A Shoot - In Texas

 

Do you even remember how to shoot, so-called LSP? Good question and I loaded up some guns in the rig and drove out to the range with Fr. C to find out. There we were, out in the field with a collection of guns, a few old pumps, a CZ SxS, a single shot 20, a no name Italian O/U and a collection of Rugers.

OK, all these guns, awesome, but could we shoot them? Sure enough we could, with C opening up handily with his Ruger .357 Mag revolver against steel plates. Bang. Watch those plates swing. Then it was onto shotguns.

C kicked off with his older Remington 870, which worked flawlessly, then I followed on with a Mossberg 835 Ultimag, smoke those skeet! Big fun and it was good to see the  old workhorse doing its thing, that gun's shot a lot of dove. Then my Remington 870, which worked well enough but has a rough cycle, it's newer than C's and not as good.

Next up, my CZ .20 SxS and C's 20 single shot 20, I think it's Turkish. The single worked just fine in C's capable hands and knocked our biodegradable enemy outta the sky every time. The CZ was great too, though you have to remember to sight right down the barrel, if you see the rib you'll miss.

Great result and as always, remember kids, it's important to actually aim your shotgun, firing in general direction, whilst enjoyable, tends not to hit the target. There is, perhaps, a moral in that. A box of White Flyer down, we finished off with Rugers, a .22 American, a Mk. IV 22/45 and a .357 Mag revolver.

The latter two belonged to C and I'm jealous, I want those pistols, even though I didn't shoot the Mark IV particularly well. Obviously need one to get more practice in. And it was all plinking enjoyment from thereon in, nice one.

So there you have it. Yes, both of us remembered how to shoot and shot pretty well, see those skeet smoke and explode like Focke Wulfs over the Oder. Great result, what a boost to get out and shoot, just you, the guns and the country of the great state of Texas. It clears the head, I tell you.

#2A,

LSP

Well Shoot

 

"Dad, let's go for a shoot." I thought about this, "What kind of shoot?" The once and maybe future Cadet replied, "A pistol shoot, my pal's never shot one because Canada and needs to get on it." I reflected on this, "D'ye know what .45 ACP costs, son?" and long story short, loaded up some guns in the rig and headed for the range.

First up, a no name Italian O/U 12 and a CZ 20 SxS, would the skeet survive the flak barrage? At first they did but we warmed up, smoking those clays like orange Focke Wulf's going down over France. Nice, good work, if remedial for me.

Then we moved on to .45 and I was genuinely impressed by the kids, really good shooting. Well done boys, and especially Canadian pal, right on in there without any prior experience, a natural. Hey, shoot on, and so we did, finishing up with a Ruger American .22 against random clays, shotgun shells, and assorted steel at 50 and 100 yards. Big fun.

Mission accomplished, we headed back to base and ordered pizza, cleaned weapons and all was well. What a great afternoon in the field.

#2A,

LSP

Random Gun Ramble

 

Get A Better Bipod

Waved the young, ahem, gentlemen off to the range via Chevy Trailblazer this afternoon and off they went with various weapons. A ChiCom SKS, a CZ SxS 20, a no-name Italian O/U 12, a Ruger American .22 and an Aero Precision AR 10, all very 7.62.

Boom, and what could possibly go wrong with this scenario? Good question, and I asked one of the young men if he was a shooter. "Not really," came the reply, "Just some time with 9s and .22," so I fixed him with a steely eye, "Just make sure you don't shoot your buddy, alright? That's a no-no." He then rattled off the rules of marksmanship and I felt marginally reassured.

Random Hallway Weapons

Well, all you parents out there, perhaps you get the concern and in case you think me somehow "micro," "helicopter" or "nanny state," consider this.

The man who owns the range, it's part of his farming empire, loves to shoot and he took his only son out to the place for some plinking enjoyment. All good, until the kid shot himself in the groin with a .22 and bled out on the way to the nearest hospital. It's a larf, right, until it isn't.

Clean the dam pistol, LSP

That in mind, the boys did well, didn't shoot each other and returned back to HQ in good style following an unreformed diner burger at Campbell's(?). Looks like a shack, is pretty much a shack, but serves great diner burgers, rock on.

Message to market. Enjoy firearms, blast away and be free, but respect the weapon for what it is. Does that sound sententious or preachy? No, just solid common sense.

Shoot straight,

LSP

Well They Won't Clean Themselves!

 

I stared at the guns and they stared at me. Impasse. "Well, we're not going to clean ourselves," and I had to admit the dirty beasts had a point so I set to. First up? An old Remington 700 ADL with a Redfield Lo Pro Accu-Trac scope, the reticle comes with a rangefinder of sorts and looks like this:

Hey, it shoots more than well enough. I call it "Shoulder Breaker" and I think the scope it came with from the pawn was issued in Vietnam. Glass is way better now but I've kept this optic because it fits with the gun's vintage and works.

Next stop, a "Desmond" or "TuTu," in the States it's known as a Twenty Two. This one's a Ruger American bolt with a fixed 4 power Hawke scope. I hadn't heard of "Hawke" until I bought the gun and the scope at Gebo's, now sadly shut. Whatever, an inexpensive solution, totally capable of shooting a shotgun shell off its perch at 50 yards.

Last but not least, a simple, lightweight AR with a cheap Primary Arms red dot, Fortis hand guard (light and easy), Hyper Touch trigger, Ballistic Advantage barrel, ancient CMMG BCG and Magpul this and that. Pretty much my go-to AR. Just a lot of fun to shoot, swift to target, light, and well accurate enough. 

And now they're clean. Unlike, say, our First Family.

Shoot straight,

LSP

A Monday Shoot

 

It's a beautiful balmy morning in Texas, so what do you do? Retrieve a couple of rimfires from the bottom of the lake and go to the range. Would they work, for that matter would I still know how to shoot?

Two excellent questions, but first up, stop at McDonald's for two cheeseburgers, it's a range tradition, and I was astonished to see they'd gone down in price by 50 cents per psuedo-burger. Jubilate, perhaps this was an omen.

A short drive through the North Central Texas Exclusion Zone (NCTEZ) and there it was, the range, pretty much unchanged after all these years and full of memories of kids, friends, guns and big fun under Texan skies. Reverie over, I set up at the shooting house bench and tested a Ruger American .22 LR.

Mirabile dictu (enough Latin, Ed.), it worked, snapping shotgun shells off a swinging plate frame, knocking back mini steel plates and punching holes in paper like a veritable, ahem, blunderbuss. So that was all good and a vindication of very minor smithery on my part.

You see, my ancient Ruger magazines had reached the point where they no longer fed consistently, so I took the wretched beasts apart, tightened their springs and hoped for the best. Lo and behold, they worked, as did the rifle and its cheap 4 power scope. Result.

Next up, a Marlin .22 WMR with an annoyingly stiff, heavy, branchlike trigger. How did that perform? Not well at all, in fact hardly on paper, which was annoying because the miserable offender had been right in the X Ring last time I shot it, an aeon ago.

Maybe this rubbish ChiCom scope's busted, I thought grimly to myself as I calculated inches off target and 1/4 MOA clicks. You see, a bad workman blames his tools, but the tools ended up proving their worth and within a few clicks the Marlin was on and slamming mighty .22 Mag rounds into mini steels and all was well with the world.

I tell you, what a fun round, go .22 WMR. Is it better than .17 HMR? I don't know, but I'd hazard a dam sight less blowy. And Marlin, please sort out the ridiculously heavy trigger your otherwise excellent weapon comes equipped with. And perhaps they have, my rifle's a bit old.

Guns on, mission accomplished, it was time to head back to the Compound and cook up a rack of ribs in celebration. They're in the oven now.

Shoot straight,

LSP 

Let's Cleanse The Palate - With Guns

 

Non-Binary clergy are great but have a nasty aftertaste, so let's cleanse the palate... with guns. A down to earth, practical, real world solution to bad craziness. I like Glocks, but that's just me.

Just some guns

But what am I saying? I like all kinds of guns, not least lowly Ruger American rimfires and ARs, of course. But what's wrong with shotguns? Nothing whatsoever.

CZ SxS

I'm inclined towards 20s these days, shoot all day and don't bust your shoulder, but there's no rule. Is SxS better than O/U? Good question and in answer? Get both.

SKS

SKS is cool too, obviously, and you get the added benefit of a bayonet which you can use as an ice pick, handy. Then there's the Lee. What a great weapon. Silky action, accurate if set up right and beautiful Edwardian lines. 

not a Lee

Speaking of which, I've got not one but two Lee project rifles on the go and we're all waiting for the go. Better get that sorted out, eh? But more on that anon. In the meanwhile, shoot straight.

#2A,

LSP

Time To Shoot

 

So what kind of LSP are you, and by the way we doubt that's your real name, if you don't even shoot? Good question, punters. To set the record straight I headed for the range this morning.

There it was, hot as an oven under the Texan sky, and I was on a mission. Viz. Zero in a new and specially crafted AR15. But at what range? There's plenty of pros and cons to the 25, 36, 50 and 100 yard zero, and beyond, but I went for 36 because that's where the shooting bench had been moved respective to the nearest available target. 

 

After a quick bore sight, the weapon was on paper in the 9 ring and I dialed up twice to hit the X on the third shot. Awesome, rifle and optic worked, except that wasn't quite true. Sure, the gun was on but it wasn't cycling. Why? Because the cunning armorer who'd put the beast together hadn't installed its gas block correctly, it wasn't aligned with the barrel's gas port, turning the DAR (Deadly Assault Rifle) into a one shot wonder.

Huh. After a few shots on a steel turkey I moved over to .22 plinking with a Ruger American. A heavy metal bird took a beating along with a small spinner, and then it was time to head for home and a serious meeting with Block, Tube, Pin, Barrel & Co.

You see, the builder of this gun somehow forgot, perhaps he was distracted, that he was working with a 16" barrel. He thought he was assembling an 18" setup and labored accordingly. This meant the gas tube was too long and when fitted to its block didn't align with the barrel's gas port. No hot gas working that famous impingement system, you see, and thus no BCG cycle. What to do?

Utterly Wrong

Stare in slack-jawed, NRA consternation at the offending article and the sheer, brazen, literal incompetence of it all? Take it to a shop and ask them to fix it? Or do it yourself. I chose the latter route. It's not hard. Remove the hand guard, tap out the gas tube's retaining pin with a cleverly small hammer and roll pin punch, then loosen the gas block, slide it forward to the awesome Surefire SOCOM muzzle brake, which demands a suppressor, and remove the gas tube.

Right? Let's See

Well done, you're nearly there. Next step, produce a gas tube for a 16" barrel, clean it, mine was dirty, and press the tube into the gas block. Make sure the retaining pin holes on tube and block align, then tap the retaining pin back in. Replace hand guard. Done.

At least that's the hope. It looks right, but I'll test the offending article out tomorrow on another range at a church shoot. It'd better work or there'll be trouble, and then some.

#2A,

LSP

Go For A Shoot

It's important to get the young 'uns shooting, so we loaded up the rig with guns and headed for the range. A CZ 20 SxS, an AR15, a Chicom SKS and a Ruger American .22. 

First things first, try out the shotgun against the clays. Sling 'em up and shoot 'em, at least that's the theory,  the initial praxis? Pathetic. But we warmed up and got on target well enough and I have to say, I'm a total convert to 20s. Swift, easy on the shoulder and guess what, they work. 

Some call them "girl guns" because they don't have the roar and weight of a 12. This misguided opinion is an error.

Next up, the SKS. Big fun to shoot and a proper little blaster; metal plates took a beating from this workmanlike tool of the revolution. Plenty of power behind that stubby little 7.62x39 round, designed in 1943.

But the AR15 seems light and nimble compared. This one made quick work of soda cans and steel plates. Its Primary Arms red dot was on, apparently, nice.

We finished up with some .22 plinking which seemed tame in comparison, but don't scoff. Rounds down range are rounds down range, and these connected against steel with great satisfaction.

Then it was time to head for home in the setting Texan sun, a good job well completed.

Don't fear the reaper,

LSP

Predictions - Clean Those Guns

There's nothing quite like a bit of midterm madness to get the blood racing and the heart pounding as the nation goes to the polls in unprecedented numbers to decide the legislative fate of America. Will the Blue Wave  break against the Red Wall? 

For that matter, will there even be a Blue Wave or will the great Democrat push be more of an effervescent froth which foams away only to leave an underwhelming puddle, sinking into the muddy ground of ignominious defeat.

Hard to tell, though the media agitprop arm of the Democrat Party is fast back peddling their chorus of a massive win, a win they hope will lead to impeachment of the hated, Nazi Russian spy, Orangeman. Yes, the same president who brazenly threatens to cut off the Democrats' supply of immigrant votes and NWO kickbacks.

Who knows how it'll turn out, they say, hedging against the kind of credibility disaster they faced in the aftermath of the November 2016 rout.

Do you remember that? Every expert in the entire world said that Hillary was going to win. The polls said so, the lying media said so, the globalist elite's intellectual satraps in the universities said so, anyone who was anything said Trump would lose. 

Then he didn't and they cried, hyperventilated and went hog wild crazy, thrashing like wounded eels. Lo and behold, all of a sudden the experts didn't look so expert anymore. Nate Silver & Co. doubtless hope to avoid such embarrassment this time 'round. 

For what it's worth, I predict a narrow GOP win in the House and a more substantial win in the Senate leading to a majority in both houses and, of course, in the Supreme Court. But what do I know? 

I just clean guns.

Cheers,

LSP

Get Out And Shoot

For a shooter you sure don't seem to shoot much, so-called "LSP." Good point, I hear the criticism, it's constructive. To put things right I loaded some guns into the rig and headed off for the country.

That journey took all of 10 minutes and there it was, the sylvan path to the glory that is rounds down range. I always think there'll be some kind of random game on this trail and a shot of opportunity but there never is, so far.

Instead, there was a mass tangle of fallen trees and brush blocking the path, the weather's been fierce here. I scouted it out; there wasn't a way to get clear short of a chainsaw and I wasn't going to risk the truck in the waterlogged clay of the fields. It's embarrassing to ask people to pull you out, so I parked up and walked in.

The grass was high, the sky was big and the shooting house had been blown over by tornado force wind. Whatever, I set up at the bench with a Desmond, a  Glock and a carbine.

First things first, the plates took a beating, so did the soda cans and, in the end, some reactive targets someone had left behind. At first I was shooting ironically high left, but sorted it out when I remembered the Desmond Tutu was zeroed at 100 yards and I was shooting at 50.

Tutu over, it was time to give the .45 a spin and it did famously, the elegant, workmanlike simplicity of Austrian engineering swinging the plates like fury. Satisfying. But what about the AR?

This one's a hybrid, an ancient CMMG lower and BCG married to a Bison Arms Barrel, Fortis lightweight hand guard, topped off with a cheap Primary Arms red dot. 

Odds and ends by Magpul. Well, the little beast shot like a champ, I was pleased.

Then it was time to head back to the Compound after an armed stroll through the grassy plains and big sky of Texas.

Gun rights,

LSP