammo will be up to decent manufacturing standards and will hit that at which we are shooting and will feed, go bang, extract and eject without problems. I have heard pretty good things about this budget ammo and finding the ammo can opener in the box makes me think the ammo will be okay.
Of course, if you are not lucky enough to have one of the can openers, and need to open one of the Spam type ammo cans, there are ways to do it. I have seen people use: a hammer and chisel, a big strong bladed knife, a pry bar, a pair of tin snips, and a hammer and screwdriver. The method that seemingly worked the best and seemed easiest was the hammer and screwdriver method. You can view that here:
http://ballseyesboomers.blogspot.com/2011/04/opening-russian-or-any-communist-bloc.html
All the best,
Glenn B
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Kim Rhode Shoots Gold
Kim Rhode not only won the gold medal in the women's Skeet Shooting event at the London Olympics today but she also has become the first American to ever win a medal in five consecutive Olympics. Her having won medals at 5 consecutive Olympics also makes her only the fifth person in the world to have done so. At age 33, she now has earned three golds, one silver and one bronze; her first gold medal was won when she was only 17 years old.
In achieving her victory today she broke the Olympic skeet shooting record, and tied the world record, hitting 99 of 100 targets. She did it in the wind and pouring rain too, that is until the sun came out during the final stage of her event. She is truly a world class athlete and I am proud to say that she is a fellow American and an American citizen who exercises her right to keep and bear arms and who enjoys shooting them too.
For more on her story, she the articles at these links, each tells something different about her, making all worth reading:
http://msn.foxsports.com/olympics/story/london-olympics-skeet-gold-cements-legend-of-kim-rhode-wins-medal-in-five-straight-games-072912
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/29/us-oly-shoo-shwske-usa-rhode-day-idUSBRE86S0QW20120729?feedType=RSS&feedName=sportsNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FsportsNews+%28Reuters+Sports+News%29
http://msn.foxsports.com/olympics/shooting/story/kimberly-rhode-makes-history-with-skeet-gold-medal-072912
Kim Rhode may have a long Olympic career ahead of her. The oldest person to ever medal in the Olympics, in a sporting event, was a 72 year old Swede, Oscar Gomer Swahn, in 1920.He won silver that year. In fact, Swahn is also the oldest to have ever won a gold medal, he won gold at age 64. He competed in three Olympics - the 1908, 1912 and 1920 summer games. Each time he competed, he did so with and possibly against his son Alfred, who also won bronze, silver and gold medals. Guess in what sport they did that. Yep, it was in shooting! So, at age 33, Kim Rhode is still a youngster in the shooting sports. I wish Kim Rhode all the best - long may she medal!
I wonder what type of shotgun she shoots? I am sure it is not a Remington 870! I mention the Remington 870 because, as coincidence would have it, earlier today in my post immediately prior to this one, I wrote about the 870.
All the best,
Glenn B
In achieving her victory today she broke the Olympic skeet shooting record, and tied the world record, hitting 99 of 100 targets. She did it in the wind and pouring rain too, that is until the sun came out during the final stage of her event. She is truly a world class athlete and I am proud to say that she is a fellow American and an American citizen who exercises her right to keep and bear arms and who enjoys shooting them too.
For more on her story, she the articles at these links, each tells something different about her, making all worth reading:http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/29/us-oly-shoo-shwske-usa-rhode-day-idUSBRE86S0QW20120729?feedType=RSS&feedName=sportsNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FsportsNews+%28Reuters+Sports+News%29
http://msn.foxsports.com/olympics/shooting/story/kimberly-rhode-makes-history-with-skeet-gold-medal-072912
Kim Rhode may have a long Olympic career ahead of her. The oldest person to ever medal in the Olympics, in a sporting event, was a 72 year old Swede, Oscar Gomer Swahn, in 1920.He won silver that year. In fact, Swahn is also the oldest to have ever won a gold medal, he won gold at age 64. He competed in three Olympics - the 1908, 1912 and 1920 summer games. Each time he competed, he did so with and possibly against his son Alfred, who also won bronze, silver and gold medals. Guess in what sport they did that. Yep, it was in shooting! So, at age 33, Kim Rhode is still a youngster in the shooting sports. I wish Kim Rhode all the best - long may she medal!
