The Remington 870 - It Takes Getting To Know Others To Truly Appreciate It

Or maybe I should have said it takes getting to know a couple of other pump guns before you truly appreciate how well engineered was/is the 870. I've been shooting Remington 870 shotguns for what amounts to my shotgun shooting eternity - to date. (I added that to date so as not to give the Fates even an inkling of an idea that I want to cut my eternity short.) Indeed, a Remington 870 Wingmaster was the first shotgun I ever purchased back in the early 1980s at the Yellow Mart in El Centro, CA. In all that time, I have always liked them and appreciated the fact that they were well made and well designed. I just never realized how well designed, that is until recently after I obtained a couple of other pump action 12 gauge shotguns. The epiphany came upon me as I was doing to two other makes of pump action shotgun what, with the Remington 870, amounts to the simple chore of field stripping it for cleaning and then reassembling it. It turned out not to be so simple with the other two makes of pump guns.

In fact, in order to field strip one of them for cleaning it was so convoluted that I simply declined to do it. It's not that it would have been difficult but more that it would have been an outright pain in the neck to do it at that particular time. Field stripping an 870 would have taken less than a minute, probably even less than half a minute for someone who does it often; yet with the other shotgun, it most likely would have taken a few to several minutes because of the ridiculous amount of extra steps involved due only to the poor design of that particular gun. To have to remove the shoulder-stock (aka: buttstock) in order to be able to remove the trigger group, in order to remove the bolt and forearm, is not only time consuming but I think over complicated in its design.

The real kicker is that the particular shotgun is supposed to be a defensive weapon. It's not a bird gun, not a deer gun, it is designed as a weapon or at least is was redesigned from a hunting gun to a defensive weapon by the addition of a pistol grip and some, in my opinion, other worthless gadgets. If the gun did not have that pistol grip, it would be less complicated to take down, the reason for that being that the pistol grip interferes with removal of the trigger group which must be removed to allow for removal of the forearm and bolt. Not only is it bothersome that the design of the pistol grip interferes with the removal of the trigger group but it is, again in my opinion, a very poorly designed defensive shotgun when one has to remove the trigger group in order to be able to remove the forearm and bolt for field stripping. The day I was working on that specific brand and model of shotgun, I had to get somewhere to do something else so I decided to hold off on giving it a good cleaning until another date. In fact, since I am in the process of selling it, I think it will be the potential new owner who will be stuck with that chore. I did give it a cleaning of its exterior, the bore, the mag tube, and what I could reach inside the receiver with the bolt still in there but that was it. I suppose you want to know the make and model and I also suppose I may as well tell you: The Savage Stevens Model 320 Security (with pistol grip and barrel shroud). Oddly enough, that is not the only reason why I am selling it. I maybe would have kept it for a plinker or as a backup, regardless of the ridiculous process required to detail strip it, except for the fact that firing it with the pistol grip always seemed to attract an old adversarial friend of mine - Arthur I. Tiss. I do not know if it is the design of this particular grip but it had the effect of agitating Arthur more than any other. As for Arthur, you may know him too if you are as old as me.

I did mention that there were two shotguns that contributed to my epiphany so let me go over what I believe are the shortcomings in the design of the second as well. With the second pump gun in question there was no pistol grip to interfere with anything; yet, I think the design was almost as poor as the Stevens 320. Even though this other one - a Mossberg Model 835 Ulti Mag - is intended as a hunting gun, I think it takes way too much time and effort to disassemble it and then reassemble it for field stripping (and field stripping is all the Mossberg manual recommends you do). It is so much more convoluted than field stripping a Remington 870 as to make me think if that had been the only thing in which the Remington was better designed it alone would account for the fact that the Remington 870 is the best selling pump action shotgun, if not the best selling shotgun, in the United States. To take down the Mossberg, for field stripping, one has to again remove the trigger group (trigger housing assembly as the manual calls it) like with the Stevens; however you do not have to remove the stock to accomplish that step. It should be noted here that the Mossberg manual warns that the trigger housing assembly is complex and "...must not be disassembled". Is it really that complex and if it is then why is it in this gun!

