Dr. StrangeGun, or how I learned to love the odd...

Happy remaining Independence Day

2009-07-04T13:43:00.003-04:00

Wow... no posts since May? I'm slipping. Or not slipping, and just heinously busy.

I can confirm it's the latter, actually. I'm in holding pattern; next week starts a different schedule for me, because I've elected to take myself down to one afternoon a week at the gun shop, and that only to keep "updated" and to give the top brass a night when they can both go home early.

What happened? Job #1 increased in activity and difficulty by a couple factors of ten. And, I'm enjoying it... I'm always up for a challenge. But there were so many days when I was busy enough to not get out until 6, and then a mad rush to the gun shop to work all of 2 hours, and the extra activity meant that when I got home I was so wired I couldn't sleep... weeks where there was at most 15 hours of sleep total, it started affecting my health, as well as driving me back into nicotine for a short while (hence stopped again, I thank the power above that I don't have strong withdrawal symptoms and only get the urge to smoke when I'm severely sleep deprived).

Result? Save for those Mondays, I'll have at least a couple free hours to myself at home daily, and they won't be wasted... I have a clipboard (soon to be an excel file) full of the kind of little home projects that leave you satisfied after an hour's work. Prime example: after a short hunt, I came home with some plastic garden hose shutoff valves yesterday. They were for the tanks on my dehumidifiers, which have always been right bastards to empty without spilling water everywhere. A little time with a 1/2" drill to the molded-in "sprue" on the tanks (they cast in a threaded hose blank, and left the ends closed), tighten the valve on, viola... instead of walking over to the sump pit and turning the tank over to dump, getting water everywhere and upping the humidity in the garage, I can neatly walk the full tank upstairs, park it next to the kitchen sink, flip a valve and walk off to do something else. PERFECT afternoon project, and I've got at least 30 of those marked down.

Firearm acquisition will suffer, unfortunately. That's ok, I have plenty, and still need to work on several of them (re: 3 complete AK kits with full complements of parts for 922r compliance are sitting jumbled in a plastic bin waiting for me, as well as a perfectly good .45 1911 slide assembly that needs a frame parked under it, sighting in the .444, degreasing some of the war horses, etc.) I'll save some money though, with time means I can cook again, though it'll likely be a wash. I may have enough time to me to sit down and draw out some ideas I've had, the ones I haven't been busy blabbing all over thefirearmblog.blogspot.com.

I'm probably going to re-assume my old schedule when the holidays roll around... by then the primary job will have settled a bit, and I should be well rested and recovered and ready to bust my hump again.

I just have to remember to not feel lazy because I've decided to not work a 60+ hour week for the first time in half a decade, you know?

Ruger's new offering....

2009-05-16T14:51:00.002-04:00

Ruger apparently just introduced a new rifle to the world:

The Ruger Phaeton.

Oops, I mean the VW SR-556. No, I mean...

I mean someone's going to get fired over this, mark my words. Introducing a new product in an over-represented market at a price point out of sorts with the reputation of the manufacturer, where the casual buyer is either price-focused towards a general item (in this case, the SR556 is undifferentiated form other offerings) or name-focused on differentiated items with particular features (ex: the piston-driven fans, who have bushmaster, LWRC, et. al. as established marks)...

... that's a sure recipe for success, right? Right?

Fractal Government.

2009-04-16T23:51:00.002-04:00

This was a long semi-researched ramble I made earlier tonight, somewhere else. I present it as a scratchpad, feel free to grab with attribution or present your own cases....

=======

Most of the issue that I see with our modern form of government is that the powers outlined to the congress in the later amendments, powers to "enforce by appropriate legislation", while not wholly wrong as borne out by a couple centuries worth of rulings, violates the spirit of the constitution. When there's a problem or a service to be rendered on a national scale, the traditional means of taking care of it was to have the federal government, by legislation or executive order, forms a department to create binding regulation that apply, if they so wish, universally.

A department formed in such a manner is staffed from the top... nominally by an elected representative, that top staffing is almost always an appointment, and while "vetted" by the house (an abuse of it's own by letter of law, it's supposed to be a confirmation), it's still an unrepresentative appointment. That appointment proceeds to fill out the department by hire; sub-appointments, internal committees... none of which are directly accountable to the people, except by the inbuilt "holes" in federal sovereignty, and legal fictions like the stripping doctrine.

The result of such top-down management is a concentration of power as far away from the citizenry as can be possible within the bounds of the constitution.

The solution: remove those departments from the control of the federal government which constitute regulating bodies controlling matters outside the constitutionally allotted jurisdiction therof. Amazingly, the mechanism for the alternative already exists within the bounds of the Constitution, though some improvements may be made later.

Firstly, satisfy Article 1, Section 10, Clause three... stating that no state may enter into a compact or agreement with another state without authorization by congress.

Let's make an example... the department of widgets. Created at the turn of the 20'th century, it's a classic federal department involved with the regulation of the numbers and types of productions of widgets and their authorized distribution overseas. It's a classic top-down run organization with an executive appointed Secretary.

