Blog O'Stuff

Remington 550-1 and Range Day

2013-05-24T21:46:00.002-04:00

I picked up another classic .22 autoloader today at Surplus City. It's a Remington 550-1. AFAIK, the 550 was made from the 1940s up until the early 1970s. It has the floating chamber designed by Carbine Williams so it can shoot .22 S, L, or LR. I tried some CB Longs and while it will eject the empties, the bolt didn''t come far back enough to pick up the next round. The floating chamber may need to be pulled and cleaned. The tube mag will hold 15 .22 LRs.

The rifle was made before 1968 and has no serial number. The date code on the barrel indicates that it was made in March 1948. I'd rate it as NRA Very Good with an excellent bore. I put over 200 rounds through it today with only a couple failures to feed. One was with a CCI Mini Mag and one was with a Federal Champion. Incidentally, comparing the two types of ammo side by side they look identical except for the headstamp. They sound the same and shoot to the same POI at 25 yards. So, AFAIC, the Federal Champion is the equal of CCI Mini Mags. I also shot a bunch of Federal 550 bulk pack and it ran fine with them, too. (ATK owns both CCI and Federal.)

I ran a couple patches through the bore and applied a generous amount of FP10 to the bolt before shooting it. It hasn't been cleaned in a long time. For all I know there's four decades' worth of gunk inside the receiver. Fouling started working its way out of the action and some funk actually fell out the trigger slot. I took the stock off and removed the bolt, tonight and hosed the action out with Kroil, letting it soak for a couple hours. A fair amount of yucky stuff came out.

The 550-1 is a tackdriver. I shot it from the bench at 25 yards where it would keep the Mini Mags and Champions inside ~1.5" which is about as good as I can do with an open rear sight and a front bead. The receiver is neither grooved nor drilled and tapped for a scope. I plan to drill and tap the receiver with my milling machine. I have an extra Nikon 4x32mm Prostaff rimfire scope that will go on it.

The varnish on the stock shows some dings and chips, so I'll probably strip and refinish it. It's also missing the brass/gas deflector that Remington shipped with the rifles. Numrich has spares and the mounting screw, so I'll definitely get one. It does spit a little out the ejection port. I'll also probably swap out the recoil spring for a new one.

Compared with more recent .22 autoloading rifles the Remington feels a lot nicer. It's definitely a product of a bygone era when American gunmakers shipped rifles made from high quality blued steel with nice wood stocks. It feels a lot more solid than my Ruger 10/22 or the Marlin Model 60s I've handled.

I also shot my Remington Nylon 77 with the extra mags that I had to modify. (The 4 spare mags that I got from Remington would not lock into the rifle. I had to grind away part of the locking lug. Worse, 3 of the 4 needed the metal reinforcing clip bent out so I could load them.) They worked well today, so now I'm happy with them.

Here's a pic of the two Remington .22 autoloaders:

Older blued steel and walnut .22s like the 550-1 make excellent additions to any prepper's battery. They were made very well and in many cases are extremely accurate. Older Remingtons in particular have a reputation for being very, very accurate. The tubular magazine is much less likely to be lost than a detachable box, although if you aren't careful you can damage it.

Finally, I also put a box of WWB .45 ACP through my Springfield M1911A1 using two new Chip McCormick magazines, which worked perfectly.

Milling Using a Chuck vs. Collets

2013-05-18T21:39:00.000-04:00

The Sieg X2 Mini Mills like my Grizzly G8689 come with drill chucks. The Grizzly and some other brands also come with collets for holding end mills, while the Harbor Freight version comes only with a drill chuck, as far as I know. Today, I tried doing some milling using the chuck to hold an end mill, because I wanted the extra reach it provided.

Compared with a collet, the chuck is noticeably less rigid and watching the mill rotate, it also looks like it hold the end mill less concentrically. I.e., there's some noticeable wobble.

Based on this brief experience, collets are much better than the drill chuck for milling. End mill holders are another option, but I have no experience with them.

Forbes: Why 3D-Printed Untraceable Guns Could Be Good

2013-05-17T09:33:00.001-04:00

Forbes is running an op-ed about why untraceable guns created on 3D printers could be good for the US.

...
Although the technology is still in its infancy, Wilson’s innovation has already sparked heated debate. Some gun rights advocates (including Wilson) argue this means current gun laws will soon be obsolete. They welcome the fact that home hobbyists may soon be able to build functioning firearms without any background check or government record. Others are alarmed, concerned that this would enable criminals to more easily obtain firearms. Congressman Steve Israel has already stated his intent to modify current laws to ban such guns.
However, Congressman Israel may be too late. Once thousands of motivated hobbyists start downloading open source gun designs and posting their refinements, we’ll likely see rapid technical advances. But Cody Wilson’s real impact on America may not be technological but political — and in a good way.
...

Read the whole thing.

I agree with Hsieh. If there is one thing we can learn from 20th Century history, it is that governments cannot be trusted with a monopoly of force. While it has always been legal for Americans to make untraceable guns for their own use, 3D printing lowers the entry bar, especially since traditional shop classes have been on the wain in American schools, while a larger number of people have developed computer skills. 3D printing will make home manufacture of firearms more accessible to the masses, especially as the technology matures.

That said, for those like myself willing to learn basic machine shop skills, fully functional firearms can be made at home with equipment within reach of most of the middle class. Small milling machines and lathes are available at prices under $1,000 each. For a modest additional expenditure, they can be made more precise with digital readouts, and for another grand or so can by CNC-enabled.

To would-be tyrants like Steve King, Charles Schumer, and Dianne Feinstein: You can't stop the signal.

