Specter Joins Democrats

"Arlen Specter has left the Republican party and joined the Democratic party, thus raising the average IQ of both parties........."

Mr. C's Sight Mounts

The final prototype sight mount is now finished, and I've been testing it out. It works better than anything on the market, and I've decided to start producing them for sale. What does it do differently? It allows you to remove the weaver mount parts from a C-More red dot sight and mount the sight directly to the sight mount, thus lowering the sight over 1/4 inch, which, in terms of parallax, is a lot. It's a lot sturdier than the original mount system. The sight mounts almost an inch farther rearward, but you don't have to remove the rear sight. If you are using the gun in competition, though, removing the rear sight is a good idea, as it allows you much easier access to the slide if you need to clear a jam or misfire.

A Volquartsen mount with the stock C-More sight on my High Standard Race gun.

Here's a picture of a stock weaver mount setup on my High Standard race gun's Volquartsen barrel. I've machined off a little bit of the stock C-More Weaver mount to eliminate a spot where ejected brass might hit a lip and bounce back into the gun and causing a stovepipe. Notice the distance from the bottom of the sight to the top of the barrel.

Mr. Completely mount on the same barrel

Here's the final pre-production prototype. The sight mounts quite a bit lower, and a bit farther rearward. The underside is completely smooth and beveled for clear ejection of brass. You can click on both images to get an enlarged view. Keep in mind that this is the prototype and the final polishing and anodizing has not been done. The mounts will most likely be available with some color anodize choices. The first mounts will be drilled for the Volquartsen hole spacing, but I plan to also have them for High Standard and LSP barrels. Plans are to also make the mounts for Pre-drilled Rugers and possibly for a couple of other rimfire pistols.

I've got the first batch of aluminum bar stock on the way, and I've lined up a good plating shop to do the anodizing. I still need to build some tooling for the milling machine so I don't have to measure each cut and hole location each time, though.

I will be setting up a website so mounts can be ordered directly or hopefully, they will also be available to gun shops through wholesale distributors.

If you are interested in a Mr. C mount, drop me an email or leave a comment.

Glocktail - Beavertail for the Glocks

Glocktail from Mike Gibson Manufacturing

If you have fairly good sized hands, you may find the slide can bite you once in a while, since the Glock's don't have much protection for the top of your hand. Mike Gibson of Mike Gibson Manufacturing and MGM Targets, has the answer for you. It's called a "Glocktail" and it fits on the rear of the Glock grip and frame, providing a generous beavertail for your protection. It comes in several colors, too.

In the picture above I haven't installed the rubber sleeve to hold theGlocktail in place so you can better see what the Glocktail looks like. The provided rubber sleeve looks like a section cut out of a bicycle innertube, but it should do the job. A better solution, in my opinion, would be to use a Hogue HandAll grip sleeve in place of the piece of inner tube.

For more information contact Mike Gibson Manufacturing at 888-767-7371, or visit the Glocktail website at http://www.glocktail.com

Which is Safer?

What I've been up to lately.......

Time sure flies! I've been trying to practice every day for the Steel Challenge matches coming up, and I still haven't really gotten back to where I was shooting last Fall before I got sick. My fast runs in practice are faster than last year, but I can't seem to find the consistency so I can put several good runs back to back. It's funny how practice works, and it's the same for just about anything you try to learn. Instead of a gradual increase in performance proportional to your practice, it's more of a "Stair-Step". You practice and practice and practice and don't seem to be getting anywhere, then suddenly out of the blue you move up one whole level! I know that's how it works, but it sure can be frustrating for the jump to happen! I really need that one next level before weekend after this one..........

I've also been talking to a few people about possibly writing a book on rimfire handgun race tuning. I realize it's a small market, but I would also cover a lot of stuff that applies to regular rimfire shooting too, such as curing feed problems, dealing with magazines, stove-pipes, and all the other fun stuff that can make you crazy at the range. At one time or another I've worked on most of the common rimfire pistols, so I could include quite a bit about specific guns. What do you think, think anyone would be interested?

