Norm Peterson

Well, the scope rings showed up this afternoon, so I spent quite a bit of time getting everything together and bore-sighted as good as can be done at about 5 yards inside the house. The scope has a green dot, and it's kind of cool to watch it move relative to the red boresight dot as elevation and windage knobs are adjusted. Getting the scope's vertical hair to be vertical relative to the gun (and stay there while tightening the rings) took more time.

I did think to correct for scope height above the barrel (1.5") and a typical .22 LR bullet trajectory (should be just under an inch under the scope's dot/crosshairs at that distance, given that 50 yards is probably going to be my zero distance for .22 LR rifles).

Norm

Sure can. The Marlin is keeping a Henry lever gun and my son's bolt-action rifle company in the gun safe, along with an AR7 (which was not a complete impulse purchase - I had the plastic toy version of that one as a kid). And there's a couple of .22 pistols. So I've got a number of ways to burn through my stock of .22LR once I'm up to the trip to the range.

I hear you on ammo prices - Cheaper than Dirt seems to be getting about 30¢/round for .22LR unless you get 5000-round boxes of Armscor 36 grain where it's still north of 20¢/round. Used to be what, about a nickel a round?

Thinking back to when I bought thousand round boxes of .223/5.56 for $400 at Shooter's . . . or steelcase 7.62x39 for the AK at about $4/20 at Cabela's (still have a fair amount of each left). <sigh>

Norm

Looking like the Leupold scope I had planned to mount on the Mini-14 is going to end up on the Marlin 60 I picked up kind of on impulse a year or so ago. Quite a bit more scope than gun, but these 73 y/o eyes need the optics and I might as well work with what I already have on hand.

Health issues involving an implanted port in my upper right chest argue against shooting centerfires at least for the foreseeable future but I'm pretty sure I can handle .22LR and possibly .17HMR. Just waiting now on some rings to show up.

Norm

Center differential issue?

We had the center diff go bad on the 2010 LGT we had, but I don't remember what the symptoms were.

Norm

My custom leather for my SAAs showed up this week... very pleased!

 

Very nice, all of it.

Norm

Dammit, Penguin, posting up a 50-yard pistol target and my range is closed

But now I'm curious as to what you were shooting at the little outline at the top left.

Norm

While you're loading a couple of magazines, the gun gets to cool off a bit.

You're probably not as apt to suddenly realize this when shooting pistol as opposed to, say, a semiautomatic centerfire rifle, but it's happening.

Norm

Afraid to even think how much a Pardini might cost.

Bummer about the Benelli, I'd have expected better.

Norm

1911 requires more maintenance, and can be a little more finicky on reliability than striker guns. There's also more awareness required with manual safeties on a single action auto. I've seen issues with improper thumb placement, failures to properly engage the grip safety, and failures to engage the thumb safety on re-holstering. In at least one instance I'm personally familiar with, that particular issue caused an accidental discharge and injury.

 

1911 is a fantastic platform, it just demands a little more from the shooter. I've found over the years that most shooters just won't train that much. Also, switching back and forth between striker guns and 1911s is a recipie for problems for most shooters.

Appreciate the information. Even though the re-holstering and its implied carrying with it loaded parts that doesn't apply to me here. Not that I'd leave the range with any ammo left in the gun anyway.

Seems you'd have to go out of your way to not properly engage this particular grip safety, though. Unnoticeable while shooting.

Norm

Shit are they already doing a MK-IV?

 

Yeah OK, it's the same platform with more updates. So yes, good to go.

You might be interested in this variation. Around 45 ounces with a 6.88" barrel.

Push the button on the rear and it almost falls apart for cleaning

Norm

If it were as big as a pain in the ass for me as it sounds like it is for you I'd probably just skip it.

It is a bit of a PITA, probably more so if you still have a day job (I had already retired, so it ended up being more nuisance-level than anything). I wasn't in any particular hurry, so once I got everything on my end done it wasn't even worth fussing over the wait.

