Month: December 2009

Second Opinions Are Good

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

Previously I wrote about a hunting AR.

Excitement got the best of me (and my wallet) and I went ahead and ordered a Burris Fullfield II 3x-9x-40mm rifle scope, the Burris AR-P.E.P.R. Mount, and a few other little things to go along with it (e.g. covers). Not so much that I want to modify the rifle, but more that the sooner I get this set up the sooner I can get my kids shooting with it. The sooner they can start shooting, the sooner they can practice, the more the practice the better they get, and eventually I can take them hunting. In the end, it’s all for the kids (but I get to play with new toys too).

I took it to the local indoor range this morning to sight it in. I started off having them do a bore sight. Note that the P.E.P.R. mount is 1″ to the bottom of the rings, 1.5″ to the middle of the scope. That’s rather high up over the barrel. You can see in the picture that I probably don’t need to be that high, probably could go with something like Burris XTR medium rings and drop about 0.5″. But this is fine. Trouble was, the guy doing the bore sighting couldn’t get it to work. He used this little deal they stick into the muzzle then when you look through the scope you’ll see a grid and line up on the grid. He had to put in a spacer to put it a little higher due to my higher mount, and I can’t help but wonder if that didn’t line things up right. Reason I wonder is because he cranked the adjustment knobs on the scope about as far as they’d go and couldn’t get things lined up. Not good.

It’s always possible the scope shipped broken from the factory… things like that can happen. While sitting there at the range/store they tried to talk me into buying a Leupold scope, but they were all $300+ and I’ve already spent more money than I should have lately so I wasn’t looking forward to that. I know this scope and mount setup should work, so if I just had to exchange the unit I’d rather do that…. but having bought from MidwayUSA any returns/exchanges would cost me money in shipping so I wasn’t looking forward to that either. I opted to put the rifle back in the case and look into it more when I got home. Spent my time checking out my handgun reloads, then went home.

The Second Opinion

I called Burris and spoke with a product support person. We checked out what we could on the phone and by all signs the scope was fine. I reset the dials to a midpoint, then called my local Academy sporting goods store. I seem to recall they did bore sights for free. So I figured to get a second opinion, it’d just cost me a little time. I figured if results came out the same as from the range, then the scope was likely FUBAR and back it would go. If the results didn’t come out the same then great.

The Academy had a similar muzzle-based bore-sighting setup, but no way to raise it up for my higher mount. So the guy pulled out a laser sighter, one that is shaped like a round that goes into the chamber, shines the laser down the bore, and off you go. We were only able to back up to about 18 yards, but that’s good enough. Sure enough, as soon as we turned on the laser, it wasn’t too far off on adjustment. Got it dialed in close enough, then I went back to the local indoor range. Saw the same guys there and told them I got a second opinion and smiled.

Went into the range, started at 25 yards and was on paper. Adjustments here and there, dialed in good. Went back to 50 yards and tweaked it, then back to 100 yards to get it properly dialed in. At this point the rifle is shooting well enough given the fact I’m using Georgia Arms Canned Heat, the heavy (crappy?) Bushmaster trigger, and whatever limits there are in my skills. Frankly the biggest thing I was longing for was a better trigger. But overall things are fine.

It was good to get a second opinion. I doubted that the scope was busted and doubted a problem with the setup as it’s common enough. Sure it cost me a little time, but no big deal in the end.

Next up… taking the kiddos to the range to get them comfortable shooting this setup! 🙂

Range Report – Reload Results

/ hsoi / 7 Comments

Went to the local indoor range this morning, because I had collected enough “stuff to do” and work was a bit quiet this morning — perfect to slip away for a little bit and get some stuff done.

First, I had a scope problem, but I’ll write about that later.

I had 2 main reloads to try: .38 Special and 9mm.