The Mossberg manual then cautions that prior to going any further with the disassembly one take time to study how the internal parts of the receiver are arranged. That's good advice with any gun but considering what happened in the next step or two, I fully appreciate them having noted such. The manual also cautions about paying close attention to the bolt, bolt slide and action slide action bar positions. You would think if these were so important that would have given excellent diagrams showing there positions but in my estimation the diagrams they included are lacking in that regard. Those cautions have the effect of making one wonder should I b taking this thing apart or not. I did this gun today and had plenty of time to get it done since I started on it at about 0600. Anyway, after removing the trigger group, you are supposed to remove two internal parts from the receiver. The particular Mossberg 835 on which I was working is a fairly new gun and while fired before it has not been fired a lot. I am guessing less than 50 rounds have gone through it, it is that clean. The part that I had to remove in this step were the cartridge interrupter and cartridge stop; as it turned out I had to do almost nothing because when I tilted the receiver to better be able to see inside, one of them fell off. When I fished it out, the other one also fell off.

The next strep was to align the bolt in a certain manner so that the bolt slide could be lifted out of the receiver. Only then could the bolt be slid forward and removed from the front end of the receiver and after that you could also remove the elevator. The manual cautions that that's it for field disassembly and further disassembly should only be done "...by an Authorized Product Service Center or a qualified gunsmith". Putting it back together was not the reverse of the disassembly again making this more complex than need be. With the Remington 870, if it is not merely doing all the disassembly steps in reverse order, it is darned close to it.  Did I mention the illustrations for disassembly in the Mossberg manual were lacking in my estimation? Let me tell you, the ones for reassembly are much the same as far as I am concerned. Now mind you so you don't get me wrong, the Mossberg was not very difficult to disassemble or reassemble but it was what amounted to a time consuming pain in the neck because of what I believe is piss poor design.

In fact, both the Stevens Model 320 Security and the Mossberg 835 Ulti Mag are overly time consuming pains in the neck to disassemble and reassemble. While I only actually disassembled the Mossberg and then reassembled it too, just looking at he number of steps involved to disassemble and reassemble the Stevens makes it obvious that it too is a time consuming pain in the neck to field strip and reassemble - so much so that I did not do it at the time I had planned to do so. One other note about a vast difference between the 870 and the other two has to do with what amounts to an operational design feature, specifically the superiority of the placement of the slide release. On the 70, it is located so as to be accessible at the outside forward end of the trigger guard and thus easily depressed by the trigger finger. The slide release on both the Stevens and the Mossberg is, to me, in an awkward place at the rear left side of the trigger guard. It is not nearly as easily accessible to operate as is the one on the 870 and that could possibly mean you unnecessarily fumbling with the gun in a combat situation and winding up the loser because of it.

I did mention appreciating the design and construction of the Remington 870. I like it so much that I have owned two, sadly I sold a very nice 870 Wingmaster when I needed money less than a month after getting married. That was especially sad since I was only able to afford an 870 Express Combo when I replaced it about a year and a half later but don't take that wrong - the Express Combo has served me well it's just not as expensive a model as was the Wingmaster. While I have appreciated the 870 for all those years, to say that I now appreciate the Remington 870 even more so, after acquiring these two other pump guns and trying to do basic maintenance on them, would be a gross understatement about how much I prefer and acknowledge the 870's superiority.

The Remington 870 is, in my opinion, so much better designed than the other two as to have convinced me I that it is very unlikely that I will ever use another brand or model of pump action shotgun as my primary defensive and hunting shotgun. Not only can I take down the 870 with fewer steps and much faster but I can do it without that pain in my neck that comes with maintaining the other two. I also can, at least partially, disassemble the trigger group for maintenance, then reassemble it, without much difficulty if any at all. While there are some parts Remington urges the user not remove, such as the extractor saying that is best done by a gunsmith, the Remington 870 is the hands down winner at best design, at least among these three guns. There may be others out there better designed than the Remington 870 when it comes to being user friendly, in the maintenance or use departments, but I would be hard pressed to believe it. Besides that, I have owned my current 870 since about 1987 or so and have to say it has not failed me with literally thousands of rounds fired though it. The Remington 870 is withut a doubt in my mind one of the most excellent weapons and hunting guns ever produced.

