The Wildwood Light

2011-01-31T18:46:00.003-05:00

Gun-a-Day 31: TO3-78 & the January, 2011, Family Photo

The TOZ brand is sometimes spelled with a 3 for the Z (TO3) because, I guess, the 3 character is close to the Cyrillic shape for the Russian alphabet's Z-character. I like it! It's old-school Leet-Speak for tech-nerds and gun-geeks alike. My peeps!

The combination of reliability, economy, durability, and affordability makes this rifle a tremendous value for most anyone who wants to have fun shooting .22LR's for fun or profit. It doesn't need my recommendation or endorsement, but I sure do offer both to anyone interested in getting the most out of a gun-buying dollar and a gun-firing minute.

The steady, light, chilly rain was falling under a grayed-out canopy of clouds this morning as I went out with the safety on and only 10 rounds in a curved magazine. I found a pine tree at my 50-yard firing line and took a supported-standing position with my eyes on the little red plastic soda cup lid in front of the woodpile backstop. The scope covers were never opened. Today was all about the adjustable iron sights on this tough little Russian gun.

My semi-auto Browning Sporter may still be King of the Cabinet when the Zombie Squirrel Horde is on the loose, but this gun is the sentimental favorite-- my Tovarisch! "TOZ-vidanya."

Shot o'the Day: It's the January Family Photo! What an odd-looking clan, huh? They're quite a random conglomeration of styles and purposes and personalities ...

In all, I was privileged to put 12 guns to work this month, and it was not unwelcome work in any way for me. Seven rifles (and one is also a .410 shotgun) and five pistols were put to the test, and they passed with distinction, even when I didn't necessarily excel in my own results. I love a good test of just about any kind at just about any time, and I loved seeing what I could do without worrying about needing to impress anyone (including myself). I wanted the chance to get out every day and do something with my guns, and I hoped to learn some things in the process. I certainly have learned a great deal, and I am very, very thankful that January worked out so well.

And, hey, how 'bout this target? Six shots from 50 yards are clearly on the target with the regular sights. It's a bit wider than a squirrel's center mass, but I'm closer than I've ever been to feeling like I could ethically and responsibly take a 50-yard shot at a varmint/pest, and that's one of the very welcome results of this first month of the Gun-a-Day project.

Wait. Did I say six shots on target? Isn't it amazing that I managed to get all of the other four through that straw-hole opening there at 7 o'clock?! Is that some remarkable shooting, or what?!

Yeah ... right. :-)

No, I can accept a 60% success rate today, knowing that I might have a chance to do better next time I try to make my allergy-watery eyes work with the surprisingly accurate standard sights on this unassuming, understated, over-achieving rifle.

It's not exactly the smartest idea to buy firearms on a whim, but this is one impulse transaction that I'm more and more grateful to have completed. It has been a great help in my training and learning process.

Lord willing, I'll be even better prepared and consistently accurate as the days and weeks add up. If I am able to reach the 365-days of shooting goal, then I'll know that I have made the most of the blessings I receive on a daily basis.

How am I thankful? Let me count the ways.
1. The blessing of abundance which makes this project possible. My small income and many work hours still affords me so much more luxury than so many others in the world. I do not take that for granted.

2. The blessing of health which makes this project manageable. I'm overweight and under-trained and the quality-control inspector was on a smoke break when my bones were "knit together," but I'm able to stubbornly and happily do the things I enjoy and then complain about the aches and pains at will. I do not miss the significance of that opportunity.

3. The blessing of interest and enthusiasm for target shooting which was always in the back of my mind but was encouraged and supported by my good friend, Russ. I do not pretend that I'm a self-sufficient lone wolf.

4. The blessing of a property where I can walk out the kitchen door and be on my own private range and hunting ground. My wife and I have worked so hard for so long to have this modest little place, and we know that it did not come to us for any reason other than God's provision and direction.

5. Of course, the blessing of our nation's freedom is so crucial to this whole situation. I do not mistakenly disregard the value and the genius of the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights and the foundational Amendments which have proven so resilient and dynamic for 200+ years and counting ...

6. Last and most important, I'm humbled by the blessing of safety over all of these days and all of this activity with my firearms. I do not confuse the difference between God's amazing grace and my own careful but inevitably-human-so-therefore-fallible safety efforts. I have to be vigilantly cautious and constantly responsible, but ultimately only God can be credited for any safety and success I experience.

2011-01-30T21:08:00.002-05:00

Gun-a-Day 30: TO3-78, .22LR, Bolt Action, Simmons 4x32 scope, prone at 50 yards

Today's Mission? Prone shooting, part II (just when I thought it was safe to enjoy another perfectly mild, breezy, and sunny day). The potential for redundant self-indulgence was pretty serious, since the plan for iron-sight shooting turned, at the last minute, into another practice round with the scope. But it turns out that I learned some very good things that I might not have otherwise. I also found from the pictures that I had some very tight shot pairs in the process (interested parties may refer to shots 12 & 13 and 14 & 15 in the time-lapse-- the first two touch over another hole, and the second pair are almost single-holers at 3 o'clock on the target edge). No doubt there's a bit of good fortune involved in those shots, but they did happen, and this gun is taking on legendary and heroic proportions in my mind ...

Today's Documentation? The "gallery "picture" is the time-lapse video (in part 'cause I just found out that my Flickr account is getting overloaded ... I'm running out of free storage space) which includes the rifle on the shooting mat at the end.

Today's Recognition? Did I say shooting mat? Actually, in classic, Gun-a-Day cheapskate style, that black throw is a barbecue grill pad that I got on clearance. It works great, with its plasticized pad, as both a ground cloth and as an indoor gun-cleaning catch-all-base. No stains on carpets or tables ...

But enough about a stupid piece of black synthetic fabric! What a hoot today's shoot was! The rimfires were poppin' and flyin' with wild, blustery, ballistic abandon. How great is it to be able to post another 50 for 50 round? Pretty great.

Today's Lesson? I do much better with smaller targets! Counter-intuitive but true. This is the tightest total group I've ever shot at 50 yards (or any other distance to the best of my knowledge), and I'm pretty sure I owe most of the credit to the pizza-box cardboard insert and the 2-inch Shoot-n-C target for helping me concentrate and center better than ever.

I may only use the 6-inchers for 100 yard-plus shooting from now on. This is definitely my new strategy for 50-yard targeting.

Shot o'the Day is the "one that almost got away" out where the target was held in place. I'm really happy with how compact this total group is, and the "flier" is the exception that proves the point.

Today's Observation? Not so significant, but genuinely interesting to me: these cheapo, bent-aluminum/steel (?) yard sign holders are tough. The shot that turned the target and tore a big chunk out of it actually hit the pressure-pinch circle, and the wiry, stubborn, little widget didn't do much more than turn in place.

In fact, it seems to have dropped the bullet dead in its path. I think I found it after the session (seen on the right in the target close-up). Sure does fit like a glove in the cardboard indentation and tear. The major deformation leaves it as a kind of "smear" of lead. It got the worst end of that confrontation.

I probably shouldn't have been surprised to find that my collarbone was still tender from a couple of days ago. Now it's even more so, but I just look at the target grouping, and the pain fades into the background ... The wooden butt-plate may get a small recoil-reducing slip-cover sometime this year, though. Just for extra length of pull, of course!

Today's Resolution? The scope issue is completely settled in my mind. This rifle deserves the best glass I can put it. It won't be the best there is (can't afford that, I'm sure), but I do intend to upgrade the optics on this pretty-doggone-near-to-a-tack-driving firearm. I feel like I'm obliged to ol'Tozzy ...

Tomorrow: iron sights ... no, really!

2011-01-29T23:23:00.000-05:00

Gun-a-Day 29: TO3-78, .22LR, knee-rested seated position, Simmons 4x32 scope with Butler Creek flip-up lens covers

Well, if this wasn't the first time I've ever tried elbow-to-knee, seated shooting, I'd be more disappointed with my results, but I'm going to have to accept 47 out of 50 on target and just be happy that my 3rd or 4th shot (according to the time-lapse below) was centered, and there were a couple of nice key-holed pairs in the session as well.

In addition to this, the position experiment also led to a significant discovery. That is, I do NOT like seated shooting. Yes, okay. I need to lose at least 25 pounds, and maybe I'd be much more comfortable. I'm working on it. Promise. In the meantime, I had a hard time holding on target, and I had a hard time avoiding a recurring problem with the oxygen-debt shakes.

Knee-rested shooting is not for me. My days as a little league baseball catcher caught up with me long ago, and my congenitally-twisted vertebrae don't take too kindly to long stretches of sitting as still as possible in one position. Those issues and the weight concern all add up to my not planning to try that set-up again any time soon. The results weren't bad-bad, but they weren't that good, and it wasn't very comfortable. All good stuff to know.

The shots went downrange much more quickly today. The action is either loosening up a bit, or I'm getting more familiar with it, or both. Both is probably right. I had to keep reminding myself to take an extra second for the sake of the time-lapse effect.

Then again, it appears that 3 shots didn't even make the cardboard at all, so I must have been rushing a bit too much. Also good to try and good to learn. The pictures tell the story. Here they are ...

So what are the positives today? At least two things stand out: Ammo & Accessories.

Well, I finished off the last of the Federal Round Nose .22LR's yesterday, so I was curious to see how my buddy TOZ would like the coppered hollow-points. Also Federals, but I recalled as I was cleaning guns last night that I'd had a feed ramp problem with this rifle when I first tried it out. The owner of my favorite gunshop in the area stood by our trade deal and smithed it up a bit to make it more like a ramp and less like a brick wall. I haven't had any serious feed issues since, and I was glad to see that the hollow-points chambered just fine. That's a very, very good thing, 'cause I've got about six boxes of hollow-points left which I've stockpiled on and off during the "Great Ammo Shortage of '09 & '10. They're great in the Brownings, and they work just as well in this Russki-rifle.

Also: I do not like the sling currently on this gun. It's a Remington with .410 and/or large caliber holders, so it's not meant for a .22, and I only have it on as a "short-term, temporary" thing, but it's funny how that kind of stop-gap can end up lasting for years? Not this time, though. Once summer hits, I'll definitely be looking through my spare parts bins for a good, "permanent" replacement.

The accessory on this rifle that I do like very much is the pair of Butler Creek flip-up lens covers I installed last year. Wal*Mart and a couple of shops I stop in once in a while all had a number of sizes on clearance, so I just grabbed up anything that looked close to my optics and put them on whatever fit. I wouldn't have worried about this scope at all, but the covers were exactly right for them, so on they went. I've tried "bikini" covers elastic band-connected slip-overs and a number of other things, but these flip-ups are the only thing I ever want to use on anything I currently own. They work, and they are so convenient-- completely no-hassle-- and efficient. Being a person who might tend to be able to lose just about anything at any time from a pocket or range bag, I'm completely sold on these "always attached" gizmos. They get Gun-a-Day's highest recommendation.

That and a buck-fifty won't get anyone a latte-mocha-vente-whatever, but it is my endorsement nonetheless, worthless or otherwise. Good on ya, Butler Creek!

Now, the time has come for shot o'the day, and it's a sad little fella. In the interests of full-disclosure integrity, I need to point out that I don't know for sure that this is one of the three that missed today's board, but I offer it as a representative example of shots that string low (at least 4 or 5 shots have missed the target backboard altogether in the last 2 or 3 days. This is, I guess, one of 'em. The little copperhead ended up in the short railroad tie section that I have been using to "guard" my iPhone 4 while getting the time-lapse shots. Sure glad that old chunk of wood was sitting there!

I found it while looking for slugs and fragments in the backstop, and now it's safely stored away in the bullet-bucket with all kinds of company in all kinds of sizes and, now, shapes.

We had gorgeous, pre-Spring weather, and I felt very blessed to have this excuse (along with the deadfall clearing, tree-felling, and trail-building I did) to be out in it, having fun with my time, my tools, and my little tract of land. God grace is great (and amazing).

2011-01-28T21:10:00.002-05:00

Gun-a-Day 28: TO3-78, .22LR, 4x32 Simmons scope, prone position at 50 yards

Lay-flat shooting is new for me, and it gave the perfect excuse for another session spent with this little Russian beauty. I'm not sure exactly why I haven't done much of it (other than the need to think through what I might use for a ground mat and how to avoid getting myself and my gear all grungy, but I was happy to realize that this rifle and this breezy-cool, sunny-sky-warm day was the perfect combination for a Gun-a-Day exercise. At first, I found some unexpected challenges with "shouldering" the rifle from flat out on my stomach. I must have very pronounced collarbones or something, because I couldn't find a spot for the wooden butt-plate to stabilize without it bothering me. I probably didn't have a quality hold on the gun, but that is another good reason for continued practice. Maybe an elbows-to-knees seated position would be a good mission for tomorrow. Just about any excuse will do to keep me operating this piece of equipment.

That relatively small discomfort in no way minimized my enjoyment of another opportunity to test this gun and to be tested by it. I was getting tired and a bit stiff by the end. My admiration is deep and wide for battlefield soldiers who have had to ignore such aches and pains while fighting for their lives and my/our freedom. Respect.

My fascination and infatuation with this rifle continue to deepen with every multi-magazine target session. The time-lapse video shows that my first three shots were a nice little group, and the rest of the shots were spread a bit, but the overall results were very encouraging for a first-time, ground-pounding lead-toss. Today's session was also about learning more about doing time-lapse photography. I positioned my iPhone closer than ever on the Owle Bubo rig, and the results are much more satisfying than the previous attempts. So far, there has been no problem of any kind with debris or bullet deflection. I don't yet have the confidence to put it this close with anything but .22-caliber rounds in play.

I need to take a moment in the middle of all this to express my gratitude to God for His blessing in my life and on my family. We are so, so grateful for the privilege of owning this property. We've worked very hard, and some people have much more to show after 25+ years, but we love our little wedge of acreage, and we feel God's mercy, favor, and kindness every day we are here.

Like no other place we've ever been, our home and woods and meadow and pond and gardens provide such a sense of peace and satisfaction that we have an almost unlimited source of inspiration each day for living out the wisdom of Psalm 92:2, which advocates the practicality and propriety of "declaring His love in the morning and His faithfulness at night." What a humbling, exciting, fulfilling thing it is to be the undeserving recipients of God's overflowing generosity.

Shot o'the day is, once again, the one that got away. Down below the 5 o'clock spot, a single, small hole is left from the shot which went downrange just as my throat caught in mid-swallow and caused me to shift my position to head off a cough. I'd let a bit too much creep into the trigger, and I said, "Oh, that's not good," as soon as the firing pin did its duty. It's disappointing to not reach my goal of three straight "50 out of 50" days, but I should just be glad it's on the board at all. All of this has me in a bit of a dilemma-- caught between two ideas which both make good sense to me. The first is that I should never do anything to mess this system up by messing with the optics or anything else. If it is this accurate, I should leave well enough alone. The second idea is very compelling, though. I'm really wondering what 3-9x40 glass would make possible on this rifle. I'm beginning to think that similar accuracy at 100 yards is very possible, and my eyes just aren't clear enough to see the center ring from that distance on just 4x magnification. I'm not going to rush into anything, but there's a chance that a few days of Gun-a-Day work, later in the year, may be spent sighting in a different scope. It already sounds like great gun-fun.

On another note: if there is a person out in the big wide world who is more of a cheapskate shooter than I am, I would definitely like to meet him or her, because I'd like to learn a few tricks from them that I could put to use. Until then, though, there is no one in my circle of life who even comes close to operating on the shoe-string budget and scrap-management target-design "plan" that I follow, and I'd be glad to know if there are ways to cut the budget even more to the bone. I don't even have the decency to be embarrassed by my fun-with-stickers target for the day.

As an example, I'm glad I finally realized that I don't have to just throw away the target borders from the Shoot-n-C sheets. Not only can the unused pasters become target pieces on their own, it's nice when they're surrounded by the yellow sheet-edge on a target sheet. I'm out of the 6-inch targets now, but I think these leftovers will do just fine for a while. After that, I might just start pulling out those plastic Pepsi bottles I've been saving up. The logo make a great little center ring ...

There's no risk of my work being mistaken for a professional endeavor, though, that's for sure, but I am just as surely enjoying it all as great educational fun ...

2011-01-27T21:14:00.006-05:00

Gun-a-Day 27: TOZ-78, .22LR, Simmons 4x32 scope

Just in case my official, Gun-a-Day position has not been made clear, this declaration is announced:
My little Russian-born, almost-balsa-woody, small-bolt-y rifle is fanTOZtic!

Before getting home, I was planning to shoot with iron sights, but I had so much fun yesterday that I started developing new mission scenarios just to make sure I could string the practice sessions out for a few more days. So, today's "job" ("Please, Sir, may I have some more?") was to hit the 50-yard firing station again, employ the scope, and take a seated position, using an elbow-to-knee rest and support arrangement.

The scope doesn't quite give me enough magnification to see target hits clearly, but I saw just enough yellow on the Shoot-n-C target to know that the first five rounds went alright. From there, I not only managed what I think is a decent group-- all on the target once again-- while shooting the whole set at least twice as fast as I did yesterday.

