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Gun Thread: First of March Edition!

It is now March

Howdy, Y'all! Welcome to the wondrously fabulous Gun Thread! As always, I want to thank all of our regulars for being here week in and week out, and also offer a bigly Gun Thread welcome to any newcomers who may be joining us tonight. Howdy and thank you for stopping by! I hope you find our wacky conversation on the subject of guns 'n shooting both enjoyable and informative. You are always welcome to lurk in the shadows of shame, but I'd like to invite you to jump into the conversation, say howdy, and tell us what kind of shooting you like to do!

Holy Crap! How in the ever-loving Hell did it get to be March?! Looks like we're getting into a pattern of cooler temps here in the Mid-Atlantic now that it's supposed to be warming into Spring. Go figure. I'm ready for winter to be over. How about all y'all?

Also, the Ol' Gun Thread content inbox has received a bunch of excellent stuff over the last week or so, and if you sent something in, Thank You! Please keep it coming, guys and gals. It is an enormous help in keeping things more interesting here. I really appreciate it, so please keep it up. You don't need to have a super rare gun or shoot a 200-20X score at 14 miles, just tell us about your range time or favorite firearm!

Lastly, with every Spring comes the much-anticipated announcement of the NoVAMoMe date. If you haven't already heard or seen the notice on the main page left sidebar, this year it's Saturday, June 10th so mark the date on your calendars! More on the NoVAMoMe below.

With that, step into the dojo and let's get to the gun stuff below, shall we?

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NoVAMoMe 2023

Not so fast on the gun stuff, buckaroos! We have a little bit more on the NoVAMoMe to discuss. In fact, this will be the first of a long and seemingly endless series of reminders to get yo' big butt off the couch and come out and meet some of your online friends. Let's kick things off with a few NoVAMoMe FAQ.

Q: Is it fun?
A: Yes. Just ask anyone who has been to one. You will have fun, or else.

Q: When is it again? Did you say June?
A: Yes. A thousand times yes! June 10th, from 1pm til 6pm or so.

Q: I'm sort of a dork. Can I just slink-in, watch for a bit and then slink out without having to actually speak with anyone?
A: Yes. In fact, we have strategically placed large potted ferns for lurkers to hide behind.

Q: Will bluebell be there? I really want to meet bluebell.
A: Of course! Well, assuming things go well at the parole hearing.

Q: Is there food and drink?
A: Yes! $30 for a bigly buffet, and a cash bar. We had to bump up the food price a bit to cover costs this year.

Q: Can I make references, even veiled references to the secret MoMe location on the blog?
A: NO! Seriously, please don't.

Q: Sounds great, Weasel! How do I sign up?
A: We will again have an online page with registration and payment specifics, however, it's not yet live as we're still working out a few of the details. Keep an eye out here on the ol' Gun Thread or the main page sidebar for more info in the coming weeks.

OK, I'm talking to YOU Mr. or Ms. I'll Go Next Time. Guess what? The next time is here. It's a really fun event and we would love to have you join us. Hopefully some NoVAMoMe veterans will speak up in the comments and encourage the introverts to stop being big baby chickens and make this the year to come out of the shadows!

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Guns of the Horde

First up, our pal DCinGA shares a great story and a great gun.

This is my dad's 1961 Colt Agent in 38 special. 6 rounds with an aluminum frame and blued steel barrel and cylinder, weighing only 14 oz unloaded. Never fired in anger, it was his FBI service revolver until he retired from the Bureau in 1976. It was the only gun he ever owned, disliked having to carry it and only shot it just enough to pass qualification, and then back into the holster it went.

Beautifully compact and light as it is I thought at one time it might make a decent carry weapon, but with the hammer mounted firing pin it's not drop safe with 6 rounds loaded and there are much better defensive rounds than the traditional 38 sp 158 grain LRN. And with an 8 lb trigger pull and 14 oz it's a tad difficult to shoot.

Holy Shitballs! Is this great or what? Thank you for sending this in, DCinGA!

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Next up, our pal Chappyman66 shares a Best Week Ever report!

At the risk of creating envy, I will recount the tale of my Best Week Ever or as I call it: Two Free Rifles in a Week.

Some of my now-ex co-workers were fellow shooters, so we would often talk and discuss guns and shooting during breaks/lunch. At one point, another co-worker contacted us as they were disposing an estate that had a few firearms associated. We all took a look, and while I wasn't interested in anything (there was a Browning A5, but I already had one before the unfortunate canoe incident), it did plant a seed apparently.

A few months later, we got together to go down to the sporting goods store two blocks from the plant. It was Winchester Days or something like that, when they had a raffle for a bunch of prizes (coolers, shirts, hats, etc). I looked at the used/consignment inventory but didn't see anything. However, I did drop my entry in the box. The first prize was a Savage Axis in 6.5 Creedmoor, but I never thought I would win. So, we left, had lunch and forgot about it.

The next week, one of the co-workers said he had a couple of guns from the cabin that he wanted to move to another home. My buddy took a double barrel coach gun that the co-worked said had been used for bird hunting at the cabin. The other gun was a Model 1890 Winchester gallery gun, a pump action .22 chambered for S/L/LR. He said it was stuck, and I could have it if I wanted it. As an inveterate tinkerer, I figured why not. At the very least I could take it apart and learn about the action, even if it wasn't functional. So I took it home.

At the kitchen table that night, for the life of me couldn't get it unstuck. Looked for a safety, thinking that might be the issue - but of course in 1903 there were no safeties. So, I thought "What would JMB do?" and after pondering for a few minutes, I tried to thumb back the hammer. Sure enough, everything unlocked. So it wasn't stuck at all, it's just that everyone in that family had forgotten about the half-cock safe position or didn't know the four clicks of the SAA. So I happily cleaned and oiled it up and put it back in the case. I couldn't get it fully apart, but it cycled ok so I figured it was probably fine. A couple empty 22 cases showed that the firing pin was still functioning, so I figured I would return his working rifle the next day.

Back at work, I took him out to the parking lot and opened my trunk so he could see it was working and offered to give him the gun or buy it, but he refused, saying it had sat for at least 10 years without being used because people thought it was broken. He wasn't going to bring it back now that a 10-22 had taken its place. So we had a good laugh, and I accepted the gift of the 22 Winchester 1890 gallery gun.

A couple days later, my desk phone rang and not recognizing the number I let it go to voicemail. When I checked my voicemail later, to my amazement I found that the sporting goods store was calling to tell me I had won the rifle in the raffle, so I should come and pick it up! So at lunch we ran down and sure enough, I picked up a 6.5 Creedmoor Savage Axis with plastic furniture and a basic 3x9 scope for the price of completing the transfer paperwork. I had never expected to get a free gun, much less two in a week, but there it was! I did take some grief for a while.

And the postscript:
A year later, that same buddy needed a rifle and didn't have one, so I did sell him the Axis for a pretty reasonable price considering I paid nothing for it. He was happy, I was happy it was getting used, so everything worked out fine.

And that Winchester - we took it to the range two weeks later and ran into it's former owner. We all shot it and laughs and smiles were all around. It's a great little gun, shoots fine and cycles flawlessly as one might expect from JMB (PBUHN). It is, in fact, one of the guns that I use to introduce new shooters and my grandson has now shot it as well (in addition to the BLR that I showed last week). So it's a great heirloom to my house and will eventually go to my grandson I expect. Not bad for a plinker over a century old!

Whoa, Bro! Not one, but two free rifles? In one week? Why doesn't stuff like that ever happen to me? Congratulations and thanks for sharing the story!

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Next, our pal Todd the Reading Lurker shares a bigly excellent invention; the B27 target data sheet!

I recently purchased a bunch of B-27 targets, rolls of different colored circular stickers to note shot strings, and made up a target chart that I print out and carry to the range in my notebook. It's far easier than trying to save large targets. One of those horrible 5 or 6 color pens from the 1970s works well to coordinate with the stickers when noting shot placement.

TtRL kindly shared the PDF FILE HERE for you to download and print your own bad self. Thank you very much, Todd!

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WeaselDoctrine
This people. This is how you become a better shooter. Take notes while everything is fresh in your mind and study them later! There is simply too much going on during a typical range session or match to remember it all, even if you have an enormous brain like Todd and Weasel.

Often, when I am working with a new shooter, I will get the impression they think there is some secret knowledge, or one weird trick to both lose weight and make them a better shooter that I'm not sharing. Nothing could be farther from the truth. There is no magic formula involved, other than hard work and dedication to the objective. You can however make things somewhat easier on yourself, and that is by building incrementally on your fundamental marksmanship skills. This is accomplished by not starting from scratch each time and repeating the same mistakes. If something is giving you problems, note the effect on the target and what you think might be causing it to happen. Investigate more when you get home and review your notes before the next range trip!

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Next up, our pal Bounce shares a reloading resource!

I wanted to suggest you arm your reloading readers with a reloading essential; Metal Cartridge Reloading by Mic McPherson . It's quite a tome with lots of photos and illustrations. It'd prolly geared more towards rifle cartridges than pistol, but the lessons on internal and external ballistics, case pressure awareness, bullet seating, etc., are for everyone engaging in this worthwhile enterprise.

Excellent, thank you Bounce!

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M1 Garand Loading
Some of you will recall this cinematic masterpiece.

Which leads us to the following video on reloading the M1 Garand.

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Who Knew?
If I get one request a week for Kingdom of Fungus videos, I get a hundred. Or maybe two hundred! Here's the spellbinding work Fungus: The Third Kingdom

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Musical Interlude
Here is Stevie Wonder and Jeff Beck with Superstition.

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Gun Basics 101
New video from the She Equips Herself gal! This week's video is on holsters.

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Cigar of the Week

This week our pal Diogenes sends us this excellent review and notes on the CAO Pilon. Not all cigars are great. While flavors can be subjective, it sounds like this offering from CAO has construction and aging issues, to boot. Or maybe we're being too quick to judge. Let's hear what Diogenes has to say.

The CAO Pilon is not a cigar for the beginner. And those new to cigars need to hang with it for a bit. It is billed as follows: CAO Pilon comes dressed in a dazzling Ecuador Habano wrapper, encasing the binder and long-fillers from Nicaragua. This cigar is medium-bodied and packs flavor in droves with delicious notes of spice, cedar, pepper, nuts, and cocoa. CAO Pilon is a rich and hearty blend that continues CAO's string of hits.

No.

It was difficult to light, had an uneven ash and you had to keep minding it to keep it lit. The initial flavors were tangy tobacco and pepper. A lot of it. And those flavors linger.

But stick with it.

Some cigars start out good and finish good. Some start out bad and finish bad. But sometimes, a cigar starts out bad but gets better. That is the case here. At the beginning of the middle third the flavor smoothed out, and smoke was aromatic, and the draw as comfortable. Still hard to keep lit, it finished up OK.

I won't buy this one again, but still give it 2 match sticks.

Excellent, Diogenes! Thank you!

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Here are some different online cigar vendors. You will find they not only carry different brands and different lines from those brands, but also varying selections of vitolas (sizes/shapes) of given lines. It's good to have options, especially if you're looking for a specific cigar.

Cigarsinternational.com
Cigarpage.com
Famous-smoke.com
Cigarsdaily.com
Neptunecigar.com
Smallbatchcigar.com
Bobalu Cigar Company
Cigarbid.com

A note about sources. The brick & mortar/online divide exists with cigars, as with guns, and most consumer products, with respect to price. As with guns - since both are "persecuted industries", basically - I make a conscious effort to source at least some of my cigars from my local store(s). It's a small thing, but the brick & mortar segment for both guns and tobacco are precious, and worth supporting where you can. And if you're lucky enough to have a good cigar store/lounge available, they're often a good social event with many dangerous people of the sort who own scary gunz, or read smart military blogs like this one. -rhomboid

Anyone have others to include? Perhaps a small local roller who makes a cigar you like? Send me your recommendation and a link to the site!

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Ammo Link-O-Rama
I'm really very seriously not kidding around anymore. Buy Ammo
AmmoSeek - online ammo search tool
GunBot - online ammo search tool
SG Ammo
Palmetto State Armory
Georgia Arms
AmmoMan
Target Sports USA
Bud's Gun Shop

***Mail Bag***

This week's mailbag entry is from a bunch of all y'all. Here is a link to the story.

Is that cool, or what?

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Please note the new and improved protonmail account gunthread at protonmail dot com. An informal Gun Thread archive can be found HERE. Future expansion plans are in the works for the site Weasel Gun Thread. If you have a question you would like to ask Gun Thread Staff offline, just send us a note and we'll do our best to answer. If you care to share the story of your favorite firearm, send a picture with your nic and tell us what you sadly lost in the tragic canoe accident. If you would like to remain completely anonymous, just say so. Lurkers are always welcome!

That's it for this week - have you been to the range?