All the best,
Glenn B
 

Everyman's Evening Eyeful

 

Look under the blankets.

 

Enhancing Distance In An Armed Encounter

For many years in my LE career, I was taught that if an assailant had an edged weapon, I could draw my sidearm to effectively defend myself if that assailant was 21 feet away. Any closer and I would have to resort to hand to hand combat against a bladed adversary. Any further away, than 21 feet or so, we were told in essence that we did not have cause to shoot an aggressor armed with a blade. Of course, as a LE firearms instructor, I also taught others that same mantra. The thing about it though was that it was utter bullshit, at least the parts about being able to draw your weapon to effectively defend yourself against someone who was 21 feet away and that someone more than 21 feet away, armed with an edged weapon, basically did not pose enough of a threat against which to use deadly force. At the time we believed it because it had come from those who knew or at least claimed they knew.

Years later, I am going to guess it was at least 10 years into my career and at least a few into my having become a firearms instructor (collateral duties - not full time), that mantra changed. The new set of rules for engagement against an armed intruder was that if someone armed with an edged weapon was within 30 feet they posed a threat of serious bodily injury or death to you and you potentially could be justified to use deadly force against that person depending on the circumstances. So why did that change? Well, someone decided to test the 21 foot rule - and it failed miserably. It was not one person either, as I remember there were a few different so called armed encounter experts who taught the new 30 foot rule after debunking the 21 foot rule. Watch this video and you will see why the 21 foot rule was found to be inadequate.



I don't know when that video was made or compiled but am pretty sure I saw the first part of it, where the officers approach the role player suspect in that indoor range, way back and fairly early in my career. It left a lasting impression on me because when our firearms/defensive tactics instructor asked what people in the training class would do (before seeing the video), I said I might fall back to the floor, draw and fire. When you see the video, you will see why it left its mark emblazoned in my memory forever and remember, I made my suggestion before I watched video. I also made another suggestion - keeping something between me and the suspect, using available cover. I was told there wasn't any but that it was a good idea. That also remained in my memory and believe me if cover of any sort has been there when I have approached a potential bad guy, I have used it.

Throughout my career, if I could do it, I liked to keep my distance when approaching subjects. Let's face, to pat down a suspect, or check an ID, or put the cuffs on them, or pull a raging maniac off of another officer or third party - you have to be close. Still though, in a good number of instances it was easy enough to keep your distance and remain behind cover while telling a suspect what to do, such as hands up, hands higher, slowly turn around in a complete rotation, face away, drop to your knees, cross your ankles, interlock your fingers behind your neck, sit down on your crossed legs, all the way down - things like that.

Remember, this was best done from behind cover if available. Only then, after you were in control of the situation would you approach the subject and only after you had scanned and assessed to make sure no others were around. It worked pretty much the same with multiple suspects. Of course, I am talking about compliant ones but then why take chances of doing anything less no matter how compliant they seem. They could be acting compliant so that you let down your guard and just be hoping you will get close enough before you have them in too awkward a situation to get you.

Many criminals though, even very violent ones, will not always take the chance of attacking, especially if it seems to them that the officer knows what he is doing. Calmly controlling a situation from behind cover, more or less as just described, can send that message to the bad guys. If they do not comply that is another can of worms but you should have been calling for back-up as soon as you knew you were going to be dealing with a suspicious person. This also applies when anyone finds himself in a similar situation and needs to control a bad guy (mind you though that the steps I just gave are not all inclusive and you should not even attempt to carry them out unless properly trained to do so -and this is not a training lesson, it is merely something to give you pause for thought and get you headed in the right direction to get that training).

Anyway, I am beginning to digress a bit so let me get back to the distance thing. Distance is your friend when dealing with a potentially violent person (and everyone has that potential). Distance though can be thought of as not merely how far away you are from one another. While an actual distance in yards or feet may be a measured amount, you can enhance distance by the effective use of cover. If an assailant armed with a knife tries to attack you from a distance, of let's say 21 feet, and you are behind a telephone pole for cover, he has to get around or at least reach around the pole to get to you. Keeping the pole between you and him enhances distance and gives you what might be the split second or even several seconds more you need to effectively defend yourself. I'd like to show you a situation in which cover was used to effectively defend from a knife attack giving the attacked person a chance to draw and fire a handgun but I could not find one. I did find one though in which an apparently unarmed man - a lawyer - defends himself from an assailant firing a pistol at him by using a tree for cover.

 

Go ahead, watch it again if you have not already. The quick thinking on the part of the lawyer probably saved his life. Did you catch it when they said he only received minor injuries? I guess minor is a relative term. He reportedly was hit by five of six shots fired (source). Five hit him the his right arm and apparently one of them also lodged in his neck (source). Had he not put the tree between himself and his attacker and then maneuvered to keep it between them, my guess is he would have wound up either dead or at least with extremely serious gunshot wounds. On the other hand, had he been armed with a handgun, he likely would have been able to draw and return fire. I have to wonder, did he arm himself and get some training in self defense tactics after that but after reading this article, it sounds doubtful.

Regardless of what the lawyer did after the shooting, I think you can easily understand how his use of cover effectively enhanced the distance between him and the shooter. Even though they were only a few feet apart at most it was virtually like there were miles between them in some regards, almost certainly it was like miles between get killed and not. Now, I am not saying that cover is always going to keep you from being injured, especially if you are unarmed or for ay reason do not fight back. As can be seen from this video, the lawyer was injured - in fact he was shot - but his effective use of cover almost certainly prevented the shooter from killing him. That probably was in part because the shooter was in a rage and did not think of how to overcome the lawyers use of the tree as a shield. Yet, it was also because the lawyer was at least smart enough to seek and use cover in the first place, then to keep the cover between him and his potential killer.

What I am saying is that if cover is available and you find yourself in a potentially dangerous encounter with a bad guy, you should use cover if there and if you can effectively do so and that goes for an assailant with a knife as well as for one with a gun. Remember though, the difference with an attacker  armed with an edged weapon is he will probably try to come around, under or over your cover more so than did the attacker armed with a gun in this video. After all he has to get close enough to slash or stab. Bear in mind though that the effective use of cover can possibly give you time to draw your own weapon - if you have one and I am a strong proponent of citizens intelligently arming for self defense.

By the way, if you do not know what constitutes cover, especially versus concealment, you need to find out. Motivate yourself and do it, or let the lawyer's words at the end of the video motivate you to do so. Do you remember what he said about the incident? "...it always happens to someone else, you think well this is the thing you see on TV but this time it happened to me...". It could happen to anyone at any time in any setting. I could happen to you. Would you be ready if it did?

A hat tip to Herr Richie M for sending me the 21 foot rule video and getting me going on this one. Although he has been retired as an officer from the NYPD and then from the U.S. Customs Service Office of Investigations as a firearms instructor - he is still keeping me on my toes with stuff like this and is the best firearms instructor I have ever had the honor of knowing.

All the best,
Glenn B

 

Shoot Don't Shoot Scenario - Which Would You Choose

A man returns home a day early from a business trip. It's after midnight. While en-route home, he asks the cabby if he would be a witness. The man suspects his wife is having an affair, and he wants to catch her in the act. For $100, the cabby agrees.

Quietly arriving home, the husband and cabby tiptoe into the bedroom. The husband switches on the lights, yanks the blanket back and there is his wife, naked, with a man!

The husband puts a gun to the naked man's head.

The wife shouts, 'Don't do it! I lied when I told you I inherited money'.

"HE paid for the Porsche I gave you".