To reform this organization without removing the benefits (should there be any) while removing the potential for abuse and heavy handedness, we need to move the control mechanism to rest upon a vehicle that's much more accountable and fast-moving. Congress would need to pass a bill that allows for each of the 50 states to form a compact, governing in parliamentary fashion, controlling the Department of Widgets. One or more representatives from each state would be assigned, by whatever mechanism the given state deems required but limited in number by the original compact agreement unless overruled by a parliamentary super-majority, a position in the management tower. Amongst them, they elect a "minister" to their parliament... the new Secretary of Widgets, who performs as an interface to the federal government.

If a state doesn't like the actions of the new Department of Widgets, it can act to change their representative vote by changing the representative to the department. If the citizens of the state don't like how the state is managing their interface with the department, the citizens can change the state government.... a much more responsive and granular control.

Look at the above. A citizen would have only TWO representative layers to a DIRECT change in the behavior of an organization. The federal government would have jurisdiction over the department only in the matters in which is has constitutional authority. States would have much better control over the environment in which they have to function. The capacity for overreach and abuse by the department is reduced by an incredible amount by this, because they're held, depending on the manner the state issues forth it's representation, either directly responsible or responsible through one or two layers of *state* government.

Now, we can take this a step further, perhaps into the twilight zone... taxation. It's a foregone conclusion that the federal government does perform duties and tasks essential to the health of the nation, and that takes money... and a direct taxation scheme in that manner would remain, as distasteful as it seems, appropriate. But if the IRS were broken down from a monolithic department into a state operated compact, the power of taxation for other matters shifts to the state, where it can be a much more fair and controlled method. In fact, the direct federal taxation of the people could be abolished altogether and replaced with a system by which individual states collect taxes to be collected and apportioned to the various other state compact departments and nonessential federal schemes by system of request and dispensation.

The shift of power to the citizenry would be near unprecedented, yet we haven't lost a single government service because of it. States could readily adapt their own taxation schemes to fit their own unique socioeconomic situations. Internal state departments of taxation would be much smaller and much easier to deal with than a single federal department. The level of efficiency could be outstanding, and while it sounds frightening, the effects of experimentation would be much reduced, only affecting the citizens of an individual state, who are more than welcome to vote up or down the new changes with ballots or even their own feet.

Now, this isn't a classic states rights argument... the 14'th amendment and incorporation are well ingrained into the national tort. But it is a re-imagining of the means of control of national government services. Some processes may move slower, this is true... but they move much more carefully, and after all the regulations and rules that come from these departments affect the everyday lives of the citizens.

=======

The improvements to the constitution mentioned above:

1 - an amendment nailing down the meaning of the commerce clause. That and that alone has been the source of more top-down, regimental abuse than anything short of prohibition (18'th amendment)

2 - Strike the 17'th amendment. Direct election of senators may *seem* to be in the interest of the people, but what it ends up doing is removing a check between the state governments and the federal government. At the moment, a state government has recourse against the federal via the judicial branch, which is a misuse; the state governments have no representation whatsoever against the federal government. This protocol could be demonstrated first in the above "fractal government" because in essence the senate itself would be one of the state driven departments, with the purpose to effect and affect federal legislation.

3 - Strike the second clause of the 21'st amendment. That's the one that reads "The transportation or importation into any State, Territory, or possession of the United States for delivery or use therein of intoxicating liquors, in violation of the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited." and is a prime example of losing the plot... the only other place in the constitution where the PEOPLE are directly restrained is the 13'th, which should stand, prohibiting slavery and involuntary servitude (of which a draft *during a time of war* is not, several rulings...)

4 - changes outside constitution: with the striking of the 17'h amendment, remove capacity of senate to amend spending bills. Senate vote should be up or down only.

4b - changes to house and senate rules: all congressional bills must remain within a scope of a particular subject or single issue, and must be read aloud with 80% of the voting caucus in attendance before a final vote.

Clarity is not optional in front of a frightened crowd.

2009-03-26T23:35:00.002-04:00

(This would have gone in a comment on the relevant page, but on said page the captcha system went insane, and locked me out. This is my recourse.)

(page in question: http://www.michaelyon-online.com/mccaffrey-on-mexico-23-march-2009.htm )

Now, I've very carefully reviewed both posts, and determined the problem here.

Mr. Yon, you are guilty of horrible timing. You see, today on the news we all heard Secretary Clinton invoke AmMex as a prime reason to reinstate the assault weapons ban. You turn this phrase;

"I have no plans to give up my hardware, but we must be honest here and help curb flows that are killing Mexicans and Americans. "

..without any corroboration or real explanation. In the mind of the reader, who has just had the world painted in terms of Mexico==AWB thanks to Hillary, you just said "Ain't gettin' rid of mine, but some's got to be rid of".

McCaffrey uses the same idea in his post, but a little clearer.

"We owe the Mexican people better protection of their security forces by effectively interdicting the huge US flow of automatic weapons and laundered drug money back south. (26,000 weapons seized last year.) "

Heuristically, exactly the same as your sentiment (I gather, as you are unclear). Interdiction of illegal arms trade does not equal AWB, and would likely be highly supported by the community of shooters.

There is nothing patently offensive to the "gun crowd" in McCaffrey's NJO writing. It's quite supportable. But the TIMING is AWFUL, particularly to bring it up in the midst of a vague and "buzzword" filled post, which paints the NJO article and colors it's tone by association. And yes, your post is rather vague and buzzy, given the "mood of the day".

