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Gun Thread: More Re-Runs 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!

Holy Shitballs! How in the ever-loving Hell did it get to be December 10th?! How many days until Christmas? Why, there are 15 days left until Christmas! Also, you probably know the drill by now December = Weasel Busy = lame-ass Gun Thread effort.

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

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Is Your S#!t Lubed?
We've recently been talking about gun maintenance, so let's see if I can get some more mileage from these November 19, 2019 and September 23, 2018 editions of the Gun Thread.

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Digging waaay back into the Gun Thread Archives, we find this fabulous article on cleaning. Remember, don't comment in old threads lest you get yo'self banned. Anyhoo, my attitude on cleaning and so forth hasn't changed since I wrote that, but there are a few things you may want to think about before shooting a weapon that's been unused for some time. I like to run a wet patch through the barrel to make sure everything is still groovy, and if so, then a dry patch and call it good. I also oil or grease the action, depending on the weapon. Generally speaking, if it turns I oil it and if it slides I grease it. Finally, I do a brief function check and for rifles I like to check the zero of the sights or optics before doing any shooting that really counts. If it was cleaned before it was put away, it should only require a cursory inspection and lubrication before it's ready to shoot again.

Do any of you live or shoot in winter climates where you need to consider air temperature in your lubrication choices? Do you make different choices in summer and winter? What is your process?

Rifle Barrel Break-In
A question I get asked a lot has to do with breaking-in new barrels and what steps in particular I take to accomplish this vital and critically important procedure, and the answer is, not much. Yep, that's right. Not much at all. Oh, I know this will likely spark outrage and perhaps even violent public demonstrations, but I have never bought in to all the break-in hype and my suspicions have been confirmed by real live knowledgeable barrel manufacturers. I shoot an overbore caliber and realistically speaking get something around 800 rounds from a new barrel before its match accuracy is degraded, so I cannot afford a lengthy break-in process. Having said that, even with barrels that will last many thousands of rounds I don't do a whole lot; shoot 2 or 3 rounds then a brush & patch out, 3 or 4 more rounds, quick brush & patches, a few more rounds with a brush, patches and some bore paste and that's it. Done. All I'm trying to do is initially foul the barrel and smooth any leftover machining marks from the chambering and rifling processes.

But, but, but....! I read on the internet a lengthy and meticulous process must be followed that takes hours and hours and hundreds of rounds and cleaning at the molecular level and if you don't do it your barrel will be ruint! Weasel is full of shit!!

Well, maybe so, but that's what I do, and my rifles all shoot just fine and do not suffer from excessive copper fouling, which is what a super-specific break-in process is supposed to prevent. I have also been told by barrel manufacturers to just shoot the damn things and not to overthink it. I suspect most of the elaborate procedures you read on many manufacturer's websites are there simply because the shooting world expects there to be some complicated and lengthy process required, and by golly there better be one or it's not a classy barrel maker!

Are you going to really hurt a barrel by cleaning and brushing and flossing it for days? Probably not, but is it really necessary? I don't think that it is. At worst you'll probably over clean the steel each time which will just start the copper fouling and break-in process all over again. In the end, do whatever makes you happy and helps you sleep at night! Disagree and want to fight about it? Please email CBD at the Food Thread.

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AR-15 Cleaning

Since we're talking about gun cleaning, let's see how our pal hickok45 cleans the AR-15.

Aw, what the hell - here's another look at revolver cleaning.

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Gun Range Etiquette

From our pals at Gun Tests comes this bigly excellent article on gun range etiquette. This should be mandatory reading, really.

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Tritium Sights
How do they work?

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The M1 Garand in Battle!

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Dealing with Pesky Nuclear Fallout

Didn't deal with it correctly or effectively?

Good luck!

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Musical Interlude
When I hear this I know it's Christmas. And tell me the drummer isn't a cool cat!

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Gun Basics 101
New video from the She Equips Herself gal! This week's video is a Q & A with the SEH gal.

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Cigar of the Week

This week our pal rhomboid scores again with this excellent review of the Foundation El Gueguense.

I have reviewed a few cigars from Foundation, a company started by Nick Mellilo almost 10 years ago (all in the Charter Oak line). This time, the cigar that started it all for Foundation, 'El Gueguense', or 'the wise man'. It's a nice looking stick with flawless outer construction and a nice medium brown color with a hint of red. I burned the corona gorda vitola, 5.6 X 46. This cigar is a Nicaraguan puro, with a Corojo '99 wrapper and binder, and more Corojo '99 plus Criollo '98 inside. The draw was a nice medium, but the burn line did wander quite a bit, requiring several touch-ups. As to flavor notes, what I typically call "sweet wood" - and what most reviews call "cedar" - predominated. A flavorful cigar showcasing what I think are the classic Nicaraguan corojo and criollo notes. Smoke volume was adequate. Strength - medium/full. El Gueguense can be found online for around $9 and up.

Excellent, rhomboid! 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!

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!

***Mail Bag***

This week's mailbag entry is from our pal WTM. Great one!

During the early days of aerial combat, it wasn't uncommon for pilots to exchange small arms fire with enemy combatants. One problem encountered with this was that the expended brass casings could/would become jammed in cockpit controls. One of several solutions designed for Air Service pilots was the 1911 brass cage and extended magazines to reduce reloading times at those critical moments.

Source: Wacky Weapons / Quora

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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?