Mickster

I had the perfect setup to keep on my boat. Stainless Mini-14 with the factory folding stainless stock. Had the barrel cut to 14", crowned, and silver soldered the M-14/M1A style front sight/flash hider unit. Saturday took it to the range for some 100 yard groups. Sunday took it to the gun show and traded for a shorty AR. A very sad day indeed.

So many really good series. Firefly Band of Brothers Dead Like Me Six Feet Under but one that hasn't been listed yet. It ran for about 14 two hour episodes on PBS. Sharps Rifles When I got the first episode on DVD I thought it was about the Buffalo Gun, The Sharps. Turns out it's about the exciting and romantic adventures of Richard Sharp. He gets a battlefield promotion from Wellington and is put in charge of a rough and tumble, rebellious, motley crew of "the chosen ones", which are the best sharpshooters England has to offer. Not being a "blue blood" he doesn't fit in, get along well, or give a darn about his fellow upper crust officers. Being a British made series about the Napoleonic wars the British accent takes a bit of getting used to, but certainly worth a look.

LCJ Wholesale says they have 60 C-Products 30 rounders in stock. There are a few others that have some also. Just search around.

My Colt 7.62x39 CAR-15 has been a dandy hog hunter, is fun to shoot and with the .3095 bore, around 1moa accurate with good ammo. C-Products makes 20 and 30 rounders. Load the 30's with 28 and they function just fine. At one time the defunct USA Mags welded an AR top to an AK bottom to make some reliable high cap 20 and 30 round mags and these can still be found at gun shows occasionally. For 3-gun, it would be fun, and a couple steps above using an AK-47, but would not be competitive with a similarly outfitted .556. If you want it, get it, and then have some fun with it.

I've got this posted in the travel section and thought I'd give it a try here. "It looks like my shooting buddy won't be able to make it. I've got a room at the Rockcastle hotel and would like a room mate to split expenses. Here's the situation. I'm flying in to Nashville and can probably arrange for someone to pick me up at the airport and take me back to the airport after the match. Since I won't have a vehicle I'd need a room mate who has a vehicle, is shooting Pro, and would be on the same squad as me. Please PM if interested." If the above isn't suitable then I can rent a car and shlep myself and my gear around to the stages but would still like a room mate for splitting the hotel tab.

It looks like my shooting buddy won't be able to make it. I've got a room at the Rockcastle hotel and would like a room mate to split expenses. Here's the situation. I'm flying in to Nashville and can probably arrange for someone to pick me up at the airport and take me back to the airport after the match. Since I won't have a vehicle I'd need a room mate who has a vehicle, is shooting Pro, and would be on the same squad as me. Please PM if interested.

For starters I took out, cleaned and dried the striker assembly and tunnel to make sure nothing was gunking it up. Checked to make sure the pin was moving freely as it should. Went to the range yesterday and fired out of the same original batch 50 rounds with Win primers and then 50 newly loaded with CCI primers, same exact load. Only 1 light strike and it was with the Win primer. The GlockTriggers.com set-up produces a really nice 2.5 pound trigger consistent all the way through. If I put the stock striker spring back in how much and in what way will it affect the pull weight? Will putting in the stock spring cause the trigger to have that "wall" just before it breaks? Thanks for your help.

Need some advice. I installed the GlockTriggers.com set up in my 17L. The kit included the entire trigger assembly along with a lighter striker spring. What I'm getting is a light strike/misfire about every 25 rounds or so, some factory, some reloads, which makes me think the set up is right on the edge of reliability. To fix this should I put the stock striker spring back in? Should I get a longer firing pin?

I have found that a beer bottle cap at 25 yards simulates a flash target at 300 yards on 1x pretty good.

The scores and placements are a bit difficult to follow. To make it easier, first select all the data lines in the spreadsheet, click on DATA on the toolbar, then click SORT and do it by column B. That reorganizes and groups the placements within their respective division.