And if that wasn't bad enough, Mr. Yon, I've seen your initial reply, even though it's off the site. It's offensive, both directly and indirectly to the intelligence of the reader.

"My work is misquoted around the world every day, but nowhere as often as on my own site. "

Fantastic. Unfortunately in this instance your work was misquoted because the definition and intent was not clear at all.

"If they invest only that minimal level of attention to the guns they are apparently packing, it's just a matter of time before they accidentally shoot themselves or someone else. Attention to detail is an important component of gun safety."

Oh, Mr. Yon. On the defensive, and antagonizing the audience. That's not a very wise move, particularly when the vast crowd who's disturbed by the original post consists of more than a few supporters... or ex-supporters. You shifted to a high-handed tone and patronized an angry mob of "hurt" people who thought you were "one of the guys".

It's a mistake, I'm telling you. And you'd best consider your next response to these people and make a clear, unequivocal statement on your stance and the intent of your post or they will, as they have already started, eat you alive in front of the altar of Zumbo.

I don't want to see that happen, you do good work.
Godspeed,
DrStrangegun

Suitably strange.

2009-03-10T10:26:00.002-04:00

I haven't had a truly "odd" thought stream in a while. And then, one struck.

.38 S&W. 9mm Makarov. Has anyone ever really looked at how close these are?

1 - With a .002" swaging, you should be able to load ~95gr Makarov bullets in .38 S&W cases, and probably get close to the listed 1000fps ballistics (if you can get 800fps from a 158gr, you ought to be well within pressures with a 200fps rise on a bullet less than 2/3 the weight). If I had a ballistics simulation program I could figure what .361"@95gr FMJ into 14Kpsi ends up being, but I don't.

2 - With relatively little work, one could modify a makarov-based platform into a .38 S&W single shot and possibly still get reasonable accuracy of it. The .38 case is only 0.060 longer roughly, and the rim could be accounted for by filing the end of the chamber down... you may have the bullet stuck into the rifling but you're 0.002" undersized soft lead.

3 - With even less work, and some crossed fingers, it seems to me that one could, given a suitably strong pistol, shoot 9mm Mak out of a .38 S&W revolver. I AM IN NO WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM ADVOCATING ANYONE ATTEMPT THIS. .38 S&W is 14,000psi, Mak is 23,000PSI, halfway between .38sp +P and .357 Magnum. I'm just looking at the numbers here... if you stuck a .015" thickness C-clip into the extractor rim of a mak cartridge, you have a reasonable, though .002" oversized, approximation of the size of the .38 S&W.

You will very probably damage the gun beyond repair, but that's handy to know if you're stuck in the middle of nowhere during zombie apocalypse, and you have everything and the kitchen sink with you as far as "common" calibers, but someone in your party has Grandad's old Enfield tanker and no ammo. One zombie, two zombie, three zombie, four, *ping* there goes the top latch, gun's thoroughly toast but you're +4 better in the odds bank, better some help than none right?

Ramble ramble ramble...

2009-03-08T22:05:00.000-04:00

I don't work at CCA for the guns or the money, no...

I work there for the incredibly stylish pens we get every year. I do seriously like this though :)

----

H&R handi-rifle SB2, in .357 magnum

LOOK at the beef around that chamber! I'm not particularly worried about *any* commercial load I can find ever wearing this sucker out.

And, I finally figured out how to take a photo of a reticle; this is a Tasco Pronghorn 2.5x with the diamond reticle. Works very well with this package.

The irony won't be lost on some folks... the pen photos were taken using the lovely robins-egg blue of the ATF's 2005 publication 5300.5, State Laws and Published Ordinances - Firearms.

Latelies

2009-02-22T22:45:00.003-05:00

We have entered one of those periods of time where real life takes over and the outgoing data feed thins.

What's happened lately?

- I'm wrangling to figure out how to get a free car home, a '92 Lincoln with a bad transmission.

- I'm in posession of a new 10 gallon air tank to assist with such retrieval

- Friday I come home to find water flowing down my driveway. 4 hours and $575 later, I've installed a new 40 gallon "energy smart" water heater, and have a brace of new plumbing tools.

- Friday, being handy was demonstrated to be a wonderful thing.

- I just finished hooking up one used intel Mac Mini to my big screen via HDMI. I cannot express just how absolutely freaking *gorgeous* the picture is, and it plays fullscreen 1080i video without a hitch, even streaming TV episodes from NBC.com and upscaled DVDs. Now I just have to figure out the audio portion.... and as much as I'd hate to not route through the TV for this, I may have to bypass. I like to use as few user steps as possible, and I've got it set up now that audio switches with the video source on the television, and the surround reciever stays on one source. I do this because my ancient surorund reciever's remote has *teeny* tiny buttons.

- I will probably very soon need to find myself a new cellphone. The buttons are beginnning to stick on my old standby. Damned thing's only 6 years old, can't imagine what's wrong...

That is all. I now resume my previous activity of watching Patton in HD.

Side note on the 1911

2009-02-07T18:17:00.002-05:00

I was informed recently (or not so recently, I've been busy) that I messed up a little on the 1911 breakdown.

Essentially; remove the thumb safety *first*. Alter your reassembly as required.

Finally; 1911 breakdown

2009-01-25T20:21:00.003-05:00

Ok; this is the long awaited 1911 detail strip post I've been promising for a long, long time. And to lead in, a little nongun.