I wonder what type of shotgun she shoots? I am sure it is not a Remington 870! I mention the Remington 870 because, as coincidence would have it, earlier today in my post immediately prior to this one, I wrote about the 870.
All the best,
Glenn B
Remington 870 Shotguns - I Am Definitely Biased Toward The 870 When It Comes To Shotguns
It used to be that there was one shotgun in my household, the Remington model 870. It was the same brand and pretty much the same model as the ones I had been issued at work in my jobs with the Border Patrol, Customs Patrol, then as a Customs Agent and finally also as an agent in DHS. As for the shotguns I was issued at work, like the ones I had bought for use across the board as home defense, hunting and fun shooting guns, they were all Remington model 870s. There are 4 shotguns in my household now but none that I like as much as the 870.
Throughout my time as a government LEO, I changed and so too did the shotguns I was issued. Not big changes (except maybe for my weight) but changes indeed. Perhaps, the changes the 870 went through over the years, since I bought my first one back in the early 1980s were not all that significant to most shooters but they made quite the difference to me and because of those changes I prefer the somewhat older versions to the newer. My biggest point of dissatisfaction with the newer ones is that Remington did away with part number 45, the magazine spring retainer. There were other changes that came along with over the years but none so annoying as that one which allows the magazine spring to pop out each time you disassemble the gun for a good cleaning or to change the barrel. Still though, if my older 870 ever needed replacement, I am pretty sure it would be with a new 870; I just like them that much.
The Remington 870 is a versatile gun that comes in a good amount of model variations, some of those variations being utilitarian and others merely cosmetic. You can see the different variations here:
While all 870s are pump action shotguns the differences among the 870 can be fairly significant. Some are geared toward tactical use, others toward turkey hunting or waterfowl hunting and yet others toward deer hunting and still others toward trap shooting. Some come with a magnum chamber and can take 3" shells, others only 23/4"shells. They come with a variety of barrels and stocks too. You can get them with black or camo synthetic stocks or with subdued finished wood or with American Walnut stocks with a high gloss finish. They even have a nickel plated marine version. There is a pretty wide price range on them, the Express version has a manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP) of about $411.00. The Remington 870 Wingmaster Classic Trap has an MSRP of $1081.00. There are lots of different prices on the various versions that fall between those two.
The one I originally owned, that I bought way back when I was a Border Patrol Agent was a Remington 870 Wingmaster with American Walnut stocks and a high gloss finish. It was a nice gun, one I wish I had never sold. The one I bought, to make up for selling that one and to refill the niche left by its absence, was a Remington 870 Express Combo. That version has changed some over the years. Mine is a 12 gauge (you can also get them in 20 gauge) and came with a 2 3/4" chamber (some have magnum chambers and accept 3 or 3 1/2" shells, mine does not), a dull non-reflective matte finish on the metal, wood stocks (dull finish), and two barrels - a 2" improved choke deer barrel with rifled sights (smooth bore) and a 28" vent ribbed barrel with interchangeable choke capability and a single choke. Today the deer barrel, of the newer 870 Express Combo is rifled and the larger barrel has been shortened from 28" to 26". I am going to guess that I bought my second 870 in about 1987. I think it was within a year of me getting married and selling the Wingmaster. It did not take me all that long to realize that selling the other 870 had been a mistake; yet, it was too long - I never would have sold the Wingmaster if I had realized soon enough what a mistake it would be. Oh well, live and learn.
