Category: The Gun Thing

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

Proper Kit

Advice, The Gun Thing

Several people have asked for details on the shooting equipment we used in the Angus Glens last week.

Here’s a pic of the rifles we took up:

From left to right, they are: Combat Controller’s Browning A-Bolt, Mr. Free Market’s two Blaser R8s (the other is a “back-up” in .308 Win), my Mauser M12, and Doc Russia’s Remington 700. All of us used Harris HBLMS (9″-13″ tiltable) bipods, as they’ve proved to be the most reliable and rugged.

Here are their details, in order of seniority. (Mr. FM has been going up there for the past twenty-odd years, CC for seven, and Doc for four.)

Mr. FM:
Rifle:  Blaser R8 Professional
Caliber:  .300 Win Mag
Ammo:  RWS Evolution 165gr RapidX
Barrel length:  24″ (six groove, 1:11″ twist)
Scope:  Swarovski Gen 1 Z6i 2.5-15×56 w/ illuminated reticle + Swarovski ballistic turret
Binoculars:  Leica 8×42 Geovid w/integral 1,200-meter rangefinder

CC:
Rifle:  Browning A-Bolt
Caliber:  .300 Win Mag
Ammo:  Federal Premium 165gr Trophy Coppertip
Barrel length:  20″ — cut back from its original 24″ –(1:10″ twist)
Scope:  Trijicon Accupoint 2.5-10x56mm
Binoculars:  Steiner Safari 8×42

Doc Russia:
Rifle:  Remington 700 M40 long action (custom-built by Fivetoes Custom Rifles)
Caliber:  .300 Win Mag (Hornady  140gr)
Ammo:  Hornady Superformance 180gr SST polymer tip
Barrel length:  22″ (Proof Research Carbon-Fiber)
Stock:  McMillan M40A1 synthetic
Scope:  Nightforce NXS 2.5-10×32mm, with ballistic turret and Vortex Optics anti-cant device
Rangefinder:  Sig-Sauer Kilo 2000 (doubles as his binos)

Kim:
Rifle:  Mauser M12
Caliber:  6.5x55mm
Ammo:  RWS Dual-Core 140gr HP
Barrel length:  22″
Scope:  Minox ZX5i 2-10x50mm 30mm tube w/illuminated reticle, on Mauser Hexalock Quick-Release mounts. Unusually, it has a German #4 reticle:

My equipment was based simply on my own experience and, as we all know, was not tested on this trip. But all agreed that my rifle and scope, at least, were quite adequate for the task. (The rifleman, maybe not so much.)

Just a few additional thoughts:
We all agree on the wisdom of using range-finders. In featureless terrain such as in the Glens (and in places such as eastern Montana and the prairie states), it is almost impossible to gauge the correct distance to target because of hidden crests, no reference points such as trees, and so on. If possible, get a range-finder that can reach out to 1,000 yards/meters at minimum — not because you’re going to take many shots at 1,000 whatever but because the longer the reach, the higher the quality. If the range-finders are incorporated into binoculars (e.g. Mr. FM’s Leica), so much the better. And when it comes to binoculars: cheap ones just don’t work, period. I tried using the “back-up” Bushnell 6×32 binos, and they were just inadequate. Leica, Swarovski, Zeiss, Steiner, whatever: don’t skimp on the quality because it will almost certainly screw up your hunt.

Ballistic turrets are not absolutely vital, but they certainly make your precision a lot easier to come by. With his turret, Doc Russia calls his shots to within an inch of point of impact at almost any distance, and his number of one-shot kills has climbed to close to 100% on flat terrain (the uphill- and downhill shots still “need work”, as he himself admits). Also: have a ballistic chart for your ammo’s performance in your rifle (the manufacturer’s specs may not reflect reality, in this regard), and keep it handy. All three of the experienced stalkers in our group had them taped somewhere (sleeve, rifle stock, wherever).

Doc also has an anti-cant device (bubble-level) built onto his scope. When the horizon is hidden in the mist or otherwise unreliable and your firing position is not on level ground, a tilted rifle makes nonsense of ballistic tables.

