More Gun Cleaning Today

Used to be I'd go to the range and once I was finished shooting I'd clean my guns at the range (if it was allowed). Otherwise, I'd head home and clean them there. I'd rarely wait until the next day to get that done especially for my carry guns. Nowadays, my bones creak, I don't see as well as I used to (had to put on two pairs of readers yesterday when assembling a Remington Model 141 bolt), I am not as eager about almost anything as I used to be & have become The Great Procrastinator and I sometimes wind up detail stripping & cleaning some of my guns weeks or even months after firing them. It's not that I'm lazy; well yes, maybe it is just that at times but at other times I realize that some of them do not need a complete cleaning, or any cleaning at all, as frequently as after each time they are shot.

Wow, did I just write that? It sure looks as if I did. Truth is, I clean them when I can get around to it and sometimes I just forget when it's gone too long; then I realize I did not clean them next time at the range or during my regular three to four times per year of regular maintenance. Of the 5 rifles and two pistols I brought to the range over the past weekend, I have cleaned only three so far. My carry gun, my Beretta 950BS and the Remington 141 and that took me , maybe an hour and a half because I detail stripped the bolt & putting it back together too 2/3 of that time. I really needed three hands and I don't have a third hand in the form of a vise. 

Anyhow, today I will be cleaning more of them, probably as soon as I finish this post. The first one to get scrubbed with Gunzilla and then slathered with Break Free CLP will be will be my Marlin 36 and I am ashamed to say has not been cleaned yet. It would be a crying shame if I let the remaining case color on it (and it has a lot of it) get ruined because I did not clean it. I'd hate to see a grown man cry, particularly me, but that is what I'd do right after kicking myself in mine arse should I ruin that gun due to neglect - it is a nice one.

Then onto the other rifles which I will clean at my leisure, if not all today then some today and the rest tomorrow. That said, I'd best get going and do it now because as a friend of mine used to say - a clean gun is a happy gun.

All the best,
Glenn B

Potential Upcoming Project - Remington 141 Video

Brendan and I had some fun shooting one of my two Remington 141s this past Saturday. It's an oldie but certainly is a goodie and once I get some better glass for it, I think I will use it or the other for hunting larger game here in Tejas Texas. Tonight, I took it out of its case and decided to give it a good cleaning. I cleaned it last Thursday or Friday prior to the range but wanted to give it a good going over again because until I can afford a new scope for it, it may be put away in storage. Now, I've only taken it down and then reassembled it once before and that was just taking out the takedown screw, pulling apart the stock and trigger group from the receiver, taking out the bolt, cleaning what I could and then slapping it back together. Each time I did it, I watched the below video on YouTube:

I appreciate the gentleman's effort in putting that out there for the rest of us who needed some help with a 141 but I have to say while it helped me a good deal, it also confused me quite a bit. The reason for the confusion was not so much due to his lack of using the correct names for parts but that I did what he said and held - what he called - "a little lever assembly" and also called "that little rod"(the ejector plate) and that did not do a thing to help get the bolt assembly meshed with the action slide assembly (part names as per the book I am about to mention) this second time around. Yes. it did seem to work the first time but now that I have found out a little bit more about the 141 via the book: The Gun Digest book of Firearms Assembly/Disassemby Part IV: Centerfire Rifles - I realize that holding the ejector plate (as the book called it - no mention of a part with that name in my copy of the Remington 141 manual) in place either had little or nothing to do with meshing those two assemblies and that the first time I put it back together the striker (firing pin) was probably cocked. This time it was decocked but I had no clue that was a problem. An assembly tip in my book was that the striker (firing pin) has to be cocked in order to mesh the bolt to the action slide assembly. Once I got that done, meshing the parts was easy.

Now there is a lot more to disassembly and assembly than taking it apart and removing the bolt. I got a bit adventurous and decided that I was also going to completely take aprt the bolt assembly. I mostly did that because I thought for sure there must have been a pin or spring that I knocked out of the bolt, or something I knocked out of alignment, that was preventing me from being able to get it back together. That was after watching that video but before I looked in my book. The ejector plate, in the video, seemed to be under spring tension when he moved it; however on my bolt it was loose as a goose. Well, I figured let me detail strip the bolt to see if i could figure what was wrong.  used the directions in the book along with the, in my opinion, terribly low quality photos they used to illustrate the process. Well, I got it apart in no time. Getting it back together was another story, that took me around an hour or more. I really need to get a vise, that third hand would have been a big help tonight. Anyway, I did manage to assemble the bolt and used all the pieces when doing so (that is a good thing).

Another part of a detail strip of this rifle would be to remove the action  slide assembly and the magazine. That requires a bit more work but looks none too difficult to take apart but may wind up being a bit difficult to put back together. I did not try itt tonight after it having taken me an hour or more to assemble the bolt. I'll leave that until next time.

If I become somewhat comfortable at taking it down and slapping it back together and can do it with some good degree of reliability, I intend to make a video of how to do it. First though, I'll have to go through all my boxes to look for my camera, the one that I can mount to a mini-tripod I have around here somewhere. Then I will set it up with some decent lighting and give it a shot. I promise to try to use proper nomenclature when describing what I am doing and not to call the receiver the chamber assembly nor call it the breech and I will try to call parts by not more than one name so as to avoid confusion. Now, please believe me, I am not ragging on the guy who made that video; I have made a few of my own where I called a part by the wrong name; I am just trying to point out what does and does not make a firearms assembly/disassembly video easier to understand in my experience. I cannot speak badly at all of the man who made that video especially since it was his first such attempt. It's too bad, in my estimation, that he did not make any more informative firearms videos; I am betting he would have improved greatly and gotten very good at it. His heart was certainly in the right place. Anyway, as I said, his video helped me despite it also confusing me a bit and I am grateful for the help.