"HE paid for your new 25 ft. Ranger Fishing Boat."

"HE paid for your Packer season tickets".

"HE paid for our house at the lake".

"HE paid for your Golf Trip to St Andrews".

"HE paid for your new 4x4".

"HE paid for our country club membership, and HE even pays the monthly dues". Shaking his head from side-to-side, the husband lowers the gun. He looks over at the cabby and says: "What would you do"?

The cabby replies, "I'd holster the gun and cover him with that blanket before he catches a cold".

All the best,
Glenn B

Everyman's Evening Eyeful

All under the sheets again.

Everyman's Evening Eyeful

All undercover again this evening.

I've Heard of Bone-Swallowers Before...

...but never before this have I heard of a phone-swallower. A prisoner, in Ireland, for whatever reason decided to swallow a cell phone. He later told authorities about it. They had him brought to a hospital for x-rays and sure enough there was a cellphone in his gut. He did not pass it and it could not be removed by any means so doctors cut him open to pull it out. I can only imagine what else this guy has been swallowing in his lifetime. One thing is for certain, even though he may only be a phone-swallower and not a bone-swallower, he most certainly is a bonehead. More here.

All the best,
Glenn B

I Think I Am Going To Start Packing

No, I don't mean packing heat - I already do that. I think that as soon as I am done typing up this post, I am going to start packing for the trip to Alaska that Brendan and I are making in a couple of weeks. I usually wait until the last minute for almost everything but not this time. I already grabbed a suitcase from up in the loft of my garage and have a pile of clothes and gear that I may or may not bring all piled up in my basement. I also have a brand spanking new Plano All Weather gun case. Now I have to go through all of stuff, see what I really want to bring along and then get it packed. I hope to bring a lessor than greater amount of stuff but certainly am not a minimalist in that regard. As far as Brendan goes, he can take care of his own packing..

I figure on a weeks worth of clothes (who wants to do wash on vacation, at least until the last day), two pairs of boots and a pair of running shoes. I will probably wear my large pair of boots on the plane to save room in my luggage. Other than there will be whatever gear I decide to bring. My gear most certainly will include the following: Remington 870 12 gauge, Ruger Redhawk 44 Mag, my Remington R1 1911 and just enough ammo for each. Other than that, the gear will probably also include: a couple of compasses, matches (I have to check if they are okay in checked luggage), a magnesium fire starter, a couple of knives (a folder and a fixed blade belt knife), rain gear, flashlight and headlamp, a camera and my cellphone. What else could I need except for a bankroll!

I figure on buying bear spray, a first aid kit (or making one from stuff bought at a pharmacy), toiletries, some ammo, and maybe even fresh water fishing gear and tackle once we get to Alaska. As far as fresh water fishing stuff goes, I am thinking about possibly shipping it to myself, to either be held at UPS for pick-up or delivered to our motel. That would save a lot of money in AK on fishing gear we do not need more of and would save a lot of room in our luggage. The salt water fishing we plan on doing will be on a boat that supplies everything we will need except for the fish and the luck needed to catch them.

I have arranged it so Brendan will bring one checked bag and a carry on. I will bring two checked suitcases (one a gun case for my firearms) and a checked bag and maybe my laptop. Not even a single piece of checked luggage goes for free, so checking any bags has made the trip quite a bit more expensive than just the airfare. Oh well, it is going to be a once in a lifetime trip for me, so screw it and do it. I prepaid for that amount of luggage so it made it a few bucks less expensive.

Anyway, I had best get started otherwise I will wind up waiting until the last minute and be stressed out on the day we fly there. I don't need that and neither does Brendan. I want to see him smiling every day of the week we will have together there. So, that means I had better start on making it so right now.

Later for you,
Glenn B

Thinking of You

 

All the best,

GB

Everyman's Evening Eyeful

They are all under cover this evening.

 

At Least He Keeps His Gun Clean...

...but he apparently doesn't do likewise with himself or his clothes. Reuters reports on a man who evidently shot himself while cleaning a gun but who did not realize he had done so until three days later when he changed his shirt! Heck, didn't he take off the shirt to shower even just once before he finally decided to change it? By the way, must be some good dope he has been taking for his back pain if he did not feel any pain and thus did not realize he had shot himself; just goes to show that gunpowder and mind (or pain) numbing drugs do not mix. More here.

All the best,
GB

Left or Liberty or Right

All the best,
Glenn B

See Yourself As A 1911 Expert?

Do you fancy yourself as an aficionado of the Colt 1911 pistol and its history? Maybe you are and maybe you are not. One thing for sure is that if you do not answer all ten of these questions correctly then you are not because these questions ought to be easy for a real 1911 type. 

I certainly am not a 1911 expert in any regard. I took the quiz and answered 9 out of 10 correctly but that was only do to a few lucky guesses. I pretty much knew the answers to only 5 questions with any amount of certainty.  See the quiz here:

http://www.fflunleashed.com/how-well-do-you-really-know-the-1911/

All the best,
Glenn B

Everyman's Evening Eyeful

 

Everyman's Evening Eyeful

The Happy Gardener...

...would be me today or should I say the happy tortoise enthusiast or both. While getting some garden work done today, I checked around looking for my missing female Russian Tortoise. I spotted what I was certain was a disruption in the soil and debris of my compost pile since I had last looked for her. I moved some stuff around, cleared a little debris and soil of about an inch in depth, and there was her shell beckoning me to scoop her up and bring her inside. It am guessing she had been out and about for at least part of today the first warmer day in a week or so. Even though it's only about 62 out there right now the warmer weather and a good deal of sunshine probably had her out and about for a bit. It was chilly and raining most of this past week and while she might have been out then, I kind of doubt it - today though was a tempting day for any turtle or tortoise to enjoy basking in the sun. I brought her inside and showed her off to my wife and son and scolded my wife in jest for not thinking me observant. As I always tell her, I have an eye for things when different than they were before in a not right sort of a way or when things are suspiciously dangerous appearing that others often miss. Yet, she thinks me a dolt because I ignore it when she moves around furniture or buys new pieces and ask a month layer "Is that new?".

As for the tortoise, she has been on the lam for awhile now. I had been concerned she may have escaped the inner fenced in portion of our backyard because there had been a sizable gap under the fence that I did not see when I left her out there one day about a month or so ago (so much for noticing what is not right or different, maybe my wife is right but in my defense it was under a bush). She was the only tortoise out of my five that I couldn't find at the end of that day. I plugged the gap and was not all that concerned because it was a small gap and, even if she had gotten out, the rest of the yard was also enclosed.

After not finding her over the next few warm days after her escape, I got a little concerned, especially when my son brought the aluminum remains of our wind destroyed gazebo to the scrap yard. Some were upright columns that had a wide enough interior to allow the female Russian Tortoise entry for a hiding spot. I hoped she did not crawl into one and then get taken to the scrap yard since my son forgot to check inside them when he hauled away the debris. I also wondered if a raccoon, opossum or hawk had gotten her or maybe even my one known larceny prone neighbor - my wife once saw him stealing one of our flower pots. I also thought, that if she was still around she was probably dug in underground because it got much cooler again after that first few days that she was missing.

The female Russian Tortoise is the one on your left. The other is my male
Russian and the big mother in the foreground my female Herman's Tortoise.

As it turns out, all the worry was for naught, she was just dug in. She is found, she is alive and she is apparently well. Right now she is basking in the warmth of a heat lamp inside her enclosure in my basement and I am going to get my arse back to work doing some planting.

All the best,
Glenn

Maybe Some People Should Not Have Guns

This guy may be one of them. What do you think?

All the best,
Glenn B

A Nicely Executed Family Video...

...or should I call it a nice family execution video - first mom, then dad, then the kid. Who thinks these things up; therein is the next Quentin Tarantino kind of a twisted genius!

