Claycogun

I can understand why people would doubt that it happened to me but it did. I really have no proof that it did but it did. I could tell you 100s of other stories that would be hard to believe too but they did happen. I guess when you do things for a while its just a matter of time before something comes along that stands out. Oh and here's part of the story that I forgot to mention in the orig post. I at the time shot a lot and I mean everything and anything and the round I shot out of that solid barrel didn't feel any different than any other shot I had made. If someone had told me that was about to happen maybe I would have noticed but not knowing what was about to happen and having fired that shot I can tell you if you are ever in that situation where you are following good loads behind a squib from what I experienced you had better catch it the first time because for whatever reason the muzzle jump, the gasses all exiting the barrel cyl gap and the sound of the round going off just felt like any other 357 shot out of a ruger blackhawk.

I was working at a gunshop at the retail counter when a customer that was taking a break from shooting was talking about his having trouble sighting in his Ruger Blackhawk 357. He was an older fella with his buddy standing beside him and I told him that he probably just needed to move his target in closer to get his sights course adjusted better. He said that was probably it because he was shooting at 25yds on a full silhouette target. They disappeared back to the range and I forgot about them but a few minutes later they came back and said they were shooting at 10yrds and still couldnt hit the target. I told them that when I got caught up that I would go out and see if I could help. About 10 min later I went out and sure enough they still were standing there at the firing point with the target hanging at 10yrds and the Blackhawk sitting on the bench in front of them. I walked in and said all the stuff you say before trying to help someone sight in their guns and checked the cyl by the laoding gate and noticed that the cyl still had 3 live rounds left. I was convienced that the sights must be really messed up because these guys looked like shooters and with a 7 1/2 in bbl I just couldnt imagine not hitting the full silhouette target. So I sighted along the outside of the bbl, ignoring the sights and pulled the trigger. I hit the switch rolling the target to me because for some reason I couldnt see the hole and with the target right in front of me there still was no hole in it. I thought well thats the craziest thing that has ever happened to me and decided I would run the target to about 10ft in front of me and see why I missed. As I brought the hammer back the cyl stopped with a scrape and it was then I noticed after inspection that they had several rounds earlier had a squib load that left the round about 1.5 inchs short of exiting the bbl and every shot after that had just been stacking up in the bbl. After thanking God for protecting me from all the bad things that could have happened I explained to them what had happened and removed the cyl and told them to send it Back to Ruger and ask them to fix it.

I'm only half way into it but so far it's a pretty amazing book. Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War Karl Marlantes I saw a review of it in Newsweek and thought I would give it a read and I'm glad I did.

I have polished alot of feed ramps and I have to agree with him. Most of the time the angles on the feedramp is what causes your hangups and other issues like the fit of the ramp to the frame and the extractor believe it or not. You cant really move in the top of your feedramp due to how much of your chamber must stay supported so you really shouldnt adjust that alot either. Although if you look at most ramp jobs rounding that top edge where the ramp meets the chamber is 99% of the benefit. Using a dremil will make the ramp look incredible but because you are polishing it across the ramp and not with the ramp its mostly for show(but thats what most people pay for). I use a wooden dowel thats roughly the same diameter as the feedramp with finest polishing paper I have in the shop working the paper just like the round would going from the bottom of the ramp up toward the chamber. This is really just to say I did it because I have never seen a ramp that had a defect worthy of this step. Then I use a piece of that polishing wool(not steel wool) thats saturated with compound again up the ramp to clean up the haze that I put on the ramp with the paper. The most important part is being mindful not exposing too much of your chamber that your barrel manufacture decided needed to be there. Most modern barrels are fully ramped so this is all you need to do but if you have a gun thats of the standard 1911 type design you need to ensure that the ramp on the frame carrys to your barrel with the smoothest transition. Im sure I could have said this better but the main idea is to use polishing cloth/wool and if you are having feedjams the place to work on is where on the ramp the jam is occuring.

What I do is install the ejector then use a punch the same size as the hole for the roll pin then put it into the hole and hit it with a gunsmith hammer to mark the leg on the ejector. Then take out the ejector and use a file and start with a 90 degree to make sure your half moon cut is located correctly then use a round file to finish it up. You can just install it and use a drill in the hole to do the same thing which is alot faster but it will open up the hole also that your roll pin will go into and although doing it once or twice may not be enough to make alot of difference, I just think its best to remove it and cut it outside the frame.

Since the scope/sights are not loose on the upper, the accuracy of the gun can only be lost because of the extra movement in the gun. It would be basically like not holding on to your gun very tight when you shoot it. I have seen the wedges and different means to tighten things up and they do seem to work. But to your question, in my experience the normal amount of play you find in 99% of the AR's out there have not effected my shooting them.

I hate getting into an argument with someone about something I am 100% sure I am right about until half way into the argument when I have already won the argument and discovered I was 100% wrong. Then I have to choose between admitting I was wrong and also that Im better at arguing than being right or not letting on that I was wrong and taking my argument win to the dunce corner where I belong.

I had a customer call once and ask about shooting on our indoor pistol range. The question was "Do I need a hunting license to shoot on your range?" My answer was "Well normally no, but if you plan on hanging bunnies by their ears on our target handlers then Yes." I'm a bit of a smarty at times but luckily for me she thought it was as funny as I did and we became great friends.