Guns

The Art of the Dynamic Nerf Blaster

/ hsoi / 3 Comments

(title props to Magpul)

Oldest got a Nerf N-Strike Stampede Blaster ECS-50 from Santa.

It’s fully-automatic, battery operated. Runs on 18-round “clips” (I hate that they call them “clips”… they’re magazines). I LOVE that it has a vertical fore-grip with integrated bi-pod; the design is a 100% nod to the Grip Pod. It fires at a fairly good rate, functions well (no malfs yet, and I love the nod to the AR with the selector switch), and is pretty accurate for what it is… tho with that “blast shield” you can’t really get down to do precision aiming. Still, for what it is, it’s good.

And of course… you burn a “clip” of darts and as TXGunGeek would say, it just tips your giggle box. 🙂

Even better? I have a couple of the 35-round drum “dart clips”. We slapped those bad-boys in and it’s nearly-endless full-auto fun!!

On top of that, oldest also got one of the N-Strike Tactical Vests, which holds loads of spare ammo. As well, it has a sheath on the back of the vest to hold a Nerf Sword. Yup, we’ve got a couple of those. We like Nerf around here. 🙂

Where did I really geek out? There’s a spot on the back of hte ECS-50 that looks like it could allow attachment of a single-point clip sling. Oldest also has some “handgun” Nerf blasters. I start talking to him about how he just needs a sling, he can run the full-auto, reload, reload, reload, then when he’s out of ammo just let go of the ECS-50 and transition to his hand-blaster. Of course while I’m describing this I’m showing the kids the movements… and they’re all just looking at me like I’m taking it way too seriously. But hey, tactics is tactics. 🙂

So look out neighborhood kids. Oldest is armed to the teeth! You shall not survive the Nerf onslaught!

Barnes Bullets in 2011

/ hsoi

Just got an email from Barnes Bullets about what’s coming from them in 2011.

I’m excited!

A few highlights that stand out to me:

  • Match Burner bullets. A new line of bullets made specifically for competition.
  • Barnes LRX – Long-Range hunting bullets.
  • 22 caliber TTSX!! Finally! 55 grain and 62 grain BT’s. Oo… could this make for a light but effective hog round?
  • They are announcing the 6.8mm 95 gr BT TTSX’s, but those have been around… maybe this is just officially announcing it?
  • I think it’s interesting they’re making a 165 grain BT 30 cal TTSX… they said “mid-range weight with a shorter, secant ogive designed specifically for 30 caliber magnums; note: Barnes 168 grain bullets have a longer, tangent ogive designed for 308 Winchester and 30-06).
  • The “Tactical Handloading Manual”. Says this load data and trajectories for popular tactical rifle and handgun cartridges (5.56, 6.8 SPC, 7.62, 380 Auto, 9mm, 45 Auto, etc.).
    • I recall hearing about this some time ago. I had contacted Barnes during my trials to load their .224″ 62 gr TSX’s in .223 Remington and I was told that 5.56 data was in the works but not yet available. I was starting to wonder if it was ever going to see the light of day… and finally it is!

This is pretty cool!

Here’s the PDF with full details.

Geez. This really opens up a slew of possibilities now. I mean, I have been thinking about using a red-dot scope for hog hunting, and right now that’d probably mean using a .223 Remington chambered AR… which means I’d need to use Barnes bullets. And being able to now use TTSX’s… oo, that’s sweet. Plus having “tactical” load data will be pretty cool, including more specific stuff for the 6.8 SPC.

Man… I can’t wait!

Back from the range

/ hsoi

Just returned from the local indoor gun range.

I’ve been wanting to rework my AR’s, so I’ve been swapping parts, buying a few new things, putting a few old things on the shelf. Still not at my 100% ideal setup, but close enough for now… especially since more changes require money, and right now I’m drained.

So the range trip was for two things:

  1. Re-validate the 6.8 SPC to ensure it was still holding zero.
  2. Zero the rebuilt Bushmaster

The Wilson Combat 6.8 SPC upper now rests atop a Rock River Arms lower, still with the RRA 2-stage match trigger. Shooting the Silver State Armory 6.8 SPC 85 grain Barnes TSX tac-load, shot just fine. If anything, it’s evident that I am the weakest link. 🙂

The main focus was to work on the Bushmaster. I wanted a lighter gun, so this is a minimal setup. I started zeroing it at 50 yards with some Georgia Arms “canned heat” 55 grain FMJ, just to get things on paper. A lot of twisting of knobs and adjusting the front sight post, and things were looking good. I switched to Hornady TAP FPD .223 Rem 75 grain. A slight tweaking to the sights and things were good. Then I got to the real meat of it all: the Aimpoint Comp M4s. A bit of adjusting, a bunch of playing and oh… what a sweet sweet optic.

