June 2010 Archives

I've been driving by Ghost Town Burgers for years now going to and from Austin Rifle Club, but have never eaten there until this weekend.

The burgers are great, and the staff was friendly.

The only turn off was the big ol' 51% sign that you can't see until you go to order your food. It's a pretty big area, like an old west town, so I'm not sure if it would be legal to carry on the rest of the property or not.

So, good burgers, but I probably won't go back unless I'm in the mood to have a few beers. I don't blame the establishment at all, just our stupid laws. To me, it's not worth going around without my secondary self-defense tool (primary self-defense tool is between your ears) or opening myself up to some kind of legal troubles.

I did another shotgun match last weekend. I used my Mossberg 590 again.

Things I noticed / happened to me:

My reloads are slower than everyone else's. I use a bandoleer which is a lot slower than some of the other methods. I'm guessing I could speed up at least 25% with a better reload solution.

When I go too fast, I miss. Duh. I was trying to go too fast not letting the gun get stable. You do have to aim a shotgun, contrary to popular belief.

Don't leave the shotgun in the sun. I burned the **** out of my thumb and middle finger on the second stage and was having trouble keeping a good grip on the fore end after that.

1 oz. #8 loads are too light, 1 1/8 oz loads are better, but not 100%. I had a bunch of crap value pack ammo that doesn't run in my hunting shotgun very well and wanted to shoot it up.

ALSPPC had a classifier match back in May, and since I'm still pretty new to USPSA I hadn't been classified yet.

Before the match I was pretty sure I was going to get a D, but I managed to snag a C. I'm happy!

(I shoot in Single Stack, by the way.)

The class consists of a brief safety lecture, review and introduction of such techniques as shooting from unorthodox positions and cover, and culminates in some courses of fire that invoke those techniques.

The class is light on theory and lecture and heavy on doing, which I really liked. You don't get to do these kind of things at the range, and you're not going to build these skills without having a chance to do them for real. So the focus on doing is good in my opinion.

The class is not a high level operator class. It's for average folks who want to learn how to use their rifles.

I used my CMMG M4 clone for the class with an Eotech 512 sight, Magpul PMAGs, and Monarch steel cased ammo.

I had never used that ammo before, but to my amazement it shot to almost the same POI as my Zombie Load within 50 yards. At 50 yards it was probably a little over an inch high, but for this kind of training, it was fine.

I've heard a lot of horror stories about steel cased ammo in AR rifles, but I had no failures of any kind. I retrieved a couple of empty cases and I couldn't find any signs of the lacquer coming off. I will say the ammo is dirty as heck. I don't think I could have fired 500 rounds of the stuff without a cleaning in there somewhere, but for training or plinking it works fine.

One of the things I learned is that I need to change my setup. I use an Eotech and I like to get the front sight post out of the way when I am using the optic. One of the things that causes me to do is lift my head off the stock which really takes away a lot of the stability you need to shoot well. I think I am going to get a new barrel with a mid-length or rifle-length gas system, without a front sight post. I will have backup sights, but they will be of the flip up variety so that nothing is in the way of the Eotech retical.

Now I need to go clean my rifle.

Every tacticool wannabe on the planet has a bug-out-bag, so why not me?

Actually, mine is more of a combo range/hunting bag, but I'll keep it semi-stocked just in case.

I couldn't make up my mind between the Kodiak and the Sitka for the longest time. I didn't think the Sitka would be big enough, but I thought the Kodiak would be too big.

The Kodiak is probably just about the right size for me, maybe a little small if anything. Once I get some doodads and a change of clothes in it, it's pretty full, but the idea is to carry light, just the bare essentials.

Before I get too far into it, there are some pretty decent videos that do a good job of reviewing the bag. You can watch them here.

The number one feature of this bag, and other Maxpedition gearslinger bags, is that you can swing it around to the front and access your stuff without taking the pack off. Pretty cool. One of the reasons this appeals to a lot gun folk is that it has a pouch and velcro lining for sticking a holster to. This lets you pack a concealed handgun in there, and swing it around in case you need it. It's faster than taking off your backpack and digging through it for your handgun, but still pretty slow to compared to holster on your hip. On the other hand, if you grabbed the bag on your way out the door before something went down, and maybe didn't have time to get all your gear on, you'd at least have someway to carry. It's a good option to have.

The bag has tons of pockets for keeping stuff sorted. The bad thing about the bag is that it has tons of pockets and it's easy to forget which pocket stuff is in if you aren't in and out of it all the time, but at least you aren't having to dump everything out of it to find what where that gizmo you are looking for is.

Also it has a pocket for a hydration bladder, and also a Nalgene bottle. Two features I really like after last weekend. You can't have too much water here in summer.

Some people think the bag is not great for hiking long distances with anything heavy in it, and that might be true. I didn't find it to be uncomfortable, but I only have about 10 lbs in it and haven't carried it very far. I carried a backpack all through college with only one arm through a strap (only nerds use both straps) and I never had any problems, I can't see why this would be any different, but if you are packing for days out in the bush you'd probably want something bigger with two straps.

Pics:

I've been looking for some decent electronic muffs for a while, but the prices on Pro Ears and MSA Sordin muffs are a little steep for me.

For most trips to the range, the Peltor Bullseye 9 muffs I have are hard to beat for the price, but when you are taking a class or shooting a match with lots of talking, I sometimes have to strain a bit to hear people.

I was at Academy the other day and they had some Remington electronic muffs marked down to $20. I figured what the heck, I'll take a chance on them for only $20.

Pros
More comfortable than I expected
Excellent volume
Easy to understand people
Acceptable level of noise reduction
Not too big

Cons
The sound spectrum is skewed to high frequencies, higher pitched noises are louder than low pitches
Difficult to wear with safety glasses
Noise reduction is acceptable, but not as good as most non-electric muffs
Clipping

I think for $20 the list of cons is worth putting up with. I won't use these as my "everyday" muffs, but I think they will be very handy for classes.

Did some googling and I think I have the Remington R1500, which I think are the Radians Pro-Amp 23 repackaged by Remington. (I have some other Remington safety stuff that is made by Radians also.) Looks like the Radians retail for around $70, so not a bad deal. I think Remington has stopped selling the R1500.

Anyways, obligatory pics: