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 

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

Shoot! It's Spring

The day didn't start off well; I wasn't happy about the marketing stunt Walmart had pulled on its T shirts. These have been rebranded as "Extreme Sports Temp," in the hope that no one notices that once good T shirts are now flimsy rubbish. Way to go, Marketeers. So, to put things straight I put some guns in the rig and headed out to the range to celebrate the first day of spring.

As always, it was great to get out in the country with the guns, in this case an AR15, a Glock 21 and a Ruger American .22. Nothing too adventurous, just some relaxing target practice in the sunny Texan spring. And some pest control.

That's right, a unicorn had sneaked into the range and had to be dealt with. They're a menace, I tell you. Just look at their horns, they'll gore you, given half the chance.

So I didn't waste any time dealing with the threat. Will 5.56 and .45 take down a unicorn? Yes, they will and the Glock 21 proved especially effective at neutralizing the deceptively fluffy enemy at close range. Take that, unicorn.

Herd control over, I finished off with some gentle plinking against the range's steel plates. Remember to breathe, was my note to self.

Shoot over, it was time to head back to the Compound, mission accomplished and a good day had by all, except the unicorn. You can watch aspects of this curious adventure here.

Gun rights,

LSP

Gun Henge

Behold the power of the Mysticke Stones.

Will their earth energy deflect the power of .45 ACP and 5.56? Will Gaia shield the black silhouette from the evil pistols and deadly assault rifle? No, it will not.

Smoldering rubble.

Moral of the story, don't hide behind a cinderblock wall. The stones won't save you.

Gun rights,

LSP

At The Range

Do you remember Day of the Triffids, in which alien plants, Kudzulike, overwhelm their terrestrial counterparts? It was like that at the range, though the plants were Texan, and who knew what was lurking under them. Watch out for snakes, shooters.

The snakes didn't appear though two Ruger American .22s did. One with a 4x Hawke Optics scope and the other with Ruger supplied iron sights. Both rifles performed flawlessly, picking off shotgun cartridges, steel plates, a Sprite can and an old kettle.

Now, you may scoff and look down upon this scene with smug condescension, while you chamber another round in your .375 H&H Magnum before cranking off a few rounds with a 45-70 bear rig. But before you turn away in scorn, read this about bolt action rimfire shooting:

There’s something cathartic about deliberate fire punctuated by a short-travel bolt cycling the next round into the chamber. Remove recoil from the equation entirely, and you have a great gun for working on those rusty fundamentals, or for teaching a new generation the finer points of marksmanship.

And here's the Shooting Times on the RAR (Ruger American Rimfire):

Who would have thought a new bolt-action rimfire rifle could be a game-changer? I mean, everything is all about autoloaders nowadays, right? But a game-changer is exactly what the new Ruger American Rimfire series is, and it’s positioned to become as dominant in the rimfire bolt-action world as the Ruger 10/22 has been for so long in the rimfire autoloader world. Maybe even more so.

You can read about the gun's specifics, such as its adjustable trigger, patented bedding, modularity, sighting options and more in the above reviews, but I'll throw my Guinea on the bench and say this. The RAR has excellent fit and finish for the money, it's accurate to minute of shotgun cartridge at 30 yards and, with a wood stock, has a satisfying aesthetic for wood and steel enthusiasts. A great little rifle. If you're looking for an affordable rimfire bolt-gun, get a RAR.

GWB Likes Ballistol. It's Green

A 525 round value pack of ammo and a lot of fun later, it was time to head for home. A good day was had by all.

Shoot straight,

LSP

You Plinker!

Some say that a dinner of roast quail and venison sausage, rifle to table, helps you shoot better the next day at the range. I drove out into the Texan countryside with my philisophical pal, GWB, to find out.

We took along a couple of scoped Ruger .22s, an American and a 10/22, representing the bolt and the semi side of the rimfire world. And a couple of pistols, a Sig and a Glock, chambered for 9mm and .45. But what about the quail and venison theory of marksmanship, how did that stand up, in the real world?

