Free Form Friday - A Rant

 Cletus, listen, the Model 70 didn't originally come with sights. You ain't going to Africa any time soon. You don't need iron sights on that .270 you are going to put a cheap Wal Mart scope on. Please don't act like "real rifles come with irons." They haven't in the last 50 years in calibers other than .30 WCF, . 35 Rem, or .358 Winchester.

You're not a native hunting guide in Alaska.

So, Cletus, for the love of Eugene Stoner, don't bitch to me, especially when I have people stacked up at the counter, the phone ringing, the pizza guy waiting, and the FedEx guy needing me about why the Bushmaster bargain basement beginner blaster I just handed you doesn't have iron sights.

And $74.95 for a set of MagPul MOE MBUS sights is pretty effin' fair.

People wonder why I drink.

Tinkering Tuesday - For Real Ghost Gun

The 1968 Gun Control Act prohibits an unlicensed person from making a firearm to sell. However, that being said, you can churn out as many home built guns as you like so long as they comply with federal and local laws. That is to say I can't make a Sten gun in my garage because it would a be an unregistered, post '86 machine gun. May Charlie Rangle burn in hell with Stalin, Hitler, and Sherman.

But, all that being said, I can still make anything else I see fit.

So, what does an intrepid gun right's activist do?

He buys a second hand drill press!

Why yes, that is bobber cooler. It floats!

MidwayUSA was blowing out Polymer80 Gen 3 Not A Glock lowers. It was an impluse buy. But if you give an aspiring machinist a drill press, he's gonna buy an 80% lower.

I'm under no illusions that the Feds, if they wanted to could run my card purchase to my PO Box and then to me. But I doubt it ever comes to that.

However, some dumbass congress critter, but I repeat myself, has decided home gunsmithing is bad and scary. And therefor must be banned. Because all those kids offing one another in Chicago have basement arsenals like the Israelis in the War of Independence. Yeppers. That's that ticket.

Oh hell no it ain't. The reason you get guns in Chicago and the like is two fold:
A) Guns don't wear out. So even that Hi Point C9 is gonna get passed around for years.
B) The Feds rarely prosecute straw purchasers. Rarely.

But, HR 7115 goes after the guys like me who like to do things in our garage. The fella who only has one lower but a couple of different uppers in multiple calibers. The bench rest shooter that free floats and changes barrels because he's shooting something like 300 H&H.

Else where in the gun blogospehere I read, and can't remember where, that this bill is an attack on dedicated gun owner. And if we can be silenced, the fella who keeps a Shield in his sock drawer is next.

That is very much the case. However, if it becomes illegal to make your own firearms, what's to stop me from saying screw my Not a Glock and building a Sten clone? The parts for that are cheaper at Lowes. Or even cheaper at the local hardware store where they don't have a UPC scanner and prefer cash.

Call your Reps. Tell them HR 7115 is stupid and they are too. Well, maybe not that last part.

Thankful Thursday

I hope everyone is enjoying Thanksgiving. And has someone or something to be thankful for. I'm hoping for a Falcons win and for NICS to cooperate tomorrow. But that's a future Mack worry.

Today I'm thankful for the following

• The Second Amendment. Without it we would be somewhere like Australia or the formerly Great Britain. 
• An ODA that is down range and kicking some ass
• My meet space blog buddies, OldNFO and Mr Garabaldi. Whom helped my embrace my inner gun nut
• The fact that I have close circle of friends to celebrate Friendsgivings with
• The fact that my dumb ass lazy dogs bring joy to Uncle with early on set dementia. And Uncle Cart could frame a house, bust a bronc, and stack dead Commies with the best of them, so seeing him happy is a blessing
• My long suffering wife who's definition of one gun a month can be interpeted a bunch of different ways
• All the folks on the Side Bar whom have done a lot to advance the gun culture and fight for civil liberties

Okay, I'm off to the Father in Law's house. Gonna show him the pistol build and talk smack about his Steelers. 

Weapons Wednesday - Feeding from the bottom

Before we get too deep into today's post on fine sporting shotguns, I have made words elsewhere on the interwebs. Click here to see what your favorite Counter Jockey carries in his pockets everyday.

For whatever reason, I am right handed and left eye dominant. My vision is pretty crappy but when I close my right eye I see decently through my left eye.

So, through out my shooting life, there has been a mess of contradictions. I shoot bolt guns awkwardly unless I'm on a bench. If I'm shooting a full sized hand gun I embrace my inner Larry Vickers and just turn my head.

However, there is one platform that I some how always shoot well and can reload without looking like a monkey trying to have intercourse with a football as I do it.

That gun is the Ithace 37, in all of it's various iterations.

As always, the Ithaca 37 was a gun designed to get around or outlast various John Browning patents.  Seriously, to steal paraphrase Tam, when the U.S. Space Force invades Jupiter for ice, the hover tanks will have M-2 machine guns on the commander hatch.

That being said, Ithaca wanted to produce a pump gun on par with the Model 12. And had to wait until 1937 to do it. Which to paraphrase the President, was the worst time ever, in the history of ever, to introduce a sporting shotgun.

Mine has taken many a dove and a couple of ducks. In college, I decided that I would embrace my inner Whiz Kid and only keep one shotgun to do everything. It worked okay for home defense (never needed it), okay for informal skeet shooting, and bagged me one solitary mallard one early morning when I should have been at PT before class.

The Model 37 is definitely a gun from another country, to borrow a term from Colonel Cooper. Machined and well engraved with nice wood.