The little clamp worklight had been bothering me a while because it's so hard to put it anywhere useful. today, I remembered one of the incomplete tripods I had in the basement. A little mod here and there, and I've got a portable 100W floodlight.

Here are some better photos of SpaceGun

For the uninitiated, that's a MechTech CCU on top of a RIA Hicap 1911 frame, set up to run 10mm, with an el-cheapo Chinese Docter sight replica on it.

As you can see, it's a little difficult to force my camera to focus infinite on command.

The interface:

You can see the base of the bolt here, and the disconnector notch. The safeties remain functional on these units.

Chamber interfaces fairly well with the frame's ramp.

It's all held together via rails and the factory slide pin.

And now to the feature presentation: detail stripping a 1911. Yes, I know it's a hi-cap, but it's close enough.

First thing to do (besides remove the grips) is to knock out the mainspring housing pin.

For this you'll need what I forgot at first: TOOLS. The block of wood is important, with the double stack 1911 frames you can easily warp it if you just lay it flat and start hammering.

Pin's out. Note the notch; there's a little extension piece under the mainspring that falls into that notch, even if the spring were loose in the housing it couldn't fall out.

The mainspring housing is on it's own set of rails, and slides out effortlessly.

Note the notch at the top, and that now the grip safety is beyond it's normal travel. The top of the mainspring housing retains the base of the grip safety.

Everything stretched out for viewing. At this point the sear spring has shifted and must be fiddled with to put the gun back together.

Sear spring. Three fingers for three different purposes, on one spring. Nifty.

The sear spring is located in the frame by a slot and notch. Remember this.

With the sear spring out, put the hammer and grip safety in a position that allows you to move the safety lever to where the "point" is on the plunger, and push upwards on if from behind (or pull). It should begin to lift out of the frame.

And removed. You can now see the part that blocks the hammer and sear from moving when placed in the safe position.

Where the safety interfaces with the hammer and grip safety.

The safety lever also holds in the grip safety, which may now be removed to the rear.

The hammer pin is a loose fit, retained by the safety lever, and will simply lift out of the frame.

Hammer removed, and hammer pin. The hammer strut remains attached (no good reason to take it off, really)

Half cock notch and hammer hooks

Better view of hooks, sear interfaces here to hold hammer in cocked position.

Here we see the sear and disconnector relation. Remember this, you'll need it. The pin is another loose fit pin, retained in this case by the grips. You'll need to remove the grips if you haven't already.

Pin lifted free, and sear with disconnector still in relation to each other as they were in the frame.

Alternate view. The "polished" surfaces towards the right are where the trigger bar pushes against them.

Parts separated

Another view of disconnector (l) and sear (r)

Sear surface. This surface interfaces with the hammer's hooks. And boy, that's an ugly surface. This gun has a surprisingly good trigger for such sloppy stoning.

Mag release. This is not a screw, but a toggle cam.

Push the mag release button, and give the slot a quarter turn or so counterclockwise. This releases the tab from the slot in the frame that holds in the mag release button

Push a little harder on the button and the assembly will come free.

Magazine release assembly. This was removed because...

... it holds in the trigger bar assembly. JMB was a clever designer.

Push the trigger into the frame and note that the trigger bar is now protruding.

Trigger bar removed out of the back of the frame. Note the shiny surface on top; this is where I had to do cleanup work with a file to solve the mystery malfunction I was having. The trigger bar was binding in the frame.

REASSEMBLY. Hold the sear and disconnector in the position they'll hold in the frame.

Insert the top of the disconnector through the hole in the frame; the disconnector will stop the sear from falling though. The holes will *not* be lined up, use something small to manipulate the sear until the sear pin drops into place.

Note the placement of the sear spring fingers; this must be held in place while putting the grip safety back into position. It's very easy to let the spring flip sideways or out of position.

Heh, skipped some steps. Assembly is pretty much just the reverse of disassembly though.

The RIA Hi-cap is *rough*. It reflects it's price for sure, but it is definitely functional. I will slowly be doing some cleanup work on it and parts replacement where possible, but none of it is required, as I said, it works fine.

And so ends the story. Now I need to come up with some ideas for what to do for the next big picture post...

Sometimes it just happens...

2009-01-08T23:03:00.002-05:00

...whether you want it to or not. See, I've called a halt to my firearms purchasing for a while, but...

When something that gorgeous rolls along for $150, you TAKE IT.

Traditions .44 caliber model 1860 Army. No, I don't quite understand the naval battle rolled into the cylinder on an Army model, but hey, it's beautiful anyways.

Tomorrow, tomorrow...

2009-01-04T00:33:00.000-05:00

...or actually today, since it's after midnight, I've got a shift at the gun shop. if I can gather the time, I'm going to zero in the holographic sight on Spacegun.

If I get that done, I'll bring it home... and three things should happen. One, I find space in this clutter-beriddled home to set up a decent lighting and background setup. Two, I'll clean and take proper photos of the completed setup. Three...

Three is kind of important to the blog, and may even be exciting.

Remember when I started this blog, after a few months I did a long, detailed photo expose on detail stripping a CZ75? I'll do the same with the RIA frame. If I can describe it accurately, I'll even profile what I did to get the gun running.

