Merry Christmas!

Luke, Chapter II

1 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.
2 (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)
3 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.
4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)
5 To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.
6 And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.
7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.
8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. 

'Glory', indeed! May God bless each one of you as we offer our heartfelt wishes for a Merry Christmas!

Defining Artifacts

Throughout a man’s life, he passes through physical and spiritual trials that forge him into what he becomes. Some are easy and quickly forgotten. Some of them leave marks. We press on, holding fast to the things we believe in and hoping to finish with enough of us left to recognize.

Some of us go through a pile of guns over a lifetime. If we’re lucky, we eventually we find one that just speaks to us. In my case it was a .54 caliber Santa Fe Hawken; a testament to perseverance through hardship and hard use. If kindred spirits live in walnut and steel, this old rifle is surely inhabited by mine.

I found it languishing in a pawn shop and it cried out to me. I was an easy mark; I am weak for rust-browned, 1800’s  caplock firearms. I honestly couldn’t tell you who made it. Nearly all maker’s marks were filed away by a previous owner, to make it more authentic. He succeeded wonderfully, though I don't think he was a serious shooter. The rifle's proofmarks are all but illegible but they suggest Italian bloodlines; Pedersoli and Uberti have made excellent rifles of this type.

Despite its considerable potential, Santa Fe has been contrary to work with. The rear sight, for instance, was added as an afterthought and over a filler for the original dovetail. Both sights flopped around like a loose tooth, rendering accuracy all but unobtainable. Considerable effort has made them usable, but I'll eventually replace them with something authentic- and far more precise.

In the beginning, this rifle wouldn’t shoot. The muzzle was a mess and like my own ‘muzzle’ at times, negated whatever other good qualities it possessed. I eventually cut it back an inch and a half, to expose some good rifling. The effort was successful but I’ve got still a few saw marks to file out. Accuracy has been restored and the gun is now holding three inches for three shots at 100 yards.

The bore itself is an oddball, running .530" at the lands and .555" in the grooves.  It was rough as a cob and the Destroyer of Patches. Copious shooting and swabbing with 0000 steel wool, have smoothed it until uniform resistance is felt when ramming a ball down. It’ll work with either .520 or .530 ball, the former being easier loading and the latter being more accurate. No conventional .54 conical will fit it.

The lockwork is perfect. The set trigger breaks at about 1 ¾ pounds and the hammer precisely centers the nipple when it falls. The drum angles into the chamber and this is by far the most reliable standard caplock I’ve ever used. I have fired it in misting rain, snow and on hot days so humid that the smoke wouldn’t clear for the next shot. It simply does not misfire, even with the Triple Seven it prefers.

The stock fits like it was built for me alone. When I shoulder it the cheek piece melts into my face and directs recoil away from it; the sights fall directly under my eye. The tackwork is asymmetrical and reminiscent of the Indians who inhabited the land before me. My connection with them begins with my father, my mother and continues with my wonderful wife; all of us carry the blood and spirit of the Original Americans. When I carry Santa Fe up into the hardwood ridges, they all come along with me. Generations of hunters, warriors, patriots and pioneers live on with me in this old rifle.

The tackwork has personal significance. As my hand closes on the grip I feel five; one for each son and a daughter. The Cross reminds me that I am imperfect, in need of God’s forgiveness and mercy- made possible only through our Lord's sacrifice. Should I pass from this life in the solitude of those hardwoods, that Cross under my fingertips will provide solace in what lies beyond.

There’s a notch in the stock under the Cross. I didn’t put it there but to me, its meaning is clear. It signifies crucibles of smoke and fire and desperate but necessary actions; hazards undertaken by the few so the many might live out their lives in comfort and peace. That Notch is a tribute to  brave men and women who took up the gun in defense of self, others or  freedom.

And speaking of trials…it took months of sorting out the bore, crown, sights, patch thickness, ball sizes and powder charges to get old Santa Fe to make a holes where it looks, at one hundred paces. I despise inaccuracy and I hated it with a passion in this gun. I threatened to sell it, trade it or wrap it around a tree.

I could never bring myself to do any of them. I’d exile it off to a far corner and try my damndest ignore it. But the glow of the tacks would catch my eye, like the fire in my wood stove on this cold winter night. This ritual repeated itself until I found cures for its ills. I’ve grown even fonder of  the rifle and its place here is secure. When I put it down for the last time, I won’t need another one.

It is ironic that Santa Fe's 'questionable pedigree and numerous imperfections' run consistent with the courageous Americans who founded this country, conquered the wilderness, defeated its enemies- and are still fighting for it on this very day. Perhaps that's why I love early American firearms. They reek of courage, rugged individualism, risks taken for great causes- and the FREEDOM of the high country during a time when the only restraints on a man were those imposed by God and Nature.

May God bless this Nation and rekindle that fire in every American heart.

Missouri's 'Antler Point' Restriction 

(Re-posted from Nov. 2008. Keep up the pressure. This isn't going away until we make it go away.)

Beginning in 2004, the Missouri Department of Conservation began testing Antler Point Restrictions on hunters, as a deer management tool. In 2008 it was extended to 65 counties, comprising the upper 2/3 of the state. From MDC Online:

“The APR requires a buck to have at least 4 points on one side to be legal. The restriction applied to the archery season and all portions of the firearms season except the youth portion. The expectation was that restricting the bucks that could be taken would promote a larger doe harvest. An additional benefit of this restriction would be that more bucks survive longer and grow antlers large enough to be considered trophies by hunters.”

MDC's “Hunting tips for counties with antler-point restrictions”offers this sage advice- “Bring binoculars and give yourself plenty of time to count antler points before you take a shot. Wait for a buck that has at least four points on one side. Successful hunters wait for the best shot – when the deer turns broadside. Learn to recognize antlers from this view to minimize errors in the field.”

Right.

Now I am generally not a vocal critic of MDC and many of its recent changes have been good ones. The 'Telecheck' system eliminated the need to haul your deer across the county to a check station. Missouri deer hunters also enjoy one of the simplest 'legal firearms' descriptions on record.

Still- this Antler Point Restriction nonsense is for the birds.

First, APR stacks the odds against novice hunters- and as a father and husband who's been in on a number of 'first deer' I can tell you that these hunters need all the help they can get. Many of these are kids, out with Dad or Uncle Fred for their first deer hunt. Under the 'old rules' they'd see maybe 1-5 shootable deer per season; and they might get a safe, sure shot at only one of those. They are thrilled to get any deer at all and even a forkhorn buck is a big deal to them. APR deprives this vitally-important group of opportunities. New hunters are quite literally the future of hunting and the last thing we need is to discourage them.

Second, APR is a slap in the face to 'traditional hunters' who use iron-sighted .30-30's, military rifles and period firearms from 1830 forward. Folks, this is deer hunting at its finest and it is the essence of hunting in general. APR essentially requires that the traditional hunter adds a substantial set of binoculars to his kit; and spend more time 'glassing' than enjoying the nostalgia of the traditional hunt.

Third, APR turns a uniquely American test of hunting & shooting skills into an equipment race. We have done just fine with a 10 year old set of budget binoculars here and most of our 'deer guns' wear carefully-zeroed iron sights. The only 'scoped rifle in the outfit has a 4X on it, which has facilitated precise shots and instant kills at well over 200 yards. Now, by edict of the crowned heads at MDC, all of our optics are obsolete. I suppose we could run down to China-Mart and drop a grand on some new glass; but I am disinclined to have the state dictate how I spend my recreational dollar.

Fourth, APR does nothing to alleviate the hundreds of thousands of dollars in property damage and personal injury caused by deer each year, in Missouri. MDC obviously knows this because the Kansas City and St. Louis areas got a 'hall pass' on APR. Now, this would probably never occur to the Commission- but us 'dayum hillbillys' don't liked to wreck our pickups anymore than them high-falutin' city slickers do! Someone in my neck of the woods learned this first hand. By the third day of the season, there was a spike buck lying dead along 135 Highway, just south of US-50. He was doubtless passed over by hunters but he died just the same and somebody got a repair bill- thanks to APR.

My final complaint with APR is that it promotes the notion that deer hunting is all about 'points and trophies' rather than harvesting the winter meat. Every young deer hunter I've mentored, has been taught exactly the opposite. We've killed a few decent bucks over the years, but shooting a big rack was never the driving force behind the hunt. And frankly- 'an obsession with racks' has never been a character trait of the better hunters I've ever known. I hate to see MDC foster this kind of thinking. 

I have a grandson and two granddaughters; I looked forward to having the honor of taking them on their first deer hunt. I sincerely hope that the Missouri Department of Conservation mothballs this stupid 'antler point restriction' before that day comes.

Rossi's 'Little Big Gun': The 92 Carbine in .45 Colt

Rossi's copy of the 1892 Winchester has a long and successful history with US shooters and the 'Cowboy Action' craze insured that the little lever actions would stay popular here. Rossi has continued to improve them and the current guns are pretty darn good. They have excellent metallurgy that optimizes the strength inherent in the 92's design and the finish, on the examples I've handled, puts many US makers to shame.

I picked this one up at the annual 'Apple Fest Junk Sale' from a fella who had it on his table. It's a 16" Rossi 92 in .45 Colt, barely a year old and with nary a mark on it. The spot on the stock is a bug that lit there to get in the family album.

I didn't buy this right off because he wanted four bills for it, but when I priced around they were bringing well over that now (plus FFL & shipping, etc.) and this one came with a Steve Young spring, follower, safety plug & DVD, case, sling & swivels, barrel-mounted peep & original sights, box of ammo, 50 230 FMJ bullets, etc. Given the condition and all the extras, I don't feel like I got beat up too bad. Besides, it'll make a nice stablemate for the Old Vaquero depicted next to it.

Plinking off the hood of the pickup yesterday revealed that the gun's good for an inch at 50 yards, if I don't screw up too bad. Real 'accuracy work' will wait for the trigger to be cleaned up a tad. This carbine also feeds any bullet style slick as a whistle, from 240 grain Sierra JHC's to 325 grain Keith Semi-Wadcutters.

Does it have warts? Like all short-stocked guns this one boots me harder, with heavy loads, than it ought to. This makes me feel like a sissy when the same loads I shoot with impunity through my sixgun, get my attention when shot through this trapper. What I really need is something to slip or lace onto it to lengthen the pull and keep that slick little buttplate from sliding all over my shoulder. Much as I like the Mini 14 and 10-22, I always hated their OEM buttplates. While a pad seems ridiculous on a poodle shooter, I find the 580+ Minis far easier to shoot well simply because they stay put when shouldered. I watched Peggi shoot it with standard 255 RNL's and she was draining the magazine like it was a .22 rifle. I gave her a couple of 1100 fps (from a sixgun) SWC's to try and they didn't bother her none either. The gun just fits her.

I also understand these have an odd-sized dovetail. As it stands, I can use the issue sights but I had to yank the elevator plumb out of the back sight to get it in on at 50 yards. I'll probably just undercut the elevator to work at it's lowest setting and zero the next couple of steps up from there, for say 200 & 300 yards, with a specific hunting load.

And the little gun will hunt. I loaded a few 335 Keiths over what we'll call 'over 20 grains' of Winchester 296 and they produced 1364 fps from the Rossi's 16 1/8” barrel. I would expect a wound profile in game not unlike the old Trapdoor carbine load, which was known for shooting through several feet of horses & men. For lighter game, a Sierra 240 JHP can easily be driven to 1550 fps and I have seen that bullet is plenty for deer at 1300 fps. The sedate factory duplication load of 7.2 of W231 produced 950 fps from this carbine and insignificant recoil. John Linebaugh's 'working load' (Ruger only) of 13.0 of HS6 and a 255 SWC ran 1232 from the Rossi; and in reality you don't need much more for the anything but biggest of game.

It's been ages since I had a rifle & pistol that shared ammo, but I have to admit it's nice to load some ammo knowing that it'll feed two guns. Being able to load them on carbide dies and roll crimp when seating, makes it even nicer. My .45 Colts aren't long-range affairs, but I've got rifles with some reach for when the need arises. The old cartridge does so many other things so well, I can sure live that small compromise.

Lone Wolf Distributor's  Glock 23 Barrel

09/30/09-accuracy update at the bottom of this page*

The Glock series of pistols is probably the most modified platform since the 1911-A1. Aftermarket parts abound for it and perhaps one of the most sensible mods for reloaders, is to replace the OEM polygonal barrel.

In mid-June, I ordered a Glock 23 replacement barrel from Lone Wolf Distributors, hereinafter referred to as LWD. This barrel is the conventionally-rifled, direct replacement for the factory component in .40 S&W caliber. I use lead lead bullets for my bulk reloads and I do carry the 23 off duty, so I needed a barrel that would handle the full spectrum of loads and do it well. I also wanted the barrel 'blind marked' so the cartoon Wolfy-Thing didn't show and I wanted the black oxide finish.

The chambers of aftermarket barrels run considerably tighter than the 0.432+ usually found in Glock .40 caliber barrels. Internet reviews of LWD's chambers indicate that  some users have found them too tight for best reliability with reloads; right about 0.425”.

This led me to request that LWD open my chamber mouth a couple of thousandths, as I have done when ordering 1911 barrels from Bar-Sto, etc. This concept is lost on LWD, who insisted that I send dummy rounds of the reload I intended to use. Huh? Cutting a chamber for one reload is an exercise in futility. What happens when you have to (or simply want to) change bullets, dies etc.? You've got a chamber for something you no longer use- that's what. I finally gave up on trying to explain this and just sent a set of dummy loads.  In total, it took about three months for delivery of the barrel.

The barrel itself was perfectly finished; the flat black oxide finish was deep, consistent and looks entirely at-home in a G23's slide. I'd probably have taken a photo of it but I was just too anxious to shoot it. Dan Shepard, LWD's resident gunsmith, did an exceptional job on the chamber reaming, which finished at 0.427”. He also nailed the most important aspect of getting SWC's to feed, which is adding a radius where the top of the feed ramp meets the chamber.  The fact is that I tweaked the dummy loads I sent LWD, so they were about 0.002” fatter than my regular reloads.

These are 'drop-in' barrels and the LWD did just that. If anything it's a tad looser than the factory tube in my 2009 G23. This combination easily digested its first 100 rounds of Missouri Bullet Company's 170 grain SWC reloads and an assortment of jacketed factory loads. The LWD barrel prints somewhat to the right at 25 yards from this particular gun. My intention was to zero the gun with the LWD barrel at 50 yards once its accuracy was confirmed. Then another G23 came into the picture...

