LOL

 

Stolen from B at In The Middle Of The Right, who has some good advice about this.

Censorship: Action, Reaction

So Youtube hates guns and is trying to demonitize shooting channels.  So one of the channels decided to follow the rules, with hilarious results.

Ammo deal alert

UPDATE 8 MAY 2024 12:18: Never mind.  The description was dodgy and misleading, and the price is for 200 rounds, not 1000.  Pretty disappointed in CMP's marketing on this. And for that price you can get new (not decades-old) ammo.  Thanks for the comments from alert readers.

CMP is selling 1000 round cans of .45ACP Ball surplus ammunition for $150 plus shipping.  This is about the best deal I remember seeing for .45ACP in a long time.

Limit one per customer, regular CMP purchasing rules apply.

They also have 500 round bricks of .22LR for $80 which seems pretty good.

Forgotten Weapons on "Assault Rifles"

Lawrence has a good post up where Ian McCollum from Forgotten Weapons delves into the topic of just what an "Assault Rifle" is.   Everyone thinks they know all this (I sure did), but they - and I - don't.  For example: Assault Shotguns and Assault Pistols?  Defined by statute.  I did not know that.

Recommended.

CMP .30-06 ammo deal alert

$392. 400 rounds M2 Ball, 150 grain Full Metal Jacket, Lake City Army Ammunition Plant. Packed in 20 round boxes mid 60's to early 70's manufacture. Non corrosive. Limit 1 can per customer/year. **FREE SHIPPING DOES NOT APPLY TO SURPLUS AMMO. 

$1/round for .30-06 isn't bad.

.303 at 3000 yards

ASM826 found this, about a fellow who used the Lee-Enfield WWI Volley Sights to shoot at a target at 3000 yards. Iron sights at 3000 yards.

Ahem.

Nice shooting, cobber.

CMP Sales update

There's a lot going on over at the CMP.  Here are highlights:

Expert Grade M1 Garand Rifles:

CMP currently has a selection of Expert Grade M1 Garand Rifles available for mail orders. Once they’re sold out, we will not accept any more orders. View details on the Expert Grand M1 Garand Rifles at https://thecmp.org/sales-and-service/m1-garand/. Ordering information may be viewed at https://thecmp.org/cmp_sales/ordering-information/.

 

Creedmoor 167gr. .30-06 Ammunition:

CMP currently has Creedmoor 167gr. .30-06 ammunition available for mail order for $195 per case. Item Number is 4C3006CS167-100. Ordering information may be viewed at https://thecmp.org/cmp_sales/ordering-information/.

 

CMP 1911 Round 4:

The CMP is currently accepting Round 4 M1911 Pistol orders until October 31, 2023. The CMP is increasing the lifetime purchase limit of 1911 pistols to two (2). The yearly limit is one per calendar year until you have met your lifetime limit. If you have never purchased a 1911 pistol from CMP, you may only purchase one at this time. If you have purchased a 1911 pistol in 2023, you CANNOT purchase a second 1911 at this time. If you previously purchased a 1911 through the RGN process or auction in 2018-2022, you are eligible to purchase a second 1911 pistol. You must submit a complete order packet. Incomplete orders will not be accepted. View details on the CMP 1911 Pistol Program on our website at https://thecmp.org/sales-and-service/1911-information/.

 

CMP update

The CMP is still doing good work.  Here is some news, some of which comes with deadlines.

1911 sales are about to close - they need postmarks by 8/25.  But if you want a real piece of American handgun history, a CMP 1911 can't be beat.  FYI, while sales will close, they are working on the next round (Round 4) but when this will start is anyone's guess.

CMP has .30-06 mil-surp in stock.  If you need The Lord's own rifle caliber (Old Testament version), go check it out.

CMP has Field Grade M1 Garands in stock.  When they're gone, they're gone.  If you have a Jones for what Gen. Patton called "the greatest battle implement of all time" then you know what to do.  I love my Garand, and every time I take it to the range to stretch its legs I always get a bunch of guys coming around to ooh and aah over it.

 

Night 1 of my Grand Daughter's beauty pageant

Earlier this month I posted that #1 Grand Daughter was in the Miss USA Teen Rhode Island pageant.  Well tonight was the first night.

Wowzer.  She gets her good looks from her Mom, who gets them from The Queen Of The World.  No mystery there.

Dang, my son-in-law the Chief really needs a shotgun.  Longtime reader LindaG suggested that this song might be appropriate:

So help me out, Rhode Island readers - where's a good gun store up there?  I'd ask for a local gun store but c'mon - everything is local in Rhody.  OldAFSarge, I expect you're my go-to guy up there.

(Help us, Obi-Wan OldAFSarge.  You're our only hope!)

I did not know that

Derek Ward posts a link that sort of undermines the whole "Florida is the Gunshine State" narrative: 

However, when you take into account the total population of both states, this gives Texas 21 gun stores per 100,000 people and only gives Florida 13.4 gun stores per 100,000 people. For comparison, most states on this list have well over 20 gun stores per 100k people.

C'mon, Florida - those are rookie numbers. 

On the converse side of things, Kentucky currently ranks the highest in terms of the total number of firearms purchased overall with the Bluegrass State purchasing more guns in the first half of 2022 than any other state in the union (a grand total of 2,094,787 firearms in the first 6 months).

Even ignoring the "Eastern Kentucky vs. Eastern Florida" mismatch, Kentucky is buying three times as many guns as Florida is.  Rookie numbers, indeed.

Gone shewtin'

I'm meeting Big Country and Wifey at the range for some recoil therapy.  It will be something like this:

And The Queen Of The World got me a nifty spotting scope so I can see just how rusty my marksmanship is.  Need to get out to the range more often.

Do Want

Underbarrel Picatinny mounted flame thrower.  $699 at Classic Firearms.

"But Borepatch," I hear you ask.  "What would you do with this?"

Beats the heck out of me.  Why do people want 600 HP cars?  Why do they want Faberge Eggs?

Alas, it's a lot of denarii for something whose only selling feature is that it's awesome.  Well, or fighting the Alien Ecomorphs ...

This is how it works but in the hand-held version.  It seems that Youtube doesn't like people embedding the videos of the under barrel version.

When I pointed this out to The Queen Of The World, she didn't even give me The Look.  Rather, her whole face said WTF?

Oh, bother.

(Want)

Cheap guns!

The Miami PoPo are doing a gun buy-back "to benefit Ukraine". [rolls eyes]

They're offering peanuts, in the form of gift cards. Smartest kids in class, right there.  [rolls eyes again]

If you're in that area and looking to score guns cheap, show up at Miami City Hall on Saturday at 10:00 AM.  If you offer twice as much in cash, I expect you'll get first pick.  Looking at the price they're offering, that'd be $300 for an AR.

Win Free Ammo!

Ratus emails about a nifty ammo giveaway by Federal.  Thanks, Ratus!

I guess I'm feeling better

I feel like I need to clean my guns.  Actually I do, but I have for a while.  I'm a lazy gun owner.

But must be getting back in the saddle. 

M1 Garand resources

 A reader who prefers to remain anonymous sends the following list of M1 Garand links.

M1 Garand Resources 

https://www.americanrifleman.org/content/m1-garand-rebuilds-history-markings/ https://www.americanrifleman.org/content/m1-garand-rebuilds-history-markings/

https://m1-garand-rifle.com/ 

https://www.them1garand.com/ 

https://thegca.org/ Grand Collectors Org – must join, fantastic outfit!! https://www.reddit.com/r/M1Rifles/ 

http://www.easy39th.com/korea/files/FM_23-5_U.S._Rifle_Caliber_.30,_M1_1951.pdf https://www.m1garand.com/m1-garand/ 

https://www.dupagetrading.com/product/m1-garand-stock-set/ 

https://myplace.frontier.com/~aleccorapinski/index.html 

https://www.tactical-life.com/firearms/rifles/m1d-garand-sniper-rifle/ http://usriflecal30m1.com/Default.aspx 

http://www.biggerhammer.net/manuals/garand/index.htm 

https://www.standardpartsllc.com/productcart/pc/viewcategories.asp?idCategory=15 https://www.dupagetrading.com/ 

http://www.amegamounts.com/product_pages/m1garand.php 

https://www.range365.com/m1-garand/ 

https://www.garandgear.com/ 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lo0NLKAvmDM&ab_channel=ArmsControlCenter http://www.memorableplaces.com/m1garand/ 

https://www.gunboards.com/threads/best-cleaning-for-m1-garand.1140683/ 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eq4wpB9MZ-4&ab_channel=Brownells%2CInc. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJhdW7tGR7w&ab_channel=Brownells%2CInc. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKUI-pzLbzA&ab_channel=Brownells%2CInc. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JywNIjmr1Ro&ab_channel=Brownells%2CInc. 

https://m1buddy.com/

Range Report: Sighting in an M1 Garand

I've wanted one of these for years, and so I up and ordered one from the Civilian Marksmanship Program.  CMP is an interesting program: it is chartered by Congress to provide DoD surplus rifles to the American public.  They get rifles from DoD (these days there are not a lot coming back from overseas Allies; I think mine may have come back from South Korea but that's just a guess).  CMP armorers refurbish the rifles so you are guaranteed to get a functioning weapon.  Pricing is good (I paid $750 and it came with a nice hard case and free shipping), but what they have is what they have.  Mine is a Springfield Armory Service Grade model (which means that it has some wear) manufactured in October 1943; personally I think that the dings in the stock add to its charm.