Belt Drive Conversion for Grizzly Mini Mill

2013-05-16T16:51:00.003-04:00

Now that I've been using my Grizzly G8689 (Sieg X2) mini mill for a few weeks, I've decided to do a belt drive conversion on it. The plastic gear drive system on the mill has two main disadvantages:

1. It's very noisy.
2. It's prone to breakage, from what I've read in many places.

Little Machine Shop has a belt drive conversion kit which remedies both issues. I ordered one, along with a spare belt this afternoon. They should arrive some time next week.

The next improvement to the mill will be adding digital read outs for all three axes. I bought the DRO plans from Fignoggle Designs, but I'm still debating whether to use them or go with a cheaper solution. E.g., just get a set of iGaging scales with remote readouts. Comments and suggestions are welcome.

Lawyers, Guns and Money

2013-05-01T09:07:00.001-04:00

Student of the Gun discusses how to find a pro-RKBA lawyer in the event you need to use a gun in self defense in their April 25, 2013 episode, below, and discusses my website, The Shooters' Bar.

As I mention on TSB's home page, I started the list back in 1997 as a way for gun owners to help keep their money within the shooting community. That said, if you are looking for a lawyer to represent you after a defensive gun usage, the most important thing to remember is that you need someone who is a good criminal defense attorney. If you go to the TSB and don't find such a lawyer in your locale, you could call someone listed who is near you but practices in other areas of the law and ask for a referral.

Remember, too, that every attorney listed on TSB has asked to be there. I don't go adding folks on my own. If there isn't someone listed in a particular state or locality it means that nobody from there has contacted me. Links to TSB are always welcome, and if you inform pro-RKBA lawyers of the site to help me fill in the gaps it's appreciated.

Dem Rep Lets the Cat out of the Bag

2013-04-23T09:09:00.001-04:00

In this video, Democratic Representative Jan Schakowsky openly admits that the Democrats' end goal is not just an assault weapons ban, but a ban on handguns. So, for those of you who insist that "nobody is trying to take away our right to bear arms," or that they "respect the Second Amendment," how do you explain this?

This is why opponents of gun control cannot compromise and we will fight infringements of our rights tooth and nail. The collectivist gun banners have been using incrementalism for decades in their quest to disarm the American people. Thankfully, the Internet has given us a powerful tool to circumvent the mainstream media and expose their agenda.

We won't be the frog in the boiling pot.

You have to start somewhere

2013-04-17T10:59:00.000-04:00

Last night I used my new milling machine for the first time. Since I'm new at this I am starting with the basics. I cut a couple inches off the end of a scrap 2x4 and milled it so that the adjacent sides are perpendicular and opposite sides are parallel.

On the way home from work last night I picked up a piece of 1/8" thick aluminum, and a piece of 1/8" thick hot rolled steel. If I have time tonight I'll look into making a flat square and/or slots in the material.

Follow Up on the DIY Speedloader for .22 Tube Magazines

2013-04-15T14:32:00.000-04:00

Back in January, I posted about the speedloaders I made for my Norinco ATD. I finally got the chance to try them on Saturday night. They work well as long as I held the rifle almost vertically, with the muzzle down. There appears to be some roughness inside the loading port on the rifle's stock which can interfere with dumping rounds into the mag. Once I fix that, the speedloaders should work better.

New iPhone 5, and iPad Follies

2013-04-15T14:27:00.000-04:00

I had an Apple iPhone4 since the end of April, 2011. It was a great cell phone -- really a pocket computer -- but lately I've noticed that it's been getting slower and slower, and I was feeling cramped with the 16 GB of storage space. I have been eligible for an upgrade since December, so this past weekend I decided to take the plunge and got a 32 GB iPhone 5. No doubt, Apple will now introduce the 5S or 6 next week.

So far it's a noticeable improvement, speed-wise. I haven't tested the LTE connection, since where I spend most of my time Verizon's network is 3G-only, or I'm near a wifi access point.

The iPhone 5's larger screen is nice while not being obnoxiously large, like some of the Android-based smartphones available today. (Hey, if you like having something not much smaller than a tablet as your phone, more power to you. They won't fit in my pockets comfortably.)

The major downside with the change to the new device is that I had to setup my Gmail account using IMAP, not using the Exchange ActiveSync protocol, because Google discontinued ActiveSync for new device access for free accounts. Syncing Gmail works better via ActiveSync. For one thing, contacts are synced without having to create a separate CardDAV account on the iPhone.

On the way home from the Apple Store I plugged the phone into my old USB car charger, using the new USB-Lightning cable. It worked with the old charger, so I ordered a couple USB-Lightning cables from Amazon which should be waiting for me at home today. I don't have any docks, radios, or other devices with the old Apple Dock connector, so I don't need any other adapters. I do wish, however, that Apple would get with the program and use Micro-USB connectors on the iPhone and iPad. Fat chance, I know.

Since my data plan changed with the phone upgrade, I figured that I'd just add my iPad2 to it using either a shared plan, tethering, or adding the iPad as another line on my account. As it turns out, it is actually cheaper for me to just keep the $20/month prepaid plan that I've been using with the iPad. Of course, I figured this out after I discontinued 3G service for the iPad, so I had to go back in and set that up all over again. Derp.

Metalworking

2013-04-08T19:11:00.001-04:00

I decided awhile ago that metalworking would be a good set of skills to pick up. A couple friends have some metalworking skills and one has been doing some CNC work. We're planning to build some AR15 lowers from aluminum bar stock (perfectly legal for our own use, we're not planning on selling them).