I aimed faster and triggered quicker than my usual tendency to over-think, under-breathe, and over-wait on shooting (too often to the point of beginning to shake for lack of oxygen), and the results are very "acceptable." For me, they're downright fulfilling.

I picked out all Federal round-nosed cartridges ("lead-heads" in my book, 'cause they have no copper coloration-- nothing but smooth, gray metal.

As I type, it occurs to me that I have rarely (if ever?) done a session of prone shooting. Perhaps tomorrow! Also, this rig is just begging for a time-lapse photography work-up, too.

Before getting too far ahead of myself, I'll make the call on shot o'the day. It's another cumulative pattern on a target affixed to an otherwise un-holed piece of cardboard which was "painted" with lead "markers" as the red-orange sun sunk into the gray-green fields under cloudless, ice-blue skies full of chilling, puffing breezes which were being scraped clean of farm smells by abrasive, lively pine needles and dead-dry (and yet stubbornly still branch-bound) oak leaves. A faint trace of bonfire-spiced ash and coal was floating as one of the thermal layers of near-earth atmosphere-- nothing is better as a stress-relieving aroma on a deep-darkening, shadow-lengthening, temperature-plummeting mid-winter's night.

All that and the smell of rimfired gunpowder residue and the sight of thoroughly-plugged target paper? What a great way to let go of daylight and start soaking up moonlight.

=== +++ ===

What It TOZ?

It was designed practically. It was produced economically. It was made sturdily. It was priced reasonably.
It was fitted capably. It was finished unpretentiously. It was distributed effectively.
It was marketed straightforwardly. It was reviewed favorably.

It was purchased confidently.

It functions reliably. It handles comfortably. It rests steadily. It aims easily. It presents handsomely.
It performs notably. It triggers consistently. It fires satisfyingly. It kicks almost-imperceptibly.
It reports pleasantly. It prints impressively. It travels lightly.
It cleans quickly. It stores conveniently.

It is valued affectionately.

=== +++ ===

2011-01-26T23:59:00.005-05:00

Gun-a-Day 26: TOZ-78 Bolt Action .22LR, Simmons scope and iron sights (25, 50, and 100 yard settings)

I might never have expected to find out that I not only wanted to own a Russian-made rifle, but that I would also like it so much and find it so easy to use and accurate to shoot that it would become a go-to favorite. But after getting the Remington/Baikal and finding it such a solid, reliable rifle/shotgun combination and after reading a September 2008 American Rifleman article about the Winchester Wildcat version of this rifle coming to the U.S. market, I decided that I'd like to try one on for size.

Turns out it's a great fit for me. All the better that a visit to my local gunshop revealed that not only had the owner heard of the model, he actually had one of them on the rack over his shoulder. Not only that, it was the actual TOZ version, not the adapted/imported version Winchester has licensed, so the original (better, in my opinion) bolt-shape, the hood/ring front sight, standard forearm shape and tri-flip sight were all in place (all of which I like much better than the Winchester-nuanced model).

Incredible. I took that as a sign that my plan/goal to find a decent Remington Nylon 12 at a decent price (good luck, right?) needed to change. A bit of haggling and negotiating for a Beta C-Mag swap later, and I was loading this unit into my truck for the short ride home to begin what I hope will be a life-long association with this handy little tool. A spare set of see-through scope rings were dug out of the gear bins, and spare Simmons scope was set in place. The sight-in process was quick and simple, and it was all set up in almost no time at all.

I have never had a moment's regret about that change of plans.

Simply put, it's fun to shoot this thing! I found a three-foot square of salvage formica and pressboard counter-top, slapped a Shoot-n-C in the middle of it, propped it up in the target pit, and returned to the 50-yard firing position. Using an improvised, y-yoked monopod (and the left front fender of my truck), I took an easy, still stance and starting sending bullets downrange. With aim held throughout at center-red, the cluster-pattern was very consistent-- up and right. On the target between the center and two o'clock.

Wow! I think I achieved one of my main Gun-a-Day goals today. Unless there was a stray shot off by more than about two feet in any direction, I managed to put all 50 shots on the target today with my inexpensive, bare basics, post-Soviet-era, Russian-made bolt action rifle. There's no let-down of any kind, though. It's not like that goal is met and now I'm off to something else. No, the opposite is the case. I am eager to see if I can match, meet, or exceed this impromptu result day after day after day after day.

I looked the counter-top scrap over very carefully when I got done, and I could not find any off-target holes. Afraid I was missing something obvious, I looked the whole thing over very carefully from both sides. There are no other holes than those made on and through the target.

And these results don't surprise me in the least. This is a sweet, simple, solid, straight-shooting gun, and it's a personal favorite for all those reasons and more. Even the scope is a no-nonsense, nothing-fancy, little loss-leader of a bargain basement optic, but it lined up easily and has kept pretty close to zero in spite of a major move and multiple gun-storage relocations.

The reverse-side photo is shot o'the day. I love seeing all of the chunks out of that one area and no holes-- nothing-- anywhere else.

This is exactly my idea of Gun-Fun!

Though I did not use them today (soon!), I know from past experience that the iron sights flip-adjust distance graduations are accurate (dead on) and intuitive, too. And I may be putting them to work tomorrow or soon thereafter. I'll also be re-zeroing it with one or more sessions before it goes back into the cabinet. Every session with this will be enjoyable, and the confidence I feel in the platform seems to translate directly to my expectations for effectiveness and accuracy in my results.

There's no fine craftsmanship or mil-spec tolerances or custom detail to this rifle. No, it's a proletariat peasant of a gun, but it's a workhorse that knows its work and gets it done with a minimum of complaint and hesitation.

If only I were that industrious and focused and hard-working and quiet about my challenges and frustrations ...

2011-01-25T23:23:00.000-05:00

Gun-a-Day 25: Bond Arms Ranger II + PDX1 .410 ammunition

A Work of Art Resting Beside Two Works of Craftsmanship-- All Resting on a Piece of Junk

I drove home in the rain, in the dark, and in a state of semi-exhaustion, but I had a job in mind for the Ranger. A couple of days ago, I thought I'd be able to let it go, thought I'd be able to just fire the "normal" shells as the break-in rounds, thought I'd be able to save the super-shells for the "real thing."

But by the middle of this afternoon, I knew it was absolutely necessary to get home asap and get some Winchester PDX1 shells run through this mini-cannon. I wasn't sure I had a target that would do them justice (something squishy or puffy or thick and brittle), but something would be figured out, and these attack-ending loads would have their chance to match up with this Texas-proud, hand-held, mini-tank gun.

Or, at least almost absolutely necessary.

Before: "Dual Power," indeed ...

If I were a rich man, maybe I would have taken time to let a couple gallons of milk in jugs sit in the sun and curdle up nice and smelly. They'd make a nice mess in response to shotgun fire, and it would look great on the slow-mo playback. If I were a richer man, I'd probably have dedicated vats filled with Mythbusters-grade ballistic gelatin just jigglin' in anticipation of being struck by flying metal. If I were a rich, rich man, I'd probably have my butler doin' all the shooting for me, and what a bummer that would be, so I'm just going to be happy to be under-funded and overly-cheap and that I found this novelty-sized, jumbo-button, truck-stop-bargain-sale calculator that no longer works laying around in the garage stacks.

I didn't know for sure how it would turn out, but it figured to be good enough for at least a slight bit of friction effect on the Certs-shaped slugs and buckshot BB's that comprise the wad-contents of the PDX1 shot-shell. I don't have any idea of how to visualize or comprehend the combined forces of kinetic energy bound up inside them. Even if I understood all the gunpowder and force+mass mathematics, I still don't think I'd understand it in any kind of personal way. These shells are very intimidating just sitting quietly on a shelf all to themselves. They start to look even more mean and jumpy when they slide into their chambers.

After: The PDX1 Treatment

Trigger control and aim-accuracy both improved, mostly because practice enhances familiarity, and familiarity does not have to equate to distraction or disinterest. I drew the pistol, set the hammer, two-handed the grip, sighted the front blade, confirmed the target, touched the trigger, released the safety, breathed out into the cold, wet, night air, and fired. Several holes appeared on the target in concert with a strong kick and a loud report (even with quality ear protection). I repeated the steps and fired again. I think the first round circled low, and the second round arced high.

The kick was still strong, but I'm very glad for the practice, because I'm getting more comfortable with it rather than more tentative and flinchy from it. Maybe it also had to do with the PDX1's, too. Regardless, I'm totally and completely sold. These are my rounds of choice for the Ranger. Maybe one Hornady ballistic-tipped .45LC and one PDX1 shell. Great day in the mornin', what a potent combination that is.

At least six slug-sized holes + pellet holes?

Shots o'the Day are found all over the plastic husk of a cheap electronic device where it appears that all of the slugs ended up on target. One slug was sitting out loose on the timbers behind the target, still looking like a little tab of candy (slightly deformed) with hefty weight to it.

The back of the calculator (which is like eight or nine inches wide by 14 or 15 inches high-- once again, approximately center-mass, torso sized) shows the impact holes a bit more clearly. Best I can tell, all slugs hit, and some of the pellets must have, too, 'cause I can't account for all of the holes without 'em.

My guess is that while the 000-Buck shells may be packed to "lead" above and away from center-aim (not intended for stationary targets, are they?) and the smaller buckshot is spun out and around a bit by the slight rifling of the barrels, these Winchester personal defense rounds are designed to go straight out and straight into (and through) whatever is directly in front of the barrel(s).

I'm going to just accept the idea as highly probable that the calculator warranty has been well and truly voided. Oh, well ... In fact, I feel it's safe to say that just about anything this ammo hits will no longer be functional and will have its warranty unmistakably and permanently voided. And that's all I have to say about that.

This will also close the Gun-a-Day book on the Ranger II for the time being. If the rain is gone tomorrow, I've got an old, favorite friend in mind for some 50-yard targeting, and I'm so eager for some bolt-action action that I may not let the weather have any say in the matter at all.

2011-01-24T23:18:00.001-05:00

Gun-a-Day 24: Bond Arms Ranger II .410/.45LC (Another Day, Another Dollar's Worth of Ammo)

A stunning sunset of the light pale blue behind burnt orange-edged clouds and bruise-purpled treetops was breaking my heart on the way home for at least two reasons. The first was its throat-choking beauty (I took such a quick, deep breath when I saw it that I couldn't get a word out). The second was the fact that I was 10 minutes from the house, and the darkness was dropping like lead-weighted canvas, so I knew I'd be taking aim well-past sundown and on into night by the time I got out of the truck and out to the range.

A jumbo LED emergency spotlight put a beam of faux-daylight on the line of sight to the target, though, and I was good to go. So was the Ranger. On my way home, it occurred to me that the time between yesterday's first and second shot was just plain unacceptable for any kind of urgent-response-necessary situation, and it seemed like I should find out what it was like to run 000-buck through my newly-tested, tiny-giant super-Derringer.

It was helpful to pretend that my wrist wasn't still hurting from yesterday's initiation into the Bond Arms Click-Bang Club, especially since I need to know that I am comfortable and confident with it in hand.

Maybe tomorrow the comfortable part will improve ...

Shot(s) o'the Day can be seen on this improvised, scrap-cardboard and cover-dot target which was almost exactly as big as my chest from neckline to the bottom of my rib-cage. The buckshot patterned left and high, but there were shots on center, too, from my spot about 10-12 feet away. The three .32-caliber pellets in the 000 shell were, as usual, high and left (the uppermost hit at the extreme top of the target material, just above where the shot-shell's wad went through), but all were "on center mass" ... for what it's worth.

The only real problem (and it is a genuine concern) was that I could barely get the trigger pulled on the second shot. There was no "quick" to that follow-up. The pull-weight was much heavier than I remember from yesterday, but I'm also considering that the awkward hand-hold grip is a big part of the issue, too. There was a long "creep" to the trigger, and the pressure necessary to pull it definitely pulled me off-center, aim-wise.

I really do like the weight and feel and look of the gun, so it's definitely worthwhile to keep experimenting until I find the right strategy and steps for ease of function and improved target accuracy. I went two-handed and with both eyes open for point-without-precise-aim shots (which seems the most likely method in a surprise-threat, up-close, them-or-me attack scenario), and I think I can do much better tomorrow with this extra-heavy trigger weight in mind.

Once again, I thought I might just fire it one day and move on to something else, but reflection can be educational, and I realized during my mental playbacks today that I want and need to try a few more rounds to know what to expect from the gun and from myself when handling the gun.

Hey, the wrist doesn't hurt too bad either, so I'm pretty sure I'm good for a few more rounds. That means that it's not quite sundown on this pistol's break-in period ... come to think of it, I'll have to try to get a picture of the sunset reflected off that pair of stainless steel barrels, too.

It think that might be right perty.

2011-01-23T21:21:00.003-05:00

Gun-a-Day 23: Bond Arms Ranger II, .45LC/.410ga.

This is the first of what might be several "Firing a Brand New Gun for the First Time" days this year. What's more fun and interesting than that?

Today is January 23rd-- that is, 1/23, so I wanted to feature a gun that was "easy-as-1-2-3" to operate. My first inclination is to think, "Shotgun," when my idea is to have an easy time putting holes in and on a target, but I've had this Bond Arms beauty in-hand but off-range since early last December, and it eats .410 shells along with .45 Long Colt rounds. My curiosity won out (and I'm in .45 caliber-cleaning mode right now anyway), so I called it good and chose my ammo, and headed out under heavy, thick, solid, gray skies (cold, too!).

I put a six-inch Shoot-n-C (which also gives a clear scale to the pistol itself-- it's no scrawny little pocket pea-shooter) in a torso-sized box lid and stepped off 10-12 feet. I aimed the first two LC's with the blade front sight on center-red. The first shot was on the target-- high and left. The second shot ended up higher but on line straight above the first. It couldn't be that I was already flinching, could it?

Seems all too likely.

After aiming two, I wanted to "hip-shoot" a couple. As a last-ditch, close-range weapon (whether the threat be a poisonous snake or a "person-ous" one), deliberate aiming may not be an option, so I want to be practiced at the fluid motion of draw-cock-release safety-point-fire. Or as fluid as I can make it …

I knew enough to expect a serious kick from a shotgun shell, but after the third LC (also high and wide), I one-handed a #6 round and immediately tried to figure out if I'd broken my wrist. Wow! What a snap. Probably a good thing I left the 000-Buck in the house this time. Turns out all the bones were in place, but that wrist will be sore for a time. No major problem, but it's another reminder that I need to improve my grip and hold strength.

The shot patterned pretty well on the target and box. The other two shells ended up wide-high right and wide left, but every shot left obvious damage. The biggest hole of all in middle-left, and it's from the last shell's wad. I wouldn't want to be hit even by one of those! The gun works. No question.

Shot o'the day is the pic of this LC slug. That is one seriously intimidating hunk of heavy metal-- a horse-pill of a bullet … some very bad medicine. And that's just the flat-nosed Cowboy Action slug. I've also got a speed-load strip of ballistic-tipped HornadyArms Critical Defense rounds for "real" home security or concealed carry use, and their potential for devastation is ~~almost~~ scary.

Not being a card sharp (and not being a cheating or suspicious player or even a gambler of any kind), I don't plan to keep this up my sleeve or at the ready under a felt-covered table. It's a great carry piece with the proprietary holster included in the Ranger package. Not too concealable (for me anyway), but the weight of it and cross-draw positioning give it a seriously Wild West feel which is nicely complemented by the miniature circled-stars on the holster and the grips.

The Ranger II version appeals to me because of the trigger guard, too. It's removable, but I like the extra sense of safety-- at least comfortable familiarity-- it provides. In the interest of full disclosure, it should be pointed out that the hold is not a natural fit for my hands. I'm still working to find the grip position that will be best for me.

As Easy As ...

One ...

Two ...

I bought this as much for my interest in the engineering and design as in the practical use issue, and it's a product of the Republic of Texas, and I like that, too.

Three!

I sincerely hope I never have to use it in an emergency. I don't even want to think how much hearing damage it would do, especially in an enclosed space like a vehicle some thug might try to car-jack.

Please, Lord, no.

2011-01-22T15:57:00.004-05:00

Gun-a-Day 22: Kimber Ultra RCP II, .45ACP, slide-top groove-rail sight, Episode VI (Return of the Wannabe-Dead-Eye)

It's Yoda day! "There is no try. Only do." I wanted to see improvement today, and I think I did.

I made it 22 rounds with a cartridge in the chamber to begin. Huh, now that I think about it, there was no conscious intention of shooting 22 rounds on the 22nd of January and the 22nd day of Gun-a-Day, but there it is just the same. Kinda strange, but true.

Anyway: no amount of the Force has helped me do any better than to find 21 holes on the target, but I have no sense that there was a shot so poorly aimed that it wouldn't have at least hit the cardboard. I'd love to think that I double-holed a shot, but I doubt I can manage that kind of Jedi precision.

