A lighter Thompson carbine

Makes you wonder why nobody tried using aluminum as a receiver for these before, because I've fired one a few times and they are heavy.  


Winchester has a new ammo line intended specifically for lever-action rifles.  Which is fine, they're fun to shoot, and can be downright handy.  Which reminded me:
One day a older couple came into the store and were looking at, well, everything, it being their first time there.  Wound up with the wife talking to me while the husband was getting details on something, and the subject of self-defense arms came up.  She said that they had some land in California they were thinking of retiring to, and what kind of firearms did I think might work well?

My suggestion was a couple of .357 Magnum revolvers, and a lever-action in the same cartridge.  Reasons being:
You can load both revolver and rifle with anything from the lightest target loads to the heavy, stomping magnums.

Those magnums, out of a 16" rifle barrel, gain damn near 400 feet per second velocity, with a significant boost in energy.

Make that rifle a saddle-ring carbine and you can clip it to a single-point sling and carry it slung over the shoulder, nice and handy.

And even Californicated has not tried calling lever-actions 'assault weapons' that I know of.

So you've got arms that use the same ammo, with the rifle giving the hot stuff a serious boost, all reloadable(if you do so), and still a very common, easy to get ammo.

I still think that's a good combination for most places.  If you're in a place where you might have to deal with bear a heavier cartridge might be better; at best a combo where handgun and rifle both fire .44 Magnum, which gives you .44 Special for lighter loads.  Yes, I know, heavier for the rifle if you really need to worry about big game, but you'd lose the 'same ammo for both' option, which could be a problem for some.

Ammo.com on 'how loud is a gunshot

and how far can it be heard?'

A new S&W is out there

the 386 Nightguard, either a .357 Magnum 7 shot, or a .44 Special 5 shot, both with a 3" barrel.

I want to see one.  Hell, I'd like to shoot one.

Kim's new boomstick is announced,

and it is a good one.  They sell these at the place I worked, and everyone I know who bought one loves it.  I haven't fired one, I can tell you the action is very smooth and fast, and the ability to switch barrels is nice.

No, I haven't.  I've got several nice .22 rifles, and I couldn't convince myself to make space/money for one of these, if I'd been able to I'd have grabbed one.

I can't help thinking this is going to have problems with "Hey, I used smokeless powder like it says,

why'd it blow up?"  Nevertheless, it is a nice step for a bunch of people, a muzzleloader designed to use specifically Blackhorn 209 or one of two smokeless propellants.  New CVA Endura, with a bolt-action breech.

According to their site, 

APPROVED PROPELLANTS FOR THE ENDURA
"Blackhorn 209 is CVA’s all-around recommended propellant for the Endura rifle, as it is both a great performer and legal for use during most muzzleloading hunting seasons.

However, since Blackhorn 209 can sometimes be hard to find, the CVA Endura was designed to also be usable with specific types and amounts of modern smokeless rifle powders. These approved smokeless rifle powders are IMR 4198 and VihtaVuori N120. Be sure to check your local hunting regulations before using such modern smokeless rifle powders for hunting."

WARNING: THESE ARE THE ONLY APPROVED PROPELLANTS FOR USE IN THE CVA ENDURA. DO NOT LOAD ANY OTHER TYPES OF MODERN SMOKELESS POWDER, INCLUDING OTHER SUCH POWDERS DESIGNED FOR PISTOLS, SHOTGUNS, OR RIFLES, IN A CVA ENDURA.

So no black powder, it would seem.  Just saw this this morning, be interesting with bullets work best with it, and what kind of accuracy.

This definitely counts as a 'Why?', and the only reason I can think of

is 'range toy'.

A bit of history on .30 caliber military sniper rounds,

the bullets in particular

Ammo.com piece,

 murders by weapons type

No surprises

Ok, Holosun, what gives?

I picked up one of their sights, which came with a 'Go to this sight to register your purchase' cards.  Which takes you to a huge messed-up web page with big empty spaces with big frames.

Looked up a address and sent "What gives?" message.  "We are the Holosun site for Europe, use this site(address given) to do this in the US."  WHich took me right back to the messed-up page.

Their sights are good, but this is a mess.

All the boomsticks I wouldn't mind having,

but have no real need for.  And that includes "I NEED it!" need.  Things like that Pedersoli double-barrel rifle in .44 Magnum.  Lots of other "Ooh, that's pretty!" things that I either don't have room for, or actually need, or both.

Two of my Grail guns have been found over time, there's maybe one I'd be real tempted to scrape up the money for if I found one(1800's Sharps rifles are rare and expensive), but other than that?  Nope, not really.

What brought this to mind is Kim is selling two rifles to make space for/money for a new one.  Oh, if I happened across that one thing I'd do that, but not much other than that comes to mind.  Which actually eases the mind a bit.

I am just about convinced that that gunsmith is right, Added data And more, answering comments

this rifle is cursed.

Just to go over this: DPMS receiver, 20" .308 barrel, rifle gas system, Superlative adjustable gas block, I bit the bullet, found a H4 buffer for a decent price and it's paired with a extra extra heavy buffer spring.  I took it out early in the week, and with the gas block venting at just shy of its complete capacity I got 22 rounds with no problem, then it started stovepiping.  With the empties ejecting at 3 o'clock.