The last time I did any metalworking was back in junior high school shop class in the early 80s, when we did some sand casting, forging, and soldering. I looked into taking some classes at my local community college but they are not offered on a schedule that works for me, so I'm going to take the same approach that allowed me to change careers from law to IT, and teach myself.

Aside from books and just trying things out, there are a lot of instructional videos that are available online for free. For example, I've been watching a series of videos from MIT Tech TV.

I downloaded them to my iPad and have been watching them during my commute on the train. Along with this I read through Audel's Machine Shop Basics.

After doing a lot of reading and subscribing to the Yahoo 7x12 lathe group, I ordered a Grizzly G8688 last week from Amazon (at the time it was $30 cheaper through them vs. ordering direct). It won't handle big stuff like a friend's lathe that weighs in at 1800 lbs., but this will actually fit in my shed and I can cause less damage with it.

I also got a copy of the book Metal Lathe for Home Machinists which has a bunch of exercises to do to learn manual lathe operations, some which are tools to improve the lathe itself.

Once I have some practical experience with a lathe under my belt I eventually may build a .22 rimfire suppressor on a Form 1.

I got my order today from Grizzly Industrial. However, somebody up in Muncy, PA got confused because they sent me the G8689 Mini Milling Machine instead of the G8688 Mini Lathe that I actually ordered. This was not evident until after I opened the shipping crate and the delivery truck had already left.

After I opened the shipping crate I called Grizzly to inform them of their error but that I would keep it. The CSR I spoke with told me that he'd have to talk to a supervisor and then call me back so I could pay the extra $30, but it's been several hours and they haven't called back.

I'm actually not really upset. When I first got interested in taking up machining my first inclination was to buy a mill. After some online research I changed my mind to getting a lathe first, but thinking I'd get the mill later. No big deal if I do it in reverse.

I do need to get a milling vise and end mills now. A friend has some end mills that he's offered to me to get started.

Here's a pic of the mill sitting on the new bench I built this weekend to hold the lathe and my drill press:

I cleaned off the packing grease with kerosene, but it still has to be shimmed level and bolted down. It weighs 101 pounds, and getting up on the bench was a cast iron bitch (pardon the pun).

Naturally, I'll be doing different kinds of project on the mill vs. a lathe. An HDPE AR-15 lower receiver comes to mind. I’m also interested in doing some kind of a single shot rifle, perhaps in a caliber like .38 Special or .32 S&W Long, either of which would easy and cheap to load for, and be good for small game.

The mill and a lathe should be complementary. It remains to be see, however, if the mill will render my benchtop drill press redundant.

Some Data on the Current State of the Panic

2013-04-07T10:11:00.000-04:00

Surplus City Guns in Feasterville, PA is the shop that I've bought most of my guns over the past 10 - 15 years. Yesterday afternoon, they put this on their Facebook timeline:

This is got to be a record for our store for one caliber ( 5.56/.223 )
13,360 rds in bulk in under an hour today
50,000 rds in bulk in under 3 hours Wednesday
21,000 rds in bulk in under 2 1/2hrs Tuesday
and another 2000rds sold by the 20 rd box sprinkled thru-out the week
THAT'S EIGHTY SIX THOUSAND THREE HUNDRED AND SIXTY ROUNDS IN UNDER 7 HOURS .....GEEZ LOUISE GUYS !!!!
The crazy part is we could have easily sold 2 to 3 times that amount if we had it......Thank you for your patronage and we will do our best to keep you supplied at a reasonable price . Keep an eye on Facebook for any upcoming announcements .

Surplus City isn't some huge store. It's your average sized gun shop. Now imagine this going on at every gun shop in the country. This points out a few things, IMO:

DHS contracts are not solely to blame for the ammo shortage.
This is just 5.56/.223. Other calibers like 9mm, .45 ACP, and .22 LR are flying off the shelves as fast or faster. Ditto for reloading components and magazines.
A large part of the American people are arming themselves to the teeth. They are stocking up on guns and ammunition. Kind of like 1775 or 1860.

Anyone with two neurons to rub together knows that the current crop of politicians in Washington -- whether Republican or Democrat -- is incapable of or unwilling to address the problems rending this country in two. In fact, they and their willing accomplices in the mainstream media are doing everything in their power to feed the divisions.

This will not end well.

LRGC WW2 Practical Rifle Match

2013-03-30T19:28:00.001-04:00

This morning I shot in the World War 2-themed practical rifle match at Langhorne Rod and Gun Club. In order to officially place in the standings, you had to shoot a World War 2 service rifle. The most common rifle for LRGC’s WW2 match is the M1 Garand, with a sprinkling of M1 Carbines, but this year we did have one shooter with a German Karabiner 98k bolt action, another with a Swiss K-31 Schmidt-Rubin straight-pull bolt action, and one guy with an M1903-A3 Springfield. We also had a few people shooting AR-15s, but the match was primarily for WW2 arms.

In last year’s WW2 match, I shot my 1944 Rock Ola M1 Carbine. This year, I brought my No.4 Mark I Lee-Enfield bolt action, made in 1944 at the Royal Ordnance Factory, Fazakerly for the British military. The rifle was later FTRed (Factory Thorough Repaired) at Fazakerly in 1948. It came into my possession in 1985, when I bought it at Woolworth’s at the Plymouth Meeting (PA) Mall. It was the second centerfire rifle I ever bought, the first being an Iver Johnson M1 Carbine that I traded off many years ago. This Lee-Enfield is a keeper, though.

The ammo I shot today was South African surplus .303 Mark VII Ball that I purchased from MidwayUSA about 10 years ago. I wish that I had bought a lot more, since .303 surplus dried up several years ago.