The good news is that the total group is much more tightly bunched this time, and there's even hit on that snobby little center-red dot (that'll teach 'im), and there are at least 11 shots on the target. I guess that means that there's not any real bad news, but I sure would like to see all of the holes on the target sometime ...

That 7 + 1 start was instructive. Having developed the habit of starting empty, I pulled the first slide after counting seven shots. As it dawned on me that a round was chambered, I realized that this could be a good idea in a competition (or, more significantly, threat-to-life) situation. If I remember to pull the clip after 7, then there is no re-racking needed for the new magazine. The eighth round keeps the semi-auto action going.

I "loves me" some target practice, and I got to wondering today about the Luvs diaper box I've been shooting at all week. I've just about used up all of the usefully-sized scrap and storage boxes around the house, so I set out to see how many days I could get from this one. Seemingly, it's got a long history already? How many years has that thing "been in the family," I wonder? Both of our daughters are in college, so if we bought in bulk and used the cube for storage ("FINANCES" is what is says on the flap), then it might be 15 or 16 years old ... maybe we just got it from a store's pitch pile for our last big move. That would still be almost eight.

Never let it be said that we don't like being environmentally-conscious here at the Gun-a-Day Show. In addition to collecting about half a pound of spent lead after firing and photographing was done, this box still has puposes to serve. By the time this now-heavily-perforated container ends up as fire-starter down in the bonfire pit below the pond, it will have been "recycled" for multiple uses at least eight or nine times and will have lasted for a good 15 years or more. Not bad for a stretch of corrugated pulp and binding agents which may have started out in the first place being made from recovered materials.

Shot o'the Day 22: my "don't try this at home, even though I'm no expert, so why should I have tried it or be presuming to tell anyone else not to" picture. I have not been satisfied with the time-lapse shots I've attempted so far, so, in the spirit of "No Try, Only Do-ism," I chose to put my iPhone 4 just outside the line of fire and up-close-and-personal to the target. With a small section of railroad tie as a guard for the camera set-up, I pretended that everything would be fine and any deflections or shrapnel or wood chunks would not damage it as long as I wrapped a padded belt-bag around the smartphone's body and left only the lens exposed. This "Bubo" rig by Owle for my iPhone 4 includes a macro lens for full depth of view pictures and video, and I want to learn how to use it to shoot better pictures at least as much as I want to learn how to use the Kimber to shoot better target groups.

As it turns out, everything was fine. There were lots of wood chunks flying though. If I've done things right, the video should also be embedded here. If not, then please just take my word that it wasn't just a "Try." I "Do'ed" it, but it didn't turn out well enough to use ... (looks like the video [really a time-lapsed string of photos] works).

Wow. So it turns out that my one center-hit was the first shot. That seems like a very good thing, but it also feels to me like that makes the rest of the shots a bit more disappointing ... the "dead-eye" thing may be right, but the rest of the body may not be in sync ...

2011-01-21T23:23:00.000-05:00

Gun-a-Day 21: The Kimber Strikes Low (and Left)

The woodpeckers were my inspiration today. In the slant winter light and chill, still air, they made lots of noise pounding holes into dead wood … and so did I.

Their natural instincts and countless repeated "shots" make them experts in accuracy and efficiency.

I'm not there yet. It should be pointed out, though, that one of my own natural tendencies (practiced far too often and long) was in evidence. If I were making an album today, this would be be my 2nd, and I would be suffering from what is referred to in the music business as the "Sophomore Slump." I wanted to have a string of hits as a follow-up to yesterday's "debut" of the more careful, informed shooting strategy, but I ... uh ... didn't.

Woodpeckers probably don't have these issues, but guys like me do. The fact that I have what I think must be a genetic predisposition to over-analyze things wouldn't really be a problem in itself, but a corollary effect usually results. In a nutshell, my life usually goes like this:

Over-thinking tends to result in under-achieving.

Mag One: 5 of 7 (meh ...)

And that is the story of my target session today. While the woodpeckers were feasting on deeply dug-in ants or termites or thumping away on a Winter remodeling project for a Spring apartment move-in, I was pounding bullets into tar-covered salvage wood and bark covered-tree trunks and moss-toupee'd clay.

Which would also be fine of itself, but not enough of them went through target rings on their way to their branched or soiled final destinations. The target pics tell the story of an aging man getting ahead of himself and mistaking arm-chair rumination for range-time concentration.

My stats are weak. I was half-way through the third mag before I realized that I'd forgotten to take the end-of-mag-two picture ... IF I count the one at 8 o'clock as a hit (it barely scraped off some of the black on the extreme edge), then I still had 6 off on cardboard (one barely on at all in the lower left corner of the box), only one in the 10-ring, and that red, center dot is still smiling out at me with a look that says, "What's your problem, buddy?"

Yes, Sir. Yes, Sir. Three mags full ...

Should I take some small consolation and encouragement from the fact that there were no "high stringers" this time? I probably should. I did, it seems, manage to stay down on the target, and all of the shots are well within the size of the average male torso, so the shots would all serve as defensively effective. But. I see no reason to give in to the idea that "some on target and the rest in the general vicinity" is an adequate or admirable outcome. I'm still rushing and hesitating all at the same time.

Over-thinking also tends to result in distraction.

The American treasure, the Late Great UCLA Basketball Coach John Wooden was known to say, "Be quick, but don't hurry." That good advice was not, unfortunately, part of my hyper-analytic interior monologue ...

Oh, if only that "getting ahead of myself" issue wasn't such an easily-identified pattern in all the other areas of my life as well. Not to be host of my own pity-party or anything …

Oh, if only these results had been the product of a rapid-fire practice session. No, I took time to carefully aim each shot and try to improve my grip-reflex.

Oh, if only I had some cheese to go with this whine ...

Bottom line: tomorrow's target can look better if I balance the visualizing thought with the reflexive action. Can't wait to see how it goes.

In the meantime, shot o'the day is another nutshell concept, only this one isn't in my head. It's off in a corner of the property where brambles, scrub, deadfall, and bugs had kept me from setting foot on it until now. It's a little forest within our forest-- mossy-ferny, miniature "trees" with a decorative outcropping of acorn cap and nut as "boulders" ... very peaceful. Stress-releasing. I may not get the target hits I want, but I sure have many blessings to enjoy and value and nurture-- all from the steady hand of a loving Father God whose aim to "work all things together for good" is always right on target.

2011-01-20T20:00:00.003-05:00

Gun-a-Day 20: Kimber Scores, Episode IV (A New Hope)

Yes, the recoil force is strong with this one, but I sense no fear, so I will continue to train with it … (my NRA Patron Life Member pin is not really legible here, but I can't find my patch right now, so it'll have to do).

Grip, trigger control, and careful sighting were the major points of focus today, and I can see how this practice thing might really work out well, if I don't get lazy and just start popping caps instead of aiming carefully and developing repeatable patterns of action while on target and on trigger. I identified a number of improvements still to develop, but the overall understanding of how to think it through and what to do was much better and much more clear to me.

And today's progress gives me the idea that even the few rounds I've rationed for daily sessions are enough to help me see improvements in technique as well as theory. I was able to keep a much better hold below the trigger today, and I was much more aware of my tendency to include my index finger in the post-recoil recovery-- several times, in fact-- it's a wonder I hadn't been having more un-aimed follow-up shots ... I really want to get to the point that I can have accuracy with double-tap shot pairs, but I've got a ways to go before I handle the recoil well enough to not feel like I'm just spraying shots downrange if I send rounds one after another.

Mag One: 6 of 7

Here are pics of the target after each of the three magazines have been emptied. There were at least two recoil hangups today (the slide locked open half-way through the magazine-- don't think I've ever seen or heard of that when a stovepipe or chamber jam wasn't involved), and I found a couple of almost completely undamaged slugs out in the open (more on that later), so I wonder if they might have been low-powdered or something. Not a huge concern for now, but I'll be conscious of that for tomorrow and beyond..

I thought something really good was happening up until the last mag. Not sure how or why two got away low (unless they were weak loads, but at only 25 feet that much extra drop seems unlikely ...). But these are 6-inch targets, and the groupings are improved from earlier in the week-- if not dramatically, then at least noticeably. I was using Aguila "cartouches" again, and I hesitate to blame the fliers on them or the rest of the hardware.

Mag Two: 7 of 7

Very eager to see what can be done tomorrow. I'm still (literally) shooting for my goal of an "all on target" day. I've got a couple more chances before moving on to another collection item in need of careful, studied, repeated practice. That's what I'll be "Glocking" about!

Another experiment in progress is the choice to go all week without cleaning the Kimber after each session. I want to see if I can tell any difference at all in function and accuracy after at least 100 rounds without cleaning. My hundred rounds is spread out over several consecutive days while some guys empty a couple of boxes as a habit in a single range session, so this is not a major torture test by any stretch of the imagination, but I tend to clean after almost every time, even just one magazine's worth, so this is another way to learn more about my gear.

Mag Three: 5 of 7

Shot o'the Day today is of the slug that came (part of the way) back "home." Maybe I should say that it's the shot that shot back or that the backstop was more like a back-bounce with at least one round. The pictures below show the fiesty little FMJ about 8 or 9 feet in front of the target (see it there low in the picture, just right of the bottom-middle, with no obvious deformation at all-- how does that even happen?!). In other words, that slug came about 1/3 of the way back to me. Very strange. There's nothing but wood except for a spinner target to the side, and there was no metal ding to go with any rebound ...

A year or so ago, I ended up with a 9mm round bouncing back into the cuff of my jeans one time (also from 25-30 feet), and I couldn't figure out that one either. It was completely spent by the time it got to me, but, wow, did it get my instant, full, adrenaline-boosted attention!

I got the same "Spidey-sense" tingle today I felt then-- albeit a bit late to be much help-- when I saw that slug on the ground between me and the target. The only mark was a black smudge on the nose (like it had been Sharpied). Not sure if that's from the Shoot-n-C or the railroad tie tar, but how in the world did it get back far?

It's very good to be reminded that there is no such thing as "total safety" or "perfect safety" when using firearms, even under the most controlled, careful conditions. It's even better when the reminder comes without any near misses or actual injuries. No matter what, though, the fact is that when heavy chunks of metal go very fast and hit something, there really isn't any way to immediately predict what might happen or where bits and pieces might end up. There is always some measure of risk, and that's why every reasonable precaution and even a few seemingly unreasonable ones are highly advisable. One of the most important things in target practice is to finish the session healthy-- ready and able to come back again.

I'm always grateful for tangible reminders-- like that out of place slug-- of God's watch-care, tender mercy, and amazing grace ...

Only a couple more days of .45CAP practice for a while, but there are still bullets in the stockpile and plenty of hope for, potentially, better and better results to come.

2011-01-19T22:28:00.005-05:00

Gun-A-Day 19: Kimber Ultra RCP II, part 3 (No Train, No Gain)

It's time for a brief report: the idea of having extra practice sessions was a very good one.

I was running behind on getting to the office this morning, so the range time had to be short. I took 21 rounds out with me. I left 21 rounds out in the woodpile backstop, and in between I got promising results on the target and learned a couple of new, useful things about handling this gun well. Four were off (one high-right, three low-left), and 17 were on the target, and 11 were 8-ring or better. Okay, fair enough.

Put simply, I'm happy for these 25-foot results without being thrilled. Four fliers are four too many, but they're not off the box, and I did touch center-red a good number of times. That is to say: it's a good start which leaves generous room for significant improvement.

Shot o'the Day? It's "I Love You, #19" time! Like Uncle Terry wrote back in the Daniel Amos days: "... I wouldn't want to hand you any alibis ..." I have no excuses and make no apologies, but I have sincere intentions for future improvement. The hole just above the target's edge on the right was made by the shot which was as close to a negligent discharge as I ever want to get. There was no problem. It went into the backstop. It even went through the torso-sized box and almost hit the target.

But.

But, it was not an aimed shot. It was a reflexive trigger pull made while improperly trying to handle recoil. It's a blessing that the shot was so close to target rings, and it was a tremendous lesson for me and an excellent guide to the ongoing practice plan.

The trigger finger can not be part of the grip pressure. That seems obvious, of course, but I can't say that I've ever read it anywhere or seen any training mention of it. Not that it hasn't been, but I haven't consciously registered it in my shooting-method thought processes. I will from now on, though!

Another thing to consider more closely: I noticed only today that the recoil also gets the gun into the web of my hand pretty heavily. There was some irritation by the last few rounds, and I think I'm going to find that there will be a tender spot there by the end of the week.

And that's another grip issue, isn't it? The pistol is jerking around in my hand too much. I need to improve my hold and increase the pressure without including the index finger. I need to keep the squeeze smooth and the stability solid.

I also need to become more intently aware of releasing my trigger finger and even practice pulling it back outside the guard during the re-acquisition stage-- even if only for a few days while these other issues are addressed.

There's plenty to think about, plenty to physically achieve, and plenty to learn yet.

Last note to self: when any of mother's son of a gun-- including you, old son-- takes time to fire when the target is actually lined up in the channel-sight, the bullet hits the target. For future reference, don't forget that the first red-ring hit today came from using that sight correctly and not from focusing on the laser dot.

2011-01-18T23:50:00.005-05:00

Gun-a-Day 18: Kimber Ultra UCP II, part 2 (A Time to Re-Kimber)

More times than I prefer to admit, I can be a bit slow. After finishing yesterday's write-up (and submission to the NRA "That's My 1911!" gallery), I went to bed wondering what today's gun would be. Nothing seemed "right," and I felt stumped. I thought I was "moving on," but nothing came to mind as the next subject. Like I said: Slow.

I didn't get great results at 20 feet or so yesterday, and I've been writing about how important it is to practice, but it didn't register that I should apply the same wisdom to my .45 accuracy that I'd been trying to do with the Buck Mark 22's!

Anyway, I finally caught up.

I obviously need at least as much practice with the gun I consider my carry weapon (though I am often in places where I do not carry because it is a non-carry zone even with my CCL in hand), as I do with any little plink-machine (no matter how much I might enjoy that kind of shooting), but I had already put it out of my mind and planned to move on to another specimen from the arsenal.

Yes, inaccuracy is the disease, and concentrated, repeated practice is, if not the cure, then at least part of the aggressive treatment and therapy protocol. And I have certainly not sufficiently followed doctor's orders in this case. I need to take the full course of medicine-- many more little lead "pills" need to be swallowed up by that rail-road tie backstop base before I can recover from this condition.

Some issues will not necessarily work out. The plain fact is that my hands are a bit shaky, and I've been aware of that since I was a teenager, so it might just be the way I was born. The Crimson Trace laser only makes this slight tremor a bit more obvious. There are a number of hold variations I'm going to try, but the shake is a permanent part of the mix, I'm pretty sure.

That's not the end of the world or anything. Pie-plate-accurate is plenty good enough for my self-defense purposes, and the laser does take care of the point and shoot aiming issue, but between my non-surgeon-steady hands, the channel groove sight, the short-ish barrel, and my tendency to flinch on every 2nd or 3rd shot in a magazine (that can be improved/corrected with practice, for sure), it's too much for me to expect center-ringing with my Kimber from any standard target shooting distance.

Speaking of self-defense purposes, it occurred to me on the way home (I fought the light, and the light won) under cloud-cover heavy enough that no color of any kind other than gray was visible during sunset that my concern about shooting in such low-light conditions was legitimate but my need to practice in such conditions was probably at least as important to consider.

Trouble can happen quickly at any time and in any place, but if someone is going to pick me out as a mugging or stick-up victim then the chances are pretty good that they won't do it in broad daylight without a cloud in the sky. No, today's weather conditions at range time (dripping-drizzling rain, slippery-muddy surfaces, solid overcast skies, prematurely deepening shadows) is also an ideal forecast for would be hold-up men. When the weather's messy, people are even less aware of surroundings than usual (and "usual" ain't too great in the first place). With hunched shoulders and chins to chest for rain and wind avoidance and eyes locked to the ground to avoid stepping in puddles and on slick spots), what good citizen is going to even notice that two guys in their peripheral vision are having a close-proximity discussion with a glint of stainless steel between them, much less be able to give the police any kind of useful description if I end up inside a chalk-line or rolling away on an EMS gurney with an amnesia-inducing, tire-iron-shaped dent in my head?

No, I don't need to protect "my precious" from that mean, old, nasty rain or have an ego about shot results which keep me off the line except under ideal conditions. I need to practice in realistic situations and then carefully clean and maintain my equipment, so it and I will be ready if a problem arises.

Anyway, that's the sermon for today, I suppose.

Before tomorrow's session at 25 feet with at least three magazines' worth of rounds, I wanted to see how I could do from the 25 yard station, and I wanted to see how the laser and point of impact lined up. I shot one magazine full from a two-handed, standing position. The other magazine was emptied from the same place, but I used the tree next to me as a support.

The sight is off at that distance. Again, that's not the end of the world because, at this stage in my life at least, I have absolutely no business shooting defensively from that range. I'm not a good enough shot even when no danger is part of the equation. In a crisis, I could not responsibly fire from anything more than 10 or 15 feet (probably only if I was being targeted and/or rushed in anger by someone with a weapon).