One Day I'll get good at photography

Ithaca produced 1911s and Grease Guns during the war. In a a weird twist of fate, during my Father's service in Southeast Asia, he carried a cut down Ithaca 37 DS Police riot gun and an M-3 grease gun. Compact, handy weapons easy to sling to your person in the confines of either an HH-3 or HH-53.

My Old Man was a couple of different Ithaca bird guns, even to include one my Mother shoots rarely. Which, to me, epitomizes the appeal of the Model 37. Fine bird guns, duck guns, riot guns for the police, trench guns for the military, and home defense versions of the Model 37 have all been produced. My favorite episode of "Dragnet" involves Sgt. Friday checking out a 37 DS Police from the armory, loading four shells, loading one into the chamber, topping off the tube, and dropping an extra shell in the pocket of his sport coat. Be Prepared.

Hell, CPL Hicks even uses one to kill a Xenomorph. Juan Rico has one mounted under his Morita carbine.

Pop bought me the above pictured Featherweight for Christmas one year shortly prior to Commissioning. I shoot it okay. The stock is a little short and the barrel is kinda short for my preference.

But it looks good on the rack, and every so and Old Timer will come into the store and ask about "old 37s" and I can square my shoulders and say "Yeah, my Old Man bought me one. It's a great gun. Especially if you shoot left handed."

Tactical Tuesday - Shooting the Imports

Sunday morning, I ventured over to the local indoor range. And, well, flung some lead down range.

It's kinda an obscure gun; you mightn't have heard of it

Namely, the Uzi Eagle. As imported by Uzi America. And assembled by IMI. When this gun came in the shop, I knew I had to have it. I bought it right before Jackie and I got married. So it set unattended for the next two months. Finally shot it a little bit when we went and saw Pudge and his Lady over the 4th. And it was less than impressive with 185 grn Winchester White Box FMJ.

Well flash forward to a week ago, and I did some shooting with Dennis. He had concocted a load that the Uzi Eagle really, really, really liked. Which is good because I really really really wanted to like this gun.

I ran 100 rounds through it. Zero malfunctions and decent groupings at seven, ten, and 12 yards. Which look like damn Camp Perry winning groups compared to how the gun use to shoot.

Excuse the terrible picture, but I'm mighty impressed with what the cheap import can do. An all steel, heavy TDA gun shooting .40 S&W is like the opposite of cutting edge these days, but man, it's fun when it does the work for you.

Oh, and because, it ain't any fun having a SiG and not shooting it where people can see you, I ran a box through my -226 as well.

Stay tuned for further load development for this lovely piece of mid 90s awesomeness.

Monday Musings

• Trying to pronounce the manufacture of an Italian import gun reminds me of how deprived I was as a child in regards to language education.
• Seriously, after I said it I felt like I needed to ask my waiter "If I could have glass of the house red. Oh, and put a fresh stick in the cheese grater before you bring it out. You'll need it."
• That being said, in sixty days, I may have a nice Italian shotgun to go with my Beretta and Benelli.
• I laid on hands on one of the SIG P320-M17 Commemorative pistols the other day. The dudes in New Hampshire are probably popping the cork on champagne. 
• Seriously, I can get a P320 in the same configuration for about a third of the price. 
• The MHS is still a point of contention with me. I got so worked up about it the other night that I started spouting Stacey Abrams talking points about how to spend tax dollars. 
• Speaking of politicians, the fact that as a non complying gun owner I should be subject to a nuclear attack actually makes me feel good. Fear me that much. It's fine. Why we have the 2nd. 

Tinkering Tuesday/Weapons Wednesday - Finishing and Shooting the "pistol"

So yesterday, I went to the PO Box and picked up a package.

And proceeded to get my gunsmith lego builder on. AR platform weapons are like erector sets for grown men with too much disposable income.

Step One

And done. I stick with FDE PMags to denote .300 BLK

I finally got done with the pistol build I satarted back in late summer. The lower was a blem PSA complete with a KAK blade. The upper is a Karri's Guns 7.5 Hellhound .300 Blk with M-LOK furniture. Karri's is right on the edge of budget/mid tier, but for a range toy I'm not too worried.

And speaking of range toys, the above pistol was entirely too much fun to shoot. Ran a whopping 80 rounds through it, doing a bit of load development. A lot of fun. 

Colonel Cooper wrote of the "Thumper" concept in his Gunsite Gossip columns. And was friends with JD Jones, original innovator of what became the .300 AAC Blackout. That being said, I doubt he would approve of my hand little PDW. 

Kinda funny next to a Remington 870 with an extended tube for Heavy Metal 3 Gun. And my favorite part of this whole build is that is a direct result of the asinine '34 NFA.

Sunday Stories - 11th Hour

100 years ago, the guns fell silent. General Pershing said we should have occupied Germany proper. But then what would a Soldier know about how to win a war.

100 years on, we still have wars to fight. But this is a gun blog.

I like fighting pistols. I carried a Beretta, though as a squad and platoon leader, my weapon was a radio. As a Company Commander, my weapon was enabling the domination of  the battle space by the battalion commander by keeping the HHC functioning. Yeah, that sucked.

A friend of mine is down range with a Glock 19 on his side. In a couple of months, some kids from Boy Scout camp who worked for me, truly some of the nation's best, will be down range with M-4 carbines and war weary M-16A2s and -240s in pintle mounts.

It was my honor and privilege to saddle up to the faint rattle of musketry over the far hill.

A lot of my friends did, too. A lot of the people on the sidebar did as, well. My Old Man, next door neighbor, Father in Law, Brother in Law, Mother in Law, favorite Uncle, and Grand Daddy did too.

Today I'm gonna go bust clays with Dennis. And maybe come back and drink a beer and watch war movies on TV.