Memorial Day range report

So it was clear and sunny with temperatures in the mid 70's this past weekend here in NC and a perfect day to hit the range. I packed up my new 10/22 and my trusty Ruger SR-9 and drove off to meet up with a few friends from AR15.com. The plan was to go to the range, make a ton of noise, and eat some decent jambalaya. That usually makes for a good time.

Well, on the way out there, I stopped at a gun shop I had never been to before hoping to pick up a couple extra magazines for the 10/22. All the guy had in stock was one Butler Creek steel lips 25 round magazine, so I took it. Here is a nice picture of one.


Next it was off to Wal-Mart to pick up a bulk pack of federal brown box .22lr. While I was there I also picked up two boxes of WWB 9mm and then decided to get a cheap red dot sight for the 10/22.

The sight I got is the BSA RD30, an inexpensive sight, but good for the price. Its not a small sight, but its not so bulky that it gets in the way, and its really light. Using it outdoors, i had to set the brightness of the dot to the maximum settings, and after a little fiddling around with the elevation and windage adjustments, it was dead on. Here is a picture of one below.


I didn't shoot my SR9 a whole lot, I already know it is reliable and since I was at a rifle range, there wasn't a whole lot of close targets. I did manage to put about 300 rounds through the 10/22 without a single failure. That gun is a dream to shoot, though I am definitely going to have to get the little buffer for it that smooths out the action. Something else I am going to have to invest in for it is a magazine loader. One of the other guys at the range had one for his 10/22 and man what a difference that thing makes.

I also got to shoot a really nice AR-10 in .308, the only problems there were a tough trigger pull and the sheer torque that gun has when fired. I don't know if it was the hand loads that were being used, or just the barrel being too short, but every shot I fired made that gun want to twist right out of my hands. Thing was dead on accurate though, so I suppose I cant complain too much.

All in all, it was a great day to be outdoors among friends and the smell of gunpowder.

A bad joke in a room full of gun guys

So ole Mike Huckabee speaks at the NRA yearly meeting today...

From FOX News:

Former GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee apologized Friday for cracking an off-color joke at a National Rifle Association meeting about a gun being pointed at Barack Obama.

Huckabee made the impromptu remark in response to an offstage noise during his speech in Louisville, Ky.

“That was Barack Obama,” Huckabee said. “He just tripped off a chair. He’s getting ready to speak and somebody aimed a gun at him and he — he dove for the floor.”

The quip was met with almost total silence.

The Obama campaign had no comment, but Huckabee later issued an apology.

“During my speech at the NRA a loud noise backstage, that sounded like a chair falling, distracted the crowd and interrupted my speech. I made an off-hand remark that was in no way intended to offend or disparage Sen. Obama. I apologize that my comments were offensive, that was never my intention,” he said in a statement.

Huckabee dropped out of the GOP race earlier in the year after it became clear John McCain had enough delegates to clinch the nomination.

Huckabee, McCain and several other Republicans used Obama as their punching bag Friday at the NRA meeting, criticizing him for his gun control and foreign policy positions.

Now the biggest problem with that joke is that it was made in a room full of people who do not think that nothing about pointing a gun at someone is funny. In the current presidential race, I suspect that the jabs will get even more and more insulting between now and November. But I do have to think that this particular jab crosses the line just a tad.

Ruger 10/22

So last weekend I finally picked up a rifle that my 9 year old can easily shoot. Until now, my only rifle was a 50+ year old Sears and Roebuck .22lr... The problem with that one is that it is just too long and too heavy for him to shoot it comfortably. This led me to pick up a nice new Ruger 10/22. Now I did a good bit of research on small, inexpensive .22s before deciding on the Ruger, and while there are other good, high quality rifles out there, none have nearly as many after market parts as the Ruger does.

I plan on putting a Tapco T6 synthetic adjustable stock on it within the next few weeks, this will make it very easy to have a single rifle that is adjustable for both my son and I.

I also plan on adding several other parts; an after market extractor, a buffer pin, a nice set of high visibility sights, and a nice red-dot sight.

I'll be sure to post pictures of the rifle and the process of adding the parts as I do so.

The Ruger SR9

First things first, let me say that I have had this gun since February 2nd 2008. It was new when purchased and it was the first gun I bought from a FFL. I spent several months looking for a good full sized pistol that could both be a fun range gun and also a good carry gun. In the SR9, I believe that I have found both.

I already have well over 600 rounds through it without any any failure to fire. I have had 3 instances of rounds that had case ruptures, but I blame those on the ammo as all three were the same head stamp from a mixed box of FMJ that came from a gun show. I will do a separate post on that later.

In the interests of being fair, I have had the barrel replaced because of metal on metal damage that was caused by the slide hitting up against the top of the barrel. Ruger was quick to help and even quicker to remedy the situation, making me even more sure that I had picked a good company to buy a gun from.

So far, the gun has performed much better than I expected, and has proven to be 100% reliable. So reliable in fact that it has led me to add several more Ruger firearms to the list of guns that i plan on buying. In fact, I have already purchased a second Ruger product, a Ruger 10/22 which I will talk about more in a further post.

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more

Ok, so it has been quite some time since I blogged. A lot has gone on in the last year, and I haven't always been dedicated to keeping an updated blog. I am hoping that will change and that I can remain motivated to keep this new page up to date and interesting.

Stay tuned for more fun.