Problem Solved

My friend Stephen and I were talking the other day about the high cost of ammo and how we like to shoot 22 rifles to keep our skills honed. One of the most popular rifles is the little Ruger 10-22 but one of  the main drawbacks is cleaning the rifle.
We have all had the problem, you come home from the range and start cleaning your rifle on the kitchen table, you spray oil down the barrel and before you know it it drips all over your wife's clean floor, well that problem is solved.
A few entrepreneurs make an adapter which allows an oil filter to be screwed on the end of the barrel and trap all those solvents thus keeping you out of the doghouse with your wife.
I personally think this is a brilliant solution to the problem especially considering how the EPA wants to keep oil and chemical solvents out of landfills, in fact I think the government should require one of these adapters be supplied with all guns sold in the interest of keeping the environment clean.
Now I know some of you devious minds are thinking this could be used as a suppressor but I should caution that would not be considered cool by our good friends at the ATF.
It goes without saying you should make sure the gun is unloaded before cleaning because in the case of accidental discharge the round would punch a hole in the end of the filter thus rendering it useless to retain oil or solvents.
Having said all that you should check it out, you can do a Google or Ebay search for "solvent trap, Ruger 10-22" or something similar and see there are quite a few available for less than $40. Not a bad price for marital harmony.

Welcome

Thanks for two new followers to my simple blog. Welcome to Jan Morrow and The Daily Smug. I hope you visit back often, feel free to comment any time as I try and answer all comments and questions.

Freedom is never free.

I am not in the habit of re-posting but please forgive me this Memorial Day. This is a post I wrote last year  and I want to honor these men I served with and all those who are never recognized for their ultimate sacrifice. 

This Memorial Day weekend we remember those who have died for our country. Many times we hear about the number of fallen troops in the history of our country but seldom do we put faces to those who have given all for our freedom. I am doing something I have never done before now, I am writing about some of those men who I am proud to have served with.
   Early during the Iraq War (2003-2004) I was deployed to Iraq with a Seabee unit, which is basically a Combat Engineer group for the Navy and Marine Corp. We were originally tasked with bridge, road and runway repair and construction but this was early in the war and the battle of Fallujah was raging in the Sunni Triangle and needless to say it was a bad neighborhood. Our battalion was attached to the MEG (Marine Engineer Group) and the MEF (Marine Expeditionary Force) and we were split up into smaller units / squads to work in convoy operations, base defense, force protection etc. I was first assigned to a Special Ops base North of Baghdad, working on force protection in a FOB (forward operating base) It was a lot of closely guarded ops and to this day if I pull the compound up on Google Earth the area is blurred out. Later our unit was sent to Ramadi to work with the MEG.
As I said earlier, in 2004 Anbar province was a bad area and little did we realize that when we boarded that DC-10 in Gulfport Mississippi that 7 of us on that one aircraft would not return alive. Apart from the seven KIA there were others of us to return in wheel chairs, stretchers or on crutches. Some of us had visible wounds and some not so visible but without a doubt we were all forever marked by our service.

On this Memorial Day weekend I will offer no details but rather honor to the seven men in my unit who made the ultimate sacrifice.

EO3 Christopher M. Dickerson

Eastman, GA.

KIA when his vehicle was hit by an IED, Anbar province, Iraq. 
33 years old, survived by wife and children.







EO2 Trace W. Dossett

Orlando, FL.
KIA,  hostile fire in Anbar province, Iraq.
37 years old survived by wife and 2 daughters. 







SW3 Ronald A. Ginther

Auburndale, FL.
KIA as a result of hostile fire in Anbar province, Iraq.
37 years old survived by wife and 2 children

BU2 Michael C. Anderson

Daytona, FL.
KIA as a result of hostile fire in Anbar province, Iraq.
36 years old, survived by wife and daughter.








BU2 Robert B. Jenkins

Stuart, FL.
Died as a result of hostile fire in Anbar province, Iraq.

35 years old, survived by wife.






SW2 Jason B. Dwelley

Apopka, FL.
KIA when his vehicle was hit by an IED, Anbar province, Iraq.
31 years old.






 
CM3 Scott R. McHugh

Boca Raton, FL.
KIA as a result of hostile fire in Anbar province, Iraq.
Died 3 days past his 33rd birthday. His mother's care 
package had not arrived before he was killed.





"When I die, I desire no better winding sheet than the Stars and Stripes, and no softer pillow than the Constitution of my country." -- Andrew Johnson

I thought I had seen it all.

Nothing surprises me anymore, I walk outside near my home this morning and I see a squirrel stretched out on his back taking a nap in the middle of the road and he wouldn't move.
Talk about a good way to get run over.

Grizzly Target Review

 

 A few months ago we did a field review on a Grizzly Target (more like a torture test)  the full review can be seen here  anyway the good folks at Grizzly asked if I would be interested in reviewing another one of there other targets the IPSC Steel Target.

Like the first target it is made of AR500 3/8" steel plate which in itself is 'bullet proof' (pun intended) and then hot dipped galvanized to keep it from rusting.
It comes as seen here with a base along with spikes to anchor it to the ground and the upper part which is the target.
 The 2"X4" post you will need to supply yourself which makes it easy to break down and transport as well as replace when it gets all shot up, this also allows you to use any length in to suit your need.