All the best,
Glenn B

Beretta 950BS Minx In 22 Short - It's About Time I Do A Critique

What a better way to take a break between firing fairly large sized caliber rifles (.308, 30-30, 35 REM & 300 WIN MAG) than to pull out a tiny pistol with a tiny sting and start blazing away with it. The tiny pistol was my Beretta 950BS and the tiny sting were the CCI 22 Short rounds I was firing through it at the range this past Saturday. I had the pistol there not so much to try it out as I did to try out a new Triple-K after-market magazine I had bought for it. It was not until I picked up that magazine and compared them while getting ready for the range that I realized oof two things about the mag that came with the gun and this new after-market mag - either both of them were aftermarket or Triple-K must have bought out the patent from Beretta and made an almost exact duplicate. I tend to doubt that they made one that close to an original so am guessing my 950BS came with a replacement mag from Triple-K.

Well, as I may or may not have written in my post about my first impressions of the little Beretta, the mag that came with it worked just great. Sadly, the one that I picked up at the Mesquite Rodeo Gun show two weekends ago was a dud. There is no way I can load rounds into properly. One goes in and seems okay but when I tried to get a second round into it, that one would not go in properly. When i looked the mag over with a critical eye, I saw that some indentations on the outside of the mag body near the front left side of the mag's mouth were double indentations as if stuck twice and not aligned properly causing an offset double indentation. The purpose of the indentations seems to be to create nubs (or whatever you would call them) inside the magazine to hold in place a feed ramp inside the magazine; the feed ramp seemingly also continues down the front spine of the mag acting as a bullet nose guide. When I compared the ramp to that on the mag that worked properly, I could plainly see it was set back further from the front of the mag-well than was the one on the working magazine. So, when trying to load the mag, the rounds will not line up properly and even the one (yes only one) that I can get loaded seemingly correctly will not feed out of the mag into the chamber. Not good and it made for a lot more reloading of the one mag that worked. Oh well, I sent an email to the dealer today to see if he will replace it even though he never gave me a receipt nor do I have the packaging since I threw it out on Friday before leaving home on my way to Brendan's in Benton, AR; we hit the range together on Saturday. Time will tell whether he or maybe even triple-K will replace it; I will contact them if the dealer does not send me another.

The bad mag is to the viewers left in each of the two photos.

Okay, that was not so much about the gun as it was about the magazine, so let me get to the pistol itself. The Beretta 950BS Minx is chambered in 22 Short. It comes with a 6 round magazine (at least that is the capacity of the mag that came with mine) and can hold a seventh round in the chamber. This little beast is one of the pop-up barrel types manufactured by Beretta. So, to load or unload one in the chamber you can either do it from the mag by pulling back on the slide and letting it put one into place or you can hit the barrel release allowing the rear of the barrel to pop up and you can manually place a round into the chamber and then push the rear of the barrel back down into a locked position. IThe only point I see to loading that way is that this is a single action pistol and you may not want to load from the mag by pulling the slide back and letting it slam forward because that leaves its external hammer in a cocked position.  Sure, you can always carefully pull the trigger with your thumb on the hammer allowing it to very slowly and gently move into the uncocked position or you can place the safety lever into the safe position which means you would be carrying cocked and locked or you can open the barrel assuring to not let it fly open quickly and eject the round you just pout in in and then drop then carefully drop the hammer with no round and even no chamber in front of the firing pin, or you can load the chamber the way I described by popping up the barrel and manually loading a single round.Which do you think is safer and more practical; take your choice - I prefer to load a round out of the magazine and then safely and very carefully drop the hammer slowly and gently by keeping my thumb on it so it will not fire. 

As for unloading and cycling ammo through it, the Minx does not have an extractor. It operates on blowback and the shell casing is extracted by way of gas pressure and recoil alone. In the even a shell casing ever gets stuck in the chamber, popping up the barrel will give you better access to it to remove it manually. The location of the release for the barrel is on the left side of the slide right about where the mag release wold be positioned in a modern made larger self defense pistol tat does not have the pop-up barrel feature. So where does that leave the magazine release? The mag release is a button positioned within the lower rear portion of the left grip panel (and I think this was the same for the Jetfires as well as best I recall). Depressing it will make a fully loaded magazine fall out of the mag well; however, an empty mag has to be pulled out while depressing the mag release - at least on mine. That may loosen up and it may freely fall out when the mag release is depressed once the release has been used enough.

All in all, I like the Beretta 950BS models of which there were essentially two - the Jetfire and the Minx - with different versions of each over the years such as the non-BS models without safeties and the BS models with safeties. The other main difference in the models was the caliber - the Minx in 22 short and the Jetfire in 25 ACP - probably two of the most useless calibers for self defense or for anything else except maybe shooty goodness kind of fun. I have owned at least three, probably four and maybe even five Beretta 950BS models chambered in 25ACP; I had these while in the Border Patrol and Customs Patrol and carried one in my pocket or boot as a last ditch back-up gun regardless of the less than pea sized caliber. 

I had always wished they would come out with one in 22 Long Rifle but they never did. Instead they came out with a somewhat similar model (pop-up barrel, small size) in 22LR called the Beretta 21A Bobcat (they also make another but larger one in 32ACP). I owned one or two of them as well but despite the fact they were in 22LR, I liked them less than the Jetfire and Minx. The reason for that being that if you take the grips of of a Jetfire Model 950BS in 25 Auto, the gun will function without them. You can also add flat metal grips to the Jetfire allowing it to be more easily concealed in a boot or pocket; one of m supervisors in the Border patrol used to make them out of sheet metal.Anyway, the grips on the model 21A must mesh with the spring that operates its slide. Without the grips in place you can get off one shot and then forget about another loading. I always worried that if I dropped the 21A and cracked one of the grips badly enough, it may have then malfunctioned. At least that is the way it used to be - design changes in one or the other may have changed things for the respective pistols.

