Les Jones

So long to Kim du Toit

Monday, December 1st, 2008 | Guns | Permalink | 2 Comments |

He’s quitting blogging after six years. Kim was the reason more than anyone else why I started blogging about guns.

World coming to its senses about response to mass shootings

Wednesday, November 19th, 2008 | Guns | Permalink | 1 Comment |

A study of school shootings, mall shootings, and other mass shootings concludes what many of us have said for years:

The other statistic that emerged from a study of active killers is that they almost exclusively seek out “gun free” zones for their attacks. In most states, concealed handguns are prohibited at schools and on college campuses even for those with permits.

Many malls and workplaces also place signs at their entrances prohibiting firearms on the premises. Now tacticians believe the signs themselves may be an invitation to the active killers. [Editorial comment: duh] The psychological profile of a mass murderer indicates he is looking to inflict the most casualties as quickly as possible.

Also, the data show most active killers have no intention of surviving the event. They may select schools and shopping malls because of the large number of defenseless victims and the virtual guarantee no on the scene one is armed. As soon as they’re confronted by any armed resistance, the shooters typically turn the gun on themselves.

Hat tip to Grant Cunningham.

Obama: “such weapons belong on foreign battlefields and not on our streets”

Thursday, November 13th, 2008 | Guns, Media Behaving Badly | Permalink | 4 Comments |

Above: A Secret Service agent guards Barack Obama using a weapon that the
president-elect says belongs “on foreign battlefields and not on our streets”

From Obama’s position on guns, posted on Change.gov and quoted by Uncle:

As president, Barack Obama would repeal the Tiahrt Amendment, which restricts the ability of local law enforcement to access important gun trace information, and give police officers across the nation the tools they need to solve gun crimes and fight the illegal arms trade. Obama and Biden also favor commonsense measures that respect the Second Amendment rights of gun owners, while keeping guns away from children and from criminals who shouldn’t have them. They support closing the gun show loophole and making guns in this country childproof. They also support making the expired federal Assault Weapons Ban permanent, as such weapons belong on foreign battlefields and not on our streets

Judging from the picture of the AR-15-equipped Secret Service agent above those weapons do belong on our streets, as long as they’re being used to protect Barack Obama.

As always, the misleading label “assault weapons” is only ever applied to guns owned by civilians. When the police use exactly the same guns the media is more than happy to call them “police rifles” or “patrol rifles.” Funny how that works.

Australia headed down the oppressive government rabbit hole

Thursday, October 30th, 2008 | Guns, Politics | Permalink | No Comments |

“Ideas are more powerful than guns. We would not let our enemies have guns; why should we let them have ideas?”
– Joseph Stalin

Herald-sun - Australia to implement mandatory internet censorship:

AUSTRALIA will join China in implementing mandatory censoring of the internet under plans put forward by the Federal Government.

The revelations emerge as US tech giants Google, Microsoft and Yahoo, and a coalition of human rights and other groups unveiled a code of conduct aimed at safeguarding online freedom of speech and privacy.

The government has declared it will not let internet users opt out of the proposed national internet filter.

The plan was first created as a way to combat child pronography and adult content, but could be extended to include controversial websites on euthanasia or anorexia.

Euthenasia and anorexia now, and who knows what later? Put a politician and his minions in charge of a system like that and the list of censored topics will only grow.

Years ago Australia began limiting gun ownershop and confiscating guns. Once the government decides you can’t be trusted with guns it’s usually only a short time before they decide you can’t be trusted with other rights and powers.

Obama is anti-gun. No, really.

Thursday, October 23rd, 2008 | Guns | Permalink | 4 Comments |

Barack Obama is anti-gun. To believe otherwise you have to disbelieve not only the nation’s most prominent pro-gun group, but also the nation’s most prominent anti-gun group. The pro-gun National Rifle Association endorsed McCain for president. The anti-gun Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence endorsed Obama for president. Hat tip to SayUncle, who’s been on top of this during the election season.

Obama also received an endorsement from the phony American Hunter’s and Shooter’s Association, which is an anti-gun group masquerading as a pro-gun group.

AHSA was created with the specific intent to provide political cover for anti-gun politicians by allowing them to claim support from a “sportsmen’s” group. In truth, the anti-gun credentials of AHSA’s leadership is well documented. For instance, AHSA president Ray Schoenke has a long history of giving political donations to some of the most anti-gun politicians, including Al Gore, John Kerry, Barbara Boxer, Bill Clinton, Dianne Feinstein and Ted Kennedy. In 2000, Schoenke donated $5,000 to Handgun Control, Inc. (now the Brady Campaign) and the Ray and Holly Schoenke Foundation also made donations to the Brady Campaign. AHSA Board member John Rosenthal remains the leader of Stop Handgun Violence, the Massachusetts anti-gun group. And one of the leading organizers of AHSA is Bob Ricker, who has been a paid expert witness against gun manufacturers in a number of reckless lawsuits. (For more information, see Anti-Gunners Don Camo As Elections Loom.)