As I said, there are 4 shotguns in my household right now (actually 5 but one is a wall hanger) and of them all I prefer the 870. The others are a New England Pardner 12 gauge single shot, my son's Mossberg 500 with pistol grip and no shoulder stock, A Browning Citori Lightning O/U - all of those in 12 gauge. There is also the wall hanger which is an Iver Johnson Hercules Grade 16 gauge SxS. I have also fired other shotguns than those I have owned. They have included Mossberg pumps, an Iver Johnson SxS, various Remington, Winchester, Franchi, and Benelli semi-autos and so on, and some other single shot shotguns and even a bolt action shotgun (cannot recall the make). None of those others have ever made me feel confident enough to use any of those other guns as a one gun for all situations for hunting, target shooting and self defense - only the Remington 870 has been the gun that has covered all of those for me and that continues to do so today. Sure, I will use others for hunting or others for target shooting or maybe even another for personal defense (if I am forced to do so in an emergency and the 870 is not there) but I have never found a shotgun as reliable and as versatile as the 870.
In all the years that I have owned my current 870, which is about 25 years now, I have never had any problems with it, that I can remember that required fixing. Yes, there was the time that I forgot to screw the end cap back onto the magazine, when I took a shot at a goose, then watched my part45 and the magazine spring sale through the air about half way across a pond until they splashed down to be lost in the depths but that was shooter error. Nothing on the gun has ever broken. That is fairly amazing when you consider modern manufacturing standards- which for the most part mean you are buying junk today. It just is not true with the 870, or at least was not the case in the 1980 when they made mine nor was it true of those I used at work up until a few years back. It is an excellent gun and I say that after having put mine, and some at work, through their own personal hell.
As for my own Remington 870 Express Combo, I have I have taken it on hunting trips, camping trips, and hiking trips. I have brought it along, as my long arm of choice, on tens, if not, hundreds of law enforcement operations. (While in Customs, I was, for years, allowed to qualify with and carry my personally owned 870.) I have had it bouncing around in the trunks of cars, in the backs of SUVs, have traveled with it in my luggage by air a few to several times, have dropped it down a flight of stairs, have fallen on it while hiking/hunting (bending the screw that holds the stock in place, only to straighten it out and reuse it). I have scratched it and dinged it (refinished the stocks too) and just used and shot the heck out of it. I have literally fired at least 5,000 rounds of slugs through mine, probably much closer to double that, and lord knows how many thousands of rounds of buckshot and numbers 6, 7, 8 & 9 shot. Then there is the shooting my son has done with it. Yet, it still shoots as good as the day I bought it and seemingly is just as reliable now as it was back then. I wish my shoulder could have taken that beating just as well as did the shotgun. (My doctors could readily confirm that my right shoulder did not hold up as well to all those 12 gauge slug and buckshot rounds. I affirm the gun stood up to them much better than did I.) Once, while at the range, the primary firearms instructor ran it over with a van. We all thought, for sure, that it had been ruined but it was undamaged as far as we could tell when we inspected it and as far as I could tell in all the years of shooting it since then. Thank goodness the van did not run over my shoulder! I have taken deer, squirrels, and game birds with it, shot holes into lots of paper targets with it, and countless clays and metal silhouettes have fallen to it. My 870 certainly has taken a beating and just keeps on functioning and shooting as reliably as it did 25 years ago.
Now, while I hope someone at Remington reads this and sends me some free stuff - like maybe a new 870 in a magnum chambering, I know it isn't gunna happen. To tell the truth though, such a hope is not why I wrote this piece. The truth is, I wrote this because the Remington 870, at least the many with which I have had experience - especially my own Remington 870 Express Combo, is simply an amazingly reliable and versatile workhorse of a gun.
All the best,
Glenn B
The Best Thing Obama Could Do For America (political humor)
One night, President Obama is tossing restlessly in his White House bed. He awakens to see George Washington standing by him. Barack asks him, "George, what's the best thing I can do to help the country?"
"Set an honest and honorable example, just as I did," Washington advises, then fades away.
The next night, Obama is astir again, and sees the ghost of Thomas Jefferson moving through the darkened bedroom. Obama calls out, "Tom, please! What is the best thing I could do to help the country?"
"Respect the Constitution, like I did," Jefferson advises, and dims from sight.