.38 Special Reloads

This was shooting my first go at .38 special reloads. You can read the recipe here, but basically 3.5 grains of TiteGroup, Berry’s .38 Special 158 grain plated RN DS bullet, Remington 1.5 primer, CBC brass, 1.510″ COL. Note that I had no crimp on these, because I wasn’t sure about crimping on .38, especially with these Berry’s bullets.

I was curious about the crimps and spoke with someone at Berry’s about it. The basic rule with their bullets is nothing over 1200 fps and no heavy roll crimps. He said that on .38 Special, a taper crimp would actually be best with their bullets, but a roll crimp would be fine so long as it wasn’t a heavy crimp. For now I opted to go with no crimp and not futz with what I had already loaded to see how it goes.

I was shooting out of my customized S&W 442. My goal isn’t going for some uber-load, I’m not looking for 1/2 MOA accuracy, right now I’m just learning to reload so I want to just see how things go, see if I can make a load that goes bang and how it performs. It’s just a desire to learn, not necessarily find that ideal load.

First thing I noticed was the cartridges were difficult to insert into the chambers of the cylinder. Factory loads just slide in and out with no problem (they’re just a hair loose). But these reloads would get almost all the way in then I would have to push firmly to fully seat them. I’m not sure what caused that, and as I write this I realize I should have not fired all 20 rounds that I loaded so I could get the calipers on them and measure and compare to a factory load. But such is hindsight. Could it be from lack of crimp? Could it be due to case expansion? I’m not sure, but I will go back and reexamine my reloading process when next I reload .38 Special.

As for the performance of the load, it was mild. Sure it still had a wee bit of snap to it, but it really wasn’t bad. I’d see a small spark and a tiny bit of muzzle flash. Overall felt recoil was mild. As a factory reference round, I had some Remington UMC .38 Special 130 grain MC (L38S11). By comparison, the UMC had more felt recoil, a little more snap, a little more muzzle flip, and a lot more muzzle flash. So if that’s a fair reference point as factory ammo, my load was milder no question. Accuracy was fine… no heavy measuring of accuracy, but rounds went exactly where I put them. I do know I need to continue to get used to the sights on the snub… they’re just not Dawson’s.

Overall, I’m pleased with the load. Next thing I’d do is reload the same recipe but verify my reloading process and ensure a roll crimp. After I see how that goes, I’ll start to play with things like how much powder I put in and see how that goes. Once I settle on something, then I’ll start looking at accuracy and velocity. One thing I do like about a lighter load like this is you could probably shoot it all day, even out of a snub with small grips and an exposed backstrap, and probably do OK.

As a quick aside, I also shot 15 rounds of Buffalo Bore 20/20c. I did this because last time I tried them (just after getting my snub back from the gunsmith), I had one misfire. I wanted to see if it may have been that round or if it may have been the customized snub not liking the Buffalo Bore loads. All 15 went bang (and bang they did… oh thank you for better grips and a covered backstrap). So I think they’ll be OK in this gun, but of course more testing is always good.

9mm Reloads

My first 9mm reloads had a recipe like this: Berry’s 115 grain plated RN bullet, 6.3 grains Power Pistol, Winchester SSP, Speer brass, 1.135″ COL. When I tried them out I used a Springfield XD-9 subcompact (3″ barrel) and the results were snappy with a LOT of muzzle flash. Details here. So my next step was to try out that same load in my XD-9 Tactical (5″ barrel). I also wanted to do a load with TiteGroup to see how that would compare. I’d want everything between the two loads to be the same, save for the powder.

The TiteGroup recipe is as follows:

Bullet: 115 grain Berry’s RN DS plated bullet

Powder: 4.2 grains Hodgdon TiteGroup

Primer: Winchester WSP standard small pistol

Cases: used Speer brass

C.O.L.: 1.135″

So as you can see, the only difference between the two loads is the powder, 4.2 grains of TiteGroup vs. 6.3 of Power Pistol.

I used Speer Lawman 115 grain as a factory reference point. I brought both my 3″ and 5″ XD to the range. I also brought some of the true first reloads I did at Karl’s place, which I think have Vihtavuori N330 don’t remember how much.