And another link from Uncle:

I lobbied Barack Obama extensively while he was an Illinois State Senator. As a result of that experience, I know Obama’s attitudes toward guns and gun owners better than anyone. The truth be told, in all my years in the Capitol I have never met a legislator who harbors more contempt for the law-abiding firearm owner than does Barack Obama.

No matter what Obama says, he’s anti-gun, and the groups that are paying attention know it.

NOLA Mayor Nagin admits wrongdoing, settles with NRA

Monday, October 13th, 2008 | Guns | Permalink | 3 Comments |

Following Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin sent police officers to confiscate guns from the homes of law-abiding citizens in a horrendous breach of their constitutional rights under the second and fourth amendments. Nagin and the NOLA PD initially denied the confiscations happened, later admitted they did happen, then made it difficult for citizens to reclaim their property.

The National Rifle Association sued Nagin and the city of New Orleans. Last week Nagin and the city settled the case and admitted their acts were illegal and unconstitutional. Furthermore, a judge ordered a permanent injunction against the city to prevent them from further confiscations and ordered the city to engage in an aggressive program to return the guns to their rightful owners.

This is good news. An enormous wrong has been corrected.

As a result of the New Orleans gun confiscations, many states legislatures passed new laws forbidding their mayors and governors from confiscating guns during civil unrest. The Federal version passed as SA4615.

See also:
- YouTube - NRA: The Untold Story of Gun Confiscation After Katrina
- Reason - Defenseless On the Bayou: New Orleans gun confiscation is foolish and illegal

Listening to Katrina

Thursday, October 2nd, 2008 | Guns | Permalink | 1 Comment |

With Hurricane Ike recently in the news, now’s a good a time as any to revisit lessons from Hurricane Katrina that go beyond the usual, from someone who’s been there:

Past that point, though, we have to ask the simple question, “What is the strategy of a lifeboat? What is its purpose?” If you got into a lifeboat with a bunch of people who told you, “Don’t worry! We are professionals! We have been preparing for shipwrecks all our lives! We know exactly what to do!”, what would you want to know?

The first thing I would want to know is, “So…what’s the plan?”

Sit with me a moment in this lifeboat. There are a number of people here. Smart people. People with skills. People with forethought. Men and women of a Serious Nature. We ask our simple question, “So…what’s the plan?”, and they respond without skipping a beat. “We’re going to SURVIVE! We’ve got lots of SUPPLIES, and we can FISH and HUNT, and we know all the right things to do to LIVE in this LIFEBOAT! We KNOW how to distill SEA WATER, and we can DRINK our own URINE until the still is up and RUNNING!”

“Uh… So the plan is to stay in the lifeboat?”

“Yes! We have everything we need! We can live in the lifeboat indefinitely! We are self-sufficient! We can live in the lifeboat for years! We don’t need anything or anyone else. We have everything we need right here.”

“What about either trying to get rescued or making our way to dry land?”

All you get in response to that, though, is…the Freak look…

I want you to think about that. I want you to seriously appreciate the sheer madness of that. That is, though, what a lot of the books preach. Some kind of idyllic self-sufficiency. We seriously need to rethink that strategy…

While I enjoy a nice warm glass of urine as much as the next guy, I really want to be in a different lifeboat. I don’t know about you, but I want to be in a lifeboat that is seaworthy, yes, but light and fast. I want to get back to dry land, cold beer, juicy steak, warm blankets, and hot pie as soon as possible. Drifting the open ocean with a bunch of people - no matter how skilled or prepared they are - is not my idea of life.

I don’t want to be a sustenance farmer. I don’t want to live in a cave. I want my MTV! Why don’t any of the books, magazines, or doomsday websites ever cover that all important goal? Why hasn’t anyone written a book about what you need to do in order to create a society, to organize a town, and to build a city after TEOTWAWKI (The End Of The World As We Know It)? Because it isn’t sexy. It doesn’t feed our American Fantasy of Apocalypse. Guns, ammo, food storage, and wilderness survival skills are real things that people can cling to to assuage their fears. Is that stuff important? Yes. I’ve got all that stuff too. Is it the most important thing? Not by a longshot.

Reading gun-oriented message boards I see lots of posts by people who think of SHTF survival mostly in terms of strapping on a backpack and heading to the hills with lots of ammo. That always struck me as fantasy land daydreaming. This guy’s approach is much more oriented towards getting back to civilization and restarting your life. I like it. Living well inland I don’t know that I’d do all of this stuff, but I’d like to have copies of some important records in my safe deposit box.

Peeling paint on stainless Ruger 10/22 receiver

Wednesday, October 1st, 2008 | Guns | Permalink | 18 Comments |

When I bought my stainless Ruger 10/22 I expected to have to refinish the receiver at some point. The barrel is stainless, but the finish on the aluminum receiver is just silver paint of some sort.

The reason I expected finish problems is because Paul Simer had posted about his finish wear on his rifle, and Ruger’s lame re-painting job.

After cleaning my stainless Ruger 10/22 with Breakfree Powder Blast (which is more or less brake cleaner) I noticed that some of the paint started peeling.

I’ll eventually wind up stripping off the paint and refinishing it. Any suggestions for a new finish?

EOTech vs. polarized sunglasses

Sunday, September 28th, 2008 | Guns | Permalink | 1 Comment |

From the John Farnam’s Quips mailing list:

My student was wearing polarizing sunglasses. The rear lens on the EOTech is plane-polarized, necessary for the holographic aspect to work. When my student viewed his EOTech with his head upright, everything worked normally. But, when he turned his head while acquiring an awkward position, his glasses rotated enough to conflict with the polarization of the EOTech. The result was no light coming through the optic, and the shooter thus looking at a blank screen!

The lesson here is that plane-polarized optics do not work well in combination with polarizing sunglasses.

My latest pair of prescription sunglasses is polarized. In general I like polarized lenses, but I’ve noticed that when wearing them I can’t read certain LCD screens, like the screens on many credit card readers, because their polarization is at odds with the polarization in my sunglasses.

Natural point of aim - aiming with your feet instead of your hands

Wednesday, September 24th, 2008 | Guns | Permalink | 1 Comment |

Someone emailed me a question: “You mentioned in one of your Appleseed Shoot writeups about ‘aiming with your feet.’ Could you please elaborate on that?”

Sure. This is all part of the natural point of aim, which is the body posture that allows the gun to remain on target with minimal muscle input. Once you’re in your natural point of aim you can hold the rifle for a long time without getting tired because you’re holding the rifle in place with your skeleton and not your muscles.

If you can hold the slung rifle in position with a loose grip, hardly using your fingers at all, you’re in a natural point of aim. If you have to “white knuckle” the gun (as an instructor told me I was doing at one point) you’re not in a natural point of aim - something’s wrong with your body position and you’re having to use your upper body to strong-arm the gun to aim it.

I had no trouble getting my NPOA standing. The rifle rested comfortably in my left hand with my fingers relaxed. Prone was another story. More on that in a minute.

Aiming with your feet - standing

In a standing shooting position you’ll obviously have your weak-side foot forward. (If you’re right handed the left is your weak side.)  Your strong-side foot will be back and pointing a little to the side, feet shoulder width apart.

The ball of your weak-side foot is the pivot point and stays in place. If you move the strong-side foot forward it tilts the rifle barrel down. If you move the strong-side foot back it tilts the rifle barrel up. To move the barrel left or right move your weak-side foot right or left, pivoting around the strong-side foot.

Aiming with your feet - prone

If you’re shooting prone (lying on the ground belly down) you’ll have the toe of your weak-side foot in the ground. In that position your weak-side elbow under the rifle is your pivot point and stays in place.

You can move the barrel up and down by controlling how much your foot is sticking up. If you let your foot go slack your toe stays planted and your heel moves back, which lets your body move back. Because your body is pivoting on the weak-side elbow which is planted in the ground that raises the barrel. Pushing on the weak-side foot pushes the heel forward, driving your body forward and lowering the barrel. You can reposition your legs to adjust your whole body from side to side to move the barrel from side to side, always pivoting around the weak-side elbow.

You can also do this with a sitting position, but it’s harder to describe and I’m admittedly not very good at the sitting position so I’ll skip that.

Incidentally, all this pivoting stuff dug dime-sized raw spots on both of my elbows the first day, even though I was shooting on a foam rubber mat. Wear a long sleeve shirt or use elbow pads for prone. I plan on taking a set of Lycra athletic elbow pads from the drugstore to my next Appleseed shoot. Another option is a shooting jacket with padded elbows.

More on natural point of aim

I never got my natural point of aim exactly right in prone. I think that’s why I wore myself out the second day. When your muscles fight your skeleton your muscles always lose. Maybe not right away, but eventually.

The second day an instructor was demonstrating prone again and I spotted something about his position that was different than mine. I’m now pretty sure a big part of the problem was that I had my weak-side elbow out too far to the side, so that it was at an angle to the ground. I should have had it closer to the center and almost straight up and down.

Instead of putting most of the weight on that elbow I was spreading my weight between both elbows. That threw off my posture, which pushed the rifle to the right. (How far to the right? At one point I wound up shooting the targets of the guy to the right of me! That was where the gun naturally pointed, so when I went down to prone the gun went there and under time pressure I didn’t notice I was picking off someone else’s target.)

