That's what you get.

Sunscreen? Check.
Sunglasses? Check.
Loose cover shirt? Check.
More sunscreen? Check.
Shoot for five hours? Check.

You made the cut

New Toy

*Plus Update*
So I brought home a Dan Wesson to add to the wheelie family.

I found some original grips floating around the net and snagged them for $20 bucks.

I have to find a tool to change them out...

Ammo is ready to go...now I just need the time to go shoot.
*Update*
Just got a box in the mail with some lead cast by my net-friend Don in MardiGrasVille!
THANKS, Don!

The GSG 1911

It just keeps gettin' funner and more funner! :D
Spent a couple hours sending lead downrange with shooterchick.
I'm so glad I bought this gun.
For the first time today, I tried shooting with winter gloves on. It was really different, not being able to feel that trigger break, but it was fun to do something new. It was shooterchick's idea...I always have gloves in my winter coat pockets, but rarely ever wear them. I don't know why...I just don't.
Anyhow, I tried it with the GSG since it feels the same in my grip as my Kimber or Rock. Here's the target from a few mags plus a few more shots. There were three dots on it initially. The middle one abandoned ship.
Take note of the upper left corner of the cardboard...see that hole blown away?
Shooterchick pinned a key chain up there and blastinated it. It blew the key chain through the cardboard. We found part of it, but not the middle. She's gonna put it back on her keyring and carry it...

A Compliment and a Pay it Forward!

The gentleman who owned the GSG 1911 I borrowed and returned via a mutual friend came to see me at work today. He said he was seeking me out for two reasons...
One was that he wanted to hear how his gun shot and was relying on my AAR to cut to the chase and clue him on some details that he might want to know before he gets to take it for a spin himself. (He landed in the hospital and won't be going to any range for a bit).
The other reason was to tell me how impressed he was at the care I took with his gun.
He told me that he's very picky about the way his guns are cleaned and doesn't loan them out as a rule...but when he occasionally does, he cleans them whether anybody else did or not. But not this time. He actually shook my hand when telling me that I did an excellent job in his book and he sure wasn't expecting it. He extended an open invitation to shoot any of his guns at any time because he can tell that I really take care of the things in my charge.
That felt good.
But...
Totally wasn't all on me. I owed the pay-it-forward compliment to Jay, who taught me what I know so far about how to care for my stuff. His things are well loved and cared for and it shows. I only hope that years from now, someone will think the same about the things I have loved and cared for...thanks to being taught the right way from the start.

GSG 1911/22 Takedown

I asked an acquaintance how he liked his GSG since he's had it for a couple weeks.
He said he hadn't even had it out of the box yet! O_o
When I told him I just put one on layaway, he asked if I wanted to take his home for the weekend and try it out. I'd be the first one shooting it.
I didn't even have to think about that one.

I really liked everything about it, except the front sight height.
No problem...it comes with THREE. Take your pick.

When you first get it, it comes with that white GI grease on it. Clean it before you shoot it...

Pop out the slide stop;

Push out the pin next to it FROM right to left.
Use the end of the provided Allen wrench;

Use the Allen wrench to take out the screw;

Now the slide will slip right off the front;

The rest comes apart like normal...bushing turned, spring out,barrel out...just like a regular 1911;

Clean it, and reverse the steps to put it back together...sans white grease!

*note The instructions keep repeating to "decock" it, but I think since the company makes Walthers, they are sticking that in there without realizing that you don't do that. It's impossible. The act of pulling the slide back to the take down notch cocks the hammer back. And all the illustrations show the hammer back in each step. So ignore that part about "decocking".
Also... Be mindful that for a function check to pull the trigger and have the hammer fall (not dry fire...use something to cushion it!), you've GOT to have a mag inserted. I found this out after I *thought* I'd gotten stuck on the reassembly...I panicked and called Jay. After I talked him through to where I was, he told me to go ahead and put the mag in and check it again. Uh..."again"??
Derrr...
You can pull the trigger on a real 1911 with the mag out...
but not on the GSG 1911/22. So just a heads up there. :)

A Day in the Sun With "The Duke"

I took the rifle out into the sun yesterday and snapped some pictures.
(Click on them to see them bigger)
I really love the coloration in the wood grain.

Especially the underside...

There's a lot of rust pitting, so I went to the hardware store and picked up the recommended 0000 Steel Wool.

I haven't had much luck finding a manual for step by step instructions on taking it down or reassembling it, and I even checked the mecca of manuals, Steve's Pages.
Jay told me that there's only about three ways that the thing can come apart, so he had me describe what I was looking at and send pictures while he talked me through taking it down by trial and error.
There wasn't much rust underneath where the barrel and action were encased with wood...we really thought there might be since wood could have held moisture, but it looked to be in decent shape.


He advised me to spray it down and let it sit for an hour or so and then wipe it down and let it go at that.
As far as the stock...I'm not touching it. Every nick, ding, and scratch stays.
Rust will be detrimental, so I'll stop that, but the stock won't be changed at ALL.
I know most people would start breaking out the sandpaper and the Tru oil, but I want to keep it just the way it was in my dad's hands and my uncle's hands.
Somewhere along the way, before it ever arrived in my family, someone had carved "J.W." in the stock. The running joke is that it must have been John Wayne's rifle. Hence the nickname "The Duke". :)
Nope...not gonna change a thing. Just cleaning it up.

