Category: The Gun Thing

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

Victory At Yorktown!

Self-Defense

Apparently, Gen. George Washington has just forced the English Army to surrend– oh, you knew that already?  Well, here’s some more of that kind of news:

Because Everyone Needs a Boot Knife
While EDC knives are certainly tools, I think anyone who carries a gun also acknowledges that they’re a backup weapon as well. Especially in a weapons retention situation. Even if you don’t carry a gun, if you carry a knife you’re probably cognizant of its defensive potential if needed. While there are a lot of knives out there that you can choose from, with a lot of good reasons why, let’s take a look at the humble boot knife.

I don’t know where he’s been living, but a boot knife is anything but “humble”.  I’ve been carrying one almost my entire adult life — whether the local constabulary had declared them “illegal” or not — and I loves it, oh yes I do.

Here it is (next to my 1911 for scale):


(Kershaw “Special Agent”)

Now I must confess that it’s not an everyday carry (EDC) thing for me, mostly because I don’t wear boots, cowboy or otherwise, every day.  And it’s a little too big and bulky to be worn on my belt — so I prefer to carry a decent folding pocket knife instead.

But if I’ve got the old Ariats on, you’d better believe that the Kershaw is clipped inside (the left boot, so that my right is free to wield the 1911, of course).

So of course everyone needs a boot knife.  I bet ol’ Cornwallis didn’t have one clipped to his boot.  Now I’m not saying that’s why he lost the battle, but it wouldn’t surprise me.

Semi-Automatic Musings

Gratuitous Gun Pics, The Gun Thing

For some time now, I’ve been thinking about getting a shotgun as an accompaniment to my bedside revolver.  Now the advice is going to be predictable:  “12ga pump-action, Kim!”  followed by a host of brand recommendations/warnings.

I don’t want to do that.

I don’t want a 12ga, because my aging shoulder is going to hate me for the recoil, and I’d rather have a semi-auto bedside shotgun for the same reason I carry a semi-auto 1911:  one up the spout, cocked and locked — a flick of the finger and away we go.

I have fond memories of a semi-auto shotgun I once owned (and sold because Poverty, with lasting regret).  It was one of these:

Browning Gold Hunter (20ga)

…and it was an absolute joy to shoot, reliable as hell and featuring minuscule  recoil, so one might think that I should just get a new one.

Silly rabbit:  Browning no longer makes them (#Idiots) which means that because they are such good guns, the second-hand market thereof is priced at Ferrari levels, i.e. unattainable to one of Humble Means such as myself.

Oh well.  So off I hie to the various Merchants Of Death to see what’s on offer in the same chambering.

Franchi Fenice ~$2,500

Lovely, but way too spendy.  I’d have to sell at least two guns out of Ye Old Gunne Sayffe to be able to afford one of these, and I don’t want to do that.  Next?

CZ 1020 ~$750

Not bad, and I do like CZ guns as a rule, but these are Turkish-made pieces, and I’d rather buy Murkin.

The problem with both the above is those 28″ barrels.  That’s kinda long and ungainly for use inside a home, and one thing I liked about pump-action guns is that they have shorter (18″) barrels, which to my way of thinking is much better for close-quarters work of the anti-social persuasion.  So what else can I look at?

Remington 1100 Lt-20 ~$900
Okay, that’s much better, with its 21″ barrel.  But it’s listed as “New Production”, which means… “new” Remington quality?  I’m not so sure, and given the price of nearly a grand, I don’t really want to take the risk.

And would I really want to get, say, a CZ 1020, only to have to pay for my Friendly Local Gunsmith to give it a 9″-10″ circumcision?  (If the proposition gives you a bad taste in the mouth, it does that to me, too.)

All comments and suggestions are welcome.

Afterthought:  another reason why I’m set on something in 20ga is that during a recent inventory of Ye Olde Ammoe Locquere, I discovered two cases of sundry 20ga ammo:  buckshot, birdshot and slugs, all a legacy of the late-lamented Gold Hunter which I (fortunately) did not include in the sale of said gun.  So there’s no ammo cost involved, just the gun itself.

