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Gun Nuts and Girl Talk

Posted on by Caleb

That’s right guys, tonight on Gun Nuts Radio at 9pm, Breda will be hosting the show, live on the webcam feed as well! As usual, I cannot strongly enough recommend that you join us live for the show – if you’re not listening live and catching the cam-feed, you’re missing the experience, which includes the New and Updated Gun Nuts Drinking game, now with rules for when Breda hosts.

The topic of the show is going to be some of the unique issues that the ladies face in the shooting sports, from sexism to clothing, holster selection, you name it and it’s on the table. But here’s what we want from you – call ins. We want the ladies out there listening (and we know you’re out there) to join the show live by calling in at 347-539-5436. Bring your range stories, your jokes, your gripes, you name it and Breda and I will talk about it on the air. Listen live, and we’ll do what we can to get your 15 minutes of fame! That’s tonight at 9pm Eastern time at www.blogtalkradio.com/gunnuts – be there!

ICORE

ICORE Match thoughts

Posted on by Caleb

Shot my first ICORE match this previous weekend.  To give a one sentence summary: “This is both easier and harder than I expected.”  To go into further detail, I was concerned with the possibilty of the long trigger pull “helping” me pull shots, rapid reloading with an unfamiliar operating system, and the boogeyman of a bullet getting pulled by recoil.  I wasn’t too concerned with the targets I’d be shooting at, as the NRA D-1 target used in ICORE has the exact same dimensions as the NRA AP-1 targets I’ve been shooting for Bianchi Cup and in practice, so that was an easy transition.  Really though, my biggest concern was operating unfamiliar gear – a borrowed holster, moonclip holder, moonclips, and gun all worked themselves into a combination that could have easily equalled “match DQ” for doing something dumb.

Thankfully, I didn’t get DQ’d.  I did learn some interesting things though about shooting a roundgun under stress.  The first thing was that I’m glad I’d been shooting an LDA for so long, because it’s an ingrained habit to let all the way off the trigger in between shots now.  Doing that allows the trigger to fully reset, and ensures that I don’t short stroke it causing the dreaded “click” when I expect a “bang”.

The second thing I learned?  When shooting a revolver, grip strength is even more important than it is with an auto.  While you can’t “limp-wrist” a wheelgun, the tighter you’re crushing that grip, the easier it is to pull the trigger without the front sight jumping all over the place.

With regards to ICORE specifically, I also learned two important items that will help me in future matches.  Number 1: moonclips are cheap, buy lots.  Have enough moonclips to load an entire match worth of ammo, because there is nothing worse than having to unload and load moonclips at a frenzied pace during your strings of fire.  Secondly, slow down.  ICORE penalizes heavily for shots out of the A-zone (1 second for B zone hits, and 2 seconds for C-zone hits, yeeeesh) so being screaming fast but not accurate generally won’t get the job done.  I’m a walking testament to that, as with Saturday’s match I shot very fast times, reloaded relatively quickly, but I had waaaaaaay too many B and C hits to win.

Final ICORE verdict?  It was fun as hell.  Honestly, I don’t know why I haven’t been shooting wheelguns in competition before this, but shooting an ICORE match was like drinking from a firehose…of awesome.

rifles

Apparently

Posted on by Caleb

Ruger has figured out how to design a magazine release for the 10/22.  I was going to link you to the Ruger website, but apparently their rifles page is down right now, so instead I’ll just tell you the story.  I swung by Gander Mountain this weekend in an exercise is masochism to see if they had any overpriced 9mm or .45 ACP sitting around.  They didn’t, which really didn’t surprise me too much.  As I meandered about the store, I happened upon a rack of Ruger 10/22 rifles, all of which were fitted with what looked like an extended magazine release.

Anyone who has owned a Ruger 10/22 knows that the original factory magazine release was a design only a proctologist could love, requiring the shooter to screw his or her hand about into a most unnatural position, and then jam your finger or thumb vertically into the release to (hopefully) drop the magazine out.  On the Rugers that I handled at Gander Mountain on Saturday, the magazine release was now an extended lever that protruded about an inch in front of the trigger guard.  I didn’t have a camera on me at the time, otherwise I’d have taken a picture, but to give you an idea, think “Mini-14”.  While not as positive as a push-button release, it is a leap in the right direction for what is probably the most popular rimfire rifle on the planet.

ammo

Be careful

Posted on by Caleb

The Firearm Blog publishes a reader report from a gentleman claims his Walther P5 was damaged by shooting 9mm NATO ammo.  My only semi-issue/concern with the story is that the Walther P5 was designed for NATO spec ammo, so I would be more likely to blame poor quality control for the breakage than the ammo.

