Holsters

For the past 6 to 8 months I've been making holsters. Mostly because they are expensive, and for the money I can create as good as any of the makers are doing.

I have learned a lot about leather. Most holsters, that you buy, are made from Vegetable dyed tooling shoulders. Leather is sold by weight and most holsters are 8/9 oz.

SO of course I have to do it different. I've been using a 5/6 oz leather and have been very happy with the results so far. Ignore the the clips, they came from another holster and I was testing the fit.

More to come...

Wow it's been too long

OK so no one is reading this anyway. Only stats are from BING and Google :-)

Winter Shooting? In Minnesota? WTF?

I was a little surprised last week when a friend called and asked if I wanted to go skeet shooting the following weekend. Shooting, guns? In the winter? Here?

OK, I know that I live in Minnesota, and it's winter here, often. Doing stuff outside in the winter, not involving a snowblower or shovel, is very odd.

Did I miss something? I think now that I did. The range is an NRA member only thing. As one of the five liberal gun owners in the world, I am annoyed with the NRA as much as with the 'Anti' people. Fervent belief is one thing, but crazy obsession is quite another.

Anyway, my friend had a blast, and said he would go again, anytime! Good boots and hand warmers are required, from what I'm told. Gloves with a finger cut out is probably needed too.

This points out to me that I need to be more open to new experiences, of all kinds!

Next time, back to Service Rifle subject matter.

Good day!

M1A SOCOM ReDeux

Yesterday I went to the range with the SA SOCOM 16 again. The first two times I went I noted an issue with inserting a magazine when the bolt was open. The only way I could fully seat the mag was to insert it from the closed bolt position. Today, magically, this was not the case. I was able to insert and remove the mags with ease. I'm not sure why, but I'm very happy this is no longer a problem.

I put about 200 rounds through it this time with no problems. This gun just eats what ever you put in front of it. Very nice!! The ammo on the line this time was Remington 308 Remington. :-)

Groupings were about an inch to inch and half @ 25 yds on the iron sights. Remember this is an indoor range, 50 to 60 feet is the max here. The man size target didn't have a chance.

One disappointment is that you really can't put a scope on the weapon. The rail is forward of the bolt about mid length up the barrel. I know this is tactical (ACOG or other red dot sight land) but the 6 X 16 40mm Bushnell's objective is not long enough for a clear sight picture from this far foward.

Some of the reviews I've read about the M1 3rd Generation scope mount from Springfield can be a little picky to install. It's also a $100 item on the Fully Loaded Coupon. I have yet to send this in but I get 90 days from date of purchase to complete the process.

I must say that I think this is my favorite long arm. I love the Mini 14 a lot but the SOCOM 16 is powerful, low recoil, and accurate. Ammo is another issue. We'll talk about that again next time.

Good Day!

Springfield M1A SOCOM 16 Update

The first trip to the range with the M1A was a blast! As expected there's some kick from a .308 but the gun seems to be well controlled on follow up shots. It's loud to! Lots of people strolling by to check out the noise. You know how they (you) do it. Lean around trying to get glimpse, and finally just walking by. We all do it when we hear a round going off that we don't have.

As much as I like the shooting location I go to, it's not enough for the M1A. In the Minnesota there are some outdoor ranges, but the weather makes any such events short, if at all. Spring will tell but so far I like it a lot.

I did not, of course, bring enough ammunition about 100 rounds. More shooting to come soon for it.

I bought a red dot sight from Midway USA on sale for indoors. I'll try a proper scope when I can get it out for long range shooting.

Cleaning was not any harder the the Mini-14. A Hopps bore-snake and CLP on a toothbrush.

Good Day.

Ammo: Factory and Reloads

Today I want to talk about ammunition.

As I mentioned, I shoot 9mm, .45 Cal, .223 Cal and 7.62mm (.308 Cal). Now of course different manufacturers have a variety of rounds and bullet weights, expressed as grains. This is the weight of the bullet itself and 437.5 grains equals one ounce, obviously a very small unit of measure.