Barack isn't sleeping well the third night when he sees another figure moving in the shadows. It is Abraham Lincoln's ghost. "Abe, what is the best thing I can do right now, to help the country?" Obama pleads.
Abe replies, "Go see a play."
All the best,
Glenn B
"Set an honest and honorable example, just as I did," Washington advises, then fades away.
The next night, Obama is astir again, and sees the ghost of Thomas Jefferson moving through the darkened bedroom. Obama calls out, "Tom, please! What is the best thing I could do to help the country?"
"Respect the Constitution, like I did," Jefferson advises, and dims from sight.
Barack isn't sleeping well the third night when he sees another figure moving in the shadows. It is Abraham Lincoln's ghost. "Abe, what is the best thing I can do right now, to help the country?" Obama pleads.
Abe replies, "Go see a play."
All the best,
Glenn B
Friday, July 27, 2012
NE Bloggershoot Ammo Order Has Been Shipped
Here I am am, using my son's computer because I do not have enough money to buy myself a replacement for my laptop that went belly up a couple of weeks ago. I have been saving for a new one. Well, I have been trying to save anyhow. It has not been easy since my pension was still not finalized and only coming in as partial payments. It will be easier to get some money saved up soon though because the federal Office of Personnel Management has finally gotten it figured out or so they told me. I should get my first full payment on August1st.
Once I got that news, I was so ecstatic that I did something a bit impulsive, I ordered a can of 640 rounds of Tulammo brand 7.62x39 122grain HP ammo. I also ordered 500 rounds of PMC X-TAC 5.56x45 mm, 62 - gr. FMJ M855 Ammo. With the 2012 NE Bloggershoot coming up in early August, I figured I could use some ammo for my AK and then figured that if Brendan comes along, we could use some ammo for his ARs too.
Had I not been informed that my pension had be straightened out, and had OPM not already deposited a lump sum to my bank account, to make up for what they shorted me for the past 8 months, and had I not been working at my part time job getting a little extra (well it will now be extra since my pension is at its full amount), I would not have bought this ammo.I sort of I figured, what the heck, the computer can wait another week or two, and I can really use the ammo in the near future. Then again, now that I think of it, I could have been using a new computer right now. Oh well, I will just have to wait a bit more for a new laptop. It will not be all that long, I think, since the monthly pension increase is just under a grand net. That should make getting by and buying a new laptop a whole lot easier.
When I think of it though, I guess my order of preference for the items I needed/wanted comes as no surprise, at least not to me. Even though I sorely miss having a laptop for daily use, I just figured the ammo was the more pressing and practical buy at the moment. I felt that way even though I have a fair amount of both of those calibers in my ammo locker. I guess it is just that buying ammo before buying the computer shows some of my old fashioned priorities winning out over newfangled ones. After all, I have been shooting since I was about 8 and only computing on work computers since I was about 24 and on personally owned computers since about 12 or so years ago. Besides that, I think if an ammo shortage pops up again, or if prices increase, because of anti-gun sentiment and bad politics, international treaties, another wear causing another shortage again, I will be happy to have some stockpiled. Yep, the computer can wait and I can use my son's a couple times a week while I wait; in return he can shoot up the ammo I bought for his ARs.
All the best,
Glenn B
Once I got that news, I was so ecstatic that I did something a bit impulsive, I ordered a can of 640 rounds of Tulammo brand 7.62x39 122grain HP ammo. I also ordered 500 rounds of PMC X-TAC 5.56x45 mm, 62 - gr. FMJ M855 Ammo. With the 2012 NE Bloggershoot coming up in early August, I figured I could use some ammo for my AK and then figured that if Brendan comes along, we could use some ammo for his ARs too.
Had I not been informed that my pension had be straightened out, and had OPM not already deposited a lump sum to my bank account, to make up for what they shorted me for the past 8 months, and had I not been working at my part time job getting a little extra (well it will now be extra since my pension is at its full amount), I would not have bought this ammo.I sort of I figured, what the heck, the computer can wait another week or two, and I can really use the ammo in the near future. Then again, now that I think of it, I could have been using a new computer right now. Oh well, I will just have to wait a bit more for a new laptop. It will not be all that long, I think, since the monthly pension increase is just under a grand net. That should make getting by and buying a new laptop a whole lot easier.