With my skeleton pushing the gun to the right I had to use my upper body muscles to pull it back left. That adversely affected my accuracy and exhausted me. Putting extra weight on my strong elbow also caused me to struggle to maintain balance every time I had to do anything with my strong hand, like loading a magazine or working the bolt. I want to practice getting my natural point of aim in prone before my next Appleseed. If I can get that right everything else is basic marksmanship.

Previously:
- Pictures and Ruger 10/22 notes from the Manchester, TN Appleseed shoot
- Home from Appleseed
- Ruger 10/22 buying advice
- Ruger 10/22 parts - anything else I need?

Pictures and Ruger 10/22 notes from the Manchester, TN Appleseed shoot

Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008 | Guns | Permalink | 2 Comments |

Notes and pictures from last weekend’s trip to the Appleseed rifle training class at Arnold Air Force Base in Manchester, TN.

Ruger 10/22s

Gun-wise, way more than half of the shooters were using the Ruger 10/22. It’s accurate, affordable, shoots cheap .22 LR ammo, you can buy one at your local Wal-Mart, and there’s a smorgasbord of aftermarket accessories. All of the 10/22s had Tech-Sight aperture sights except for a few scope users. There were also a couple of AR-15s, some SKSes, an M1 Carbine, and a few bolt-action .22s. Someone had an M1A, but it seemed like it was just being shot every now and then for fun.

The 10/22s in Manchester went from mostly off the shelf except for the ubiquitous Tech-Sights to models customized with bull barrels and benchrest-style thumbhole stocks. A heavy benchrest barrel is probably an impediment at Appleseed. It won’t shrink your groups much, but it will tire you out over the course of hundreds of rounds fired each day.

The only person to shoot rifleman the first day was Sean, who was shooting next to me. He was using a mostly-stock 10/22 with a carbine-length, tapered barrel that he bought used at a gun show. The only mods he was aware of were the Tech-Sights and Hogue overmolded stock (which is also a factory option). He’s active military and is a scout for his squad. He didn’t use the more-stable loop sling because he felt that he wouldn’t have time to get into it, but he managed to easily shoot Rifleman using the hasty sling.

On the second day Yvette, a mother of six, shot rifleman. (She’s the lady in Oleg’s pictures.) She was also shooting a 10/22 with a few minor modifications (I dig that extended bolt handle), but with a factory stock and tapered barrel.

Lance was the third person to shoot rifleman. As I recall he was shooting a blued, wood stock 10/22 with a tapered carbine barrel. I think he may have been using a scope. Lance and Yvette both shot with a loop sling.

Magazines

Going into the first day I had all seven of my magazines stoked, thinking I’d have a hard time keeping up with reloading. It turns out there was always plenty of time to reload magazines between courses without rushing.

I had the impression that I’d need high capacity magazines for Appleseed, so I brought three Butler Creek Steel Lips 25 rounders to go with four factory 10 rounders. When I was sighting in the week before I had some jams with the Butler Creek mags, so I was disinclined to use them.

It turns out you never need more than 10 rounds during an Appleseed course of fire, so the 10 rounders were fine. You do need at least two magazines for courses that require magazine changes (loaded either 2 and 3 rounds or 2 and 8 rounds). A third or fourth magazine is a good idea in case one magazine develops problems.

Speaking of which, my Ruger factory 10 rounders worked fine the week before and on the first day, but I had failures to feed on two magazines the second day at Appleseed. I’m new to the 10/22 so it’s possible I didn’t clean or lube the gun properly, so I need to work on that. An instructor told me he has had problems with factory 10/22 mags so he always keeps a spare on the mat in case of magazine issues. That’s good advice.

My factory magazines did not go into the gun very smoothly. I had to wrestle with them a little to get them in. I need to see what I can do to improve that. One nice thing about the 25 round Butler Creek magazines is that they stick out of the gun far enough that you can can get a good handhold on them to stick them into the rifle.

10/22 Tech-Sights

The only thing that’s absolutely critical to replace on the 10/22 is the sights. The standard folding leaf sights are too hard to see and they can’t be adjusted precisely. Every 10/22 shooter at Manchester who wasn’t using a scope was using Tech-Sights.

Tech-Sights use an aperture rear sight. Normal leaf or open sights use a flat rear blade with a notch cut out. To align the sights you place the front sight in the notch. That requires your eye to do the impossible: focus on the nearby rear sight and the faraway front sight simultaneously. You can’d do it, so one of the sights is always fuzzy.

An aperture rear sight is a circle that you let go blurry. Just position the front sight at the center of the circle. Your eye does this naturally, so you don’t even have to think about it. The Tech-Sight is mounted farther back than the factory rear sight, and adds about eight inches to the sight radius to increase accuracy.

Tech-Sight installation and adjustment

To install the new front sight tap out the old one. The instructions say to use a brass punch and hammer. I don’t own a brass punch, so I used a steel punch I had handy and covered it with two small pieces of duct tape to keep from scratching up the old sight. A half dozen mild taps were enough to push out the factory front sight.

The new front sight didn’t want to go in. After repeated taps failed to nudge it in I used a file to lightly file down the leading edge of the new sight using about as much pressure as you’d use to file your nails. One stroke didn’t do it - it still wouldn’t quite go in. After the second stroke of the file I was able to get the front sight into the dovetail. I only took a tiny, tiny amount of material off to make it fit. After the front sight was in I used the supplied set screw and hex head wrench to screw it into place so it wouldn’t come loose, with a dab of blue Loctite threadlocking compound on the screw to glue it in place.

The rear sight gets screwed into the holes in the receiver for the rear scope mount. Just remove the filler screws and screw in the rear sight, again using a little blue Loctite to keep the screws from backing out. You can fold down the factory rear sight and leave it in place, or drift it out with a punch just like you did with the front sight. I left mine in for now, and it never got in my way.

If you buy Tech-Sights you’ll want the sight adjustment tool, which is the same as an AR-15 sight adjustment tool. To adjust the rear sight for windage rotate the adjustment wheel clockwise to move the bullets to the right, and counterclockwise to move the bullets to the left. To adjust the front sight for elevation turn the sight clockwise to move the bullets up and counterclockwise to move the bullets down.

I liked the Tech-Sights on the 10/22 so much I want to get a set for my SKS.

Slings

Appleseed teaches use of the sling in all shooting positions. They recommend a military web sling, which I bought in preparation for the class.

Then I got jammed up. Two nights before I hit the road I discovered the sling was slightly too wide to fit into the factory sling mounts on my rifle. The next night after work I scrambled to find some that were wide enough, but couldn’t, so I bought a Gander Mountain hunting sling that came with mounts.

The hunting sling was wide at the top to spread the weight over the shoulder. That extra width made the hunting sling a bit unwieldy to get my left hand around it in a hasty sling setup. The second day an instructor offered me some sling mounts to work with my GI web sling (thanks, Steve). The narrower military sling wraps easily around my hand and doesn’t get in the way. By unclipping it from the back of the gun you can wrap it around your bicep for a loop sling setup.

P.S. In this long post about guns there isn’t a single gun picture. During the class there was too much to do and think about when we were shooting or getting ready for the next course. During the day my camera never left the car. Other people took pictures, though, and you can see them at the Appleseed forums.

P.P.S. Many thanks to the all-volunteer staff of Appleseed for running a great class, and thanks to Dave D. for helping me get the 10/22 ready for the class.

Previously:
- Home from Appleseed
- Ruger 10/22 buying advice
- Ruger 10/22 parts - anything else I need?

RIG (rust-inhibiting grease) discontinued

Friday, September 5th, 2008 | Guns | Permalink | 2 Comments |

From The High Road:

RIG Grease NO longer going to be available. This off another forum.

” The manufacture is evidently dropping this product from their line up. The company was bought out and operations transfered overseas from what I can deduce. Midway is out and will not accept any more orders, Brownell’s for the time being is accepting orders for back order. The lady I spoke with said they should be getting around 440 units in by late September and then they show no more. Two other distributors told me they cannot get any more deliveries as well. “

I liked this post: “I opened my current jar of RIG in 1976. I use it on all my guns. It’s about half gone.” Some people speculate that RIG an example of a product that was done in by its low price and the fact that a little bit lasts forever.

I’ve never tried RIG, but it did well in tests and lots of folks seem to like it. Midway has some in stock right now so I’m adding a couple jars to my 10/22 order.

Ruger 10/22 buying advice

Thursday, September 4th, 2008 | Guns | Permalink | 2 Comments |

Some advice on buying a Ruger 10/22 sent in by a “humble reader” who prefers to go nameless.

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Either go with a 18″ barrel or (if you can find them) a 20″ or 22″ barrel. The latter is for increased sight radius as past 16 inches of barrel a .22LR will usually start to slow down a bit (but not too much). I would suggest putting out the extra cash for stainless. It’s strictly anecdotal but I’ve always found them easier to clean than carbon steel barrels. A standard barrel or bull barrel is a question for you to decide. My advice is go with the standard for now. They’re cheaper & lighter & will do fine while you learn to really shoot the thing. After you have some experience you can figure out if you need to upgrade your barrel or not.

Some models have a longer than standard stock so if that may be an issue for you double check it against a standard length stock (as found on their plain model 10/22) before you buy. A note though - After market stocks are readily available. So if you otherwise love the rifle you’re looking at, but might want a different stock - just figure if it’s worth the $100-$150 or so for the after market stock as opposed to continuing your search. If price ain’t no thang, then grab it & start looking at your options.

Laminates are great. Mainly because they resist the effects of humidity. They don’t swell or shrink like walnut does, so they offer a more stable platform for the rifle. But they are a bit pricier than the walnut versions. Synthetic stocks are even better than laminate at stability, but I never liked the look or feel of them. You might find a used (maybe even new) 10/22 with a synth stock for a great deal. Boyds makes 2 decent stocks for the 10/22 (the Blaster & SS Evolution). Boyds’ website is new & mighty messed up, so just look at the pics & call them before making an order.  But $100 to $150 or so will get you those two stocks, & a host of companies make stocks for the 10/22 in the same price range or a hair more, so your options are only limited by your desire & budget. (Here’s MidwayUSA’s 10/22 Stocks page, for example) & remember - .920 barrel channels in stocks are for bull barrels, not standard taper barrels.

The stock triggers on 10/22’s aren’t great, but depending on how nice you want it you can change that. Replacement parts abound & for around $100 or so (or more, depending upon your desires) you can change out the trigger completely if you wish. SayUncle will give good advice on this, as I never bothered with trigger work on mine. Or you could just buy a ready-to-drop-in part - I’ve had my eye on this one for a while, for example.

Sights - you’ll either have a blade & leaf rear sight with a front bead (V-notch), or no iron sights at all. All 10/22’s come drilled & tapped for a scope (or more accurately have a scope mount included that you install yourself). This I am a bit of a bore about - invest in an aperture sight. Once you learn how to use them properly you’ll be almost as accurate as with a scope. By all means, get & use a scope, but learn to use an aperture. Why? Well, because they’re very accurate (especially compared to other iron sighting systems), dependable (they rarely break), commonplace on military & competition rifles, & they’re a great back up for those rare but not unheard of times when your scope cannot or will not work.

MidwayUSA has a Williams receiver sight for the 10/22 running at $59. (I prefer Lynman myself but they stopped making their 10/22 model). It’ll run another $40 or so to have a gunsmith install it (assuming $20 per hole to drill & tap the two holes needed) but it will be worth it if &/or when you need a really accurate iron sight.

Sling - make sure you get a model with sling swivels, or look into having them installed (if you don’t wish to do it yourself - but it’s not that tricky). A sling isn’t for carrying the rifle - though it can be used for that. A sling is the greatest aid to accuracy you’ll ever use after the sights & the trigger.

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Good stuff. Thanks anonymous dude!

I got this advice after I bought my 10/22, but it matches that advice to a T. It’s the “Wal-mart special” with 22 inch standard profile stainless steel barrel and sling swivels. I’ve got a Tech-Sight aperture sight on the way.

Ruger 10/22 parts - anything else I need?

Sunday, August 31st, 2008 | Guns | Permalink | 10 Comments |

I’m getting ready for the Manchester, TN Appleseed shoot September 20-21. I bought a 10/22 a few weeks ago. On Friday I went shooting at Dave D’s. He let me try a couple of his 10/22 builds to see what I liked.

I definitely dug the Tech-Sight. I liked the aperture rear sight which is what I expected and also really liked the tall, skinny AR-15 front sight included with the Tech-Sight kit. I’m definitely buying a TSR100 and a sight adjustment tool.

I shot one of Dave’s 10/22s with a Volquartsen hammer that lowered the trigger pull to around 2.5 pounds. That’s definitely on the list. I liked it much better than the factory trigger pull, which wasn’t terrible to begin with.

I didn’t have any extraction problems Friday but I’m taking his advice and picking up a Volquartsen Clean Edge extractor. Even if I don’t install it right away I figure it’s good to have a spare extractor around. They’re one of the most-broken parts on an autoloader. Along that same line of thought I’m ordering a spare Ruger factory steel firing pin. At $2.99 it’s cheap insurance.

From everything I’v read slings are a big part of Appleseed training. I’ve found a couple of slings at Cheaper Than Dirt and Midway USA. I can’t tell from the pictures or description if they’ll work in the hasty sling configuration. I’d really appreciate it if anyone can point me to slings on either of those sites that would work well for Appleseed.

Dave showed me auto bolt releases and extended magazine releases. They were kind of cool, but I may wait on those for now. I’m starting to get the hang of the 10/22’s funky bolt release, which requires you to press it and release it while holding the bolt to the rear. It’s odd from a UI point of view, but it works.

Magazine-wise I’m buying a couple Butler Creek Steel Lips 25 rounders and some Ruger clear factory 10 rounders.

Anything else I should get while I’m shopping?

Bought a gun at Wal-Mart for the first time

Wednesday, August 20th, 2008 | Guns | Permalink | 8 Comments |

Next month I’m attending an Appleseed shoot in Manchester, TN. None of my guns is quite right for an Appleseed shoot, and the 10/22 is their recommended gun barring anything else appropriate.

Friday I strolled into the sporting goods section at Wal-Mart to look at .22 rifles. I was glad to see L. manning the counter. (Doesn’t everyone know their Wal-Mart gun counter clerk by name?)

