reasonablenut

S&W JM (don't ask me what frame it is)

2008-08-05T20:46:00.000-07:00

As the leave of absence has left us with a lot of new guns, I'm going to work backwards.

The Old Man owns a S&W 25. It's big; it's accurate; but you can't really carry it in New Mexico summer heat.

As a carry revolver, he chose the S&W JM. I looked it up, it's the Jerry Miculek 625.
Believe it or not, I haven't shot it yet, so I can't attest one way or the other.

As opposed to standard S&W fare, the butt is rounded off. The Old Man bought a Mernickel cross dwaw holster.

All reports have been positive. I will report back when I've shot it.

Couple more pics.

Here's the video: (keep in mind, moon-clips are sweet)(and that's not my dad.)

Oddball Ammo

2008-07-23T18:41:00.000-07:00

Over the last 4-6 years, I have let my domicile degrade into a complete shithole (Kirk can attest to this, as he's seen the chaos.) Over the last 6 weeks I have been doing some heavy cleaning and a complete overhaul.

As a result, I've found a shitload of loose rounds. I don't know if their commercial or reloads; I have no idea why they were left alone as opposed to being catalogued with their collegues; some might be hot, some might be weak.

Regardless, I've decided on a potpourri shooting day to clear this shit out. I found .45, 9mm, 12 gauge, and .223. I'm taking a Mini-14 for the .223 because I think that has less risk than shooting weird shit through an AR. 12 gauge is, well, 12 gauge. I figure a Glock should work for the 9 and my H&K USP (designated for +p+ rounds) for the burnoff .45.

All in all, shooting the crap should take about 20 minutes. If there are squibs or other problems, it's going to take longer.

I should clean my house more often.

Thanks

2008-07-23T18:39:00.000-07:00

Thank you for the welcome return. There are fuckers out there that I didn't even realize they ever read my shit. I appreciate the warm welcome and the condolences.

Good people, I guess is all I have to say.

Hopeful Return

2008-07-19T04:30:00.000-07:00

This blog has been dead.

Hat-tip to people who've kept me on their blogroll for the last 8 months. I've swapped out computers and lost links, so I had to find my blog again. The email account expired and had to be re-established. Any mail from the last 4 months is probably lost.

Anyway, apologies. I got lost on a dying thing. Finding out someone is going to die, taking care of them until they die, watching them die, and then figuring out what the fuck to do with them. On top of that, dealing with the, oh so, compassionate fuckers that just make this sort of thing more difficult.

I haven't shot a whole lot since April. We've got a lot of new hardware and worked in a tactical pistol course at Whittington, so I've got plenty of shit to report on.

Hopefully, this blog will come alive now.

Whittington II

2008-02-04T19:08:00.000-08:00

First day up there was high-power rifle. My father, brother, and me were all shooting .308 rifles. At the time, I was waiting for some work to be completed on my .308, so I used my father's .308 Remington Classic with a Nikon scope.

The Old Man was shooting his replica M40 with a sweet Leupold Mil-Dot on the top.

My brother was shooting a Remington 700 with a composite stock and a sweet Leupold, as well. The barrel isn't that heavy...yet.

We scoped the 1,000 yard line to begin with and then started at a more modest distance and worked our way back. Whittington is actually an old coal mine, so all of the berms are made of shitty, reject coal shards. That's why the ground looks weird. I would also recommend that you take a mat, as they are a bit uncomfortable to lie on.

This was the view from the 1,000 yard line. 100 stations and 100 target stands. 4 guys had it all to ourselves for the whole day. It cost $45.

This is my brother and I at a distance I don't remember. I'm the asshole on the left and he's the guy with a sweatshirt over his head. I have since bought him a Tubbs hat that I originally saw modeled up at Boomershoot.

The boy shot that way all day; and he didn't do bad. Better than me and the Old Man.

My brother trying to look like Muhjadeen again.

The facility was top notch. Target stands were in good shape, the pulleys were completely functioning, and they even had tape to paste your targets up.

I cannot recommend this facility enough. The staff were helpful and concerned. They weren't range-rule frenzied and only came by to make sure everything was working and your day was going as planned.

End of the day was picking up steel. After that, we cooked some steaks and drank some beer and bullshitted on the porch. Everybody was out by 10:00 at the latest.