Like myself, Peggi has gotten past her gag reflex with Glocks; we are sixgun & 1911 people. She'd shot my G23 occasionally- and well enough to make it clear that she needed one of her own. While trolling the Summit Gun Broker site, I noticed that he had some used, 2^nd generation G23's at a decent price. I contacted Mark at Summit and  Peg soon had her own Glock. Hers is a 1998 gun and it provided another test bed for the LWD barrel. Just like the first outing, there were no malfunction regardless of the load. Peggi's G23 also shoots right to the sights with the LWD barrel...go figure.

For the accuracy check, I plugged the LWD back into my '09 G23. This little gun has proved exceptionally accurate with the OEM barrel, printing 50-yard groups that rival all but match-grade pistols. I fired the LWD equipped G23  for accuracy at 50 yards, using my tailgate as a bench and my range bag as a rest. I expected that the groups would be 5-6 inches right of the bullseye.

What I didn't expect was that there wouldn't be any 'groups' at all. 2-3 shots of five would get in or near the 5 ½” bull, but the rest would string out laterally to the right- sometimes as much as a foot! I tried reloads, Golden Sabers and UMC 165 grain ball and UMC 180 grain JHP's. The only thing consistent about the exercise was that this barrel, in this gun, wouldn't shoot worth a damn. Average 'groups' were 14” or more. By comparison, the last Auto Ordinance 1911 I had came with a lousy chatter-marked barrel, loose bushing, wrong link and poor lower barrel support. It still grouped around 8” at 50 yards.

To deem this 'disconcerting' would be an understatement. LWD markets these as “Drop-In Match Barrels” and classic definition for 'match accuracy' with pistols has long been two inches for ten shots, at 50 yards. That's from purpose-built target guns of course; but combat pistols still often surprise with their accuracy, as this G23 has proven using the OEM barrel:

This group (which includes one more, about an inch and a half off the edge of the envelope) came from a typical 0.433” Glock chamber- so chamber dimensions are not the LWD barrel's problem. No, something else is wrong here so I grabbed a set of micrometers and compared the three G23 barrels I had on hand. The dimensions are listed below.

A: Width of barrel locking block at breechface
B: Height of barrel locking block at front, under slide recess
C: Muzzle diameter
D: Chamber diameter at entry point
E: Width of lower locking lug

Barrel	A	B	C	D	E
1998  G23	0.598	0.597	0.590	0.433	0.377
2009 G23	0.600	0.597	0.590	0.433	0.378
2009 LWD	0.596	0.5965	0.590	0.427	0.375

Using measurements taken from two Glock 23 barrels manufactured 11 years apart, the LWD barrel checks 0.002-0.003 undersized for width in the barrel locking block and lower lug. Since these dimensions control lateral supported during firing, I'm guessing that might have something to do with this barrel's tendency to string horizontally.

I had another G23 on hand and it was only fair to try the barrel in that gun, as well.

The 50-yard exercise was repeated with Peggi's 1998 G23, using the 170 grain SWC reload. In this gun, the LWD barrel produced nice, round, centered groups- about a foot in diameter. Three in a row. Just to check myself, I grabbed my 2009 G23 out of the bag and fired 5 rounds of the same ammo using the OEM barrel. The result was four rounds in 4 ½ inches, with a fifth opening the group to 6 inches. The contrast was stark and so is the truth. This LWD barrel shoots less than half as well as the factory tube, in either of the Glocks I tested with it.

I'll keep the barrel & here's why. I have long contended that Glock, who will never admit there was a chamber-support problem in the first place, made subtle changes to mitigate this problem. You take a look and decide for yourself.

The LWD will replace '98 G23 barrel on the left.  It provides ample chamber support, it shoots to the sights in Peg's gun and its accuracy deficiencies won't matter much inside 25 yards- where most of her familiarization work with it will occur. 

I've also identified two areas where it can stand improvement. There's a slight burr inside the muzzle, which can be felt as a rough, sharp edge when running a fingernail along the  end of the rifling there. I'll recrown it and see if that helps. I've also noted that there is almost no 'leade' into the rifling, which is a gradual ramp (for lack of a better term) that gives the bullet a polite introduction to the lands. This is apparent by running a tightly-patched cleaning jag into the bore from the chamber, which takes a hard bump to get it stated into the rifling. It may be that a little throating will also improve the LWD barrel's accuracy- but I suspect that its undersized exterior and lug dimensions will prevent it from ever living up to its 'Match' billing. 

Am I busting Lone Wolf's chops here? Only a little. They have a tremendous variety of items in stock and their prices are competitive. Their customer service is excellent and they remained polite throughout my dealings with them. J.R and Dan Shepard are good folks and I would certainly do business with them again.

Are their Glock barrels 'accurate'? This one sure wasn't. If you're a hose-monster who slings ammo downrange at 15 yards, you'll scarcely notice. If you're an accuracy buff who's been corrupted by old Bullseye and PPC shooters, my suggestion is that you shop elsewhere. There are other 'match barrels available and- your factory barrel deserves a hard look.

It just might be more accurate than the barrel you're trying to replace it with.

*- The 'burr' in the muzzle was sharp enough that you could not only feel it with a fingernail, you would leave visible shavings after dragging your nail across it.

Using a fine silicon Dremel stone I had previously recut to 45 degrees, I hand-turned it in the muzzle until a bright chamfer appeared around its circumference, encompassing both the muzzle and the ends of the lands. I followed this by wrapping the same stone in 400 emery cloth and repeating the process until the crown was both bright and smooth, when again subjected to the 'fingernail' test. J.R. Shepard of LWD acknowledged the burred crown as a QC issue and I'm sure LWD would have recrowned and refinished this barrel, if I hadn't done it myself.

I shot the gun again at 50 yards. Excluding called fliers and/or taking the best three of five (Sarge's 'before coffee' accuracy exception) while using my bulk reloads, LWD's barrel is now making groups of 3 1/2 to 4 inches at 50 yards. Later in the day and with more time to concentrate, I fired four more groups with the re-crowned LWD G23 barrel in the 2009 pistol. What you see below is entirely representative of those groups- including the shot that went 1 1/2" off the paper, to the right from the top bullethole. I'll eat that one and write it off to 53 year-old eyes and forgotten eyeglasses. The other four shots are within 3 1/2 inches, which is pretty damn good with range-mongrel brass, me 'on the handle' and waning light. FWIW, Lone Wolf's barrels will shoot lead semi-wadcutters just fine.

This acceptable accuracy for a combat pistol. It will make a safe, accurate barrel for my wife's G23- plenty good enough for 50 yard work on silhouettes when she's ready.

When I get the barrel cleaned up again, I'll post a couple of pics of Dan's excellent work on the critical juncture of barrel-to-feed ramp. This barrel is still running 100% with SWC reloads, which I could never get to work with reliability in .40 caliber XD's. This degree of reliability, from an aftermarket barrel with 0.006 tighter chamber dimensions than OEM, is certainly worthy of honorable mention.

The Importance of 'Zero'

I shot quite a bit on unsupervised, state-maintained public ranges a few years ago and watching this new generation of handgunners has convinced me that ‘accuracy’, in the classic sense, isn’t important to many of them. I watched in wonder as groups of 2-3 shooters would take turns loading magazines, while one of them would step to the line and empty those magazines as fast as they could jerk a trigger. 200 rounds would go downrange in a matter of 15 minutes, with volume of fire being the obvious goal. They were having just a hell of a good time exercising their Constitutional rights and I got a kick out of watching them.

I was usually one bench away, at the 50 yard line, busting cans or clay birds on the dirt berm with whatever handgun I happened to be carrying and/or hunting with. The hose-monsters sometimes noticed I was actually hitting something and a few even came over and asked for help on how to do it. When they did, the first thing I did was check their zero.

The importance of proper 'Zero', AKA sight regulation, cannot be overstated. If your zero is off, you'll never reach your potential as a pistolero.

If our sights are properly aligned, a proper zero means that unless you 'flinch'- each and every shot will go exactly to the center of the top edge of the front sight. But before we start- let's get a proper sight picture.



Note that the front and rear sights are perfectly aligned for height and that an equal amount of light is visible on each side of the front sight. The front sight is in sharper focus than the target, which is a little blurry. This is to expected because the eye simply cannot focus on the front sight, rear sight and the target at the same time. That's OK because we don't need to see a fly speck on the target. We do need to align our sights perfectly in relation to it.

If our goal is 'bullseye' pistol shooting, we'll adjust the sights to move the Point of Impact (POI) to the center of the target with a six o'clock hold, as illustrated below:



That's great if you're shooting standardized targets at known ranges with one load- as in NRA competition. The six o'clock hold is easy on the eyes and since 'bullseye' is fired over a fairly long course with one hand, minimizing strain on the human component translates into higher scores.

Many of us however carry a handgun for hunting, defense, or duty and we need to be able to hit something small, over various ranges. In those applications we are better served by Direct Zero- where the POI exactly centers on the top edge of the front sight:



I set mine up exactly as illustrated above, at 50 yards. Using that zero and a careful hold, you can hit damn near anything you want out to 75 yards or so. Pistols shoot a lot 'flatter' than many people think and the trajectory of even the slower rounds, like the .45 ACP, can be optimized by zeroing at the longer distance.

'Zeroing' involves adjusting the sights and that means means moving the rear sight in the direction you want the bullet to go. With adjustable target sights, you just turn a couple of screws.

Champion's excellent 860-002 Classic Target Sight
for the 'Bo-Mar cut'
http://www.championgunsights.com/proddetail.asp?prod=860-002

But most defensive/service handguns have fixed sights, which require drifting or arbor-pressing the rear sight to accomplish 'windage' (left-right) adjustment. There are various gee-gaws designed for moving fixed sights and gunsmiths usually offer this service, for a fee. Personally, I just use a hammer and drift punch.

Elevation adjustments are accomplished by chaging the height of the front or rear sights. If you're handy, and unafraid to alter your sidearms, a few file strokes can often pull it off.

Some closing thoughts-

You zero to a single, specific load. If you change bullet weights, your zero will change right along with it. Pick a 'zero load' that's readily available and does what you need. I stick with 158 grain in .38/.357, 180 grain in .40 and 230 grain in .45 ACP.

When zeroing your pistol, SHOOT OFF A SOLID REST! We are not showing off here; we are removing as much human error as possible.

Be CONSISTENT in your hold, sight alignment and trigger squeeze when zeroing. You need to learn these things anyhow and the bench is a good place to start.

I said in the beginning that the importance of proper zero cannot be overstated. I'll guarantee you that there is not a top-ranked competitive shooter in any discipline who cannot tell you exactly where his match gun shoots, using his match load. It drives me nutz when a poor internet newb posts that he's shooting low-left with his new blaster, then some retard posts one of those 'shooting error charts' - without ever asking if the newb's sights are zeroed! Proper zero is an absolute of fine shooting, and if you ain't got it then all the 'Error Charts' in the world won't get it for you.

So get with it folks... get Zeroed! After all, the object of shooting is hitting something- and we wouldn't want to look silly while trying do that, now would we?

'Long Distance' With the Glock 23

Hang out on Internet firearms forums for long, and you'll eventually run across the modern version of the 'Postal Match'. Today's postal matches are far ahead of their predecessors, because in addition to foregoing mailing costs, the results are available immediately. They also provide an interesting diversion for gun aficionados who simply click-in for whatever they can learn on their favorite pastime.

These Postal Matches might involve anything from 'three-gun' to 'pistols at ten paces'. The most recent one I participated in was entirely results-based; without specifying any particular weapon, the event was 'A single shot fired at the head of a silhouette or similar target, at 100 yards.' People with any sense would go to the closet and drag out Ol' Thunderstick, blow the dust off the Moonscope and set to work- right?

Well, nobody ever accused me of being overburdened with good sense. Several years ago I bought 300 rounds of (then) cheap .40 UMC loads using their 180 grain JHP bullet. Using that load, I've been able to bust a few laundry jugs with my little Glock 23, at 100 yards.

Not every shot mind you, but often enough to know it wasn't a fluke. Since this was a 'one shot' match, I figured I only had to be able to do it once. Here's the setup 114 yards from the target frame, mostly 'cuz that's where the shade is this time of day. Target is a TQ19.

The TQ19 isn't a big target by LE qualification standards, so I covered all but the top third of it's head with the top edge of the front sight, tweaked the alignment and pressed the trigger straight back until the crack of the shot surprised me. So did the target-

I'm sure glad I didn't have to try and do that twice. ;)

The .40 S&W- Your Tax Dollars at Work!

The .40 S&W cartridge generates a lot of emotion. Shooters either love it, or they won't touch it with a ten foot pole. It has been referred to as a hard-kicker and an 'Answer in search of a question.' I have seen it ridiculed as inaccurate, or because no SAAMI 'Plus P' standards exist for it. I have even had a little fun at the .4o S&W's expense, myself.

When the cartridge was introduced in 1990, I was the Sgt. and ‘firearms guy’ for a rural MO Sheriff's Department. When a deputy would rave about their new .40 S&W, I would politely ask to see an example of the wondrous new invention. While they were thumbing a round from a magazine, I was clearing my Ithaca 1911 and locking the slide open. I would then hold my pistol with the barrel pointed skyward and drop their entire .40 cartridge, nose down, through the barrel of my 1911. As it dropped out the ejection port and landed on my desk, I'd say "Looks like they made it a little undersized; believe I'll just keep what I've got."

Despite my early disinterest in this cartridge, it is a sound concept. The .38-40 Winchester broke ground for it in 1874 and it achieved fair popularity in that firm's rifles and the various Colt revolvers. Again in 1963, the basic concept was championed by Elmer Keith, Bill Jordan and Skeeter Skelton as the 'ideal law enforcement cartridge'- the .41 Magnum. Their original idea of a .41 bullet, at moderate velocities, was entirely sensible. Unfortunately, it was also lost in the rush to make their new .41 just as powerful as the .44 Magnum.

This '.41 Magnum Mistake' sort of reversed itself in 1986, but this time in a true .40 caliber. The FBI had undertaken adapting Norma's (and Jeff Cooper's) 10mm Auto for law enforcement use. While it handily 'split the difference' between the .38-40 and the .41 Magnum, it recoiled more than The Bureau liked and they watered it down some. It didn't take long for clear thinkers to realize that these ballistics could be accomplished in a shorter cartridge than the 10mm- making it tenable in mid-size service pistols. The .40 S&W cartridge was the eventual result and those interested in the details of its development should reference Charlie Petty's fine article on that very topic. Charlie was there and you simply won't find a better account.

I finally accepted the .40 Smith & Wesson, partly because it wasn’t going away; but mostly because it just makes sense. I have used a lot of handgun cartridges over the years and I'm impressed with how well its ballistics overlaps many of them. For example:

Proponents of the 9mm cite reduced ammo costs, and suggest that the +P+ 9mm can do anything the .40 S&W can. The first argument is flattened by the fact that many .40 S&W autos can easily be converted to 9mm- but the reverse is not the case. I personally don't think that a 147 grain 9mm does the same damage as a 155 grain .40, at significantly higher velocities; but I'll admit to being predisposed in favor of bigger, heavier bullets in most cases.