I'm also looking into going into production on a few of the specialty rimfire race parts I've developed over the last few years, including sight mounts, extractors, firing pins, and a couple of other things. I'm already making them for my own use, so the design is already there, it's just a case of producing them.

In my spare time (!) I've been getting things lined up for the Gun Blogger Rendezvous coming up in mid-September. It looks like I've got the steel plates and target stands lined up for some Steel Challenge shooting, but the actual venue has yet to be determined. It looks like NSSF (National Shooting Sports Foundation) is going to be involved this year too ,which would be great! The pieces are starting to come together, so be sure to get the dates on your calendar and get your hotel reservations and Rendezvous registration in as soon as you can. Early registrations help me a ton when I'm making plans and getting things arranged. For all the latest Rondy info, check the Gun Blogger Rendezvous website.

Stay tuned, the game is afoot...........................

e-Postal Match - Closing Soon!!

This month's e-Postal match is rapidly drawing to a close, so get out there to the range and shoot some targets! Everything you need to know including how to download the targets can be found

HERE.

JimmyB has out-done him self once again, coming up with a truly evil and sadistic match, but at least it's evil and sadistic for everyone!

Don't expect to score very well, and don't be disappointed if your score sucks, because you won't be all alone, I can assure you!

Shoot 'em up - Send 'em in............

Smith & Wesson 180D

Hat tip to Uncawho for this......

Limcat Custom at Gun Blogger Rendezvous

Limcat Razorcat Open Class Race Gun

I spoke with Johnny Lim today on the phone, and if everything works out schedule-wise, he's going to try to attend at least part of this year's Gun Blogger Rendezvous. Johnny is the head of Limcat Custom guns, and he builds tome absolutely beautiful race guns in his shop near Reno. The plan is to at least get him to bring some of his beauties to show and tell so we can see them up close and personal. Will he be able to come to the action pistol shooting portion of the Rendezvous? We don't know, but anything's possible. Johnny is a very accomplished steel shooter in his own right, so maybe he'll be able to give us a live demo, we can hope!

For more information on Limcat Custom's products, have a look at their website. Be sure to check out the movie of JJ Racaza doing reloads. I forgot to mention, Limcat sponsors JJ. WOW!

Looks Like We're Gonna Be a Mite Busy......

Boy, does it ever look like a busy weekend, and a busy Summer coming up! Tomorrow morning I'm off to the dentist for some more repair work. Tomorrow afternoon a couple of us are setting up a display for our fishing club at the local Senior Center. The display is part of the club's "Fishing 101" class we are putting on all day Saturday. We will be having presentations on introductory salt water and fresh water salmon and trout fishing. I will be doing a presentation on what I call "Blue Collar" fly fishing, where I explain fun and economical fly fishing for the every day fisherman.

After the Fishing 101 class is over and everything is put back into storage, I hope to still have a little daylight left for some steel shooting practice. (I should put together a post on practicing, since just going to the range and shooting, and practicing are definitely not the same thing.) Sunday morning bright and early KeeWee and I are off to the Paul Bunyan range in Puyallup for another one of Will's great fun steel matches.

Looking at the calendar I see that there are only four steel matches before we leave for Holland and the European Steel Challenge Championships, and I am definitely not ready. I'm still not up to where I was at last Fall before I got sick. It looks like practicing every day for the next month is in order! When we return from Holland it's only eleven days until the Washington State Steel Challenge Championships in Ephrata. The next weekend the guns get put away and we are off to Banks Lake in Eastern Washington for a weekend of sunshine, fishing, and kicking back with our fishing club.

At the end of June we start up our Cowboy Fast Draw matches at Holmes Harbor Rod & Gun Club. July is fairly quiet with only a few club matches at Kitsap and Paul Bunyan, then the last weekend of July we are off to Coeur d' Alene, Idaho for the big Eddie Brown Memorial Steel match on Saturday, then from there to Missoula, Montana for the Montana Shooting Sports Association's Bowling Pin Shoot.

Mid-August is the Steel Challenge World Championships in Piru (near Valencia) California. At the end of August is the KRRC Glock match, and then in mid-September is the Gun Blogger Rendezvous in Reno. Then a few club matches and Cowboy fast Draw matches to round it all out.....