There is so little probability of anything even remotely like this happening in the places and circles of acquaintances I frequent that it borders on the absurd to even "game plan" for such a thing, but, of course, a "remote" possibility is still a possibility. At the very least, I want to be able to walk around knowing that I've done my best to try to be prepared, especially to perhaps help protect someone else. Beyond that, I want to practice in order to be able to teach any interested loved ones and friends who might not be as fortunate to live in the fairly sheltered world I call home these days.

These are the main reasons behind it all, and that's why I need to keep working with this specific gun for a bit (and then regularly for the foreseeable future). I need to concentrate and prepare to do my best.

Not that I won't seriously and intently keep trying to improve. Take tonight for example: I learned two or three very important things which will help me with tomorrow's session.

1. 25 yards is wayyyyy beyond the effective range for me and/or this specific pistol at this stage in my "training." I didn't miss the backstop, but I did miss the target several times. I want to be able to shoot successfully and correctly from this distance, but it's going to be a while before I work my way back to that spot with this handgun. I don't know that for sure until I try. I tried. Now I know that for sure.

2. I need to improve my grip, my trigger control (very jerky and flinchy, I'm sorry to say), my sighting, my breathing, my stance(s), my situational awareness, my magazine management, and, among other things no doubt, my "feel" for sight-to-target aiming and hold-over, in addition to "standardizing" my reflexive follow-through and target re-acquisition.

"Better, Stronger, Faster." That's what I need to be. I have to fire the gun to find out these things, and I have to shoot more to have any chance of improving in any and all of these aspects of my marksmanship goals.

3. This gun is a no-nonsense little fire-breathing dragon of a pistol! The low light and my "both eyes open" aiming with the laser index rather than the sight groove gave me a clear and present view of the muzzle flash. Hadn't really seen it in my daylight shooting.

Not that this helps me improve my shooting, I guess, but it is pretty fun to watch.

I ended up with 2 of 7 on the paper with magazine load 1 (3, if I count the fact that the holder was hit "inside" the width of the paper). I ended up with a nobody-knows count on the 2nd magazine set, because the target ripped off of the holder in the upper right corner. No, 25 yards is not the place for me. Maybe not for quite a while ...

Shot o'the Day? It's a "now I see it, now I don't" kinda thing. In another classic cheapskate move, I'm using flimsy, inexpensive, aluminum yard sign holders to stand my paper targets.

The concept is pretty good, unless ...

... unless a shot from the first magazine hits the one on the right and bends it almost in half and ...

... unless a shot from the second magazine strikes it again and somehow blows it, as far as I can tell, totally away. I looked in a 100-square-foot circle after noticing it was gone and had no luck at all in finding even part of it. These holders are handy, but they do not hold up to sustained, high-caliber fire.

Then again, who does?

Maybe in the bright sunshine someday soon, a couple of sunbeams glints will bounce off of it into my eyes, so I can pick it up and ease my mind before lawn-mowing season starts again ...

As a wrap-up today, I need to be sure to mention my gratitude to God for the rainy, cloudy, cool, very humid weather. I don't say this just because I have a pond that I'd like to see recover about 2 or 3 feet of the depth lost over the past year. I say this because our whole region has only begun to get beyond a fairly severe cycle of drought, and the super-saturation we're getting right now is so welcome and so needed.

Without question, there are many folks around here bemoaning what is commonly considered miserable, depressing, lifestyle-limiting, wintry-rainy weather, but, when I see steady, soaking rain matched with cool, evaporation-deterring temperatures and solid cloud-cover, the only thing that comes to mind is, "Thank You, Lord, for these 'showers of blessing.'"

Amen.

2011-01-17T20:34:00.002-05:00

Gun-a-Day 17: Kimber Ultra RCP II .45ACP Semi-Automatic pistol, Crimson Trace Laser Sight grips, "Trough" channel sight, Carry Melt corners, Matte black finish, Match barrel

"This is my 1911. There are many variations of the basic 1911 design, but this one is mine."

That's how I started my picture description info to go with the upload of a version of this same picture on the americanrifleman.org "This is My 1911!" gallery. If my submission is posted, I'll update this page with a link.

As far as I can tell, no one else has posted an Ultra RCP II image yet, so I hope they'll pick my pic.

I enjoyed getting this out on the range today, even though it was raining fairly steadily and neither one of my "as it happened" videos turned out to be of any use. Oh well. Another day, another tough life lesson ...

I'd been saving a pair of 2-liter Pepsi bottles that were 3/4-filled with tap-water and stuck out in a snowbank near the porch in order to try out the nylon-headed Hornady Critical Defense rounds and some Hornady hollow points (and a few round-headed Aguila cartridges I bought pretty cheap in bulk a couple of years ago) on something with some weight and depth resistance to it. Always good to make sure a gun likes to eat the defense rounds chosen for it, and it's always fun to see what defense rounds do to heavy targets!

There was one slide release issue after the first mag, but there were no misfires, and I was quickly and very happily transported back in time, circa 1911?, and across mental space to the rugged region of Kimber-ia, a place of heavy caliber thunder, crackling sulfur-lightning and laser-guided, lead-spitting fire.

Maybe I'd been away too long from my recoil-rocking homeland, lingering and puttering and enjoying the sights and sounds of gentle jostling and crispy cracking while "making the rounds" in La Republique de Rimfire. It's good to be back.

The Pepsi containers had no idea what hit them. After practicing on an old, insulated-plastic, jumbo-soda cup with five rounds of Aguila (to make sure the occasionally-carried but only rarely fired RCP II was still Ultra-ready), and I have to be honest and say that the mug's wounds were devastating. No amount of plastic surgery could make this thing hold carbonated sugar water ever again.

The "wad-cutter" type Hornady rounds exploded the bottled ice very nicely, too. The trigger pull is very crisp on my Kimber, but it's easy for me to flinch and have a round or two miss to one side or the other-- even with the laser indexing my aim-point. What does that mean? It means I need a lot more practice, that's what!

Aw, gee, Mom. Do I have to? Jeepers, okay ...

Since I also need more practice with my camera and my video-taking and video-editing skills, the shot o'the day is my mug o'lead. I've been picking up bits and pieces of spent shells for as long as I've had my own range positions, and it's all starting to add up. I keep cases and even spent shotgun shells, too, but I like my bullet-bucket the best. I don't re-load or cast my own rounds or anything (can't quite see how I could make it pay off, though lots of guys do, of course), but I've got plenty to work with if I ever decide to give it a try.

It never ceases to amaze me that some of these rounds go down range and stop without any apparent damage or deformation. Physics can be as weird as truth can be stranger than fiction ...

The groove-sight on this model probably scares some people off, but the pistol is silky smooth on the slide-top, and I have had good target success with it. The only "trick" is to make sure that no part of the groove (or "sight channel") is showing in the sight line. If an empty half-oval is all to be seen between me and the target, I'm on center. And the rounds do go where they are pointed.

The built-in Crimson Trace grip laser (shining just over the "trigger finger at rest" position on the right side of the frame) is adjustable, but I have to admit that it's so close to center right out of the box that I'm not inclined to mess with it. Ideally, the light would be visible like a little red sunset right at the end of the sight groove-channel valley running right to target-center. That's not quite how it lines up, but I'd prob'ly get it way the Watusi out of whack before getting it back even close again, so I'll only try that if I can manage more regular practice and some extended time to put it on a benched wrist rest for some fixed-position sighting in ...

The longer I wrote that idea out, the more it sounded like great fun!

About three years ago now, when it came time to pretend that I had the money to finally buy my .45ACP handgun, I knew I had to make it work on several levels. I couldn't afford to get a custom job, and I couldn't afford to get a standard size and an easier to carry size, and I wanted something that would minimize the fumble-factor I might have to deal with if I were ever in an imminent, deadly threat situation. I don't have any expectation that such an incident will ever take place, but I hope to respond effectively if it does.

I wanted a Kimber ('cause my buddy Russ told me I did ... how right he was!). I wanted a 1911-style design. I wanted something a bit different or with a bit of history. I wanted something design-dedicated for concealed carry and a bit lighter than typical if possible. I wanted a dark finish that would not catch light in day or night conditions. I wanted something I could customize with a laser-sight without ending up with a snag-happy imprint after all.

The Ultra RCP II design meets all of these criteria. Besides that, I just plain loved it at first sight when I saw one online. Game over. Sold. Here's me, and that's my shadow. Seeing it was enough to convince me, but taking it in hand when my FFL dealer handed over the Fed-Ex'd box sealed the deal, as Bill the Butcher would say, "... for GOOD and ALLLLLL!"

It all adds up well to go way beyond the "beauty is skin deep" infatuation factor: the sleek simplicity, the bobbed hammer and grip safety, the "carry melt" rounding of the edges (to go with the complete absence of raised sights), and the trimline grips which helped the unit fit my small-ish hands very comfortably and securely. I did hate to give up the very cool-looking, black plastic panel grips with the the vertical grooves on each side, but the Crimson Trace gear was a must in my mind, so I just keep the stock panels safe and mint-y in the parts storage cabinets.

So much for the Browning that is not a Browning, huh? My Glock is, as they say, perfection. My Taurus Judge is undisputed, undefeated, heavyweight champ. My Bond Arms Ranger II is a tank without treads, but I do dearly love my Colt Government-inspired, .45 caliber, Kimber Ultra RCP II.

This is my 1911. There are many variations on the basic 1911 design, but this one is mine ...

2011-01-16T23:54:00.006-05:00

Gun-a-Day 16: Ruby Arms 6.35mm (.25ACP) Semi-Automatic Pistol

This Spanish-made pocket pistol came to me by way of a family member who says it was found in a back-room or basement of a commercial property in a Denver, Colorado, suburb when the purchase deal closed for the "building and all its contents." How it got there, we don't know. Was it "liberated" by an American volunteer fighting in, say, the Spanish Civil War or maybe a soldier in the European Theater of WWII? Or was it lost and forgotten because it was just a cheap military surplus piece bought on a whim for next to nothing at a local gun show and casually set aside? Had it been a cash-drawer security tool in a little Mom-and-Pop storefront shop back in the "Happy Days"?

So many possibilities, and the actual history of the gun before the mid-90s will, as far as I can tell, never be known. The bottom line is that I'm glad it's in my collection, and it will always have a good home as long as I have anything to say on the matter. It's smaller than the Jennings J-22, but it's no Saturday Night Special. No, it's a precision-made device, and it's held up well to what appears to be a great deal of rough treatment. What's not to love about a curmudgeonly tough guy-- lumps, bumps, scars, and all?

To the best of my knowledge (and repeated online image searches), what is posted here may be the only pictures of this specific model on the web. There is no picture of it in the 2010 Gun Values reference book either. This particular piece has a relatively low serial number (515 ... not sure if that's significant, but I like it), but there's no suggestion in the guide that it's worth much of anything ... to anybody but me! It does, though, seem to be fairly uncommon (or is it just unwanted?).

There are a number of unique features to this make, so it's even more curious that there are no pictures to be found "out there." Maybe this was one of the little things that slipped through the cracks when former-Vice President Al Gore was creating the internet? Hey, it could happen to anybody. I'm not that great with details some days either ...

For one thing, it has the backstrap grip safety (which seems fairly sophisticated for such a small handgun, especially from "way back in the day"), and, most uniquely, it has a single grip screw on either side-- in the middle lower-half of the grip. It also has an interesting "flattened" or "rounded and widened" trigger.

The grip panels are another point of design difference. Many Baby Browning* variants have two screws a side, and many have only one, but all of the other single-screw designs I've seen are in the vertical middle of the grip near the backstrap edge. I've seen others with a similar grip-screw placement but without have grip safety. In addition, the grips are rounded at the top and have an "angle-forward" ("italicized") slant. I find it fascinating that all of these design variations exist on what is clearly under-powered and under-accurate for practical use as a military or sporting implement. I've seen "Ruby grips" up for auction, but they have all been wrong for this pistol-- squared tops, right angle rectangular forms, screw holes out of place.

After a bit more time with the 2010 Standard Catalog of Firearms (I got my copy pretty cheap with my membership at militarybookclub.com ... not sure how long these stay in print ...), I found an exact match (with all of these distinctive details). Only the name, Bufalo 6.35 (with one "f," yes), is different. There's some great info on it here at carbinesforcollectors.com. This page makes the connection with this maker and design to what later became the Llama imprint. That explains very tidily why the magazine for this little pistol looks exactly like a scale-model of the mags for the Llama Mini-Max .380 I had a few years ago.

Yes, as the pictures indicate, the grips are trashed (at least looks-wise). The "hard rubber" has been turning to flaky dust for a good while, and somewhere along the line a chunk was separated from the breech-side panel. I'm sure there's a better way to see the inner-workings do their stuff.

Grip decay is only part of the story. The finish has that "special," splotchy patina which can only be achieved from years and years of neglect, abuse, and disregard. Some of us can relate to this kind of treatment, I'm sure.

But, wow, the fit tolerances and mechanics of the steel parts are remarkable. The slide meets the frame with an almost-imperceptible seam above the grip safety, and there is no rattle or wobble at all in the slide. The action is solid and smooth, even though this specimen was orphaned in a dark, damp room for who knows how many years.

And yet it shoots just fine.

I don't mind admitting that I wasn't sure if it was even safe to load, much less shoot, when I first got it last year. After a few hours marinating in Rem Oil, it went through a double-dose of field-stripping, cleaning, and semi-paranoid function checks before I even bought a box of ammo.

When I decided to give it a try (there was an old pine stump in the back yard that needed to be put out of its misery), I had on my leather gloves, a few layers of shirts and jackets, safety glasses, and I covered my chin and nose with one arm.

Grief, if I was that worried, I probably shouldn't have even pulled the trigger at all, but I did. And it fired. And it hit what I was aiming at. And it didn't explode or come apart in my hand, and I was immediately the proud Poppa of a cute little Baby Browning clone.

Of course, this is just one of many (many) versions of the "Baby Browning" which were produced in many places around the world in the 20th century-- some legally and with contracted licensing, and some ... well ... not so much. Production dates and quantities are pretty sketchy, so I'm only guessing to say that it might have been made in the 1930s, give or take a decade or so. This might be the oldest gun I own.

In spite of a number of "issues," it's fun to shoot. The issues? First, my guess-timation is that the trigger pull pressure is something only slightly less than a hundred pounds. Alright, perhaps I exaggerate somewhat ... perhaps. Let's just agree to understand that it's a heavy trigger, okay? I know that my aim moves as I try to not let my "squeeze to surprise" trigger control turn into a "wrestle to skewed trajectory" event. Also, the sight groove has only the slightest of pinches at either end of the shorter than a postcard's edge barrel, and my tired, aging eyes don't always pick them up too well out of the target background. But enough whining. How 'bout some shooting?

Out on the range today, I took a position at 15 feet from a medium-sized pizza box (this is my idea of recycling: eat from it and then shoot at it-- maybe more than once), and I readied myself for 10 shots on a 6-inch target. My first five are in the lower half of the circle (including the shot o'the day: another lonely hole out by itself on mere cardboard there between 5 and 6 o'clock position). I was aiming for center red. The other five arched over the 10-ring border line hit while I was aiming just slightly to the right of the target's top-center point.

Based on how the rounds lined up, I have a very clear idea of how to do better next time.

The Gun-a-Day project is primarily about learning new things for me. In addition to the guns themselves, I'm learning more about blogging, too. I'm also learning more about photography and video production. In fact, I've made my first (successful ... well, quasi-successful anyway) time-lapse video of my Ruby range session.
When I get better at it, the images won't switch from landscape to portrait unintentionally, and I'll be able to embed the vid here instead of just posting a link. There may even be sound at some point ... so many things to look forward to ...

I don't expect miracles out of this gun (or out of myself, for that matter), so these results are okay-- certainly not impressive or remarkable. Just okay. The really good part is that I feel better about firing "Ruby" every time I handle her, and she's really growing on me as a valued part of the collection.

What I mean is that it's a small, unique thing, but it's certainly not a novelty as if it were a toy, even though I don't consider any of my guns "practical" unless I have at least three magazines or speedloaders for them. Rather, it's an interesting bit of mystery-history with some international flavor which I might never have been able to enjoy as my own if not for the happy accident of discovery which followed the unfortunate incident of its being left untended in the first place.

By God's grace, I get some extended time off of a regular work schedule every once in a while and most of the summer, so I've got another project in mind for one of those "off-the-clock" weeks. Since replacement grips have been impossible to find so far, I'm planning to make my own.

I've roughed out a basic design template, and I figure I can get the inside grip cut-outs and pin-holes carved to fit with a bit of "measure twice then twice more and cut once" work. I asked my woodworking genius brother (Yo!) for a good chunk of timber, and he came through with a nicely figured scrap of heavy hardwood. If things go as I intend, these grips will be wider (thicker) than the factory parts. I'm hoping they'll fill my hand a bit more and provide a more solid gripping surface. We'll see how it goes.

The Good Lord willin' and the cost of web-access don't rise astronomically, the grip-panel replacement-solution will be "televised" (at least photographed and web-shared).

