Gun Thread: Pre-Independence Day Edition!

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!

Happy Independence Day, everybody!! We may be a big mess, but we're still the Greatest Nation on the Planet of the Earth.

Have you been shooting? Sadly, I have not. I keep trying to get down to the farm but now the weather is conspiring against me. Seems like we're in a pattern where it starts raining mid-week when I would normally go down. Is your range time weather dependent, or do you shoot indoors?

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

Two hundred and forty-seven years ago we told King George to kiss our colonial asses and declared our independence from Great Britain. We were then 13 colonies with a precarious toe-hold on a largely unexplored continent, and had just told the world's largest military and economic power to bite the big one. With hostile indians (woo-woo) on one side, and the British Navy on the other, we drafted our Declaration of Independence and took care of bidness. Thirteen years later we had a shiny new Constitution and Bill of Rights and were on our way...

To having Joe Biden as President.

OK. So perhaps we haven't been the best stewards of the incredibly precious gift of freedom fought for, and then entrusted to us, by our forefathers. Perhaps it's time to stiffen our resolve and revisit some of the basic concepts which compelled our revolution in the first place. The idea of America isn't dead, but our management of the enterprise has certainly left much to be desired. I still think it's good and proper to loudly celebrate our independence, not only as a celebration itself but also as a warning to tyrants, both foreign and domestic. What was done once can be done again.

(This commentary on Independence Day first appeared a couple of years ago - Weasel)

It occurs to me I haven't nagged you people in a while about having a plan when you do get to shoot. I am not talking about some overly complicated strategy, but you should at least have a thing or two on the ol' objective list before you start pulling the trigger at the range. Only have a limited amount of time, or worse, a limited amount of ammo? Well here's what you can accomplish with 50 rounds.

So what does a normal trip to the range look like for you? How many rounds do you usually shoot and how long does it take you to shoot them? Do you have a standard routine or plan you follow, or do you just start blazing away and hope holes appear in the middle of the target? I think if you ask the more experienced shooters you know, they will tell you there is a method to their madness. A basic plan might be a warm-up period focusing on fundamentals of grip, sight alignment and trigger pull, and then a series of drills. As you are wrapping up and while the range session is still fresh in your mind, jot down a few notes trying to identify some things to work on next time.

Please share your routine at the range in the comments, and point out the things that have helped you become a better shooter!

Last night's gun thread with the discussion of your beautiful 1911 NM Gold Cup, as well as LenNeal's (I think it was him) comment about passing up on a 1911 chambered in .38 AMU some years back reminded me that I had previously threatened to send some pictures of my late father's old Bullseye guns. Since it was about time that I took them out for a cleaning, I figured I'd take some photos.

For those unfamiliar with the sport, Bullseye (or Precision Pistol) is an NRA-sanctioned event. A Bullseye match is a three-gun affair that requires you to shoot identical 90 shot courses of fire with each gun. Gun one must be a.22 rimfire pistol or revolver, gun two must be a centerfire pistol or revolver of.32 caliber or larger, and gun three must be a.45 caliber pistol or revolver. The standard 90-shot course of fire begins with 30 shots of slow fire. In the slow-fire stage the target is placed at 50 yards, and you're given 10 minutes to fire 10 shots. The targets are scored and repaired after each string of 10 shots. After the slow-fire course is complete, the targets are moved to 25 yards for timed fire. Then 30 shots are fired in five-shot strings, 10 shots to a target, with 20 seconds allowed for each five- shot string. The third and final stage is rapid fire. It's identical to timed fire: same target at 25 yards with only 10 seconds allowed for each five-shot string. Needless to say, Dad was a much better pistol shot than I am.

This is his Mark IV/Series 70 chambered in .38 AMU. It was a rimless version of the .38 Spl, designed by the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit at Fort Benning, and most of the pistols with that designation on the slide were actually built from Colt-made kits on a .38 Super frame assembled by AMU gunsmiths. This one was a kit conversion by Gil Hebard Guns, and the slide is marked ".38 Super".

He used two other 1911s in .45 ACP for the .45 strings of fire (one of which was his M1911A1 "bring back" from WWII that he had Jim Clark Guns do the accurizing work on). For the .22 strings he used a Smith and Wesson Model 41. None of these guns have been fired since he passed away, and I doubt that they ever will be again. They are a legacy that will be passed down to my son and grandsons.

Holy Shitballs! Is that ever a beauty, and what a great family history to go with it. Thank you very much TSOBVO!

Speaking of last Sunday and our discussion on the Colt 1911 Gold Cup? Well lookie what showed up on my YouTube feed this week. Our buddy GunBlue490 and a new Colt Gold Cup! Let's see what he has to say about the model.

Our pal 10 Gallon Hat sends in a video produced by The Garand Collectors Association (link below). For those of you who not aware, the GCA is pretty much the last word on information for this special rifle, and in my opinion, represents the gold standard for associations of its kind. The quarterly GCA Journal is an extremely professional publication full of interesting information. Even if you do not own one of these remarkable rifles, and if you do not you disappoint Weasel, the GCA is worth several times the $25 annual membership price.

Anyhow, let's see what 10GH has to say:

This is an hour-long video created by the Garand Collectors Association a few years back. I received a DVD of it but they have it online. It goes through the history and has some very interesting WWII vet interviews. The DVD has a disassembly review included. I think they may still sell it. Anyhoo, I thought you might find some interest in it and if it has not been mentioned in the thread before, it could be now.

Weasel is too retarded to manipulate the Vimeo embed code so HERE IS THE VIDEO LINK

Consider it mentioned and thank you 10GH!!

Muzzleloaders!
Seems kind of appropriate for the Independence Day Weekend!

The National Muzzleloading Rifle Association (NMLRA) semi-annual shoot looks like fun!

Anyone ever attended this? Sounds like a great time!

Looks like I'll be ordering a CC3, and probably another couch for the people in the house.

This week our pal Diogenes scores again with this excellent review of the Sun Grown Dojo Dogma

The Sun Grown Dojo Dogma is a new limited-edition extension to the ever-popular Liga Privada Line from Drew Estate. This exclusive cigar comes in a 5" x 54 box-pressed Robusto vitola and features a Connecticut River Valley Stalk Cut/Cured Sun Grown Habano binder, Nicaraguan fillers, and an Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper. One leaf of extensively aged Ligero from the Nueva Segovia region along the border of Honduras has been selected to enhance the strength of the blend. Expect a full-strength cigar with tons of flavor to match, such as caramel, black pepper, nutmeg, and dark roast coffee.

This is what the web says. Sounds pretty cool huh?

Well, Undercrown is a brand I've never heard of and came in the sampler Mrs D surprised me with last Christmas. And it was a pleasant surprise indeed. The description says full strength, but my sample was a very mid-range cigar with a very nice aroma, nor was it at all peppery.

I am not a fan of 54 ring cigars as they seem fat and unwieldly. But I managed, and it does give you a slower smoke. I had a full 40 minutes on my patio with German bier and watching the flowers grow in the sunlight, which, if you think about it, is a real part of the cigar experience. But, at $10.50 a stick, I can be equally as entertained for less cost.

Excellent review, Diogenes! Thank you!

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!

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
American Elite Ammo NEW!

This week's mailbag entry is from our pal WTM. Surprised this didn't catch on!

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?

posted by Weasel at 07:00 PM

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