Speaking of the grips on the Beretta 950BS - both my Jetfires and now my Minx - had/have what I believe are European style screws securing them in place; that regardless of the fact that my Minx and probably at least some of my Jetfires were made in the USA and not in Italy (where the main Beretta plant is located). European screw heads, at least at one time, have or had very narrow slots in them and thus the great majority of screwdrivers you can find for sale in the US of A do not fit into them. I have some pretty narrowly bladed screwdrivers and they do not fit into the slots on the Minx. This gun was made in Accokeek, MD here in the US (if you consider MD is still part of the USA and not a commie satellite country within our borders). Why they never bothered to changed to screws with a wider slot is beyond me; I know that when I purchased my Beretta 92SB (precursor to the 92F and 92FS pistols) it too came with those screws with the very narrow slots. Some time later, Beretta replaced them for me with the American style with wider slotted screwheads; and Beretta started to manufacture guns, at least in the US, with those wider slotted screws.

You can plainly see the barrel release, the safety switch, the mag release button and tiny size of the 22 Short.

Staying in the area of the grips, the Minx has black plastic grips although the more recently manufactured Beretta 21A that comes with wood grips (and maybe some with plastic grips too). I don't know if the Beretta 950 Minx or 950BS Minx (or the Jetfires in 25 ACP) ever came with wood grips buy my guess is they were probably available. The grips on the older 950 are not interchangeable with those of the 950BS because a cutout had to be placed on those of the 950BS to allow for the travel of the safety switch. The safety is typical of a single action pistol - up to make it safe and down to allow the pistol to be fired.t has a good strong positive click as it goes into either position.It is essentially positioned much like a 1911 safety.

Okay, so much for the idiosyncrasies of the Beretta 950BS Minx. Now as to how it was made and how it functions. This little beauty has a steel slide, barrel, hammer, trigger, trigger guard and magazine; and it has an alloy frame (likely anodized aluminum). I has an external hammer that has three positions - down, half-cock and fully cocked. The fit and finish are excellent. It also has Beretta's pop-up barrel feature. The operation is single action only.

I am happy to say it has functioned flawlessly both times I took it to the range. One odd thing though was that the first time I fired it, it shot a decent sized group the size of my fist, more or less, at 7 yards. This time out that almost respectable rapid fire group size was nowhere to be found. I'd estimate at best, the shots were in an area the size of my open hand and were all to the left of point of aim by several inches. Brendan shot it with the same abysmal result. I tend very much to doubt this was caused by the pistol or by the shooters. I say so for the pistol because it has not been damaged in any way since the last time I fired it and was cleaned well after firing it the first time around and was also cleaned before firing it the second time. As for the shooters being at fault - two with the same results seems unlikely to make it shooter error. Of course, it could have been us. I have to note, those groups were shot while both of us actually tried to use the minuscule sights; I think I'd have been better off just point shooting this thing for how long it took my eyes to acquire the sights. Maybe I only point shot it the first time, I cannot remember. 

If not user error or the fault of the pistol though, the other culprit then is the ammo. While we used the same ammo this time as we did on our first range trip with it - CCI 22 Short HP, 27 grain copper plated - the ammo was not stored well for a few months. In fact, it was stored in much less than desirable conditions inside a non-climate controlled storage shed wherein the temperatures during storage probably reached at least 100 to 120 degrees Fahrenheit almost every day for weeks on end. I have no clue if that could affect a round's accuracy but am guessing it may have been the cause. Another range trip with that ammo and with fresh and different brands of ammo should clue me in to that. 

At best, the Beretta 950BS Minx in 22 Short, for me, is a very concealable, 7 round, last chance desperation back-up gun that I'd probably only fire at a maximum range of 15 yards and that I expect would be used at a range less than that if I ever needed it to defend myself. I'd much prefer to use a 45 or a 9mm for self defense but a mouse gun may be better than no gun at all should my primary carry piece fail or should I for some reason not have it with me and only have the Minx. Other than carry as a last chance hideaway gun, the only other uses I can think of is as a fun plinker or a mouse killer if those tiny critters ever decide to move in and overrun the place. I think it is a gun befitting all three of those situations. No matter what, I like it - no better gift than a gun from my son!

All the best,
Glenn B

A New Life In Texas Deserves...

...a new look for my blog.

That is all,
Glenn B

Humor At The Expense of Democrats

All the best,
Glenn B

Range Day Today With It's Ups & Downs

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I Can Understand Walmart Not Wanting Open Carry But Not The Rest Of It

I recently wrote to Walmart to protest that they have cut back on ammunition sales by eliminating calibers such 223 / 5.56 NATO and 7.62x39mm. That is a knee jerk reaction to the problem of mass shootings. In fact, it is no solution to the problem as those bullets do not fire themselves and others can easily be used in their place to kill. I can understand them not wanting people to open carry in their stores and agree with the reasons they do not want such to take place. More on their reasoning, which I find mostly to be much the same as the balderdash that is spewed by leftist anti-gunners can be seen in the text of an email they sent to me. That email was in reply to my email of protest to them about ceasing sales of certain ammunition (and I am sure they sent the same email to tens of thousands of gun owners who also complained, if not more): 

