I know, I know… to my Loyal readers. every day is Ammo Day, but do your bit regardless.
100 rounds of centerfire or 500 rounds of rimfire — if you can find / afford them.
I made my purchase shortly after midnight this morning.
Category: The Gun Thing
Not just the guns, but all the stuff that goes with them
Another Companion Piece
So I received this in the mail yesterday, after a decade-long search for a genuine 1907 bayonet which didn’t require a trip to the bank manager’s office first.
And a pretty pair they make, too:
Now, about that freelance Antifa-riot-control duty…
Update: after seeing this pic, Mr. Free Market sent me this:
And he’s quite right.
My Choice
Of all the cool stuff at Gunny’s upcoming auctions, I’d choose the Winchester 62 .22 pump rifle, because I lost my Taurus copy thereof in the Great Gun Theft Of 2021:
…although the old 63 semi-auto still has a special place in my heart, being as it’s the gun I learned to shoot rifles with, and it spoiled me forever:
I wish I’d never sold mine…
Gunny’s Gear
All things must pass, to quote George Harrison, but I have to admit that I never thought that this would apply to Gunny R. Lee Ermey, R.I.P.
Anyway, his gun stuff and related items are being auctioned off (and thanks to all the Readers who sent me notice that this is happening).
In keeping with the eccentric nature of the man come a few interesting items, e.g.
(The drooling sound you hear in the background comes from Reader Mike Of The Dueling Pistols.)
Anyway, your job for the day is to scrutinize the list of items, and tell me which ONE (and only ONE) you’d like to own. (Right-click on the pics to get a full description.) Answers in Comments.
Not Long Enough
“The numbers show people aren’t really interested in bolt actions. Let’s make a three-hour episode on bolt actions!“
I’d always thought that I knew pretty much everything there is to know about Mauser bolt action rifles. How wrong I was.
Getting A Grip
While I have greatly enjoyed Othias and Mae’s “Primer” series on WWI guns, there’s something I need to mention — not as criticism, mind you, but as a technical issue.
Whenever Mae talks about the old rifles’ “ergonomics” (what we old guys used to call “handling”), she often complains that a straight buttstock does not give her the optimum means to pull the rifle back into her shoulder, so as to mitigate the effect of recoil. She prefers rifles to have a “semi-pistol” grip so that her hand can feel its way back into its firing position more easily.
I’ve never had that problem with straight stocks (as opposed to “semi-pistol grips”) myself, because I hold rifles differently from the way she does. Here’s the difference:
Note how her thumb rests on the side of the stock. What this means is that only her three remaining fingers can grip the stock, leading to a weaker grip than if she were to cross her thumb over to a “baseball bat” type of grip.
Which is how I hold a rifle with my right hand:
That hold gives me a good grip on the stock, and I can pull it into my shoulder quite firmly — so whether I’m using a straight stock or one with a pistol grip is irrelevant. (When it comes to shotguns, I prefer a straight, or “English” stock, because I can slide my hand into the firing position.)
I know that a number of shooters — very good shooters, e.g. Doc Russia and the Layabout Sailor — hold their rifles the same way as Mae does, and as I said above, this is not at all a criticism, merely an observation.
Not that any of this matters much, mind you, as all the cool kids seem to be using actual pistol grips on their rifles these days:
…so once again, I’m out of step with the times. [sigh]