The thing is? I can’t tell you much about it here. I received the Aimpoint on T&E for TacticalGunReview.com. So my experiences and results are going to be written up there, not here. I’m working on the write-up, but I have a little more field work to do before I publish it. When I do have it all up, I’ll of course link to it from here. I’ll just say that yeah, I dig that Aimpoint. 🙂

And… if you could guess by my previous post, going to the local indoor gun range is always an adventure. I prefer to go mid-week first thing in the morning: i.e. about as dead as it can be. But due to schedules, I had to go in the afternoon. The place was busy and I had to wait for a lane. Once I got one… boy, it was noisy in there (this is why you wear both ear plugs and ear muffs). It was also a continued reaffirmation as to why I generally try to surround myself with competent shooters. While most of the folks there weren’t bad, there was much room for improvement. Folks, this is why it’s essential to get good training. If you really want to tighten up those groups, if you want to stop throwing all your shots low-left, find a good teacher… I happen to know one.

As for some tips:

  • Again ladies, you may have nice boobs, but for your own well-being, cover them up. Hot brass down the shirt is no fun.
  • If you want to thumb-cock your revolver that’s fine, but there’s no need to point it up at the ceiling every time you do so.
  • When you (un)case your firearm, please do it on the benches so the muzzle points downrange… not on the floor behind the line so the muzzle points towards everyone on that side of the line.
  • We all know about ear/hearing protection, but eye protection is important too.
  • Wash your hands before you touch anything you care about: your eyes, mouth, food, etc.. Not that there was food on the line, but many people were handing guns and ammo, then just leaving. There’s a sink, use it.
  • If you want to borrow the extra benchrest that’s sitting unused next to me, all you need to do is ask.

 

Nice boobs, but….

/ hsoi / 21 Comments

Ladies. A friendly tip.

You may be blessed with an ample bosom. You may enjoy wearing clothing that shows off your cleavage.

That’s all well and good… unless you’re at the gun range.

Nothing says “poor wardrobe choice” like getting a hot piece of brass stuck between your boobs.

As well, it leaves a mark, it hurts, and you can’t do much to control the muzzle of that gun in your hands while you do the “hot brass dance.”

Wear a top that closes around your neck. Your boobs thank you… as well as the guy in the next stall (me) that doesn’t like loaded guns pointed at him.

No big rush

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

I’m on vacation for a little while.

That means, I’ll get around to things whenever I want to get around to them. Blogging included. 😉

Not going anywhere on vacation, just staying home and getting things done… including spending lots of time with Wife and Kiddos. But I do have to remember to unwind. I was going to reconfigure some AR’s on Saturday night, then go to the local indoor range to re-zero them on Sunday, then this morning to the local outdoor range to do some work with them. But alas… none of that happened. Things like naps, sleeping in, playing with doggie, cuddling with Wife… they took precedence.

But this morning I did get to reconfigure the AR’s. I’ll get to the range eventually. I’m excited to see how this all works out.

More later.

Things that make you go YES!!!

/ hsoi

11-year-old girl fends off 3 armed home invaders… with her pink .22 rifle. 🙂  (h/t to Chimera)

But but but… you say that children aren’t supposed to have access to guns. Well, you draw your own conclusions about what could have happened to this responsible and brave little girl if she didn’t have her rifle.

Julie Golob goes hunting

/ hsoi

This is a cool video showing Julie Golob‘s 2010 hunting season highlights

Two things stood out to me.

First, even for one of the best shooters in the world, she knew her limits and didn’t take a shot in the heavy wind. Actually, that she knows her limits is what helps make her one of the best shooters in the world.

Second, ah… those Barnes TTSX bullets, and in .308 Winchester. Is there anything that combination can’t do? 🙂

RCBS X-Sizer die

/ hsoi / 5 Comments

Most of my reloading efforts have been with pistol cartridges. My one set of .223 Rem trials just was not successful, but I’m going to try rifle again.

The one thing I don’t like about doing rifle is all the case prep work. There’s a lot of it, and it doesn’t really lend well to progressive presses. But I found something that, at least from doing Internet research, looks like it’s going to have a lot of potential: the RCBS X-die (RCBS refers to it as the “X die” and the “X-Sizer die”).  From their manual:

 

ABOUT THE X DIE

The X-Sizer die is a uniquely designed full length resizing die for bottleneck rifle cases. This die not only full length resizes the case, it also limits the growth of the case. This eliminates the need for repeated trimming after an initial trim is done to standardize the case. This die is not intended to shorten the length of the case, rather, as the case grows, the mandrel will reduce the normal rate of growth. This is the result of the case mouth coming in contact with the mandrel stop during resizing. Cases repeatedly sized in the X-Sizer die will grow a few thousandths of an inch initially, and will then stabilize below the maximum case length. Using the X-Sizer die eliminates the need to trim after each shot. X-Sizer dies can be used for full-length resizing with or without the X feature. Partial neck sizing can be done but only without the X feature.