Well heck, I have a 870 pump, a .45 pistol, a 1943 Garand, and a bunch of .30-06 mil surp. This just might be too much fun.

Did some experimenting with this trick about 10 years ago. Only downside is if you send the entire shell, plastic and all, down a barrel with a full choke it'll try to compress the whole shebang and can do some damage to the end of the barrel. Soooo, if you want to play around with it, I would advise, don't do it with a fully choked gun.

Anybody have any experience with one of these? Is it a true 1x? Midway has them for $180 so the price is right if they would work and be acceptable in the newly defined iron or 1x optic division. Nikon Buckmasters Rifle Scope 1x 20mm Black Powder Nikoplex Reticle Matte - $179

I fly with the Storm case. Cut the foam to fit your guns as you normally would. Take the top foam (in the lid) out and replace it with the VooDoo case. Close the whole thing up. When you get to the match leave the Storm Case in the motel and use the VooDoo. I've done this many times and it works great.

Dang, I would love to enjoy a peaceful evening at the Rockcastle Hotel with a fine scotch and a premium cigar. But I signed up in Pro. Dang. But wait, maybe the winner will invite me over after the match for a taste. But wait again, as a backup plan I could bring some Johnny Walker, just to be safe.

This shooting competition delivered what was promised. It was meant to be hard, and it was. As a first time shooter for this type of match it didn't take me long to see I was quite unprepared. Unprepared for finding, identifying, ranging and hitting small targets very far away. Unprepared for freezing cold weather all day, every day. Unprepared for the shooter/spotter teamwork that is vital for success at this type of competition. Unprepared for the sniper field skills needed to be successful under time pressure. Regarding equipment, I would not do this type of match with a fixed 10x mil dot scope on a .556 AR-15 again. On the 800+ yard ridge stage the RO told me my bullets were heading in the right direction but then the unpredictable wind would throw them completely off in different directions. My hat is off to the RO's who stayed out in the weather from morning till dark getting us through the stages. Thanks to Trapr and my squad mates for giving advice and helping me get by. I learned a lot and gained valuable experience in a couple of days and that alone was worth the trip. Oh, and somehow I did manage to hit 9 targets.

I got a PM from a well respected gun writer and photographer advising me that some M&P's can benefit from re-crowning the barrel. A close inspection revealed chatter marks on the crown I never noticed before so I had it re-crowned by a master builder of bench rest rifles. The shooting was done just as before, 5 shot groups off sandbags at 31 yards with mostly the same ammo. Results were interesting in that a few of the groups came in at 2". Some were close to 5". Out of 20 groups using a variety of loads and factory the best groups were shot using 4.1 of Titegroup with the 124 XTP bullet. The 147 XTP came in a close second but the most consistent were the 124's. Taking all the groups, with all the different bullets and powders, adding them up and dividing them out gave an average group size at 31 yards of 4". That makes it better by about 25% as compared to the over 5" average before re-crowing. This is a step in the right direction. What's next? I noticed the slide to frame fit is tight at the rear and loose at the front with up/down movement. Don't know if that makes any difference. Is it possible to bend those tiny little rails in the frame (sort of like the 1911 trick) to tighten it up or are they so hardened that doing something like that could break them? Perhaps an M&P gunsmith could chime in.

Okey dokey, app and check is in the mail. Never did anything like this sniper challenge thing before. Looking forward to learning and having some fun. January in Kentucky should add to the experience all that much more. Anybody got any advice to share to make the experience a bit less overwhelming?

It seems most of the attention is on the 1x red dot sights. For me, a red dot sight is un-workable because it looks like a figure 8 blob, splotch or red shooting star depending on the price of the optic. I would prefer a 1x scope like the Burris Scout 1x20 Plex Reticle or the TC 1x32 or even the 1x Simmons with the Pro Diamond reticle. They are one power but allow focusing of the reticle for a very clear and defined crosshair aiming point. Would this be allowed in He-man iron or Tac Iron? If so, it could rip into and reduce the number of shooters using iron sights. Do you think it could mean the beginning of the end of iron only rifles in 3-gun?

