Tag: Guns and such

My favorite toy

Follow-Up Post

The Gun Thing

Harking back to my paean of praise to the Savage 99 last week, something else about the originating article has stuck with me.

The author suggests that of the ten rifles everyone should own, one should be a custom-made rifle.

Now I’ll be perfectly honest, here:  aside from the cost involved (which should frighten almost anyone not named Phil Thee Richbags let alone a Cheap Bastard like me), every time I’ve thought about what I’m looking for in a custom-made rifle, I list all the components and invariably end up with something made by CZ.

Here’s a partial list of “desirable” features:

  • Mauser-style bolt
  • hogsback stock
  • Schnabel fore-end or  full stock
  • single-set trigger

…which leads to something that looks very much like this:

…which is the CZ 427, basically.  Or in a more manly chambering, this:

…which is nothing more than the CZ 557 Safari (a.k.a. Brno 602).  As for the full-stock dream rifle:

…which is the CZ 550 FS.

See what I mean?

Sure, I could always say I want a “blueprinted Remington 400x action with a 21″bull barrel, Timney trigger and a Fajen walnut stock” etc. but that’s going to cost me thousands, and I seriously doubt that I’d like it more, or for that matter be able to shoot it better than any of the ones shown.

Maybe — maybe — I could call up the folks at Dakota Arms to make me something to the above specs, but why, when CZ makes exactly what I need as a matter of course, and for a very reasonable price withal?

And if none of the above rifles makes your heart go pitter-pat just a little, then we’re on different pages of the Gun Geek Book entirely.

Don’t even get me started on chambering.  Certainly, I would eschew any exotic cartridge such as a .280 Ackley Improved and forget any custom cartridge designed for me exclusively.  When it comes to the damage-causing projectiles, I’d be perfectly happy with light ones like .223 Rem or .243 Win;  medium ones like .270 Win,  6.5x55mm Swede, 7x57mm, or .308 Win;  or for the heavies, .300 Win Mag or .375 H&H.  Any further tinkering would be in the realms of bullet weight and -type only.

In fact, now that I think of it, I already own my all-purpose “dream rifle”:

For those who’ve been on another planet these past couple years, it’s a Mauser M12 in 6.5x55mm Swede, topped with a Minox ZX 5i scope.

I don’t need  a custom rifle;  in terms of what I love about rifles, I already have one.  And if I want one with more “desirable” features, I’ll get a CZ.

New Development

Politics, The Gun Thing

Actually, it isn’t.  I was just teasing.

September 2019 saw 10 percent more gun sales than September 2018, according to two analyses of background check data released this week.
The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the gun industry’s trade group, estimated there were over one million gun-sale background checks last month, a 10 percent increase over September 2018.

Remind me again when the Commie candidates started blabbing about confiscating our guns?  September 2019, was it?

Keep talking, assholes, and we’ll keep buying.  We’re already the most heavily-armed civilian population on Earth — and if this trend continues, we’re soon going to be more heavily armed than all other nations on Earth, combined.

Remember this?
That was my ambitious goal.  I just never thought it was going to be Democrats  who actually did it.

 

Gratuitous Gun Pic: Savage Model 99

Gratuitous Gun Pics, The Gun Thing

American Rifleman magazine once put the Savage 99 in its list of “Ten Rifles Everyone Should Own“, and while I disagree somewhat with lots a couple of their choices, the Savage 99 is a slam-dunk listing — with one reservation, which I’ll get to in a while.  But first, let’s look at this rifle and see what all the fuss is about:

I’m going to make my prejudices known up front.  I think the “99” is hands down one of the most beautiful rifles ever made, period.  That swooping stock as it leaves the receiver, the way the lever snuggles into the underside of the stock… ooooh, mommy.  And if you can find one like mine, with the “schnabel” front stock…

…and that’s before we start talking about the brilliant rotary magazine, which, unlike for some lever rifles we could mention (Winchester, Marlin coff coff ), allows one to load this rifle with pointed (and not be limited to flat- or round-nosed-) bullets.

Which brings me to my only quibble with the 99.  While it can handle medium cartridges (.308 Win, .300 Savage, .375 Win etc.), I don’t think the recoil is worth it.  My .308 Win model is, honestly, painful to shoot.  The angle of the thin stock pushes it right into the soft part of the shoulder, and for me anyway, it’s owie  after four or five rounds.  I think the perfect cartridges for the 99 are either the .250 Savage, or if you want something a little cheaper, .243 Win.  Those, I can shoot (and have shot) all day.  (I could have put a soft rubber pad on the rifle but I didn’t because wrong.)  But the Savage is not an all-day shooter, anyway.  That thin, elegant barrel heats up really quickly, and it will start to whip on you after a dozen rounds or so.

