Category: The Gun Thing

Not just the guns, but all the stuff that goes with them

And Rommel Weeps

Military, Mocking Furriners, The Gun Thing

…even from the grave, after reading this report:

The German army’s accuracy has again been mired in controversy as it was revealed in a classified report the testing for their latest rifle was lowered.

The G95A1 rifle failed to pass trials with military-standard ammunition so the Bundeswehr – the German army – lowered the standards of the test, the report to stated.

The manufacturers of the rifle — Heckler and Koch — were allowed to test it with civilian ammunition and at room temperature rather than in extreme heat and cold.

Their 180,000-strong army is due to be receiving new weapons next year after it was reported that they only had enough ammunition to fight for two days.

On the bright side:  they can’t invade Poland again.  On the gloomy side… well, there’s Russia still on the Ostfront, also again.

One wonders how badly the Bundeswehr would fare by reaching into the back of the old gun closet for:

…and:

Of course, they’d have no ammo for anything other than the MP40 and P38, but hey, lookee here from our friends at PPU:

 

Bet they’d get a fat quantity discount, even though the Serbs might be a little reluctant to sell to them, for fairly obvious reasons.

Oh wait, what’s that you say, Lassie?  After the Great Unpleasantness of the early 1940s, the Germans had to destroy all their old guns?

Never mind.

Yes, I too got a semi just from looking at the StG44, FG42 and MP40.  Why do you ask?

Gratuitous Gun Pic: Griffin & Howe 98 (.250 Savage)

Gratuitous Gun Pics

Just as we’ve looked at expensive and indulgent cars in the Sotheby’s catalogue before, here’s the gunny equivalent at Collector’s (right-click to embiggen):

I know, at $7,950, the price is nosebleed-high, just like those half-million-dollar cars we saw.

However, a rifle of this quality cannot be simply dismissed as a pricey gee-gaw.  It’s been created by a master gunsmith for Griffin & Howe, from the world’s best action (Mauser 98).  If your .30-30 lever gun is a Toyota, this rifle is a Bentley R1;  if your field shotgun is a Beretta, this is a Holland.

The comparison cannot be made just by logic.

Are there other guns that could do the job as well as this one?  Certainly.  Would those guns evoke the same feelings of pride and wonder when opening the case?  Not even close.

And by the way, I happen to love the venerable Savage .250-3000 cartridge for its outstanding speed, flat trajectory and devastating effect upon arrival.  Yeah, it’s spendy.

Don’t care, just as I don’t care about the fuel consumption of a 1956 Mercedes 300 SC.

Want.  Both.

Nazzo Fast, Guido

Marketing / Advertising, The Gun Thing

Look, nobody knows better than I that the essence of marketing is to expand demand for a proven product.  But then I see this:

Springfield Armory has refreshed the popular TRP line of professional-level 1911s. The TRP is based on the Springfield Armory Professional 1911, which was originally chosen for use by the FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team, and now the line has been refreshed to offer six new .45 ACP models with a wide range of new features.
The TRP platforms are specifically designed and built for demanding 1911 enthusiasts. Each pistol begins with a forged frame and slide for strength and durability. Each pair is the hand-selected for slide-to-frame fit and numbered to marry them with their matching components throughout the build process. The result is a premium fit, with refined blending and rock-solid performance.
Providing an additional touch of custom detail, all TRP pistols feature sighting plane serrations along the top of the slide. The result is an attractive touch that offers the shooter an enhanced sight picture and maximum light diffusion. Also on top of the slide is a tritium three-dot sight system for a clear sight picture under any lighting environment.
Springfield Armory chose VZ Grips and their combat-ready Hydra series of grips for the new TRP pistols. The deep relief channels provide aggressive purchase without being overly sharp, while exposing the layers and patterns of the G-10 material. In addition, all TRP pistols feature 20 lines per inch (LPI) checkering on the frame for an enhanced grip with either wet or gloved hands.

And then the kicker:

TRP Classic 5 inch and TRP Classic 4.25 inch have an MSRP of $1,899.
The TRP Rail 5 inch Black, 5 inch Coyote Brown and TRP CC 4.25 inch Black and TRP CC 4.25 inch Coyote Brown have an MSRP of $1,999.

So basically, it’s a budget Nighthawk, except in that baby-shit Coyote Brown — the gunny equivalent of the putty-colored automobile.

I’m sure the Government alphabet-agencies are just going to love them, because WTF they have the budget to afford these things.  So will all those wannabe “operators” because they’re always up for the Latest Thing that all the cool kids have to have.

Me?

Clearly, I’m not in the target market for the TRP.  And that’s fine by me.

Reaching Out

The Gun Thing

I stumbled on this list of “Best Sniper Rifles SOTI, and thought I’d share it with everybody.  Here it is:

Accuracy International AXSR
*Accuracy International AT308
Barrett Mk22 MRAD
Mk 13 Mod 0/5/7
Barrett M82/M107
*M40
M24 Sniper Weapon System (SWS)
B&T USA 300SPR Pro
FN SCAR Mk 20 SSR
*SVD Dragunov
HK 417/G28/M110A1
M110 SASS
Sako TRG M10
*Sako TRG 22/42
M2010 ESR
Desert Tech SRS A2

I’m so out of touch with this stuff that in all conscience, I wouldn’t dare to comment on their choices.  However, there are a few on the list that I have shot (asterisked), and I have to say that I would happily take any of them to war, if I were of the appropriate age and fitness.  Of those, here are my favorites.

  • SVD Dragunov — loath as I am to give any plaudits to the Commies, for pure ease of shooting and comfort, not to mention very acceptable accuracy, this is my absolute favorite.  I owned one for a brief period, and traded it for something else, which ended up being lost in that Tragic Canoe Episode On The Brazos.
  • M40 (Remington 40X) — not only have I shot this puppy, but I’ve seen what it can do in the hands of a good shot — that would be Doc Russia, who owns a hand-made variant — and at any distance out to 800 yards (in my hands, anyway) this gun is deadly.  (In Doc’s capable hands… forget about it.)
  • Sako TRG 22 — best trigger of all of them.  I was at a Schutzenfest  many years ago (2003? how time doth fly), and saw someone shooting this rifle.  I asked if I could pop off a few, and he graciously consented.  If they weren’t so spendy ($5 grand back then, well over $6 grand now), I’d have seriously considered buying one.  Apparently the TRG 22A1 is a considerable improvement on the original, but I can’t imagine how they improved the thing other than with some internal wizardry.  Apart from cost, though, it has another failing, for me:  it’s heavy, Bubba.
  • Accuracy International AT308 — anything those wizards at Accuracy Int. do is worth a look, and the .308 version is outstanding.  I can’t remember which model I shot — I think it was the “Arctic Warfare” model — but in the hands of even just a competent rifleman (that would be me, on a good day), all the AI rifles are one-holers.

Anyway, I found the article a lot of fun to read, even though the rifles’ nomenclatures made my brain hurt, trying to keep up (“Mk 13 Mod 0/5/7 — 417/G28/M110A1 — M110 SASS”… how the hell does anyone keep track of this shit?)

Precision shooting… what fun.

Plus 1

Good Stuff, The Gun Thing

From Frequent Commenter JQ comes this heartening news:

Hi Kim,
I thought you’d be happy to know that I brought one of my nephews to the range for the first time yesterday. We started off with the safety rules. He shot a Ruger Single Six, S&W model 63, Ruger Mk II, S&W model 66 in 38 special and 357 magnum, SW1911 in .45ACP of course, S&W M&P 9c and a S&W model 29-2 in 44 special and magnum. At the rifle range we started with a Ruger 10/22, M1 carbine, M1 Garand and a No4 Mk II Lee Enfield. The lever action Glenfield 30 wasn’t working so we’ll have to try that again on another trip. He liked the 9mm and 22lr rifle best. The 10/22 has a scope on it so it was easier for him to use. With some time, practice and coaching, I’ll bring him to the 1911 side soon enough. If the weather stays nice we’ll visit the range again Friday. Now that the introduction trip has been a success, the flood gates can open. Please have mercy on my ammo locker. lol

Your mantra of making us a nation of riflemen one person at a time still has legs!

Thankee JQ, for doing your civic duty.  Your day at the range sounds like so much fun, I’m jealous.

To the rest of my Readers:  if that little episode doesn’t warm your heart as it did mine, we can’t be friends.

And yes, the mantra doesn’t just have legs, it’s eternal.

JQ didn’t enclose any pics, but here are a few from the archives:

…etc. etc. etc.  All good stuff, and a wonderful intro to The Gun Thing for our young novice.

Different Hunting

Hunting

As I’ve got older, I’ve watched in the rearview mirror as my hunting days disappeared into the distance.  It’s okay, really;  I’ve done enough, and scratched that itch quite sufficiently.

Nevertheless, while I don’t really miss the hunting as such, I do miss the camaraderie of the thing:  going out with a couple-three like-minded souls to send boolets into unwary animules.

Which led me to this thought.

I can’t do the regular hunting thing anymore — all that stalking / crawling around on the belly / walking miles through rough country, you know what I mean — but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t be up for something more sedentary or at least stationary.

My preference, of course, would be to do some high-bird shooting with Mr. Free Market, but that would involve an expense that is (far) beyond my wallet.