The 125 grain .357 hollowpoint is widely thought to be the standard by which defensive pistol cartridges are judged; from packable revolvers, it achieves around 1350 fps. The .40 can match this with a bigger bullet. Typical 158 grain loadings of the .357 generally run about 1250 fps; the .40 will do it with 155's. On the other end of the spectrum, Alaska Backpacker's 200 grain hardcast .357 load produced 970 fps from my 2 1/4" Ruger SP101. Double-Tap offers a 200 grain .40 S&W load, with a similar bullet, that does 1050 fps from a Glock 23. Unless you load the .357 heavy, from a long barreled revolver- it's a fair statement to say the .40 S&W can run right along side of it.

Comparisons of the .40 to the .45 Auto frequently degrade into a loose approximation of 'theological discussions ' between Afghan warlords. Yet I must point out that in my own unscientific tests, the .40/180/JHP compares quite favorably to the .45/230/JHP. I was surprised to find that even Remington's 180 grain flat-point FMJ load disrupted water jugs significantly better than .45 hardball- and it often ‘riveted’ to a degree in the process.

Buffalo Bore and Double Tap both offer loads that take the .40 to its full potential. All the major ammo outfits offer suitable defensive ammunition with expanding bullets ranging from 135 to 180 grains. My personal preference in this application is a 165 grain or heavier holllowpoint, going as fast as it can be safely driven.

I’ve reached the point with this cartridge where I can carry it and not wish for something bigger, regardless of whether it's loaded with ball or hollowpoints. I just wish DOD would pull its head out of its ass and catch on to this fact. Flat-point FMJ in the .40 S&W would make a perfect military pistol cartridge, generating considerable 'thump' while retaining significant magazine capacity.

Some complain about the .40's recoil and I have to wonder what they've been shooting, to draw such a conclusion. If they’d ever fired heavy-loaded .44 Magnums or .45 Colts, they'd scarcely notice the little dab of recoil that the .4o S&W generates. It's a given that top-heavy plastic pistols are going to jump around a little when firing loads suitable for service or defense. The answer to this problem is to build some hand strength, perfect your technique and learn to shoot the damn thing. I know petite females who have managed to do this. Does this require further explanation?

As to the .40 being 'inaccurate'? This cartridge went from inception to introduction is six months. Gun and ammunition manufacturers were working round the clock to get hardware on the market for it. There may well have been 'bugs' in the early offerings but they are long dead and the cartridge itself is as accurate as any other service cartridge- including the venerable .45 ACP.

‘Reloading the .40 S&W’ would warrant a separate article and it would be one which has already been written, by authors much more knowledgeable than myself. One need only reference the various powder manufacturers’ websites, for more loads than you’ll ever care to try. I took my usual simplistic approach to reloading it- which means W231, lead bullets and velocities more in line with the .45 ACP. My 'general use' .40 loads consist of a lead SWC and just enough W231 to work the action reliably. I put these up in range pick-up brass and because much of that shows signs of being previously hot-loaded and fired in, er, 'ample' Glock chambers- I wouldn't load those casings hot anyhow.

This first attempt produced good accuracy at 25 yards, from the Glock Model 23 they were to be used in. I also wanted to see if it the load's trajectory would suffice for a 50 yard shot at a varmint while working around the farm; so I stapled up a business envelope and let five rounds fly in its general direction. I did throw one shot off the edge of the envelope; maybe an inch and a half. It was a called flier, but the gun & load sure held their own.

I've only owned a couple of bone-stock service pistols that shot this well and I believe this is the first one I've had that beats 3 inches using bulk reloads, in range-mongrel brass. This is all we can ask of any service pistol cartridge.

I can honestly say 'Thanks' to the FBI for their re-invention of the 10mm- which ultimately led to the introduction of the .40 Smith and Wesson. I don’t even mind the fact that we taxpayers funded the effort. In this case at least, those tax dollars were used for an excellent investment.

Author’s note- Since starting this article, I had occasion to use the .40 to ‘permanently discourage’ a 100+ pound pit bull, in a flat-out charge, from chewing off valued parts of my anatomy. He was almost too close when I saw him and the shooting was rushed, as is usually the case when a pistol is called upon to resolve an emergency. The round gave a good account of itself in this little difficulty and if anything, my confidence in it has risen.

In Anticipation of Independence Day...


It is only fitting that we journey back to the public reading of the Declaration of Independence from an oppressive, Draconian tyrant. I pray that the Lessons of History are not lost on this generation of Americans- may the blood of patriots never be shed in vain.

Glock’s Model 23

The Glock pistol in .40 S&W cartridge is America's most widely-used law enforcement sidearm and it has proven entirely capable in that application. That fact has not been lost on the general shooting public, either.

I'm an old-school pistol shooter and Glocks, initially, did not impress me. There were well-documented issues with KaBooms and the grip angle was all wrong for us 1911/P35 guys. Glock (who will never admit they screwed anything up in the first place) eventually made subtle changes and both issues were mitigated to my satisfaction. So when a Department-Issue Glock 22 was offered to me in September, 2008, I accepted it and committed to mastering these guns.

My duty gun came with the 8 pound trigger, which I didn’t exactly see as an asset. Despite the trigger pull, ‘Total Immersion’ in the G22 soon resulted in my shooting it as well as the 1911 in typical defensive shooting exercises. This was a startling revelation to me, after spending three decades with the 'Army 45'. It also led me to try the Model 23 which is still a.40, but in the next smaller size.

My Glock 23 was purchased via OMBGuns “Individual Officer Purchase Program”- and the savings to privileged categories is substantial. Unfortunately, so is the wait and it took about six weeks for the gun to arrive. One of the first things I noticed was how much sharper the G23's grip checkering and finger-ridges were, compared to my old issue G22. They were also noticeably 'taller', to the point of limiting contact surface between my hand & the G23’s grip. Shooting the gun only confirmed that its unnatural feel was not helping my instinctive shooting with it. Trends may change, folks-but absolutes don't. You have got to be able to attain a firm firing grip on the gun, and it must be an instinctive, subconscious process.

I have never been afraid to modify a handgun to suit my purposes. A sheet of 240 Wet & Dry emery cloth was wrapped around various bench paraphernalia and applied to the G23’s grip, until it’s feel matched that of my duty gun. The de-horned G23 appears on the right in both photos:


The grip modification made for much nicer handling and the results on target validate the work. I shot my Dept's Basic Qualification with this 23 and posted a ‘possible’ on the first run. This course includes 'yank & blast' at 6 feet, 2-taps from the holster, 3-taps from low ready and it finishes with 10 rounds each at 15 & 25 yards. The time constraints are realistic. The improved contact surface made a hurried firing grip easy to acquire and this helped me keep all but two rounds inside the 5 inch ‘X ring’'. Both of the ‘stragglers’ were still good centerline hits, maybe 3" below it.

The little gun is fairly accurate, too. Rested 25 yard groups with Remington UMC 180 FMJ are right at two inches; 50 yard results are five rounds of the same load into four and one half inches. All this requires, of course that I get off five, perfect shots and in that regard I am far less consistent than the gun. I shoot much better on 3D targets and anything the size of an empty cartridge box is likely to get nailed out to 75 yards.

Is there a significant ‘velocity loss’ from the G23's shorter barrel? To answer that question, I chronographed four, .40 S&W factory loads through the 4.5” G22 and the 4” G23. Given the current ammo situation I fired only ONE round of each. (Want more? Ship me ammo ;) My Chrony Beta Master was used to record this data at a firing distance of about six feet.

• Load Tested-----------Glock 22 Velocity-----Glock 23 Velocity
• Remington 165 Golden Saber----1105 fps-----1076 fps
• Remington 180 UMC/FMJ------1061 fps-----1015 fps
• Remington 180 UMC/FMJ------1016 fps------990 fps
• Fiocchi 165 JHP------------------1085 fps-----1058 fps

In every case, the compact gun lost less than 50 fps and this is inconsequential.

The Glock 23 is only ½” smaller, in grip and barrel length, than the fullsize gun. It weighs 31 ounces, loaded with 13 rounds. These fiqures simply can't reflect how much better the Glock 23 conceals. I just finished a week of carrying it under a loose shirt, using a cheap Uncle Mikes IWB holster. The weather was warm and much of that time was spent in & out of a classroom. Whether sitting, driving or just walking around, the gun stayed put and rode in relative comfort. I was surprised at how well this combination worked.

Is the Model 23 ‘Perfection”? No. It definitely needs conventional rifling as an option for the US market, where we still cast bullets and load our own ammo. While the factory sight picture works just great, they are plastic. Even the basic gun should be furnished with steel sights. Why? Cops are notoriously 'hard on equipment' and the holstered duty pistol often gets a few knocks on door jambs, car doors and the like. Plastic sights aimply cannot be fitted as solidly to the dovetail as steel ones can. As an old range officer I can recall more than one occasion where a Glock shooter was unexpectedly grouping left or right- and upon examining their issue plastic sights, I invariably found something like this:

Image courtesy of Tango44, at GlockTalk

The good news is that the user can easily change the gun to suit his or her tastes- Glock pistols enjoy fantastic factory and aftermarket parts availability. Even in stock form, the Glock 23 is a powerful, accurate carry gun that lives up to Glock's reputation for reliability.

The Model 23 is a heck of a lot of gun in a nice, compact package. To say that I am impressed with it would be an understatement. Coming from an old 1911 man, that is no faint praise.

The Joys of a Good Single Action…

I'd been looking for an ‘Old’ Vaquero in .45 Colt for some time. I cut my teeth on single-actions, mostly Rugers, JP Sauers & Colt-pattern black powder sixguns. This happy state of existence got mothballed when word came that I had been accepted for the police academy. I had an old Model 28 and two months of wait before it started- so I figured I better get to learnin' this double-action stuff, lest I embarrass myself. Oh, I acknowledge the efficiency of more modern defensive handguns- but single actions have held my affection, all my life.

I prefer fixed sights and I wanted a sixgun that would take the heavy loads. I passed on a couple of Old Vaqueros back before obama-fright drove the prices dizzy, and the ones I had priced recently were higher than New Vaqueros. I was actually looking for a used Glock when I called a dealer and just asked if he had any of these laying around. He said he had one, the finish wasn’t great but it must shoot OK ‘cause the prior owner killed a deer with it.

I looked it over and everything was right; perfect timing on all six, reasonable tight lockup and close to 0.050 firing pin protrusion. The gun was dirty but the bore was perfect & showed no leading. The forcing cone was well done end evenly worn…looks like maybe they got the holes in all the right places on this one. The trigger was typical New Model which at least told me that nobody had butchered the innards yet.

Per the serial# it is a 1999 gun, so I guess it stands to reason that it’d be a little worn. The colors had long since rubbed of leaving a patina and the aluminum ejector housing had worn through to the ‘shiny’ in a few spots. That didn’t bother me none ‘cause a new one would get roughed-up this bad if I carried it six for months. As it stood, it priced about$175 under the going rate for Old Vaqueros and that suited me fine.

Actually, the only thing that concerned me at all was whether the gun would shoot close to the fixed sights. While pricing .45 Colt ammo (35 bucks a box for BLAZER!!) it soon became apparent that any ‘ammo money’ would be better spent on reloading components.

I did pick a box of Starline’s excellent brass and some Hornady 255 swaged RNFP’s. The bullets weren’t my first choice but there were no SWC’s, LBT’s or even 240 JHP’s available locally- including the Sierra Outlet Store. I set about loading the Hornady over mild-to-moderate doses of W231. I had seen a published load of 7.1 grains with an OAL of 1.650” using this bullet, but the crimp lands back in the bearing surface a ways and that's probably not conductive to best accuracy. Velocity was in the high 700’s, seated out like that; the 0.005 barrel-to-cylinder gap may also play a role in that reading. The 25 yard point-of-impact with this load, when shooting two-hand unsupported, was close enough to be encouraging.



I fiddled with charges up to 8 grains, getting the velocity over 900 fps but not improving much of anything else. The closest I’d come to benching the gun so far was been to shoot it rested over one knee, while seated in a plastic lawn chair. Despite that arrangement, several six-shot groups gathered inside 4 inches, with clusters of 3-4 shots about halving that. Ongoing efforts burned 150 of the Hornady slugs, with almost no leading present. The bore proved slick and the gun was showing promise.

Initial 50 yard shooting revealed that the gun printed 6” low and about 3” left at 50 yards, using essentially factory-dup loads. Since we are taking fixed sights here, I wanted to remove all doubt before regulating them. My experience with 5 ½” Ruger SA’s in this caliber indicates that when zero is reached with the factory-duplication load, zero with Sierra 240’s at 1300 will be within a couple of inches at deep-woods whitetail range. The creep in Ruger’s lawyer-proof SA trigger sure wasn’t helping my shootin’ none…so I decided to tackle both problems at once. Pretty soon the gun was a collection of parts on my bench.

One of the great things about the advent of cowboy shooting is the proliferation of useful information on tuning these guns. Sources indicated that halving the full-cock notch depth would produce a safe, shootable trigger, so I dug out the files, stone and feeler gauges and set to work slowly. The result was an almost creep-free trigger of about 4 ¼ pounds using the factory springs- eminently more shootable and it passed the ‘push off test’ with flying colors.

While I had the gun apart I also cleaned up some burrs and cold blued the hammer and trigger. I have always disliked the appearance of the shiny ‘non-Colt-looking’ ignition parts on NM Rugers and bluing them sure helped that.

I also prefer the looks and improved handling of checkered, hard rubber grips on my single actions, so I added a pair of Vintage Grips. I'm not going to sugar coat the fact that they were a bitch to fit. They were partially drilled, about a 'half-hole off' and the side that mates to the frame was so far out of square that the bottom of one grip hung out in thin air. It was necessary to true them up in about every direction to get them to fit well. Unless you're just looking for a grip project, I wouldn't recommend them at all.

I replaced the aluminim ejector rod housing with a steel part from Borchardt Rifle Company. This is a quality product. It was a good fit to the Vaquero and the only problem was that the matte blue on its top surface was a poor match to the rest of the revolver. A few passes with 0000 steel wool corrected this. The end result of all this tinkering made the gun considerably more 'shootable' and far more in line with my notion of what a single action should be.

I also made a few light file strokes across the top of the front sight, taking care to keep it square, and serrated its visible edge with the rough-cut side of a mill file. It worked out just right and the elevation was near-perfect at 50 yards. Several shots directed at a 100 oz. laundry detergent jug, at that distance, filled it with holes and sent it skittering for cover. Offhand work on cans at ranges from 15-25 yards confirmed that we were ‘getting there’.

More Load Development…

Since this was going to be a ‘do-everything sixgun’ I figured I better get busy on developing a .45 Colt load for game to about 500 pounds. While there are several schools of thought on this I subscribe to the one that says a deep, full caliber hole in the right place will get the job done as well as anything. A 255 SWC at 1050-1100 fps will bore through meat and bone with vigor and I figured such a load would shoot pretty close to the factory-duplication load..

The first order of business was to select a load. John Linebaugh’s articles on the .45 Colt report that he settled on 13 grains of HS6 for loads in this range. I’ve had good luck with this powder, finding it accurate and kinder to bullet bases than faster powders.

For bullets, I turned to Missouri Bullet Company of Kingsville, MO. I’ve corresponded with its owner, Brad Alpert, and found him knowledgeable on alloys, bullet hardness and the like. Like myself, Brad believes that super-hard bullets are unnecessary for most applications. He offers a good 255 SWC in his ‘Cowboy No. 9’ which has a big meplat and Brinnel’s at about a 12- soft enough for proper obturation, but plenty hard for penetration on game. (This bullet can be had 50% harder if you really need it that way.) A phone call got 400 SWC’s on the way and the price was right. I also wound up some of with his 250 grain RNFP, dubbed ‘Cowboy #1’ in MO Bullet lingo. Whatever you call these bullets, they are shooters! The Old Vaquero loved them and put 5 out of 6 of the RNFP’s into ¾” at 25 yards. The 255 SWC shot equally well, planting another 5 of 6 shots into 2 9/16” inches at 50. A full report on the results with these bullets, including target pics, is here for anyone interested.

This old Ruger surprised me, proving capable of near ‘match accuracy’- two inch groups at 50 yards. Reaming the cylinder throats to a uniform 0.4525" should enhance accuracy even more. Whether or not my aging eyes can use that much accuracy on a given day, is a moot point. The accuracy is there and I sure can't blame the gun for any misses,.

I was quite happy with 'just' single-actions for years and could return to that blissful state with little effort. When I hang up this tin star in a few years, you can bet that the lion’s share of my handgun attention will vested in one or another iteration of Sam Colt’s invention- which revolutionized America.

Missouri Bullet Company’s Cast .45 Colt Bullets

I have been working up some loads for an Old Vaquero I picked up a few months ago.

My goal was to build a set of loads that would 'cover all the bases' and still shoot to the sights. As you view these targets you will note that the gun shoots a little left. This was rested shooting and oddly enough, the gun hits where it looks when I fire it two-hand, unsupported. Anyhow ignore the windage dispersion because when the load development is finished- I'll zero the gun to shoot in the middle of all of them.

I'd been corresponding with Brad Alpert at Missouri Bullets for some time. He soon convinced me that he knows his bullets and alloys, so I decided to give his bullets a try.

The first step was to build a factory-duplication load, and I used MO Bullet's 'Cowboy #1' which is a 255 RNFP. My goal was to break 800 fps and 7.2 grains of W231 averaged 825 fps. It turned out to be a shooter, too:

For my 'second gear' load I used John Linebaugh's 13.0/HS6/255 SWC load- recommended for Blackhawk-size Rugers, only. With MO Bullet's 'Cowboy #9' it runs 1045 fps, and it'll kill anything wandering the woods down here. Since this is a hunting load, I shot it at 50 yards. I did brain-fart and load one of RNFP's into the cylinder-full that made the following group. It's the shot farthest left, and you may count it or discount it at your discretion:

To say that I'm happy with these bullets is an understatement. These are bulk bullets, underselling a considerable segment of the market, and they shot exceptionally well in this old Vaquero. Missouri Bullets will be getting more of my business.

http://www.missouribullet.com/

Now all I’ve got to do is get the heavy-bullet load cooked up!

Ruminations of an Old-School Pistolman…

I’ve been at this stuff awhile and it recently struck me just how radically our thinking on the subject of handguns has changed. At one time, the budding pistolero would read up on the collective works of various gun-gurus, consult a few experienced handgunners, evaluate his needs and then select a handgun.

The general consensus was that one should start with a good .22 handgun and this still makes a lot of sense. It was understood then, that a LOT of shooting would be required to make the journey from novice to expert. Close attention to established marksmanship fundamentals, and due diligence in their application, would still be required; or all that ammunition was simply wasted.

All this work with the rimfire was usually undertaken in the high hopes that perhaps in a year or two, we’d be ready for a real handgun- a .38 or .45. Committed individuals looking for some excitement turned to the .357 and hairy-chested, he-man types might eventually be able to handle the .44 (gasp) Magnum!

Our perception of marksmanship has changed, too. For decades, the gold standard of accuracy for both handgun and shooter was the X-ring of the Official NRA 25 and 50 yard pistol targets. For those unfamiliar with such things, the 50 yard target has an X-ring spanning 1.695 inches. Yes, people hit them regularly at that distance. They did it using ONE hand.

Boy, things are different today! Let’s look at some of the differences.

Today’s budding shooter wants to be an operator. No, not like Lily Tomlin; more like Steven Segal. This operator stuff is just too important for him to waste time with the little 22, so our stalwart decides that his first hand-fusil must at least be a 9mm. To determine what he should buy, he gets on the Internet and finds thousands of ‘cool pics’ of tactical-black handguns, equipped with all manner of flashlight mounts, etc.

The Internet is also where he seeks ‘expert* advice’ which usually means from the guy with the highest post count on his favorite firearms forum. The Internet has also changed the definition of accuracy, with the standard being more of those ‘cool pics’ of targets fired at seven to fifteen yards. Never mind that these targets would have gotten you laughed off the range in 1975.

I shot quite a bit on unsupervised, state-maintained public ranges a few years ago and watching this new generation of handgunners has convinced me that ‘accuracy’, in the classic sense, isn’t important to them at all. I watched in wonder as groups of 2-3 shooters would take turns loading magazines, while one of them would step to the line and empty those magazines as fast as they could jerk a trigger. 100-300 rounds would go downrange in a matter of 15 minutes, with volume of fire being the obvious goal. They were having just a hell of a good time exercising their Constitutional rights and I got a kick out of watching them.

I was usually one bench away, at the 50 yard line, busting cans or clay birds on the dirt berm with whatever handgun I happened to be carrying and/or hunting with. The hosers sometimes noticed I was actually hitting something, but few came over and asked for help on how to actually do it. When they did, the first thing I did was check their zero. Then I walked them through the basics of sight picture, alignment, hold and trigger release. I’d sit them down at my bench, let them shoot over my range bag and often within 20 rounds, I’d have them chasing cans across the berm. It ain’t all that hard when you adhere to the basics.

My perusal of the various Internet gun forums, tells me that many handgun shooters are interested in improving their results. Unfortunately, many get mislead into thinking that ‘mods’ are the answer so they bolt all manner of gee-gaws on their pistol in hopes of buying some skill.

When that don’t work, they watch videos of the various IPSC magicians charging through speed stages in colorful, sponsor-provided attire. Now these guys and gals are fast, and they definitely can shoot; but they didn’t get there by bolting fender skirts and fuzzy dice on their handguns. They did it by ingraining the basics of marksmanship, repeating them until they become second nature, and then making small changes in their technique that allowed them to do it faster. Yes, they burn a lot of ammo- but every round goes toward perfecting accuracy- so it can be done faster by means of committing it to the subconscious. Yes, ‘equipment’ plays a role- but only in the fine point spread that wins specialized matches.

No boys and girls, this modern age of handgunning, with all its fancy guns and equipment, hasn’t changed a thing. There are still absolutes and you must follow them if you intend to hit anything. You still have to zero your sights. You still have to align them, properly and in relation to the target, and you still have to press the trigger without disturbing them.

Want to get better? Want the subconscious ability to hit well under stress, when you life is on the line? The answer is to live with the gun. This topic came up in discussion awhile and my summary answer to the question follows. My good friend Rob Leahy of Simply Rugged Holsters thought it relevant enough to re-post it on his website:

“To me at least this means that you prove the gun, select a carry load and dead zero the sights to that load at 50 yards- meaning that a beer can divided by the front sight grows a hole through the middle. Then you build a bulk reload that shoots to the same spot. You might even build a third, small game and pest load which just cycles the action and also shoots to the sights at say, 20 paces.”

“From that point on you immerse yourself in THAT gun. For me that means ‘to the exclusion of everything else’. When the zero is dead-nuts, you get off the bench drone the accuracy work until you are sick of it. You shoot big and small game with it. If starlings or bluejays are a nuisance and they are dumb enough to offer safe targets of opportunity- they become delicacies for the barn cats instead. When the zero is proven to that degree, you start improving your own ‘zero’ by shooting bullseye targets offhand. When its ‘easy’ you ain’t improving- force yourself to do something harder!”

“For some variety, you do yank & blast (spitting distance), double-triple taps, point shooting and any other fast-close work that forces you to keep the gun running while moving around with it. I work hard enough at that aspect that I sometimes have to really hunt for mags I have dropped along the way. I don’t pay attention to where I changed magazines, or how I released the slide if I ran dry. (I do cuss myself for running dry, though.) All that matters are centerline hits- and that the gun seemed to run itself.”

“You’ll be through about your third 500 cast bullets about now, a pound and a half of powder and at least one bottle of Hoppes. It’s dirty work but few things are more comforting than knowing you can kill a 20-yard bluejay, with the gun you just shoved in your ‘work’ holster.”

I didn’t come up with anything new here. Elmer Keith painted an accurate picture of the process when he wrote:

"More time is required to master the handgun than any other type of firearm. To become an expert sixgun shot, one must live with the gun. Only by constant use and practice can one acquire a thorough mastery of the shortgun. You must work and play with it, eat with it, sleep with it, and shoot it every day - until it becomes a part of you and you handle it as surely as you would your knife and fork at the table." (Sixguns, page 57)

"Pistol shots are not born. They get that way by constant hard work and steady practice, studying each and every move and perfecting their technique..." (Sixguns, page 59)

I credit another friend, Jim Taylor for first citing these Keith quotes in his excellent article, Old School Gunology’ located on his page at the Los Angeles Silhouette Club’s website. A good collection of Jim’s work is available there and it is well worth your time to peruse it.

If you’re going to be loafing around the Internet, you might just as well read something constructive.


*Expert: "The Village Idiot, ten miles from home."

A few patterns with the 870 Express....

Using the 21 inch barrel and three different RemChoke tubes. I used Winchester 'Universal' El Cheapo 2 3/4" 3 dram equivalent field loads, stoked with 1 1/8 oz. of No. 7 1/2 shot. I have pretty well settled on this shell for the lighter birds and it has produced satisfactory pattens in several other shotguns I've used it in.


Distance was 40 yards and the targets were Champion 25 yard 'Slowfire Pistol' that measure about 11x16 inches. Not SAAMI standard pattern testing I know, but big enough to get a few pellets on just the same.


Anyhow, pics are of the back of each target from the Improved, Modified and Full tubes, left to right in that order. Lacking a dead bird to trace around, I used my cell phone to make a 2 x 4 1/2 inch rectangle on the back of each target behind the aiming point. Click to enlarge...





I don't know exactly what I proved here but I did convince myself that I'll be able to kill a few doves with this outfit. I don't turkey, goose or duck hunt but I think the Improved tube should be about right for jump shooting doves & quail on early morning walks, around dew-laden corn fields.


It ain't 'zactly bee-yooteful, but this little shotgun will wander no more in search of a home ;)

The 870 Express 'Special Purpose': One Versatile Shotgun.

Cruising the pawn shops like an old shark can have its payoffs. While cruising one of them last week, I noticed a black scattergun on the ‘Used’ rack that looked a tad different than your typical riot gun. I made out the profile of a short 870, with a vent rib. ‘Chop Job” I said to myself as I asked to look it over. I just hoped it was cheap- and that they hadn’t cut the poor thing off in the middle of a vent.


I was wrong; what I held was a near-new, synthetic-stocked 870 Remington Express 'Special Purpose' Magnum with a 21 inch barrel tapped for Rem Chokes. The bolt showed no exterior finish wear and the breech face didn’t look like it had seen ten live rounds. I checked the gun and threw it to my shoulder, sighting down the twin beads.

While these stocks don't fit me perfectly, I can still get along with them. To their credit, they come with a decent recoil pad & QD studs. I also noticed something that Remington did to insure that the gun they conceived to cut into Mossberg’s market, wasn’t mistaken for one on the rack!

The price was more than fair considering the 'extras' which includeda spare 30” Rem Choke barrel, a decent case, an assortment of choke tubes, their wrench and a sling.

The action on this Express isn’t as slick as the dozens of old 870’s I’ve fired over the years, but I figure time and hard use will correct that- and ‘Hard Use’ is something this shotgun will definitely see. A short 12 gauge with screw-in chokes will do everything I need a shotgun to do, which is actually quite a lot.

My Department recently had a shotgun (NOT an 870) pulled from service, so I relinquished my issue 870 to a marked unit. This shotgun, once proven, will replace it. Because this one is mine, I can outfit it to my tastes. Its ability to employ Rem Chokes means I can also bird hunt with the short barrel, and I can't think of a better way to get really close your fighting shotgun. This choke system is among my favorites for its versatility, the nice patterns it produces, and that fact that it sits flush with the muzzle.

I took this shotgun out for its trial run and since I’d also use it for a slug gun occasionally, I installed an Improved Cylinder choke. It soon became apparent that it shot a little to the left, with both shot and slugs. I removed the barrel and checked it for straightness; while looking it over, I noticed that the Bradley-style bead wasn't screwed in quite ‘square’ with the rib. A minute’s work corrected this and the shot patterns immediately centered behind it.

I also discovered, to my absolute glee, that by carefully centering the Bradley atop the small center bead, I could frequently clobber Coke cans with a Super-X slug at 50 yards. Even the misses would slice the edge of the can, or land an inch or so to one side. This gun was definitely living up to the ‘Special Purpose’ logo stamped into its receiver.

Everything was great, right? Well, not quite. Living up to my reputation for being able to find a lemon in a jar of Maraschino Cherries, I found a problem. During the first 75 ‘proving rounds’ a shell would occasionally hang up on the chamber at four o'clock. A quick wiggle of the forend would feed it, but I couldn’t trust this 870 as a duty shotgun until this condition was corrected.

I cursed my bad luck. In nearly 30 years of law enforcement and firearms instruction (and at least that many 870’s) I had never seen this malfunction. I consulted the resident ‘870 Armorer’ who suggested that I lightly break the edges around the chamber. It’s no secret that these ‘Express’ guns are less refined than the earlier versions. I read the related Armorer’s Manual from cover to cover, which suggested that a new carrier, dog and spring might be needed. I left messages at Remington Arms. I wore Google out, searching for similar problems and cures. No definite solutions surfaced. While this gun had barely been fired, I was sure that ‘Break In’ shooting wasn’t going to cure its problem. I was also not interested in shipping the gun back to Remington.

I polished the edges of the chamber, per my Armorer’s recommendation, which helped but did not eliminate the problem. The shells were simply feeding up a little low, and they weren’t centering on the chamber.

My son Mark happened to be on leave from the Army and he dug his old 870 Express out for a look-over. His gun has exhibited the boring reliability that made these shotguns famous. Being a mechanic himself, Mark readily agreed to my examining/swapping parts between the guns until the problem could be isolated.

I dropped the trigger plates from both guns. Mark’s shotgun, made in ’84, matched mine (a 1992 gun) for carrier spring tension. They both seemed to raise the carrier to the same height. Finally I lined both trigger plates and examined them closely. A little light came on when I looked at the shell carriers ‘straight on’ and you can see why in the captioned photos:

Now I don’t know if the flat carrier profile of the later gun was a QC error, or part of the cost-cutting program that allowed Remington to compete with Mossberg on their own playing field. What I do know is that a flat carrier will not center a shell as well as a curved one. So I pulled the shell carrier from my ‘problem child’ and went to work at the 6” vise, bending, comparing, and then bending some more. Pretty soon my shell carrier matched the basic contour of the carrier from Mark’s shotgun. While I had mine apart I also removed a few burrs from the slide bars, which accounts for their shiny appearance in the photos. Some cold blue will fix that. The only other modifications to this gun will be those necessary to add a magazine extension and a metal follower.

I slapped my shotgun back together and grabbed two boxes of field loads from my dwindling supply, along with some buck & slugs to insure that the heavy loads would work as well as light ones. I hot-rodded them through as fast as I could feed and shuck them; my shoulder & cheek being reminded that I was shooting too fast for proper mounting of the gun. My new-old 870 blew through 40 rounds without a hint of hesitation, so I ran 20 more through it working the action slowly enough to provide an opportunity for ‘low lift’ or a chamber hang-up. No problems whatsoever; this shotgun’s sole gremlin has been exorcised.

That’s a good thing. I have hunted and trained with 870’s for so long that I can run one in my sleep. I’ll probably sleep better, knowing that this versatile shotgun stands ready to meet any need that arises.

Missouri's 'Antler Point' Restriction

Beginning in 2004, the Missouri Department of Conservation began testing Antler Point Restrictions on hunters, as a deer management tool. In 2008 it was extended to 65 counties, comprising the upper 2/3 of the state. From MDC Online:

“The APR requires a buck to have at least 4 points on one side to be legal. The restriction applied to the archery season and all portions of the firearms season except the youth portion. The expectation was that restricting the bucks that could be taken would promote a larger doe harvest. An additional benefit of this restriction would be that more bucks survive longer and grow antlers large enough to be considered trophies by hunters.”

MDC's “Hunting tips for counties with antler-point restrictions”offers this sage advice- “Bring binoculars and give yourself plenty of time to count antler points before you take a shot. Wait for a buck that has at least four points on one side. Successful hunters wait for the best shot – when the deer turns broadside. Learn to recognize antlers from this view to minimize errors in the field.”

Right.

Now I am generally not a vocal critic of MDC and many of its recent changes have been good ones. The 'Telecheck' system eliminated the need to haul your deer across the county to a check station. Missouri deer hunters also enjoy one of the simplest 'legal firearms' descriptions on record.

Still- this Antler Point Restriction nonsense is for the birds.

First, APR stacks the odds against novice hunters- and as a father and husband who's been in on a number of 'first deer' I can tell you that these hunters need all the help they can get. Many of these are kids, out with Dad or Uncle Fred for their first deer hunt. Under the 'old rules' they'd see maybe 1-5 shootable deer per season; and they might get a safe, sure shot at only one of those. They are thrilled to get any deer at all and even a forkhorn buck is a big deal to them. APR deprives this vitally-important group of opportunities. New hunters are quite literally the future of hunting and the last thing we need is to discourage them.

Second, APR is a slap in the face to 'traditional hunters' who use iron-sighted .30-30's, military rifles and period firearms from 1830 forward. Folks, this is deer hunting at its finest and it is the essence of hunting in general. APR essentially requires that the traditional hunter adds a substantial set of binoculars to his kit; and spend more time 'glassing' than enjoying the nostalgia of the traditional hunt.

Third, APR turns a uniquely American test of hunting & shooting skills into an equipment race. We have done just fine with a 10 year old set of budget binoculars here and most of our 'deer guns' wear carefully-zeroed iron sights. The only 'scoped rifle in the outfit has a 4X on it, which has facilitated precise shots and instant kills at well over 200 yards. Now, by edict of the crowned heads at MDC, all of our optics are obsolete. I suppose we could run down to China-Mart and drop a grand on some new glass; but I am disinclined to have the state dictate how I spend my recreational dollar.

Fourth, APR does nothing to alleviate the hundreds of thousands of dollars in property damage and personal injury caused by deer each year, in Missouri. MDC obviously knows this because the Kansas City and St. Louis areas got a 'hall pass' on APR. Now, this would probably never occur to the Commission- but us 'dayum hillbillys' don't liked to wreck our pickups anymore than them high-falutin' city slickers do! Someone in my neck of the woods learned this first hand. By the third day of the season, there was a spike buck lying dead along 135 Highway, just south of US-50. He was doubtless passed over by hunters but he died just the same and somebody got a repair bill- thanks to APR.

My final complaint with APR is that it promotes the notion that deer hunting is all about 'points and trophies' rather than harvesting the winter meat. Every young deer hunter I've mentored, has been taught exactly the opposite. We've killed a few decent bucks over the years, but shooting a big rack was never the driving force behind the hunt. And frankly- 'an obsession with racks' has never been a character trait of the better hunters I've ever known. I hate to see MDC foster this kind of thinking.

I have a grandson and two granddaughters; I looked forward to having the honor of taking them on their first deer hunt. I sincerely hope that the Missouri Department of Conservation mothballs this stupid 'antler point restriction' before that day comes.

Ruger's Mini 14 '580 Series' Ranch Rifle

The last month has brought about significant changes. After almost 12 years as the investigator for a prosecuting attorney, I accepted a staff position with the PD in a military town. Thankfully, the new outfit is small enough that 'the brass' still run some calls and do real police work on a pretty regular basis. I also inherited the firearms training program, which means time more time spent in an aspect of law enforcement I have always loved.

A nearby national security asset underscores the value of stand-off weaponry- which to me means 'minute of noggin' at 200 yards. With that in mind, I recently swapped into a like-new 2007-production Mini 14. It's .223 Remington cartridge and 'Ranch Rifle' designation fit my secondary intentions for it quite well . Now, I don't have any heartburn for the AR15, but I definitely prefer the handling and two-stage trigger of the M14 platform and the Mini follows that basic layout.

My blue '07 Mini is in the 580-38xxx serial range and for those unfamiliar with the '580', it is the end product of a complete re-tooling aimed at enhancing the accuracy of this popular firearm. The last Mini 14 I owned was an old '78 model and while it was no slouch in the accuracy department, it was apparently an exception to the rule. Mini 14's have established a poor reputation for accuracy in the 30 years that have passed, between these rifles.

My current Mini was obtained in 'used- like new' condition and the bluing on the bolt was pristine until the first two magazines went down range. It wears the fiberglass handguard and hardwood stock common to the newer Mini's, and is equipped with a nice rubber pad where the slick, plastic buttplate used to be. This rifle has the 'straight' barrel profile which mics at 0.575 just ahead of the gas block and reduces to 0.565 about 3 5/8 inches ahead of that fixture.

The trigger is typical Mini meaning it is two-stage, like bolt-action military rifles of the 19^th and 20^th centuries. My RCBS Premium Trigger Pull Scale indicates that three pounds of force is required to overcome the first stage; five and one half pounds gets you through the second stage and fires the rifle.

As is common with these rifles, that second stage has some creep. This is due to hammer/sear engagement angles which actually cam the hammer backward a few thousandths, during the final press. If you pull the slack out of a stock Mini's trigger and then release it, the hammer will snap right back into full sear engagement. Leave it to Bill Ruger to design a lawyer-proof trigger. Of course there's a trade-off for everything and until you master it, the Mini's trigger can make precision shooting a real challenge.

A breezy fall day provided the opportunity to get acquainted with my 580 Mini. One of 'Sarge's Rules' is that the very first thing you do with any rifle, is to precisely zero its iron sights. They are on there for a reason and if all else fails- having a perfectly zeroed firearm can make the difference in who goes home to the Missus, and who goes home to their reward. A measured 210 yards separates my shooting table from the target frame and to my thinking, a 200 yard zero is just about right for most centerfire rifle cartridges.

Adjusting the 580's rear sight for windage involves loosening/tightening the opposing windage screws, and moving the aperture in the direction you want your group to go. Loosening the windage screws also frees the aperture to rotate up or down, to facilitate elevation adjustment. While the lack of click detents is something of a nuisance, it does provide a very fine degree of windage adjustment. I was also pleased to find the sight picture in sharp focus, even with with my prescription glasses in place.

6o rounds of Remington/UMC 55 grain FMJ was used for the initial shooting. Starting at 25 yards, I rough-zeroed the sights. I was soon back at 210 yards, firing three-shot groups and adjusting as I went. Usually I would get off 2 good shots of the three, and it soon became apparent that the Mini 14 was keeping its shots within a couple of inches each other- when I held my end up. Four inches at 200 yards seemed to be about the best I could manage with the aperture sights .

Once the irons were 'on' I installed an old Bushnell 4X on the Mini, and repeated the process. It's crosshairs are so coarse that they blank out a 3" orange dot at 200 yards, but once I went to a bullseye target things got better.

I shot a while longer and noticed the groups were starting to scatter. A quick check of the mounts revealed that one of the receiver mount screws had worked itself loose on the rear ring. Since I was about done shooting for the day, I decided to just pull the scope off and reinstall it to determine how much the zero changed. I was happy to discover that the rifle still shot within three inches of its 210-yard zero. There were no malfunctions with the factory magazine and Remington's 55 grain, full metal jacket UMC load.

Next, I set about finding a reload that would shoot to the same 200 yard POA and the Rem/UMC 55 FMJ load; I had some Sierra 55 BTHP's on hand, with the ever present H4895- my standby rifle powder. Since I was using Lake City cases, I backed off the max a tad and started at 25.7 grains. To tell the truth, this batch of cases has been sitting around primed for so long that I can't recall what primer I used in them.

Luckily, the first load out of the chute was good and it shot exactly to the UMC load's point of impact, with either the scope or iron sights. It also grouped just as well and typical three shot, 210 yard groups looked like the pair pictured below. The group highlighted in red has two shots in just under 2 inches, with a third straggler opening it up to 3 ¾ inches. The dropped shot below the bull was simply operator error.

The best 3-shot group of the day was 1 3/4" using the aforementioned UMC load. I think the rifle is actually shooting this well, as long as the barrel stays relatively cool. Once the targeting was done, I splattered several 100 oz. detergent jugs at 125-210 yards from rested field positions, using the irons. The initial shooting session laid any accuracy concerns to rest and convinced me that my rifle possesses satisfactory accuracy for 200 yard varmint shooting- regardless of the number of legs those varmints might have.

With the accuracy & reliability issues resolved, it was time to order some magazines. I contacted Ruger Law Enforcement Sales division and attempted to obtain a half-dozen of the factory 20-round component. I was promptly informed that Ruger does not sell directly to LE Agencies. I would have to go through one of two LE distributors to obtain the mags.

So I called the first (closest) one and learned that they were out of stock, but 'hoped' to have some 20 round Ruger magazines, 'soon'. I also learned that the Dept. price for these was over $41.00 each. Oddly, Ruger has a 'promo' going for new rifle buyers that gets them a free 20 round mag, and two more for $29.95 each. I guess that's my punishment for not paying $600+ for a new Mini 14. I finally just said 'To hell with it' and ordered some 20 round ProMags from Brownells.

When the ProMags arrived I gave them an 'acid test'- 50 rounds of over-length, lousy reloads I've been needing to shoot up for awhile. I knew the powder charge was safe but the primed LC brass was a freebie. I later learned that many had only been neck sized- if they were sized at all. To make it usable I pulled the decapper from a sizing die, and just ran the brass through primed. The end product was still pretty sorry with most over SAAMI overall length for the cartridge. The ProMags never missed a beat even with this junk ammo. I am really happy with these magazines, especially considering their price.

It is my opinion that these new Ranch Rifles are the best Mini's we've ever seen. Their non-slip buttpad and improved sights make them easy to mount quickly and shoot well from field positions. This particular specimen shoots better at over 200 yards, than many earlier Mini's would shoot at half that distance. While testing the ProMags, I managed to warm the barrel up pretty good while emptying of a couple of them. Even with a hot barrel, the last three-shot group of the day was 3 7/8 inches at 210 yards. In my experience, your average AR/M4 will not beat that significantly.

The accuracy improvements in these new Mini's, is a landmark accomplishment.; Ruger seems to have finally resolved the single weakness of the Mini 14. Now all they need to do is make it easier/cheaper to obtain factory, 20 round magazines.

Then- we'd be good to go!

The "Idiot Vote"

Just about everybody over eleven understands that voting is, and always will be, a choice between the lesser of two evils. None of these people are perfect and just like the rest of us, they have all done things that they'd rather not see splattered all over FOX and CNN.



Election-year politics are simply a grandiose effort to make each candidate look better than they actually are- and their opponents look far worse. What's absurd is that this entire effort is aimed at idiots who lack basic cognitive and analytical abilities- people incapable of evaluating the candidates and making up their own minds.

This decision making process should be based upon what all these folks actually did as public servants- before they announced their candidacy. Their core issues, the causes they support and the bills they sponsored or voted on are all a matter of public record. In some cases, they did nothing at all and voted 'present'. These are facts, not election-year bullshit. They cannot be changed. They can only be 'spun' in the hope that we, the voting public, at too stupid or lazy to check the facts.

But the facts are easy to get. Once obtained, you simply hold them up against your own core values (assuming you have any) and make a decision. For instance...if you are serious about your Second Amendment rights, you'd have to be an idiot to vote for Obama. This is crystal clear to most of us, yet some gun owners will inevitably vote for Obama.

Of course this is America and McCain-Feingold notwithstanding, we are pretty much free to express our opinions on these topics. I'm all for this, despite the fact that I have learned to ignore it.

I simply refute the notion that idiots should decide an election. Anyone who hasn't made a choice by now is probably not going to make a reasoned one- or they simply lack the core values which most people will use as their personal standard for evaluating a candidate.

This is rather sad. Poor choices can have dire consequences.

The 'Palin Factor'

America goes nuts every few cycles and elects a loon from the left. This is usually because they are sick of Republican 'establishment politics', etc. The fact is that there are still lots of hippies left (although most of them have arthritis now) and these folks are the stock & trade of the Democrat party. A Clinton or Carter comes along, and viola- we have a Democrat president. This is a situation we usually soon regret.

The Republicans learned to capitalize on this and they cleaned house in '80 and again in '94. They also earned the ass-kicking they got in 2006 and the public exposure of several their more perverted/corrupt members, cost them any 'moral high ground' they might have gained in the post-Clinton years. In fact, the GOP has wussed-out to the point that it stands for practically nothing. Add an increasing disapproval of the Iraq War, and in 2008 you have the 'perfect storm' for a total Democrat takeover of government.

Except for one thing. Obama scares the socks off normal, 'salt-of-the-earth' folks and it has nothing to do with his color, which like the rest of him is indefinable. I would vote for a Walter Williams or JC Watts so fast it would make your head swim- and I've even got a Confederate Flag License Plate which the family bought me on a trip through Alabama!

No, it is Obama's past radical positions and associations which normal folks abhor- and we're not talking 'distant past' or 'youthful indiscretions' here, either. We are talking the intentional aligning of oneself with anti-American factions-cop-killers, racists and admitted bombers of government buildings-for the express purpose of furthering his political career. This worked a little better than even Obama might have anticipated, at least within the kook-fringe of the Democrat party. So with apologies to my Southern, Truman, and 'salt-of-the-earth' Democrat friends- I am sorry to say that the kooks are now running your party.

So now Obama is catapulted onto the national stage, resplendent in his TV preacher glory and with all the free advertising and fawning that the mainstream media can muster. The loons are ecstatic and people of color are rightfully overjoyed that they have finally have 'A team in the Super Bowl.' The problem for the rest of us is that this particular QB has a history of downing the ball when things get scary, or just throwing it to the other team when it suits his purposes. And in a world at war, the 'other team' wants to bomb and burn 3000 of us to death in public buildings on US soil, cut our heads off, or convert us to Islam at the point of a sword.

Obama's answer to our concern over these matters is to ridicule us for clinging to our Guns and Bibles. Small wonder that he gets little-to-no support from US Military personnel- who spend their days clinging to both as they fight to protect us from radical Islam.

McCain isn't conservative enough to scare 'salt-of-the earth' Democrats; hell, McCain is practically a Truman Democrat himself. The big difference between Harry and McCain is that Harry actually liked guns (and I have seen and /or handled much of Harry's collection) but McCain scares the heck out of gun-owning libertarians and conservatives. But now he has drafted Sarah Palin- a sharp, 100% pro-gun, Reagan-esque conservative-

...who is also the worst nightmare of government waste and corruption. Sarah is much loved by the good people of Alaska and her willingness to sacrifice time away from that paradise, in service of her country, speaks well of this lady's sincere belief in public service. She is exactly the tempering element that a McCain presidency needs, to make it palatable for freedom loving individuals and gun owners. And if McCain thinks he picked himself a 'yes woman' in Sarah Palin, I believe he will have been sadly mistaken.

And that is the attraction of this ticket. McCain for the military folks, moderate Democrats and Republicans alike, and Palin for the libertarians, the ladies, the gun owners and the Reagan conservatives.

Against that, an Obama-Biden ticket don't stand a chance. There simply aren't enough kooks and radicals to elect them.

Thank you, Lord. God bless America.

The “CID” Holster, from Simply Rugged

April of 2008 found me in Anchorage, Alaska awaiting the birth of Ms. Scarlett Coble, who ultimately decided she was going to arrive on her own schedule- regardless of what Grandma & Grandpa thought of it. We had a great week and one of the highlights was that we got to meet Rob Leahy and his wonderful family. Rob is the is the gifted designer and craftsman behind Simply Rugged Holster Company of Wasilla, AK.

Rob knows that I bet my hide on the 1911, on a daily basis. I was pleasantly surprised when he slipped me the russet-brown belt slide at the end of the evening, It was executed in Leahy's trademark 'understated elegance'- deep color, just enough luster and some border-stamping to give it panache. Rob mentioned that this holster was a new offering for Simply Rugged and he'd like for me to give it a try. I thanked him profusely and assured him I would do just that. Subsequent correspondence resulted in it being dubbed the 'CID' Holster, which old cops will recognize as an acronym for Criminal Investigations Division. It is a fitting name for a holster which gives excellent service in that capacity.

The CID is a 'minimalist' design with an open top and no secondary retention devices. It is a tribute to the 'KISS' principle, as applied to the concealed carry of a substantial sidearm. A few practice draws proved it was quick, and with just enough passive retention. I immediately put it to work toting my 1911 around Anchorage and the surrounding area. One of the first things I noticed about this holster was that it tucks the gun butt in close to the body, without requiring the belt to be cinched overly-tight. This is a boon to those of us who are 30 or so years past 'rock-hard abs and pants sizes in the twenties'.

Over the past four months I have used this holster hard- and in situations not typical for a belt-slide holster. For instance, I slapped the CID on an old pants belt over some PT shorts, and went woods-jogging with a Condition 3 1911 under a baggy T-shirt. The gun stayed put. I have bounced it around on mowers and equipment all summer, with equally satisfactory results. I also think it would also be an excellent holster for hunters who like to carry a big auto under a hunting coat. Check your locals laws on this first however, so you don't get crossways with a game warden or state trooper.

Around town, a tail-out summer shirt hides the CID quite nicely. A light jacket or suit coat makes it disappear altogether. It is as comfortable as any belt slide holster I've ever worn. You can even get away with wearing a full-size 1911 under a T-shirt, if you use some common sense.

Forget for just a moment though, and turn facing a light breeze- you can make any holster print when wearing a big handgun under such a light cover garment.

Being an open-bottom holster, the CID for a 1911 will carry an Officer, Commander or Government Model and I would expect this attribute to extend to most other handguns as well. Its minimalist design makes it perfect for the the Colt Commander, Sig P220 and other similar-sized handguns. I also think it would be a great match for revolvers with barrels under four inches.

It was probably apparent from the outset that I consider Rob Leahy a friend. He is and that term, like my endorsements, is not something I throw around loosely. The fact is that I'd trust the man with anything I have. I don't know about you, but that's exactly the kind of people I like to do business with.

So whether you're a hunter, double-naught spy or just an 0ld flat-foot like me- click on the blue links, and have a look around. I'll bet you'll find good, solid value and designs that live up to the company name.

WHY the .45 ACP?

All too often, internet firearms discussions degrade into 'X vs Y' battles, terminating when the moderators tire of blather-broadsides between 'attention hoes' and debate team wash-outs. Once in awhile however, a real gem surfaces- and it can take the form of a question that makes us actually use that three pounds of gray matter which occupies the space between our ears and eyes. Such was the origin of today's topic and credit goes to 'Firepower' over at www.thefiringline.com for asking it.

I have a long and happy association with the .45 ACP, mostly because it just works. It offers big-bullet thump at very low pressures and the decisiveness of that 'thump' has been proven for nearly a century. When seasoned with common sense it is suitable for small to medium game; as a target round it is literally in a class by itself. In fact, the old .45 ACP handles so many handgun chores so well, you may find you don't really need another centerfire handgun cartridge.

The array of factory loads for this cartridge is downright dizzying and far too diverse to cover here. But for an idea of what's available simply go here for a look at what Midway has to offer.

Personally, my factory .45 ACP ammo needs are met by just a couple of factory loads. Practically anybody's 'hardball' load suits me just fine; and Winchester's 'USA' 230 grain JHP load has proven reliable, accurate and capable of excellent expansion. I trust it enough that I carry it on duty, or anytime the gun might be needed for its original mission.

Handloading the .45 ACP adds even more versatility. Wanna go light? Try 4.0 grains of W231 under a 200 grain LSWC, for about 626 fps. This load is accurate enough, works the action of my full-size 1911 every time and it shoots to point-of-aim out to about 30 yards. It is an excellent small game load and has dispatched vermin up to about 30 pounds, with authority. Recoil is nil and firing a couple of rounds without earplugs is not unbearable.

The Author & Rita the Saber-Tooth Rat-Dog, salivating over a kill.

For a target and general-use load I like that same bullet over 5.0 grains of W231, for about 830 fps. It also shoots point-of-aim and groups better than I can hold it, at 50 yards. It would serve well for defense and punches a nice, full-caliber hole. This bullet can be driven past 1000 fps without straining anything, if velocity is your bag.

'Third-gear' to this old '45 man' means 255 grain bullets at original .45 Colt velocities- 850 to 950 fps. John Taffin wrote an excellent article on handloading the .45 ACP, to accomplish just that. Folks, the amount of meat and bone such a load will bore a big hole through, must be seen to be believed. A friend with a sick 400 pound hog provided me with that opportunity. This load penetrated about 16 inches of tough critter, obviously grinding bone on the way across; it was found under the hide of the offside shoulder. I have also shot it through the heaviest shoulder & hip sockets of butchered bulls, and it drilled right through those with penetration to spare. I have killed some game with the .44 Magnum and I can tell you with a straight face that the .45/255/SWC at 950 fps will out-penetrate typical 240 JHP loads from the .44. I consider them on equal footing for big game at close range.

Here's a tip for those new at loading the .45 ACP, or any auto pistol cartridge for that matter. Get yourself a quality taper crimp die. Although it adds an extra step, it will save you headaches down the road. I use Hornady's TC die in this caliber and recommend it highly. I have enjoyed trouble-free feeding ever since I started using it.

And last but not least, there are the guns themselves. My admiration of the 1911 is well known, but it is by no means the only good .45 out there. The Sig P220 is a first-class DA pistol and the little Cobra .45 is getting excellent reviews. Glock, Springfield and FN produce polymer-framed .45 ACP pistols. Wheelgun nuts have the Ruger Blackhawk .45 ACP/Colt convertible and the Smith & Wesson 25's and 625's to choose from. Taurus even made a 5-shot snub for it and Derringers can be had in .45 ACP as well. If you're 'shopping used' you might even find an old 1917 Colt or S&W if you hunt around long enough.

We Americans love our .45 ACP's, and for good reason. It is a uniquely American invention that works even better than the day it was introduced. It got us through two World Wars, Korea, Vietnam and a host of other difficulties and police actions. It continues to keep good men and women alive when the chips are down. It'll do to ride the river with.

So if you haven't tried the old .45 ACP, you really ought to give it a whirl. It is, after all, the American thing to do.

The DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA ET AL. v. HELLER

The Second Amendment Applies to US!

This landmark decision of the US Supreme Court is perhaps the best news that American gun owners have received, since that disputed Amendment was written. Disputed? Yes, but only recently in the timeline of events that comprise the American Story.

I will not attempt to dissect and comment upon on each facet of the Supreme Court's one hundred and fifty seven page opinion. The world's best and brightest legal minds will expend incomprehensible amounts of time, money and intellectual horsepower toward that end. For those who haven't read it yet, you may simply click on the blue header above for the full text of the opinion.

For 'regular people' like me, the bigger question is this-

How on earth did we arrive the point where these twenty seven simple, carefully written words required a one hundred and fifty seven page legal opinion, in order for them to 'make sense'?

"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

I am fifty two years old this fall. As a child, I spent significant time around my Grandmother; a product of the late 1800's. She was literate but not highly educated'; yet she didn't have any trouble at all understanding that it was the individual rights of individual citizens which the Bill of Rights was forged to protect. My parents didn't have any problem understanding it. In fact, you would find few 'salt of the earth' Americans, since the nation's birth, who experienced any difficulty understanding it at all.

The reason is that these people possessed the ability to believe in absolutes. Those earlier generations were not corrupted, intellectually and morally, by a liberal academia and an equally liberal media. They weren't distracted by an entertainment industry bent on destroying their moral fiber and sending the country straight to hell with an efficiency heretofore unimaginable.

Two sterling examples of the mindset produced by a liberal education system appear below:

“Specifically, there is no indication that the Framers of the Amendment intended to enshrine the common-law right of self-defense in the Constitution.”-Justice Stevens

“The reason there is no clearly superior, less restrictive alternative to the District’s handgun ban is that the ban’s very objective is to reduce significantly the number of handguns in the District, say, for example, by allowing a law enforcement officer immediately to assume that any handgun he sees is an illegal handgun. And there is no plausible way to achieve that objective other than to ban the guns.”-Justice Breyer

According to Title 28, Chapter I, Part 453 of the United States Code, each Supreme Court Justice takes the following oath:

"I, [NAME], do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will administer justice without respect to persons, and do equal right to the poor and to the rich, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me as [TITLE] under the Constitution and laws of the United States. So help me God.''

That Oath apparently has no meaning to elitists who would re-write the Constitution from the bench.

American gun owners 'won' Heller and we can be thankful for that.

But how close were we to losing the rights that generations of Americans have fought and died for? We were within one vote of the Supreme Court- that's how close. Let the Scales of Supreme Justice tip just eleven percent further to the left- and we will soon have no rights at all.

From here on out, we had better pay close attention to who will be making Supreme Court appointments; and equally close attention to the yammerings of our elected idiots in the Senate, during the confirmation process.

Assuming, of course, that we can tear ourselves away from American Idol.

Rusty Old .54 'Santa Fe'...

Here of late I seem to be getting downright picky, about what I want in a rifle. I have specific ideas about what I want to accomplish with it; how I want it to handle and yes, how I want it to look. I expect a rifle to have some soul beyond the sights and the trigger and the hole it makes in the target. My wife, God bless her, understands my weaknesses and when she heard about this rifle, she sent me an email saying "BUY! BUY! BUY! Happy Father's Day Honey!!!" There is no doubt that I've found a treasure in her.

But the subject at hand is a rifle and this one was purchased for no other reason than the fact that it exactly fits my concept of what a muzzle-loader should be. I had been trolling for one, ever since we gave our son Josh the 'Springfield Hawken'. I have handled and put down a half-dozen in-lines that I could have bought right during the off-season, and they do have their utility- but I wanted my personal front-stuffer to have some panache, as Skeeter Skelton would say. The reproduction guns closest to my ideal rifle were the Jonathan Browning Mountain Rifle or maybe the Lyman Plains...I knew I wanted iron furniture, a browned barrel, and the 'mountain rifle' feel.



On Monday I made my usual buzzard-swoop of the pawn shop, to see what treasures had arrived over the weekend. The pistol case produced nothing and I let my eye wander the long gun rack- and WAY down on the far end I caught the lines of a Mountain Man gun. It took about one hands-on minute to sell me this gun, which appears to have been a kit version of the Track of the Wolf 'Santa Fe Hawken' or the Dixie 'Rocky Mountain Hawken' Mine appears to be the latter by Pedersoli, right down to the rear sight.


The finished guns with nice wood go for about five bucks shy of a grand. I got this one for about what the set triggers alone, would have cost you from Dixie.


The gun was not without its warts; the ramrod was missing, the 'brown' is almost rust in places and the wood isn't nearly as pretty as the linked examples. While the previous owner (a mountain-man reenactor) had let the finish go 'authentic', he gave at least moderate care to the bore and he added some 'tack-work'. This is a nice touch for a period recreation of this type. Markings are all but non-existent in its present state, but a little light cleaning may produce some. I did find a “54 caliber” and “Made in Italy” on a barrel flat, under the stock. 'Santa Fe', as I have dubbed her, is actually pretty good example of what a man might have carried between 1840-1870.

The old gun came with a load in it and once I got the rusted-shut nipple out, I primed the drum and installed an old Hot Shot nipple I had laying around. It fired on the first try and even gave good ignition with a few charges of Triple Seven. This rifle has the direct-feed nipple that angles right in to the main charge- and whoever fitted the lock managed to center the hammer fall on the nipple exactly on the nipple. Of course I had no 54 ball on hand, so the first few fired were with double-patched 50 ball. Needless to say, no groups were fired but I did manage to center a bean can offhand, at about 60 paces. The set triggers functioned perfectly.

Range Time

With some Hornady .530 ball in hand, I was itching to see if this thing would shoot. But it's rained for days and my range road is swamped. I wasn't carrying a folding table, etc down there so I shot from a $5 plastic lawn chair... I never did get what you'd call a righteous 'cheek weld'. The damn 'skeeters were biting like piranhas. Starting load was 75 grains of Triple-Seven, CCI #11 'Magnum' caps and the patches were some old store-bought which I soaked in vegetable oil- way too much, as it turns out. Ignition was perfect however and the report was sharp & quick. Shooting was at 100 yards. The plain holes left & right of the bull were ranging shots. Then I hunkered down & fired 3 more, shown in blue, for the actual group which measures 5 inches.

I think with decent conditions, a good rest & proper patches this old gun will really shoot. I've got some 2F Black coming and for me at least, it usually shoots better than the substitutes. If not, the rifle will still work fine for game shooting to 100 yards. It shoots a tad left with this load; might be dead center with the 2F. I'm real happy with what I've got here.

LOCK & LOAD the VOTE!

Is someone close to you a Soldier, Airman, Sailor or Marine? Are you, like me, sick of seeing them underfunded and under-equipped by Congress? Used as political pawns by elected jackasses who pretend to support the Constitution and the 'Average American'- yet won't even cover their heart when the Pledge is given? So am I.

Every time I see some pork-barrel project attached to funding for the War on Terror, it makes me want to go to Washington and spray for vermin. I figure that any insecticide that suffices for cockroaches, fleas and bed-bugs should clear the hallowed halls of the Legislature in about 30 seconds.

Worse still is the pathetic field of contenders, vying for the job as their Commander in Chief.

My disdain for the current field of presidential candidates is widely known; honestly, the thought of voting for any of them makes me nauseous. The only thing I'm certain of is that we're going to have a president who couldn't even carry ammo for George Washington or Theodore Roosevelt.

I had originally intended to sit this election out, or simply cast a 'protest vote' for any write-in candidate up to and including Bozo The Friggin' Clown. But the fact remains that we have a solid half-dozen relatives who are active duty with the military.

Our service men and women get little more than lip-service from the candidates themselves. Nobody seems to care that these young Americans have made the biggest personal investment in America, and that they have the most to lose or gain from the outcome of this election.

Some of them will be starting their third tour in a combat zone, before the summer's end. ALL of them have voluntarily sacrificed control over their personal lives, in selfless service of this once-great nation. There are also those who have paid the Ultimate Sacrifice, and have given their very lives protecting the freedoms that some in government still spit on- and many everywhere take for granted.

Shouldn't their sacrifices be worth more? Shouldn't they know that we trust them with the future of this nation?

YOU, as a voter, have the power to amplify their numbers and repay but a small portion of what they have given for this nation. How?

One- By not wasting a single VOTE.

Two- Unsure of of who to vote for? ASK A US SOLDIER, SAILOR, AIRMAN or MARINE.

Three- Regardless of who they pick, VOTE FOR THEIR CHOICE.

Four- Circulate this effort via email, word of mouth, or smoke signal. Get it done.

Five- Keep it rolling- every Senate and House member or candidate should know that the 'Military Vote' just got a big dose of steroids.

Oh, and one more thing. While you're asking that Marine, Soldier, Airman, or Sailor who they'd like for their Commander in Chief? Offer our sincere thanks- and our apologies for not offering them better choices.

Now get busy. We ain't got much time left.

Alaska!

Whale-watching, along Cook Inlet about 12 miles south of Anchorage on the Old Seward Highway. Didn't see any.

I always wanted to go to Alaska, from the time I was old enough to know where & what it was. Last week, my wife & I spent a week around Anchorage, awaiting the arrival of our Granddaughter, Scarlett. Like the whales missing from the above photo, Lil' Miss Scarlet had other places to be. Mommy (AKA our lovely daughter 'Sunni') was certainly ready for her arrival- but right now, Scarlett is calling the shots. Here she is with her husband Tim, who is easily the best son-in-law any father ever wished for. This is an appropriate moment to express our heartfelt thanks to them, for making our stay so enjoyable.

Sunni thought a walk might speed things along a bit, so we drove up to Chugach State Park for a snowy mountain stroll. There we learned two things:

• One- The signs telling you which trail to use are sometimes wrong, and
  
• Two- The reason snowshoes were invented.

The gray head behind the redhead is mine, and yes I 'sunk to the pockets' before I got her out.

Greenhorns on the mountain trail;)

Sooner or later I'll get back and when I do, I'm going to spend some time in this beautiful preserve, just outside Anchorage. Flat Top is the 'bunny slope' for mountain hikers and there are just fantastic views of the surrounding area.

The snow & sunlight-saturated haze dealt us photography-fits, but here's a look out across Cook Inlet from the state park.

We also made a side trip to the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail

Downtown Anchorage, across the Inlet

We stopped at the Alaska Railroad Headquarters. One of their early 'Little engines that DID' was on display complete with the requisite Totem Poles...

...another of which decorates the front of the Headquarters Building.

Sunni and Tim gave us a tour of Elmendorf AFB, where both are proudly serving with USAF. Highlights were the Eagle Hospital, where injured bald eagles are cared for until they are able to fly.

We also viewed the Memorial to Yukla 27 an AWACS aircraft which crashed at Elmendorf on September 22, 1995, claiming the lives of all 24 crew-members on board.

If you're a candy freak, you'll love the Alaska Wild Berry Products . The place has a chocolate fountain, which was down for service, and the biggest dang Teddy Bears you'll ever see.

Daddy's girl, doing a little bear-bonding;)

AWBP also sells Flying Moose Coffee, some of the finest we have ever tasted.

While most of our time was spent with Sunni & Tim, we did manage a little jaunt down the Old Seward Highway to Girdwood, and the beautiful mountains and valleys near Alyeska Ski Resort. Old Seward runs along the east side of Cook Inlet to Whttier, and the scenery is fantastic. Here are a few pics we took along the way to Girdwood.

Mountain Goats, gawking back at the tourists.

And of course, the requisite dogsled photo.

And finally, a beautiful trail leading toward Mt. Alyeska.

Alaska has a staggering array of state-maintained trails, parks and outdoor resources. I was surprised to learn that Anchorage also has quite a number of them. If you visit that city, you really should eat at the Moose's Tooth Pub & Pizzeria. We had smoked salmon dip for an appetizer, and the All-American Pizza. Both were delicious and everything that passed our table looked & smelled equally appealing. Moose's Tooth also has its own brewery. At this stage of my life I'm not a regular beer-drinker, but I did have a glass (OK, two glasses) of their Prince William's Porter- a dark, full-bodied beer which will ruin you for off-the-shelf beer from the 'mega-breweries'.

The Roll Call is still a gun blog, so a few notes on 'packing' in Alaska. Bears are definitely a consideration for those partaking of the state's enormous outdoor resources. From the state's website, located at
http://www.dnr.state.ak.us/parks/safety/bears.htm

“You are allowed to carry a gun for protection in state parks. Remember, though, that more people are hurt by the guns they carry than are hurt by bears. Select a gun that will stop a bear (12-gauge shotgun or .300 mag rifle) and practice firing it at a rifle range. Any bear shot in self defense must be salvaged and turned over to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. ”

They also recommend pepper spray, which is said to work quite well. I have used it on attacking dogs over the years and it works well on them. Even so, you aren't gonna catch this old country boy anywhere near bear country without a sidearm- at the very least. Every year, several Alaskans are killed or mauled and sometimes within rock-throwing distance of their homes or town. The state's nice little admonition about bear vs gun injuries fails to mention that the vast majority of folks who are killed or maimed by bears- are also the ones not carrying firearms. Much has been written about gun safety on this blog, and the safe and proficient use of firearms is not an insurmountable task. My advice is that if you are roaming Alaska, carry a substantial gun whenever and wherever you can. The safety and proficiency part is up to you.

Since we were traveling light, I took along my .357 Mag SP101 and my old 1911A1. Don't worry about ammo...you can find seriously-heavy handgun loads at the local WalMart. I grabbed an 18-pack of “Alaska Backpacker” .357's using a 200 grain hard-cast, gas-checked LBT. Upon returning home, I chronographed a few and found them to produce 970 fps from the 2 ¼” SP101. Recoil was noticeable but not unbearable. The load's velocity didn't impress me much- until I started shooting things with it. It easily bored through a 3 inch seasoned oak limb, digging an inch groove in the trunk behind. It shot through an old mower deck- that .45 hardball only dents. This load grouped into about 2 ¼ “ at 25 yards, and the point-of-impact with the little Ruger was only 3” high at that distance. I do believe Alaska Backpacker's 200 grain .357 would shoot through a bear's noggin' and that's about all you can ask of a pocket gun.

Truth be told, I would have preferred some of Buffalo Bore's Heavy .357 as it produces better velocity from short barrels. I wouldn't run from CorBon either but neither was available when I was looking for them. Regardless of the ammo, a .357 is really too light for this duty. If Alaska were my home, a .454 Alaskan or short .45 Redhawk would be my constant companion. The .44 Mag has also proven itself time and again, and my choice of the .45/.454 is based solely on my sticking to one caliber.

So that's about it. While a week in Alaska hardly makes me an authority on this outdoorsman's Paradise, I can honestly say that I now have only one unanswered question about it:

WHEN can we go BACK?!?!

Sacred Cow Gored...The “Competition Grip” Is Not Always the Answer

The 'thumbs-forward' competition grip is, as the name implies, quite effective in competition. This is especially so if:

• The gun used is a full-sized auto
• The grip is used with only one gun
• The 'object' is to unload a magazine as fast as possible
• With enough accuracy to score on competition-style targets

The competition grip works well in IPSC- and it looks good in the videos produced by various competition shooters. Law enforcement and defensive shooters should probably think twice before adopting it.

The problems of the real world and the square range are dissimilar. On the square range, there are no drunks trying to wrestle the gun away, or kick it out of your hands; you're not going to have to hold the gun in one hand and fight with the other. You won't have to change from a two-handed grip to one-handed, in a split second, to move a scared student aside while you address a threat at 90 degrees on your weak side. In competition, you won't be shooting flame-throwers through that magnum j-frame, that fits so nicely in your front pocket.

We all know the importance of getting the first hits but the reality of handgun effectiveness is that that they ALL suck- and peripheral hits do not stop fights. Gunfights are often a flurry of shots followed by one side or the other realizing that 'Hitting THAT SOB in the nose' is what it's going to take to survive. If your initial, IPSC-Master barrage didn't settle accounts, you are now low on ammo. Yes, we shoot until the 'threat goes away'- but Mr. Threat may have friends you haven't met yet. Remember the teacher telling you to “Bring enough for everybody”? That applies to gunfights, too. 98% of the time, dumping magazines in a fight is just plain stupid- the kind of stupid that gets you charged, sued or killed.

If you are still in the fight after the initial flurry- you need precision, and only two things on God's green earth will get it. They are:

• Seeing your front sight on what you want to hit, and

• Pressing the trigger.

You can only accomplish that when conditions allow it and speed-shooting isn't going to make it happen.


As long as your grip is firm, consistent and usable in the worst-case scenario, it's good enough. It should be a grip you can acquire without conscious thought, regardless of the gun you're carrying today, or how many hands you can get on that gun. It needs to be simple, without a lot of digital acrobatics. If you have to think about where this or that thumb goes, for this or that gun, you are draining brain juice you might desperately need for problem solving.


Right here is where the 'competition grip' falls apart. Using a thumbs-forward grip with a snubnose .357 will soon educate you about where your weak-hand thumb should NOT be. There are pictures circulating the web at present that show the results of having that thumb too far forward when you're shooting something bigger- like a .460 S&W.


There is another factor at work here, that nobody talks about. Not all combinations of hands & handguns will work with the Competition Grip. The more you introduce stress/unknowns into the training, the more apparent this becomes. Safeties and slide locks get bumped by errant thumbs, and your now gun won't go 'boom' until you fix something besides the problem you were trying to solve with it. I have seen this repeatedly with the Springfield XD, at LE qualifications. I have seen it more than once with HK Compacts and the smallest Glocks.


When this starts happening, I 're-teach' folks to turn the shooting hand thumb down or alongside the grip; and if transitioning to two-hand shooting, to place the offhand thumb on top of it. This resolves all issues about hitting the slide lock inadvertently. It works with any gun, regardless of caliber or configuration. It also facilitates conversion of the shooting grip into a retention grip, without moving anything. Your shooting-hand thumb is a valuable asset in holding on to that gun.

Sometimes people ask me “Well if your way is better, how come (insert big name IPSC shooter) don't shoot like that! Whadda-ya say to that, Sarge? Huh?”

I say “S'cuse me, but didn't you just lock your gun open in mid-string? By the way, IPSC is a game-and this ain't a game to us. Does anybody here want Mr. IPSC Hose-monster running down the hallway of your daughter's school, emptying mags at a dead run?”

Dead silence...

I'm trying to teach these guys the simplest, most instinctive methods to stay alive. I still turn out some pretty good shots, a few of whom have used what I've taught them to get home when things got ugly.

I'm going to call this a 'Retention Grip' simply because it uses the natural anatomy of the hand to help you retain possession of the gun; and that advantage is not compromised in the split second when you transition from two-hands to one, or vice-versa. No, you're not gonna win any IPSC matches using this grip, and the ammo makers won't offer you a sponsorship because you burned an obscene amount of their product in 17.323 seconds. But let's give it a look anyhow.

Hold the EMPTY, and I mean ALL THE WAY EMPTY gun in your strong hand- like you mean to hold onto it, even if I tried to slap it away. Your thumb knuckle will invariably wind up alongside the handle- AWAY from any controls mounted on the weapon itself:

Now extend your shooting hand slightly, and bring your support hand up. Cup your shooting hand in your support hand. Now- whatcha gonna do with that weak hand thumb? Leave it dangling out there in your field of vision? Want some crack head to get ahold of it and bite it off? I didn't think so. Fold it over on top of your shooting hand thumb.

If you have to remove your support hand from the gun for any reason, you still have a solid grip on the gun without shifting it around. Wonder of wonders, it also happens to be the same grip you use for strong-hand shooting. Think that might be a good thing? You betcha. You can shoot it, holster it, or hang onto it; whatever the situation dictates, and with as many or few hands as you have available.

Your thumbs are both out of the way of the slide stop. Yeehaw. Now we can finish a stage of fire without you holding your little hand up like a first grader who needs to go potty- 'cause your slide locked open before your 'buwwets' was all gone.

We may now resume shooting. Thank you very much.

"Jeff's Outfitters" Ladder Sight on the Savage 99E

Reproduction Carbine Rear Ladder Sight. Originally used by Winchester (73,86, 92 & 94), Marlin and other manufacturers. Requires 3/8” dove tail.
Jeff's Outfitters	$59.95

I mentioned earlier that my ‘99’s rear dovetail was cut crooked and I didn't think I'd be able to use this sight on it. Well, I dug that sight back out and noticed that there was a LOT of meat on the dovetail. A light came on...I was going to have to fit it anyhow, so why not 'fit it crooked the other direction' to make up for the funky dovetail? So I gambled sixty bucks and it worked. I'm sure somebody with a calibrated eye can find a half-degree or two of discrepancy, but it's significantly better than before.

The first order of business of course was to get it to shoot and changing the back sight resulted in some experimentation with various front sights- which further resulted in nearly a box of nice WW .308 factory loads being sent to POI's ‘other than the selected one'. When the rain finally broke I was able to get in enough shooting, to get the windage ironed out. Just at dusk I shot the neck off a laundry jug, and hit another one about an inch lower, at 210 paces. About a half-dozen similar containers have now been exploded at this distance, from various improvised rests. I believe that satisfies my requirements for 'hunting zero'.

As it worked out, the big V 'hunting notch' got cut down to a little v. It works nice with a fine 'ivory' bead, using the same basic sight picture as my 1911- level across the top. It is fast and natural for an old pistolero.

Now for a few more photos…

The old 99E in all its budget glory; thin brown Decelerator pad, Michael's swivels, Three-Dollar gunshow sling and Jeff's Excellent Ladder Sight:

The Winchester Ladder sight from Jeff’s Outfitters was nicely machined, finished and bore a dark, even blue that was even better than the ad photo. Of course, getting it from ‘there’ to ‘here’ required some hammer & file work; the sight's dovetail had to be re-cut at the proper angle to compensate for the crooked dovetail, in the Savage's barrel. It is nothing that a little cold blue won’t fix.

Some of that ’file work’ included bringing the top of the hunting notch down about 0.020, so it would regulate at 200 yards. Please note that the dovetail lock screw, shown in the photo below, was also perfect when I received it. These screws have a very fine slot in them. While I had a screwdriver on hand that fit it, the bit was brittle and when it broke it buggered that screw- so that screw got some corrective file work, too. I managed to get a little oil on one side of the notch in this pic, which looks odd. Otherwise, the sight's finish survived the installation just fine. I figure I’m about one light file stroke from a perfect 200 yard zero with the hunting notch, and once that's confirmed I'll apply touch-up blue to the sight..

The fine, ‘long range’ notch works perfectly with a 1/16 ivory bead, over a 15 ¾” sight radius. The elevation mast is clearly marked in precise increments, and the long-range notch is held in place by a strong leaf spring built into the notch itself. Please excuse the filings that I forgot to blow off the sight;)

And finally, this pic illustrates why the 99/.308 suited me better than a traditional ‘woods gun’. It’s about 250 yards to the evergreen tree-line just above the barrel, at the right of the frame. I killed a decent 8-point out of there last year, at about 212 yards. The trees just below the skyline are nearly 400 in the center of the frame, and an easy 550 off to the right. The deer, coyotes and an occasional bobcat seem to think this is an amusement park. Of course we would get ‘closer’ to shoot at any of them, but 200+ yards is a normal shot here and 350 isn’t out of the question.

Happy Sabbath to you all & I hope your Easter Sunday is great!

The 99E's First 'Fly in the Pancake Syrup'...

I mentioned earlier that I'd mounted a fine front bead on this gun, to replace the 'witch nose' that came on it. The existing front sight sat pretty far to the right, so when I mounted the new one I centered it neatly in the ramp. To get the rifle 'on' however I had to move the rear sight far to the left, to the point that the sight even hung slightly out of the dovetail. I didn't think much of it at the time, because bent sights are a common malady with old guns that have seen some use. With the initial chronograph work done and the aforementioned ladder sight on the way, I decided to yank the old rear sight out and see how badly it was bent.

I've got an old drill sizer that has a nice machinist's rule built into it. It is 0.020 thick, about 3x6 and has four perfect, square edges on it. Using that device, I checked the 'bent' rear sight several different directions and it checked straight- and perfectly square to the sight's dovetail. This was not looking good. I was having visions of bent barrels or off-center sight ramps, and my 'bargain 99' going across the table at the next gun show.

I figured a good way to check the barrel and ramp mounting was to back out two plug screws in the receiver, line the slots up with the barrel,and then lay the machinist's rule in the screw slots...once that is accomplished, you have theoretically established the centerline of the receiver. You then sight down the straight-edge and see if your front sight is leaning off to the left or right of it. I was relieved to find my front bead practically halved, when sighting down the straight edge. This confirms that the front sight ramp is mounted correctly, dead-on with the top centerline of the receiver.

There was only one place left to look and that was the rear dovetail itself. Squaring the long straight edge in the bottom of the dovetail revealed that it was significantly out-of-square with the centerline of the barrel, and it was consistent whether the front or rear edge of the dovetail was checked. I'm guessing this gun was made the day after the 1970 Christmas party, and that maybe the guy on the dovetail cutter that day had a bad hangover- or maybe a lampshade still on his head?

This of course ain't the 'end of the world'. The problem only manifests itself with rear sights that extend back from the dovetail. A fold-down leaf sight, such as the Marble's offering, would put the sight leaf directly over the dovetail and the problem would scarcely be noticeable. Mounting a receiver sight would get around it entirely. I haven't decided which yet but I'm sure of one thing- this rifle is not a candidate for a ladder sight, and I'll have to re-live my misspent youth with another gun. Oh well. Ammo & component prices are ridiculous, and I'll probably save quite a bit by avoiding shots at 5-gallon buckets, 600 yards distant.

More Early Shooting with the Savage 99

I fired a few more shots this AM to get an idea of what I might expect in accuracy/velocity from this .308 with its 20" barrel. Shooting was done early with the temp hovering at 16 degrees and a 10 mph west wind in my face. Yes, it was cold enough to be distracting and all the other standard excuses apply- iron sights, old watery eyes, old glasses, too much coffee, etc.

I have been buying up a few boxes of Winchester 150 grain Power Points. Bejing-Mart has an ample supply at the moment and they are priced within a few cents of WW .30-30 ammo using a similar bullet. This provides some 'get acquainted' ammo and WW's rifle brass has worked fine for me in other calibers; Power Point factory loads have been sure killers on game.

Winchester rates this particular .308 load at 2820 fps, no doubt from a 24" test barrel. From the 99's little 20" tube, my Chrony BetaMaster says '2708 fps' average for three shots, six feet from the muzzle. I am not in the least disappointed. I have a light, handy .308 that still produces within about 100 fps of Winchester's figures, for their 150 grain factory load. I believe I can live with that. It also tells me that I can stick with the 150 grain Nosler Ballistic Tips I have been loading in .30-06, and still expect good results on deer within any practical hunting range for the .308 cartridge. I scoot this same bullet to 2944 fps from Peg's .30-06 and it is a grenade on chest shots, inside 250 yards. 'Toning it down' to 2700+ from the lil' Savage won't hurt the performance on game at all.

The three chronographed shots, plus a couple of others, were also directed at an 8" picnic plate 210 yards downrange. The 99's creepy trigger caused me some aggravation and a couple of the shots were called flyers. The good news is that I called the flyers correctly, and that the three 'good' shots were kind enough to herd themselves into 2 3/4" inches. This is plenty good under the conditions and consistent with my best, repeatable 200-yard shooting using iron sights, under the best of conditions. The logical conclusion is that my Savage 99 has all the accuracy potential I can use. I'm kind of anxious to get a good piece of glass on it, to see what it's capable of.

But I wouldn't think of glassing any rifle until the irons are entirely sorted out. I shot a little high today, which is of no consequence since the rifle is awaiting a new rear 'ladder' sight.














www.jeffsoutfitters.com

I'm generally pretty practical about my guns, but I made a little exception in this case. Some of the best fun I had as a kid was with old military Rolling Blocks, Springfields & SMLE's, hammering stuff way out there using the ladder sights. So, I've decided to add a little something to make this a 'fun gun' as well as a practical one. Once that is on and centered I'll match up a front bead that will get it 'on' at 200 yards. Then over time, I'll shoot at various ranges it out to 800 yards and mark correlating index points on the elevation slide. Shots beyond 350 yards will be relegated to 'fun' shooting.

So far, so good. I'm getting respectable ballistics and accuracy from a classic rifle design, which requires almost nothing in additional reloading components or equipment to 'keep it fed.' It's about to get a classic sight added to it. I think the 'cool factor' may be headed right off the chart.

The 99 Savage 'Magic Gun'

This particular specimen is the 99E-for 'economy'-but I don't care. I've always had an affinity for 99's and it finally caught up with me the other day. They are not exactly 'svelte' but they do a lot of things pretty darn well- and they suit my style of rifle work to a "T".

I love the fact that you squeeze near-06 ballistics into a package that carries about like a 94...speaking of which, I could never quite warm up to that 94AE so it got horse-traded into this one. Where I hunt these days 350 yards is a reality. Last hunting season, I caught myself wishing for something that shot flatter/hit harder than the Winchester, out beyond 200 paces. You can sling a 99 too, without worrying that the lever will flop open. A fine bead, some swivels and a set of mounts will make this one field-ready in short order. I think in reality this is pretty close to what Jeff Cooper envisioned with his Scout Rifle concept.

Me & the Savage 99 have a history togther. I had one in .308 about 23 years ago but the mount holes were drilled just enough out of line that it would kick the scope loose in about 10-12 rounds. I used it with irons anyway and clean-killed a chicken stealing fox with it at a shade over 350 yards- on the run. It just kept making good shots for me so the 99 has held 'magic rifle' status ever since. Suffice it to say that am glad to have one standing in the corner again.

I've had a couple of evenings to fiddle with this thing now...the stock & forend were both loose, so I peeled 'em off and put a little oil where no oil had obviously been for several years. Both the striker & sear had grunge/corrosion on them, so I ran a hard stone across them just enough to clean that up. This alone helped the trigger quite a bit.

The front sight on this 99 was a nasty-looking bronze affair; bead looked like a witch's nose and kind drooped off like it'd been bent. It was also way too tall, per the Marble's chart. I dug around and found a .310 white bead that fit the ramp, but the dovetail was oversize so the needle-punch & Loctite were needed to correct that. The bore & chamber were swabbed & both look good. The gun was reassembled and stood in the corner, muzzle down.

I ran the first five rounds of WW 150 Power-Point down the pipe this AM, just to get the irons halfway zeroed. The range road is too muddy to haul the table & trappings down there, so I was shooting seated on a 5-gallon bucket, using the wobbly 1x3 yardage stakes as a 'sort of' rest. I was using a Champion '100-yard Smallbore' target with an 8" bull, with a little red dot in the middle.

I fired one round off the 25 yard stake, which lit 5" out at 2:00. The rear elevator was all the way down so I yanked it out & tapped the sight a tad to port. I held real careful at 6:00 on the bottom edge of the red dot & fired again. A .30 caliber hole appeared in its exact mathematical center. Yee-haw!

Encouraged, I packed my bucket & trappings back to the 100 yard stake and sat down. That stake is wobbly but I shot twice anyhow. The end product was two holes in the black, 2" above and 2 1/2 " either side of the red dot. I was glad they were bulls- and the way I was wobbling around I can hardly blame the rifle for the spread. Hmm... 2" high at 100 should be about right for 200... believe I'll recut the bottom notch in the sight elevator to allow the rear blade to bottom out, unencumbered.

It was time to see if all this theory would actually translate into 200-yard hits, on three-dimensional objects. My back sidewalk is a shade over 210 yards from the target frame, so I set a blue, 100 oz. laundry jug on the ground directly in front of it. With one round left in the magazine, I trudged up the muddy clearcut toward the house.

I have an old dilapidated folding table out back, whch serves as my 'portable outdoor workbench & game butchering table'. One of Peg's little antique benches got commandeered for a place to sit. I hadn't brought anything out to shoot over, but there was a 1# coffee can of Briggs & Stratton parts nearby and it served as a place to rest my hand & the forend. Only then did I discover that I had placed the jug in such a manner that I could only see the bottom half of it, against the grass. The top disappeared against the assortment of targets & stuff stapled onto my backstop.

At this point laziness saved the day...I wasn't walking 400 yards just to move that blasted jug. So I acquiesced to 'the passing of time' and fetched an old pair of prescription specs. At least I could see enough of the jug to put the bead on it now, which is what I did as I carefully pressed the trigger until the recoil surprised me. The sights looked right, the table didn't collapse and my coffee-can rest didn't fall over. I was at least confident that I had hit the backstop, instead of killing a tree in the scrub timber behind it. I levered the last empty out and left the rifle open on the table.

Scanning the ground for a low or wide impact, I approached my target. Seeing none, I walked up on it and found a neat, 30 caliber hole in the jug, about 2" up from the bottom and 2" right of center. I probably yelled 'YES!!!' but won't admit to that unless someone has video... it ain't every day you swap front sights, and within five shots you are punching head-sized targets at 200 yards.

I told you these 99 Savages were magic guns ;)