What this exquisite gun is, is a hunter.  It’s light, accurate, quick to reload (in my case, about half a second or more quicker than my Mauser 98K), and quite honestly, I can’t think what more one could ask for a deep-woods rifle.

What sets Savage 99 owners apart from the rest is the fact that they love their 99.  In the Rifleman  article linked above, the writer laments:

I once had a lovely mid-50s Model 99 in .308.  It was my favorite Texas whitetail rifle and in a weak moment I traded it for some rifle I can’t even remember.  Lesson:  Never sell or trade a good gun.

I’m one of those losers, and what I should have done was sell my .308 and immediately got a replacement in .243.  But I didn’t because I’m an idiot.  I should have just gone without electricity for a couple months…

Because of all this, Savage 99 rifles are relatively scarce, and quite expensive.  Their owners don’t want to relinquish them, and anyone who’s ever fired one, let alone hunted with it, will know exactly why.

No More Trophies For You, Matey

Gummint, Hunting, Mocking Furriners

I usually email Mr. Free Market and / or The Englishman to tease them about the latest BritGov foolishness — it keeps me busy (because of the volume thereof) and I like getting the return emails, contents of which I cannot share because bloodthirsty / seditious / both.  Here’s but one example:

Mr. FM’s response to this idiocy, however, was different:

The government could ban trophy hunting souvenirs after a huge spike in the number of bloodsport mementos being brought back to the UK.
Animal welfare minister Zac Goldsmith said the sport ‘turns my stomach’ as he revealed there will be an urgent consultation over the controversial imports.
It comes after a strong public backlash to trophy hunting after the deaths of animals such as Cecil the lion in 2015, as well as elephants and leopards.

We’ll leave aside the necessity for a government “animal welfare minister” for the moment, and concentrate on Mr. FM’s response:

“Excellent.  Given the cost of taxidermy, not to mention the astronomical shipping costs, this ban will just leave me more money to buy tags to shoot more animals*.”

In other words:

Yeah, that’s going to work really well for the BritGov.  It’s a classic example of what happens when you want to legislate against something but know fuck-all about the subject.

*I should point out that in most parts of Africa, there are few limits as to how much game you want to shoot;  the degree of scarcity drives the price up or down.  If you want to shoot another one, you just pay the additional tag fee — which by the way, are nosebleed (see here for typical per-animal tags).

Crossing America – 2019

Guy Stuff

Time to play this game again.

The Challenge:  You have the opportunity to go back in time, arriving on the east coast of North America circa  1650 in the early spring, and your goal is to cross the North American continent, taking as much time as you need.  When / if you reach the Pacific coastline, you’ll be transported back to the present day.  Your equipment for this journey will be as follows (taken back in the time capsule with you):

— enough provisions for the first five days’ travel
— a backpack containing some clothing essentials
— a winter coat, raincoat and boots
— waterproof sleeping bag
— an axe, and a small sharpening stone
— a box of 1,000 “strike anywhere” waterproof matches
— a portable water filtration system
— a topographic map of North America
— binoculars and a compass
— a current U.S. Army First Aid kit
— ONE long gun (shotgun or rifle) and 800 rounds of ammo (but no scope;  and no interchangeable-barrel rifles like a Thompson Center Encore or Blaser;  drillings are acceptable, but you still only get 800 rounds of ammo, total)
— ONE handgun (and 1,000 rounds)
— and THREE knives (which can include a multi-tool knife like a Leatherman).

Once there, you’ll be given a horse, a mule and a dog — but apart from that, you’re on your own.  Remember you’ll be traveling through deep woods, open prairie, desert and mountains.  You may encounter hostile Indian tribes and dangerous animals en route, which should be considered when you answer the following questions (and only these):

1.  What long gun would you take back in time with you?
2.  What handgun?
3.  What knives?

Unlike previous surveys, I’m not going to tabulate the answers;  just have at it in Comments.  Reasons need not be given, as the choices will pretty much speak for themselves.  If you must  justify your choices, keep it short (as I have with mine).

Kim’s choices:

Long:  Mauser M96 (Swedish) 6.5x55mm.  Flat-shooting, manageable recoil, super-reliable, and more accurate than I can shoot it, at any distance.

I’d probably add some kind of peep sight:

Handgun:  Ruger Redhawk Stainless in .357 Mag with a 5.5″ barrel and (new from Ruger!) 8-shot cylinder.  Indestructible, and in a pinch can be used for hunting.

Knives:  Fox 440 bush knife, Anza skinner and Swiss Army Champ (no explanations necessary):

Oh, and by the way, I’d take a sharpened roofing hammer instead of an actual axe:

All the above must assume that I would be forty years younger, and have better eyesight than I have now.  At my current age and rickety state, I might as well just give up and lie on the beach on the Atlantic shoreline, eating my provisions and waiting to die…

Over to you, in Comments.