When I think of it though, I guess my order of preference for the items I needed/wanted comes as no surprise, at least not to me. Even though I sorely miss having a laptop for daily use, I just figured the ammo was the more pressing and practical buy at the moment. I felt that way even though I have a fair amount of both of those calibers in my ammo locker. I guess it is just that buying ammo before buying the computer shows some of my old fashioned priorities winning out over newfangled ones. After all, I have been shooting since I was about 8 and only computing on work computers since I was about 24 and on personally owned computers since about 12 or so years ago. Besides that, I think if an ammo shortage pops up again, or if prices increase, because of anti-gun sentiment and bad politics, international treaties, another wear causing another shortage again, I will be happy to have some stockpiled. Yep, the computer can wait and I can use my son's a couple times a week while I wait; in return he can shoot up the ammo I bought for his ARs.
All the best,
Glenn B
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
THIS SUCKS...
...BIGTIME.
Knuckledraggin My Life Away has been one of my favorite blogs for many months now. I discovered it, for myself, last year. I have been a fan ever since. So,I can tell you plainly, I was outright disappointed to go to that blog only to see this post: NO LONGER OPEN FOR BUSINESS. I immediately sent Wirecutter an email, and soon found out that so too had hundreds of other folks, all asking what was up with the blog closing down. For the most part, too much to do right now turned out to be the reason. I can only hope, as I would guess do all those who sent Kenny emails, that the blog will be resurrected in the not too distant future. That is one of the finest blogs I have read when it comes to patriotism, predator hunting and general BS. MILFY Mondays were not too shabby either. Hopefully Kenny is only on a brief hiatus.
All the best,
Glenn B
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Some Updates...
...are overdue!
First of all, I almost cannot believe that it has been about 10 days since my last blog post. Perhaps, time flies even when you are not having all that much fun, such as when without a computer. The being without a computer thing may soon be resolved as it seems my pension payments will increase markedly commencing with my August 1st payment. After 9 months, it seems they have finalized what I will be getting but, of course, that does not match what I was told, by my agency, that I would be getting before it went to the federal Office of Personnel Management. It appears they are possibly short changing me 8 to 9K annually. More figuring to be done, on their part, if thy cannot explain that sufficiently. The only explanation I readily will accept is that they reduced my pension by the amount necessary to pay for a spousal benefit in the event I precede the wife and that the reduction is done all at once and does not show up in the listed deductions in the monthly pension statement. If it was reduced for any other reason, they will be hearing from an attorney who will be representing me.
Anyway, I will be getting a sizable increase in my take home annuity payments and that should allow me to buy a new laptop sooner than later. Maybe by the first week of August. I hope so, I do miss my daily blog reading and blog posting. I am using my son's laptop right now.
Other things of note, in my life, at least for me, over the past 10 days are that:
Another family member has passed on. This one an aunt. Probably tied for my favorite aunt, on my father's side, when I was a kid but I had not seen her in years. Yet, I often saw my cousin, one of her sons, who works as a range officer with the agency from which I just retired almost 9 months ago. I am hoping that family deaths do not come in threes as they used to say that actor's deaths came on. My aunt passed, one week and one day after my brother.