===\ ... + ... /===

* This is a handy name for a type of pocket pistol, but I'd probably be more accurate to say that this is a variant of the Browning model 1906, wouldn't I? The actual Baby Browning seems to have come along later than most Spanish production runs of the Ruby and related makes were already in full swing or completed altogether by the time Baby B came along.

2011-01-15T21:15:00.004-05:00

Gun-a-Day 15: Buck Marking again (Pistol Practice redux)

No excuse is necessary to justify the idea of repeated training with any firearm, of course, and today's session is no exception. As it happens, though, I do have good reason to wrap up my week in Browning-ville with another a return to the sight-hooded, sight-railed, bull-barreled, contour-gripped Target model .22-caliber sweetheart.

Practice is good, and more practice is even gooder!

I need to develop good habits. The only habits I've had 'til this year were more theoretical than actual, because I've been limited, mostly, to thinking about shooting rather than regularly firing rounds at targets.

Beyond that, I wanted another chance at a Shoot-n-C* after tightening the sight rail!

Okay, I "got 'er done," and, though the group wasn't anywhere near perfect, it was fun for sure, and I had a much stronger sense of how to sight and where the sights need to be in relation to target centers. Chances are very high that I'll make an appointment with the Browning pair for a once-a-week practice. I'm already visualizing the corrections I can make on sight-to-target placement.

Today's shot o'the day is one of 'em that "got away," or so it seemed at first. In my usual cheapskate fashion, I "recycled" this box for the last 4 days by putting targets up and down and on either side and, here, the "short side." While counting for hit numbers, I noticed this crease shot on one of the previous targets.

If only I'd been aiming for that "cut a playing card in half" shot! No, it's just a near miss of the intended side of my 50@25on15.01.11 target. Still looks pretty cool, though. The "through and through" below it isn't bad, either.

They are shots "47" and "48" of 50, I guess. Evidently, "49" and "50" were total misses unless there are some double-hits I'm not identifying on the target. No breathing trigger pulls this time, so I don't even know which shots might have been the fliers.

The log-pile backstop has been taking on a lot of lead weight this week, but it's holding up very well as far as I can tell. That's also a project on the list: a short and wide u-shaped installation of railroad ties (1/2 lengths angling out on the sides and full-length beams behind the target stands) up to about five feet high. I hope to bank the current logs behind it and cover it over with dirt.

Later this year, Deo volente, I hope to take these guns out again for some rested bench shooting. Another project on my Spring/Summer list is to build a number of "convertible" park benches which are also half-picnic tables. We plan to situate them in a few places around the property (including my target range positions). I think they'll work great as shooting benches, too.

The Semi-Automatic, Pretty Doggone-Dynamic Duo

There's another Browning designed gun in my collection, but I have something smaller in mind for Sunday's shots. Oh, wait. It's ripped off from a Browning design, too, now that I think of it ...

===\ ...+... /===

* I get mine from The Sportsman's Guide (esp. when I need to spend a few dollars more to qualify for a discount code).

2011-01-14T23:23:00.003-05:00

Gun-a-Day 14: making more Marks than Bucks with my Browning Sporter

Today's mission (and I chose to accept it) was to try the Truglo sights at 25 yards to see if this rig was on target at my normal squirrel ranges (generally, more like 40-60 feet). While shooting off-hand and from seated knee-props for the other sets, I settled up next to a pine tree for this group. A sling is the normal stabilizer in my casual-stroll "hunting" excursions, but I intend to fire at squirrels from a rested position whenever possible from now on. Seems like the most responsible thing to do, and there's no good reason to have any macho-man ego self-consciousness or gunslinger-delusions when it comes to the glamor-less job of pest-control shooting.

Practicality should be the priority right after safety first, and for both reasons accuracy is a responsibility in order to be as safe and as humane as possible. That's how I see it anyway. I always try to position myself so that shots have a tree-trunk or other safe mass as background. Marginal misses and through-and-through hits present the same kind of risk for down-range problems without that kind of targeting policy. There have been and, I imagine, will be exceptions, but that's my habit.

Anyway, the Truglos are just fine, though, as the first target picture shows, the pattern did ride up from the center. I started and tried to stay aiming at the center diamond lollipopped directly above the orange-yellow-orange sights in the straightest line I could manage (more practice is definitely needed). The pattern is fine for what it is, but there is obvious room for significant grouping improvement.

It's always very tempting to adjust after seeing the first few hits, but I tried to stick to one spot and let the cluster be the new "center area." Most of these shots would have been "torso" hits on a squirrel if I were aiming at one end or the other as the lower extremity, but I can see that some of these shots would have been the same kind of tree-rat warning whistle that have already sent two or three scurrying away while I stare kinda dumbfounded and confused about how I could possibly have missed ...

In that regard, the session was very instructive. I've got a much better sense now of how and where to take aim, and I also practiced some quick follow-ups in case the first one only zings and freezes the little chatterbox instead of stinging and finishing it.

In other news: I stand corrected.

My theory about missing squirrel shots due to scope adjustments has been debunked completely. The set of 29 on the left side of today's target confirms that the scope will work just fine at 25 yards. It does string up the high half, but I found the same thing with the Truglos, too.

No, I put the first shot exactly where I aimed it at the edge of the left center of the circle in the orange bar. The others stayed in the near vicinity, but the location variations are on me, not the sights, I'm sure.

It is a bit strange to me-- in a good way, I guess-- that the 50-yard w/scope grouping is fairly similar (a couple of outliers notwithstanding) to the 25-yard w/scope results. Then again, it's reasonable to question the value of even practicing with scoped targeting at less than 50 yards. Oh well, it's my time, my money, my ammo, my targets, and my gun, so I guess it's okay ...

The discovery of target accuracy at close range would be shot o'the day if not for this (which takes shot-honors):

I spent about an hour roaming the acreage's north edge and up and down the pine forest rows looking for owl sign and saw nothing definitive. No sight of swiveling head or stealth-quiet wing in the pines. No sound of a hunting cry or mating call cutting through the ice-sharp air, no fur-covered-and-bone-lined pellets marking meal-perch locations. Nothing identifiable. Except maybe this triangular hole and bright orange stain (the larger of two I saw along with three or four yellow-greenish stains near a couple of tree trunks along "Owl Alley."

Is it possible that this is a blood stain and melt hole? I have no idea if it could end up orange, but I also have no idea what else could have caused this in our little woods. Was an owl perched up above in the night, eating a mouse or something and losing some of the "juice"? The melt-cavity seems to suggest that whatever caused the stain was warm enough to melt away that part of the three or more inches of snow that are still all around after five days. Whatever it is, it's the most unique thing I saw on the property today ...

One more Buck Mark task is planned for tomorrow, then the rifle and the pistol get the big clean up and rack up for a while as Gun-a-Day takes out, loads up, and sights in with something else from the display cabinet ...

2011-01-13T23:23:00.005-05:00

Gun-a-Day 13: Browning Buck Mark Sporter rifle, .22LR, Truglo fiber optic sights

During yesterday's session, it occurred to me that if I was going to do 50 rounds at 50 yards with the scope, I should also do 50 rounds at 50 yards with the factory sights. Browning went to a bit of trouble with this Sporter model by factory installing Truglo fiber optic "iron sights," and that "extra" touch certainly appealed to me when I was hefting it in the sporting goods store way back in 2001 (alas, poor Galyan's is no more ... absorbed in the Dick's Sporting Goods collective ...). Two orange dots in back (with elevation screw and dovetail seating for left to right) and a yellow dot in front-- ideally lined up straight across-- orange-yellow-orange-- the center of the target (or the center mass of a plastic 24-oz. Pepsi bottle or varmint-acious target of opportunity)

Even though I put a scope on it almost immediately after buying the rifle, I made sure that the standard sights would also always be an option. They're too cool not to keep handy. The see-through, raised scope mounts were a bit tricky to find and to mount well, but the effort was completely worthwhile. As it happens, the Truglo pieces are a very good sight system, and they work very well for me. More on that shortly.

Also while shooting yesterday, it occurred to me that I have rarely used them and that I was interested to see how well they work and how well I could do with them. There's a reason beyond simple vanity (I think). I mentioned in the previous post that this is the gun I've shot more than any other and that I've had the most success with it. That success, though, is only measured in target results. In fact, I've missed more than one squirrel at seemingly un-miss-able range, and I finally figured out that the bullets were hitting high because I was not compensating for the scope's settings (right on center at 50 yards) while shooting from more like 50 feet or less.

If for that reason and no other, it is important to make sure the Truglo sights are reliably set for shorter distances. The versatility of that arrangement is very practical for my circumstances and my intentions for this rifle. I can use the scope for distance (almost exclusively target practice so far) and the sights for "closer quarters" work (primarily pest control). So, I had a clear mission for today, and I was eager to see if I could match a solid cheek weld and clear eye to the "state of the art" (in 2001 anyway) ambient light-gathering fiber optic sights. The clear eye part didn't work out so much, but the rig seemed to cover for me pretty well.

There was just enough melt-off that a partial work day and some office time was possible, so, once again, I barely beat the sun home after a few hours of desk and presentation work. I hurried home, found a box for the target, loaded magazines quickly, and got out-- with a bit of slipping and sliding (the action was locked back, the chamber was empty, and there was no magazine in the grip)-- to the backyard range before losing the last of the late sunset light.

My trusty cooler-bench was waiting for me, and no time was wasted stabilizing the target low in the middle of the backstop woodpile. I sent the rounds downrange quickly, too. On the one hand, I'd like to have had time to carefully concentrate on each shot, but on the other hand, I wanted to see what I could do with a bit of time pressure. The results were a pleasant surprise.

They've also given me ideas for two more "missions" for each of the next couple of days. I had a couple of stovepipes but no misfires today. I've not noticed any particular preference in the gun for certain brands or weights of ammo, but there are occasional ejection issues (maybe from slightly light-loaded shells?).

Fact is this gun has been to the factory and back for another kind of ejection problem. I've lost at least six ejector claws-- spring, post, and all-- with this thing (usually also losing the ones I've pirated off my pistols when the rifle's would inevitably disappear in the middle of a plink-athon), and I kept thinking that I could replace it and solve the problem.

No, not at all. I finally took it to a Browning dealer to ask the gunsmith to give it a look-see, and they sent it right off to the factory. The turn-around was lightning fast, and there were no questions asked and no fee charged (not even by the dealer). Really impressive work, Browning!

I do wish, though, that there had been a question or two asked after I got it back, because there was no information at all given about what the problem was or what had been done to fix it. Maybe it was all trade secrets, but a guy with a special buddy-gun wants to know these things, ya know? Anyway, the extractor claw in it now is the same one that was in it from the factory warranty work, so the problem-- whatever it was-- has definitely been solved with very high customer satisfaction marks.

Back to today's work, I set a simple but challenging goal-- especially with the way my eyes water in the cold-- of getting all 50 shots onto the target (another 1-foot Shoot-n-C).

Success at that would not be scaring any record-holders or anything, but it would be a good chance to test myself as well as the sights. Speaking again of the sights: I was about halfway through the second magazine when I realized that, as best I remember, I have never changed a single thing about them. I've never adjusted them up, down, sideways, forward, back-- nothin'! They were used today the way the factory installed 'em with whatever unintended bumping and shaking they have experienced over the years.

I'm gonna go ahead and say that I was very, very happy with how the target looked when I was done. I definitely hope to improve on this in later sessions, but this was more than alright to an old guy with watery eyes trying to just see the orange ring in the graying evening light. I couldn't see the yellow hole-marks while just trying to shoot at the same spot through the first couple of mags. When I finally risked a look into the scope (I was dreading disappointment), I found out that the sights were right on. Any stringing or spreading was just from my variations of placement (and maybe the rounds themselves a bit?).

I had a sneakin' feeling that there could be a repeat of a mid-breath-trigger-pulled flier like the one I had yesterday, and, sure enough, I certainly did have one-- there in the upper-right corner (doggone it), but it actually made it onto the rings as well-- on the outermost edge. Barely there by a whisker! Let's call it shot o'the day as a reminder for me to do better next time ...

All in all, this is a keeper, and today's task gives me a much better sense of how to use the sights for varminting at ranges under 75 feet or so. Most of my squirrel hits have been at less than 50 feet. Tomorrow's task-- factory sights from 25 yards or less with careful attention to placement of the sight's "three dots" (maybe as a slight triangle rather than a straight line?)-- will help me with that even more.

The magazines are already re-loaded and ready to go.

2011-01-12T18:22:00.008-05:00

Gun-a-Day 12: Browning Buck Mark Sporter Rifle, .22LR, Bushnell 3-9x40 scope mounted above iron/fiber-optic "tru-glo" sights

As one snow day is followed by the next around here lately, so the Buck Mark Sporter rifle "must" follow the Buck Mark Target pistol here in the Gun-a-Day archives of The Wildwood Light. This is an odd-looking, little rig, but it's no novelty toy. In fact, I didn't have any concern about making this the first rifle to be fired from my 50-yard target position. I knew it was going to do just fine, and I had a chance to do alright, too, because this, I'm pretty sure, is the gun I've fired more-- and with more success-- than any other.

And for very good reason(s).

My wife might be inclined to call it "the giggle gun." She's no longer surprised to come outside and find me-- Sporter in hand-- shaking my head enthusiastically with a big ol'smile on my face and chuckles echoing in the woods.

I've got to admit that more often than not it's true that I'm laughing uproariously after about 5 or 10 minutes with it in my hands-- and 2 or 3 magazines' worth of bullets downrange. There's nothing silly about shooting-- especially shooting safely, but with appropriate safety precautions and practices in place, this gun is an absolute, flat-out, semi-automatic, grunt-and-guffaw inducing pleasure.

It's a point and click device if there ever was one. When I line it up right, the bullet ends up right where it's supposed to go. Plain, simple ... and hilariously satisfying. Several years ago now, I installed "see-through" mounts so the stock sights could still be used under the scope. This loss-leader Bushnell unit dialed in quickly and reliably the first time, and it's never needed more than the slightest tweak a time or two. It's a cheapie but a goodie.

I took this dearly-loved set-up out in the ice-skinned snow today in mid-morning light and took my place an old picnic cooler slid to the firing line as a makeshift seat. The 1-foot circle Shoot-n-C target was 50 yards away, and the scope brought it up close and personal at the 5x magnification point. It's been weeks since the last time the Sporter saw work, so I checked a magazine-full on the heavy caliber spinner next to the target. The bottom paddle never went all the way over, but the sounds were pretty as church bells to me.

When it was time to settle on today's target goal, I wanted 50 out of 50 in the orange ring around the center diamond.

Hey, who wouldn't?

More realistically, I intended to get all 50 within the two inner rings. And if not for allowing a bit too much trigger pressure during a re-set breath, I might have done it. That's the shot o'the day: the One Lonely Hole in the outer ring. I'm already well-motivated for the next time ...

The NRA-logo sling I usually have on the studs wasn't on today, I didn't bother to putting it on for this session. I just rested my forward arm on my knee while seated on the cooler to see what I could do without a bench rest or shooting sticks or fixed support. There were no misfires at all today. As it turned out, the results shown here are the "icing" on today's snow-cream cake.

Scope and all, this rig is less than 5 pounds to carry, and it finds targets easily. More important, it settles and rests on targets very steadily. Not sure exactly why, but it's one of those rifles that just fits my natural hold very well. It's not the easiest to work with: my hand's too small, for example, to work the slide release without giving up my shooting grip, and the same goes for the action release (the safety and release buttons both, to be honest, are a little sharp and scrape-y in my opinion), but, WOW!, it's a hoot-and-a-ha'penny to fire.

Between my three Buck Marks, I've got a baker's dozen of magazines, and they're "one for all and all for one" when any one of them is chosen for some range time. A few minutes of bemused loading lets me grin my way through 130 rounds in a few stress-erasing seconds. Even better? I can usually do all that and repeatedly scorch the center of most any selected target. Happy-happy, Joy-joy.

After that, it's easy to re-load and re-fit another 130 or 260 pieces into the paper-shredding puzzle. I probably need to check with Wal-Mart and/or Federal about sponsorship (or at least to buy some stock), 'cause those 550-round boxes can go quickly.

I'm sure glad the "ammo-drought" seems to be pretty much over ...

But it didn't end quietly, did it?

With plenty of rounds to fire out of the tapered, 16-inch barrel, my buddy with the deer-head logo tattoo and I make plenty of noise with our "outside voices." It could be that the neighbor's dogs are just barking at the sound of gunfire, but I prefer to think that they're howlin' with laughter right along with me.

2011-01-11T23:11:00.002-05:00

Gun-a-Day 11: Browning Buck Mark Target (circa 1991) .22LR, hooded sights, Weaver mount rail, adjustable trigger, shell deflector, competition wood grips

In the fading light and melting snow (the rain canopy over my 25-yard position was sagging badly under the weight of slushy water), I took out one of my prizes for a 50-round splurge on a 1-foot target. It was cold and wet and cloudy, so I had to have at least 50 rounds to make it worth the time and effort (and cleaning).