All in all, it was a good day. The instructor didn't really know what we wanted to learn, probably because we never told him. He was a bit of a glorified spotter.

We worked our way back from 300 yards to 1,000. At the point we were at 1,000, my brother banged steel twice and I banged it once, with the Old Man's rifle. The loaner I was using (with the Nikon glass [which is fine under 700 yards]) ran out of MOA somewhere between 700 and 800.

The Old Man was knackered and didn't hit on shit. There's this year, so I'm not worried about. And this time we're not starting at 300.

Anyway, that was the first day of three. More to follow. Video, if I can figure that shit out.

Whittington I

2008-02-04T00:59:00.000-08:00

I can't actually post the whole thing. So here is the beginning.

We signed up for a 2-day course and a fuck-around day at the long range.

This post is about the lodging ($24 a day, per head.)

The shower was better than the one in my house. There was a fridge, stove/range, coffee maker, and the beds were immaculate (although I rolled off once because of a dream or...well, something.)

The first day we shot at the the 1,000 yard high-power range.

This was our view of the range off of the back porch of the cabin. It was a 90 second drive to get there and the instructor said it was better than Fort Perry.

It is a 100 station range, measured to a 1,000 yards, and we had four guys on it. Pretty fucking cool.

Evenings, we would grill some shit and hang out on the patio. One night we screwed around with a long range training program on a laptop.

As I smoke, and that is verboten in the cabins (especially with weirdo Barrett people around ((more on those fuckers later)) I spent a lot of time on the porch. The stars were beautiful and I like the fact that no one could fuck with me.

Evenings you'd see all kinds of game wandering past. I think the second night, we saw a wounded antelope going by at 60 mph. All bets were the poor fucker wasn't making it through the night.

Whatever your interests are, I think Whittington can accomodate you. It's a good fucking time. The best vacation I have ever taken.

Rest of the report to follow.

Mea Culpa

2008-01-28T00:13:00.000-08:00

Admittedly, I've been incommunicado for about 6 months.

I've had some weird shit to deal with and couldn't find the time to blog.

I think that's done.

We've got a ton of shit to post if I can get off of my ass. I hope that happens, but I can't promise it. See how she goes.

Slipping on by on LSD, Friday Night Trouble-Bound

2008-01-27T23:43:00.000-08:00

Tony Couldn't Fly, Tony Died

2008-01-18T20:17:00.000-08:00

NY Times BS

2007-10-22T23:09:00.000-07:00

I've been away for awhile. Just because I haven't blogged doesn't mean I haven't done a shitload of really interesting shooting.

This awoke me from my slumber. The New York Times has decided to not charge money for access for its opinion page. I'm not sure that was a good idea as far as my personal mental health goes.

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/23/opinion/23tue3.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&oref=slogin

Dumbass sentence #1:

...a groundbreaking measure signed into law earlier this month by the state’s Republican governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, offers a realistic hope for bringing more murderers, gang members and other armed criminals to justice.

Think they have those weird, ESP bitches from "Minority Report?" Think they have the future mapped out like those outlaws in the "Terminator" series?

Alas and alack, no.

"Under the new measure — the Crime Gun Identification Act — manufacturers of semiautomatic weapons will have to equip new guns sold in California starting in 2010 with inexpensive technology known as microstamping. This process involves using lasers to create microscopic markings that record the make, model and serial number of a semiautomatic handgun onto its firing pin and other internal surfaces. These markings automatically transfer onto the bullet shell casing when a gun is fired, providing a valuable lead for police investigators when, as commonly happens, casings from the shooter’s weapon are found at a crime scene."

Holy Mother of Jesus, I feel better. God knows it would take a PhD to defeat any of the measures the Kindergarden Cop and his leftist cohorts have devised for the criminal element. I'm sure I could never figure out how to use a file, especially if I didn't have a job and could devote whole days to the endevour.

Why are people who write for newspapers so stupid?

Range Report

2007-08-30T19:46:00.000-07:00

Just because we haven't been blogging doesn't mean we haven't been shooting or scoring.

We got out this afternoon in anticipation of the Whittington thing. We brought 3 rifles, but ended up only shooting the M-40. We ran handloaded match 168 grain and 175 grain (both Sierra.) Both were flawless. Based on advice I've received lately, the 175 is better for long distance. My experience today did not back that theory.