I am still working, part time, as a security guard at the library. I have come to learn that the only reason a librarian is required to have a Master's Degree (at least here in NY) is because there was probably some conspiracy among academics and government officials to assure that college professors and the government would get more money by requiring applicants for the position of librarian to be licensed and to require a graduate degree to get that license. My opinion of it all - what a friggin farce. I think that a high school graduate with a 3 month librarian training program under the belt could probably do the work. If not a HS grad, then certainly someone with a Bachelors Degree, in something like advanced basket weaving, could do it successfully, from what I have seen. Yet, I will admit, a few of the librarians that I have met, where I work, surely seem to believe themselves to be purdy schmart - schmartar than the aVer-age bear (even than the above average bear) - and they seemingly like to let the rest of the bears know all about it. By the way, this is not a covert, implied, hinted, hidden attack on any librarians with whom I work or otherwise. It is simply my opinion of a few of them whom I have met on my job and my opinion of a Master's degree being a requirement for the position. Maybe there is something to them having to get a Master's degree, but it just seems to be something that I think should not be required to do the job of librarian. As for the rest of the librarians, which is most of them, they are all very nice folks.
Not much else has been going on for me. Certainly no other great changes, than the family losses and my pension amount increase, have taken place in the past 10 days or so.
Oh, I did get back the Browning Citori Lightning shotgun from Browning. I works just fine. Whatever was the minor repair they said they did seems just the right thing for them to have done. Nice experience with them and all at no charge to me except that for shipping the gun to them!
One other thing of note for me was that, yesterday, my daughter and her fiancée had their engagement party. Since they are getting married in St. Maarten, there will not be many who can attend the wedding, so they had sort of a pre-wedding wedding party. It was a smash hit. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, there was an open bar for 4 hours and the food was virtually all very good to excellent. Having to pay for half of it (the grooms parents paid the other half) was not so bad and in all honesty it was well worth it, that is seeing how much the two love birds and all the guests enjoyed themselves.
All the best,
Glenn B
First of all, I almost cannot believe that it has been about 10 days since my last blog post. Perhaps, time flies even when you are not having all that much fun, such as when without a computer. The being without a computer thing may soon be resolved as it seems my pension payments will increase markedly commencing with my August 1st payment. After 9 months, it seems they have finalized what I will be getting but, of course, that does not match what I was told, by my agency, that I would be getting before it went to the federal Office of Personnel Management. It appears they are possibly short changing me 8 to 9K annually. More figuring to be done, on their part, if thy cannot explain that sufficiently. The only explanation I readily will accept is that they reduced my pension by the amount necessary to pay for a spousal benefit in the event I precede the wife and that the reduction is done all at once and does not show up in the listed deductions in the monthly pension statement. If it was reduced for any other reason, they will be hearing from an attorney who will be representing me.
Anyway, I will be getting a sizable increase in my take home annuity payments and that should allow me to buy a new laptop sooner than later. Maybe by the first week of August. I hope so, I do miss my daily blog reading and blog posting. I am using my son's laptop right now.
Other things of note, in my life, at least for me, over the past 10 days are that:
Another family member has passed on. This one an aunt. Probably tied for my favorite aunt, on my father's side, when I was a kid but I had not seen her in years. Yet, I often saw my cousin, one of her sons, who works as a range officer with the agency from which I just retired almost 9 months ago. I am hoping that family deaths do not come in threes as they used to say that actor's deaths came on. My aunt passed, one week and one day after my brother.
I am still working, part time, as a security guard at the library. I have come to learn that the only reason a librarian is required to have a Master's Degree (at least here in NY) is because there was probably some conspiracy among academics and government officials to assure that college professors and the government would get more money by requiring applicants for the position of librarian to be licensed and to require a graduate degree to get that license. My opinion of it all - what a friggin farce. I think that a high school graduate with a 3 month librarian training program under the belt could probably do the work. If not a HS grad, then certainly someone with a Bachelors Degree, in something like advanced basket weaving, could do it successfully, from what I have seen. Yet, I will admit, a few of the librarians that I have met, where I work, surely seem to believe themselves to be purdy schmart - schmartar than the aVer-age bear (even than the above average bear) - and they seemingly like to let the rest of the bears know all about it. By the way, this is not a covert, implied, hinted, hidden attack on any librarians with whom I work or otherwise. It is simply my opinion of a few of them whom I have met on my job and my opinion of a Master's degree being a requirement for the position. Maybe there is something to them having to get a Master's degree, but it just seems to be something that I think should not be required to do the job of librarian. As for the rest of the librarians, which is most of them, they are all very nice folks.