Marketing Ploy

Marketing / Advertising, The Gun Thing

Some time back, Reader Mike S. sent me this pic, with the comment:  “Marketing trumps Good Taste every time.”

My initial reaction is to agree with him.  Clearly, this rifle is not aimed at Grumpy Ole Pharrttes like him (or me, for that matter), but at some new genre of gun owner — my guess, a Gen Z person who wants to look cool and doesn’t want to look like his grandpappy (again, like Mike or me) with our old WinMar wooden-stocked “cowboy” rifles.

And yes, while I think that the tacti-cool thing in the snow pic looks like dog’s balls on a Noritake dinner plate, there’s no denying that it would work just as well as its predecessor — I mean, a lever gun is a lever gun is a lever gun, regardless of its cladding.

Also, in places that Must Not Be Named — places that ban “assault rifles” — there is no question but that Snow Gun would escape the baleful scrutiny of said gun-haters because it is, after all, just a lever rifle.

Finally, the marketing executive in me says that we Grumpy Ole Pharrttes are entering the Twilight Years — i.e. we’re not long for the gun world, or any world — so we are, to put it crudely, a shrinking market.  In that spirit, therefore, manufacturers should extend their product line to accommodate the tastes of a New Generation…

…as long as they continue to make traditional lever rifles, and not make it an “either/or” situation, because that would make me  fucking enraged  very sad.

But hey, considering that I had to change my sixty-year deodorant choice because the manufacturer decided to do the above, what the hell.  Let’s just join the in-crowd and get some ghastly new thing instead of a rifle that has served its users perfectly well for over a hundred and fifty years.

Update:  Panzer Arms has decided to get in on the  faerie  “white gun” trend, with its semi-auto 12ga:

I’m kinda interested how that thing is going to look after a thousand rounds has been put through it.  My guess is that it’s going to look as worn out as a Kardashian’s pleasure pit.  But I could be wrong.

Street cost is around $500.

Range Report: Walther-Hammerli B1 (Part 2)

Gun/Ammo Tests, The Gun Thing

Last week’s test of the above rifle made me want to test how the thing shoots with serious glass (instead of the “meh, that’s close enough”  accuracy of the red-dot genre).

So suiting the action to the word, I mounted a Burris Fullfield 2.5-10x42m that just happened to be lying around in Ye Olde Odds & Sods box:

Looks better, dunnit?  Also, this time I’d brought a sandbag along, instead of having to rely on my shaky old grip off the bench.  Ammo used was CCI Mini-Mag 40gr solids, and CCI Maxi-Mag 40gr solids.

Anyway, for the life of me I could not remember when last the scope had been mounted, or even what gun it had been mounted on, so I started off slowly, at 30 feet with the .22 LR:

Okay, good enough for jazz / government work.  When I moved the target out to 60 feet and then 75 feet, the shots went quite high, as to be expected.  So I moved the target back to 60 feet, dialed the scope down, and fired off the unlabeled string in the orange target on the left.  (Yeah, I forgot to label it, sue me.)

So much for the .22 LR;  now came time for the barrel swap and the .22 WMR.

The top string, at 75 feet, was fired with the scope untouched from the .22 LR sighting-in.  High (expected) and much to the left (unexpected).  The next string, at 60 feet:  still high (okay) but a lot less to the left (not okay).  When I brought the target back to 30 feet, the group was a little high (to be expected, with the mag load) and still to the left.

So I said a few Bad Words, and decided to zero the scope for 60 feet as the default (which is the very bottom grouping).  Very much good enough for jazz / government work.

But when I left the scope untouched and changed the barrel back to .22 LR, at the same distance (60 feet) I got the un-labeled grouping on the left (with a called flyer because the guy in the bay next to mine chose that precise second to touch off a .44 Mag revolver, and I caught a fright).