Personal fitness. Muscle pain, puffing and panting, pounding heart and gasping for oxygen are no way to go through hunting, son. All the pros like Craig Boddington emphasize serious exercise as preparation for every hunt. I walked a couple miles each day before my trip back to the UK, up and down quite a steep hill between my residence and the village. I should have carried a heavy pack and done the thing twice or three times a day. Even Doc Russia, who works out in the gym in his garage, referred to himself as “fat and out of condition” after his first stalk. Our Head Stalker Dougal can walk the glens all day, and has been known to run(!) up to four miles in search of a wounded deer — and even if you can’t get to that level, halfway is an absolute prerequisite.

One last point: all our rifles, as seen in the pic above, carried sound suppressors / moderators, and I cannot impress enough on my Murkin Readers what a difference  these can make to hunting. Quite apart from the noise reduction (itself a wonderful benefit), the reduction in felt recoil is considerable and therefore makes target re-acquisition much quicker. The noise reduction, of course, simply turns “ear-splitting” into “bloody loud”, as we all know. (Ignore Hollywood’s depiction of a small phut! when shooting anything other than a .22 or 9mm subsonic cartridge. When sighting in our rifles on Day One, Doc touched off a shot before I could get my hands or plugs to my ears, and they were still ringing a half-hour later.) I would urge everyone to write to their Congresscritter(s) and urge them to get the HPPA (pro-moderator/suppressor) legislation to the President’s desk ASAP. It’s long past due that Americans can enjoy the benefits of suppressed-fire hunting and target shooting that our European counterparts have always had.

That’s all I can think of at the moment. Any further questions can be asked in Comments or via email, as usual.

Not Enough Gun Owners

Numbers & Statistics, The Gun Thing

Surveys about gun ownership in the U.S. are largely meaningless, because not that many people are willing to tell a total stranger whether or not they have any guns in the house. So by all means, take this one’s findings (a state-by-state comparison of the percentage of households with guns) with as much salt as you wish.

That said: Texas ranks only 13th? Behind Minnesota?

It’s enough to make a man sick to his stomach. If Louisiana, Arkansas and even New Mexico, our poorest and least significant neighbors can chalk up (much) higher percentages, then it’s time we Texans got some new shooters up and running here in the Lone Star State.

So this is a call to arms (literally) to any of my Texas Readers who might know of some poor souls who are defenseless: get it done.

At least we beat Oklahoma…

Some comments:

Because it’s a CBS survey, the tools ranked the states in inverse order. (Rhode Island ranked #1 with only 5%. No wonder their burglary rate is astronomical.) Alaska, as expected, has over 60% of households with guns and are at the top (actually #51; they also gave statehood to D.C., the assholes, hence the strange numbers).

Hawaii also ranks high, but that’s because there are only about ten households in all of Hawaii. (The rest are Japanese tourists, hippies of no fixed abode and soldiers / sailors.)

Finally: I love the pictures they use to illustrate each state. Usually, it’s some dimbulb police chief looking earnest as he holds up an eeeevil gun, but the best they can do with Texas is a Mexican at a gun show with a WWII Lee-Enfield No.4? Yeah, that’s representative of Texas gun owners. (Nice-looking gun, by the way.)

Replacement

The Gun Thing

Recently, I’ve done two ammo tests using my faithful Marlin 880 SQ .22 rifle, and while the gun is still more accurate than I can shoot it, I’m not happy with the trigger. The fact is that lately I’ve been spoiled by shooting some rifles with incredible triggers, and by comparison, the 880’s trigger is crap: lots of creep, inconsistent take-up, and sometimes a little grit when it releases. I’ve taken the trigger group apart and cleaned it thoroughly, so it’s not that: it’s just not a good trigger, and the gun isn’t worth spending money with a gunsmith who may or may not be able to improve it.

So I think I’m going to put the 880SQ into honorable retirement, and look out for a decent .22 rifle over the next year or so. I have a couple rifles on the short list — unfortunately, I don’t have a lot of money to spend on a match-grade one, nor do I actually want to get into that arena again — but my standards are nevertheless quite high and I do have some idea what I’m looking for.

My #1 choice is probably the Savage Mark II BV, and it has good reviews (like this one). It is kinda ugly, though it does have Savage’s sublime AccuTrigger:

My #1a choice might just be the slightly more expensive CZ 455 Lux model, because even though it doesn’t have a set trigger or heavy barrel, it is so beautiful I want it to bear my children:

I also like that it has iron sights for those “Oh shit, I just broke my scope!” situations.