Besides, I really, really like this gun. It's one of my best gunbroker.com finds. Not because I got it super cheap; the opening bid/buy now price was on the upper-east side of fair. No, it's a major find for me because I'd been looking for over 7 years when I found it. It's a "Target" model Buck Mark pistol made in 1990 (the name applies to a different style now, I think), and it's a great match for the Buck Mark Sporter rifle I bought off the shelf in a Galyan's store on or around a cold night in 2001. They're not officially a matched pair, but they're treasured set that was years in the making for me.

I've had great fun and good success with all three of the Buck Marks I own, though this one is probably the most finicky of them all. When the weather turns, it will be great to get a little table and sand-bag rest out to really work on fine-tuning the sight settings. The contoured grips are technically too big for my small-ish hands, but a firm hold is not hard to manage. Maybe it's a bit of a diva because it was designed as a competition shooting piece. The adjustable trigger and multi-adjustment sight set-up are both much more complex than my others. There's no way to claim that I'm "worthy" of a competition pistol, but I'm intend making a habit of 50- and 100-round sessions, and I'll try to make every shot count.

The solid, "bull" barrel makes for stable, balanced target sighting, and the recoil is negligible.

My results are no great shakes, but the shooting (and the trying) are what it's about, really. I'm certain that the sight adjustments can make a positive difference, too, once I get the right weather and the right kind of time to relax and focus on the work.

Ordinarily, I shoot off-hand in a "dueling" stance (single-handed, sideways, right leg forward), but for today I decided to do my own less-than-precise version of a two-handed "fighting" position (Weaver?) which seemed like a good idea-- especially since I was starting out at about 75-feet away.

It was a bit odd to find out that, due to cold or due to sitting in the gun-bag untouched for many, many moons, the sight rail which runs along the top of the pistol-- from muzzle to rear grip curve and cocking mechanism-- was loose enough to rattle around by the time I finished my rounds. Sure glad I didn't lose a set screw in the snow!

This whole set is my shot o'the day. I want consistency as much as precision, so I wanted to see if I could put 'em downrange fairly quickly (it was getting darker by the second) and still get 'em in the near vicinity of the target. Close enough for today, for sure. I will insist on improvement, but this is okay as a starting point.

Out of 50 rounds, there were about 5 first-strike misfires. Of these, 2 cartridges just would not be parted with their lead-tops. Note that one of the two has 4 (count 'em: four!) firing pin marks on it. That's one dead round for sure. I've got a lot of confidence in Federal ammunition, and an occasional dud only proves the general rule that they are reliable, if not fancy.

The way my eyes water in the cold outside, I decided to be happy with this target record, though there are a few stringers in the bunch. I'm just glad to find out that I could get all shots on the box (48 out of 48, and 42 on the rings) with no more practicing than I've done until this year. In fact, I think I've only had this pistol out to shoot at all maybe twice since buying it back in February of 2009.

See, that's the reason I feel such a need to try this every-day-for-a-year thing. Target and varmint shooting is too much fun, too much good for mental sharpness and physical coordination, too valuable as a right and privilege of citizenship, and too psychologically interesting and emotionally satisfying to allow the weeks and months and years to slip by only thinking how nice it would be to maybe get out and shoot "tomorrow."

God's blessed me with too much opportunity and given me too much passion to let it just end up as wistful wishful thinking. I want and think I need to keep getting out there to be a good steward of my big, strong interests and any small measure of talent I might have for recreational shooting.

I was also blessed with the chance to become an NRA Patron Life Member this past year (on the cheap, but it still counts, right?), and I can't send big dollars their way, but I can try to keep up my activities as a sincerely grateful supporter of 2nd Amendment rights.

The art of design, the skills of craftsmanship, the pride of quality workmanship, the challenge of responsible ownership-- all of these are worth preserving and sharing with my family and friends.

2011-01-10T20:54:00.006-05:00

Gun-a-Day 10: Savage 29B (Winter Wonderland Edition)

Found out today that there's another good reason to have rubber recoil pad on the end of a favorite rifle that has almost no recoil: snow. With 4 or 5 inches on the ground, I went out to shoot a few CeeBee's (keeping it quiet to preserve the peaceful calm of the day), and I realized that I could lean the rifle up against a tree with no worries in spite of 4 or 5 inches of snow on the ground. I never would have set it down while taking some pictures if the wood of the gun butt wasn't covered.

At first, I thought it was a re-tread to take the Savage out again so soon, but I did have a first-time learning experience, so it was better than I could have planned. It hadn't occurred to me that I'd never been out in sub-freezing, no-sunshine weather for an extended time with a gun, and I'd never shot a gun exposed to hours of freezing temperatures. I left it under a tree-stand umbrella for a while to take pictures in the woods and by the pond, then I came back to the 25-yard mark and had no trouble getting sharp, brittle ringing sounds off of the spinner target with the CeeBee rounds. It's an oldie but a goodie.

4 or 5 shots in, though, I had a jam, and that's the first time ever since getting "this old gun." I started to wonder if there was a blockage in the barrel, but I kept hearing the shots ding off the target. Another couple of jams got me wondering if there was a mechanical problem I'd need to investigate.

Then it dawned on me: it's very cold, Mr. Gun-a-Day, not-so-genius. The bullet heads were catching on the chamber opening. The rifle does not like handling square-shouldered bullets when it's all shrunk up and freezing.

That's good to know!

I've read about that kind of issue in American Rifleman and other sources with info on everything from winter hunting in Billings to winter fighting in Bastogne, but I've never had first-hand experience using a gun in winter conditions.

And learning more about my guns is one of the main reasons for this daily project. I want to understand mine better specifically and all guns better in general, and I want to be able to look back, Lord willing and I'm still around, 20 years from now and be able to know that I didn't just leave 'em sitting in the cabinets and their cases. After all, I waited a good 20 years before starting to collect them to begin with. As the Duke might say, "He's been burnin' way too much daylight," and I want to make good use of the time I've got left to enjoy the blessings of the woods and pond and landscape and property we're stewarding, including the lead-relocation tools I've managed to gather up.

On another note: After spending much of the weekend clearing dead branches and trees out of the woods (hoping sincerely that I wasn't messing up our owl's habitat too much), I was very glad to find that I'd missed one very dead and decaying tree. It's picture is the shot of the day (there was nothing particularly notable about the actual shots on range), because some bird or squirrel or something had to have some steady, repeated, persistent dead-on aim to put these big holes in this dead pine (even though it's pretty soft and sapless).

I hand-dropped 2 or 3 other trunks in the same general area on Saturday, and it's a wonder that I didn't get this one in the process. I would have regretted taking down what looks for all the world like a bird house or two-- made by actual birds!

We're now keeping a careful eye out trying to meet the neighbors.

Squirrels? Woodpeckers? Really honkin' huge hornets? Seems way too small for an owl (though it is on the treeline now called "Owl Alley"). Can't wait to see who takes over the lease on these custom-designed, high-rise condominium units come Spring. What could be better than a penthouse loft with quiet woods views? Rent-controlled, to boot!

Too much snow to worry about going into town tomorrow, so the melt-off version of Gun-a-Day should be extra fun. It's been a pretty short ice age here, but it's been a good one. Sure would like to get all that white stuff into the under-filled pond ...

2011-01-09T23:58:00.003-05:00

Gun-a-Day 9: Magnum Research MLR-1722, part 2 (The Ala-Ruger-ville Horror)

Yes, I was very excited to go out again with my wanna-be favorite rifle today-- especially with the nifty newly-installed Browning-branded reflex sight sitting up on the rail all streamlined and petite. I just knew I would be able to sight it in with 20 or 30 rounds and spend the rest of my 100-round ration testing myself from 50 yards and beyond.

If I weren't feeling like such an old man today, I'd call myself a silly, silly boy.

No amount of happy-go-lucky, positive mental attitude, or aw-shucks-can-do-never-say-die-American-spiritism was enough to get me over the hump on this (so far). I'm sure this little sight is a great match for this lightweight, compact gun and the ammunition I bought to go with it, but nothing is working correctly yet.

Oh, yeah: there were LOTS of stovepipes again, too.

Now, I have very successfully and satisfyingly sighted in several scopes on several different rifles, and I'm no expert or pro, but it usually doesn't take me long, and it's usually more for fun and fine-tuning and life-lessons after the first few rounds. Once again, though, a Ruger-based rifle has completely stumped and confused me. I'm at a loss to get a sense of what is happening and why my sight adjustments aren't reeling in the hits.

I will read the sight manual again, and I will, if God is willing, get it figured out, and get the shots consistently in the rings. I thought that would be a project in the past tense as of today, but it is not.

I still have about 9500 rounds left. Hopefully, that will be enough ...

The really strange part is that, even though I'm not getting any kind of normal accuracy (I'm ringing shots at 3 out of 100 with this, and it's usually more like 3 misses out of a 100 with some of my other guns), I can't seem to help loving this rifle more every time I take it out. I kept missing, but I kept finding more and more ways that it suited my stature and my sense of symmetry and style.

The feel, the weight, the length, the look, the design features ... the list goes on. Sometimes love isn't rational; it just is. And I do love this rifle, even though it's not sending me any positive signals yet. I need for it to work, 'cause I really want it to be my first choice when I'm heading out for targeting, varminting, or reconnoitering.

So, I'm going to keep trying, and I'm going to keep learning, and I'm going to keep making a record of what goes on in the process. Quick research results show that both the model and the ammo get very high marks for accuracy and reliability (and compatibility), so there must be some explanation and solution for these troubles.

Shot o'the day? Round 95 of 100. The one shot that hit the actual target I was aiming at (though I did figure the "Kentucky windage" a couple of times for where to aim at one target to hit the one next to it. My sight adjustments after those hits, though, didn't work.

But, "I think I can ... I think I can ..."

2011-01-08T23:54:00.007-05:00

Gun-a-Day 8: Jennings J-22, .22LR, blue steel, black plastic grips

Yes, it's my very own "Mr. Saturday Night Special."

And who do I have to thank for this super-sub-compact addition to my bargain basement gun collection?

Why, my Mother-in-Law, of course. Who else?

This is definitely one of those "really glad I have it, especially since I never would have bought one for myself" kinda-guns. What a happy thing it is to wake up one day to find out that a family member has decided that they'd feel safer if their pistol became your pistol-- no matter the make, model, or caliber.

Am I right, or am I right?

When we moved her a couple of years ago from her little place in southern Missouri, she wanted us to keep an eye out for it in her security cabinets. We finally found it, and after a bit of thought, she decided that her gun-owning days were best left to the past, so it became another member of my little lead-based fellowship of the target rings.

It's a neat and tidy little rig (if a bit jinky -- always a little anxious about a gun with a plastic safety switch), but, of course, some of these pistols have terrible reputations. I was VERY skeptical at first about it being safe to fire, and the concerns deepened as I read a few horror stories online (esp. the ones about firing pins flying back into the shooter's face and/or the whole assembly breaking apart on firing), but I did a breakdown cleaning and re-assembly practice session or two and decided to give it a go (with leather gloves, extra heavy eye protection, and my face in "vampire-cape-position" behind the crook of my off-hand elbow).

Hey, I love to shoot guns, but I don't want them throwing parts back at me!

Anyway, the little blue-steel rimfire popper did just fine. Over and over again. Several magazines' worth. No problem (except for the occasional stovepipe, but that was prob'ly just as much an issue of cheap ammo as it was a cheap gun). The trash-talk on these models in general is that they are not accurate at normal range distances, but I don't find that to be the case with this one. It's no Colt Woodsman or anything, and I won't be trying it at 50 yards on 24 oz. Pepsi bottles (or squirrels), but it can shoot, and a shooter who pays attention can get a sense of sight-placement for generally consistent results.

This is a U-Pick'Em shot o'the day.

One set is 16 out of 20 shots on the paper from 20-ish feet away. The other is 10 out of 10 on paper from 10-12 feet. It was a very, very windy day, and cold, but I don't think either had any noticeable effect on the target session.

On the 20-round set, three hits in the rings, a couple of decent clusters, and only three or four fliers in the set is not bad for what it is and for no more than I practice with it. That's one guy's opinion anyway ...

I was a bit surprised at how many failures to feed there were-- maybe 10 out of 50 total rounds spent. At one point, I thought the dreaded "exploding firing pin" problem had happened. Turned out that the blow-back was weak on some of the rounds, so it wasn't cycling consistently. A complete slide-pull put it right back in the game.

It's no great shakes or anything (and my one-handed shooting is a bit shaky some days), but I like it for what it is without judging it for what it isn't. It seems appropriate to enjoy it and just leave my expectations fairly low. It doesn't have to be great. I have no intention of ever using this piece as any kind of defensive weapon.

It's not reliable by any reasonable standard, but that doesn't mean it isn't fun as a curiosity and soup can smacker. It's easy to shoot and easy to maintain, and it cleans up quickly and easily. I have, more than once, taken it on-board the riding mower as a ride-along tool for break times during my 6-7 hour lawn maintenance sessions. There's this old cast iron bathtub in the back corner of our lot, you see ...

Thanks again, Grannie J, for the J-22!

[Birds of Prey update: caught sight of the owl today, but I was too fumble-fingered to get the camera-phone out in time for a photo ... I'll give a hoot again tomorrow ...]

2011-01-07T23:51:00.009-05:00

Gun-a-Day 7: Magnum Research MLR-1722 .17Mach2

An intensely passionate love/hate relationship. That's the only way to properly describe my interactions with Ruger rifles. I love them very, very much, and they consistently treat me with ice-cold, empty-hearted indifference.

My first rejection came from a synthetic-stocked Ruger Mini-14. I scrimped and scratched and sneaked to save up the money for that thing, and I decked it out in very stylish accessories: a Sten-like barrel shroud, a ported and slotted muzzle brake, a snug and strappy soft-side case full of silicon-infused wrap-cloths, adjustment gadgets of all kinds, and two handfuls of high-cap magazines-- all that and much more. I doted on it and envisioned super-heroic accuracy far beyond that of mortal Mini-14s (and merely amateur, decidedly part-part-time owner-operators such as myself) based on the power of symbiotic teamwork, profound mutual respect, deeply-reciprocated affection, and willpower tough as rough-cast iron cement nails.

Yeah, right.

A buddy and I went to a range for my break-in session for what I knew was going to be the beginning of a beautiful friendship (not to say, romance). Maybe I spoiled her with all the pre-shooting make-over attention. Whatever it was, the break-in was, before too long (and way too many off-target rounds), just a bad break-up.

I don't have a problem saying that user-error may have been a big part of the problem. My buddy, though, didn't think much at all of my choice in lead-spitting dance partners.

Why should he? His sub-MoA Les Baer AR-15 and he were a target-punching machine. Me and my baby? We couldn't even seem to hit the broad side of a back-stop hill that was much bigger than a barn. To this day, I don't know what the problem was. I tried center, right-top, right-middle, right-bottom, bottom-center, left-bottom, left-middle, left-top, and center-top, and there wasn't a single hole in the paper. I tried walking shots in by shooting from the bench at points in the sand about 20 feet in front of the target. Even my friend and I together couldn't spot hit locations.

I hung my head (didn't quite cry), bagged the gun, headed home and hid IT away in a dark closet. Just another flash-in-the-receiver love affair dropped dead in its tracks. When we moved a couple of years later, I sold it-- widgets and all-- to another buddy who gave it a good home, and as far as I know they're as happy as they can be. Well, good for them!

Obviously, all of this is still very clear in my mind even about 8 years later, but that heartache, somehow, didn't register at all when I decided to buy, about 4 years ago, Magnum Research's adaptation of the Ruger 10/22 in .17Mach2 caliber. Surely my troubles were just a one-gun thing, I thought. Well, evidently not (and I should stop calling myself Shirley).

Based on the rightly-venerated Ruger 10/22 platform, the MLR-1722 is a slick bit of post-space-age engineering. The carbine-length, chrome-lined, carbon barrel is lightweight and almost impervious to weather damage. The Hogue rubber stock is impervious to weather damage ... and most any kind of rugged treatment, too. I wanted a .17M2 rifle in my collection, and when I saw this design my choices narrowed quickly to it and it alone.

Yes, that's right. A second round of mad, head-over-heels, giddy-as-a-schoolgirl infatuation/obsession over a Ruger-derived long gun, and I don't think the slightest hint of concern crossed my mind at any time.

Until I took it out to a target range for the first time.

Oblivious to past history, I just knew everything would be perfect. I was so sure, in fact, that before I'd even put one round through it I went ahead and gunbroker.com-bought TEN-THOUSAND Eley-primed, ballistic-tipped rounds of .17-caliber ammo in an amazingly-priced bulk deal. The per-round cost worked out close to what I was paying Wal-Mart for a 550-round box of .22LR.

I was sure I'd bought my main hikin' and roamin' and campin' and plinkin' gun, and I was sure it was going to serve triple-duty as a remote-controlled tack hammer and a noisy flyswatter.

Yeah, right.

