Tag: Guns and such

My favorite toy

Almost Perfect

Gratuitous Gun Pics, The Gun Thing

For purposes unknown (LOL), Friend & Reader JC in PA sends me this link about a gun:

Of course, there’s a lot to like about this gun (it’s a 1911, for starters):  Novak-style sights, lightweight hammer, beavertail grip (hammer bite, for the alleviation of), to mention just some.

For me, the flies in this lovely ointment are the extruded grip safety (unnecessary and a massive irritant in an extended range session) and of course the fact that it’s chambered for the Europellet.

Nevertheless, I think it’s a Good Thing (albeit not for me and in any event, I own a sufficiency of 1911s, and properly chambered withal).

Some might ask:  Why not just use a Browning-type SA-35 (High Power), if one wants to use a John Moses Browning-designed gun? 

There’s no reason not to, of course;  as any fule kno, I yield to no man in my love of the High Power (despite its Europellet chambering).

If one is going to go the Euro way and use the 9mm Parabellum, then both are sound choices — the 1911’s shorter barrel may even make it more portable than the full-size High Power.

The problem, however, is that deciding on the 9mm does open up the choice of gun, bigly.  Sticking with all-steel construction, there’s the CZ 75 series (e.g. the compact):

…not to mention the full-size SIG P210 (a longtime favorite of mine):

…and of course, the Beretta line (e.g. the 92X Performance):

…to mention but some.

Once you go completely over to the Dark Side and espouse such filth as the plastic guns, of course, the choice expands exponentially, and this post has gone on long enough already.

So thanks, JC;  but I’ll be sticking to my beloved 1911 .45 ACP guns.  If ever I do want to downsize, I’ll step down to the short-barreled Combat Commander type:

…but that’s as far as I’ll go.

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.