Still, there seems to be way too much left/right variance between the two calibers — which means that I can’t swap barrels in the same session without messing with the scope each time.  And that’s somewhat annoying.

So here’s what I’ve decided to do.  If I’m going to be shooting .22 LR, I’ll use this setup:

…and if I’m going to be shooting the .22 Mag, then the scope:

Swapping the scopes — they both have quick-detach (QD) mounts — actually takes less time than changing the barrels.

So I’ll be using the red-dot for plinking .22 LR fun, and the scope for any serious .22 Mag shooting I may want to do.

Final thoughts:  while shooting the .22 Mag ammo, I had several ejection failures (FTE) and a couple of feeding failures (FTF).  As I was too busy doing the sighting-in thing, I didn’t pay much attention to it until afterwards.  Here’s what I learned:  even though the straight-pull bolt looks quite flimsy (plastic, what can I say?), it really isn’t, and the thing needs to be pulled back and slammed home with as much force as a turnbolt action.  I was actually being quite gentle with the loading process, and I shouldn’t be.  That will be addressed in future range sessions.

Next step:  acquire a suppressor.  More on that, later.

Range Report: Walther-Hammerli B1 (.22 LR/WMR)

Gun/Ammo Tests, The Gun Thing

As Regular Readers know, I recently decided to do something about my .22 LR / .22 Mag situation, and sold my two Marlin rifles to a Reader so that I could free up space in both wallet and Ye Olde Gunne Sayffe for their replacement.

The old guys:

Their replacement:

…or, as kitted out by Yours Truly:

So last week I took it out to the range and got used to it, working the trigger, adjusting the red-dot scope, changing barrels and so on.

Everything about this rifle works as advertised.  The trigger is fine — a little stiff, but I’m guessing that a few bricks or so of .22 ammo should take care of that — and the straight-pull bolt is excellent, both positive and reliable.  (There was not a single issue with ejecting empties and chambering fresh ones, as expected from a rifle of this heritage.)  The B1 uses Ruger 10/22 mags, but:  please note that because the mag well is longer than a standard 10/22 rifle, you have to use a mag extender (supplied with the rifle) clipped onto the rear of the mags.  (Of course, the .22 WMR magazine doesn’t need the extender piece.)  This is a bit of a PITA only in that one needs to buy more of the extender clip thingies from Walther if there’s lots of shooting to be done without wasting time reloading mags, which is my preference.  It’s a minor hassle, but definitely not a deal-breaker if one should consider purchasing this gun.  (And one should, see below.)
I also like the ability to lengthen / shorten the stock according to preference:  one little button in the rear of the stock, and that’s all there is.

“How does the thing shoot, Kim?”

Well, I’d forgotten to bring my sandbag along, so I just shot off the bench, not expecting too much in the way of accuracy.  Ammo used was CCI Mini-Mag 40gr solid (my regular test ammo)

…and some Remington .22 WMR that was on sale at Bass Pro the other day:

Once I’d got the scope dialed in, I got the following, first at thirty feet:

…and then further out, at fifty:

I don’t actually know what happened with the .22 LR string — my eyes were getting tired, maybe, and that red-dot thingy was getting quite fuzzy.  Maybe I was getting tired of holding the rifle steady — it’s quite a hefty beast — causing the shakes?  Or maybe I just need MOAR PRACTICE.

Which leads me to my next point of consideration:

Am I going to use this lovely rifle for plinking, or just for serious target shooting?  (I know, it’s not an either/or situation, but bear with me.)

Perhaps, given that I may be shooting the Walther more seriously, as I did my two Marlin squirrel guns, perhaps a scope would be a better option?

Let’s see.  But whatever I decide about the sights, let me just say that this is a serious bit of kit, and it goes well recommended.  In my humble opinion, it would keep up with just about any rimfire rifle in a serious competition, for far less money.

Here are the specs for the gun: