Hank Ellis

Outstanding and congrats. Now you've got that out of the way you can focus now on hitting the bird of the moment and ignoring the big picture. Shot my first handgun match in several months recently. Hadn't picked up a handgun in 3 months as I've been concentrating on shotgun and rifle. Funny that I was smoother and more accurate with the handgun than I was before. Got to be some crossover from the long gun sports. I suck at skeet shooting mostly in the high teens. Just don't shoot it enough. Sporting clays is sporting clays. Some days I'm a hero but mostly I'm a zero. My trap game is coming along. Averages moving up fraction by fraction.

I do this also. A lot of the anti gun rights people are just in need of education. Once they realize that although a gun is a powerful tool, it's still a tool and it's quite a fun tool to use in a sporting purpose. Most times when I go to the range I bring a Ruger MKII with a OKO red dot optic. Most times I don't shoot it but it's there for the every so often chance a new shooter is on the range. After the 10 minute safety speech it's "Where the dot is, that's where the bullet is going." Haven't had one leave the range frowning yet.In my circle there are a number of left leaning individuals, my wife included. I've stayed off the soapbox and let my actions be my voice. In other words, I've normalized gun ownership and use. "Yeah, I own guns and I shoot competitively. Yeah, so, what's the big deal?" Recently I had a conversation with a very left leaning friend over firearms and self defense. Couldn't get her to the range but progress was made. And my wife, rather anti gun to begin with but after several years of coming home with the same number of holes I left with she realizes that shooting is a safe sport. Now she's asking how I did when I come home from a match. Not, 'Are you OK?'. Incremental progress. Recently I went to a Democratic event at the state capitol. Partilally because of the food from around the state but also to meet a few of the lobbyists that work with the legislators. Made a few contacts. We'll see how it pans out. I'm going to be a lot more active in the the gun rights arena for 2008 at the state level. What makes it interesting is that I'm not registered as either a Dem or a Rep. For some reason they will listen to someone from a 3rd party. Incremental progress.

I recently got this tip from a couple retired cops who run the local reloading shop / BS emporium / day old coffee shop. When they told me what to try I called BS. Both of them swear it worked. So I tried it.A 50 / 50 mixture of hydrogen peroxide and white vinegar. Dip a bronze brush in the mixture and run it through a few times. Let it soak a few minutes then run the brush through again. The slivers of lead just fell out. Freaking amazing. Saw things in my XD barrel that I didn't know existed. Followed up with a patch of Hoppes 9 to get the leftovers of the solution out. Tried it on a 686 revolver that I shoot nothing but lead in. Cut my barrel cleaning time in half. It sounds stupid but it works for me.

I've gotten this same video emailed to me as "Shopping in Texas".

Wife gave me the report of the first weekend of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. I was out practicing accuracy skydiving for an upcoming competition.Great food. Good to see old friends from out of town. Stevie Wonder closed the weekend and was great when he wasn't on his political soapbox. And it seemed every other performer was spouting off on their particular issue. If it upset my wife, they had to work at it. I probably would have walked off mid day and went to the bar. Carlos Santana was a regular at the festival but his political rants got so bad that he wasn't invited to come back. Good riddenance. When I hire you to play music, and when I buy a ticket that's what I'm doing, hiring you, play music. You want a political soapbox? Fine, but not on my dime or time.

Didn't try loading slugs but did try 00 buckshot. Disaster. Pups wouldn't feed. Horrible crimp. And the pattern covered a zip code.More so than birdshot, loading slugs or buckshot requires a bit more work. Did the math and factory was cheaper and better in the long run. Besides I don't shoot enough of either to justify the cost in money or time. I reload 12ga. Probably don't save much money if any but I do like the process. Even I gave up on slugs and buckshot. If you want to pursue it however, cruise around http://www.ballisticproducts.com/.

Best answer is, it depends.Depends on what your reloading for. 3-gun, hunting, clays. Depends on your shooting volume. Depends if you have a need for something special. Depends if you have the resources to do a group buy. What shotgun games are you playing and what is your shooting volume?

Rich at Canyon Creek did all my work. His handle on here is RIID. Took it as far as I could and still be legal in Production. Lightened slide and tungsten guide rod (can't do one without the other due to the weight rule). Trigger job to 2.5lbs, grip tape, 16# spring. Only thing I haven't done is sights. Still running stock sights as I haven't found 'the' sight yet. Being way over 40 they are black blurs so until I get my eyes fixed it probably won't help anyway. Inner and outer belts are Safariland. Holster is BladeTech DOH. Mag pouches are BladeTech. Beer is Coors Light or Sol. For loads: 180gr Lead RN 2.6gr Clays 1.125" OAL 180gr JRN Precision Delta 3.0gr Clays 1.125" OAL I'm tinkering with Montana Gold, Precision Moly, and VV N310 along with the currently used Precision Delta and Clays in various combinations hoping to tighten up the groups a bit.