The first three strings were fired from atop the 100 yard berm at the yellow steel plates hung at the 200 yard backstop. We did 8 shots each prone, sitting or kneeling, and offhand.

We then did drills at 15 yards on paper, starting at the low ready, then bringing the rifle up and firing two shots after the match director blew a whistle, then going back to the low ready.

Next we moved back to 50 yards where we did 8 shots each on IDPA targets from standing, sitting or kneeling, and prone.

Finally, we moved back to the 200 yard firing point and shot again at the steel. This time, standing and sitting/kneeling were at the yellow-painted steel, but prone was at the smaller pink-painted plates. Here’s a somewhat better view of my rifle.

The yellow plates were roughly the size of a human torso. At 200 yards through iron sights they are pretty small. The pink plates were maybe 2/3 the size of the yellow plates. I did best from the sitting position. During the standing part I tried using the micrometer sight and I was off. I changed back to the battle sight for the sitting and prone, and got 7 out of 8 sitting. Unfortunately, my shots were impacting right below the plate for the prone stage.

Overall, I tied for 5th place out of about 20 shooters; or 4th if you discount the top shooter, who used an AR15. Considering that I handicapped myself by shooting a right handed bolt action I am pretty pleased, if a bit sore.

Running a bolt action rifle (especially from the wrong side, since I’m left handed) through a practical rifle course really makes one appreciate what an advantage a semiautomatic rifle is in a military or self defense context. Not only are repeat shots faster with the semiauto but operator fatigue is much less with a semiauto.

Also, when compared with more modern military cartridges like 5.56x45, 5.45x39, or 7.62x39, the full power rounds like .30-06, 7.92x57, 7.5x55, or .303 recoil a lot more, slowing down accurate rapid fire and wearing you out sooner. That said, the big bores really smack targets around, and penetrate cover a lot better than the smaller rounds.

Interestingly, the No.4 Lee-Enfield is so reliable under adverse conditions, that it remains the issued rifle of the Canadian Rangers to this day, even if a replacement is in the works.

Lehigh Valley Sporting Clays

2013-03-02T17:36:00.001-05:00

This morning I went up to Lehigh Valley Sporting Clays with a group of friends . We shot a round of 50, plus a few extra targets. A large part of the course passes by some old factory ruins and a couple quarries in the woods, which gave it a real post-apocalyptic look. It would be an awesome place for a zombie shoot or a paintball game.

I put some pics up on Facebook but here's a public link, so you should be able to see them even if you're not logged in.

I shot really well for me today -- 38 out of 55 targets. I used my old Remington 870 shooting Winchester extra-lite target loads with 1 oz. of #8s at about 1130 FPS. These kick a little less than 1-1/8 oz. loads.

Previously I’ve used a modified choke but based on some online research into the best degree of choke for sporting clays, I switched to an improved cylinder choke tube. It made a huge difference. Based on my past shotgunning, I figure that I hit about twice as many clays today as I would have with the modified tube. Unfortunately I could not find my extra choke tubes this week so I had to borrow the IC tube from a friend at work. I need to order a replacement for $20 or so.

The cost at LVSC was reasonable. We split the cost of two gold carts between 5 guys, so overall it was $40 plus about $15 for ammo (which I brought with me). The facilities are very nice and they even had a warm-up hut about half way through the course, stocked with a propane heater, coffee, and tea.

LVSC is about 45 minutes from me and we plan to go back, but will wait until it’s warmer.

Archer Classic Silent Pellet Trap

2013-02-03T11:46:00.001-05:00

After using my cheap homemade silent pellet trap for a week or so, I decided I wanted something a little larger and more robust. So, I ordered one of Archer Airgun’s Classic Silent Pellet Traps in kit form. I put it together this week and used it for the first time this morning.

The kit is well designed and made. The two sides, top, bottom, and lower front piece are made from poplar. The back is 1/2” thick MDF (flake board). The front piece that slides in and holds the target is made from a clipboard with most of the inside cut out, leaving a frame around the edges. All the cutting and milling of slots is done for you. You need to provide glue, finishing nails, the duct seal filler, finish, and if you want a handle or feet you also need to provide them

To put the trap together I used Titebond III wood glue and some 1.5” finishing nails. Archer’s instructions recommened 1.25” nails but the longer nails are what I had. I drilled pilot holes for the nails before driving them in to prevent any splitting and minimize my tendency to bend nails.

Here’s how mine turned out:

I stained the outside with some Minwax cherry stain and a coat of Minwax tung oil finish. After it warms up I’ll probably take it outside and give it a coat or two of spray polyurethane.

I added a handle to make it easier to move around. It’s a door pull from Home Depot.

Here’s the inside after 30 rounds from my Geco Diana 27 Sport:

There are two layers of duct seal in the trap, 15 pounds’ worth. The pellets from the Diana 27 are stopped by the first layer.

Hidden by the duct seal is a piece of 22 gauge sheet steel. I had it left over from another project and felt it would be a good idea to add it to the back in case I shoot a more powerful air rifle into the trap. You can buy a suitable piece of 11 gauge steel sheet from Archer Airguns, also. I’d recommend it if you’ll be using the trap with a magnum airgun.

I added the piece of 2x4 scrap at the bottom. It sits against the back wall of the trap and behind the lower front piece. I’m not going to be shooting into that area so by adding the scrap wood, I was able to make the duct seal thicker because it didn’t have to cover that area.

One other thing I did that wasn’t in the kit instructions was to take a couple small blobs of duct seal and mush them into the bottom of the slots at the front of the trap. This will prevent any pellets from falling out.

The Archer Airguns Classic Silent Pellet Trap is a very nice accessory for airgun shooters. Using this kind of trap is much quieter than a steel trap, and less messy than a box filled with old newspapers. Highly recommended.

Letter From the Saratoga County Deputy Sheriff's Police Benevolent Association

2013-01-30T20:50:00.001-05:00

I got this today from a cousin of mine who lives in Upstate NY. He's a former police officer, now disabled from an injury suffered while scuffling with some dirtbag. The link goes to a PDF scan of a letter from the Saratoga County Deputy Sherriff's Police Benevolent Association to Cuomo, a couple NYS senators, and the chair of the Republican New York State Committee. It really rakes all of them over the coals about the SAFE Act.

The letter is a PDF but was not OCRed, so to see it click on this link (shared from my Google Drive).

I'd say it hits pretty much all the points as to why the misnamed SAFE Act is a travesty.

Biden 2016?

2013-01-22T20:44:00.000-05:00

No surprise, but it looks like Vice President Beavis is looking at running for president again in 2016.

Vice President Joe Biden has barely hidden his possible interest in running for president in 2016, and now, the loquacious former senator has begun to lay the groundwork for a potential campaign to succeed President Barack Obama.

Link.

This has some folks on the right looking forward to the fight, thinking that he'll be easy to beat. Don't get cocky, as Han Solo would say. Never underestimate the power of stupid, greedy people voting in large numbers.

Utah Sheriffs Letter to Obama: Back Off

2013-01-21T18:11:00.001-05:00

The latest pronouncement from American law enforcement officers to President Obama regarding gun control doesn’t mince any words.

Make no mistake, as the duly-elected sheriffs our our respective counties, we will enforce the rights guaranteed to our citizens by the Constitution. No federal official will be permitted to descend upon our constituents and take from them what the Bill of Rights--in particular Amendment II--has given them.

The full text of the letter from the Utah Sheriffs’ Association is here. (PDF document)

Is it me, or does it smell like 1860?

{Hat tip to the Washington Examiner.}

Super Cheap Silent Pellet Trap

2013-01-20T12:52:00.001-05:00

Yesterday I made a silent pellet trap to replace the old ammo crate stuffed with newspapers that I’d been using for my airguns and my daughter’s BB gun. My original intention was to make it from some 2x6 piece of wood, but without a table saw or a large enough miter box, I couldn’t get the straight cuts I wanted.

So, looking around my shed, I saw the box that the little electric space heater I use in the shed came in, and cut it to size. I cut all around the box about 3.5” up from the bottom. I then reinforced the bottom with two more layers of cardboard cut from the sides, and reinforced the whole thing with plenty of duct tape.

Here’s the front with a target pinned up:

(The target is one that I downloaded awhile ago from uspalma.com, and cut to fit this trap. The original file was a PDF but I converted it to a PNG and put it here, if you want to use it.)

And here’s what it looks like inside:

The dark grey putty like stuff is seven pounds of Gardner Bender Duct Seal compound. It comes in one pound bars. You can get it from that link to Amazon (and I’ll get a commission), or at Home Depot or Lowe’s in the electrical section. It should be near the cable ties.

The wide border made from duct tape is intended to catch any back splatter, and any pellets that fall out of the duct seal into the bottom of the trap.

This is what the duct seal packaging looks like. I had a little trouble finding it on the shelf at Home Depot.

As you can see in the second picture above, pellets from my Diana 27 air rifle don’t penetrate very far from 25 feet. Compared with a steel pellet trap it’s much quieter for indoor shooting. Once you’ve put a couple thousand pellets into this kind of a trap you can remove them then knead the Duct Seal back into place. The pellets I’m shooting are made from dead soft lead, so I’ll recycle them for bullet casting.

One layer of Duct Seal bars is enough to stop most air pistols and air rifles with MVs up to about 700 FPS. More than that and you should add at least one more layer. Also, if you’re shooting a magnum airgun, it would be prudent IMO to have a steel or thick wood back to the trap to eliminate the possibility of a passthrough.

The duct seal ran me $2.48 per pound + 6% sales tax, or $18.41. So, for less than $20, plus a scrounged box, and some duct tape, I now have a good pellet trap.

Googling for “silent pellet trap” brings up 393,000 hits. There are plenty of hits for nice looking traps made from wood, plus some less aesthetically pleasing traps made from buckets and electrical junction boxes.

Some of the nicer looking silent traps that I found are at Archer Airguns. In particular, I like the one sized for using 8.5x11 targets, which uses a cut-out clip board to hold the paper targets. It’s offered both completely finished and as a kit. If I stick with this airgunning I may order one of the kits.

Tiananmen Square Activist Turned American Second Amendment Activist

2013-01-20T10:54:00.001-05:00

Watch this and share it. This needs to go viral.

Here’s a transcript (the cameraman missed the first paragraph).

The past Monday I decided to visit the Minuteman Park in Lexington and pay tribute to Captain John Parker and his fellow minutemen. A thought came to my mind, that the founding fathers of the United States and Chairman Mao had one thing in common: they all realized that guns are important political instruments. Their similarities, however, ended there:

Chairman Mao wrote: ‘Political power grows out of barrel of a gun’, and he dictated: ‘The party shall command the gun’. James Madison and his compatriots, however, believing that the power of the state is derived from the consent of the governed, ratified that ‘the right to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed’.