Looking back now, I'm pretty sure that I was expecting way too much out of the first hundred rounds ... mostly due to my inexperience, at that point, with very precisely engineered firearms. I'd never had hands-on action with a rifle built to such tight tolerances in parts and fitting, so I was swimming in flop-sweat after about 10 or 12 stovepipe jams and very erratic variations in cartridge function. I got frustrated and embarrassed quickly, thinking that I'd wasted big dollars on a lemon of a gun and maybe the design itself was bad.

There I was with what I thought might not be of any kind of use except as an extremely expensive (and tall and not very romantic) bud vase for a single, very slender, very long-stemmed rose and ... nine thousand nine hundred cartridges still in their sealed, shrink-wrapped cases.

But, when I love somebody or some thing, I'm not dispensed with easily. A few weeks later, I swapped out optics (the cheap, China-sourced EO-Tech I started with couldn't handle the almost non-existent "kick" from the rounds-- the LED cross-hairs blinked off with every shot ... a lesson learned that I should have already had figured out) and tried again. With almost no jams the second session, it occurred to me that there really was such a thing as a "break-in" period for some guns. I even got the NcStar sight dialed in pretty well and put some holes in and around the target rings. Not bad at all!

And then: this afternoon. Not only did the sight not help much (another on-off blinker?! Come on!), I couldn't even "walk in" the rounds-- again. Only when standing 20 feet away (not to be tried at home, I know, but I did) did I actually find get a round on the spinner. A shot every few steps, and I was able to work back to my 25-yard station.

I want this rifle to be my go-to-on-my-property 100-yarder, but I was ready to sing for a 25-yard ding off the steel spinners. And I did get a few. Of the 50 rounds spent (from my pair of "Alangator TriMag" coupler rigs), I got one mag to go 9 dings out of 10 shots. With 2 rounds left, I dared to put up a shoot-n-see ring on cardboard. I even thought I hit it. After closer inspection, the holes were pushed out back toward me instead of away from me, so I think they were made by bounced-back scraps ricocheting off the spinner plate.

Yippee!

I'm not breaking up this time, though. I've got a little Browning red-dot sight ready to replace that mis-proportioned scope (definitely doesn't complement the sleek style of the gun), and I'm going out with another hundred rounds by Sunday or early next week. I want this relationship to work out, so I'm going to keep trying 'til I get it right.

The shot o'the day was taken with a camera instead of a gun. I was glad to get the image that came up, because I have generally bad luck when it comes to capturing images of my favorite birds on earth.

Today, though, I think the key to that problem slid and clicked into my mental tumblers: Because hawks know how they hunt, I think they also know when they are being hunted when they see their own tactics.

Hawks are predatory masters who know how to repeatedly succeed at stalking and taking their prey. They can-- for long periods-- sit very still and wait very patiently for the right opportunity to strike their target before it can get away.

So, what happened when I rolled slowly past its perch on the roadside fence? Nothing at all ... until I stopped moving. I moved off the edge of the road into the grassy shoulder to set the camera for the shot, and the dusty brown and cream hawk treated me like I wasn't there.

But the moment my truck stopped moving, the bird snapped two quick, strong wing-beats and was almost gone as I clicked the shutter button.

Can't even tell what it is in this shot above, and I'm sure that's just how he likes it. He moved about 100 feet away up in the nearest, highest tree, and I moved for a clear angle and tried again.

Sure enough, as soon as I stopped, he was off to a new perch. This time, several hundred yards away. I u-turned for home and coasted along. He flapped off (maybe because he was totally annoyed with the noisy, burgundy "cow" with round rubber hooves below him?) high in the sky, circling wider and wider until I was just a past pest ... literally "beneath his notice."

I had even worse luck trying to spy out (and photograph) the resident Great Horned Owl we've got living on the north side of the property. I tried the patient-stillness stalking method, but it's obvious that I am just a "Grasshopper" with much still to learn from these masters. I will, though, keep trying to "grab the pebble."

2011-01-06T19:00:00.003-05:00

Gun-a-Day 6: Remington-Baikal IZH 94, .22LR/.410, part 3 (feeling a bit "choked" up)

Once again, I was racing sundown & dusky darkness to my target range. I barely won (which means, really, I lost ... I could tell by the lantern's glow there next to the wood-pile backstop). It was a long day at the office, and I had to take care of a few important, pesky paperwork details before heading home, so there was just barely enough time to pull up the drive, run in the house, and "get the lead out."

Either I was just plain rushed and distracted, or 25 yards was too far (for the gun and/or me?).

For whatever reason, I ended up about 15 yards from an old, cardboard-mounted art print. Aiming at the large rock in one corner, the 000-Buckshot patterned pretty well.

That's the shot o'the day, for what it's worth.

The #6 shot from 2 shells seemed to pack in effectively for that distance, and the muzzle breathes a bit of fire when they're let fly, too, and that's always fun to watch.

This .22/.410 combo appeals to me as a very practical rig-- calibers well-matched with each other-- for small game. It's all good, since I don't have plans, anytime soon, to become a big-game hunter, and this rifle-- single-shot though it be-- carries well on my "travel the acreage perimeter for a bit of exercise and fresh air" approach to low-budget, high-contentment walks in the woods while well-armed and on the lookout for legal and appropriate "targets of opportunity."

The whole package, new in the box, also includes a set of choke tubes (and a custom wrench and plastic "safety lock"). Learning to adapt the additional tubes to specific ammo, game, and circumstances will give me good reason to make this the gun of the day a few more times this year …

But, for tomorrow, Gun-a-Day moves on ...

2011-01-05T12:59:00.006-05:00

Gun-a-Day 5: Remington/Baikal .22LR/.410, part 2 (CeeBee Time!)

Simple, spare, basic ... There's a potential for elegance in these qualities, and, for my time and money, the Remington/Baikal IZH94 has it, and it "jus' plain shoots perty doggone good."

The ejector is nothing flashy-- no spring ejection, just a sliding bar that raises the cases on break-open. The flat-blade, square-notch rear sight (there is a groove for optic mounting, too) is about as simple as it gets with only a side-to-side dovetailing for adjustment. The matte black post front sight appears to be adjustable for elevation (never messed with it ... don't expect I'll ever need to).

Plain and minimal ... and amazingly accurate and useful. I was going to show shotgun results this time (could be fun for tomorrow), but my shot o'the day became immediately apparent when I fired one CeeBee .22 at yesterday's box target (black dots mark the Super Colibri "shots by spotlight").

I know full well that I won't likely ever be mistaken for a match-level shooter, and my guns aren't precision-tuned, and I don't try to afford match-quality ammo. I just try to do as well as I can with as little time as I get to practice with the tools/toys I have. This is noted to clarify the following points:

--> 25 yards is no big deal as a shooting distance
--> CeeBee's aren't generally useful for accuracy testing
--> Baikal rifles aren't highly sought-after collector's items or luxury guns (and the .22/.410 isn't even still on market, is it?)
--> I barely get time to shoot a few rounds at a time, and I have gone months at a time in the past few years without any real "range time"

So, none of my shots are anything important except as signs that I'm actually getting out and enjoying the outdoors and my firearms (the whole reason for this online shooting diary, really).

And yet ... when I walked up to this target and saw this 10-ring hit with my hand-in-sling-wrapped, off-hand, iron sighting, my mini-charge cartridge, and my discontinued-but-almost-no-one-noticed rifle, I still felt a great sense of satisfaction and got a big ol'smile on my face and shook my head in pleasant surprise.

And that's the fun of shooting for me.

2011-01-04T23:10:00.019-05:00

Gun-a-Day 4: Remington/Baikal IZH94, blue/wood .22LR/.410 over-under

There were a few fairly lemony moments of the day, though many blessings were in evidence, too. While I can't claim to have made any meringue pie, I did manage to end up with some lemonade.

A major tech-glitch with my iPhone kept me at the office until after dark, so some creativity was necessary for getting my shooting in today. I found a way to throw some lead without any neighbor-stressing, after-dark, gunpowdered thunder by taking out the Remington-imported rifle-shotgun combo gun I bought a couple of years ago from a dealer on gunsamerica.com. The digital device had me stressed and distracted, but my analog shooter had me smilin' and focused again pretty quickly.

I really enjoy the Baikal fit, finish, design, heft, feel, and function of this inexpensive, utilitarian piece of hardware. It's my only break-open rifle (at this point, anyway), and I have to be careful of my fingers around the breech release, but it's a great rifle to carry and shoot. At least that's how I feel about the rimfire barrel. I haven't yet had occasion to try out the shotgun barrel (tomorrow?).

The ammo was the key factor in noise-limitation, though. The primer-only Aguila Super Colibri .22LR rounds make less noise-- when fired through a long-barreled rifle-- than some air-powered pellet guns. No kidding.

I've had some occasional trouble with barrel jamming with some rounds (had to tap out a few bullets from the Savage a time or two), but they are typically reliable, and I'm routinely amazed at their accuracy potential.

The slugs are small, and the primers don't pack enough punch to cycle a semi-auto, but I've taken several squirrels with them. One was a single hit drop from at least 75 feet-- down a hill!

Great for short-range practice and pest control.

For tonight's session, I put a center-ring target on a Sportsman's Guide box. 40-50 feet is a good range, but I went back to my 25-yard range anyway, set up a spotlight, and broke open the single-shot receiver.

After dinging the first round off a spinner set I leave out there, I used the very simple, flat slot and round post iron sights (the design fits my idea of peasant Russian pragmatism: make it cheap and solid and very effective with little or no pretense of fancy luxury or gaudy refinement) to send 9 more rounds down the line.

Those are the shots o'the day: on the box if not on the rings. What's so special? I just think it's cool that the pop of them hitting cardboard was louder than the rimfire strike and fire.

Tomorrow? I'm planning on making use of some daylight to get a bit of .410 action.

I'll start off with grape juice and try to avoid citrus altogether.

2011-01-03T23:49:00.002-05:00

Gun-a-Day 3: Savage 29B .22 caliber Pump action (22S/L/LR)

This sturdy, antique machine has been around much longer than I have, but it still knows it's work and does it very well. I don't think the '38' on the barrel stands for 1938, but that may not be far off of its incept date.

This hardy and hearty little pumper joined the family a couple years ago during the summer that we moved Deb's Mom, Janie, here from Missouri as a "trade." I helped a guy sell a few pieces from his collection, and after cleaning it and finding out that it was basically a long-range flyswatter, I claimed it as my commission on the other sales.

It's not particularly valuable or collectible or historic or anything special like that, but it's so doggone fun and satisfying and useful to shoot that it's a "pry it from my cold, dead hands" keeper.

Don't be too concerned about the recoil pad. I wanted some extra length-of-pull for a solid placement and cheek weld.

This is my quick-grab pest-control mechanism, and it's reliable and easy. In an approximately-perfect world, I'll someday have time for another full breakdown cleaning and fixes for the slight bend to the outer fill-tube and the accuracy-neutral barrel wobble where it seats into the receiver/action.

In the meantime, it'll prob'ly still be shooting side-by-side holes to the next '38 and beyond.

Shot(s) o'the Day: 2 of 5 shots at dusk, offhand from 25 yds.

Few who know me will be surprised by my admission of Pepsi-aholism. Even fewer, though, might know why my delivery system of choice is the 24-oz. plastic bottle. As it happens, the logo is almost exactly the size of an average-sized squirrel's center mass, and the whole container is a great substitute for a squirrel's body (not including the tail). Any hit on the bottle would work as a drop shot, and a hole in the logo counts as a game over hit: one less nut-happy rodent trying to make a warm bed for its family in my attic insulation. These bottles are the perfect trainer targets for squirrel shooters.

What a cheapskate I am, huh?

[for what it's worth: this blog text was posted with my iPhone 4 … couldn't figure out the pics part, but I'll keep trying 'til I get it.]

2011-01-02T23:57:00.017-05:00

Gun-a-Day 2: Marlin Papoose blue/wood .22 caliber (22LR)

I pawn-shop-traded a Llama .380 + 5 mags for this – not a great deal book-value-wise for me at all, but, then again, I got to start shooting regularly with the almost silent Super Colibri rounds and the Llama had been stowed away, unfired, in the range bag for many months. It also had stove-piping issues, so it wasn't a reliable option for home defense or concealed carry. Squirrels learned to fear and flee when I had that marlin in hand, I can tell you. And every Marlin rimfire I’ve ever come across makes the sweetest crack when a round goes downrange.

This model 70P is the reason I have the model 70PSS. After "ending up with" this one, I decided I really wanted the updated, fiber sighted, weather-tough version, so I traded it for an extra .223 Beta C-Mag gathered during an ill-advised spending spree in the days before a certain change of national governmental administration.

Overly expensive that way (since when have I ever come out well on a trade or hedge investment?), but pleasure and productivity are valuable right along with price, so it’s all okay.

Wasn't sure this one was safe to fire when I found a very loose receiver mount screw while cleaning it up after the trade. Yes, it’s true: I often find out what I should have checked more carefully after I've put my money down.

Oh, well. Sad but true. Trying to do better this year. Really.

Anyway, a bit of hardware tightening and careful cleaning (and a cautious double-check with my local gunsmith of choice-- three cheers for Dan!) made me confident it was safe. Just a cheap little plinker, but I took my first few squirrels with it (and Super Colibri primer-only subsonic rounds), so it's a genuine family treasure (though it's still just a cheap, little, temperamental plinker in need of some micro-adjustment the next time it comes out of the cabinet).

Today’s shot o’the day is really the shot that never happened at all. It’s a jammed and bent round that slammed up against a spent case that didn’t eject. Oh, the things that might have been …

2011-01-01T22:43:00.009-05:00

Gun-a-Day 1: Marlin Papoose 70PSS, 22lr, Stainless/Synthetic

Happy New Year! "May God's mercy, peace, and love be yours in abundance." (Jude 2)

Not only did God bless me GREATLY today with the rediscovery of the Honda & Kia keys and electric openers (all very expensive to replace -- $80+ just for the CR-V key) I thought I'd lost forever about a month ago (GLORY! Psalm 115:1!), but the wife and I got some time to work on the last of the major recovery work on the cabin. Here's what it looked like by the time I got there (my wife and youngest daughter had already dumped many, many gallons of ceiling-crud water by then).

Still more to do, but it's livable and clean. What a relief.

As if that weren't enough, I also got some time to start my 2011 project/goal of firing at least one of my guns every day this year. The occasional house-threatening squirrel may be dealt with, but mostly it'll be simple target shooting.

Today's tool was my Marlin Papoose rifle. It's a .22 caliber (22LR) take-down style with a stainless steel barrel in a black synthetic stock. It happens to be the first real firearm aimed, fired, and returned to safe position (for Scout firearm safety training) by my nephew, Robert Stark, and it happened to be at the cabin.

I made some "Great Stuff" cans dance (emptied a couple of weeks ago into the newly replaced and repainted bathroom exterior wall), and here's my shot of the day (25 yards with the scope -- kind of a weenie shot to be using a scope, but, hey, it was raining and kinda foggy!):

Almost center-punched the can, and that's good enough for today (and plenty good enough for me almost any day).

Looking forward to every day God blesses me to experience this year. He is my Strength, my Song, and my Salvation (see Psalm 118:14).

2008-05-16T22:32:00.003-05:00

_The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian_

Deb, Hannah and I saw the movie together tonight, and we all enjoyed it.

The story worked (almost completely-- much better than many adaptations I've seen), and the plot turns and complications were believably managed. Even though it would have been more interesting-- in my opinion-- to see more development of the Narnian characters along with the action sequences (can a brother get an on-screen conversation between King Edmund and a Gryphon, pleeeease?!), the dramatic tension and the heroic responses to risk and danger were effectively conveyed. Good stuff!

I was impressed by the one obvious (there may have been others which I didn't pick up on) story "change" which involved a brief appearance of a previously dispatched arch-enemy (like I said: obvious), but I was very, very, very impressed by one significant storytelling choice which had been a concern since I heard that the books would be adapted to film.

This concern wasn't my idea, but I picked up the burden of it as soon as other critics and commentators pointed it out.

The issue? What could be done about Lewis' presumably fairly innocent-at-the-time choice to cast the Telmarine and/or Calormen with a more or less Arabic cultural framework to avoid any unnecessary or clumsy suggestion of racially volatile references to contemporary radical Muslim concerns?

The solution (at least with the Telmarines)? Go late-medieval Spaniard instead. I think it was a low-level stroke of genius. The Conquistador flavor worked perfectly as a counterpoint to Narnian culture, and the "conquering pirate" culture of the Telmarines fits nicely inside the whole historical spectrum of everything from the Spanish Armada to Cortez and friends.

I will wait with eagerness to see what others have to say about this nuancing of Lewis' original material.

The other ingenius allusion? The commercials and trailers show the "water-demiurge" figure, so this isn't really a spoiler ...

Think Neptune meets Moses and the Egyptian army at the Red Sea. I'll be eager to see the response to this part of the film, too. Will it be considered subtle and creative or heavy-handed and cliche? A case can be made for both perspectives, but I lean heavily toward the subtle and creative.

I'm almost glad that some of the early reviews were a bit mixed and/or downbeat about the film, because I came away feeling that it was much, much better than I had been expecting.

