Picture from this month

Reworked the 300 BLK pistol. Still has the craptastic TRS 32. But with a Vortex mount, it is livable. 50 yard target.

Quick picture from last month

My 11.5" abomination on the post paint test run. Ran great.

Work in progress II

I had a virgin lower laying around. So I removed the pinned on flash hinder, slapped a Kak industries super tube on it. Now I have a 27.5 inch pistol. That will soon be a firearm similar to the Franklin Armory XO26 series.

Guess gun money is good

I've always felt like a hipster using Facebook. Every time I see an ad, I think, "I have one main interest. They are called firearms,  you've probably never heard of them." Heck, this ad goes straight to NFA.

Slacker

Yep- that's me. Shot Ace's G42 a few weeks ago. I like it; I'll like it better in 9mm. It mag dumps far better than the LCP. G20 with Underwood loads, not so much. Ruined a steel target with that stuff.

Haven't done much gun stuff lately, been too busy with the new baby to get much of anything else done. Cute little guy, 8 lbs, 20" or so.

Nice

Whew

The bolts on my CMMG bolt carrier were loose! I was afraid I was going to have to tear down 400+ reloads!

I'm guessing that either it had a poor staking job or it wasn't properly torqued. Or both. I tightened it back down with some blue Loctite (all I had at the range), whacked it with a punch and pounded 145 rounds through it. No problems after that.

I also got to shoot a .458 SOCOM. Bad ass. I don't think I want one, I'd rather get a .45-70 guide gun. But it was pretty sweet. I probably won't turn one down if the price is right.

Looks like the mods shall commence

Starting now! I thought that thing was a little smokey while shooting it. I know I've run my 6.8 this hard before and not melted the Magpul furniture. I had the 11.5 over 300* F at the FSB with no ill effects.

I just noticed this pic from the range- you can still see smoke coming out of the barrel. The smoke off of the FSB is not as obvious. Yes, I use my new potato to document my stupidity.

M4gery

There are many like it. This one is mine. CMMG complete upper on clearance from Midway. 14.5 pinned/welded. Auto BCG without any hpt/mp marks, and one piece gas ring. (I forget the name, I've used them before)

420 rounds* in less than an hour. No trouble with steel tula- a first for me. The only problem I had was my replacement brasscatcher is a steaming pos and jammed it three times. Once I bent it to match the upper, it worked great. Reloads worked fine, as did .223 and 5.56.

Not too bad at the target end. I did not mess with the sights at all. Just slapped the new TRS 25 on and started banging away.

*Not a weed ref. 2X standard loadout reference. Okay, it was what I had laying around.

Winter

Looks like me after clearing the driveway yesterday.

Tech update

New burner phone. LG Optimus F6. So far, it doesn't piss me off.

Here's a cranky cat.

Range thoughts

It was warm enough (+25 F) and I was free enough to hit the range today. SIG pistol brace= nice. Still won't keep an extended charging handle off of my nose. KAK super tube time. My 40 round Gen M3 PMag  did not work well with my reloads in 300 BLK. It did work in my 5.56. My guess is rounds sliding forward and then hanging up. They were squirrelly when loading the mag, wanting to jump around worse than in standard capacity magazines.

Mags still have to be pried out of the FNX 45 at +25 F. Guess it will be a summer toy. I have too many mags to just get rid of it. Unless I can get a G41 or M&P45 and a bunch of 14 round mags in trade.

Tula Brass 9mm is crap. (duh?) I had 4 fail to feeds in 100 rounds on my M&P9. One of the FTFs was the last round in a mag that would not load past 12 or 13 rounds. It loaded fine before and after that. And one cut the hell out of my finger while loading. Wonder if I can unload it at the next gun show. Half of me wants to sit on it, the other wants it shot or gone so I can reload the brass.

Weird what you find at the gun show

I was looking for brass and primers, as usual. Ended up finding pistol buffer tubes and assorted AR parts at good prices. Go figure.

Spooky

The dreaded ghost gun! Capable of shooting thirty caliber clips in .5 seconds!

The 1983 Corvette is safe!

Apparently a sinkhole opened up inside the Corvette Museum in Kentucky, swallowing 8 Corvettes. Per the story, the only surviving 1983 Corvette prototype did not fall in and they were allowed to remove it. Wonder if there is an old coal mine or something similar under the building?

The little things

Like finding 22LR in stock at Walmart before the neckbeards get it.

Getting the lead out

Finally decided to start casting bullets. So far, I have about 6 decent looking 230 grain .309 bullets, and a pile of lead ingots. Oh, and a bunch of crap that was floating on top of the lead. There is a definite learning curve with the aluminum Lee mold. Much more work than making fishing lures in high school.

Also, in a couple of weeks, I'll get to play with a G42. A friend is becoming quite the Glock collector- he also has a G20 to break in.

Added: I've been reading the Lyman book that came in my kit. It recommends using a hotplate to preheat molds. I had already "re-purposed" a hotplate for doing just that.

G42 and G41 spotted in the wild.

Priced at $499 and $699 respectively. At a dealer selling Gen4 G23 FDE for $530. And basic M&P models under $430 new. I realize this is exactly a sample of 2, but I wasn't shopping around very hard. No fingering tonight, either. Looking at the G41 makes me think harder about an M&P45 full of Apex parts. Smith and Wesson, YU NO M&P45 CORE??????

Tales from the DOT

Had to get a DOT physical today to keep the CDL that I don't use but also don't want to lose. Some damned Obamacare thing, I think. I had extra time before work, so I decided to drop it off at the DOT. Brought my CDL and all the paperwork save the little wallet medical card that I put in my glovebox. Of course, they want the stupid little card, not the full form which also has all the info.
So, I take all that stuff back out to my truck, in a 20 mph gusty wind, to get the little card. By the time I get back inside, I can't find my CDL. Retrace my steps, nothing. I pled global warming to the staff, as I now needed a duplicate license, too. By then I had a supervisor helping me. About the second word out of her mouth was:"Oh, you were right, the paperwork you had the first time was sufficient." Grrr. She did get me my duplicate free. So I had that going for me.

Nice

Picked up 30 round AR mags locally for $10 each. Troy, unfortunately, but at that price I'll chuck 'em in the safe for spares. They work well with 300 BLK.

Lane closures a matter for Holder to look into?

Not that I give a rip about the Jersey RINO, but is every lane closure a flipping federal case? If so, they need to look into the closure of lanes on I80 last summer for a bike trail.

Cold and old

Broke out the Type 53 and the Blackout pistol today. 19 F, but windy enough to forcefully inhale.

Mosins pass the "white glove" test. Mainly, I can load them while wearing heavy leather insulated gloves. Had I used my clips, it would have been even easier. The BLK needed me to switch to my tactical batting glove to load the mag. Otherwise, it too could be operated with the heavy gloves on. Putting a finger inside the trigger guard takes effort.

Cold

FNX 45 mag release gets sticky below zero F. The already iffy dropping mags damn near need pried out. 1911 drops just fine. I think I will give it a serious cleaning. 1700-1800 rounds since August is a lot, right?

Cold out

Had to try some hand loads. 7 degrees.