As for a scope, I’m not too bothered; I have several I could use, but if I have enough room in the budget to buy a new one, I’ll probably get a Weaver RV9 3-9x32mm (+/- $250) or my old favorite, the Leupold VX-I 4x28mm (+/- $200). I’ve owned both in my time, and they’re excellent.

All suggestions and personal experiences on the above topic in Comments. Please don’t suggest any of the super-premium rifles like Anschutz because as I said, I don’t want to bench-rest it and I’m not going to drop over a grand on a plinker.

Range Report — Federal Auto Match .22 LR

The Gun Thing

So I got an email from Erik at AmmoMan, asking me if he were to send me a couple boxes of ammo, would I test them?

I’m just a poor corrupt blogger, so when people send me free stuff (especially ammo) in exchange for a link, who am I to turn it down? (Erik didn’t actually ask me for a link, but he’s getting one anyway.)

So a couple boxes of Federal’s Auto Match 40-grain ammo arrived at Ye Olde Ammoe Locquer, and off to DFW Range I went again. Here’s the ammo:

…fired as usual through my Marlin 880SQ:

Readers will remember my last test of Federal .22 ammo, so just for the hell of it I popped five rounds of the Federal Range ammo off, just to clear away the cobwebs and see if I hadn’t been imagining things when it came to its accuracy. I hadn’t.

This stuff is good — the “miss” at the bottom was a called flyer. Now for the Auto Match*:

…also with a called flyer at the bottom. Damn, this Auto Match stuff is also good. I fired off a few more 5-round strings into other targets, but with no appreciable difference.

So with that suspicion in mind, I found an old box (phew, at least ten years old) of Federal Match, and fired that too:

Wait… what? Another 5-round string:

Hmmm… I think Federal may have improved their .22 ammo quality over the past decade. But I’d hate to mislead anyone, so it looks like moar testing will be required… but as it stands right now, this ammo is very good — both the Auto Match and the Range variants.

Anyway, just for the hell of it, I’d also brought my Taurus Mod 62 for a little fun plinking.

So I loaded it up with the Federal Auto Match and fired off  a few rounds, then got serious, and fired a seven-round string (why seven? that’s what was left in the tube magazine). This was offhand and unscoped into a (larger) target at 25 yards:

Ugh. Either I have to have that cornea surgery soon, or else it’s going to be scoped shooting for the rest of my life. That, or a lot more practice.

*Federal claims that the Auto Match ammo is designed especially for accurate semi-auto shooting. Well, I still don’t have a semi-auto .22 rifle, so I can’t test that claim. But it doesn’t matter — it works just fine in any rifle, as far as I can tell.

 

Request

The Gun Thing

After a comment from Longtime Friend & Reader Mh jogged my memory, I need to ask a favor of everyone.

I’d like to attend next year’s SHOT Show. If anyone can provide me with Press- or retailer accreditation, I would be forever in your debt. 

And if any of the Vegas locals would care to put me up for a couple-three nights, I will bring a bottle or so of single malt in gratitude.

Readers can expect the usual trenchant reports on what I see at the show.

I should point out that Las Vegas is one of my least-favorite cities in the world, so this would be a huge sacrifice I’d be making for the sake of my Readers. I won’t be flying because TSA, so it’ll be a road trip too.

One last point: I’ll just have returned from the last leg of my sabbatical in Britishland, so if personal circumstances (e.g. poverty) cause me to have to cancel, you can’t pout.

Reminder

The Gun Thing

Allow me to remind you all that it is precisely one month away:

100 rounds or more of your favorite gun fodder.

A couple suggestions, this one from our friends at CheaperThanDirt:

 

..and this one from Lucky Gunner:

 

…and one more for luck, from Sportsman’s Guide:

 

…but if you want to splurge and get yourself some top-shelf hunting ammo, try this from Graf & Sons:

(That’s $256.45, for the math-challenged.)

Of course, feel free to purchase a little more than 100 rounds, e.g. this offering from Georgia Arms:

…or this branded AR-15 food, from Ammoman:

Of course, you’ll want something to store it in, so from MidwayUSA:

 

This year, November 19th falls on a Sunday, so get it done. I will be in Britishland on that day, but that’s not gonna stop me from buying ammo, you betcha; and the fact that I can do it from behind enemy lines, so to speak…

I love the Internet.