Archive for July 25th, 2005

Anti-Zombie Rifle – Follow-up

July 25th, 2005 / / 11 comments

The Anti-Zombie Rifle has been put through it’s paces, and with 500 rounds through it in its present configuration I feel confident that the modifications are holding up well (as nothing has shaken itself loose), and I think we can call it a success.

Full length picture tactical SKS

Based on experience at the range there are three remaining additions / modifications that seem to be called for;

  1. Creation of proper secondary tool/cleaning kit for pistol grip (containing some minor handtools and allen keys for dismantling rifle in the field).
  2. Attachment of a buttstock magazine pouch for 30 round magazine.
  3. Obtain mag cinch to lock two mags together in rifle.

Optimally I would like the rifle to be a “grab and go” sort of rifle, having everything needed to keep the rifle running (including ammunition) attached to the rifle itself so that the operator is ready to go, regardless of any other equipment that may be to hand (in keeping with the anti-zombie theme, natch).
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Sig Sauer P220

July 24th, 2005 / / 8 comments

In 2001 I purchased my first handgun. I had planned on saving some money to buy a Norinco 1911 as my first purchase, but when I had finally put aside enough cash and actually driven down to Lever Arms the salesman showed me a stack of Sig Sauer P220s they had in. I was told at the time that these were special ordered from Sig-Sauer by a European police force who later backed out of the order, and as such they were available at reduced prices. Unlike standard Sig P220s in 9mm these handguns featured a North American style mag release instead of the European style heel release.

I was sceptical, that is until I held one. Moments later I’d plunked down my cash without reservation.

Sig Sauer P220 9mm

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Mossberg 500

July 23rd, 2005 / / 13 comments

If I had to rate my preference for firearms it would be rifles, pistols then shotguns in that order. Having said that I do own one shotgun, a Mossberg 500, which was my first “pimp my firearm” experience years back.

I never really set out to buy a shotgun. A friend and I were in a local Vancouver gunstore looking for magazines for his 9mm 1911 Norinco knock-off days before our IPSC black badge course, naturally they didn’t have the mags he needed, and he decided he would buy a Walther P99 instead. This involved the usual delays associated with the Firearms center, and while I was standing around twiddling my thumbs I kept browsing the display cases.

Mossberg 500 shotgun

Sure enough they had Mossberg 500′s on sale, and after a few hours standing around I caved (let me tell you, buying a shotgun worth a few hundred doesn’t make you stand out next to your buddy who just dropped $1200 on a pistol and mags as far as the sales staff are concerned…)

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A break from zombies and guns…

July 21st, 2005 / / 5 comments

Int she cute?Parenthood continues to be a learning experience, with Jilly becoming both more energetic and more mobile as each day passes. She still does not really crawl on her own, but has figured out that a combination of shuffling backwards and rolling gets her all sorts of places mommy and daddy do not want her.

We’re going to have to properly baby proof the new apartment before too much more time has passed.

This only became a real concern for me when I was cleaning the rifles from the recent range trip, and had left my cleaning kit on the floor by the couch (have I mentioned we don’t have a coffee table? Just where am I supposed to clean the firearms?), as Jilly happily propelled herself towards the kit reaching for the bottle of CLP and a small pile of dirty cleaning patches… needless to say she was intercepted before reaching her goal.

In a somewhat related note, it’s been observed that Jillian breaks into a tremendous grin whenever daddy is cleaning firearms, the sound of an action slamming closed throws her into a fit of grins and giggles. Score one for the hoplophiles I hope.

SLEDing

July 20th, 2005 / / Comments Off

Single loading enhancement deviceAfter the entertainment loading my FrankenGarand with a single round at a time last week, I decided to give the online plans for a SLED (Single Loading Enhancement Device) another glance. I figured if it saves me even a few minutes and minor irritation then it was worth the effort.

So grabbing a few enblocs from my stash I headed to my uncles to borrow his expertise (and his dremel). Originally planning to follow these directions we came to the conclussion that the SLED as described was overdone for the purposes I had in mind (easy single loading to test the rifle). Our first effort followed the plans, but when we tested it we discovered the same result could be had with fewer cuts, resulting in the right hand SLED.

Tests with the snap caps seemed to prove that the pseudo-SLED functions as required (it allows one or two rounds to be loaded at a time, prevents the enbloc from ejecting when it’s empty and releases easily). Not bad for an hours work, this’ll come in handy for those “not divisible by eight” boxes of ammo I’ve been shooting at the range….

Handgun e-postal match….

July 18th, 2005 / / 2 comments

Well, as promised Mr. Completely has posted the rules and targets for the e-postal pistol match. Swatting flies at 10 yards with any pistol of your choice.

Entries must be received by August 8th, so this is the perfect opportunity for you to kill two birds with one stone and get your entries for both this and the carbine match done in one range trip.

Movie: “Garden of the Dead” (1974)

July 18th, 2005 / / No comments

This review has been moved. Click here to be taken to its new location.

Kinda more than hate mail…

July 17th, 2005 / / One comment

I’m running behind the wave on this one, but for those that don’t troll gunblogs regularly it seems a Fatwah has been issued against The Anarchangel’s author Chris Byrne for his “Team Infidel” post documenting their destruction of the Koran back in June.

Chris was reportedly contacted by the FBI and advised that there was a credible threat against him, his family, friends and possibly even his previous employers (of course there are easier targets than Chris out there, as demonstrated by his bedside companions).

Without passing judgement on the sensibility of the original act, let’s all hope that Chris and his family remain safe and well.

(Hat tip: Hell in a Handbasket and Random Nuclear Strikes)

FrankenGarand Range Test…

July 14th, 2005 / / 9 comments

The FrankenGarand and IToday represented the final hurdle in the birth of my FrankenGarand, its range test.

The headspace had checked out ok and the rifle appeared to lock up tight and cycle properly, but there’s always a moments trepidation when firing a newly assembled rifle for the first time. This was certainly no exception, and I set the camera to record video for the first shot, just in case the worst happened.

I loaded one round into the rifle (if you’ve never done this with a Garand with no SLED you’re missing out – You can’t just stick it in the chamber and let go the bolt), and when the trigger was pulled the rifle went bang in the proscribed manner.

Subsequent efforts were simpler if only because an entire enbloc could be loaded. The only difficulty encountered was with the first enbloc. After every second round the enbloc would come halfway up and out of the action, requiring me to reseat it. I used a different enbloc for the remaining rounds, and this particular problem did not reappear.

Performance was acceptable (considering I had failed to boresight the rifle before taking it out), with an acceptable 4 inch grouping at 50 yards, which will have suffice until I get more .308 ammo to sight the rifle in properly as I must admit I was more concerned with function than accuracy on this trip.

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