Tag: Guns and such

My favorite toy

Old Eyes, New Optics

Gun/Ammo Tests, Optics

As I told y’all last week, I fitted one of these newfangled red-dot thingies to my favorite Browning Buckmark .22 pistol:

..and off I went to my neighborhood range, bearing a couple of boxes of my trusty go-to .22 test ammo (CCI Min-Mag 40gr solids).  And because this was a sighting-in exercise, I shot off a sandbag rest.

This first target was just to get the sight thingy “on paper” (with a quarter to give some perspective):

Some words of explanation are necessary.  The Tru-Glo’s adjusting turrets don’t “click” — you need to turn the screw by guesswork — thus, I was going by “feel”, so to speak.  Anyway, the first five-shot string (unadjusted) shot low and a little left.  Up we go, to String #2.  Not bad.
Then the fun began.  Adjusting the left-right screw, I realized mid-adjustment that I was moving the dot  right instead of left — because I’m an idiot — so back left I went, trying to remember how far I’d just turned the thing.
String #3 showed me that I’d cocked the thing up completely and over-compensated (yeah, like none of you have ever done something like that before).  Back I went, guessing again, and mirabile dictu, I got it right first time.  String #4 looked pretty good.

But we all know that sighting accuracy may change at greater ranges, so I sent the target paper back out to 30ft (my normal shooting distance with handguns, whatever I’m shooting).  Would it change?  Indeedy, yes it did:

The 10-shot string was done with a center-dot hold, but after I’d adjusted the sight, the 5-shot string was made with a halfway hold (halfway between the bottom of the target and the center dot).
Not bad;  I thought I’d got the thing just right.
So off I went and shot the rest of that box at lots of different targets on the paper, omitted for the sake of brevity — okay, here are a couple, just for the hell of it:


(halfway-down hold)


(center hold)

Finally, I was getting close to the end of my allotted range time, so I packed up the gear to give the barrel a few minutes to cool down a bit, and then got serious, taking lots of time between shots instead of getting all impatient to get done with it (as I usually do):

That was fun.  Now to try some different ammo brands and boolet weights to see the differences…

Old Sights, Old Eyes

Gratuitous Gun Pics, Optics, The Gun Thing

Longtime Readers will be familiar with my affection for Browning’s Buckmark .22 pistol, she of the wonderful trigger and reliable feeding.  And excellent accuracy… well, except in my hands.

I used to be able to shoot the Buckmark acceptably well, but as old age has buggered my eyes up horribly (stop me if this is familiar to y’all), so has my accuracy suffered.  Of course it’s not the gun:  I’ve owned (counting on fingers) five of the things over the years, and I’ve always been able to make the cans pop and dance, so to speak.

Now?  I’d be lucky to hit the inside of a room.

So I’ve had to go from this light, sleek little beauty:

…to this (much) heavier, ungainly-looking thing:

Accuracy?  I’ll let you know next week, after I’ve been to the range and zeroed the dotty thingamajig in.

Estate Sale Update

The Gun Thing

Wow;  we did better than I expected, and even though we had to come down on the asking price in every case — I’d of course baked the discount into the ask — we got rid of all Jim’s guns but three:

Of all Jim’s rifles, this one has the most limited appeal.  Not many average members of the Murkin shooting persuasion are really aware of the brand’s outstanding reputation for quality.  Jim knew it, and it’s telling that this was his first-ever hunting rifle, and he kept it all his life.  It’s a little battered, of course, but other than the heel of the stock — which needs refinishing and a new recoil pad, it’s a peach.  If anyone here is interested in owning this one, I’ll drop the price to $600 and ship it to you, first come first served.  The question, of course, is quite simple:  where are you going to get a very good hunting rifle like the Parker-Hale for only $600?

Funny, I thought we’d sell this one quite easily because it’s chambered in the oh-so hip 6.5 Creedmoor (and we had over a case of quality Norma ammo to give away with it).  But I don’t think Texas shooters have realized the hunting potential of the Creed yet.  The ones who have, I think, have mostly gone to the AR platform.  (More astounding news on this topic later this week.)  The price of the rifle is quite firm, but if I can get it done, I may be able to get Jim’s NightForce 3-10 scope, and make a package deal for under a grand — the lucky owner would use it the way Jim wanted to use it:  as a hunting rifle par excellence.

I had to bring the price down massively on the Krag, because somehow I’d forgotten that The Layabout Sailor had sporterized the stock — hell, I was even involved when we discussed whether he should do so — so I dropped the price to $500.  (I know, I know;  but Jim was a shooter, not a collector, and he got sick of getting splinters in his hand every time he shot the gun.)  Here’s the thing:  this little carbine would make an incredible woods hunter (the short barrel doesn’t allow the 6.5 Swede to get to its optimal long-distance potential, but any range less than 200 yards and this thing would be mustard).

Other guns:  the Ruger Hawkeye African 6.5x55mm sold within a half-hour of the gun show’s opening on Saturday morning. Both shotguns went before lunchtime.  The 1911 lasted a whole day, but sold later in the day.  The Glock 10mm went at about the same time on Saturday evening, as did the Tanfoglio (CZ-75 clone) 10mm and Makarov 9×18.

The pre-’64 Winchester Model 88 in .308 Win went at lunchtime on Sunday, at close to the full asking price.  (Texans understand the value of the pre-’64 Winchester rifles — I could have sold four, I think.)

Jim’s widow “Irish” was well pleased with the several thousand dollars we raised for her.

I’ll write another time about the whole gun show experience because I have an idea which people might find worthwhile, but I need to put my thoughts together first.  Bear with me.

Late Breaking News

The Gun Thing

Combat Controller and I will be at the Fort Worth Gun Show tomorrow (Saturday 8/23) and Sunday 8/24, selling the guns and such from the estate of the late and much-missed Layabout Sailor.

There are several guns — too many to list here, but a couple are worth mentioning for their value either as hunter’s or collector’s pieces.

Cream of the crop is a Norwegian Krag-Jorgensen in 6.5x55mm Swede:

Second is a Ruger Hawkeye African, also in 6.5x55mm (like me, Jim was a huge fan of the Swede):


(does not include the NightForce scope;  double the price for the whole package)

Third is a pre-’64 Winchester Mod 88 lever rifle, in .308 Win:

Fourth is a Parker-Hale Safari Deluxe, also in .308 Win:

And fifth is a T/C Compass in 6.5 Creedmoor:

My apologies for the lateness of the notice, but our table only became available this morning.

(Also, print out this post and bring it along to receive special prices on either the above guns or on ammo, lots of ammo!)

See y’all there.