In addition, we shot Aussie, South African, and Lake City rounds (all 147 grain.) The Aussie did great, as it has consistently shown in both bolts and sem-autos. The SA seemed to be a little hotter, but wouldn't extract. Lake City was acceptable, but nowhere near where the Aussie was.

All were accurate, but that's not a reflection on the cartridge; more the gun.

I've broken down and started loading for a single gun. I like chamber-blown Federal Gold Match and then I can load it for the rifle in question.

The Creedmoor spotting stand is something I should have bought years ago. It is stable and has adjustment knobs you won't find on standard tripods.

More to follow.

Whittington & Creedmoor

2007-08-28T20:48:00.000-07:00

We missed Boomershoot this year. It's a really long drive and we did it straight through last year. New Mexico to Idaho is about 1,000 miles flat and the Old Man can't sleep in a moving vehicle.

As such, we missed vacation this year. In lieu of that, we've scheduled 3 days at Whittington. Ironically, this incredible site is a mere 2 1/2 hours away from where I live and I've never spent the effort to go there.

We're doing a customized class, instructed by this gentleman. We're doing three days (the Old Man, my brother, and me.) First two will be a practical pistol course and the the third is "long range precision target shooting", or something else I might call it.

Given the occasion, and what I learned at Boomershoot last year, we realized that the spotting scope stand we are currently using is largely useless in the Southwest.

Thus, I actually forked out some cash and got a Creedmoor stand (ala, the God Scope, for those who know.)

Whittington reports should follow regularly, as I seem to be out my, what Porta's Cat calls, "I don't want to blog, so kiss my ass." phase I seemed to be going through.

.45 Bullet Shortage

2007-08-26T22:49:00.000-07:00

There seems to be an extreme shortage of .45 bullet availability. Midway has zero FMJ bullets. Every other outlet I've checked is out as well. One can't blame this on the war or law enforcement, as that seems to be entirely 9mm.

So where the fuck is all this .45 going?

Merv Griffin & Dairy Products Gone Bad

2007-08-12T13:31:00.000-07:00

MAJOR UPDATE: First post in a month and I completely fucked up the facts. Ed McMahon was the asshole with the dead moldy dog. Apologies. The comic is still cool, though.

With apologies to Deb, I've been on a bit of a hiatus. Call it dog days of summer or whatnot, but I just haven't been that interested in writing. Shooting-wise there is a buttload of shit I could be blabbing about. Just haven't been in the mood.

In any case, the passing of Merv Griffin made me wistful. I'm an insurance adjuster and he was the first front page motherfucker that sued an insurance company over a mold claim. Mold killed his dog. KILLED HIS DOG.

Then I got a bit more remiscent and remembered one of my favorite underground comics of all time:

Hopkins Flag (or Gadsden)

2007-07-07T23:31:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Joe's Crabby shack, I've found that it appears that a man bearing my family name, might have been partly responsible for this:

I guess Benjamin Franklin also contributed, in his way, to the promulgation of the rattlesnake as an American icon. Fucking weird; read about it.

Sportsman's Warehouse Sucks

2007-07-02T19:17:00.000-07:00

They really are the worst.

A few weeks back, we needed Large Pistol Primers. We checked with the local retailers and they were all out. Thus, you figure you hit the big box. I mean, everybody uses Large Pistol Primers. Shit, most guys who load just do it to cut down on .45 cost. Well, Sportsman's Warehouse didn't have shit. We took it as a token that it was not meant to be.

Fast forward a month. The Old Man and I went down there to pick up an emergency box of .45 round nose. They didn't have it, of course. I also noticed the primer section was even more eviscerated than when we'd last been there. Do you have a buyer? Do you stock?

Fuck you anyway. You wasted shitloads of my time and you are useless.

When is Cabela's opening?

Enfield refinish

2007-07-01T20:27:00.000-07:00

About a year ago, the Old Man bought an Enfield for about $160 from Big 5 Sports. It was consistently a great shooter, even though it was the cheapest rifle we've ever bought. As such, there was some knashing of teeth on how much money should be spent refurbishing it. Finally, it was decided that such a good shooter could not be left to degenerate further and we shipped it to Dean's Gun Restoration. Following are the results.

If you have the means and an old military rifle that shoots like a motherfucker, I can't recommend Dean's enough. Fair price for some really awesome craftsmanship.

Cops

2007-07-01T20:24:00.000-07:00

Our boys in blue seem to do okay if an old lady leads them to the crime. Otherwise, I'm not impressed.

If the link demands log-in it's "bh3323899" and the password is "bthopkins"

CMP Carbines - Furniture Re-Store

2007-06-23T10:54:00.000-07:00

As previously, Ben and I both got CMP carbines. First step was to do something about the stocks as they were both pretty ugly at first look. Ben’s was Italian birch, pretty badly dented. Looking at mine, I couldn’t tell what is was - it appeared to have been varnished and was completely black

The Italian seemed to need the most work so I started with that. Stripped the original finish with Formby’s finish remover (great stuff as is conditions the wood along with stripping any old finish).

Next step was to take out dents as much as possible. Used a damp cloth and a steam iron and that raised most of the dents with the exception of the really bad ones. Left the damp cloth on for a couple of hours, not enough to soak the wood but just enough to keep it damp. One last iron session and we were good to go.

I had originally wanted a lighter finish, but the stock had a lot of hand sweat stains and other water stains all along the stock, so I would up using a Spanish Walnut, which is an extremely dark stain. The first pass resulted in an almost black rifle. Left it a day to let it dry and we were on to the final finish.

I personally prefer a Tung Oil finish versus boiled linseed or any of the various oil finishes. The low gloss Tung gives a satin finish but also a harder surface finish that resists water and sweat stains. If you need to fix it a bit after time, you just apply another coat and steel wool it, turns out good as new.

After four coats of tung oil, light steel wool in between, we had a much better looking stock and about as well as we were going to do with the Italian stock.

On to my stock which was by far the worst looking of the two. After the application of the Formby’s finish remover, we found that we had an original GI black walnut stock! Needless to say, this did not take any stain. We just smoothed her out with some fine sand paper and steel wool and were ready for the final tung oil finish. Word of caution - if you want to preserved the cartouches on a stock you have to less than enthusiastic with the sandpaper and steel wool.

Four coats of tung oil later, and we had a damn good looking walnut stock.

Sometimes the ugly duckling turns into a swan. Start to finish about one week for both.

The Old Man

CMP M-1 Carbines

2007-06-12T22:40:00.000-07:00

My carbine came in Monday and the Old Man's showed up yesterday (Tuesday.) There were were marked differences between the two Inlands and the one my old man scored a few years ago.

These were the deliveries. The top one is the Old Man's and the lower one is mine. His barrel seems to have more rifling evident and his receiver is tighter in its stock than mine is. His furniture was in a bit shittier state than mine was. The Italians actually varnish rifle stocks. So much for the whole Italian craftmanship thing.

We checked both muzzles with .30 carbine rounds and both seemed to check out. As many dinks and shit on the stocks, the muzzles appear to be well taken care of.

The stocks come without the oilers (what I would call a sling detente) or slings.

I think the Old Man is thinking about doing extensive furniture work on these guns, i.e. sanding this wood down to grain and building the oil finish back up from there.

Regardless, our order was in to CMP the second day they were accepting orders. They sold out of rifles about 18 days later. This was only the sale of Infields (of which 40% of WWII carbines were manufactured by.) Later in the year they plan on releasing Saginaws, IBMs, Rockolas, etc. Given the price and time frame that the Inlands were dispensed with, if anyone wants a shot at the lesser manufacturers, get your checks ready and make sure your CMP status is up to date.

S&W Update

2007-06-10T03:58:00.000-07:00

Scroll down to understand the original problem.

Smith sent me a label and I got it out a week ago Thursday. I got delivery on the pistol this last Tuesday, and I was thinking "hot shit, these people have customer service down."

However, when I opened it, the pistol did not have an installed plunger tube.

Needless to say, I called. The lady on the phone was really nice and admitted that they fucked up. Got a new label and sent it off again. Will report on future developments.

S&W Troubles

2007-05-30T19:57:00.000-07:00

As promised, we made it out to the range last week. I only brought 1911s. It was a good day and we got some work done as far as sighting.

The Smith (aka S&W SW1911PD) started locking the slide after every shot. The old man shot in without a hitch. The conclusion was that I like touching guys butts and that I was riding the frame with the slide, i.e. making me a likely John Edwards voter.

As I sat down to clean the gun on Friday night, some shit popped off. The staked plunger tube had shorn off of the frame. The reason it worked for the old man is because he doesn't shoot with his thumb on the safety. I however, apply pressure which apparently locks the slide back once your plunger tube is no longer a part on your gun.

Needless to say, it is a new gun and I don't want to screw around with it, as much shit as I have on my plate. I contacted S&W and they sent me a UPS label. Vague on time, but I'm reserving judgment.

It is still a beautiful gun and I want it back as quick as possible. I use this as my back-up carry gun and I don't like it being out of the house or not on my persons.

Will report back on the S&W treatment.

M-40

2007-05-23T23:19:00.000-07:00

The rifle I referenced in the previous post, is an M-40 Marine Sniper rifle. Remington did a limited run of about a thousand, (not that there are that many originals.) It was weird, in that they didn't advertise this, even on their website's "Special Edition" spot.

The Old Man found one. It is .308, with a huge barrel, and a steel butt-plate. The box it came in is probably a collector's item and we tried to stay true to the spirit by mounting a Zeiss 3-9x scope (with Army mils, but you can't have everything.)

Hopefully, trial run should be tomorrow, unless there are 25 mph crosswinds. No point in sighting in those conditions.

Regardless, I'm shooting something tomorrow.

Scope Mounting

2007-05-21T20:37:00.000-07:00

I planned on making this a multiple post feature, but it didn't work out that way. New computer and I took a lot of pictures that were formated. This is what remains.

Here is the picture of the rifle in the rough. It is a bull barrel bolt, chambered in .308. This is, apparently, what Scout-snipers carried in the Vietnam war. I will attest that the barrel makes it inconvenient to shoot off-hand or even from a braced position. It is so fucking heavy, I don't think one could shoot it from anything but a rested position.

The barrel is like nothing I've ever seen. It is huge, unwieldy and demands a rest.

Originally, the point of this series was to show people that you don't have to waste the money to
take your rifle and scope to a gunsmith. Depending on who your gunsmith is, you will probably do a better job.

Pictured are alignment rings. These allow you to verify that your rings are matched to the diameter of the scope. I hoped to picture lapping tools and a piece by piece progression of the mount and rings.

Final pictures and range report will follow.

Range Report w/ Sights Bitch

2007-05-13T21:19:00.000-07:00

We made it out on Thursday. Good day all around, but before I get into details I need to bitch.

I brought out the Carry Gun (that's what it is called, it is actually a Colt XSE) and I intended to do a 300 round workout. I wasn't working on marksmanship, I was working on handling. Well 3 magazines into it, the fucking back sight came loose. No I didn't have the right Allen wrench and no I couldn't improvise; so it was useless to shoot it.

I'm not limiting it to the Colt, although I've yet to own a Colt that came out of the box with reliable sights. It seems most companies don't really give a shit about sights, at least on a civilian level. We've beat pins, loc-tited screws, and stippled dovetails. We've corrected most of them, but anything purchased in the last year is subject to scrutiny. The kind of scrutiny where one might question if you would bet your life on this gun.

It pisses me off that the civilian market is held in such contempt. Yes, we are not a big government contract and, yes, a lot of us wouldn't recognize the flaw if we owned the gun for 30 years. But some of us actually try to educate ourselves and know we're not hitting shit because the manufacterer refused to pay due attention to sight quality and installation (I'm especially talking about Colt.)

As such, I shot the carry for about 10 minutes. After that I shot my Glock 17 which worked the same way it always does. Reliable, but not a lot of fun to shoot.

My Old Man brought out the Model 29 and the Model 25-2; both of which were a lot of fun. The 25 was basically sighted in and he practiced double action shots, the idea being that a short, depressed man in sunglasses is not going to give you time to cock the fucking thing. His groups were good enough for me. Last time, it was about a 4 or 5" group at 12 yards. That should do the trick.

Also, I've taken to shooting at steel, whether the practice is rifle or pistol. I set up an 8" gong at 20 yards or so, and just practiced presentation and mostly reloads. Of course I was pissed off about the Carry sight, but blowing through 10 Glock magazines is a bit of a salve.

Finally, I scored the Carry sight when I sighted it in. As such, it was a matter of loc-titeing(?) the set screw into it. Hopefully that does the trick.

In other news, I bought the same gun Xavier did (the SW1911PD) and performed a lesser review than he puts out. I still don't understand the pinned extractor, but then I'm old school.