As far as I know Ken, nobody got a choice. We were the first squad up and the even numbered shooting order got the nice, new, good gun and the odd number got the older clunker. By the time I got to the end of that stage my forearm was throbbing from cocking the hammers.

Dan, you make a good point. I hadn't really thought about that. Trapr did mention that centerfire steel targets would be green and rimfire would be red which led me to believe that a stage, say stage 1 for example, would be laid out differently for rimfire than it would be for centerfire. And then, if you threw in 1/2 size IPSC paper targets for .22 and full size for centerfire it could make for some interesting, but different, presentations on the same stage for rimfire vs. centerfire. This is just one of the details that would need to be worked out. I guess the point I'm trying to make is that the rimfire shooter would get a different presentation of the stage so it wouldn't be much more of a practice run than doing a walkthru and doping the stage out like we all normally do anyway. We'll have to see what Trapr and Kurt have to say about all this anyway. If the Bosses says "No, you can't shoot em both" than so be it.

Don't know if this would work or not but maybe it's worth taking a look at to accommodate those who would like to shoot the rimfire and centerfire. Those wanting to shoot both guns could shoot the .22LR rifle portions of the stages in 1 day, friday. Then shoot the centerfire stages sat/sun along with the rest. My thinking on this is that there will not be as many .22 shooters (maybe half or less but that's just a guess) so it would go pretty quick on friday. And the friday .22 thing would only apply to those shooting both guns. A shooter only shooting the rimfire would shoot sat/sun like normal. Details would have to be worked out. Just a thought.

Back from another session with the M&P9L. The only thing I changed on the gun is the plastic grip panel. I switched it to the medium so I could get a better purchase on the gun. I used the same loads except for the 3.2/Tite-147xtp. I seated them out to 1.140 which I think is about as far as you can go and still have it function reliably. At 32 yards off sandbags with wrists only touching. 5 shot groups were 5", 4", 2 1/4". That's a bit better than previously posted. Next step will be to bump up the powder charge but since I'm out of bullets I'll have to wait until my next Cabella's trip. However: Fed 115's = 3 1/2", 7 1/2" Win WB 115's = 6 1/2", 5 1/4" Speer lawman 115's = 4 1/2", 8", 6 1/2" My M&P9L does not seem to like 115's. Is that due to the factory twist rate? Did S&W design the gun for 147's? I would be interested in the barrel weld-up also if it would improve performance.

So here's how it went at the range. Using a couple of sandbags under my wrists, elbows planted on the bench, firm grip on the gun and nothing touching the gun except my grip. I shot 3 to 4 five shot groups at 25 yards with each of the loads and ammo listed below. Winchester white box 115 Corbon 147 Federal 115 3.4 titegroup/147 xtp 4.8 ww231/115 fmj 3.9 ww231/147 fmj I will say this. The gun is consistent! Groups for all the above were 4"-6", most around 4", some at 6" and a couple at 7". Only 1 group almost made it to 3" and that was the Corbon 147's. The rest of the Corbon groups were back to the 4-6 inch range. At the Ozark 3-gun most of the pistol targets were 4 or 5 inch steel plates at varying distances out to 25 yards. A pistol that shoots an average 5" group is putting the shooter at a big disadvantage from the get go. I like the M&P, it feels good, points good and handles good and would like to use it for 3-gun. But before I start doling out cash for sights, mag base pads, etc. etc. it has to shoot better. All that's been done to the pistol is a trigger job and the front sight narrowed. If there is a way to get it to shoot 2" I'd like to know. Anybody got any bright ideas? What say you G-man? By the way, I use my Beretta 92fs as a bench mark. It shoots 2" at 25 yards. It's a great pistol, for me just not right for 3-gun.