So I thought:  why not varminting?  Find a farmer with a gopher / prairie dog / coyote problem and offer to help him out, so to speak.  Then take one or two like-minded souls, set up a shooting table, and start popping a few of these undesirables at distances of (say) 200-400 yards.

Doesn’t sound too bad, does it?

Except that I don’t have the proper gear for such an activity.  I do have a shooting table, spotting scope and sandbags etc., but not the rifle or scope.

As things stand, my sporting long gun collection caters well to precision shooting at shorter distances — .22 LR and .22 WMR, oh yes:


…both fitted with bipods, if sandbags are not available, and both being capable of one-hole shooting up to 50 yards (.22 LR) and 75-100 yards (.22 WMR).

But if I want to shoot anything (that’s of the varmint genre) past 100-odd yards, well, there I’m sorely lacking.

The criteria are simple:  quality rifle, decent scope and cheap ammo — cheap in the sense that it costs more than .22, but less than (say) 8x57mm, .308 Win, .303 Enfield and the like (of which I have shall we say an adequate quantity).  Also, I love my shoulder and am not interested in pounding it into fragments by shooting lots of .3x cartridges, as one has to do when varminting.

Step forward the excellent .223 Remington, which I have often denigrated as a poodle-shooter cartridge, but of course I’m talking about shooting at “poodle-sized” (or smaller) varmints, aren’t I?  And even were I to go with actual .223 Rem and not the military-grade 5.56x45mm, the cost thereof is bearable.

So then:  what rifles?  I have three favorites in mind, of course, of rifles I’ve owned or shot before and that are relatively affordable.  (As much as I’d love to have a Cooper Arms or something of similar excellence, they are just too $$$pendy for someone who belongs to the Poor Of The Parish, i.e. me.)  Even so, I’ll have to sell a couple of my mil-surp rifles to be able to buy one of the candidate rifles and a fitting scope for the purpose.

Here, then, are the three candidates, all chambered in .223 Rem and sporting heavy barrels.  The first two run for about $700 (excluding the scope):

1.) Howa 1500 Legacy


Loyal Readers will recall that I used the above rifle at Boomershoot (albeit with a more manly chambering), and raved about its wonderful trigger and outstanding and consistent accuracy.  It’s definitely my first choice, subject to availability.

2.) Ruger American Predator

Like the Howa, I’ve used the Ruger at Boomershoot (once again, its larger cousin the Hunter in .308 Win), and I would have absolutely no hesitation in using this one.

Finally, we have my sentimental favorite, but at $950:

3.) CZ 600 Lux

I like everything about this gun:  that hogsback walnut (not plastic) stock, the excellent CZ trigger and faultless controlled feed — the CZ has it all, and always has.  Were it not more expensive than the other two, there would be no choice;  but as it is, that $200 premium is a hefty speed bump, and I don’t want to have to sell three of my beloved mil-surp rifles just to afford this one.

There are other brands, of course, but I’m more familiar with these, and I can’t afford to mess around.  There are some cheaper options, of course:

  • Savage Apex Predator line runs about $400, which is nice, but I don’t trust those skinny little barrels — for sustained shooting, nothing beats a heavy barrel
  • Mossberg’s MVP is priced the same as the Savage, but I’ve never shot one before so… but it does look interesting and Mossberg have that reliability thing going for them:
    I just don’t know about the trigger, and I’d hate to have to hassle with a gritty or heavy one.

As for the scope, I’d almost certainly go for a Vortex Crossfire II 6-18x44mm AO — once again, I’ve used this scope often before, mounted on several different rifles — and had excellent results each time.  (I’d like to get a similarly-powered Optika6, but $800 is way too much for my wallet.)

Practice ammo is likewise a simple choice:  PPU 55gr. (bless their little Balkan hearts).  For the actual hunt, I might go with something maybe a little more hefty, say a 60gr. pill, but that can be decided later.  (Incidentally, of the three rifles above, only the CZ 600 is comfortable shooting 5.56x45mm as well as .223 Rem, so that’s something else to be considered given the ready availability of the military ammo vs. the .223 Rem.)

All this said, I’m a little early in the game;  I don’t have a location planned, nor have I even thought much about setting up a shooting party.  But I will need to have extensive practice before I do any of that, because if there’s anything I hate more than burning up ammo to no avail, I haven’t thought of it.

So there it is:  Death To Varmints, at a time TBD.

Your thoughts and input are welcome, as usual;  and if anyone has such an excursion planned for the spring, summer or fall of this year, please consider me as a participant.

Oh, and please don’t use this opportunity to try to talk me into getting a Mattel rifle.  Bolt-action only.