Terry G

Make it loud I'm deaf as a post!

John in AR

It's a trade-off. I can't make the chimes any louder than they are, so if I use a gun too loud it overpowers the chime noise. The second set which isn't here yet is the larger (lower note) 'gong' targets; don't know how they'll be with unsuppressed fire, but using the suppressor doesn't really cost anything except some cleaning time & hassle.

And I confess that the "playing hymns with a suppressed autorifle" thing also kind of cracks me up some.

John in AR

Was ordering some things at battery junction, and when I saw how many of their reward points I'd built up over the last year or so, I was surprised. I was able to order two Streamlight Pro-Tac 2L-X flashlights with zero out-of-pocket cost, and used less than half my reward points. It's about my favorite flashlight, and using USB-rechargeable 18650 batteries, they just 'keep on ticking' as the saying goes.

No idea what I'll do with the rest of the built-up points. Maybe another couple of these same lights to give as gifts and/or some additional rechargeable batteries; not sure yet.

Fwiw, anyone using CR123 or 18650 batteries, nowadays you can get versions that are not only rechargeable, but recharge using a standard micro-usb cable. Makes it hugely handy in some applications, not needing to lug a dedicated battery charger around; I keep a spare 18650 battery for my glovebox flashlight in the center console, recharged with a phone-charging cable right there in the truck.

gripper

Made three scores in NH by way of Bring Cash Alley,I mean Armslist private sales FTF meets.
A crate (880 rounds,two tins)of 7.62x54R light Ball,$180.00. A Ruger AR 556, purchased by the owner in October 2019(his receipt was still in the hard case) with manual and two PMags for $400.00. And yesterday,a CZ 75 B Omega Urban Grey, Suppressor Height Night Sights Extended and Threaded Barrel Spare Magazine case manual etc for $420... He didn't want to drive from Raymond NH to Nashua NH in bad weather so I made the drive. Worth the trip.
More magazines for both en route from Grab A Gun,as well as some 5.56 ... about time I started getting some" American" rifle calibers in the house.

Terry G

I helped my Nephew sight in his Ruger AR just a couple of months ago. I'm a Colt guy, but if I was looking for another AR, it would be the Ruger. My nephew went all Rambo for a while, then learned how quickly you can go through 200 rounds of 5.56 MM. AND you scored a CZ 75 b Omega! You need to post how that beauty shoots. I have the basic 75b. Some poster's claim there's a "catch" in the trigger, but I've never noticed one. I would make that drive any time for those two guns. $400.00 and $425.00? Very Nice.

gripper

I'm starting to wonder if bad weather is good luck for me. I get more on call shifts and I find more off paper deals.
And yes I LIKE the CZ. Fixing to run a bunch of 124 Grain NATO spec PPU and some Federal 147 grain HP as I get time. Maybe run the CZ52 the same day-call it Old School and New Bohemian Day!

gripper

Terry G

Bad week! Wife, Son, and Grandson down with Sinus infections, everybody on the mend now. Finally got out in the woods today and all the usual Spring harbingers are back, Sandhill Cranes, Geese, and Turkey Vultures. I went through a hundred or so rounds of CCI Blazer in the TX'22's, still working no malfunctions, eat your heart out, Glock 44. The Hellcat I carried last weekend in a concealment shirt my Son bought me rather than my P-01. We we were attending a Fishing Show and last year they had NO FIREARMS signs everywhere. This year they had all been taken down. HMMM, I wonder if the Milwaukee shooting had anything to do with it? That was a NO FIREARMS area also.

Garand

On Monday spent 2 hours with the owner of the indoor range trying to get his $2,000 chrono to work, no joy. On Tuesday took my wife to the indoor range to test her Cowboy rifle and pistols, that we got back from the gunsmith Monday afternoon. Wednesday usual retired guy practice and lunch with a couple of wobbly pops. Great week, now for the reloading...….

John in AR

Got the Sightmark Wraith mounted & zero'ed on the blackout carbine. Haven't used it at night yet, but it does pretty well in the day; although I would rather it have a lower magnification range than the 4-32 it has.

Tested the blackout pistol with several loads in several kinds of magazines each. It just doesn't like most subsonic loads; not due to cycling, but due to feeding issues, the long bullets hanging up on the ramps. Found two full-power and one subsonic load that it is (so far) 100% reliable with. Will probably test substantially more in the future, but it's good to have at least three loads on hand that it likes.

Also started a batch of elderberry tincture last night. Have had the dried elderberries on hand for several weeks, but had no vodka to make the tincture. (The stupidity of dry-county laws - the nearest liquor store is an hour away.) Finally picked up three 1.75's of vodka yesterday and set up 6 1/2 quart jars of tincture to steep. Will be at least a week before it's ready, but at least it's in the works finally.