Now, I'm a professional procrastinator when my plans get skewed, but as long as I get some range time then within a few days you'll get your post.

======

ADDITIONAL FLUFF

I've been busy growing the new list of guns to purchase... gotta have goals, right?

These are in no particular order.

1 - one more AR15, 16" flattop with a flat block, to build as a superlight model
2 - Marlin 981T
3 - rebuildable .22 suppressor
4 - a .44 revolver (make/model undetermined)
5 - black powder revolver (likewise, leaning towards Starr)
6 - Astra 400
7 - wishful thinking, a Mauser C96
8 - a Savage bolt rifle to build into a long-range shooter (pricey)
9 - CZ550 American, in something suitably huge (I've wanted a .416 Rigby since I read an article in some gun mag ~20 years ago, when I was in grade school)
10 - CZ-453
11 - CZ-38, CZ DUO, and CZ-97 to complete the collection
12 - Armalite AR24 fullsize

I think twelve is enough. Except for #1 there, which I may double, I don't think I'll have issues regardless of what laws come down, if any... so obviously #1 there is first, and if they come available I may buy lowers and build that too.

Superlight? This is the project for which a DPMS sportical would be a stellar start. What I'm thinking of is bare minimum AR, no shell deflector, no forward assist... flat top upper, "sightless" gas block and not just a lopro, an expanded metal tubular handguard, lightweight grip, perhaps even lightening cuts in the lower, and a semi-fixed wire stock hung off a carbine tube. Top that with a lightweight holosight and you have the lightest possible non-NFA AR15.

My third line project AR would just be a practical shooter, possibly in 6.8mm. This would be something I'd feel comfortable using for just about anything I can think of, tactical shooting, 200-300 yard, maybe even hunting. Now, "comfortable" does not mean "perfect", but an M4-kinda with a free float quad, good flip irons and a quick-detach magnifying optic as well as a decent set of aftermarket stocks would go very, very far towards being a jack of all targets.

====
EDIT: 11:31PM

Couldn't get two spare seconds to rub together at the shop todsy, plus it rained and the rifle case has to go in the bed of the truck. I need a bigger truck, one with a back seat.

Actually I've been working on that, but it'll be a while :)

Woohoo!

2008-12-30T22:28:00.001-05:00

Spacegun runs like a top! It was the RIA frame causing the problem the whole time.

After a short chat with one of our resident gunsmiths, I took advantage of a slow moment and detail stripped the frame. What I was after was the disconnector; the advice was that if the disconnect made contact with the magazine, it could be enough to hang it up. So, I carefully and slowly used a fine file to whittle away the surface that sticks out into the mag well until it was relieved and smooth as silk.

And yet it still showed the malfunction. I took it back apart again, looked over everything carefully... and determined the trigger bar was riding the magazine pretty hard, it was warped a bit. Bent it square, filed some burrs off, slid it back in... hesitation. Hrmm. Repeatably. So I removed a little bit more material at a time until it fit smoothly, no drag yet no play. Reassembled the frame, tried to replicate the problem again... and couldn't. Success!

The acid test came on the range, and the mechtech CCU performed flawlessly. Case closed. Soon though I want to re-disassemble the frame and put some manner of coating on the bits I filed to avoid rust later on.

Now, getting the thing working wasn't the big success. The big success was, I'd never detail stripped a 1911 before, and had only glanced at instructions how to about 6 hours before. What a beautiful design :) The only catch is, you can't expect a $399 version of it to run perfectly without *some* work... and now, I feel comfortable enough to venture building a new frame for the slide and barrel I have, without assistance. I will need to email Mechtech back soon, and let them know it's not their upper with the issue.

New blood....

2008-12-30T17:05:00.000-05:00

Since it's payday and everything else is sorted out, I went on the hunt and have two scopes coming in the mail, eventually. I found a Tasco Pronghorn 2.5x32 for the NEF rifle, and I've got a Bushnell 3x9-32 on the way for the Marlin .22.

Not even $60 in 'em. Nice. So we've gone from cheap no-name scopes to cheap "name" scopes, and I hope these stick, otherwise I'm reaching right for the Nikon Prostaff and Leupolds.

Troubles

2008-12-30T08:42:00.000-05:00

My MechTech CCU is giving me a headache. I have two major issues going on;

1 - It has failure to fire malfunctions with anything more than 7-8 rounds in the magazine. I'm still diagnosing the why but the what is pretty clear, the disconnector is somehow hanging up... first round fires, the bolt cycles, strips the next cartridge and gets it into the chamber no problem, hammer is cocked, safeties in fire position, ease finger forward for reset.... nothing. I have to run the bolt, ejecting a perfectly fine cartridge, to get it to fire again, and then it FTFs again. I get every other shot until there's 7-8 left and it runs like a top.

This is more likely an issue with the frame than it is the CCU though; I need to do two things for "proper" troubleshooting... I need to borrow another frame for a bit, either another double stack or a single with an extra strong spring, and I need to remember to dig the original slide and magazine for the RIA frame and shoot it as a pistol.

2 - the base level stock is downright damned uncomfortable for me. By all means, spring for either the extending stock or the AR collapsible stock adapter, I'll be getting one of either shortly, or making something custom for myself. It looks easy enough to do...

Hey!

2008-12-25T10:49:00.001-05:00

Ho ho ho. :)

====

Side note: I was just looking at my bound book. I bought my first gun on February 16, 2004.