The Power Pistol loads of course performed the same as before out of the 3″. I expected a slight change in performance in the 5″ but didn’t get it: still kinda snappy and flippy and a fair lot of flash. I’d say the 5″ was a little less than the 3″ but certainly not by much. Compared to the factory load, it was fairly similar in feel (the factory was a bit different, felt “stronger” but not as snappy) but the factory load had almost no visible muzzle flash by comparison.  Still performance seemed OK and I wouldn’t be to opposed to using the Power Pistol up because well.. I’ve got the powder, might as well use it.

The TiteGroup was another matter. I tried it first out of the 5″ gun and I swore I could watch the slide move. It was a really wimpy load. 🙂  The brass was ejecting consistently but only maybe one foot away from me. I swore I could feel the slide creeping along instead of flying in and out of battery. It was kinda fun, but the load barely worked in that gun. Switching to the 3″ gun, things felt a lot better, it functioned more like you’d expect. Overall the feel of the load was light, in terms of recoil. This also seemed to shoot a little bit cleaner than the Power Pistol.

At this point I’m really intrigued by the TiteGroup load. The above recipe could be fine for a light load, but I wouldn’t expect it to reliably cycle except in really light/weak-springed guns. Looking at the data on Hodgdon’s website, a 115 gr. LRN would use 3.9 to 4.3 grains of TiteGroup and a 1.100″ COL. Using a 115 gr. Speer GDHP it’d have a COL of 1.125″ and 4.5 to 4.8 grains of TiteGroup. So I have a little working to do to figure out my next step, but certainly it needs to go up from here.

Conclusion

All in all, I’m pleased. Pleased because I’m reloading my own ammo and it’s working. Plus I’m starting to see how things fit together, how things go, different characteristics of things. Just lots of things and soaking in all the information I can.

I have things to work on and change: for the .38 load ensure the loading process is not off and see about roll crimping, on the 9mm loads work with TiteGroup more.

And I hope Santa could bring me a Hornady Lock-n-Load progressive press. 🙂

Dang DNS

/ hsoi

For the most part, my hsoi.com hosting transition has gone smoothly. I really like my hosting company’s new system; so much better than the old way.

Thing is, DNS still has not fully propagated. *sigh* To paraphrase Larry the Cucumber “Don’t know; shouldabeenherebynow.”

Some of the wordpress.com and Facebook notification emails come in via the new system, some still come in through the old system. Some other emails as well (spam, who cares about). I look at headers and see it’s a matter of what server on their massive system happened to send the mail, but gosh…. wouldn’t you think they’d keep all of their systems somewhat in sync? Maybe, maybe not… maybe it’s outside of their control (they’re at the mercy of someone else for their DNS).

Looking at other stats for the old system, like web, there’s no more stats there since Thursday.

I just want to get this transition over and done with, closed off the books and moving on. Just got a lot of things on my to-do list and I’d like to clear this one off. Plus the more I think about it, I’m pretty sure I’m going to move my blog from wordpress.com hosting over to be hosted at my own system. The transition will be annoying, but long-term it’ll be a better solution and give me more functionality and options.

We’ll see how things go after the weekend.

Good for the Goose

/ hsoi

Via SayUncle I find this awesome piece of legislation: the Geithner Penalty Waiver Act.

From Rep. Carter’s press release:

“This bill seeks to codify what is now established by the law of precedent,” says Carter. “The Geithner case has established a legal precedent for the determination of penalties by the IRS, and that precedent can be cited in all federal tax courts. The penalty is now set at zero.”

“Taxpayers who willfully attempt to evade paying their fair taxes should pay a penalty, or our tax code becomes unenforceable,” says Carter. “This bill is not to reward tax evaders, but to defend the Rule of Law itself. If we as a nation choose not to enforce the law against the politically privileged, then we cannot enforce the law against others without undermining respect for the law itself.”