Not much else has been going on for me. Certainly no other great changes, than the family losses and my pension amount increase, have taken place in the past 10 days or so.
Oh, I did get back the Browning Citori Lightning shotgun from Browning. I works just fine. Whatever was the minor repair they said they did seems just the right thing for them to have done. Nice experience with them and all at no charge to me except that for shipping the gun to them!
One other thing of note for me was that, yesterday, my daughter and her fiancée had their engagement party. Since they are getting married in St. Maarten, there will not be many who can attend the wedding, so they had sort of a pre-wedding wedding party. It was a smash hit. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, there was an open bar for 4 hours and the food was virtually all very good to excellent. Having to pay for half of it (the grooms parents paid the other half) was not so bad and in all honesty it was well worth it, that is seeing how much the two love birds and all the guests enjoyed themselves.
All the best,
Glenn B
Thursday, July 12, 2012
The Longer We Live...
...the more loved ones we lose. On very early Tuesday morning, I lost my brother Raymond (Onkel Raymond to my kids). He was 61, would have been 62 had he made it until late next month. He suffered from COPD and emphysema for too long but had a loving and caring wife, Lorraine, who literally was with him right up until the end.We were not the closest of brothers but he was my brother, the only one I ever had or will ever have and I miss him already. Luckily, for me, my sister-in-law called me on Monday afternoon to let me know he had taken a turn for the worse and I got to stop by to see him on Monday evening.
It is funny, in a coincidental sort of way, how sometimes people who are near death say things that seem to have been almost prophetic of their own passing.Well, at least they seem so when viewed in retrospect. For instance, during my visit, Ray told both Lorraine and I that he wanted both of us to go home because he wanted to sleep. Of course, Lorraine was already home since we were in Ray's and Lorraine's house, but now one gets the idea maybe he wanted to be alone because he knew that he was about to sleep his most peaceful sleep ever. When I saw him, I never would have guessed he would pass just a half hour or so into the next morning, just a few hours after I said goodbye.
At least he is not suffering now but he sure was suffering from his illnesses. He was a LONG time smoker, did not even give it up after a lobe of one of his lungs was removed, a few years back, due to an infection. If you are young and reading this, heed some words of good advice - don't smoke - or quit smoking if you already smoke.
Yesterday., my sister and I visited my mom. We broke the news to her and she took it better than I would have expected but she knew he had been ill, she even remembered that regardless of her dementia.
Today, Brendan and I visited Lorraine to help cheer her up and to, at her request, go through Ray's things to see if there was anything we would like, of his, as a reminder of him. I took a hunting knife that I gave him years ago and a fishing pole since we used to fish together years ago. The knife, was a Schrade Old Timer 150T (made in the USA). Brendan found a bayonet that Lorraine let him take and he also took a power drill (I am wondering why on that one but he liked it right away for whatever reason). As for the bayonet, I wonder where that came from, may have already been in their house when they bought it, Raymond was not a collector of such things as far as I know. It is an m27 bayonet by Fiskars, quite the find. Probably not worth a lot due to condition but quite the wall hanger and an interesting relic indeed. See this page, a little less than half way down http://www.mosinnagant.net/finland/Finn-bayonets.asp
I also spent some time cataloging his stuff so I can help Lorraine sell it. There were a lot of tools, a good amount of almost like new power tools among them, some fishing poles, other odds and ends and whatever. I still have a long way to go in that regard, more stuff to catalog, especially photographic items, then I have to figure a good asking price.Then, I suppose, a garage sale and or sales on EBay.
On Sunday, Lorraine is hosting a memorial luncheon to remember and celebrate his life. For those of us still here, life goes on, our turns to sleep, as peacefully as Ray, have not yet arrived.
All the best,
Glenn B
(written on Brendan's laptop, I am still computer-less and apparently will be for awhile, so do not expect more than a few blog posts a week at best)
It is funny, in a coincidental sort of way, how sometimes people who are near death say things that seem to have been almost prophetic of their own passing.Well, at least they seem so when viewed in retrospect. For instance, during my visit, Ray told both Lorraine and I that he wanted both of us to go home because he wanted to sleep. Of course, Lorraine was already home since we were in Ray's and Lorraine's house, but now one gets the idea maybe he wanted to be alone because he knew that he was about to sleep his most peaceful sleep ever. When I saw him, I never would have guessed he would pass just a half hour or so into the next morning, just a few hours after I said goodbye.
At least he is not suffering now but he sure was suffering from his illnesses. He was a LONG time smoker, did not even give it up after a lobe of one of his lungs was removed, a few years back, due to an infection. If you are young and reading this, heed some words of good advice - don't smoke - or quit smoking if you already smoke.
Yesterday., my sister and I visited my mom. We broke the news to her and she took it better than I would have expected but she knew he had been ill, she even remembered that regardless of her dementia.
Today, Brendan and I visited Lorraine to help cheer her up and to, at her request, go through Ray's things to see if there was anything we would like, of his, as a reminder of him. I took a hunting knife that I gave him years ago and a fishing pole since we used to fish together years ago. The knife, was a Schrade Old Timer 150T (made in the USA). Brendan found a bayonet that Lorraine let him take and he also took a power drill (I am wondering why on that one but he liked it right away for whatever reason). As for the bayonet, I wonder where that came from, may have already been in their house when they bought it, Raymond was not a collector of such things as far as I know. It is an m27 bayonet by Fiskars, quite the find. Probably not worth a lot due to condition but quite the wall hanger and an interesting relic indeed. See this page, a little less than half way down http://www.mosinnagant.net/finland/Finn-bayonets.asp
I also spent some time cataloging his stuff so I can help Lorraine sell it. There were a lot of tools, a good amount of almost like new power tools among them, some fishing poles, other odds and ends and whatever. I still have a long way to go in that regard, more stuff to catalog, especially photographic items, then I have to figure a good asking price.Then, I suppose, a garage sale and or sales on EBay.
On Sunday, Lorraine is hosting a memorial luncheon to remember and celebrate his life. For those of us still here, life goes on, our turns to sleep, as peacefully as Ray, have not yet arrived.
All the best,
Glenn B
(written on Brendan's laptop, I am still computer-less and apparently will be for awhile, so do not expect more than a few blog posts a week at best)
Sunday, July 8, 2012
In Memorium - Ernest Borgnine
I just saw that Ernest Borgnine has passed away at age 95. That is a tough piece of news for me to accept. He was truly a great actor from serious roles to downright belly laugh inducing wackiness, from drama to westerns to comedies to sci-fi - he was among the best of the best.
He will be missed, very much.
All the best,
Glenn B
He will be missed, very much.
All the best,
Glenn B
Blog On Hiatus Until I Get A Computer
My laptop stated to smoke, 5t 5s n6w be33y 4*5nthe trash. So, I tried to hookup my desk top PC that has not been run in about 2 years. The noises it made were indicative of very expensive repairs on a machine that was at last 7 or 8 years old or so I seem to remember. That is next to the laptop in the trash. Both hard drives have been dealt with accordingly to protect my personal info that was on them. I am now posting this via my son's laptop to which I will have very limited access.
In essence, except when I have bills to pay or doctors appointments to arrange, I am going to be computer-less until I can buy a new one. I do not want a piece of extremely underpowered junk and thus will be waiting until I can afford a decent one. That may be awhile. I am guessing that blogging will be spotty, at best, and maybe nothing at all, at worst, until I can afford a new computer.
All the best,
Glenn B
In essence, except when I have bills to pay or doctors appointments to arrange, I am going to be computer-less until I can buy a new one. I do not want a piece of extremely underpowered junk and thus will be waiting until I can afford a decent one. That may be awhile. I am guessing that blogging will be spotty, at best, and maybe nothing at all, at worst, until I can afford a new computer.
All the best,
Glenn B
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