The following link has a good, if not extremely detailed explanation of kinetic energy as it related to bullets. http://www.xmission.com/~fractil/math/kp.html
It's a little dry. :-)

There is plenty of information in the Internet about ammo and the benefits of different rounds, so I won't go into it here.

Hunters and plinker's will have very different opinions on the 'best' round, but like most things you generally get what you pay for. Most people I know want a low cost range experience, but I don't want to have to keep clearing jams or misfires from my weapons.

I have found that rounds from one manufacturer, in one specific gun, behave very differently in my guns verses what my friends experience. A clean gun is a happy gun and this will have an effect on your time on the firing line.

I'd be very interested in what someone who shoots in competition has to say on this subject. Feel free to chime in with any thoughts you have.

Lately I have been using UMC and UltraMax for my AR-15. Remington in my XD-9 and M1A, and Magtech in my Ruger P90. The Magtech is a very smoky in my P90, and dirty too, but it does not stovepipe like the UltraMax has.

My AR-15 is not picky, it shoots what I load in it, so far. I have not tried the Lake City bulk surplus ammo I keep reading about, but it's on the list.

The XD-9 does not like Magtech. I have had 8 to 10 misfires out of my last 50 round box, so I won't be going there anymore.

My Mini-14 is much like the AR. It has had some issues with the UMC but that may have been an anomaly as it's only happened a couple of times with over 2000 rounds through it.

I continue to experiment with bulk ammo, as it seems to be the most cost effective. If I were to need ammo that absolutely had to work, I would stick with factory fresh premium rounds.

Next time I'll get back to the M1A experience.

Good day!

My first week with the Springfield M1A SOCOM 16.

Good day!

I'll start my first post with the new rifle I purchased this week the Springfield Armory M1A SOCOM 16.

This BLOG is actually about any firearm or related chat so feel to comment or add your own experiences about any firearms related issue.

I will also review products I have personally used or abused, as it may be ;-).

So let's get going!

I bought the M1A SOCOM 16 at a local sporting warehouse after a good deal of research. I already own a Ruger Mini14 Ranch Rifle and a Bushmaster AR-15 , so I was looking for something in 7.62mm (.308).

As many of you may have noticed prices of ammunition have been skyrocketing, and the cost of metals and shipping charges are mostly to blame. I have been shooting .223, 9mm and .45 ACP at my local range, so the move into .308 made me swallow pretty hard. I also am leary of buying too many reloads or 'bulk' ammo due to past experience with obtaining and shooting sub-par .223.

My primary complaint with bulk ammo is how dirty it is. I thought we had smokeless powder since the late 1800s (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smokeless_powder). A lot of the rounds I have been using lately have been fair to good in overall performance. Some have not.

Back to the M1A SOCOM 16:

I received it NIB, in it's poly bag with the required pouches of desiccant. Also in the box is one 10 round magazine and 'for a limited time ' a Fully Loaded Coupon from Springfield. This coupon gives some significant discounts on M1 related accessories. The best items to get are the magazines, in my opinion.

The rifle is heavy, compared to my others. In my research that was mentioned, but until you pick up this hefty weapon and try sighting with you may be surprised. It's a kind of glowing power you get from hold this battle rifle that the AR-15 or Mini-14 never gave me.

My first task was to do what most do, and read every scrap of paper in the box. This was hard to do as I had the rifle in my hands too. :-)

The manual is full of the normal safety warnings: Shooting or discharge can kill or maim people. Really? Never knew that...

One thing that did unsettle me was the reprinted article about slam fire. I had heard of this happening before but this was vitriolic and in your face regarding the dangers.

I disassembled and cleaned off the grease and oils from the barrel and all exposed parts. There was some, but it was not covered in the salve layers I've seen on some others.

My next to do item was to head to the range. I'll save that for another post.

Good day!