"Question Reference # 190905-046243
Subject
Company Feedback and Questions
Response By Email (09/06/2019 02:54 PM) Hello Glenn, We have reviewed your email and want you to know that we have shared it with the appropriate team. We know these decisions will inconvenience some of our customers, and we hope they will understand. As a company, we experienced two horrific events in one week, and we will never be the same. Our remaining assortment will be even more focused on the needs of hunting and sport shooting enthusiasts. It will include long barrel deer rifles and shotguns, much of the ammunition they require, as well as hunting and sporting accessories and apparel. We believe these actions will reduce our market share of ammunition from around 20% to a range of approximately 6 to 9%. We believe it will likely drift toward the lower end of that range, over time, given the combination of these changes. As it relates to safety in our stores, there have been multiple incidents since El Paso where individuals attempting to make a statement and test our response have entered our stores carrying weapons in a way that frightened or concerned our associates and customers. We have also had well-intentioned customers acting lawfully that have inadvertently caused a store to be evacuated and local law enforcement to be called to respond. These incidents are concerning and we would like to avoid them, so we are respectfully requesting that customers no longer openly carry firearms into our stores or Sam’s Clubs in states where “open carry” is permitted – unless they are authorized law enforcement officers. We believe the opportunity for someone to misinterpret a situation, even in open carry states, could lead to tragic results. We hope that everyone will understand the circumstances that led to this new policy and will respect the concerns of their fellow shoppers and our associates. As it relates to concealed carry by customers with permits, there is no change to our policy or approach. This morning, we briefed your leadership team on how to communicate this change in policy to customers when needed, and they will be sharing that with you very soon. We will treat law-abiding customers with respect, and we will have a very non-confrontational approach. Our priority is your safety. We will be providing new signage to help communicate this policy in the coming weeks. As an additional step, we commit we will work alongside other retailers to make the overall industry safer, including sharing our best practices. For example, we are exploring ways to share the technical specifications and compliance controls for our proprietary firearms sales technology platform. This system navigates the tens of millions of possible combinations of federal, state and local laws, regulations and licensing requirements that come into effect based on where the firearm is being sold and who is purchasing it. We hope that providing this information, free of charge, will help more retailers sell firearms in a responsible, compliant manner. Finally, we encourage our nation’s leaders to move forward and strengthen background checks and to remove weapons from those who have been determined to pose an imminent danger. We do not sell military-style rifles, and we believe the reauthorization of the Assault Weapons ban should be debated to determine its effectiveness. We must also do more, as a country, to understand the root causes that lead to this type of violent behavior. Today, I’m sending letters to the White House and the Congressional leadership that call for action on these common sense measures. As we’ve seen before, these horrific events occur and then the spotlight fades. We should not allow that to happen. Congress and the administration should act. Given our decades of experience selling firearms, we are also offering to serve as a resource in the national debate on responsible gun sales. We have a long heritage as a company of serving responsible hunters and sportsmen and women, and we’re going to continue doing so. Our founder, Sam Walton, was an avid outdoorsman who had a passion for quail hunting, and we’re headquartered in a state known for its duck hunting and deer hunting. My family raised bird dogs when I was growing up in Jonesboro, Arkansas, and I’m a gun owner myself. We understand that heritage, our deeply rooted place in America and our influence as the world’s largest retailer. And we understand the responsibility that comes with it. We want what’s best for our customers, our associates and our communities. In a complex situation lacking a simple solution, we are trying to take constructive steps to reduce the risk that events like these will happen again. The status quo is unacceptable. Thank you for contacting walmart where we are always happy to help!"

There you have it, plain as day under a cloudless sky, Walmart (or walmart as they wrote it in the last line) is marching with the libturds on this one with a barely veiled outright call for an assault weapons ban. Not one mention of doing anything that would really help solve the problem but instead hopping on the band wagon with the left by eliminating open carry and certain ammo sales. Yes, they said that the root causes of these tragedies should be examined but that will never happen in today's political climate and meanwhile what are they doing but what the left wants them to do. Essentially they gave not a word to mention legislated mental health care improvements (we already know must of these killers are out of their minds), no mention of ceasing use of medications that cause urges to kill (we already know many of the killers had mental issues and were taking anti-depression and other drugs that often cause mood swings to violence, not any mention of institutionalizing the crazies who are running rampant and free in our society, zero to say about mandatory harsher jail terms or executions for those who kill - nope just blame it on the guns & the ammo as usual. While I can understand them not wanting people to open carry in their stores, the rest of it is the same old leftist anti-gun twaddle. It is pitiful.

All the best,
Glenn B

Gun Show Blues

I took my trip Friday over to the Dallas area, more specifically to Addison, TX to my hotel, then to Mesquite to attend the Mesquite Rodeo Gun Show on Saturday, and finally a stop at Costco on my way home. The Hampton Inn at Addison was a surprise. It had very small room (I heard the desk clerk explaining to someone the reason being it is a very old property). Most Hampton Inns have generously sized rooms but this one's while small were sufficient. I just wish they had had enough room for an armchair. Anyway, it was clean, the A/C worked well, my room was on the shadier and quieter side of the hotel and the staff was excellent - especially the desk clerk on check-in and (the same clerk) on checkout. What made her probably the best among any hotel desk clerks with whom I have ever dealt, besides her charming personality, was that she owns a Colt Python inherited from her dad which she intends to keep and which she evidently cherishes. That wound up becoming a topic of conversation after she saw me on the guest computer while I was viewing the Hessney auction site for their upcoming Early Gun & Military Auction this coming weekend.

While at the hotel, I went literally down the block (maybe two at most) to the Londoner - a local pub. To say their selection of beers/ales and booze was impressive would be an understatement. The service was also excellent. About the only thing that was mediocre was the Steak & Mushroom Pie I had for dinner. Don't get me wrong - there was nothing bad at all about it and I guess it would rate a low end good - it was just not up to snuff with the rest of what was offered there and could have been a lot better. Being I expected mashed with the meal and not the fries they served it with might have colored my view and effected my taste. Anyway, I had a good time there and left a generous and well deserved tip for the bartenders.

Om Saturday, I had my free breakfast at the hotel, had another excellent and pleasant conversation with the front desk clerk and was on my way to the gun show. It took maybe a half hour at most to get there. I had chosen the Hampton Inn in Addison because I was paying with points and they charged only 18K points while closer Hilton hotels were charging as many as anywhere from 24K to 30K for a one night stay. The one right at the venue was charging 30K and I'd much rather conserve my points than waste them because of a mere 24 mile drive.