Before that, I had little interest or real knowledge.

Amazing what can be done in 4 years, yes? 4 more firearms and I'll pass the 50 mark.

Provenance.

2008-12-22T22:36:00.000-05:00

After some inspection and a short internet search, I know what I've got as far as the M16A1 upper goes.

It's a late '71 to 1974 production Colt, 1/12 twist chrome bore. This is from the marking "C MP B" on the barrel.

That's about all I've got for tonight, I'm pooped.

Failure is success.

2008-12-17T22:52:00.000-05:00

The NCStar experiment comes to a close in failure. The initially good-looking 4x30 scope shot on the paper right out of the box, elevation dead on and windage 2" right at 25 yards. I go to adjust... nothing moved. I didn't overtorque the rings either, it's just flat busted. The NEF itself performed flawlessly, interlocking shots at 25 yards with some cast-off Rem 125 JSP .357mag I found.

Haven't tried the .22 scope yet, but my spirits toward it have darkened. I did notice that the BSA scope I had on there is *exactly the same*, just better dressed and with a longer tube for the magnification feature.

The mech-tech is a partial success; cranking on the red dot a bit got it where I can see the hit on the paper while aiming, but I stopped there with other issues to deal with... with the mag loaded more than 7-8 rounds it doesn't disconnect the trigger properly. Odd. Less than that though, and it runs like a scalded dog, very little recoil and incredibly controllable. That stock, however, will have to go... even with very little shock I've got a red patchwork on the front of my shoulder where it rubbed around. I need to find something that lowers the cheek weld/raises the body of the carbine, it's very hard to aim comfortably and I don't want to elevate the sight.

Win some, lose some... and I can say with certainty that the Chinese scopes are indeed junk after all; I just wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt, and for $19 I got my answer. If I ever feel like it, I'll get a warranty replacement and see if it was just a bad unit or if recoil killed it by trying it out with light .38 specials instead of warm-hot .357mag.

SILVER LINING:

Asides from the busted scope, on top of the NEF rifle is a nice set of Warne 1" high-profile quick-detach rings. I'm already set up for whatever else I put on, provided it's a 1" tube. Pricey, but very sturdy.

The Marlin 444 got your usual $20 set of Weaver scope-scratcher single side clamp rings. Again, carefully tightened with finger and thumb only on a regular screwdriver, no tube-crushing here.

I also took the opportunity to toss a few rounds through my freshly-repaired 50's M&P, and lead the bejeesus out of my Ruger SP101 by shooting 18 rounds of old .32S&W. Looked like there were two steps in each chamber afterwards, just horrible. Fun though :) I would have stepped out with Frankengun but it was here and I was there...

Scopes are here.

2008-12-12T21:17:00.000-05:00

I'm actually rather impressed. I bought a couple NCStar scopes on OpticsPlanet.com for super-cheap, expecting something to play with for a while until I figured out exactly what scopes to go looking for what gun. I may actually be stuck with these.

First is a 4x20 .22 rifle scope with rings. It feels fairly solid, but the adjusting mechanism is in a block that's screwed to the tube from the outside. Doesn't look bad, but I can foresee some possible issues. It still "feels" better than the cheap BSA that's on the Marlin 60 now, which came from walmart and cost twice this did. The tube and optics are good and solid, picture's clear, only beef I have quality-wise is finding some flash around the inside of the hole where the adjusting wheels are. Cost: $8.

Second is a compact 4x30 for the NEF. This is solid... appears to be nitrogen filled, again nice and bright with clear reticle, no quibbles over the level of detail. The lenses are coated, which I didn't expect. Adjusters are 1/4MOA per click, reticle is a P4 "sniper", all in all I'm pleased. Cost: $19. $19!

If they survive and perform, I'm stuck with 'em, and that may not be a bad thing. Even if they don't last I may still be stuck with 'em, they both have a lifetime warranty.

Not a Leupold or even a Nikon by any means, but for low-recoil, 50-100 yard plinking, I think they'll do.

Fast answers to fast questions

2008-12-07T23:16:00.001-05:00

Some Q&A that's occurred on the blog over the last few months:

1 - Why .32 Magnum in a snub for a carry gun?

Several reasons. First, I wanted a little extra capacity. Second, I'd studied up on the round itself and was rather impressed with it's capabilities (as far as a .312 bullet goes). The load I carry should be capable of pushing a 100gr hollowpoint to 1000fps, even with the tiny littel barrel. Third, followup shots are faster, since the recoil is less. When I first started carrying it, I proved this to myself by unloading the revolver full of Federal's 85gr load into a 4" circle at 7 yards in about 15 seconds. Could have been faster, but the accuracy would have suffered... but a human target at 7 yards would have accepted a lot of suffering and still been suffering. Fourthly... it's a little odd, perfect for Doc Strangegun :)

2 - "Now for a question that ties this and an earlier post together. Any recommendations on a scope for a Marlin 1894 in .357?" Well, if I'd had my druthers I'd have a 2x20 or 2x30 fixed power with the same ballistics marked reticle on the .444. I'm not big into optics, yet... but from what I gather, a 2x or 3x fixed is just about perfect for hundred yard shooting, and that's what most .357 is going to be. Any more power, and the field of view is going to suffer, as well as light levels. That said, there's a compact 4x30 coming in the mail which will live on top os my NEF .357. That's slightly overkill; but what I wanted foremost was a nice big aperture for light collection, and the fact that the scope was well reviewed and only $25 helped it along.