I asked to see the Ruger 10/22 in the rack. L. said he loved his. I mentioned why I wanted it and he had heard of the shoot I was going to, and we swapped stories about travelling that part of Tennessee on Interstate 24 between Nashville and Chattanooga. Another customer came by and endorsed the 10/22. He had replaced the barrel and stock on his with custom parts. (The 10/22 rifle along with the AR-15 rifle and Colt 1911 pistol is one of the most accessorized and customized guns in America. You can replace every single part on those gun with a different part made by someone other than the original manufacturer.)

To buy a gun in the United States you have to provide a photo ID and fill out an ATF form 4473. I’ve done it more than a few times, but Wal-Mart was by far the most exacting about it. As L. told me, “You’ve probably filled out one of these before, but it’s a little different at Wal-Mart.” He cautioned me that Wal-Mart doesn’t accept abbreviations. I’d have to spell out Tennessee and Street, Avenue, etc., and that I’d have to give the year of my birth in four digits.

When I finished the the 4473 I was asked to put N/A in spaces I had left blank, such as my Social Security number, which is optional. The form went to NICS (National Instant Criminal Background Check System) for approval. A little while later NICS came back an approval number. An assistant manager and co-manager came to the gun counter to verify the paperwork and to make sure the serial number on the paperwork matched the serial number on the gun.

After I paid one of the managers escorted me to the exit. He carried the gun, not me. On the way to the exit he told me I’d need my receipt. At the exit he asked the greeter to check my receipt, even though he had watched me pay. Lots of folks are unhappy about Wally World’s rules for buying guns, but I guess they feel the need to protect themselves from potential liability. I knew what to expect and it didn’t bother me.

Ruger makes several dozen variations on the popular 10/22. The one I bought isn’t listed on Ruger’s Web site because it’s a Wal-Mart exclusive. It has a 22″ stainless steel barrel, a little nicer stock than the standard Ruger 10/22 Carbine with checkering and no barrel band, a longer length-of-pull better suited to an adult than a youth, and standard sling swivels. Price was $238 before tax.

The Appleseed folks recommend folding down the 10/22’s standard folding sight and instead using a TechSight brand aperture sight. That works for me - I much prefer aperture sights to open sights. The Tech-Sight extends the sight radius another eight inches and is easier to adjust for windage and elevation than the 10/22’s standard sight. For sixty bucks or so the TechSight is a square deal.

Renewing the Assault Weapons Ban is still part of the Dem. Platform

Wednesday, August 13th, 2008 | Guns | Permalink | No Comments |

Hard to believe it’s in the national party platform.

“Put down that walnut-gripped 1911 sissy pistol and getcher self a Glock”

Saturday, July 26th, 2008 | Guns | Permalink | No Comments |

PDB - Tupperware Jihad:

In all that faggoty advertisementese is no objective explanation why I would choose this gun over, oh, say, a Glock 17, which happens to cost half as much, hold twice as many rounds, weigh half as much, shoot just as accurately, run more reliably out of the box, and is assembled from armorer friendly parts that do not require skilled fitting. The last point bears repeating: There are no parts on a Glock that cannot be changed in about 30 minutes by a user who has a hammer, screwdriver, and a punch.

I really don’t give a damn what it’s made out of as long as it works properly. The “forged vs. cast” debate is the most asinine waste of time on the series of tubes. If Springfield Armory had modern investment casting technology available in the 30s, the Garand would have been cast, and production wouldn’t have been farmed out to a tractor company.

Unfortunately, the forgings and custom fitting are no guarantee that the pistol will actually work. I have personally seen a Les Baer lapse into full auto, an STI repeatedly fail to feed, and other ridiculousness that their owners excuse as the price of pride of ownership. Attend a high-round count pistol class and see what makes it through the weekend without failure.

The only reason to own a custom pistol is personal vanity. If you want a pretty, prissy gun to admire and treasure, then knock yourself out. I’ve got one (that I’m trying to sell!) or two myself. I covet, and am planning, a 1911 that will be too sexy for mere words. But if you are convinced that the glass-rod trigger, tight fitting, high polish blue and exotic wood grips will make you shoot better, then your training sucks.

Stick, meet hornet’s nest. Hornet’s next, meet stick.

New Variation on “Guns and BLANK” Photography

Friday, July 25th, 2008 | Guns | Permalink | No Comments |

Xavier Breath:

Sometimes I think gun owner/photographers take themselves too seriously with their conventional approach to gun photography. Today I decided to push those boundaries…….To gather a few elements alien to one another. To have a little fun with gun photography and poke a bit of fun at myself and us all. Click to enlarge. Enjoy.

They Call a Tommy Gun a Chicago Typewriter…

Friday, July 25th, 2008 | Guns | Permalink | No Comments |

so I guess you could call a Gatling Gun a New York typewriter.

