BarryinIN

Update on the broken Trijicon scope: Trijicon gave an estimate of 2-4 weeks after I sent it in. Last Tuesday was 4 weeks, and it came back Thursday, so it was probably sent on the very day it hit 4 weeks. I wasn't there to sign for it so didn't get it until today. They didn't repair my scope. They replaced it with a new one. New scope, different serial number, in the sealed box. Of course I'd rather it had never broken, but it's sure hard to complain about the fix. I have poked around and still haven't found anyone saying they know of another one failing.

Actually, I wonder about the .458 SOCOM in a lever action. It would give near .45-70 level power with a shorter cartridge, so a short barreled rifle could maybe hold five or six rounds instead of four. Diameter might be a problem. Some lever actions have barrel shanks that limit case diameter. The .458 SOCOM is popular around here because its about the largest deer-legal rifle caliber. Our case length laws created that situation. Its a pretty efficient cartridge. When I see one of the two or three regular SOCOM shooters at the range, I always ask what powder they are experimenting with. Most of the time it's something that works well in the 45-70. They get around the same velocities I get with 300 grain bullets but use quite a bit less powder doing it.

That's why I tried to save you!

Usually I'm in the minority about this, but I don't see much point to the .444 Marlin. If wanting a big bore, why not the 45-70? I've heard some say the .444 recoils less than the 45-70 but I think that is a little foggy. For one, 45-70 loads run across a wide range; second, if comparing similar loads, the difference seems pretty insignificant to me. The .444 apparently shines at one thing, though. It's a pretty accurate cartridge, at least to 100 yards or so. The short bullets won't let it do 45-70 BPCR type work, but it can make dandy 100 yard groups. A guy used to run an annual levergun postal match on a few forums, based on group size. The .444s were always at the top. Some of the groups were phenomenal. The two .45-70 Marlins I've had were no slugs. My current one can make one-hole groups at 50 yards (about my limit with iron sights and being fair to the rifle). I get the best groups with Hornady 300 JHPs at around 1800 fps, but the cheaper Rem 300s are close, and 400/405 grain soft points aren't bad at all. It likes 425 grain cast bullets too. For the 45-70, there are plenty of bullet choices out there, from premium bullets like Partitions and Ballistic Silvertips to bulk plinkers. I've loaded round ball, multiple round ball, and shot loads up to jackhammer loads. Pretty versatile. What I need in a lever action is a .35 Remington. Well, not "need" but, well, yeah, need.

That was taken by my wife, Morgan Fairchild.

Trying to make up for years of AUG bashing: The AUG mythbusting continues. I took my awkward handling, inaccurate, slow to change mags, impossible to shoot from the left shoulder, heavy triggered AUG to a carbine match yesterday. First stage was a semi-precision stage. Six targets at 100 yards, about half obscured. I was the first to not have any failures to neutralize. Must be the trigger. Next stage was basically a shoot 'em as you see 'em stage as you move right to left. I fired eight rounds from the left shoulder around cover, and didn't even think about it until afterwards. It's so hard to shoot from the left shoulder. Next stage I blew. The previous stage had targets so close we had to hold high due to bore/sight offset. I did the same here when I didn't need to and struggled a bit before realizing it. I don't know if this was planned, but it got several of us. Mandatory mag change in this stage. It was a non-factor. Silly, slow to change mags, AUG. Next to last stage- standing still, shoot a goofy complicated order for 18 rounds. Probably my best stage. Fastest time of the squad at a little over six seconds. Silly awkward AUG. Final stage. Short range precision shot. Hit a small triangle marked in the head if a target at about seven yards. Sight offset very important. Buzz. Bang. Got it. Must be the trigger again.

The first one I looked at disappointed me because it felt somewhat clumsy to me. The next one I saw (nearly a year later) felt great. I guess the stock was adjusted all goofy on the first one. I may not have known enough about them to notice that. Shooting one is what makes people like them. The lack of recoil makes people laugh out loud. Scope non-update: No word yet. Four weeks Tuesday.

I shot my first BR-50 match last weekend. They were all making fun of my Eley ammo with price tags of $2.91.

There is a place in Missouri whose name escapes me now. I'll think of it. A longtime authorized Winchester repair center. I think before I'd send it off anywhere, I'd ask around at a trap or skeet club. If I remember right, the 25 is basically a Model 12 with a fixed barrel. There should be at least one Model 12 expert at any trap or skeet club. You might get it fixed in seconds for no more than buying a round of trap.

Welcome, Lever Action!

Pretty much. From what I've seen, getting guns hot from shooting a lot in a short time shows any failures in guns' design or manufacturing. Run a Mini or anything else through a class with 800-2000 rounds in three days and see what happens.

You reminded me: When I was in IL, there was a push to make trigger locks mandatory about 1990. The club I was in (Elgin Rifle Club) had a video made about the false safety trigger locks provide. At the time, most trigger locks were the type having the same key- with two prongs that match up to two shallow holes in the lock to unscrew it. The video showed how common household items from needle nose pliers to open scissors could get that lock off. The same scissors were able to hack through part of the lock. It also showed that many guns could be fired by manipulating the lock. The point was- Don't put a lock on the gun and declare it inoperative so it could be treated as something other than a gun. That seemed to be the mentality of some in favor of the law. Even though the video was made to fend off pending state legislation, a legitimate concern of ours was that people would put a trigger lock on and decide they wouldn't have to do anything else. With the current internal/integral locks built into guns today, the locks have changed but the concern is still there. Perhaps a good secondary rule to back up with The Four Rules like "All guns are always loaded" might be "All guns with a lock are still functional guns".