23 years ago, I was a college freshman exercising my freedom of speech and assembly in Tian’anmen Square, much like we are doing here today. We grew frustrated by the restriction of personal freedoms and the corrupted Chinese government, and we thought peaceful protest would make the country better. Our young passion and patriotism was crushed by hails of full metal jackets out of AK47’s. (Some AK purists here would argue they were really type 56’s). We could not fight back, because we did not have an inch of iron in our hands, to borrow a Chinese expression: we were unarmed.

Gun owners like us often say: the Second Amendment is the protector against a tyrannical government. Some may argument that a man with a rifle is no match to the military machines of today, so such beliefs are no longer relevant. However, 20 million peaceful Beijing citizens in 1989, sure wished that they had a few million rifles in their hands!

Freedom is not free. Liberty has costs. We recognize that in this free society, criminals or mentally deranged could get weapons and murder the innocents. The answer, however, is not to disarm the law abiding citizens. Not only criminals and the deranged will violate the laws anyway, but more importantly, when a government turns criminal, when a government turns deranged, the body count will not be five, ten or twenty, but hundreds, like in Tian’anmen Square, or millions, counted in the 90-year history of the Chinese Communist Party.

Our constitutional republic may look fuzzy and loving today (if you think so, I’ve got a TSA agent you should meet), but keep in mind that absolute power corrupts absolutely! And when a government has monopoly on guns, it has absolute power!

Do you know that the Chinese Constitution guarantees almost all the nice things we have here? It is written that Chinese citizens enjoy freedom of speech and religion, they have human and property rights, and that such rights cannot be taken away without due process of the law. And do you know what? Chinese people do not have the right to keep and bear arms. I assure you all those nice guarantees, are not worth the paper they are printed on, because when the government has all the guns, they have all the rights.
I was not born a citizen of the United States, I was naturalized in 2007. In 2008, I became a proud gun owner. To me, a rifle is not for sporting or hunting, it is an instrument of freedom. It guarantees that I cannot be coerced, that I have free will, and that I am a free man.

Now suppose the 20 million Beijing citizens had had a few million rifles, how many rounds should they have been ALLOWED to load into their magazines? 10? 7? How about 3?

Never, never, never give up the fight, my friends. It may be a small step that you give up your rifle, or a 30-round magazine, but it will be a giant leap in the destruction of this great republic.

In closing I will quote the words of Captain John Parker: "Stand your ground. Don't fire unless fired upon. But if they want to have a war, let it begin here."
(Link to transcript of this and other speeches from yesterday’s rally in Boston.)

Edit: Holy crap, @adamsbaldwin retweeted me on this! Welcome to everyone who came to this site via his link (and any other link, for that matter). Please check around, you'll find more of interest for pro-liberty folks here.

Edit 2: I see that I've been linked by Ace of Spades and Hotair. Wow! Thanks guys.

Edit 3: Please check out my other sites -- Survival & Emergency Preparedness, and The Shooters' Bar, the Internet's oldest free online list of pro-Second Amendment attorneys.

A Couple New Airguns

2013-01-19T20:12:00.001-05:00

Well, not new, just new to me.

My father used to shoot airguns a lot, especially when he was mostly into shooting muzzleloading rifles. Airguns allowed him to take a break from shooting a gun requiring cleaning after each time out at the range. Of late, he hasn’t been shooting the air guns, and a few years ago gave my brother his Weirauch HW-55 target rifle.

This afternoon I called over to my parents’ house and jokingly told my mom that I’d be over later to steal one of Dad’s air pistols. When I got there he brought down his 1970s-vintage Geco Diana Model 27 air rifle for me to take home. Apparently, the message got garbled.

Anyway, the Diana Model 27 is a classic German made break barrel, spring piston air rifle that was produced for decades, from 1910 up until the 1980s. Dad’s – now my – Model 27 has a stock that looks different from most of the pics I’ve found online, more squared off and the trigger guard has a different shape.

Unlike most of the break barrel spring piston rifles you see nowadays, the Diana Model 27 is not a “magnum.” Muzzle velocity for .177 examples like mine should be around 650 – 700 FPS. For target shooting out to 25 yards this is fine. Back when we were kids, sometimes Dad would take us to the range and we’d just bring air rifles. The club we belonged to allowed you to shoot at stuff other than paper targets, so we’d gather up spent shotshells at the trap range, place them on the target frame at 25 yards, and plink at them with our air rifles. The Model 27 has plenty of power and intrinsic accuracy for that, it’s the shooter that is the limitation.

The rifle is more than 35 years old and probably had not been fired in 10 years before today, so before shooting it I did some preventive maintenance. First, the rubber butt pad looked like it needed a bit of rejuvenation, so I wiped it down with Armor All.

More importantly, I put two drops of silicone airgun oil on the breech seal O-ring, and two drops down into the compression chamber. The gun has a leather seal but it seems to still be in decent shape. At some point it would probably be good to have it inspected and probably replaced, though.

I only had time to put 10 rounds through the rifle this afternoon. My first shot was out in the 7 ring because the trigger was much lighter than I expected. Except for one shot that I yanked out into 8 ring my remaining shots were nicely clustered in the 10 ring. This rifle is a shooter!

The other airgun I brought home today is an RWS C225 pistol that Dad bought in 1998. RWS brought out this model in 1997 but it lasted only a few years on the market.

As you can see, it came in plastic case with fitted foam, two “magazines,” a CO2 cylinder, a hex key, tin of pellets, and the instruction manual.

The C225 is well made mostly from metal. In the hand it feels very much like my SIG P225 9mm.

As I understand it, the SIG-styled C225 is mechanically more or less the same as the Walther CP88. Although these CO2-powered pellet pistols look like semiautos, they are actually revolvers. The magazines are cylinders, as seen in the picture below.

