We made it out to Ultimate Defense (http://www.udrange.com) on 6/11/2013 and shot both the P238 we picked up on 6/4/2013 and my AR pistol.
First magazine (TAC powder 55 gr FMJ hand loads) worked great four round rapid fire strings all stayed on paper and the majority were on target at 20m - Holographic sights feel like cheating! - but 15 rounds into the American Eagle 55gr FMJ the bolt recoiled behind the bolt stop and stayed there. I removed the magazine (still had 15 rounds in it) and since the bolt hadn't gone back forward yet there was no round in the chamber.
I tried to lever the bolt free by yanking really hard on the charging handle to no avail. Thankfully, the armorer at the range was able to free the buffer whose roll pin had worked loose just enough to hang up on the recoil spring. Since the bumper on the buffer was VERY brittle and rather cut up I ended the day and ordered a new buffer from the Equipment Exchange on ar15.com. I got the replacement buffer on 6/14 and my pistol is back in serviceable condition.
Now to try out the 55gr soft points I have loaded over 24gr of IMR 4064 powder I got at the Machinist Hall gun show last weekend...
Musings on firearms, politics and life by an armed Liberal.
Showing posts with label range visit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label range visit. Show all posts
Saturday, June 15, 2013
Sunday, May 12, 2013
Range Report #1 - it did not blow up!
Got out to a friend's private range on Saturday to both verify my build and my hand loaded ammunition as well as to teach my son to shoot. It was an excellent day, 100% accomplished.
I am now addicted to the immediate response from shooting at AR500 steel targets. Paper and shoot-n-see plastic bullseyes are boring in comparison. When you hit, you hear it. When you miss you see the dirt cloud from the berm. Bowling pins are almost as fun. ;)
I also got to use my new optic, an EOTech EXPS3-0.
I got my new optic in a weird way for me. I won it. Field and Stream is working along with EOTech to celebrate EOTech's 1 millionth manufactured optic milestone by giving away one set of EXPS3-0/G33 magnifier per month to a lucky entrant to their mail-in sweepstakes. I am the March 2012 winner. Since I currently have an A2 upper the magnifier is not something I needed right now, so I sold it for a bit less than retail but was able to use the money from it's sale to finish paying off the 2000 Impala. Win/win!
I had a forward mount that attached to the carry handle and put the red dot somewhat co-witnessed with the iron sights but the rail is way out of spec and the EOTech will NOT mount to it. I have a new/used mount on it's way to me from an eBay purchase which should work MUCH better.
I had hoped to get pics of the kiddo shooting, pics of my wife shooting and video of my AR but the phone ran out of juice and I forgot to pack our camera. Fortunately, my friend was gracious enough to give us an open invitation to return at any point.
My son is eagerly awaiting his 10/22, which I hope to have purchased for him before the end of summer.
I am now addicted to the immediate response from shooting at AR500 steel targets. Paper and shoot-n-see plastic bullseyes are boring in comparison. When you hit, you hear it. When you miss you see the dirt cloud from the berm. Bowling pins are almost as fun. ;)
I also got to use my new optic, an EOTech EXPS3-0.
I got my new optic in a weird way for me. I won it. Field and Stream is working along with EOTech to celebrate EOTech's 1 millionth manufactured optic milestone by giving away one set of EXPS3-0/G33 magnifier per month to a lucky entrant to their mail-in sweepstakes. I am the March 2012 winner. Since I currently have an A2 upper the magnifier is not something I needed right now, so I sold it for a bit less than retail but was able to use the money from it's sale to finish paying off the 2000 Impala. Win/win!
I had a forward mount that attached to the carry handle and put the red dot somewhat co-witnessed with the iron sights but the rail is way out of spec and the EOTech will NOT mount to it. I have a new/used mount on it's way to me from an eBay purchase which should work MUCH better.
I had hoped to get pics of the kiddo shooting, pics of my wife shooting and video of my AR but the phone ran out of juice and I forgot to pack our camera. Fortunately, my friend was gracious enough to give us an open invitation to return at any point.
My son is eagerly awaiting his 10/22, which I hope to have purchased for him before the end of summer.
Monday, March 11, 2013
Howler's Den calls out pro-gunnies on the EO's from POTUS
Holwer's Den called out a couple guys on ARFcom in regards to the negative response that the Executive Orders that President Obama laid out earlier this year.