It was enjoyable to see, and it will be interesting and meaningful to see again.

On a totally different note: I was reminded of one of my favorite quotes from the book when it was used in the scene at the river as Lucy tried to engage a bear in conversation. After the action was concluded, "DLF" (is that an intentional distortion of "ELF"?) says, "Get treated like a dumb animal long enough, and that's what you'll become." Very, very true, and not just in Narnia ...

2007-08-20T14:34:00.000-05:00

If it had been available, my newest blog would have been "Stark Reality," and the template quote would have been ...

"How can we ever feel the freedom / Or the flame lit by the spark
How can we ever come out even / When reality is stark?

That was a Wonderful Remark / I had my eyes closed in the dark ..."
--Van Morrison, "Wonderful Remark"

It struck me as I was doing my Monday morning run with my .mp3 headphones on.

I guess I'll have to just settle for having it here on "The Wildwood Light" as a reminder to keep my eyes open ... even in the darkness ...

2007-03-08T14:58:00.000-05:00

Obviously, I have been "lost in the wild woods" much more than "in the light" on this blog in the past few years, but there's a chance I can spend more time here in the near future.

Hope so.

I got to sit in on an Introduction to Literature "tryout lesson" by a prospective faculty candidate today, and I was really blessed and encouraged and energized-- inspired-- by the experience. I felt a dynamic synergy between Whitman's "Spider" poem and a few quotations which have, for a long time, meant a great deal to me.

I'm collecting them together here because this blog is, for me, about "glimpses of grace," light in the darkness, path signs in the tangled underbrush-- light in the wildwood that is this life.

Today's light on the trail:

"I look back in wonder at the path which I alone could never have found,
a wondrous path through despair to this point from which I, too,
could transmit to mankind a reflection of Your rays.
And as much as I must still reflect You will give me.
But as much as I cannot take up You will have already assigned to others."
--Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

"'Man,' he said, then left a long pause, letting scorn build up in the cave like the venom in his breath. 'I can see you understand them. Counters, measurers, theory-makers. [...] Games, games, games!' He snorted fire. 'They only think they think. No total vision, total system, merely schemes with a vague family resemblance, no more identity than bridges and, say, spiderwebs. But they rush across the chasms on spiderwebs, and sometimes they make it, and that, they think, settles that!'" --John Gardner, _Grendel_, pp54-55

"A noiseless patient spider,
I mark'd where on a little promontory it stood isolated,
Mark'd how to explore the vacant vast surrounding,
It launch'd forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself,
Ever unreeling them, ever tirelessly speeding them.

And you O my soul where you stand,
Surrounded, detached, in measureless oceans of space,
Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing, seeking the spheres, to connect them,
Till the bridge you will need be form'd, till the ductile anchor hold,
Till the gossamer thread you fling catch somewhere, O my soul."
--Walt Whitman, "A Noiseless Patient Spider"

"The inventory of philosophical vocabulary used in classical China to define this kind of 'knowing' tends to be one of tracing out, unraveling, penetrating, and getting through . . . to trace out the connections among its joints and sinews, to discern the patterns in things, and, on becoming fully aware of the changing shapes and conditions of things, to anticipate what will ensue from them." --Sun Tzu: The Art Of Warfare, pp56, 57, trans. by Roger T. Ames

"Do I dare disturb the universe? / In a minute there is time
For decisions and revisions / which a minute will reverse."
--T.S. Eliot, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"

Never try to help God fulfill His word. [...] There is never any need to pretend
that your life is filled with joy and confidence; just wait upon God and be grounded in Him (Isaiah 50:10-11). [...] Do I trust at all in the flesh? Or have I learned to go beyond all confidence in myself and other people of God? Do I trust in books and prayers or other joys in my life? Or have I placed my confidence in God Himself, not in His blessings?"
--Oswald Chambers, _My Utmost for His Highest_, 1/19 reading

The trail? Today, it runs from Solzhenitsyn's despair to Chambers' quiet confidence in God by way of Eliot's attempt to overcome self-conscious timidity and interact with the universe in keeping with Milton's recommendation to "sally out" of my comfort zone-- to give my "cloister'd vertue" a good workout and make more and more meaningful connections between myself, my life, and the truth that is "out there" to be "traced out" in the real world-- in spite of the risks involved due to human frailties, especially the hubris all too prevalent in me which assumes too much wisdom, too much discernment, too much awareness of "absolute" truth.

What an amazing line, a perfect metaphor for a great way to live: "Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing, seeking the spheres, to connect them ..."

Seeking to connect the little bubbles of thought-- of truth "as best I can remember it"-- which, strung together well, form a bridge-- a path across dark canyons-- to take me a little "further on down the road."

It's wonder-ful to be on that path, that solid ground found in and on the Solid Rock ...

2000-11-30T13:54:00.000-05:00

Words of wisdom from a former U.N. President who died on a service mission:

God does not die on the day when we cease to believe in a personal deity, but we die on the day when our lives cease to be illuminated by the steady radiance, renewed daily, of a wonder the source of which is beyond all reason. --Dag Hammarskjold (1905-1961)
=== +†+ === +†+ ===

2000-11-25T16:21:00.000-05:00

"Wave on wave of life/ Like the great wide ocean's roll
Haunting hands of memory/ Pluck silver strands of soul
The damage & the dying done/ The clarity of light
Gentle bows & glasses raised/ To the charity of night."
--Bruce Cockburn, "The Charity Of Night"
=== +†+ === +†+ ===

2000-10-19T03:30:00.000-05:00

Check out www.hyperlit.blogspot.com for an updated and expanded version of the L460 Hyperliterature Links information. Thanks!

2000-09-22T09:20:00.001-05:00

"And as I said to my son, 'If you wanted to volunteer
for fascinating, dangerous, necessary work,
this would be a great job to volunteer for--
trying to be a wide-awake human during a dark age
and keeping alive what you think is beautiful
and important." --Ventura/Hillman,
We've Had A Hundred Years Of Psychotherapy
And The World's Getting Worse, p237
=== +†+ === +†+ === +†+ ===

2000-09-22T09:20:00.000-05:00

What is a Wildwood Light?

It's not exactly the deepest mystery vexing our collective mind, but here's an explanation for anyone interested:

It is a symbol of what a Christian can be in this world. The word-picture is borrowed from the imagery developed in song lyrics by Terry Scott Taylor (www.danielamos.com), and my own theory is that he owes his inspiration to for his metaphors to the work of C.S. Lewis, the classic hymn, "Church in the Wildwood," and, possibly, the writings of William Morris. This linkage of ideas might easily be dismissed as an inside joke for Taylor and Lewis fanatics, but I see it as an accurate way of viewing the who, what and how of following Jesus: The World is our own fallen, but still surprisingly lovely and loveable Earth. What once was a garden is now a brushy, scrubby forest-- still fertile and vital, but untended, undirected and unpruned-- a "wild" wood. The light is, first of all, God's Light-- shining in the Wildwood as a reminder that a Gardener was the designer and may still have specific, artistic plans for His creation. Secondly, the Wildwood Light can also be anyone of us who would like to "shine in the darkness" and help "make sense of the chaos" we find in this well-crafted, but overgrown, estate.

[more to come]

For anyone who's still reading: Here's an elaboration on

2000-09-21T10:05:00.000-05:00

"Nothing worth havin'
comes without some kind of fight
Got to kick at the darkness
'til it bleeds daylight ..."
--Bruce Cockburn
«¤»«¤»«¤»«¤»«¤»«¤»«¤»

2000-09-19T10:39:00.000-05:00

"Paraphrasing Francis Bacon,
one may say that superficial
and egocentric knowledge
leads to atheism,
while genuine, deep and objective study
leads to faith in God."
--Scientists Who Believe, p9
=== +†+ === +†+ ===

2000-09-19T09:46:00.000-05:00

IN THE DARK, I AM

in the dark, I am
in the dark, and alone
my water is mud
my bread is a stone

I have but one companion
only one listening ear
he feeds on my shadows
his name is Fear

I search for a comfort
for a place I can rest
I look for the One Who Created me
and Knows me the best

I've heard stories of Him
bits and pieces, since birth
they say He Brightens your life
Gives you some worth

I look for Him always
He's Elusive and Rare
I think He's There Waiting
Someday, Somewhere

I've come close a few times
it starts to get light
it gets gray all around
'stead of the usual, black night

but always just before whiteness
while my shadows still play
I see cold, evil eyes
blocking my way

If I just had the courage
to walk past that stare
I could join the Creator
live under His Care

but I go back to the dark
cold and alone
here with my Fear
my mud and my stone

--tms, 7/14/82

2000-09-19T03:06:00.000-05:00

300-4-L460-x-311-80-3846
My Pseudo-Submission for Ryman’s Another One Along in a Minute (and my Project #1 for IUPUI/L460) has been moved to my Hypertext Literature Blog: www.hyperlit.blogspot.com -- You're welcome to visit it often!

Have you seen Geoff Ryman's hypertext novel, 253? Wow! Check it out: http://www.ryman-novel.com/ It's a great ride ...

2000-09-19T01:01:00.000-05:00

"I finished writing and looked up.
Don Juan was staring at me.
He shook his head from side to side and smiled.

'You really write everything?' he asked in an incredulous tone.
'Genaro says he can never be serious with you because you're always writing.
He's right; how can anyone be serious if you're always writing?'

He chuckled and I tried to defend my position.

'It doesn't matter,' he said, 'If you ever learn to see,
I suppose you must do it in your own weird way.'"
--Carlos Castenada, A Separate Reality--
Further Conversations With Don Juan, p215

2000-09-18T20:51:00.000-05:00

Good evening, and welcome to "Ideas That Sound Good 'til You Think About 'em For More Than a Few Seconds."
I'm your host, Tim Stark, and this is the first installment of this new segment of our new show, "The Wildwood Light."

I got the idea for "The Draft Board" [patent not applied for, but it's mine, ALL MINE!] while trying to write my L460 assignment this afternoon.
I imagined a character who was into a kind of writing which was a cross between the art of composing haiku and the craft of constructing cut-and-paste ransom notes.

He saw words and ideas as though they are enzymes and chromosomes, and he liked to string the same basic elements together-- as though it was conceptual DNA, and he was the helix-master-- in as many ways as possible before collecting another set. He'd read publications like "Outside" & "ESPN: The ..." & "Scenario" & "The Comics Journal" & "Cornerstone" & "Touchstone" magazines. When specific words struck him as significant-- protean and fertile, encompassing and encapsulating-- he stuck them to a page of his own design. Its surface was covered in Post-it™ note adhesive. He could organize the word sets on the framed field of sticky stuff in a quasi-monologue, semi-sonnet a/o neo-narrative, then title, date and number-code it. When it provided a certain sense of something right, he would then lay the seeded Draft Board [copyrights reserved, but what's the point, really?] on the photocopier and print out the text for a master/hard-copy of each version/string. Then, he could take all the semes off and start again. So many variations were possible within the constraints of these arbitrary boundaries. Possibly fascinating (might make a fun game, as an alternative to the poem-magnet sets found in so many PBS-related mail order catalogs these days ...) in a "but, why?!" kinda way ... chances are, our next episode will profile something even more merely-superficially-useful. Count on it!

2000-09-18T12:38:00.000-05:00

"The inventory of philosophical vocabulary
used in classical China to define this kind of "knowing"
tends to be one of tracing out, unraveling, penetrating,
and getting through. . . to trace out the connections
among its joints and sinews, to discern the patterns in things,
and, on becoming fully aware of the changing shapes
and conditions of things, to anticipate what will ensue from them."
--Sun Tzu: The Art Of Warfare, pp56-57 translated by Roger T. Ames

[This is my day #13,713 -- give or take. How many days are you?]

2000-09-17T14:10:00.000-05:00

I enjoyed my IUPUI Eng-Grad internship with Professor Helen Schwartz. I was one of her course assistants in the Spring '99 Semester, and I learned much about both the how-to's and why-to's-or-not-to's of the production and consumption of hypertext literature. As part of the course-work, I participated in the "final exam"-- a chat-room and forum-based exchange of essays and responses by all the class members. Here's my essay for that assignment. Professor Schwartz encouraged me to publish it on the web. It only took me about a year-and-a-half to get that done ...

"How Is It That a Collection of Ideas Become Valuable?"
Welcome to the information-neighborhood. Today, we're talking about how ideas become valuable as a result of being collected into groups. He uses a more war-oriented metaphor than I choose for learning situations, but J.B. Phillips contends, "If words are to enter men's minds and bear fruit, they must be the right words shaped cunningly to pass men's defenses and explode silently and effectually within their minds."

We might also express Phillips' statement in another way:
aaaaaaa
bb
cc
dddddddd
eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
fffff
gg
hhhhhh
Iiiiiiiiii
llllll
mmmmm
nnnnnnnnnnnnnn
ooooo
ppp
rrrrrrrr
sssssssssssss
tttttttttttt
uuuu
www
x
yyyy
,
''
""
.
<29 blank spaces>

These symbol "blocks" were stacked to make the words which made the idea Mr. Phillips wanted to communicate, and, in the same way, collected ideas, symbols and expressions become valuable by means of a personality's intentional, creative act. The "shaping" process is the "how?," but it requires a "who?," for it to happen, and that who is anyone and everyone and me and you.

Over the course of time and by the combined acts of idea-shaping by every personality to ever live, symbols-- including those alphabetical and numerical-- have been filled with meaning. Not all symbols mean the same things to all people, but they do have meaning, and we use them to make a constant flow of valuable ideas. This doesn't just go for fine art or "important" writings, we collect ideas about even the most mundane things, and, paradoxically, even these collections have value. Does it look like rain today? How many days now have I used this disposable razor? When did I put this ziploc of hamburger in the fridge? Did I leave the iron on when I left for work this morning? What did my boss mean by that remark about office restructuring? The personality behind the book of Ecclesiastes said it this way, "'Look,' says the Teacher, 'this is what I have discovered: 'Adding one thing to another to discover the scheme of things ...'" He was big on schemas long before there was any need to consider mourning "the death of the book."

Given the opportunity, each of us could use the letters and markers and spaces listed above to make our own "collection of ideas," and we might even find that we could form a message which had great meaning and value-- if not for everyone on the world wide web, then at least for ourselves. Linda Flower, in her College Composition and Communication quarterly article, "Cognition, Context and Theory Building" (October 1989), makes the point this way, "... as theorists and researchers, we inevitably, constantly, and energetically impose meaning and pattern on the data of experience. . . . Given enough time, people, including teachers, researchers, and literary critics, will always perceive patterns, of some sort, in anything." She goes on to say that the only remaining question about these constructions is whether or not anyone else will also see the same connections. Their value, though, is established regardless of whether or not they are considered significant by anyone else.

If you've ever hiked a trail, you've probably seen small stacks of stones called cairns. Grand Canyon guides have been known to point them out with a statement, "If you see at least three stones piled up on each other, you know for sure that it's a trail-guide and not a natural formation." Even three stones can be collected into a valuable idea. But only as the product of someone's "cunning" to shape them into a potentially life-saving statement. Simple? Yes. Valuable? Priceless!

This also illustrates well one of the reasons I believe in "Truth with a capital t": Even people who claim to believe in chance as the basis of life and meaning still live (including, to speak into phones, drive to Grandma's, eat at Joe's, claim copyrights, take photographs, shoot basketballs, choreograph dance steps, read textbooks, buy flowers for Mom, mow lawns, work overtime, hope for a raise and promotion, and make bank deposits) as though they believed the exact opposite! We all act like order and design and creativity are what make the difference in life, what produces meaning and value and purpose and satisfaction. Every creative act is also valuable, regardless of whether or not it has the appearance of order (a Jackson Pollack "splatter" painting has the surface image of chaos, but it can only be completed by a carefully planned process within a carefully constructed framework). Even a polemic against the concept of an ordered, designed universe is presented by someone who "got their thoughts together."

Ideas and symbols are made value-rich as they are collected by the intentional act of a personality (not just humans, for sure!), and these acts, no matter how mundane, are a constantly renewable resource whose market value is not diminished by their abundance.

We might be concerned about how we'll manage information in the new millenium and on the information superhighway, and we might be inclined to extend T.S. Eliot's sad question, "Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?" to include, "Where is the information we have lost in the proliferation of raw data?," but even on our most input-overloaded day, we'll still be creating collections of ideas which serve valuable purposes in our lives.

How?

Like the ultimate neighbor, Mr. Rogers, says, "By just your being you."

2000-09-17T13:54:00.000-05:00

"He that can apprehend and consider vice with all her baits and seeming pleasures, and yet abstain, and yet distinguish, and yet prefer that which is truly better, he is the true wayfaring Christian. I cannot praise a fugitive and cloister's vertue, unexercis'd & unbreath'd, that never sallies out and sees her adversary, but slinks out of the race, where that immortall garland is to be run for, not without dust and heat . .. . [T]hat which purifies us is triall, and triall is by what is contrary. . . . [T]rue temperance [is that which can] see and know, and yet abstain." [1644] --quoted from Milton's Areopagitica by Wayne C. Booth in The Company We Keep, p488