To load the cylinder into the gun, you pull the latch above the trigger down, which allows the “slide” and barrel to move forward. The CO2 cylinder is contained in the grip. To replace it you press the “magazine release” button behind the trigger and the right grip panel comes off.

Pistols like the C225 and CP88 aren’t intended for formal target shooting, but more as fun guns or sub-caliber trainers for their centerfire counterparts. That said, the C225 should work well for practicing pistol marksmanship. I didn’t get to shoot it today but will surely do so tomorrow.

Along with the two guns, Dad let me take a couple tins of RWS Meisterkuglen wadcutter pellets, a box of 5 CO2 cylinders, some Beeman felt cleaning pellets, a .177 target scoring aid, and a small bottle of silicone airgun oil from the old Air Rifle Headquarters.

Airguns

2013-01-17T20:37:00.001-05:00

With the currently high price and low availability of both rimfire and centerfire ammunition, I’ve been taking another look at my neglected airguns for maintaining my marksmanship skills. The other night I went to the closest Walmart on the off chance they had any .22 LR in stock, but all they had was rat shot. So, I picked up a box of 40 Crosman CO2 cylinders, thinking I’d break out my old Crosman 38T .177 revolver. (There are some nice pics of a 38T here.)

Tonight after work I dug out the 38T and put in a fresh CO2 cylinder. As soon as I did, it slowly leaked out all the gas. Apparently, after 25+ years, the seals deteriorated. I’m going to look into having it fixed. I still have the original box with the price tag – it cost me $34.88 plus tax at K-Mart, sometime back in the early 1980s. I’m sure the repair will cost more.

Anyway, not wanting to miss a chance to shoot, I put away the Crosman and got out my Benjamin HB-17 that I bought in the late 90s. (Here’s a link to it at Pyramid Air, although they list it as currently unavailable. I paid about $90 for mine.)

The HB-17 is a multi-pump pneumatic pistol. While it does not require CO2, it does require you to pump it up between each shot. For paper punching at 25 to 30 feet, 2 or 3 pumps are fine.

I haven’t shot it in years, and now I remember why. Pumping it is a pain, the trigger sucks, and the sights aren’t very good. Despite this, I was able to keep about half of my 20 shots in a group the size of a 50 cent piece, with the rest inside a couple inches at 20 feet. This was shooting with one hand.

Since I now have a big box of Co2 cylinders and nothing to use them in, I may pick up something like a Crosman 2240. It seems to be getting rave reviews at both Amazon and Pyramid Air, and there are many aftermarket accessories available for it.

A few nights ago I put 20 shots through my RWS-24 break barrel spring piston air rifle. I bought this back when I was in high school, as an upgrade to a Daisy Powerline 881 that I got when I was 12, and put a lot of pellets through it in my parents’ home, shooting into a steel trap. It’s a nice gun for indoor shooting because unlike most modern air rifles, it’s not a “magnum.” It has plenty of power for paper punching but is much quieter than the magnum air rifles. Unfortunately, it’s a lot harder to see the barleycorn front sight now that I’m 44, than it was when I was 15.

In the back of my closet I also have a Chinese XS-B3 air rifle that looks like a folding stock AK. It uses a side lever to cock it and is fairly powerful for an older air rifle. I’ll probably dig it out and put some pellets through it.

DIY Speedloader for .22 Rifles with Tubular Magazines

2013-01-15T21:07:00.001-05:00

Having recently bought a Norinco ATD semiautomatic .22 rifle with a tubular magazine, I wanted a way to load it more quickly than dropping in single rounds. The commercially made Spee-D-Loader is available from several vendors, e.g. MidwayUSA and Cablea’s, and by most accounts works well.

I was interested in a DIY-solution, however, and did some googling to see what other people have come up with. Basically, you need a tube with the right internal diameter plus a couple end caps. Several folks mentioned using old aluminum arrows. I didn’t have laying around that I wanted to sacrifice, though. Eventually, I came across this post at the Marlin Owners Forum. “O1Sporty” described making his own speedloaders from lengths of 4’ long by 0.28” internal diameter clear polyethylene tubing and push on vinyl caps obtained from McMaster-Carr. The tubing was only $0.86 for each piece, while the caps were $3.76 for a bag of 100. After shipping my order was about $14.00.

I got my order of 6 tubes and a bag of caps today and made up a few speedloaders for the Norinco ATD tonight. Each one holds 11 rounds of .22 LR. I measured by capping one end of the full-length tube, dropping in 11 Remington Golden Bullet .22s, and marking it with a Sharpie. I then used the first cut piece as a template. You can cut this tubing with scissors.

I made the tubes a little longer than needed for the Golden Bullets, in case I used them with other .22 LR ammo with a slightly longer overall length.

I had a piece about 5” long leftover. I capped it and filled it with BBs for my daughter’s Red Ryder.

My Winchester 9422 holds up to 18 .22 LRs, if I remember correctly. I plan to make up some longer speedloaders to with it.

These should work well. They are cheap and easy to make, and are water resistant. I can have several of them loaded up ahead of time and then spend less time loading at the range.

More Progressive Tolerance

2013-01-13T20:26:00.001-05:00

I thought it was the conservatives and libertarian gun owners who are supposed to be the dangerous one. Check out what the d-bag Bill Palmer at BeatWeek tweeted to a fellow Arfcommer:

When called on it, Palmer deleted the tweet, but as you can see, once it’s on the Internet, it’s forever.

Norinco ATD .22 Rifle Pictures

2013-01-13T20:00:00.001-05:00

I took the ATD out to my shop tonight to clean it and took some pictures.

Looking into the underside of the action, you can see the cartridge-shaped magazine follow up against the top of the receiver. The latch at the rear of the forearm keeps the barrel indexed when the rifle is assembled.

Here’s the magazine tube insert partially withdrawn for loading. You can also see the funnel-shaped port on the right side of the butt. That’s where you drop cartridges into.

Here’s the buttplate and the end of the magazine tube insert. Norinco left some wood unfinished there. I need to seal it.

Here’s the mag tube insert pulled out of the gun, along with the trigger guard/bolt group.

Norinco ATD .22 Semiauto Rifle

2013-01-13T17:13:00.001-05:00

Recently I came to the conclusion that having a takedown .22 autoloading rifle that uses a tube magazine could come in handy. Most .22s with tubular magazines have them mounted under the barrel, with a few notable exceptions such as the Remington Nylon 66, some older Winchesters, and the Browning Semi Auto .22, all of which have the magazine concealed within the butt stock.

The Browning SA-22 was introduced in 1914 and produced by FN in Belgium until 1976, when production was moved to Miroku in Japan. It was also produced in the United States by Remington, as the Model 24 and Model 241. Finally, it's also been made by Norinco in China as the ATD and JW-20. Interarms imported the ATD into the US in the late 1980s/early 1990s, until all Norinco imports were banned by Clinton in 1994. Canadian shooters can still buy the JW-20 (see Marstar.ca).

Having researched a number of the older tube-fed .22 takedowns over the past week, today I picked up a NIB Norinco ATD at Sarco in Easton, PA.

Apparently, Sarco found a bunch of Norinco ATDs in their warehouse last Fall. I found about them from a link to Sarco's website on Slickguns.com. I called Sarco Friday afternoon and they had one left in the showroom. The salesman I spoke with agreed to set it aside for me. Yesterday morning I drove up to Easton and bought it. After getting it home, I field stripped, cleaned, and oiled it. It was pretty clean, without too much oil or grease.

The Norinco is a very close copy of the FN and Miroku-made guns. From what I've read, most Browning parts are interchangeable, although some fitting may be required. Compared with a Browning, the Norinco's fit and finish is much cruder, but by most accounts they work well. My rifle's blueing is well done and the wood is decent, if not up to Browning's standards.

Aside from the tubular magazine which is protected within the butt stock, the Browning/Norinco has a few features which made it desireable for me:

First, the bottom ejection means that as a lefty, I don't need to worry about getting empty cases or gas in my face. My daughter and wife are also left eye dominant, so even though they are right handed they shoot portside. Last weekend my daughter shot my Remington Apache 77 and called it quits after getting hit on the cheek by an unburned powder granule. (This is one reason why we all wear safety glasses when shooting.) Also, the crossbolt safety is reversible for left handed operation. I'm still figuring out exactly how to do this, since the manual merely states that you can have a gunsmith perform the switch.

The gun takes down into two halves less than 20" long in just a few seconds, with no tools. I may pick up a cheap camera tripod case to hold the rifle when broken down. I got one for my Stoeger coach gun and it's great for holding the gun, a Boresnake, and some ammo.

Likewise, field stripping the rifle requires no tools. Finally, it weighs less than five pounds, which makes it easy to pack, and easy for my daughter to hold up.

To load the rifle, you twist the end of the magazine tube insert (accessible via a hole in the buttplate) and pull it out until it stops. Then, with the rifle pointing muzzle down, drop up to 11 .22 LR rounds into the funnel-shaped port on the right side of the butt. Then push in the mag insert and twist about a quarter turn to lock it in place. Finally, charge the rifle by pulling back the bolt handle and letting it go.

Last night I was able to shoot the Norinco on an indoor range. I put about 245 rounds through it, with a few malfunctions. So far it seems to prefer CCI Mini Mag solids over Federal 550 pack HPs. There was one failure to eject with the CCIs between the 40 and 50 round marks, but several with the Federals. .22s in general can be finicky when it comes to ammo, and semiautos in particular may have a strong preference for one kind or another, so this came as no surprise. I'm also hoping that once I get a few hundred more rounds through the gun it breaks in better, and functions better with the Federal ammo.

I also tried some CCI CB Longs, to see if the Norinco would handle them if manually cycled. No joy. With any of the CB Longs in the mag you cannot pull back the bolt. OAL must be jamming the feed mechanism. Once the first round gets into the chamber it'll fire and eject though, which surprised me. Last week I tried the CB Longs in my Remington Apache 77. They fed and ejected fine from the Remington's box magazine when manually cycled.

One thing you need to be careful of with these bottom ejectors is having hot brass eject out of the gun and go into your sleeve. Move your hand forward on the forearm to avoid this. I'd also avoid shooting one of these while wearing sandals. Hot brass between your toes will leave a scar.

The Norinco's trigger is good. There's little takeup, no grittiness, and the weight is probably 4 to 5 pounds.

The Browning and Norinco copies lack any kind of a bolt hold open device. So, if you're on a range that requires actions to be locked open during ceasefires or when the rifle is benched, you'll need to either use a chamber flag or stick and empty case in the ejection port so as to hold it open.

The bead front sight + rear open sights weren't working so great with my middle aged eyes, so I'm going to look into a barrel mounted red dot. Something like a Bushnell TRS-25, Primary Arms Micro Dot, or a Burris Fast Fire would greatly improve the sighting arrangement without messing up the svelte gun's balance.

I like the Norinco a lot. Once I improve the sights, I'll like it even more.