When I got to the parking lot, I threw what I call a NY Sling In A Minute onto my WASR 10. Basically, that was just some poly chord I had purchased at Homer's Despot Home Depot just for that purpose - a sling for my rifles & shotguns when selling them at gun shows. I wound up selling it at 83% of my asking price which was exactly at the lowest I would accept for it. I had one guy offer me my asking price who pulled a wad of cash out of his pocket as if he could not pay quickly enough while his pal who was already holding two AKs stood next to him. As soon as I said I wanted to fill out a bill of sale, he said he needed to hit the ATM. He never came back but a dealer at the tale we were in front of told me to come back to seem him if it did not sell. He offered quite a bit less than my low-ball price but we met exactly in the middle and I got the minimum I had been after.

Next up, I went out to y car ad grabbed my Mossberg 185 K-A 20 gauge bolt actio gun. I walked around until my stomach protested and left for lunch with the Mossberg still tagging along. When I got back to the show venue, I also took out the Winchester 290 I also wanted to sell and decided to sling one over each shoulder. It's normally what I would do - that is to carry two of them when selling more than one at a show - but my one shoulder had been acting up earlier in the day having been visited by Arthur I. Tis for a spell. After lunch though, I felt all the better and slung both of them over my shoulders with my In A NY Minute slings.

I sold the Winchester to a dealer maybe 20 feet from the entrance within a half minute of walking back into the show. I got the same percentage for it, of my asking price, as I did for the WASR 10. That was also my low-ball acceptable price. I walked around for a couple of few more hours before one old geezer yes even older than me) asked to see the shotgun. He liked it even though he grumbled about this or that and how long it would take him to sell it, he mentioned about a year. He made me an offer of only 56% of what I was asking for it and I just said no thanks and walked away. He prefaced that offer by saying he was sure I'd never accept it. he was right but that made me think he'd go up some if I danced with him. I said thanks but no thanks and walked away. Maybe ten minutes later, I went back and asked if he'd give me X-amount, which was about 67% of my asking price. He looked it over and did so all the while trying to make it seem like I was getting a good deal. In fact, I got a good deal making a small profit over and above the price I paid for the shotgun, shipping it and to the FFL to do the transfer. I had asked a lot more for it than I had been willing to accept and thus made out on the deal to my satisfaction.

Three down, one more to go but I decided against selling the Hopkins & Allen 16 gauge single that was still in my trunk out in the parking lot. I moseyed (note the use of that word instead of walked or sauntered now that I am living in TX) around the sow for another hour or two looking at this that and the other guns and things that caught my eye. I was tempted, very tempted to make an offer on either of two Remington Model 81 rifles, both in 300 Savage, that the same dealer had for sale but decided to hold off and continue my already years long search for either a nice Model 8 or 81 in 35 REM. I gotta say, damn they are getting more and more expensive as my search continues so the temptation was strong within me.

The only things I bought at the show were two show themed T-shirts - one for me the other for Brendan, two Magpul MOE magazines for my AK and a Triple-K brand magazine, in 22 Short, for a Beretta 950 Minx. I am hoping it will work in my Beretta 950 BS and that it will feed ammo reliably. A range trip or two should let me know. Shortly after buying those things, I headed out the door to my car and off to Costco. I dropped about 3 bills there to stock up on some things for a month or so and to pick up some things Brendan wanted. Of curse, they did not have the things I or Brendan wanted most - I guess because they sell some different brands regionally - but I made due. I am figuring on making the 150 mile or so drive to Costco once a month or so and doing so will be so much the easier in the future because of what a clerk there told me about Total Wine having several stores in the Dallas area. Now, none were within 20 miles or so of that particular Costco and I was not about to drive 20 miles there in the opposite direction of home and then back again to visit one but I will plan for a stop at one on y next trip. If they stock Kirschwasser and Obstwasser in the brand I used to get at their store in NY, I will be a happy man.

All in all an excellent trip - I can't wait for the next gun show I attend thereabouts. So why did I call this post the Gun Show Blues - no reason except sooner or later I am almost sure to have seller's remorse over selling the WASR 10 which was my first AK.

All the best,
Glenn B

If We Nuked Yemen Would Iran Behave Itself?

My guess is that nuking Yemen would not be a tactical mistake if some country decided to nuke that country in response the recent drone attacks on Saudi Oil Fields. Houthi forces, established and working out of Yemen, have claimed responsibility for the attacks which have resulted in Saudi Arabia shutting down 1/2 of its oil production! More at the source.

Losing 1/2 of the oil produced by Saudi Arabia is going to have widely resounding consequences around the world, especially if it lasts any prolonged amount of time. Being that the Iranian backed Houthis have promised more attacks, my guess is the results will be long lasting. One way to put an end to it all would be a swift and devastating attack on the Houthi strongholds within Yemen  - maybe with tactical nuclear weapons. Not many would mourn the loss of the Houthis and any collateral damage will only make for political ammo because in truth there are not many in the world who even have a clue where Yemen is located let alone give a damn about its people. All that is even more likely true especially when the world's oil supply is at risk.

Mind you, lesser things have started world wars. I do not mean a nuclear attack on Yemen when I say that. I do mean a shortage of resources such as is going to be caused by the loss of oil in what would otherwise have been available had the Iranian backed Houthis not attacked the Saudi oil fields. It may also cause a worldwide economic collapses which almost certainly would have the planet on the brink of another world war. 