It's gonna be fun!!

The Cure For The Obama Hangover

For all of you out there who are now having second thoughts about having voted for Obama, Doug Giles has a solution for your problems........



Can I get a "Right ON?"

Thought so.......................

Cowboy Fast Draw at GBR-IV

At this year's Gun Blogger Rendezvous we are going to have lots to do! We will still have the activities from last year, including the fund raising raffle for Project Valour-IT, the Pizza feed, and the day at the range for target and long range rifle fun. New for this year, though, will be some Cowboy Fast Draw fun. Quick Cal Eilrich, All Galactic Cowboy Fast Draw speed demon, CFDA record holder, and the head honcho of the Cowboy Fast Draw Association, has invited us out to his personal indoor Cowboy Fast draw range for some Cowboy Fast Draw fun and games.



It's an amazing amount of fun! The bullets are wax, and powered by a shotgun primer. The guns are replica 1873 Colt Peacemakers, also known as the Single Action Army in .45 Colt. The holsters are leather, much like an old time gunfighter might have used. The target is 15 feet away, and really easy to miss! (I know.......)

One more reason why this year's Gun Blogger Rendezvous is an event you won't want to miss!

Click the link up at the top of the page for all the information ,the dates, how to register, how to get the best room rates, and everything else you need to know. If you've attended a GBR in the past, you know how much fun we have, and if you've never been to the Gun Blogger Rendezvous, this is the year to attend!

KRRC Fun Steel 04/11/2009

Wayne and I were a little concerned as the weather didn't look all that good for an outdoor steel match as it was both blowing pretty hard and looking like it could start raining at any time. We decided to take the longer and more expensive route to Silverdale which required two car ferry rides each way, since the car ferry from Whidbey Island to Port Townsend is not very reliable. Fog, rain, wind, whatever, I think they look for reasons to cancel runs sometimes. Granted, the boat they are using is dangerous on that run anyway as it can get very rough crossing the Straits of Juan De Fuca in that area and the boat is rather small.

After two ferry rides and roughly 57 miles on the road, we pulled in to the KRRC grounds. We got there just in time to get signed up and listen to John put on the shooter's meeting. It was great to see so many shooters I've met here and there in my travels. The Gig Harbor club's Bryce and Rob were there, and Paul Bunyan club in Puyallup also had several shooters there, too, including two of the guys I squadded with a couple of weeks ago, James and Scott. We had so much fun shooting together we decided to squad together again, and typical of any squad I'm on, by the end of the day you could hear us laughing and carrying on from just about anywhere on the club grounds. Wayne also squadded with us, and at the last minute Zak joined us to give steel shooting a try for the first time.

The weather mostly cooperated by not raining on us, but the gusting winds lead us to fold up some of the shooting area covers before they blew away.

James on Stage Three (I think....)

Once we got underway it was clear that Scott was having a good day with his iron sight .22. It looked like he didn't even KNOW how to miss a plate! Fast, accurate, and making it look easy. Wayne, even though he hadn't been to a match since late last Summer, shot a good solid match. James and Scott were also shooting revolvers, and even though they were shooting those antiquated old guns so primitive that they don't even have magazines, aren't made of plastic, and don't hold at least 17 rounds of ammo, they still shot very well! (I guess they must be pretty good to shoot that way with such a handicap!!)

Far too soon the day was over, and thanks to several stovepipes at just the wrong times, I was going to be a ways down the list. (Note: it turned out to be an improperly heat-treated extractor that had gotten worn prematurely and wasn't holding on the the casing long enough for the ejector to send it flying. I had replaced the extractor less that 1,000 rounds ago. I re-sharpened it and heat treated it to full hard today, and so far it seems to have ended the problem.)

After the match James, Wayne, Scott, and I retired to a local pub for some food and refreshments. Since we had a fairly long drive and two ferry rides to get home, we headed off shortly thereafter. The drive home was uneventful, just as we like it. We had had a great day, got in some fun shooting, laughed a lot, and generally had a grand time of it.

Next Sunday there's a steel match at Paul Bunyan in Puyallup, and Scott and James are going to be there. I can hardly wait...................

