Trouble in paradise!!

I managed to get up early and scoot out to the range for some quality time with my new Magnumlite rifle in .17 Mach 2. The results were both encouraging and unnerving.

The encouraging part is that this rifle will shoot. This is a very blurry cell phone shot of a 10 round string at 100 yards, with 6 rounds in one tight cluster that is ~1 MOA and the rest being flyers that are my fault. So, the rifle will do its job if I do mine. Problem is that I rarely hold up my end of the bargain.

As good as the accuracy was, I had numerous functioning problems (between 1-2 out of nearly each magazine of 10 rounds). I shot 200 rounds this AM, that translates to about 30-40 function failures. On closer examination of the spent cartridges, I noted that almost every case showed signs of overpressure - primarily bulging case heads ("mushrooming", as I call it). I even had two case head separations. The ammo in use was Remington Premier Rimfire, .17 Mach 2, 17gr AccuTip-V Boattail (#PR17LR). If only I had a chronograph, I could make a determination regarding the consistency of this ammo. At any rate, I don't blame these failures on the gun or the magazine (yet) and I already have 3 other brands of ammo on order to see if they exhibit the same problem. However, I will be contacting both Magnum Research and Remington to get their responses to the situation. Here are some pics of the spent cases:

Took the kids to see Wall E this afternoon. While I didn't really care for the not-so-subliminal "humans are killing Mother Earth" message, it was good for a few chuckles and the kids all seemed to like it. I would recommend it for those who have young children. Lots more cleaning today - spent most of the time on the car and a little on the Hi-Power. Time to settle back for a nice cold Vanilla Coke. :-)

Really?

My wife (and numerous other people) make fun of me for noticing things that no one else bothers to notice. I catch little things like movie mess-ups (the banana was on the table in the scene just two seconds ago, but now it's gone!!), I remember seeing a complete stranger in Taco Bell six hours earlier in the day, etc.. Well, today was another one of those days. While watching Mark Keefe's (host of American Rifleman TV) review the Springfield Armory Lightweight Operator pistol, I noticed that when he inserted the mag and racked the slide to begin shooting, the slide didn't go into battery!! If you watch closely, you will see about an inch of the barrel sticking out of the end of the slide when he brings the pistol up to firing position. Now I realize that most pistols need a little break-in period but, given that he was probably feeding it Federal USA hardball ammo, I find it curious that the gun would not go into battery. Doesn't exactly inspire confidence in the weapon, now does it?

Picked Logan up and the first thing we had to do was feed him. :-) Being a finicky eater, he hadn't eaten anything the camp served this week, so off to Wendy's we went. The rest of the mid-day was consumed by chores and errands - hair cut, oil change and tire rotation, shopping for sundries - and cleaning more guns.

Managed to restore the AR-15 and one of the CZ-83's to acceptably clean condition. In the process of doing so, I noticed that the CZ-83 (being a well-worn specimen) has developed a crack in the left grip panel leading from the top to the grip screw hole. Nothing that a little Super Glue won't fix. Had a few minutes before sundown to take the kids out into the back yard to break some Shatterblast targets with the BB gun.

Weather looks nice and cool for tomorrow morning. Maybe a trip to the range to continue breaking in the Magnumlite is in order.

Prepping for tomorrow

Well, Logan comes home from camp tomorrow morning and everyone is ready for him to be back. I'm sure he will complain a little about having to leave, but I imagine the first thing he will do is scramble for all of life's little conveniences that he left behind this week - cell phone, PlayStation 3, etc.

Long day at work and Shari, Noah and Kendall were gone when I got home. They had taken off to Memphis for a photo shoot, so I took advantage of my short-lived bachelorhood to dine at the local China Pan buffet.

Managed to get three guns - the Magnumlite .17Mach2, Walther P22, and Taurus Ultralite - cleaned up while waiting for the family to get home tonight. Lots of leading in the barrel of the P22 from the Winchester Wildcat we shot through it on the last outing. Will have to try some copper-plated ammo and see if that makes a difference.

Big development today was the Supreme Court ruling on Heller vs. D.C. - lots of coverage on all the news talk shows. Of course, the hoplophobes are doing their best Chicken Little imitation by screaming, "Blood will flow in the streets!!", and trying to spin it as an insignificant decision. I do agree with them to the extent that its impact will likely be limited (e.g., Morton Grove, IL, and other cities that have outright gun bans), but I'm sure that the NRA will do everything within its power to broaden its scope. Good for them...

Just another day in the life...

Typical workday...lots to do and not enough time to do it. Caught a bunch of flack from two of my three nurses who don't seem to believe that you can head off a minor case of pink eye with judicious use of antibiotic eye drops before symptoms appear. Shari had it really bad on Monday evening and I started dosing my eyeball as soon as I saw her when I got home from work. I woke up yesterday with just a little goop, stayed home to keep from infecting anyone, and went back to work today.

Had to head to Henderson to see my oldest, Logan, as he is at church camp down there this week. They had a mid-week devotional and talent show. Too any rude people talking amongst themselves for me to enjoy the "talent". Have to pick him up early Friday morning - none too soon for his little sister, Kendall, who misses him terribly.

Gotta get out tomorrow after work and clean up some of the toys that were used during the last trip to the range - the Magnumlite, M597, P22, and Ultralite. Not nearly as much fun as getting them dirty. ;-)

Just to play catch-up a bit...

Managed to get out and see a few movies in the past few weeks, including:

• Iron Man - My favorite comic book character from my childhood. I'm already anxious for the sequel and the Avengers movie.
• The Happening - A waste of money, IMHO.
• The Incredible Hulk - Good...but Edward Norton? Whose idea was that?
• The Strangers - The moral of the story? Have a gun, know how to use it, and don't be afraid to. Oh, and confirm your target before you let lead fly. I should have spent the money on a brick of .22LR ammo.
• Kung Fu Panda - I'm not a big fan of Jack Black, but it's a cute movie for the kids.

I always LOVE taking my family to the range with me. I hope they get as much enjoyment out of it as I do. Here's the crew in action from a week or two ago:

My incredible wife, Shari, cutting loose with the 9mm Hi-Power. I actually managed to snap the shell casing in mid-air coming out of the ejection port. She can outshoot me on most days...






My sweet little girl, Kendall, with her little pink single-shot .22 rifle. She really enjoys shooting and can burn through an amazing quantity of ammo going one round at a time.

I hope that she will want to do this for a very long time.

Noah just LOVES shooting my scoped Savage .17HMR rifle. The only problem is that he can put you in the poor house doing it. He shot nearly 250 rounds on this particular day. That's about $60-75!!

Logan is a young man after my own heart. Not only is he a champion BB gun shooter (on the local 4H school team), but he is very good with just about every firearm he has picked up so far. If I can just keep him interested and practicing (the teenage years are approaching quickly), he will become an outstanding shooter one day.

I have arrived!

I finally decided to join the 21st century with my own blog. It may not be pretty, but here it is. As I am something less than a novice at this, don't expect too much.

Thanks to my wonderful wife for getting me started and helping with the formatting and such. Special thanks for taking all the pictures that will be posted here. I LOVE YOU!!

As you can tell from my links, my interests are narrow and specific - shooting, aviation, video gaming, and scientific junk. Not everyone's cup of tea but, then again, it's not their blog.