revolvers/shooting

58 Remington in .45 Colt

Posted on by Caleb

I have a few firearms. I enjoy shooting all my guns; simply because the act of squeezing a trigger and sending rounds downrange makes me happy. Doesn’t matter if it’s a .22 or a .45, I’ll shoot it. It’s no lie to say that I enjoy some guns more than others, for instance my Walther P22 gets shot a lot, as does my Taurus Tracker .357. Today I’m going to talk about one the guns that just gives me a very unmanly case of the giggles every time I haul it out to the range. That gun is my Cabela’s purchased <a href=”http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/standard-item.jsp?_DARGS=/cabelas/en/common/catalog/item-link.jsp_A&_DAV=MainCatcat602007-cat20817_TGP&id=0006195210082a&navCount=2&podId=0006195&parentId=cat20817&masterpathid=&navAction=push&catalogCode=UG&rid=&parentType=index&indexId=cat20817&hasJS=true” title=”’58 Remington clone, fitted with a Kirst Konverter. The Kirst allows me to fire .45 Colt out of the revolver instead of the traditional loose powder and ball you’d have to normally run through the pistol.

Some folks like to remove the black powder loading lever, replace it with an ejector rod, and then cut a loading gate into the powder shield on the frame so that you can load and unload the revolver like a single action Colt. I was going to do that, until I saw Pale Rider for the first time in a while. If you haven’t seen it, Clint uses a ’58 Remington cartridge conversion, which he reloads by dropping the empty cylinder and placing a fresh cylinder in the frame. I figured “If it’s good enough for Clint Eastwood, it’s good enough for me.” So, to reload the ’58, I have to partially lower the black powder loading lever, put the revolver at half-cock, pop the cylinder into my hand, and dump the empties. It sounds more complicated on paper than it actually is. While it’s not SUPER DUPER FAST, it takes me less time to reload the ’58 in this manner than it does to shuck the empties out of my SAA clone.

Now, all of the above makes the gun fun and interesting from a historical/western fanboy point of view, but what makes it so fun to shoot? I am rather glad you asked. The first time I rolled the gun out to the range, I was marginally worried that the Kirst Konverter was going to blow up in my face (it didn’t); I was also pretty sure that the pistol wouldn’t group worth a damn.

I was wrong on all counts. Not only did it not blow up, but it groups fantastically well.

Link to image of group (warning – huge image!)

As you can see from the above photo; it groups really well at 10 yards. It also has hardly any recoil to speak of, the long barrel and plow-handle grips really do quite a bit for compensating the pretty mild buck of the .45 Colt cowboy loads. I’d love to try it out with some decent .45 hollowpoints, but I’m only supposed to use it with “cowboy” loadings, and I don’t really feel like blowing up one of my favorite guns.

All in all, it’s a gas to shoot, makes a lot of noise and smoke, and better yet? It shoots right where I want the bullets to go.

Oh, and it’s hell on marauding pumpkins.

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rifles

Survival Airguns

Posted on by Caleb

This is the 2nd from last in my series of Survival Long-guns. I’m going to do survival pistols later, but I wanted to cover the last sort of long arm that you could use in a survival situation.

This weapon is the lowly (even lower than the .22LR) air rifle. Now, this is where people start looking at me like I was just released from the loony bin, because I did advocate an air rifle for survival. I’m going to qualify that statement though, so don’t start beating down my door with the torches and Frankenstein rakes just yet. For survival, the high-power air rifle has a very useful, if limited roll. It would certainly not be adequate for defense against varmints of the two legged variety; however even the lowly Wal-Mart model Crossman air rifles are more than capable of dropping a jackrabbit. That is of course to say nothing of the the models that push a .177 caliber pellet up to 1500 FPS.

As stated above, the air rifle has a limited purpose for survival. It would be strictly regulated to a hunting weapon, useful for filling the pot with small (jackrabbit and below) game with a minimum amount of noise and cost. For self-defense, you’d probably be better off with a thick tree bough instead of an air rifle; despite any British histrionics about them, they’re not generally lethal on adult humans.

So what are the advantages of an air rifle in a survival situation? Well, I’m glad you asked. Before I continue, the entire article from here on out presupposes that your air rifle is not one of the $40 Wal-Mart Specials; but rather one of the “serious” air-rifles that pushes a pellet out in the 1000fps range. I generally use Gamo as an example because their products are the ones with which I’m the most familiar.

Advantages

  • Noise signature – as I mentioned in the entry on rimfire rifles, the ability to kill food without making a whole lot of noise would be valuable in a survival situation for a multitude of reasons. You won’t spook other animals, or if you’re worried about bipedal varmints, you’re less likely to give your position away.
  • Ammo weight – .177 caliber pellets hardly weigh anything; you could easily pack thousands of rounds for your air rifle for the express purpose of adding rabbits to dinner.
  • Maintenance – an air rifle requires even less maintenance than your average .22LR. Basically, keep dirt and crap out of your rifle and you’re fine.
  • Save other ammo – In a survival situation, your supply of “other” ammo is going to be a precious resource. If you can avoid having to blast rabbits and squirrels with it, that’s a good thing.

Now, I’m not saying that you should leave your AR15/AK/SKS/SMLE/10-22/Carbine at home and take an air rifle, because it’s completely a niche tool. What I’m saying is that if you’ve got the time and the room to take one, it’s not going to hurt you. Sort of an afterthought, if you’re evacuating with your family, you could quite easily issue one of the children the air rifle; it’s light and your offspring isn’t likely to accidentally kill you/themselves with it.

Hoosier/hoplophobia

Hoosier gun control

Posted on by Caleb

While “Hoosier gun control” usually means “two-hands”, today I’m talking about something else. It’s nice to see that the IndyStar is still trying to wank up support for Rep. Orentlicher’s bill to kill gun shows “mandate background checks at gun shows.” It’s all well and good, because even the article admits that the bill probably won’t get a hearing. My favorite part is where the Indiana State Police spokesman that the Star talks to says “Yeah, criminals don’t really buy guns from gun shows”.

Of course, all the reason and logic in the world falls on deaf ears when it comes to the Brady Campaign, and of course Paul Helmke has to get his two cents in, this time with some patently made up statistic about how 40% of gun sales in the country are “unlicensed”. I’d love to see their “research” that produced that “statistic”, but I expect that it consists of blindfolded chimps tossing darts at a chart on the wall.

The article concludes with Helmke and Orentlicher complaining that the “majority of Hoosiers want tougher gun control”, but the big, bad NRA organized a “grass-roots” effort to make sure that we couldn’t get those tougher laws. Now, I may be a simple fellow, but doesn’t “grass-roots” generally indicate that it is supported by…the people? Which means that if a bunch of people (possibly the majority, or at least a vocal minority) got involved to stop “tougher” gun control…then…wouldn’t that remove the basis for Orentlicher and the Brady Bunch’s mandate? If you answered “yes”, you get a gold star.

Like I said, it’s all a moot point because his bill most likely won’t see the light of day, but it is cause for some concern. The Indy/Metro area controls a huge chunk of the votes in the state, and as people immigrate here from other (read: more liberal) parts of the country to pillage our lands take advantage of the excellent housing costs than I fear that silly ass bills like this will gain more and more traction in our state government.

Uncategorized

Prince Harry

Posted on by Caleb

One last update today. It seems that Prince Harry, who is 3rd in line for the British throne, is preparing to ship out to Iraq with his unit.

There is one excerpt from the article that I’d like to draw your attention to, in particular. “Harry threatened to quit the army if he was prevented from joining his men on operations.” – from CNN.com.

It seems that there was some thought as to not letting the young Prince deploy with his men to Mesopotamia, to which he apparently responded “Screw you, you’re not sending my men without me.” In so doing and standing by the soldiers under his command, Prince Harry has held up the long tradition of British soldiery with a dignity that should cause his own countrymen to examine their worth as men.

Bravo to you, young man. I pray you serve your country well.

Hoosier/shooting

There’s no place like hom

Posted on by Caleb

Ah, beloved Indiana. A place where if you break into a 20 year old woman’s home after 9pm, she’s free to blast you into the afterlife. Found on Indystar.com; it’s also over at Kim du Toit.

The point is that this is the sort behavior (not the B&E) that makes me proud of my little adopted home state. The odds that she’ll be charged with a crime are insignificant.

The moral of the story? Indianapolis isn’t the place to sharpen your burgeoning skills as a break-in artist. You might end up with a belly full of lead.