Keeping it on topic. +1 Even then you may have to lighten the slide to get it 100%. I'm all there. 16# spring. Jacketed loads. And then kept bumping up the load till it functioned as it should. Currently running Clays and 180gr at 134pf. Trigger job. Get it down to 2.5 to 3lbs and it becomes real sweet.

If all the moons align and a friend gets a seat, I'm going to Reno to work the pits. Last year he got a seat in a stock Mustang and got into the unlimited silver race. No spray bars. No ADI. Stone stock. Impressive. This photo is from the 2007 unlimited silver race at the #4 pylon.

I run a XD-40 Tact in Production. The gun took a bit of work to get it to run with light .40 loads, 180gr @ 740fps. Knowing what I know now I should have went with the XD-9 and not gone through the R&D to get the XD-40 to run. Sure you can use full power .40 in Production but since you're being scored Minor anyway, what's the point? I'd lean you toward Limited-10 with a stock gun, quality Kydex holster, and mag pouches of your choice. Run that awhile and see what direction you want to go. Assuming by your handle you're in Louisiana. PM me with your location and maybe we can meet up at a match.

I've been toying with the idea of putting a Revolutionary War musket over the fireplace with a possibles bag to honor the minutemen. I want a shooter. One that I can take out a couple times a year to honor those men. Passed it by the wife and she didn't say no. But being not a gun person she really didn't know what exactly I wanted to do. Last night we were at a Democratic state senate function where lobbyists and the senators do their thing. Food was good however. It was held that the Louisiana state museum in the shadows of the state capitol building. Took a break from the hobnobbing and took a short tour of the museum. In the exhibit of the Battle of New Orleans was a flintlock reportedly used in the battle. Being the gun guy I'm looking it over and noticing that it's not 100% original. The pan had been replaced as the new metal didn't match the old. As I was getting the bifocals adjusted to get a good look at the proof marks the wife walks up. Mentioned that this is of the type I want to put over the fireplace. (Yes, I'm aware of the subtile differences but didn't go there.) A reproduction is about $1000. An original is between $3000 and $5000. Her response floored me. $3000 is not a bad price to own a piece of history. Let's talk about it. Realisticly I'll still go with a reproduction as I still want to shoot the thing. No way I'd risk damaging an original by firing it. But you gotta love it when your better half who has an appreciation for history supports your sometimes hairbrained schemes.

Assuming we're talking about the Clays sports, I sorta use the beads. Sorta meaning that I use the beads as a quick check that my mount is right, then I ignore them. Since you don't aim a shotgun, you point it, you can pretty much knock the things off and still bust the frisbees.

Wow! Talk about taking Practical shooting up a notch. When even the top dogs are throwing mikes around, I know where I stand. Dave Sevigny deserves the check as he far outshot everybody else, especially on the standards stage. And with basically a stock gun. The clays 'oh by the way' segment on shooting springing teals was a big plus for me. Those things kick my butt on a regular basis like most everything else on the Sporting Clays course. But I now know at least two things I've been doing wrong. And EERW, call up Direct TV and order the Outdoor Channel a la carte. $1.99 a month.

Same here. I like both for different reasons. Both fill a niche that the other one doesn't.

Got the Outdoor channel for one reason, Wednesday Night at the Range, sometime last year. Direct TV is my provider and went through a similiar Q&A to get it. But for $1.99 a month it's worth it. What's also cool is that our onsite company housing also has the channel. Can't blame the providers for trying to sell you an upgrade package. Problem is that 99.9% of the people don't know you can order channels a la carte.

Outstanding! And a big thank you to the prize sponsors. That last rifle stage that had in your face targets followed by a run to more arms legnth targets to long range prone. What was that 200yds? Maybe more. Wow. The CO who took a chance on this should be proud.

+1 Be prepared to take rimfires to the next level.For 10/22 or MKII trigger work either the Power Custom or Volquartzen drop-in kits do a pretty decent job. I had my 10/22 trigger worked over by Clark Custom and it's way better than any drop in kit could be.