Now, an interesting side note to this story: my Para Tac-5 actually prefers the hotter NATO loads, and +P loads to standard pressure stuff.  I have no idea why, but the only times the gun has failed to cycle properly have been while using standard powered 115 grain FMJ ammo.  Whenever I’ve used 124 grain NATO loads, or 147 grain +P loads from Black Hills, the gun runs just fine.  From an engineering standpoint, I’d hazard a guess that because the slide on the 1911 pattern gun is a little on the heavy side, the gun likes the hot loaded ammo because the extra pressure ensures that enough energy is imparted to the slide to to make stuff run.  If this is the case, then I could make it function more reliably with lighter loads by switching to a lighter recoil spring…but then I wouldn’t be able to shoot my hot 147 grain “anti-bowling pin” loads through it.

ICORE

Off to shoot some ICORE

Posted on by Caleb

This is going to be hilarious.  I was practicing dry firing and reloads with some snap caps and my borrowed revolver last night, and I swear to god I couldn’t figure out where the magazine goes in this gun.

Plus, I should note that an N-Frame revolver is “freakin’ huge” (that’s the technical term).  I was drawing and dry firing, then after a while I switched to my Tac-5 for practice with that, and let me tell you – if you ever want a double stack 9mm 1911 to feel light as a feather, hump a S&W 625 around for a bit.

I’ll let you know how the match goes!

Uncategorized

Get your Gun Nuts gear!

Posted on by Caleb

You can now own a piece of Gun Nuts, by purchasing some fantastic gear with the Gun Nuts Radio logo on it!  Go to the Gun Nuts Store and see our three products, which will soon expand into a much larger product line (as soon as I get around to it).  All proceeds will go to feed ammo into Breda and my guns, which is sort of like feeding starving orphans in Africa except with less flies and more blasty.

handguns

Build your own STI

Posted on by Caleb

Have you ever wanted a pistol built exactly to your specifications? You could get a double stack race gun, or a compensated single stack 9mm, or a .38 Super with a six inch target barrel…pretty much whatever you desire. The neat thing is that now, STI is giving you that ability with their new Custom Shop program.  It’s pretty simple – you fill out the form, send it it, send them your money, and then a while later you get a gun built exactly to your specifications.  If you do one of their polymer framed double-stack guns, you can even get a custom serial number on the gun, like Ahab001, or GlocksSuck001.

STI says that it’s only available for a limited time, so if you’re looking for an opportunity to built your dream 1911 from the ground up using quality parts from a quality shop, now is your chance.  If only I had unlimted funds…

rifles

Kel-Tec RFB Info

Posted on by Caleb

Sebastian did an interview with one of the guys at Kel-Tec regarding their new .308 RFB.  My concern with the rifle remains that the forward ejection system looks like a horrible malfunction waiting to happen, and that I’d love to get one though to shoot in the heavy metal division for 3-Gun…if it works.  Here’s what Kel-Tec has to say about the forward ejection:

The RFB is essentially the first semi-auto rifle to have a controlled round extraction system. It uses two extractors to pull the fired case out of the chamber by way of the carrier and gas system. It has proven to be very reliable in testing. Once the fired cases are in the ejection chute, they have no where to go except forward. They have no surface to stick on which could cause enough friction to jam the action, no matter how much dirt got into the ejection chute area. Everything is moved forward by the reward inertia of the weapon firing, which gives a kind of natural ejection force to the cases in the chute. Tubular magazines don’t jam unless they get dented, and the ejection chute on the RFB is inside of the rifle, making it nearly impossible to damage while carrying or shooting the rifle. The RFB is quite possibly the only rifle ever built that will never stove pipe.

I remain skeptical, because with things like this, what the rep says and what actually happens when you start pulling the trigger and throwing lead downrange.

Do I think that the rifle will hold up under casual use?  Yeah, probably.  I’d imagine that if you get it out and fire a box of .308 through it 2 or maybe 3 times a month that it’d be fine – but that’s not really a test of the rifle’s reliability.  You’re not actually stress testing the weapon until you’re pouring thousands of rounds of ammo through it in a month, and seeing how well it performs when being slung around in a 3-gun match.  Since it’s not really what you’d call a “combat” rifle, 3-gun is probably the most arduous test you can reasonably expect this rifle to stand up to.