Here is the back of the target it measures 12" X 24" and pivots when hit. The neat thing is also it angles slightly down and the bullet splatter falls in front of the target.
I shot this target at 7 yards with FMJ 45 ACP and 9mm and 38 special with no hint or worry of ricochet as you might have with a rigid mount plate. This target also exposes no moving parts to projectiles which keeps it easy to maintain.

From the experience on the first target I knew this one could take any thing we threw at it so I opted to just enjoy some casual shooting.

Below is a picture of the target after about 30 rounds of various calibers and even after a hundred or so more it showed no sign of fatigue. All the testing done here was between 7 to 25 yards however it  would also make an excellent 100 yard target for rifle practice.

Observations... It functions very well, because of it's weight it does not swing as much as the first target we tested but still enough for you to see it's hit. It's also nice to hear an audible response to impact as well.
I really like the fact it controls back splatter especially considering I  almost never use eye protection when shooting (I know, not too smart) but between of all my years growing up and shooting without it and it was never required on military ranges either I guess old habits die hard.
Paper targets are needed for sighting in weapons and qualifying but mostly I like to just blast away at something because it provides more of a real world feel and this target fits the bill. I have no doubt you gun will wear out before this target does.
I intend to do further testing and will update the results here.

And we think it's new.

I was sent this picture of a grave in Attica Cemetery, Harper county Kansas.

 It is over 120 years old but it is very telling. 

 

End of a good day.

Yesterday evening I took my wife and mom out for a drive and ice-cream.
 We stopped at the mouth of the river.

At right a motor yacht coming in after a day out.

The sun as it sets across the river.

As I took these pictures it reminded me of Kymber  posting pictures of the sky

Mothers Day

Happy Mothers Day to all you Mom's out there.


Today can be a happy day and a sad day, many have lost their mothers some mothers have lost children, it does not seem right when a mom outlives any of her children and for them this can be a painful day.
God bless all mothers.

You know what makes me sick ?

We have brave hero's who die for this country and they get a flag draped coffin and the family will get the flag along with a word of gratitude form a uniformed officer on behalf of a grateful nation.

On the other hand you get a queer basketball player announcing he is gay and the president of the United States calls him personally to thank him for his 'courage' as a 'hero' ? 

I hope I'm not the only one this bothers.

Tragedy avoided

A few nights ago about 10:30 at night  very large pine tree in my yard fell over. It made a very loud crash and shook the ground.
Now while this may seem like a serious thing to someone like my friend Stephen who would be wondering if it hit the house or the camper or the garage or the truck etc. along with concern of it's removal.  It was not so in my case, you see it fell into the street....completely blocking the road, cars had to turn around and go another route. So about 11:00 PM I saw a police car with flashing lights out at the road guarding the scene to stop someone from hitting the downed tree which was fine with me as I was in bed.
 At about 1:00 in the morning I awoke to the sound of chainsaws and trucks and the police was still there with lights on as they worked into the night.
At daylight when I went out the tree was all cut up out of the road and hauled off so I sat on the porch and drank my coffee without concern of tree removal.
Lesson learned, Next time a tree falls in your yard just drag it out in the street.
  The moral of the story is if you live right and treat people right good things happen in return, I hope Stephen is paying attention.

Spring Garden

The weather here has been really good, it was 56 deg here this morning but it has made for a slow start to the garden. I am not complaining however, I really like the cool mornings and evenings.

The garden has been in for about a month and with the recent rain needed tending.

 Squash are starting to form.
















              Also tomatoes.

 Here is some squash and zucchini plants. The corn is a little slow for some reason.

This was a new trick for me. I had always planted bush beans as poles were a pain to set up. A friend of mine used a section of chain-link wire so I decided to give it a whirl. Seems to be working good.

Guns and ammo shortages, what next ?

A lot of people have wondered what will happen next as far as supply of guns and ammo. I cannot predict the future and and won't pretend to but I do have a gut feeling about it.

 Around election time last year some people got caught with little or no supplies and with the school shootings and the election outcome there was a lot of talk about gun bans and ammo taxes and background checks and registration etc. which resulted in panic buying, I remember saying back then it will pass in a few months and it has.
The gun control issue for now seems dead in the Senate (I said for NOW) but it will be back, my guess is after the next election. You see gun control is a 'third rail' to most politicians and the Democrats don't want to appear anti-gun because they desperately need the House back next November to further their dismantling of the Constitution.
 I remember just three or four  months ago AR15's were out of stock and fetching $2000 and up. and ammo such as 9mm was non-existent. Gun and ammo manufacturers are capitalists and they are cranking out their wares in overtime to meet the demand and it is starting to catch up. I personally saw a few days ago at a large gun store stacks of complete AR15's made by CMMG  for $649 and Bushmasters for $719. Today at a local big chain sports store I saw plenty of 9mm for $10.99 for a box of 50 so supply is coming back for now.  I have a hunch that once supply passes demand there will be a glut and you will see some good sales prices maybe in as little as two or three months.
If you got caught shorthanded last time I think you dodged a bullet and if you are patient you will be rewarded with the ability to build up supplies but be warned the anti-gun crowd will be back with a vengeance at some point, probably after November 2014 and the next time there is an ammo and gun ban scare it may be for real.
Anyway this is just my opinion, I may be all wrong so take it for what it's worth. However if you get caught short again shame on you.