One thing I wish I had done was look at his magazine a little closer. I really hope for him that's the culprit, since its easiest to fix. If it were mine, I'd probably buy another magazine to try before I did anything.

Neither really. It was the process of stripping a fresh cartridge from the magazine. Take the magazine out, or leave an empty one in, and the bolt worked fine. It was bad. He warned me, and I watched him working at it, yet when I shot it, I stopped pushing on the bolt because I couldn't believe that was it. I thought something broke. "See? Keep pushing" was all he said. I did, and it moved. He and I both have 77/22s that use the same 10/22 based magazine and neither are anywhere close to that way.

Now I can see them. Beautiful. I used to drool over those in the first Colt catalog I ever got (1975), thinking they were the best looking revolver ever. I still think they are near the top, and look better than the Python.

One of the regulars showed up at the range with one today. A .22 Magnum. He paid $250 for it. I was prepared to not like it. I wouldn't say I like it, but it wasn't too bad. The trigger was OK. Not great, but OK. He and another guy really liked the trigger, so it may be better than most then. Feeding was stiff, to say the least. More precisely, stripping a round from the magazine took a LOT of effort. He warned me, but I had no idea how bad it really was. I had to hold the forend hard with one hand, and push against the bolt with the other hand to get it to move. Once the cartridge is picked up, it's fine. Empty it's fine. He said its a lot better than it was. Okay. Accuracy was pretty good. I shot five rounds of CCI HPs at 100 yards. Using a front rest only, four of the five went into 1.25". With a full rest and a few more shots, I think it would have cut an inch easy. Maybe it's just me, but I haven't seen that good from other .22 Magnums.

I resisted reversing the mount on others, but gave in with the AUG. I wanted to keep the throw levers on the left to keep it like the others I have, but it was just too clumsy on the aug. Everybody seems to reverse them on SCARs for the same reason, but the SCAR seems roomy after using the AUG so I have left it normal. I usually change mags by hitting the mag catch with the new mag. The 42-rd works even better for this, being longer and having more momentum. My 30-rd mags will seat when fully loaded and the bolt closed, but my 42s won't. Not all of them anyway. I typically load AR mags to 28 for the same reason, so loading the big AUG mags to "only" 40 or 41 is nothing. I think a lot of people would be surprised at how much metal there is in an AUG. Coming up on the one year mark with mine.

I don't want to be right.

One of the reasons I've used a Garand as a car gun is if someone breaks in and gets it, I doubt they can figure out how to get it loaded.

http://ruger.com/mobile/news/2013-08-29.html Bolt action rifle using 10/22 magazines. Full size or compact, .22 LR or .22 Magnum, $329 retail. Sounds like a cheaper 77/22, which might not be all bad. I bet someone has one with an integral suppressor already.

No, thank you. The more I read, the more "common knowledge" I found to be incorrect in one way or another and it made me read more. The more I read, the more I shot it. The last match I used it in was a carbine match (yes, with mostly ARs used by others) and on the last stage I had a couple of malfunctions. Then everything felt weird on one shot. I looked down to see the barrel halfway out of the gun, and a loaded round visible between the barrel and the ventilated heat shield. What happened was the barrel latch came open. The latch stops the barrel's forward travel (it moves about 3/8" fore and aft in cycling). This left the barrel free to move forward past it's usual stopping point of it's recoil cycle. Actually it could have come out. The fact it didn't come out was interesting to me. Apparently, on the return stroke, the bolt was moving fast enough to catch up with the barrel, rotate and lock into place, and keep it from sliding out. It was feeding poorly though. On that last shot, it must have finally outran the bolt and slid forward. I've shot it several times since then and it hasn't happened again. Either I didn't get the barrel latch properly closed and latched that day, or something got in there and popped it open. However, I don't see how something could have accidentally opened it, and I don't see how it worked fine for 60+ shots if it wasn't fully closed from the start. I just don't see any other way it could have happened.

I'd go with either an M&P or CZ75, using what fits his hand best and which he prefers weight/balance-wise since they have different frame materials (except on CZ polymer variants). I've had both but would prefer the CZ for the grip shape and for the SA trigger option since that's what I carry, but if those things either don't matter or work the opposite way for him, I think one would be just as good as the other. Another option: A friend got an ex-Israeli Browning HiPower earlier this year. It is an FN gun, not an Argentine or other copy. It was basically brand new. He paid somewhere in the mid-300 range for it.

Scope update: Got an email with return authorization at 5pm today.

Update on broke scope: I got an email from Trijicon at 8:13 this morning with a link to request a return authorization.

That Trijicon 1-4X scope that I'm nuts over? Well, it crapped out today. I thought it was going in and put of focus during one stage of a 3-gun match yesterday, and thought the zero wandered at one point, but decided I was just shooting poorly. Today at the range, I was getting groups of two shots here, three shot there. Then focus went all goofy. I'd have to refocus after every three shots, then every shot, then sometimes it wouldn't focus at all. For a while there, I'm still thinking its me shooting poorly, or I have crud in my eye. Then I fired a shot and the top quarter of the field of view went dark. Uh-oh, I've seen this before. Shaky shake. Half of it is occluded. Shaky shake, and its clear again. Yep, familiar ground. I look through the front and see parts floating around loose. It made it nearly a year, and 2,778 rounds. That's over 300 times as long as the last new scope I bought. Scopes hate me. Email sent to Trijicon. I'll keep you posted.