My guess is that a country thinking strategically, tactically and diplomatically could come to an agreement with other nations around the world that would result in a unanimous decision to destroy the Houthis with overwhelming force. Truthfully, I believe almost no one would give a damn about the destruction of this terrorist group once and for all other than to ultimately agree it was the right decision (expected oil prices of as high as $100 per barrel and the resultant price increases in everything from butter to arse wipes, if this goes long term, will help that decision to look very good). My guess also is also that Iran will have learned a valuable lesson. If not they could be targeted next and that is exactly why I'd be willing to bet they would learn the intended lesson. They almost certainly would, as a result of such an attack, drastically better their behavior on the world stage. 

Iran claims they were not behind this attack (source) but that claim is extremely doubtful as the Houthis long have been supported by Iran regarding their terrorist activities. Regardless, the Houthis have already claimed responsibility and maybe they well deserve whatever comes there way - be it the wrath of God in the form of plague and pestilence or the wrath of Man in the form of utter nuclear destruction.

All the best,
Glenn B

Damn, I Can't Find My Wallet Anywhere

I've looked everywhere for it but it is nowhere to be found. I've been scratching my head all morning wondering where it could be and hoping I did not leave it in my other car.

The Brewster County Sheriff's Office, working with the U.S. Border Patrol, in Texas seized a vehicle loaded 1,127 pounds of bales of marijuana in Texas but did not find the driver as he had apparently fled. Chances are they may find him soon enough though - he left behind his wallet. More at the source.

Of course, it could be someone else's wallet but my guess is that whomever it belongs to is going to be getting a visit from the local constabulary real soon.

All the best,
Glenn B

Gonna Take a Little Bit of a Road Trip Today

I'm heading over Dallas way today, more precisely to Mesquite, Texas (Dallas County) to do a little shopping today. I normally don't drive around 170 miles each way to do my grocery shopping but am about to do it today so I can go to Costco. I've been a Costco member for many years, my original membership was with them when they were called Price Club back in the early 1980s when I lived in CA. There are no Costcos near me, I think I'll be going to the one that is the closest to me, and while I belong to Sam's Club and there is one where I live now - it does not come close to Costco as far as quality of the items they sell, as far as I am concerned. In other words, I think that Sam's Club sucks so much as to warrant me taking a monthly drive over to Costco to fill my Corolla with as much groceries and supplies as I can. 

Now, that's not the only reason I chose today for my first trip to Costco. The other allure of this trip is that there is a gun show in Mesquite (the one in Dallas County, there are at least two in TX) tomorrow and Sunday. It's a decent sized one too, 450 tables. Not the biggest I've been to by a long-shot but pretty big and bigger than most I had the chance to attend in NY. So this makes the trip and my reason for making it all that much the better. It only makes sense to plan additional activities on such a trip. I mean, I'd have to be nuts to drive all that way just to go to a Costco - right! Then again, as much as I dislike Sam's Club - maybe it's not nutty at all. It's not like I'll give up my Sam's Club membership though, they have groceries and things I need for the apartment - some are pretty good - and they are local. It's just that Costco is so much better in my estimation and worth a drive once every month or so and of course the gun show gives me another reason to burn the gas.

While there, I am going to try to sell some guns to make up the funds I used to purchase several others recently. I am lugging along my: Romanian WASR 10, Hopkins & Allen 16 gauge single, Mossberg 185 K-A 20 gauge and Winchester 290 semi-auto in 22 S, L & LR. No way I can walk around the show with 4 guns slung over my aging shoulders so it will be two at a time until one or the other (or both) sell and then to my car to retrieve the others. I checked Gunbroker for recent sales of WASR 10s and was surprised to see what used ones are selling for - way above Blue Book of Gun Values estimates. So, I am going to ask a nice round number for it and am fairly confident it will sell and that I'll get around what I am asking if not the actual price I put on it. The others will not bring in as much in total as the WASR 10 alone but should bring in grocery money for Costco, that is if they sell. If they do not sell today, I'll probably throw em up for sale on Gunbroker.

I'll be getting to see a bit more of my newly adopted home state today and tomorrow. Who knows, I may make a few stops along the way, no rush to get to my hotel (using points there and points are a good thing). I'll be staying in Addison, about 20 or 25 miles from the convention center for the gun show. The reason for that being that the hotel at the convention center charges almost double the amount of points I'll be using than where I am staying; in fact every other hotel from the same chain charges more points than this place. It has received excellent reviews so I imagine its just luck I got it at this rate as opposed to it being a dump and them offering a low rate because of that. Anyway, it's a Hilton, so I am pretty sure it is not a dump; for some reason you can almost always find one with a much lower rate not too far from others with high rates.

I guess that's it for now, gotta get the car loaded up and hit the road, stop for breakfast (yeah, I know, it's almost 11AM but such is retired life), hit the road again and be on my way. I've got some of Texas to see today!

All the best,
Glenn B

Did A Bit Of Editing My Blogger Profile Today

I got an email today from Mark H saying my profile location needed to be changed to TX, he also welcomed me to TX. It did not specify which profile so, I guessed he meant the one attached to this blog. Anyway, I updated it to show TX as my location, added some favorite movies and music and such. A hat tip to Mark H, thanks.

All the best,
Glenn B

18 Years Ago Today - Some People Did Something

Let us never forget what was the "something" they did - they attacked the United States of America and killed thousands of our people in a sneak attack more heinous than any before it. Let us never forget who were the "some people" who did it (and make no mistake of it) - they were  Islamic Extremists who wanted to destroy us. That is a plain and simple truth - they are the some people that did something - something very horrible - and they were and remain our enemy. Most importantly let us never forget those of us who fell - that last is truly the most important of all. Also remember forever that there were those of us who came together as one America to fight evil and there were those of us who tried and continue to try to distort the reality of what happened.