3 - "Please do as much testing as you can with your new .357 handi-rifle and publish the results." Ok, not really a question, but the rifle is in the shop, and I've already shot it... and it has impressively negligible recoil and an alright trigger for a cheap out-of-the-box smokepole.

4 - "What's the provenance on that upper? It's got a lot of...character." (In reference to November, AR15 assembled with A1 upper) Well, I'm not sure how to check, but it's supposed to be a vintage original A1 upper. If someone could clue me in on how to check, I'd be grateful.

5 - "What's the PPSh kit for? Building a semi conversion somehow?" Yes. Unfortunately, "somehow" is operative, as apparently I'm ahead of the curve on this one and may be sitting on it for a while until an "easy" receiver and barrel kit roll along.

Christ, I went back to May, and that's it? You people need to ask more questions :)

Did I mention...

2008-12-05T08:20:00.000-05:00

Did I mention that alongside the scope that arrived wednesday was my Tennessee handgun carry permit?

Finally. Yes, I waited a long, long time to get one... mostly because it wouldn't be that useful.

See, I'm drowning in work. I have been for years... I wake up in the morning and head for federal property, no guns allowed. As well, for years I've left that property and headed for the gun shop, private property, with the owners explicit permission to grab my S&W 432 in it's paddle holster and arm myself. And then I put that in the locker so it's available the next day, and I go home. Two, may three hours a week I'm puttering around in a grocery store in the "good" part of town. And when home, well, you've seen the collection, and at least two of those are ready condition 1 at any given time, on me or not. I don't go "out" . I don't wander around the city on foot. I don't drive a particularly valuable or even theft-attractive vehicle.

But the possibility always remained, so there's the permit. Coverage where lawful can now be at 100%.

The usual new permit-holders anxieties? I don't think they apply. I'm not particularly worried about "being made" and I've always wandered around with my eyes open (most of the time). What I am worried about? Forgetting... that one day getting almost all the way to work and remembering, to turn around and go home and empty the truck before heading in, drastically late since it's 50 minutes one-way. I like my job, for the most part, as well as liking my freedom and not having a felony charge leveled on me for an innocent mistake. But, that's an anxiety, not a truth; just one more sliver of responsibility tossed my way that I'll keep up with just as well as the rest of them.

In reality though, all this really means to me is when I go to the grocery store on the weekends I can toss one more piece of kit in my pocket and be truly prepared for the worst, instead of mostly prepared and lacking.

sigh.

2008-12-04T15:04:00.000-05:00

Ok, firstly, Cabelas rocks... I found one of their Pine Ridge scopes set up specifically for .444 Marlin, and it was on sale.

And not only that, they shipped ASAP without a hitch. All I need now are rings and time to zero it in.

Yes, I know that's a lot of scope for a .444, but the aperture is huge, the reticle is set up with ballistic marks, and field of view should be outstanding since I'm leaving it in 3x permanently. Did I mention it was $50?

Now, the dejected sighing part. Yesterday I called the company responsible for sending me the ITM AK74 receiver, since it has been squarely a month. This time, I got someone reasonable, who said it left on the tenth. Wha? So I scour the boxes at the range, and find one from the initials of the company, with nothing close to my name on it. Pop it open; there it is... one receiver, stamped, pre-finished, looks to be well hardened, says 7.62 on the side.

*blink*.

Yeah, they sent me the wrong one, and thanks to some jerkoff telling me it'd be weeks before it arrived, it's now well past the point of no replacements available for months. I'll be keeping it anyways... a $60 AK receiver is still no poor deal, even if it's not what I wanted. But dammit, no receiver for the '74! My options are to either make a plate or guides for the 74 mag in the 47 receiver, wait until 74s show up again, or bend a 74 flat up and make my own. None are terribly attractive options.

At least I got word that the RIA pistol is only a week or two off, and I should have an NEF rifle very, very soon. The only thing left to wait for will be the two el-cheapo NcStar scopes that are on backorder. Oh, and the PPsh41 kit arrived yesterday too.

New toys keep rolling in. Or not.

2008-11-29T15:50:00.000-05:00

So, in the pantheon of CZ there's now:

CZ-27
CZ-52
CZ-70
CZ-75B compact
CZ-75B .40S&W compact
CZ-82
Tanfoglio TZ-75 Compact
EAA Witness .45 Compact

And yet, there are still holes... 38, 85, 97, some of the more exotic pre-war variants like the 24, 26, a Duo, maybe even some of the funkier pocket guns with folding triggers... I don't have a full-size 75 at all either, though the 85 would fill the niche.

CZ's making polymer frame 75s now too, which complicates matters. And the RAMI. Oh, and the CZ40. And the 50. And the rifles.

I have planning to do. Oh, and the "Holy Grail"? CZ made a copy of a Colt revolver in the 50's for security police work. I heavily doubt any came this way, but that's why it's a Holy Grail gun.