If you are somewhere in the Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia, general area, why not come over to the Paul Bunyan club and give steel shooting a try? Here's the Paul Bunyan website, and if you have a question about the match, give William Reece a call at 253-350-4178.

Come give it a try!

BJ Norris in the News

Paul Erhardt sent me a link to a good news story on BJ Norris, one of the best, if not the best, Steel Challenge shooter in the world. Unfortunately you have to sit through a short commercial first, but the story itself shows some good action video of just how fast the fast guys really are.

Check it out!

BJ also just so happens to be a Gun Blogger!

Training for Congress

An Indian walks into a cafe with a shotgun in one hand pulling a male buffalo with the other. He says to the waiter: "Want coffee."

The waiter says, "Sure, Chief. Coming right up."

He gets the Indian a tall mug of coffee. The Indian drinks the coffee down in one gulp, turns and blasts the buffalo with the shotgun, causing parts of the animal to splatter everywhere, and then just walks out.

The next morning the Indian returns. He has his shotgun in one hand, pulling another male buffalo with the other. He walks up to the counter and says to the waiter "Want coffee."

The waiter says "Whoa, Tonto! We're still cleaning up your mess from yesterday. What was all that about, anyway?"

The Indian smiles and proudly says "Training for position in United States Congress:
Come in, drink coffee, shoot the bull, leave mess for others to clean up, disappear for rest of day."


Hat tip to Uncawho!

European Steel Challenge News

It's taking a lot of time to track down all the information and forms and so forth to get everything in order so I can take my race guns to Holland for the European Steel Challenge Championships.

If you are taking guns, or anything else with serial numbers on it out of the US, it's a really good idea (and pretty much required with guns) to take the items to a Customs office and have them fill out and stamp a 4457 Certificate of Registration form. The form doesn't establish you as the owner, but it establishes that you had the items in your possession in the US. That keeps Customs from trying to collect duty on your stuff when you come back into the country.

Holland seems pretty straight-forward. You fill out a form for each gun and fax it to the Custom's Office in Holland, along with passport info, your match registration, and travel dates and times. This way, hopefully, they can have everything checked over well before you arrive.

TSA also has their own set of rules to regulate getting on the plane, but they are pretty straight-forward. I have found the TSA people to be OK to deal with so far in my travels. The only problem I have ever had was with a ticket Agent at Alaska Airlines in Burbank, coming back from the World Championships las Summer. It was clear from her opening statements that she did not like anyone not of her color or gender, and if you failed on both counts and were trying to travel with firearms, she would go out of her way to make life miserable by making up rules of her own on the spot. Finally she summoned a TSA agent. I could see he was about fed up with her too. He inspected my case and race guns and told her everything was as it should be. The TSA guy was pleasant, courteous, and professional, the complete opposite of the ticket agent.

We've got our tickets purchased and hotels lined up for the Holland adventure. We arrive at 7:40am Amsterdam time, and will catch a 20 minute train ride from the airport to the train station in Amsterdam. From there it's either a three or four block walk to the hotel, or a short tram ride. We will have the rest of the day to have a look around Amsterdam. The next morning we meet up with some shooters in Amsterdam and ride with them out to Winterswijk, about a two hour drive. It's a three day match and I shoot on the second day, so I will miss part of the match early on Friday, the first day. I should still get a chance to watch some of the shooters in the afternoon of the first day and listen to the range commands a bit. It will be in English, but I'm sure the Dutch R/O's will have a bit of an accent!

Hopefully by Saturday I will be somewhat "Un-jetlagged", as Saturday morning I will be shooting the match. After the match KeeWee and I will be able to do a little sight-seeing in Winterswijk. We will probably get in a little more sight-seeing on Sunday, depending on the match schedule. Monday morning we travel back to Amsterdam, and do a little more sight-seeing. The next morning we board our return flight.

With a little luck this should be a great trip, even if we don't have the time (or money) to really spend much time in Europe.

