The Wandering Minstrel

The other day, I posted a poster about being prepared. When drjim left a comment on the post, I realized that the photo was missing a couple of the guns that the better Half and I have on the premises. I opened up the safe today and laid them all out for a group photo.

We’ve both got guns on the wish list - some handguns and some rifles. More on that later.

A couple of weeks ago, the Better Half and I went to the range for target practice. On the way out, I asked the rangemaster (who also serves as instructor and ammo/gun sales manager) about the S&W MP 15-22 .22LR rimfire rifle. “Piece of shit.” was the answer I got. Now, while this guy’s interpersonal skills leave room for improvement in my mind, I do trust his firearms expertise. “The Colt there,” he continued as he nodded toward the rifle rack behind the counter, “is a much better piece.” I asked to handle it so he picked it off of the shelf and let me have a closer look.

Damn! Now I’ve done it! I went and touched the damn thing and imprinted on it or something. I want one, but the catch 22 (no pun intended) is that I can’t get the model with the 30 round magazine in California - the morons in Sacramento think it’s dangerous and will infect me with the urge to be violent. So my dilemma is that I must wait until I can buy and keep one of these in Arizona. It’s a ways off, but I refuse to get one unless it’s got the higher capacity magazine.

Meanwhile, I can post this commercial message from Colt and longingly gaze at it, playing it over and over.

Looking through some of the old photos today, I came across some of the Better Half’s pictures of our wheel guns, Jerry Lee and Rosie the Riveter. I threw this slide show together to share with wheel gun lovers everywhere.

We’ve been busy for a couple of months, so we finally got our ass in gear today. We packed up our stuff and headed to the range for some target practice. We brought our .45 caliber guns - “Fat Man,” my Glock 30 and “Miss Piggy,” the Better Half’s stainless Para Warthog. As usual, we brought our 12 and 20 gauge Remington 870 shotguns.

As we were just about ready to head into the range, the range officer told us that if we wanted to use our shotguns we could only shoot double-ought buckshot or slug rounds. He advised that smaller shot target loads had been bouncing off of the back stop toward the shooters. The range officer explained that the heavier mass rounds would stick and the lighter weight ones would bounce. Apparently, the recent ‘improvements’ to the range introduced this new phenomenon. Since we only brought target load cartridges, we had to buy some slug rounds for over a buck per cartridge. Moreover, they only had 12 gauge rounds, so the 20 gauge gun didn’t get used. I bought a couple of five round boxes.

This is the first time we’ve shot slug rounds. We put up a target and sent it down range at the seven yard mark and let “silhouette dude” have the few rounds we bought today. The video shows us shooting and the target after we finished with it. In several places, the slugs made some nice clean holes.

Today was our day to shoot the 9mm Handguns. We have been able to get some reloaded 9×19/115gr. at the range, and had some older rounds we needed to shoot.

We took 150 rounds into the range and shot them through our S&W 908 pistol and “Little Boy,” the Glock 26 subcompact 9mm pistol. Both guns performed flawlessly.

We also took the shotguns, a 20 gauge Remington 870 youth model (4+1 capacity) and our 12 gauge Remington security model (6+1 capacity). We brought a 25 round box for each of the shotguns. Although the security gun has a seven round capacity, we generally load the magazine with four and the chamber with one cartridge.

To address the shortcomings of the target hangers (literally - coat hangers with Boston clips affixed to them), we taped a large piece of cardboard to the clips and then taped targets to the cardboard. The greater mass provided by the cardboard seems to stabilize the targets which tend to sway from side to side.

In the video, the Better Half shoots the 908 both right-handed Weaver stance and left-handed single hand grip. She then demonstrates her technique with both shotguns.

We’re here in Reno. We got in late today and are settling in for the events. We’ll be going to the hospitality room after everyone else gets back from dinner.

We came up to Reno via Lake Tahoe from Gold Rush Country. Tahoe has grown a bit since the last time we were there, but Reno’s growth is obscene. Another Vegas Boom in progress further north. Sort of sad - I loved the ‘Old Reno.’

Better Half snapped this from the hotel room today . . .

Update: We met in the hospitality room tonight to share ideas and camaraderie with fellow gunnies. Kieth of The Smallest Minority wore his best T-shirt with all AK-47s known to man. Photo credit - The Better Half.

The more I see this beautiful little AR, the more I want one. The more I read about going plinking with one, the closer I get to placing that order . . .

Excerpt from a recent article at American Rifleman:

Another option that can curtail your plinking expenses is the Smith & Wesson M&P 15-22 rifle.

The M&P 15-22 rifle was built on Smith & Wesson’s M&P15 format from the ground up, not as a scaled-down version of the popular 5.56×45 NATO. In building a dedicated .22 on the AR-platform, Smith & Wesson has created a .22 rifle that feels and shoots like its M&P15 tactical rifle, especially when combined with Trijicon’s ACOG (Advanced Combat Optical Gunsights) and RMR (Ruggedized Miniature Reflex) sights.

Built with a polymer upper and lower, the M&P 15-22 is light – around 5.5 pounds – rugged and sleek with its four-sided Picatinny rail for mounting accessories, six-position stock and dual-aperture post sights. It has many of the features of a tricked-out AR tactical rifle, but is light enough for easy all-day carry on small game hunts for squirrels, rabbits or prairie dogs. It’s also really fun to shoot in informal training exercises in an attempt to get to know this tactical-looking .22 rifle.

It might have to wait six or eight months, but I’m definitely gonna get me one of the lightweight .22 caliber ARs. I’ll think about other calibers later.

After the shoot today, I disassembled and cleaned all the guns and whatever else I could find that needed some cleaning. This clickable image shows most of the parts and items that got some cleanin’ up today.

One of my distant relatives borrowed my new SOG knife the other day to cut up some watermelon. I know, my bad for letting her use it, but there wasn’t anything else available and the Better Half cleaned it up for me. Today, I cleaned and lubed it with some CLP and it’s good as new.

As for the firearms, the parts here are from “Little Boy” (the Glock 26 9mm), the security gun (Remington 870 Express magnum 12 Gauge) and “Jerry Lee” (S&W 686 .357 magnum). Everyone is now nice and clean and either put away for next time, or within reach for “just in case.”