====

Updates on the other incoming items: The receiver on order for the AK74 along with the papasha parts kit are delayed, with no reason other than "we're busy". I'll be calling them next week. The RIA Hi-cap was not even in stock when I ordered it, and will be a week or more. That company was honest about it when I called, and it's enough of a deal that I'm not going to bitch too loudly, but come on... have something in hand when you advertise it or at least say it's not on-hand, ok?

Oh, and I stumbled upon an acceptable deal on an NEF .357 handi, new for $228. I got word it shipped UPS ground wednesday... so I went ahead and ordered three scopes, two cheap NCstars and a Cabela's .444Marlin scope. The former two, one is for the Marlin to replace the supercheap BSA I have on it (this one's a nicer fixed 4x20) and the other was a compact 4x30 for the NEF, since that doesn't have sights at all.

Unfortunately immediately after my order, the company I got the NCstars from sent me a "Oh, sorry, both backordered" email. Dammit! I'm not one to say "there oughtta be a law" but jeez, this is so widespread there's no chance of social pressure fixing it, and if there's one PEEP of "oh, price went up" on ANY of my orders I'm finding a lawyer, because the orders were taken and my money accepted. None of the companies I used have a history of that though, so really all I'm in for is a wait.

A wait, and a stretch of time my long-awaited NEF .357 will be useless. *grumble*. I may toss the red dot from the MechTech on there so I can use it while I wait for everything else.

StrangeGun moment of the day

2008-11-22T17:35:00.000-05:00

1. Get a front-stuffer of .58 caliber or larger
2. Get a teeny camera with a radio transmitter
3. design a sabot'ed finned "dart"
4. Kiss it goodbye with a much-reduced load, watch the insanity

Problems: needs a HUGE range, or a parachute. Spring loaded fin carriers to stay closed around the recovery device under aero pressure until it slows enough to release it? Maybe.

Could do this with a little air cannon as well.

Just something to ponder.

==================

You know, the only real thing left on the "solid" wish list is a .357 single shot rifle.

Don't know where to go with that, though. NEF apparently disco'd theirs, and everything else is a fortune. Maybe it's time to sit and watch the auctions for a while...

What is, and what will never be...

2008-11-21T18:48:00.000-05:00

It's not happening. Here's a copy of the last email I sent to the MechTech guy;
========

---,

I’ve measured up and a shim .045” wide and .145” tall, attached so as to leave a .125” gap from the side of the inside rib of the bolt would do it, radiused down flush from .300” behind the bolt face and staying at full height .600”, radiused down to flush towards the rear with what figures out to be probably a 55mm diameter slitting saw (1.55” secant, .325” chord height, maybe… never was too good at math)

That shim could be wider but those measurements leave room for the attachment safety spring to be left alone with enough room to work properly. It’d have been a lot easier to measure too if the central rib (I don’t know the right nomenclature, sorry) were the same height, the two are different depths as measured from the center of the firing pin channel.

As thin as that shim is, I don’t think it’ll just be a simple addition, I see tab slots and silver solder in it’s future. I’m probably not going to do it, but there’s the numbers if you all decide to do something with it on the machining end.

Photos for reference:
http://www.posterboard.tv/firearm_misc/para-ccu

=====

The added bit won't be strong enough without drastic measures, and I don't want to modify the CCU that deeply (tab/slot fits, silver solder).

But, the RIA frame is identical to that one, but in single action that I *KNOW* will function, so all will be well in StrangeGunLand :-D

Oh, one more thing...

2008-11-20T06:05:00.000-05:00

The tactimarlin paid a trip to the gunsmiths a few days ago as well. And I got it back doing the same things it was doing...

See, it eats any old .22LR just fine, but it EATS CCI stingers, literally... slams the bolt into the side of the cartridge so hard it bunches two square holes.

Well, I'm just figuring now that it's just not compatible, and that's fine. So in reality, I put it in the shop because *all* I'd tried were stingers. Whoops :) Seeing now as I'm in possession of 500+ rounds of Fed Premium, it won't be an issue again for a long time.

Ammo day... was a bust. I spent ~13 hours in bed yesterday with murderous sinuses. 30-40% humidity here, 25% at job#1, not cool for the old noggin.

====

Ah, one more one more thing. The CCU and the LDA may have a chance or reconciliation. I've been in conversations with a Para guy on M1911.org and the MechTech engineers via email, and I *might* be able to fashion a little metal chunk to behave like the trigger reset cut in the Para slide. If not (or I decide to take the easy, money-throwing route), I can either get a Para "gunsmith kit" which is a ~$400 dressed frame, OR I can drop $400 on an RIA 1911 hi-cap, which is fashioned after the Para frame and will take my mags. Oh, and will leave me with a brand-new .45 slide and barrel assembly, which I will obviously later on throw a standard 1911 frame at and end up with (queue dramatic music) my first REAL 1911, matching my intentions of BUILDING MY OWN. Hee :)

Yeah, I know the RIA frames are cast, but I note that this frame will be permanently assigned to the CCU, and it's only task is to hold the magazine, my hand, and the triggery bits in the right position to repeatedly go "bang". Hell, I could do that with a chunk of wood (and I haven't forgotten the idea of trying that with an AR upper, either).

=====

Damn.... just talked myself into it. I'm still going to see what I can do with the LDA, but that RIA hi-cap is on it's way to the armory.

And my credit card, it *bleeeds*. I ought to be back to normal (zero debt) by May though, earlier if I push hard.