If a metal kettle, a plastic Folgers container, steel plates and turkey, at 75 and 100 yards, are anything to go by, the theory holds true. Down went the opposition, with a vengeance. I claim the best pistol shot of the day, hitting the kettle at 75 yards with the Glock. Sorry, kettle, you lose. I never much liked you anyway.

Shoot over, GWB wanted to check out the land behind the range for what he calls "native Texan grasses." That excitement over, I spotted a piece of metal, shining in the hot spring sun. "Look at that, you see it, glinting in the sun?" I asked my Wittgensteinian ally, "Maybe it's a piece of UFO debris. Let's have a look."

It wasn't a bit of space junk, annoyingly, just an old air conditioner that someone had dumped. And as I reflected on the higher implications of that, a long rattlesnake uncoiled silently from beneath the rusting metal and made its way, gliding and deadly, into a nearby pipe. Moral of the story?

Quail and venison help you shoot. This is now settled science. Also, don't be a dimwit when you go for a nature ramble in Texas, it's not Devon, or the Cotswolds. Take a gun, you might need it, and be careful poking around in space junk, who knows what killers might lurk within.

Shoot straight,

LSP

Putin is Golden, Libby's Not So Hot

Russian strongman, Vladimir Putin, is dumping US Treasuries and buying gold. In the meanwhile, what's been described as "Obama's brilliant strategy to cripple Putin" is in shreds, with the trillion dollar leveraged US shale industry tanking and blood on the streets of Aberdeen, as the UK's oil industry goes Defcon.

So what's up with that? As one commentator put it:

"I'm stacking ammo. Your gold had better be hidden well because all you need to do is read any paper around the globe to know that when the thin veneer of civilization comes off, it's going to get ugly quickly."

Ugly? Quickly? If England's new Boy Bishop and her celebrity millionaire socialist buddy, Desmond Tutu, is anything to go by, we're already there. But please, please, stop hoarding .22LR.

Some of us want to plink.

LSP

Tuesday Shoot

"I know," I thought to myself, "Let's go for a shoot." And that's what I did, Tuesday being as good as any other day to load up a couple of guns in the truck and head out to the range. But don't get the wrong idea; the "range" isn't some place that you have to pay to get into. No, it's just you and the guns, out there in the country, surrounded by a tall berm at 100+ yards. 

Watch Out For Snakes

Apart from a small shooting house and some targets, that's it. More serious shooters than myself use it to zero in their rifles from time to time, but mostly (almost always), it's empty. I like that.

The Beach in Spring

Before plinking about, I went for an armed walkabout to scout for squirrels and small game, perhaps a snake or two, but didn't see anything. However, down by a turgid pool of standing water that I call the "Beach," I saw some fresh deer tracks.

I'm hoping that this will translate into "meat in the freezer." We'll see.

If you think Honky Tonk Heroes by Waylon & Willie is bad, you are in serious error.

LSP

Pre-Election Shoot

In a brave attempt to escape our endless polling contests and the incessant racket of Jay-Z, Beyonce and "The Boss" telling us to vote for their Patron, I went for a shoot.

tighten the groups, get in the x ring, LSP

The objective was simple. Have some fun and brush up on carbine skills, which is exactly what I did. Shot off hand, mostly, from close range moving out to 100 yards and worked on speed and accuracy.

children of the sun

After all, what's the point of having a semi if you aren't able to take advantage of its rate of fire and keep on target?

I was pleased at the result, a good afternoon in the country with guns.

Nothing wrong with that, unless you're in England where Nanny would confiscate all your firearms.

LSP

Roving About

A gun, one of Tom's

The last few weeks have been busy, taken up with guns - I need more of them, but who doesn't -

Church,

Bishop Iker, Good Man

horses,

dogs,

Cats on the porch - they're not allowed inside,

and plinking.

Horses have moved to new pastures, where there's far more space and plenty of opportunity for going fast, which I like. Opportunity for coyote hunting too - not to be wasted. More anon.

God bless,

LSP