 

 

Pretty neat. Google searching turns up good results, with people using it in progressive presses, getting longer case life, and still getting accurate results (perhaps not 100% as accurate as the most finicky of benchrest competition shooters would want, but far better than most of us will ever notice). Of course, there’s a lot of time-savings in subsequent reloads using then X-die, which is where the win is.

So I reckon once I start rifle reloading, I’ll just start with a lot of brass prep, doing initial casework on as many cases as I feel like dealing with on the old single-stage RCBS press (regular full-length resize, clean the primer pockets, debur the flash hole, trim the length according to the X-die instructions, and then mark these cases with a Sharpie so I know “this is a case prepped for the X-die”). It won’t be until the second go-round with these cases that I’ll actually try the X-die, so who knows how long it may be until that happens and then I see how results go. But, I picked up 2 X-Sizer dies, one small base .223 Rem and one small base .308 Win (I’d have gotten a 6.8 SPC if they had a die in that size). I’m curious to see how this will go.

 

A sniper’s world

/ hsoi

Vanity Fair has an article about “Russ Crane”, a sniper in the Texas Army National Guard. (h/t TFB)

It’s an interesting read into the life and mind of a military sniper.

An excerpt:

He told me he believes that the overwhelming majority of people in the world are good, but that they are as vulnerable as sheep to the wolves who prey upon them. His role, he said, is that of a sheepdog with the training and temperament to intervene. We were sitting at his kitchen table. There was a plaque on the wall reading, the future is as bright as the promises of god. Crane said, “There is good and evil in the world. It gets so you yearn for a righteous fight. Personally I believe there are bad people, and God put people here to shoot those people, to let other people live peaceful lives. David was a shepherd boy who became king. The Philistines had their giant, Goliath. The Lord said to David, ‘I’m on your side. Go out and fight.’ David did. And you know, David killed Goliath as dead as Elvis Presley. He was a shepherd, a king, a follower of the Lord. But first and foremost he was a warrior. God understands that we have to have soldiers. Soldiers are part of God’s plan.”

I said, “Do you mean that literally?”

He said, “I know that God has been with me actively in battle.”

“You’ve been fighting Muslims who believe the same thing.”

He said, “It’s a conundrum. But Jesus was resurrected after three days, and you can visit Muhammad’s grave.”

Sheep, sheepdog, and wolves. He’s not justifying the war as righteous, as a Christian vs. Muslim battle. Merely, seeking to find peace in his own mind for why he was put on this Earth to do what he does.

There’s a lot in this article. Crane’s own history and journey, discussions of how the military evolved, support, betrayal, and what life is really like… the indelible mark left upon your life. It’s a long article, but worth the read.

Winchester ballistic coefficients

/ hsoi / 3 Comments

When I bought all that reloading equipment off Dock, I got a bunch of components as well: lots of Winchester FMJ bullets. The trouble is, I have been having a dog of a time trying to find information about them for running numbers. You look at the Winchester website and while it lists the products, it doesn’t list information like their ballistic coefficients.

But I think I have found them. Winchester has their own ballistics calculator and it’s pretty neat. I haven’t used it much because the data in the app is purely Winchester products, so it’s not that generally applicable. However, it’s that very product-centric setup that yielded results! I just plugged in their products and this is what it yielded.

Winchester 30 caliber (.308″), 147 grain FMJ BT bullets (WB762147N) have a B.C. of 0.415. 0.421

Winchester 22 caliber (.224″) 55 grain FMJ bullets (WB556MC55) have a B.C. of 0.255. 0.267

So that’s what the app told me, and I can only assume it’s right, tho I may be making a small leap in determining all of this. But it seems about right given other bullets of those same profiles.

Just recording it here for posterity sake.

Updated: James Rummel reposted my search for information. Thanx, James!

The thing is, the best way to get this information is to go straight to the horse’s mouth. When I first did this well, I knew that was the right thing to do, but I just couldn’t find a phone number. After James’ post I figured I should try again.

After more Google work I was able to find the phone number for Winchester Ammunition (800-356-2666). I called, pressed “3” for technical questions, and left a message asking for the data.  When/if I receive a callback, I’ll update it here.

Updated 2: When I left a voice mail at Winchester it said I’d get a callback within a business day. I didn’t hear back today so I called again. This time the phone message changed to say they were out for Christmas vacation, back January 3. Well, that explains why I didn’t get the callback. 🙂  Cool that they get 2 weeks off.  I’ll set a reminder for myself and call back first week of January.

Updated 3: It’s January 3, 2011 and I called Winchester at the above number. I asked for the B.C.’s of those 2 bullets and received them! I updated the above entry with strikthru’s and the proper numbers.

So, the B.C. listed in their little online calculator is for whatever bullet is in their loaded ammunition, which apparently is slightly different from the bullets they sell as components. I guess? Kinda curious how they’re different numbers, but there you go. I would have liked to discussed this further on the phone with the gentleman, but it was their first day back after 2 weeks vacation and they were VERY busy playing catch-up, so I got my information, wished him a Happy New Year, thanked him, and hung up. So, there you go.