Terry G

Six feet distance and self quarantine is in effect, but no bother to us. Food enough for three months plus and our own well. No run on gun's or ammunition around here for some reason, other areas hurting. I don't need any anyway. I took my Mossberg lever action and old model Ruger Single-Six and a pocket full of .22 Quiet and .22 LR Mini-Mags and hiked the wetlands and bluffs. All sorts of Wildlife. The Dog ran and swam like a puppy. Seven miles, so it was a bit tiring, but worth it. Killed some stumps and pine cones with the Quiet so I didn't scare the critters too much. I got the boat ready and filled up everything with gas. I treated every spare container so I have fuel ($1.79 Gal.) for a long time. Miss the extended Family, but such are the times.

John in AR

With a lot of life's things slowed down due to covid-19, I've had more time at home lately. Been getting a lot of work done at home and also getting my gun junk in order. Our property has been lived at before, but was so rural it never had a mailbox; they had to go to the post office. Now does finally have one.

All the gun stuff I've messed with has been stuff I already had on hand, and just hadn't gotten installed or done previously. The only truly 'top end' red dot I've owned is a Trijicon MRO bought several years ago, and really like it. When Trijicon came out with the new generation of MRO with slightly better optics and then later the MRO Patrol version, I picked up two perfect but previous-generation MRO's used on ebay. (Have to be careful on ebay, there are a lot of counterfeits, but if you're careful you can find some very good deals.) Evidently, some guys just had to have the newest & best as soon as they came out, and were selling their perfectly good, previous generation MRO's cheap. More than a year ago I bought two of them and they were still sitting here unused.

So in the last week or so, in addition to replacing the sparc-ar dot on my .22 AR with a variable-power scope, I upgraded the gen-1 MRO on my main gun to a gen-2 version (that I found used cheap shortly after the 'Patrol' version came out). Then put the gen-1 I took off the main gun onto the blackout pistol, replacing a holosun unit. Still have one gen-1 used MRO (again, picked up cheap used) sitting in its box that I haven't yet decided what to do with.

I love it when manufactures come out with a "new and improved" whiz-bang gadget. Just like when a new iPhone comes out, so many gear-tards feel compelled to run out and buy the new one; but with gun stuff instead of trading their old one in, they sell them off stupid cheap. God bless the gear-tards, I guess...

Garand

I'm pretty sure I'm finished reloading for now. About 10 minutes ago I just finished loading 425 rds of 9mm and ran out of bullets. Which is alright, the last time I used my 9mm or reloaded for it was 4 years ago. I've loaded so much that I've run out of brass in 6.5x55mm, .44 Mag & .45Colt, I've run out of bullets in .38 Spl & .45 acp. Hopefully the weather warms up as I'd lover to catch up on my reading outdoors. If matches don't start up again soon, I've got enough ammo ready for the zombie apocalypse!

John in AR

One of our sons was visiting our shop today and I showed him the fire resistant cabinet that has my powder & primers in it. When I opened the first drawer and he saw the primers he said, "Good grief - how many is that? Ten thousand?"

I told him it was 53 thousand if I remembered right. After he left, I checked my spreadsheet and it's a little over 60 thousand. But like the boxes of N95 masks that we have available for our employees now, they won't go bad and they were bought before there was a shortage or price jumps so they're not hurting anything or anyone.

That's my chosen lot in life. Everybody makes fun of the prepper nutjob until there's a glitch.

BigEd

Went to the range up in Neosho MO, as the local public one has been closed since last Summer.
Today I was shooting only .22lr firearms with 3 different purposes.
1. Berreta 21A - test 3 new magazines as the one it came with would jam/stovepipe wit CCI Stingers. Result: All three new ones worked great with the Stingers!
2. Mossberg 144 Target Rifle Test Performance and get Dope on CCI Quite at distances from 25 to 100yds. While wind was kicking up intermittently by this time. CCI Quite performance was good enough to engage small varmints at extreme ranges +/-100yds. "Oarivar Gophar" as Carl(Bill Murray) might say.
3. While at the 100yard line I got a wild hair to test the performance of the newly bought CMMG unit at that distance. In of all things my AR Pistol 1-7 twist 5.56NATO 10.5"bbl, EOTCH and 3x magnifier. Not a match gun by any means but getting a 2"wide by 7" ish tall group using CCI Mini-Mags made me happy. I was expecting more of a shotgun type pattern of around 10inches to be honest.

So all in all a good day at the range for rimfire fun.

Dorobuta

I've probably only got a couple thousand primers each in large rifle, magnum, pistol...]

need more and need more powder too.

John in AR

I haven't looked, but with all the fear & panic, prices are likely to be up currently. I wouldn't want to wait a long time before stocking up, but some time between "end of corona" and "before the November election" might be good if prices are out of line right now.