Stopped by the TWIC registration office yesterday. Nose ring chick was there and signed me in. No wait, come on in. Sat in a little cubicle in front of a monitor and that strange glowing green fingerprint machine. Never did like those. Reminds me of some Romulan torture device. Or could be a Klingon sex toy. Not sure. Anyhow after handing over my drivers license and credit card it took about 3 minutes to complete the credit card transaction and print out the reciept. Some extra sheet came out and he showed it to me which had no personal information on it but he wanted me to see it before it went to the shredder. Once Lockheed-Martin was sure they were getting paid we went through the rest of the process. Fingerprints through the sex toy. Mugshot. Obviously these are for the background check and the photo for the card. Then the good one. The biometric scan. Previously I noted the TWIC dudes card was stuck in a biometric reader. So that's the process thats going to make us all safer. Stick a card in the reader. Fingerprint scan which is compared to whats on the card. Boom. I can now use the bathrooms. Worst part is that it took several tries for the biometric reader to get a good read. Seems that a little sweat will throw the machine in a tizzy. This does not bode well when I'll have turbine fuel or hydraulic fluid traces on my hands. We verified that the info I entered in pre-registration was correct. Another form which has many of the same questions as the FFL 4473 was filled out and scanned. My passport was scanned. All original documents were returned. Done. 10 minutes. Got to give the TWIC dude credit as it was done in a professional manner and steps were taken to preserve my privacy, at least at his level. Four to six weeks from now I should be getting a call that my card is ready. Then another trip to the office to pick it up. After leaving the office my next stop was to my FFL to pick up a Tactical Solutions upper for my MKII. Filled out the 4473 and of course got a proceed. In the space of less than an hour got one NICS check and rolled the ball on another check. I still have a fundamental issue with all this.

What? You're agreeing with me? You're going to ruin my reputation.Since I shoot an auto in Trap, recoil isn't an issue. But I am considering going to 1oz loads when this batch of wads is used up. Partly to save a bit of $$ but way too many shooters who are way better than I am say that the 1oz loads pattern better. As one sage told me, "If you miss with a 1oz load you would have missed with a 1 1/8oz load." Think I'll buy a bag of 1oz wads and give it a try.

Heard about this last night on the local evening news. This is a thinly disguised gun registration program. Plain and simple.I will not be made the bad guy for simply making a lawful firearm purchase. Geez. Every transfer is blessed by the FBI and if that isn't good enough, what is? Here's a scenario. I buy a new Belchfire Tactical-40. Not the gun I thought it would be so I put it up on GunBroker. Winning bidder is out of state so I ship it to the FFL there and a lawful and successful transfer is done. So far so good. But what happens now if the gun is stolen and is used in a crime? What happens now when the gun is transferred again either FTF or through an FFL and THAT person uses it in a crime? By Wal-Marts system that gun will be traced back to me and I'll be forbidden to purchase an arm even though I had nothing to do with the crime. I am not responsible for someone elses actions. And the recorded images. What controls are in place? How are the images distributed? This just throws open the door of abuse. Wal-Mart can pound dirt for all I care. I'll support the Mom and Pop shops like I always have.

Hurting here also. Missed more than one USPSA match. Missed the Trap shoot last Saturday and the next one I can make is in August. My work schedule is 7 days on / 7 days off with 11.5 hour days. Been doing this for nearly 3 decades so no heartburn there. The week off is nice and the great pay is what keeps me there. But... Training is scheduled during our off time. Yeah, we're paid OT for it but it really eats into the play time. I've been to two schools in the last month and have to schedule my dunk tank training for a Friday that I'm off sometime in the next month and a half. Another day shot to hell. Also I've got to get my TWIC card on my own time (see my rant in the Hate section for further details). Between our expanding business and customer requirements we've all been putting in extra hours already. The gist I got from the Head Shed is that this summer is going to be a busy one with new contracts and expansion of our existing contracts. Expect more work in the near future. To the companys credit they are trying to hire but finding qualified rotorcraft mechanics is not that easy. Oh well. At least the extra money will pay for the increased costs of bullets and powder.

In order of what I like: Matt Burkett - Practical Shooting Radio http://mattburkett.com/ Michael Bane - Down Range Radio http://www.downrange.tv/ Tom Gresham - Guntalk http://guntalk.com/ Cope Reynolds - The Shooting Bench http://theshootingbench.net/ All are free and easily found through the iTunes iStore.

I have wondered that also. Dug around and it appears that the TSA recognizes only another program where approved 3rd party vendors do the checks and issue cards. But the traveler card program doesn't allow access to the maritime world and the TWIC card doesn't allow access for the traveler even though the fingerprint, background check, and anal probes are the same. Something else to write congress about.

Something I've noticed at the clays range also. It seems people volunteer information to help your 'game' whether you want it or not. Doesn't matter which game it is, you're going to get advice forced down your throat. The main reason I, like Eric, perfer to bust clay frisbees solo. Sometimes I'm not playing a game. I want to bust the target my way. 'Inapporpiate' guns such as a former Katrina submarine decoy H&R Topper 16ga or my USPSA FN SLP will send the Fudds into a tizzy. Different positions. Low gun. High gun. I too have been told I'm doing it all wrong. Geez, I'm still considered the odd man out shooting registered targets with an autoloader. You're supposed to have an OU. Give it a rest please. One of the individuals I share a trap with every so often has some auto in 20ga. He always shoots trap from low gun. I say nothing to him and let him be. He's playing his game and I'm playing mine. We let it go at that.