Norm

As both a long time 1911 shooter (since ~1980), and a long time instructor (1993) I would not recommend a 1911 as a first gun for a casual shooter, especially if there's any thoughts of using it as a defensive piece. Compared to a quality striker fired gun (Glock, M&P), mastering the 1911 requires a higher level of dedication and training. Most folks don't have the time/money to invest unless they're a serious shooter. I have even seen issues with pretty competent shooters when switching back and forth between striker guns and 1911s.

What sorts of issues?

I'm fairly new to all this, but I can shoot my Colt Gov't Model better than I can shoot either of my son's striker guns. As a side note, the light pipe in the front sight of my Colt fell out . . . but I think I like it better being able to use the front sight as an aperture anyway. Just going to take a little time to fully adjust to once my range opens up again.

Like Dish, I'm not looking past doing a little target shooting. Lord knows, getting a CC here in NJ is all but impossible.

Norm

Yeah I know that's what a lot of people do, I never did that because that means I'd have to commit to buying another handgun. I only applied for a handgun permit when I got my first FID and when I moved within the state and did a change of address. Since i was already doing the FID process it made sense to apply for a handgun permit at the same time.

I kind of came at it from the other direction. Started with the FID and no pistol purchase permits because at the time I wasn't even sure I was going to get into shooting handguns enough to actually own any myself. My son had a Glock in .40 and a Springfield XD in 9mm that I'd get to shoot when he was in town, so it wasn't like I woke up one morning and said to myself "I gotta go get a handgun and hope that I'll like shooting it".

Even though guns have been in and out of the fringes of my life for most of it, I was pretty late to actually owning any, being in my late sixties when I applied for my FID. I'd like to think it meant I brought a little wisdom to my firearms purchases rather than emotion or a "just fall in with the herd and get the same things everybody else buys" mentality. It clearly brought a preference for the older form factors, and I still don't have an AR (don't care all that much for direct impingement, anyway). First gun I bought was a Mini-14, strongly reminiscent of WWII's M1 Carbine (and in a caliber with widely-available and reasonably priced ammunition).

Norm

I was thinking about a 9mm initially, but realized I probably am only going to use it at a range, and home defense isn't a huge concern of mine.

 

The classes I'm doing they provide the guns, which I believe are 9mm. I might rent some 9mms too and see if I should skip the .22 I guess. They have VP9s, Springfield XD9, Rugers and Glocks. Thanks for the info on boxes

Before you buy anything in 9mm, shoot either a Colt 1911 Government Model or Springfield's Range Officer in 9mm.

On the matter of gun safes, think about whether you're likely to ever buy a long gun. You should be able to shoot a .22 rifle at indoor ranges.

Norm

only reason I recommend a 9mm over a 22 is the times I've spoke to Dish about guns, doesn't sound like he wants this to be the start of a collection, just wants a gun because Mizzurah.

For the use(s) that Dish currently envisions, I think for 9mm I'd actively look at something not intended for concealed carry. Something 1911-based with a 5" barrel would have the weight and bulk to mitigate recoil a bit, and in my rather limited experience a 1911 trigger is nicer than the triggers on striker-fired pistols.

I also forget that most people here live in America not NJ where getting handguns are a pain in the ass. Before I made my vacation home in Pennsylvania my official state of residency all I owned were 2 9mm handguns, a P226 and P229 because getting a permit each time I wanted to buy a handgun was a pain in the dick. I only did it twice over 4 years of residency here so I figured if I'm not going to own many pistols, make it something versatile.

The trick here in NJ is to get more than one pistol purchase permit with your application, with a good idea of what you really want to spend your money on already in mind. NJ's gun laws do discourage impulse buying (probably the whole reason for them being what they are), which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Only if you're getting close to your last purchase permit expiring might you feel any pressure to just go out and buy something.