Here's the rebuttal I posted which may or may not be posted to their site, I have no idea if they actually allow more discussion than other anti-gun sites do. I have been banned from several for being 'a shill for the NRA' or being 'off message'. These are my opinions of the EOs that I have shared on several other forums and FaceBook pages since they were first published.
"A rebuttal:
"1. Issue a Presidential Memorandum to require federal agencies to make relevant data available to the federal background check system."
This makes sense to me and falls well within the purview of the POTUS' abilities; all Executive branch agencies should work together. This is an internal 'play nice' from their boss/our Employee the POTUS.
"2. Address unnecessary legal barriers, particularly relating to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, that may prevent states from making information available to the background check system."
How is the Federal government allowing government bodies to violate HIPPA a good thing? Please, explain this to me. If someone was adjudicated and forcibly remanded to state mental healthcare, this is a public record so HIPPA has no bearing. this is what the NICS is interested in. Or is this going to allow fishing expeditions based upon privileged doctor/patient information?
"3. Improve incentives for states to share information with the background check system."
This should mean that states that have been conforming (such as Missouri) the whole time that NICS has been around should be rewarded. Somehow I don't see that happening and instead I see this as trying to 'slap around' states who are non-compliant. Considering that the NICS has been in place for a couple of decades, there has been plenty of time for states to send representation to the federal level to get this repealed. "game on" as it were to the non-compliant states.
"4. Direct the Attorney General to review categories of individuals prohibited from having a gun to make sure dangerous people are not slipping through the cracks."
#4 is rather troubling considering the continuation of US PATRIOT Act and the failure of indefinite detention to be removed from NDAA 2011 as well as several other actions and threats made by the executive branch over the last 12+ years. 'Domestic terrorist' lists similar to the 'no fly' list that has zero oversight?
#5 is somewhat ok, I'd rather see a federal database that is publicly searchable for recovered stolen/seized firearms. Verification of ownership and access to their Right to Keep and bear Arms is fine, but looking at the 'List' in #4 this could be troubling if determination of ownership of a specific type of weapon puts one in a 'restricted' class.
If #13 includes a recommendation from the DoJ to NOT allow plea deals in cases where any weapon was used to commit a crime, I'd be ok with that as long as Castle Doctrine and no duty to retreat come into effect and DA's are unable to go after defensive gun use when employed by those who are not barred from using their 2nd Amendment right to self defense with a firearm.
The EO's in and of themselves are relatively benign but looking at the direction that we have been going since the Oklahoma City bombing and 9/11 they can been seen in a negative light. The other issue is that even if the current Administration does nothing to curtail rights, who is to say that future ones won't?
Oh, if you want to publish my personal information, feel free. I am the interim Chairman of the Democratic Gun Owners' Caucus of Missouri, a member of the Blue Steel Democrats and run the blog at www.armedliberalinmo.blogspot.com so any publicity or additional memberships you want to send my way, please feel free. ;)
My wife is an immigrant from Canada who is working on her Citizenship so I am not doing anything that would impede her progress.
Again, this is the view of someone who identifies as a Liberal, feels that Civil Rights are held by no one if anyone's are disrupted and disagrees that we need as much federal government as we have.
Thanks,
Armed Liberal in MO"
Oh yeah, they did respond. A very polite "Thanks, but we disagree". They seemed intrigued that there are Liberals who tend to vote Democrat yet actually *LIKE* firearms. The shock! ;)
They also posted some personal info on other blog posts of RKBA activists. I'm not sure why they did that, it seems that it would potentially put folks in harm's way but I am not sure if that would be the folks whose family and addresses were printed or those who would seek to do them harm...
Here's the rebuttal I posted which may or may not be posted to their site, I have no idea if they actually allow more discussion than other anti-gun sites do. I have been banned from several for being 'a shill for the NRA' or being 'off message'. These are my opinions of the EOs that I have shared on several other forums and FaceBook pages since they were first published.
"A rebuttal:
"1. Issue a Presidential Memorandum to require federal agencies to make relevant data available to the federal background check system."
This makes sense to me and falls well within the purview of the POTUS' abilities; all Executive branch agencies should work together. This is an internal 'play nice' from their boss/our Employee the POTUS.
"2. Address unnecessary legal barriers, particularly relating to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, that may prevent states from making information available to the background check system."
How is the Federal government allowing government bodies to violate HIPPA a good thing? Please, explain this to me. If someone was adjudicated and forcibly remanded to state mental healthcare, this is a public record so HIPPA has no bearing. this is what the NICS is interested in. Or is this going to allow fishing expeditions based upon privileged doctor/patient information?