Remember, never forget. If you are prone to prayer then pray for the souls of all those who lost their lives. If you are not one who prays then keep them in your thoughts. Live your lives as if their lives mattered - each and every one of them regardless of race, color, creed, ethnic background, sex (M, F or H[hermaphrodite]), political leaning, what color uniform they wore, what job they held,their nationality or their citizenship - they were all victims of these evil barbarians. Live as free Americans who love and honor this country, our Constitution and those of us who fell on 9/11. That my friends will be the right thing to do for your children to see the truth about this great nation and for them to learn how to be real Americans.

All the best,
Glenn B

Let's Go Cannibal & Save The Planet

An arsehat professor in Sweden seemingly has hypothesized that to save the planet from the dreaded Climate Change, food shortages and other such calamities we should consider becoming cannibals. When asked if he would try it, is reported reply was: “I feel somewhat hesitant but to not appear overly conservative … I’d have to say … I’d be open to at least tasting it.” More at the source.

To not appear "overly conservative" he'd taste it! This is the left of today - living, breathing, existing (and now eating) in their never ending quest of not appearing conservative no matter where it leads them or what the cost. As far as I am concerned, this guy needs to be put in a padded room and given some crayons - a very big box of them to keep him occupied for the next 40 or 50 years. 

I wonder, from just exactly where does he think this meat will be coming. Are we to eat our recently deceased, or to seek volunteers to give up body parts, maybe have hunt- a-human seasons, or are we going to open up a whole new industry to produce delicacies made from ranched human beings!  Will he name his cookbook To Serve Man!

Now, while I've eaten at the Y many times in my life, not once have I ever swallowed a chunk of human flesh nor do I intend to ever do so. People sometimes wonder and then ask me why I have so many guns and I sometimes reply - tongue in cheek - to be prepared for the Zombie Apocalypse.  That answer doesn't seem so far fetched now.

All the best,
Glenn B

First Impressions & Range Report - Century Arms AK and Starg Arms AR

I headed up to Benton, AR Friday afternoon and got there soon after Brendan arrived home from work.  We stayed in at his place and had dinner and some beers together but not too many. This morning (Saturday) we got up not too early and not too late, had a nice breakfast of bacon (oven roasted) and eggs with some excellent coffee and then headed off to a range about 60 miles west of his place. We each drove our own cars because I wanted to leave from there to head back to TX after shooting.

He got there a few minutes before me because I made a stop at Homer's Despot Home Depot to pick up a few boxes to make target stands. They are fairly cheap and can be good to use for one or more trips to the range. Brendan brought along his Remington 870 with rifled barrel, a S&W Model 10, his Beretta Model 21A, and I think that was it. I hauled my Browning Model 81 BLR Lightweight, an old dilapidated Remington 22 rifle, and two of my recent acquisitions that need to be test fired at the range for their first shots the - Century Arms C39V2 - MOE Magpul furniture, model number: RI2399-N, with milled receiver - and the Stag Arms 15 ORC with Magpul furniture.

While Brendan was shooting blasting away with his 870, I decided to take out the AK first. I loaded up with a 30 round mag and took aim at the Shoot-N-See target I had slapped onto one of the HD boxes. It was either on the sixth or seventh round that I somehow started to bump fire (no you do not need a bump-fire stock to shoot in bump-fire mode) and the rounds  went up in a line above the stick-on target center. After that, I fired the other 20 rounds at the berm. A little bit later, after marking off my shots on the target, I fired another 30 rounds at it and managed not to shoot any in bump-fire mode. I don't know how I did it the first time because when I tried to do so purposefully later, I could only get maybe 4 to 6 rounds to go off two at a time. Oh well, practice may make perfect. Brendan also took some shots with it.

Shots marked black were first 10, white lined 30 rounds.

Anyway, the above is the target I was shooting which was set up at 50 yards. I am happy enough with the result being it was the first time I fired the thing and considering it is an AK and they are not known for great inherent accuracy. My first impressions of this AK, totally made here in the US of A by Century Arms, is that I was highly impressed. First of all, it looked good and the fit and finish were tight and nice respectfully. Secondly, it took both the Magpul magazine that came with it and some old com-bloc mil-surp maazines (I think Romanian) and fed from them flawlessly. Third, it went bang every time. Fourth, it extracted and ejected every casing without a hitch.  Fifth, it was more than accurate enough for my purposes and I will probably do better with it if using brass cased ammo; I was firing steel cased Wolf Military Classic HP rounds out of it. I don't recall how many grains and am too tired right now to go get the ammo can out of my trunk to check.

The CA AK, and I think all of them they make nowadays come with two nice features. One is a scope mount rail on the left side of the gun and the other is a notched safety lever that allows for the bolt to be locked back in place. That safety lever was a bit of a brute to move, it was pretty stiff but my guess is that will certainly loosen up a bit with use. There were only two real negatives about this rifle and one of them is an issue inherent to AKs of all ilks. The damn barrel gets so hot as to make the fore-end difficult to impossible to hold after shooting a bunch of rounds rapid fire. I put 30 slow fire through it, followed by 60 or 90 more rounds rapid fire and I started to wish I had thought of putting on one of my leather works gloves beforehand. The other negative is the position of the side mounted sight mount rail and that may or may not be easily overcome. What happened was I  could not load the lower mag of the two my son had clamped together - both with the follower end up. The clamps kept the mags so close to one another that the right side of the outer and higher mag kept hitting the mounting rail and you could not get the lower mag into the mag well.  Now I am guessing that clamps that kept the mags a bit further apart would solve the problem but have no clue if available. Also, clamping them together with the open ends opposite to one another would also solve the issue and would not require special sized clamps that put more space between the mag bodies.

Lest I forget to mention it, there was something totally unexpected about the AK and that was the extremely smooth, not too heavy or too light and consistent trigger pull. I have got to hand it to the engineers who drew up the specs for this rifle and then put it together. It is nice right out of the box.