Washington State Steel Challenge Championships

I just got an email from Patrick Kelley, the match director for the Washington State Steel Challenge Championships coming up on Saturday, June 6th. in Ephrata, Washington. Last year they did not shoot a rimfire division, but this year they plan to add rimfire. This will be a Steel Challenge Shooting Association sanctioned event. Centerfire and revolver shooters start from a holster, rimfire shooters will start with the gun pointed at a marker on the ground 12' in front of the shooter.

Please contact the rimfire shooters in your club and see if any of them would like to shoot in the match. I'd be tickled to see a good rimfire turnout!

Here's the link for the Match Information and here's the Entry Form.

For more information on the match contact Patrick directly at pk@multigun.com

Hope to see you there!

April e-Postal Match Underway

Good news! JimmyB, proprietor of The Conservative UAW Guy, is hosting this month's e-Postal match, and it's now up and ready to go. I won't even attempt to describe the match to you, you just have to go read it for yourself. In fact, even if you have no plans to shoot the match at all, you should STILL go read the rules. WARNING: DO NOT have any liquids in your mouth and be near your computer while reading the rules. I warned you......

Here's the link:

JimmyB's Deficit Shooting

Go read the rules, download the targets, and get ready for financial disaster!

This one looks like fun.................

March e-Postal Match Results

The March e-Postal match was definitely a challenge, but there was some method to the madness in the design. In many of the e-Postals we've had so far, we've attempted to get shooters to try new things, or focus a bit on techniques that they usually don't think about.

This match, loosely based on Steel Challenge competition, challenged you to actually go against some traditional techniques of pistol shooting. Instead of the standard "sight Picture - gently squeeze - etc.) you were required to shoot while the gun was actually moving, never stopping at all on each target. What this does is to develop trigger control, in short, having the gun fire just as the sights cross the target, rather than waiting for the perfect sight picture, then squeezing the trigger. This technique also will highlight a common fault, jerking or slapping the trigger. You can't successfully shoot with this method if you wait until the target is centered in the sights and then quickly jerking the trigger. You must learn your trigger release, and practice so the target is acquired and the shot fired at the same time. I've seen some metallic silhouette shooters use this method in competition. It's fairly easy to get the cross hairs or red dot to sweep across the center of the target, but holding them there long enough to squeeze the trigger is another story! The trick is to get the shot fired just at the right time. This, of course, takes practice!

In this match there was no limit as to how many times you could shoot the match. This way you had a good chance of being pleasantly surprised as your proficiency improved from target to target. I shot the match six times, the first two targets to establish how much I had to aim above the targets, since I'm sighted in for a farther distance. Each of the last four showed some improvement both in score and in smoothness and tempo.

What's the point of shooting this way? Although I'm certainly no expert in defensive handgunning, I can certainly see that developing the ability to move the gun onto the target and fire at just the right time could sure be useful. Most goblins are probably unwilling to stand still and wait for you to get a good sight picture!

Since in this match I make the rules, I've decided to award the title of Overall Match Winner to whomever I choose, based on their scores and their class. This month's Overall Match Winner goes to

BILLLL

He clearly and decisively smoked everyone in Class one Rimfire Iron Sight. Well Done!

Anyhow, I'm glad to hear you all had some fun with the match. The next match should be announced either today or tomorrow!

Class 1 - Rimfire Iron Sights

Place	Name	score	Caliber	Handgun Type
1	Billll	62	.22	Ruger Mk. I
2	Xav 92 p	84	.22	Browning Buckmark
3	True Blue Sam	92	.22	Ruger Single Six
4	Danno	97	.22	Ruger 22/45

Class 2 - Rimfire Optic sights

Place	Name	score	Caliber	Handgun Type
1	Mr. Completely	46	.22	High Standard
2	Sebastian	53	.22	Ruger Mk. III Hunter
3	Manfred	67	.22	Colt Target

Class 3 - Centerfire Iron Sights

Place	Name	score	Caliber	Handgun Type
1	Sebastian	83	.45	Para LDA 1911
2	Billll	88	.357	Rossi
3	True Blue Sam	88	.38	S&W Model 66
4	BillH	104	.45	Springfield 1911
5	Danno	109	9mm	Taurus PT92
6	BillH	115	.38	S&W Model 19

See you all at the range!!