Indeed.

Ugh

/ hsoi / 3 Comments

Two days ago I get the call from the processor: my venison is ready to be picked up.

Crap.

I forgot I need to buy a chest freezer! What with Thanksgiving and family visiting, it slipped my mind. Big thing to slip my mind, I know. I had pretty much settled on something, called the store, they had a floor model I could look at but none actually in stock (too big to keep many on hand). But salesguy said they could have one delivered by Friday. That works. I seal the deal. I call the processor back and explain the situation. It’s a tough call because they need the freezer space so it’s not encouraged for me to keep things around their, but I also have no where to put it. But Friday or Saturday at the latest? No problem.

Today the delivery place calls. Apparently the freezers are out of stock, back ordered, earliest delivery is Tuesday. Uh…. OK, then how come they said there was one in stock… oh whatever, never mind, I’m talking with drones and they can’t solve the problem. So what can I do? Reschedule delivery for Tuesday. Call processor, explain the situation, but the guy that does the game processing is out sick. I hope I can keep a hold of my stuff… maybe pay a late charge, but I can live with that. Plus I’m calling almost every day trying to stay on top of things so it’s not like I don’t care… I’m just stuck.

My only hope is Tuesday doesn’t roll around and they call back with more excuses.

And I was so looking forward to having venison steaks this weekend. *sigh*

It’s not the thing…

/ hsoi

… it’s the person using the thing.

I know Bob S. is talking about something else, but the word substitution does go to show something.

There is nothing magic. There is nothing that an object can do for you, in and of itself. In the end, it’s all about the person using the object. If a good person is using the object, good things can come from it. If a bad person is using the object, a bad thing can come from it. Using Bob’s words, if you have good and attentive doctors in the emergency room, they can save lives. If you have bad doctors in the emergency room, lives can be lost. It’s nothing to do with an emergency room itself, it’s all about the people in that emergency room. But even with the best doctors, lives can be lost… we are human, we can make mistakes, we can be distracted. But in the end, we’re still glad to have good people with useful tools at their disposal because in the end it keeps our society running better than if the bad people had the advantage.

Phew!

/ hsoi / 5 Comments

I said that my first buck, I’m going to mount the antlers. I didn’t care what they looked like, it was the distinction of being the first. I’m not really one for dead animals as decor, but sometimes it can have its place (e.g. a mountain cabin setting, sure). And here, some animals of distinction, like my first buck, sure… that’s a keeper.

Finally Cabela’s got these Van Dyke’s buck horn mounting kits in. It’s not the highest quality thing, but it’s Good Enough™ especially for my first. Instructions seem straightforward enough, but it does look like you need a little creativity and to be a little handy with things.

With Wife out of the house for the evening, I commandeered the kitchen and began to prep the antlers. That means boiling the skull cap. Oh lord what a smell! 😯  It’s not the worst thing in the world, but it’s still not pleasant. Been boiling and trimming off the fleshy bits. Presently the skull cap is about as clean as I can get it, and is dusted with borax and sitting in the garage. I’ll see how it looks in the morning.

Hopefully this will turn out OK and look good in my office. Yes office, because Wife has put her foot down about no dead animals on the walls in the house. She grew up with dead animals as decor, and now that this is her own house with her own decorating style, no dead animals except in my areas (office, garage, etc.). Fair enough. 🙂

I’ll post pictures whenever it’s done.

Site Transition Update

/ hsoi / 4 Comments

I’ve got the new site on line. I’ve made the DNS changes and I know it’s starting to propagate.

Everything’s certainly in a state of flux right now. Hopefully nothing will be lost and all will shake itself out by the end of the week.

A shotgun is a lot like a guitar….

/ hsoi / 4 Comments

A shotgun is a lot like a guitar. A lot of wood, a little metal, an element of twang, and damn if I can’t get my dinner with both of ’em.

— Ted Nugent

For full effect, you need to watch and listen to Uncle Ted deliver the above line.