After that Brendan and I took some shots with the Browning BLR. Brendan's first shot just dropped the hammer and went click. There was no indentation on the primer. I am guessing he had not pulled the lever all the way up because after I told him to do that, his next two shots went off okay. That was it for him, two shots because it slammed into his cheek bone. I have a video of him shooting it and will show it to him because his cheek weld was all wrong. He seemingly tilted his head down to meet the stock instead of bringing the stock to meet his cheek and he had the upper edge of the stock pressed firmly right under his right cheekbone - ouch! I fired it after him and was dismayed to see it shot every shot to the left by a few inches. It had not done that before if I recall correctly. It was not only me either, Brendan's two shots were about equidistant to the left. A little tinkering with the rear sight should get that fixed. I fired maybe 12 rounds out of it altogether. Then I decided to put it away because I was antsy to shoot my Stag Arms AR15.

Before I move onto the AR though, allow me to mention that Brendan had brought along a loading device for the AK mags, it's called the Lula Loader & Unloader by MagLula and is made for a variety of weapons. I have to say it is the best thing since medicinal papers (arse wipes). It made loading the 30 round mags very easy if not much or maybe even not any faster than I could have done by hand but easier on the thumb. It is an excellent device and I will be getting a couple for myself. If they make one for AR mags I'll get a couple of them too. With a bit of practice it probably would make loading the mags much quicker with it than without this device.




Now, finally getting to the Stag Arms AR, I had slapped the sights on the AR last night and shame on me - I played with the windage adjustment. First I fired off one, or was it two, 30 round mags rapid fire at the berm just to make sure it fired okay. Then I fired 30 rounds at a target slow fire and it wound up putting every shot in an okay group, nothing special, but all to the left by several inches. I adjusted the rear sight, fired it, adjusted it again and had it just about centered by the time I decided to take a break for my finger. 

Overall the Stag Arms AR was nice but there was a bit of a disappointment and it had nothing to do with where the first volleys of rounds went (as  said that was due to me screwing with the windage adjustment). While it fed, fired, extracted and ejected every round - firing them started to become a pain in the trigger finger after only 30 or 40 rounds. The trigger is deplorable in my estimation, one of the worst I have ever pulled and I think much akin to a NY trigger on an NYPD Glock.  First off - it is too heavy. Second - there is a lot of trigger creep and the trigger travel feels gritty. Third, it made for a sore finger after maybe 90 rounds total. One thing I liked about the trigger was the trigger reset, it clicked and sprang back forcefully into reset position and after the mag went dry it did not reset. Everything else on the AR - the mag release, bolt, bolt release, safety all worked just fine but damn that trigger. I guess you get what you pay for and this was not a very expensive AR. I have to say - the difference between ts trigger and that of the Century Arms were miles apart; that AK trigger was smooth as silk.

As for the mags, those I used in the AR were all Magpul PMAG, GEN M2, 3o round magazines. They all worked flawlessly.

While I was shooing the AR, Brendan was firing his Beretta 21A and the S&W Model 10. He was having fun but later complained that the Beretta had been firing inches low. Had he let me know that at the range and asked, I would have taken some shots to see if it was him or the pistol. My guess is user error but there is no telling for sure until I take some shots with it. Of course, it could be as he suspected that it had to do with the ammo he was using with was something by CCI. Time will tell and get it worked out.

We both also test fired an old really beat up Remington Model 552 Speedmaster. I won this one at a shooting competition where I came in second place by an RCH. It had been donated to the Long Island Gun Club as a sort of a goofball prize for that competition by a club member who had had the high bid on it on GunBroker.com. As he put it, he knew it was a mistake to bid on it as soon as he had placed his bid. The front sight is missing, it has some surface rust, the foregrip is a bit loose, the receiver (aluminum I think) is badly scratched and has the name Tab scratched into it. Yet, it fed and fired everything Brendan put through it, maybe 6-10 rounds at most. I then loaded it with 15 rounds and it fed, fired, extracted and ejected all but the last round which wound up wedged in the elevator (I am guessing the real name is either the carrier or action bar - one of them likely feeds the round up from the tube into the receiver). That took quite a bit of diddling to remove and as I kept trying to pry it out with the screwdriver on my Victorinox Huntsman, my favorite Swiss Army Knife. I kept waiting to dent the primer and for it to go pop. Luckily it did not and I was able to get it out after several tries and a few minutes. Anyway, it works okay enough for me to consider refinishing it and slapping a front sight onto it and then sending it back to the other LIGC member who donated it for that competition in which I won it. Then again, if it comes out nice enough, I may just send him a photo and keep it!

We spent a couple hours or so at the range and even though we wanted to shoot more, we wanted even more to get out of the heat. It was pretty oppressive at around 97 degrees Fahrenheit with a very high humidity. So we skedaddled When we left, instead of me going straight back to TX, we decided to go to the Bubba Brews on Lake Hamilton near Hot Springs. There was another Bubba brews much closer and as I was about to pass to, I threw on my directional and turned into it instead and Brendan followed suit. I told him I did not want to get to the other one and then find no parking in their lot. I had also decided that it was too far out of my way to go there then turn around to go back to TX. Even though the one on the lake has much better food, he agreed and we ate at that one closer to the range. 

We also split a couple of appetizers and each had a drink while we talked about the range and observed the colorful characters in Bubba's. It was packed, mostly with members of the Swamp Riders MC. As we were finishing up, one of them bought the entire bar (a lot of folks were in there and a lot of Harleys in the lot) a round. That was much appreciated even if one more than each of us had wanted to imbibe but it was the better course of public relations, so to speak, to accept it. After that, we soon each headed our separate ways, Brendan east and me west - until we meet again. Regardless of spending our time at the range in a virtual sauna, it was an excellent day doing what we both love to do and doing it in each other's company.

All the best,
Glenn B