Uncategorized

Evil Black rifles

Posted on by Caleb

With all the hubbub about Evil Black rifles, sniper rifles, and what have you; I’ve come to the realization that I’m not cool. See, I don’t own an AR15, AK47, SKS, FN FAL, Steyr Aug, or any of the relatives of the Evil Black Rifle family. It’s not that I don’t think people should have them (they should), it’s not that I think they should be illegal (they shouldn’t). I plain just don’t like the darn things.

My realization is that this makes me “not cool”, because currently the AR15 is about The Coolest Thing when it comes to the gun owning community. Again, which is fine. Just stop telling me that I “have to go buy one RIGHT NOW”; I don’t. I don’t want one. It’s a matter of personal taste for me. Now if you start talking about semi-automatic shotguns, I’m all in for five or six of those.

Anyway, it just comes down to a matter of personal taste. I don’t like that family of rifles. The best thing about all of this? I’m totally free to dislike them; however unlike some people *coughJimZumbocough* I support your right to own as many of them as you like/can afford.

Now someone pass me my Mosin-Nagant and let’s go shooting.

blogs/hoplophobia/shooting

Jim Zumbo

Posted on by Caleb

By now, the only way that you haven’t heard about Jim Zumbo’s blog against “terrorist rifles” is if you’re not in the gun community, or you’re living in a cave in Australia. Now, I’m not pleased with what he said, and I think he’s big time wrong. A lot of other bloggers have addressed the actual issue of the divide between the the hunting and shooting communities. A lot of other bloggers have discussed at length why it doesn’t matter if an AR15 or an AK47 has a sporting purpose.

I just wanted to mention it briefly, with the thought in mind that it really bugs me when someone posts something like this. Zumbo’s an idiot, and Remington has dropped him, which is great. It’s also great to see so many well reasoned and articulate posts in response to his original article.

The blogosphere has had a pretty accurate reaction as well; I’m proud to be a part of the gun-owning community.

Uncategorized

Wisdom of the Duke

Posted on by Caleb

“Well, there are some things a man just can’t run away from.” John Wayne in Stagecoach

This is one of the more personal Wisdom of the Duke pieces that I’ll ever do, because I quite literally lived that statement.

When I was a bit younger I failed at something pretty big. I had made it into the US Coast Guard Academy (which is not easy); but for a combination of reasons, none of which were good, I ended up leaving during my sophomore year. That stuck with me, and even though I served and received an honorable discharge, even though I graduated from college, even though I landed a great job; the sting of failure had stuck with me.

The problem was that I was trying to run from it. I was doing things to compensate for a failure, even though I knew that no matter what I did, I can’t go back and change the past. Every single good thing I did felt like an attempt to compensate for not making it through the Academy. Every test I nailed or paper I wrote during college felt like vindication. It wasn’t until I met my wife that I realized I was going about it all wrong.

Instead of being upfront with her about it, I lied. I carefully omitted that detail from my past, and in so doing constructed a tremendous web of lies that I could not sustain. In running away from my past, I had created a much worse monster, a monster that ended up damaging my relationship with my wife.

Once we had set to work repairing the damage I’d done to her trust, I started to think about how I let this happen. I realized what I wrote above, that all the blood, sweat, and tears I’d poured into everything I’d done since the Academy was an attempt to compensate for that one moment. Instead of owning my decision (and my failure), like a man; I chose to try and mask it with a pile of successes. It was my wife who finally drove the point home to me. After the truth had come out, she said “You know, I’m more proud of you now, knowing what happened than I was before”.

I was running. I had spent years running from something that I had no reason to be ashamed of, and it took the simple words of my wife for me to pull my head out of my ass about it. The point of all this? What happened in the past is just that – the past. If you’re ashamed of something, don’t even try to run from it, because it will catch up to you. Own your failures like a man, don’t run from them and don’t try and hide them; especially from people you love.

It takes a tougher man to admit to his mistakes than it does to pretend you’ve never made one.

 

blogs

New Blogs

Posted on by Caleb

I’ve added two new blogs today, both are written by people I sort of know from the intarwebs.

The first is I am a Nursing Student written by a *gasp* nursing student. The folks that come here from Ambulance Driver will probably like that.

The 2nd is cain in China written by a fellow that’s going to be spending six months in China. He might not ever update again.

Go check it out!