Author: Kim du Toit

RFI: AR-15 Rifles

The Gun Thing

Before we go any further with this discussion, let me say unequivocally that I am not in the market for an AR-15 rifle [10,000 words of unnecessary explanation omitted].

However, many people are, these days, and let’s look at the situation from this perspective.  A couple days back I received this junk mail advertising missive from my old friends at CheaperThanDirt(dotcom):

Now, Readers, here’s my question:  if you were a newby assault rifle prospective purchaser and saw this ad, what are the questions one should ask before making one’s decision?  Here are my thoughts, to kick the discussion off.

Bushmaster is a recognized brand, Stag a little less so, and the top two are complete unknowns.  Do you go with the “brand leader” (at the apparent premium price), or get the cheapest knowing that you may have to do a little aftermarket improvement — or will that be the case regardless  of which brand you pick?  It’s one thing to want to arrive at this conclusion, so to speak:

…but it’s a different issue if you’ll need to buy a new barrel, different trigger assembly etc. just to get the thing to work in its most basic form.  Is this an issue with budget ARs, or has the situation resolved itself like that of the many budget 1911 pistols, where most are now acceptable out of the box?

I’ve never concerned myself with these questions as the AR-15 (especially in the poodleshooter 5.56mm NATO chambering) has never been a contender for my purchase decision — in fact, one of the primary reasons I’ve always chosen AK-47 rifles is that you hardly have to do anything with them to make them “more” functional.  My own SAR-1 only needed an Ultimak mount and red-dot sight, for example:

But I digress.

So, Loyal Readers:  what are your opinions on making that AR-15 purchase?  (Try to keep your responses to about 1,000 words… and eschew the temptation to make suggestions for alternatives.  Stick to AR-15s only.)

Range Report: Different Guns, Different Ammo

Gun/Ammo Tests, The Gun Thing

So back I went back to DFW Gun Range for Round 2 of “getting to know the High Power (again)” (with a small detour along the way).  Some parameters:

  • all shots in this session were fired “slow, deliberate”
  • in 8-round strings
  • into a standard NRA B-27E silhouette target
  • at 8 yards (25 feet) distance — because I had a little trouble with the mechanism and couldn’t get the target past that distance, not that it’s important.

Because I’m a Cheap Bastard, I prefer to use as few targets as possible, so what I do is shoot one round into an open area of the target, then use that bullet-hole as the aiming-point for the remaining 7 rounds.  The grouping is what it is.  Here’s what the target looked like afterwards (explanation to follow):

Item 1:  The 1911 detour
I wanted to do a quick comparison in feel between the .45ACP 185gr JHP practice ammo vs. my old 230gr FMJ standard.  The 185gr was the super-cheap “Monarch” brand (on sale for almost a pre-2008 price):

…while the 230gr stuff was regular Winchester White Box.

So here’s the “.45 area” of the target, with each group noted, starting with the 230gr:

  

I have to say, I’ve fired a lot of 230gr FMJ ammo in my life — at a rough guess, well over 50,000 rounds in various 1911 pistols, so shooting it holds no surprises for me.  Nevertheless, as I’ve noted recently on these here pages, the recoil from the heavy bullets may be starting to cause a little distress to my old wrists, hence my desire to try a lighter load.  I’ve shot quite a lot — close to a thousand — of the 185gr loads before, but never this brand, and its cheapness gave me low expectations.

Not anymore.  Hell, given the fact that the Monarch ammo is hollow-pointed, I may just use it as my carry load — but before I make that decision, I’ll do a few “real life” comparisons between the cheap Monarch JHP and the premium Hornady self-defense stuff.  (Don’t get excited;  I’m not going to use hippies as targets, tempting as the idea may be.)  I’ll use the old standby (watermelons, water jugs or something like that).  Watch these pages.

On to the High Power, and the cheap Sellier & Bellot 9mm 115gr practice ammo.

For this area of the target, I’ve simply noted the groupings in order of their arrival on target.

Accuracy started to improve around group #5 (with one flyer), then strings #6-#9 just flew where I wanted them to go.  I was so happy that I broke with my normal tradition (I generally don’t shoot at the head of the target), but my blood was up, and in fact, I think I fired that string at a slightly faster pace than the first nine, not “controlled rapid”, but certainly quicker than “slow deliberate” at any rate.

People sometimes say “the worst day at ____ is better than the best day at the office”, or something like that.  That’s not always true of range sessions;  I’ve had some absolutely shitty days at the range — broken guns, etc. — which quite frankly are worse than a couple of really good days I’ve had at the office.  But at the end of this range session I walked away with the Warm & Fuzzies, a much better day even than the time at the office when I told my boss to fuck off, and wasn’t fired*.

I must be getting old, to make a statement like that.

The only problem arising from this range day was:  I can’t actually decide whether I should use the Browning (with its 12-round mag) as my regular carry piece, or stick with the 1911, now loaded with 8 rounds of 185gr JHPs.  (I always have at least one  spare mag on me, btw, regardless of the gun I’m carrying.)

Your thoughts in Comments.

*Details of that  event some other time.

Pig Shooting

Hunting, The Gun Thing

Mr. Free Market went a-piggy hunting last week, in a country somewhere in the Balkans, along with a few similarly-bloodthirsty companions from Britishland.  This was his personal first attempt, Day 1:

That’s his trusty Blaser double rifle chambered in .30R (Euroland’s version of the .30-06), topped with an Aimpoint H2.  Note the shot placement on the second from bottom.

Apparently the Balkan countries have an even bigger problem with feral hog infestation than we do here in Texas, so the standing orders were “Kill ’em all.”  Which the party did — the final tally was 131 hogs over four days.

That anguished howling in the background is coming from Doc Russia and Combat Controller, who were Not Invited.  Or maybe it’s just vegans screaming… LOL.

Me, I think I’ll go and make myself a bacon sarnie.

Unknown At This Address

Music

PJMedia published a list of songs that turned 20 this year…

…and I can proudly announce that I’ve never heard of any but one, that being the Britney Spears thing (and even for that one, I sort of remember the video — Brit in a schoolgirl uniform! — but not the song).

The rest?  Wouldn’t recognize the songs (or their performers) if I tripped over them in the street.  To paraphrase the late great John Barrymore:  my memory is filled with beauty, wonder and loveliness — and you expect me to clutter it up with this shit?

Banzai

Business, Food & Drink

I don’t quite know what to make of all this:

London Pride maker Fuller, Smith & Turner, better known as Fuller’s, is to sell its entire beer business to the European division of Japanese brewer Asahi.
In a deal which values the division at £250million, the London-based brewer will sell the production and distribution of its well-known beers, including its flagship drink London Pride, as well as its ale, stout, porter, craft lager and cider brands.

Considering that London Pride is my second-favorite beer (after Wadworth 6X), I can only hope that Asahi won’t look at Pride’s miniscule U.S. distribution and decide that it’s not worth it.

On the other hand, they might also think that Fuller are a bunch of morons for not getting Pride greater exposure in the U.S., with the result that I could soon buy it at Kroger.

So it’s “wait and see”, not something I typically enjoy doing.

Gah.  I hate  change.