Norm

As far as .22LR pistols are concerned, I have strong opinions. The only worthwhile options are target pistols, or quality revolvers. If you elect to purchase a target pistol depending on what you get you will have to feed it quality ammo or it won’t work right. So standard velocity target ammo, or go get fucked. The Ruger MK-II/III family or Browning Buckmark are good entry level options and will generally work with high velocity ammo of good quality as well as good standard velocity target ammo. Volquartson makes fancy Rugers of match quality that honestly cost as much as an Olympic pistol.

It's reassuring when somebody with your level of pistol shooting experience mentioned pistols I own. Well, the Ruger I have to go with the Buckmark is a MK-IV Competition, so I'm calling it close enough.

Norm

Must have about everything I need (at least that's what the remaining room in the gun safe is telling me), but my shooting club is closed and nonessential travel discouraged. It's like being all dressed up with no place to go . . .

Norm

Thanks.

I hear you on the rev hang, it's a bit annoying when I get careless and let it happen. Most of the time I just go fairly easy in 1st, make an unhurried upshift into 2nd, and only then get deeper into the throttle.

Norm

Not my 5th gen any more, but I saw it at the dealership a couple of days ago. Bit of a surprise (separate thread).

Norm

About six months ago I posted this in the Parking Brake Recall thread . . .

One less these days (engine seized). Wonder if they'll still send the notifications to me.

 

 

Norm

Since the repair cost was looking up toward double what the car was worth, we got into a 2019 WRX, purchased from the same dealership.

Imagine my surprise a couple of days ago when I went to the dealership to exchange a couple of oil filters for the WRX (they'd originally pulled the tall blue EJ-style filter when the FA takes the short fat black one even though the invoice identified the correct part number) and I discovered our old LGT sitting in the lot with a fresh set of plates on it, change in the console, and a car seat in the back.

What makes me so sure that it used to be ours is that it was the same color and was missing the same two stick-on badges on the driver side of the trunk lid, and only those two. Wish I'd thought to snap a picture of the VIN, though. Next time . . .

But I don't feel all that bad over it. We've at least postponed the possibility of having to consider buying a car that's some sort of automatic.

Side note on the WRX - the FA's twin-scroll turbocharger makes the power delivery less laggy and less abrupt . . . much, much nicer for corner-carving when the response is almost immediate than when you have to guess where you'll be in the curve when the power does kick in. 50 - 75 feet from pedal to power does make a difference.

Norm

^^^ This

One of the gun magazines recently ran an article covering several different Henrys. One they missed was the relatively new 'Long Ranger'.

Norm

Are the endlink fasteners tight enough?

Norm

One less these days (engine seized). Wonder if they'll still send the notifications to me.

Norm

I love the fact that you are kicking the boy racer stigma these cars have to the curb. I was seriously considering one in 2017 until my GT popped up on Craigslist.

Too bad that crowd will never know that the WRX is at least nominally my wife's . . . well, I can't say DD any more so maybe I'll invent a new term and call it her "whenever" driver.

Norm

For us, the WRX might be at the top of a pretty short list, but I'm hoping that we don't have to go car shopping quite yet. Have to see what's causing sort of a stick-slip shudder/chatter during tight turns first, and hope that it's not going to be to expensive to fix.

 

A manual transmission is (still) an absolute requirement . . . and the absence of certain features no less than highly desirable.

Well, guys, that's how it played out. We took delivery of a 2019 WRX Limited yesterday morning.

We managed to hold off the car shopping thing almost another two years but ended up pretty much having to on shorter notice than we'd have preferred. Let's just say that the estimated repair cost (not from a crash, BTW) was going to exceed retail value and that there was still a decently powerful 4-door with a manual transmission available. Had there not been such a car, I'd have had it fixed. Even though we're a couple of years older than when I posted #349 (I'm 71, she's a couple of years younger), we're both still just as insistent on having a MT as ever.

Requisite picture, color is dark gray metallic. Best picture I could get given the time of day/sun position. That's not my house in the background, it's just what was behind where the car could be sitting in the sun.

Norm