"3. Improve incentives for states to share information with the background check system."
This should mean that states that have been conforming (such as Missouri) the whole time that NICS has been around should be rewarded. Somehow I don't see that happening and instead I see this as trying to 'slap around' states who are non-compliant. Considering that the NICS has been in place for a couple of decades, there has been plenty of time for states to send representation to the federal level to get this repealed. "game on" as it were to the non-compliant states.
"4. Direct the Attorney General to review categories of individuals prohibited from having a gun to make sure dangerous people are not slipping through the cracks."
#4 is rather troubling considering the continuation of US PATRIOT Act and the failure of indefinite detention to be removed from NDAA 2011 as well as several other actions and threats made by the executive branch over the last 12+ years. 'Domestic terrorist' lists similar to the 'no fly' list that has zero oversight?
#5 is somewhat ok, I'd rather see a federal database that is publicly searchable for recovered stolen/seized firearms. Verification of ownership and access to their Right to Keep and bear Arms is fine, but looking at the 'List' in #4 this could be troubling if determination of ownership of a specific type of weapon puts one in a 'restricted' class.
If #13 includes a recommendation from the DoJ to NOT allow plea deals in cases where any weapon was used to commit a crime, I'd be ok with that as long as Castle Doctrine and no duty to retreat come into effect and DA's are unable to go after defensive gun use when employed by those who are not barred from using their 2nd Amendment right to self defense with a firearm.
The EO's in and of themselves are relatively benign but looking at the direction that we have been going since the Oklahoma City bombing and 9/11 they can been seen in a negative light. The other issue is that even if the current Administration does nothing to curtail rights, who is to say that future ones won't?
Oh, if you want to publish my personal information, feel free. I am the interim Chairman of the Democratic Gun Owners' Caucus of Missouri, a member of the Blue Steel Democrats and run the blog at www.armedliberalinmo.blogspot.com so any publicity or additional memberships you want to send my way, please feel free. ;)
My wife is an immigrant from Canada who is working on her Citizenship so I am not doing anything that would impede her progress.
Again, this is the view of someone who identifies as a Liberal, feels that Civil Rights are held by no one if anyone's are disrupted and disagrees that we need as much federal government as we have.
Thanks,
Armed Liberal in MO"
Oh yeah, they did respond. A very polite "Thanks, but we disagree". They seemed intrigued that there are Liberals who tend to vote Democrat yet actually *LIKE* firearms. The shock! ;)
They also posted some personal info on other blog posts of RKBA activists. I'm not sure why they did that, it seems that it would potentially put folks in harm's way but I am not sure if that would be the folks whose family and addresses were printed or those who would seek to do them harm...
Friday, February 3, 2012
'No Spend' February
Last month, my DW came to me with an idea, a 'no spend' week. Basically, we would go for one paycheck and only spend money we needed to spend - only bills, rent, food, transport - and not spend money we don't.
I didn't think that a week was quite enough time to make a difference in either our bank account or our spending habits, so I figured we should expand it to the month of February. Short month, should be easy.
To offset some concerns, we're each allowed $50 for the month to spend however we want, Valentine's Day is exempt and we get one family dinner out a week.
This is now Day 3, first payday and so far so good. I used the $50 to cover some Colt 1911 custom stocks that have been sitting in a buddy's etsy store since, well, too long ago. Meanwhile my wife has the next week's worth of lunches and dinners bought for $150 at Whole Foods and Trader Joe's.
I planned ahead and bought us another 525 pack of Winchester .22lr which means that we should be able to shoot all month at the range for $0. Cheap entertainment at its finest!
I didn't think that a week was quite enough time to make a difference in either our bank account or our spending habits, so I figured we should expand it to the month of February. Short month, should be easy.
To offset some concerns, we're each allowed $50 for the month to spend however we want, Valentine's Day is exempt and we get one family dinner out a week.
This is now Day 3, first payday and so far so good. I used the $50 to cover some Colt 1911 custom stocks that have been sitting in a buddy's etsy store since, well, too long ago. Meanwhile my wife has the next week's worth of lunches and dinners bought for $150 at Whole Foods and Trader Joe's.
I planned ahead and bought us another 525 pack of Winchester .22lr which means that we should be able to shoot all month at the range for $0. Cheap entertainment at its finest!
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