All the best,
Glenn B

Getting A Grip On It

As I promised myself yesterday, I ordered a pair of rubber grips for the Ruger Redhawk to replace the pretty looking rosewood grips it has now.



The top of the grips on the Redhawk are two narrow front to back
and allowed the back-strap to bite the web of my hand between
thumb and forefinger. The Pachmayr rubber grips should fix that.

 I chose to go with the Pachmayr Gripper Decelerator. I ordered them through Optics Planet since I have gotten good service and prices from them in the past.  They still have decent prices and I am hoping good service too.

All the best,
GB

Everyman's Evening Eyeful

First Shots Ruger Redhawk

Brendan popped the first 6 caps through the Ruger Redhawk. He shot like shit and he seemed pretty surprised as he told me it hurt like hell in the web of his hand between the thumb and forefinger. He added that it had one hell of a kick. I took the next half dozen shots and can confirm exactly what he said; although, I shot better than him. He got better as we went along with a little tweaking from me. He did okay with the Remington R1, in 45 ACP, that we had along - it was just that kicking mule 44 Mag that gave him trouble.

As for the pain in the hand from the recoil, for the life of me, I cannot understand why the area between the top-strap and back-strap is so thin in that large a caliber revolver and why Ruger insists on those fancy looking rosewood grips instead of something like the Hogue Monogrip that they use on the 4" barreled Redhawks. Yes, the rosewood grips sure look nice but they don't give enough to hold onto with the gun kicking and bucking wildly each time you fire it. I have absolutely no doubt, I will be getting a set of rubber grips like the Hogue Monogrip or the Pachmayr Finger Groove Decelerator Grip and will be getting them soon. They should prove to the cure for this beast's biting recoil and make it all that more controllable. And yes, it did bite, heck it took some flesh off of me.

In fact, right after we were done shooting, I looked in the gun shop at the range but they did not have the right size Hogue Monogrip and had none by Pachmayr either. We also stopped at SARCO, right next to the range, and looked there but they had mostly surplus stuff and not the grips I wanted. Anyway, as I said, I will definitely get a good set of Hogue or maybe Pachmayr grips for the Redhawk really soon - I sure don't need to bleed because the darned Redhawk sinks its talons into me a second time. Brendan fared better than me in that department. He had no tearing of the skin. Yet, even though he has much stronger hands than me because he works doing deliveries for a lumber yard, he still got bruised in that same area and had had enough of shooting the Ruger after about 30 to 36 shots.  As for my hand, that happened on the 30th round that I fired, the last round I fired with the Ruger today. Call me a wussy if you want, but once I started bleeding that was enough for me. Brendan fired another 6 rounds or so and that was it for him too. I should say that was it for the Redhawk and the 44 Mag ammo because after that we continued to take turns with my Remington R1 1911 which we had already been shooting between volleys with the Redhawk. The 45 ACP ammo was a pleasure to shoot after the 44 Mag, even after the back-strap of the Redhawk chewed up my hand a bit.

The range we visited was The Heritage Guild in Easton, PA. When we arrived we were greeted by a courteous lass behind the counter who gave us two or three pages of forms to fill out, including the range rules, a bio sheet and the waivers that have become necessary because we never followed Shakespeare's advice to first kill all the lawyers. When finished with the paperwork, we watched an 8 minute orientation video. Then back to the counter, where there were only two other folks on the line (another father and son team from the look of them) and next thing we knew we had some targets, were all paid up (thanks to Brendan treating me) and directed into the range. The range had 5 or 6 shooting bays and had another room next to it consisting of a similar set-up. I think there was also another mirror image setting, or at least another range, on the opposite of the building. It, to my surprise, was not busy. 

 

In all, we only shot for an hour, both of us taking turns on a single point but we had loads of fun in that time. After shooting, we looked around the gun store part of The Heritage Guild for ten minutes or so and as I said above, we then headed over to check out SARCO right next door. We probably spent 45 minutes or more in there checking out the guns they had on display. Lots of milsurp stuff firearms, magazines, spare parts and stuff. I commented to Brendan that it was like going to a gun show and he agreed. They had some older 22 rifles I would have considered buying was I not broke after shelling out big bucks for the Redhawk and ammo for it. Did I mention Brendan paid for the range time - good kid and saved me some cash. he also drove his car there and declined the offer I made to pay for a fill up at a gas station.