Thinks I, 'Maybe it's when it gets dirty that it starts it again', so when back home cleaned it thoroughly and lubed, then today took it to the range to try again.

Nope.  Same problem from the start.

So I'm out of ideas.  Other than finding a open-minded priest.

Added: 
Had a standard gas block when all this started.

I did get a new extractor/spring set, as a bunch of people mentioned that as a possibility.

Ejector is the same, but has been checked on function.

Works great bare, but add the backpressure of a can and this happens, with all indications being overgassed.
I have built several AR15s in the past, none of them had such a problem.

Blarg, dammit.

2nd Added:
Obviously there's something about adding the can on that's triggering this.  Annoying as hell.

And to Anonymous, somebody mentioned the gas port itself possibly being the problem, and it's on the list to check soon as I have time.

Again, folks, thank you for the comments, personal 'This happened', and other information

A double-barrel 1911?

Definitely unique, but personally, no.

Speaking of "NO", this Dem candidate in Michigan who, it seems, has confessed to illegal voting.  Among hating where she lives now.


Found this piece of video on the most recent Trump attack, and- well,

Everyone seems to have been thinking "Ok, this part of the job's over", which let the guy rush past them.  With a shotgun.
Definite failure of mindset, I'd say.

Speaking of failed mindset, are they finally going to get rid of Starmer over there in (fG)Britain?  And if they do, just what Labour asshat do they think will do better?  And will the people start actually throwing all the traitors and backstabbers out?

And is it too late to stop the damage?

Damage?  Like, as the headline puts it, the acting ATF head very literally sleeping with the enemies of the 2nd?

It’s pretty easy to say that the violence is coming overwhelmingly from the Right if you overwhelmingly edit out any political violence from the Left.

Now I need to get some actual stuff done.  Hopefully.

CMP is selling 1903 rifles again

Rebuilt with suitable parts and new stocks.

Well, that was surprising (added data)

Had a chance to hit the outdoor range, and one thing I did was try the Federal 190-grain Subsonic ammo.  Set a target at 100 yards, and no holes in the paper.  Set up a target at 50, same.  But the dirt jumping from the berm makes me thing that hit way high.

So I got some handloads the rifle had been sighted with and tried them, right were should be.  

I'll save the rest of these until have the paper with me for a big target so a hole that's off the target will at least tell me where it hit.  

Added: These had been shot at 30 yards for accuracy, and had similar point of impact to loads- factory and hand- using the Hornady Sub-X bullets.  At distance I can see them being higher POI, as they have higher velocity and that nice pointed bullet, but damn...  Like I said, use the rest on a bigger target so I can see any higher holes without question.

Speaking of shooting, ran across this a bit ago and didn't have time to read through

or post on it: Gunfighting and Neuroscience: Why Using Your Front Sight Might Kill You.

He's talking about looking at the front sight as you're raising it to face a threat instead of keeping your vision on the threat.  Take a look if you have time, see what you think.

Had a chance to shoot something new this weekend,

a S&W M&P II Compact.  9mm, 4" barrel, 15 round magazine, and like most things anymore optic ready.  This one had a Holosun green dot sight.

I'd have to say, I'd carry one.  Changeable backstraps to better fit your hand, good trigger, and it put them where you wanted them.

About that trigger: the take-up portion was a touch rough, but this being a new one I'd suppose it'll smooth out a bit with use.  When you hit the break point, it had a definite stop, then a clean break.  For slow stuff it was easy to shoot, and for quick repeat shots I didn't notice the rough.  It worked very well for me, and if I was getting a new pistol this is one I'd definitely consider for carry.

Total about 50 rounds through it.  No, not an in-depth range test,  a good tryout.

And something stayed the same

Friend wondered if my .300 Blackout might have a tight chamber/bore and that's why those Federal rounds were faster than listed?

Today had a chance to put three out of a Ruger American bolt rifle, over a chronograph.  

Nope, same velocity as the ones before.

Well, I tried something that worked

on that rifle problem.

Little more on this gas block: the Superlative Arms gas block, first you open it up 18 clicks, which gives you a fully open flow through the port and into the action, then you adjust it down as needed to give you the ejection pattern you want, and it does this by venting excess gas out a port in the front of the block.  So it reduces the amount of gas going into the receiver that way instead of just blocking it.  

One thing advertised is that by doing that it's supposed to reduce fouling in the action, which has seemed to work.

You've got 30 clicks of adjustment, so today I took it down to a total of 28 clicks from open port, so it's venting a LOT of gas out the port.  And it worked, no jams or ejection problems.  Reduced it all the way, leaving one click(call it in reserve), and it still worked, full action cycle, locked the bolt on an empty mag.  Which seems kind of amazing, but at least for today it worked fine.

So that's the current status on this.  Total it's  a long path to here, and one of these days I'll write it up.

Note: I fired 17 rounds total today, and when I pulled the bolt carrier group to see about cleaning, it didn't need it.  Apparently all that vented gas took most of the fouling with it.

Added because I forgot it before, the instructions on this block in case you're interested

Friend picked up something interesting

An old Remington rolling block .22, with a tang sight, folded down

Now raised

About as simple as can get, no adjustments.  I'll be interesting in seeing where it hits for him

When you artify a pair of revolvers

to the point of "What?"

Lots more pictures and information at TFB