It does have a rather mysterious stamping that I haven't had time to research yet.  If any readers have any hints I'd be mighty obliged.

Now this isn't really a range report about the rifle - I posted one quite some time ago and so will just point you to it if you're interested.  Today is about how I sighted it in.  You see, after the armorer is done you have a fully functional rifle; you may or may not have a rifle that hits where you aim - at least out of the box.  You need to zero the rifle yourself, and that's what yesterday was about.

Now unless you have your own private range, you need some sort of spotting scope to look at your target after you fire a shot.  If you're at a public range (as I was) you can't just traipse downrange to get a closer look at your target when the range is hot.  Besides, it's a hundred yards away so that would be a lot of walking.  A scope (or binoculars) is better.

The M1 has a pair of knobs that move the rear sight either right or left (windage) or up and down (elevation).  You can see the knobs on the picture below, one on each side of the peep sight.

Here's a top view.  The sights and knobs are right behind the open internal magazine.

The process of sighting in goes like this:

1. Fire a single shot.
2. Look at the target through the spotting scope.  There will be a hole in the target (c'mon - you're shooting at 100 yards off of a bench rest.  Of course there will be a hole in the target).  If the hole is to the right or left of the bullseye then you need to adjust the windage knob.  It if is above or below, you need to adjust the elevation knob.
3. My hole had the right elevation but was to the right, so I worked the windage knob.  If both windage and elevation are off you probably should adjust one first until it's right, and then work on the other (e.g. windage first until you have it dialed in, then elevation).  This way you only have a single variable that is changing between shots.
4. Go to 1.

Now I was a dummy yesterday and left the manual of arms booklet at home and so it was a 50/50 coin toss as to whether I was adjusting windage to make the zero closer to the bullseye or further away.  I guessed wrong, and saw the next couple holes appearing further to the right from the X ring.  Sigh.  OK, dial back the other way.  All in all I fired 12 rounds to get windage right, correcting between each shot.  Then I scrounged some Shoot-n-See dots to cover the holes and put two clips down range.

Interestingly, even though I was shooting from a bench rest, I used a shooting sling for the second clip which tightened the grouping up noticeably.  Almost everything went into the red or black when using the sling, as opposed to a bunch in the 8 and 7 rings without the sling.  I'll leave a discussion of shooting slings for another day.

So there's no magic to sighting in, just a careful and deliberate shoot-check-correct-repeat process.  Now I need to get out regularly at 200 yards - and then 300.  Then a Garand Match, which they run at my club.

Off to the range

CMP came through.  Off to try it out.

 

Black Friday ammo deal

Jack from cheapammo.com emails to alert us to a Black Friday sale that they are having tomorrow.  It's a real Black Friday sale - limited qualtities, when it's gone it's gone.  Since nobody has enough 9mm (and since I seem to have bogarted the last deal), here's the info on tomorrow's sale (from Jack's email):

Basically, we have 9mm we’ll be selling below our cost. The manufacturer insists we don’t say who made it because we’re pricing it low enough that other retailers could be a bit sour about it. 

At 10 a.m.(ET)  / 9 a.m. (CT) we’ll make the product available and for sale on the top of our 9mm ammo page (https://www.cheapammo.com/handgun/9mm-ammo). Because the manufacturer could be upset by the price and because we want to reward your readers with it rather than random Google or price comparison bot traffic it’s not “live” on our site yet. Our hope is that any of your readers who stumble across the promotion from you will have a chance to get the deal.

Product details for public disclosure:

• American-made (Either Federal, Winchester, Blazer Brass)
• 115 grain
• Full Metal Jacket
• Priced Below Cost
• Two Pallets Available Starting at 10 a.m. (ET) Friday
• Another Batch Live Monday morning at 10 a.m. (ET) on that same 9mm page
• Standard shipping rates apply (not inflated over our “normal” rate - typically $15-$20 per case.)

It's quite nice of Jack to reach out about this.  He sent me a pic and described the offer and brand and it is quality stuff (he asked me to keep the brand hush hush). Hopefully by the time Google's bots pick up on this tomorrow, all y'all will have snapped it all up.

UPDATE: I forgot to point out that I get no consideration for this post and have no relationship with the company.

Gone shootin'

Today The Queen Of The World and I are going shooting with Big Country, Mrs. Big Country, and Sapper.  It looks to be more fun than a barrel of monkeys.

Back later.

UPDATE 17 OCTOBER 2021 16:17:  Well, that was fun.  I shot better than I expected, The Queen Of The World shot better than she had the last time, Sapper gave her some outstanding shooting advice, and Big Country had some crazy good glass on his M1A.  Then we retired to Charlotte's Webb pub, which is best visited on a motorcycle but is OK with a trunk full of guns.  Definitely have to do this again!

Big Country, thanks for suggesting this!