 

After SARCO, we headed to Weyerbacher Brewing Company just a few blocks away. Brendan had two small brews (and I do mean small, I think they were 4 ounces each) just for taste. I had a pint of Blasphemy and it was terrible; Brendan took a sip and thought likewise. Before today, I had already had another of their beers, bought it at Costco, called Merry Monks. That one is excellent. 

Brendan also liked the two different ones he tried today. I remember the first one was called Blithering Idiot because he said they had named it after me. The other one was Heresy, what he just committed by saying the other one was named for me. I picked up a six pack of the Merry Monks brew and another six pack of something called Insanity to bring home with us. After that, Brendan smoked a stogie out at a picnic table adjacent to the parking lot, then it was off to home.

 

 

 

Not a bad time at all and next time we go to The Heritage Guild, we will be sure to reserve one of their rental full auto weapons for some excess shooting goodness. I also will be sure to bring the Redhawk again but with rubber grips on it.

 

All the best,

Glenn B

Everyman's Evening Eyeful

Off To The Range In PA...

...about 2 hours later than expected but I guess both me and the lad had a couple too many of them moonshine cherries last night. Oh well, so we will shoot this afternoon.

All the best,
GB

Everyman's Evening Eyeful

 

Twasn't My Package Fell Off That Truck

Mine actually got delivered. Either the UPS driver actually missed it on his scheduled delivery to my FFL dealer or once questioned by my FFL, when the UPS driver returned at my FFL Dealer to do a pick-up, he decided he had best deliver my ammo instead of conveniently forgetting it again and it following him to wherever. Nuff said.

Which translates to, now I have 150 rounds of Prvi Partizan 44 Rem Mag, 300 grain, semi-jacketed flat point ammo to shoot out of my new Ruger Redhawk. Brendan and I should have some fun at a range in PA this Saturday.

I have to comment that the 44 Remington magnum round looks pretty impressive as compared to other pistol round I regularly shoot.


Pistol rounds I usually shoot (22LR, 32 ACP, 9mm Luger, 45 AUTO lined
up with one of my Prvi Partizan 44 Mag, 300 grain, SJFP rounds.

I know, there are bigger and more powerful handgun rounds, such as the: 445 Super Mag, 454 Casull, 460 S&W, 475 Linebaugh, 480 Ruger, 500 Linebaugh and 500 S&W. Some of those would probably be a lot better as a bear defense round than the 44 Rem Mag but I went with a round I figured we both could control in a gun that is supposedly of high quality and available at a decent price (not inexpensive but decent).

Anyway, as you can see, compared to what I had been shooting out of my current handguns, this cartridge is huge. I just hope it will be sufficient to get the job done should we need it for a charging bear. As I have said before though, if we have a chance, shooting the bear will not be our first resort, for that will use bear repellent pepper spray. From what I understand it gives you a better chance not only of surviving but also of not being mauled and injured by the bear than does a gun. I guess one of us can spray and the other may be able to stand ready to shoot if the need arises.

Then there is that other method of defending yourself against a bear attack - making the bear believe you are more bad ass than it. I would not want to be in a situation where the bear was attacking and I did not have any bear deterrent spray or a firearm but after watching the below video, I am convinced it is possible to fake out a bear.



Mind you, it's not like I have a death wish and that I want to try and find out if I could freak out an attacking bear only to find I was wrong. Then again, if no other options are available, I suppose it might be better than nothing in at least some attacks. It worked for this guy, whom I think was an out and out arsehat for evidently following the bear while making a video. The bear had enough and turned on him. He is lucky, it was a small to medium bear, probably not that experienced as a hunter and the guy was able to scare it off. A bit more about the video here.

All the best,
Glenn B