Clayton Cramer - The Right of Newspapers To Keep And Bear Machine Guns:

I’ve read that the New York Times ordered up some Gatling guns to protect the newspaper during the New York City Draft Riots, during the Civil War, when enraged antiwar protesters upset about the draft murdered hundreds (some say, thousands) of blacks, burning down black orphanages with the children inside. A few years back, an acquaintance who invited me to speak at Columbia University told me that he had actually seen a photograph of a Gatling gun on the roof of the New York Times building. I was a bit skeptical, but I now have considerable evidence that the Gatling gun was on the roof only because the strafing run hadn’t yet been invented.

All the following sources agree that the New York Times had Gatling guns set up to deal with rioters; using the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms to protect the First Amendment right of a free (non-smoldering) press.

John Swinton, Memories of the New York Times, New York Times, March 27, 1898; Paul Wahl and Donald R. Toppel, The Gatling Gun 24-25 (Arco Publishing Co., 1965); Lawrence Milton Woods, British Gentlemen In The Wild West: The Era Of The Intensely English Cowboy 42 (Collier Macmillan, 1989); Don Carlos Seitz, Horace Greeley: Founder Of The New York Tribune 209 (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1926). Not only was Henry Raymond, the publisher of the Times manning the guns, so was Winston Churchill’s grandfather, who was part owner.

Hat tip to SayUncle.

Did Someone Say Carry Permit Holders?

Monday, July 21st, 2008 | Guns | Permalink | No Comments |

Sebastian mentioned carry permit holders. So did Xavier and SayUncle.

Ricochets at Night

Friday, July 11th, 2008 | Guns | Permalink | No Comments |

Neat long exposure photo of tracers ricocheting at night. Photo by M60 from a High Road discussion of ricochets.

Supreme Court to Issue Opinion in D.C. vs. Heller Today

Thursday, June 26th, 2008 | Guns | Permalink | 1 Comment |

At 10:00 AM Eastern the Supreme Court will issue opinions on all remaining cases. The big case everyone will be watching is D.C. vs Heller, which is a test of the Second Amendment, and whether it is an individual right or a collective right or right given to the state governments.

If the Supreme Court were to decide that the right of the people to keep and bear arms is anything but an individual right, it would presumably mean that the rights “of the people” mentioned in the First and Fourth Amendments are also not individual rights, which would be absurd.

Amendment I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Amendment II

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.

Amendment IV

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

For coverage of the ruling as it unfolds, visit SayUncle, Instapundit, David Hardy, Dave Kopel, Bitter, and Sebastian.

In Tennessee, Even Our Beauty Queens Pack Heat

Monday, June 23rd, 2008 | Guns | Permalink | No Comments |

WBIR - Newly crowned Miss Tennessee packs heat:

She’s a daddy’s girl. But don’t think this year’s Miss Tennessee is a pushover.

Ellen Carrington, 21, who was crowned Miss Tennessee on Saturday night, has a concealed weapons permit. “I have a Smith & Wesson .40-caliber,” Carrington told reporters on Sunday, “(with a) silver top and black body.”

A Jackson native and senior at Union University, Carrington decided to get the permit because she was spending a lot of time traveling to and from Nashville at night. She said spending time at shooting ranges with her father, Pat, helped create an even deeper bond between the two.

Hat tip to Katie Granju.

Double Barrel Pump Shotgun, Moe Szyslak-style

Monday, June 16th, 2008 | Guns | Permalink | 9 Comments |

The Remington 1740, a double-barreled pump 12 gauge shotgun. Made by fusing a left-ejecting Remington 870 to a right-ejecting Remington 870. I shit you not.

Here’s a video of the 1740 in action. The first shot is a volley firing both barrels:

Holy Crap - 140+ Year Old Cannonball Kills Civil War Collector

Tuesday, May 13th, 2008 | Guns | Permalink | No Comments |

CBS News - 140-Yr.-Old Cannonball Kills Civil War Fan:

Sam White got hooked on the U.S. Civil War early, digging up rusting bullets and military buttons in the battle-scarred earth of his hometown.

As an adult, he crisscrossed the Virginia countryside in search of wartime relics - 19-century weapons, battle flags, even artillery shells buried in the red clay. He sometimes put on diving gear to feel for treasures hidden in the black muck of river bottoms.

But in February, White’s hobby cost him his life: A cannonball he was restoring exploded, killing him in his driveway.

More than 140 years after the end of the war the pitted the North against the South over slavery, the cannonball was still powerful enough to send a chunk of shrapnel through the front porch of a house a quarter-mile from White’s home in the leafy Richmond suburb of Chester, Virginia.

White’s death shook the close-knit fraternity of relic collectors and raised concerns about the dangers of other Civil War munitions that lay buried beneath old battlefields. Explosives experts said the fatal blast defied extraordinary odds.

Via The High Road, where folks note that ancient blackpowder firearms sometimes contain perfectly viable charges capable of killing a person. Respect firearms and follow the four rules even on seemingly historical weapons.