Besides, didn't the Duke say "...I won't be laid a hand on"? *grins*

First time out

Kendallville had its very first ever gun show today.
The turnout was incredible.
They will definitely need a bigger venue, as I assume this will NOT be the last show they ever have. It was amazing.

I'm the type of person that doesn't like the push or jostle of a crowd, but it was easier to tolerate it knowing that it'd be the reason for more shows to occur in the future.

Jay and Mrs.Jay drove to my house and then I drove us all the rest of the way over.
Mrs.Jay was looking for a carry gun and it was really fun helping by throwing my unsolicited two cents in the conversation. :-P
She ended up picking a sweet Walther .380.

Listening to the two of them banter back and forth was cute. You can tell they've been married for a LONG time. Ha! She's about half as tall as him, but she's sure a spitfire.

I picked up some ammo boxes for reloading...seven for $10 bucks.
Last time I found that deal, I left the boxes until the end of the show, thinking I'd pick them up on the way out. Then I couldn't find them again before leaving! DERRRR... so THIS time, I snagged them!

Reason

It was a good day.

Jumped in the van to meet up with Jay & Lynne at a gun show this morning.
She decided not to ride along after all, so I spent the morning harassing Jay;
"What's this? What does that do? How does this fit? What's this piece called? What are these machined parts for? Why is this different than that?" And on and on and on.
He was probably pretty exasperated with me by the time we left, but hey...nobody else is gonna teach me this stuff.

So anyway, this show was REALLY teeny tiny compared to every one I've been to. BUT, it was filled with old rifles, old pistols (mostly revolvers) and TONS of collector's stuff. It was awesome! A treasure trove of stuff that I'd only seen photos of in my book. Lots of military stuff; M1s, M1-A, lots of flintlocks, and just about everything you can imagine from any war. And now I've gotten an up close personal look with a tutor in tow.

After we left the show, we hooked up with my spousal unit for lunch and visited for a bit before heading out. The mister went home and Jay & I headed for the range to test my new loads that are set at an OAL of 1.266 instead of 1.275.
They were PERFECT for what I wanted. The perceived recoil was to my liking, there were no extraction issues and no feed issues. AWESOME.

Here's what they were:
(Various brass)
Hodgdon Clays powder in 4.2 gr
Winchester primers
Rainier plated 230gr RN bullets (.451)

As a BONUS, my 22A came back from Smith & Wesson and I blew through a few mags to make sure things were OK there, too. PERFECT. Ran like a champ and got Jay's seal of approval.
And the weather is even on my side for once! HA!

Status

Here's what I posted as the status on my FaceBook page:
"Drove a hundred and fifty miles with a $400 shopping list...to discover I left my wallet at home. No Driver's license, no cash, no credit card, no I.D. And there I was with a .45 on my hip. *Note*: real friends will bail you out of a jam."

Yep, that's about the size of it. And Jay floated my day (shopping list and all) so I could get what I came for and have a good time.
There's a money order to reimburse in the mail right now.
Other than that...here's my cool stash:



Here’s the wrap:
Ammo boxes $6
Lyman scales $50
Tumbler $60
Powder/primers/ $65
Bullets at 1000 ct $138
2 mags for the Kimber $31
Molon Labe shirt from Hoosier Gun Club $5
Having a friend that gets you out of a bind…priceless.

It happened!! Finally!!

~~UPDATE! (storage pics at bottom)~~
Awesome, awesome, and more awesome... that's the only way to describe it.
Remember when I got my press and took it to Jay's? Remember when I bought my bench and a net friend shipped me tumbled brass?
I went to a gun show after that and met up with Jay and with Shooterchick, and I got a GREAT deal on .45ACP Carbide dies (RCBS) from 21st Century. Only problem was that the instructions to set the dies were written for people who already understood what they were doing.
I turned to the gun forums...not enough help.
YouTube...not so much again.
Finally, when I figured out that I couldn't do it all on my own, I asked Jay, and his lovely assistant Lynne for help.
By the end of the morning, I knew which dies did what, how to set them, and how to use them. After lunch, a quick trip to the swampy range (lots of rain on top of melted snow)...and I ripped off some of my very own reloads. OMG did that feel good!

Shortly after reloading school was over and the teacher went home, I got down to doing some homework!
I bumped up my charges by two tenths of a grain and started reloading a few more...without a net!!
Here is my set up and my first five solo reloads.
I'm just. That. Cool!

After MiniMe got home from school, she was excited to try her hand at it. I went through the function of each die, and stood behind her while she followed my directions...and now she has her very own handloaded cartridge. She FaceBooked it.
Silly teenagers. Don't they know that's what blogging is for?? :D
And wouldn't you know it...EVERYbody want's in on the act:


Update: Inside and outside of my very cool stuff! :D

On my way...to AWESOMENESS!

I opened up the box with all the pieces in it that would eventually make my reloading bench.
It's a Black & Decker Workmate.
I have yet to attach the pieces of plywood and board that will make the table-top surface, but that will be before the weekend is out.
Look what I did!

I called a store today who gave me an awesome deal on a set of RCBS carbide dies for .45ACP, I'll be picking them up on Saturday!

I spent some time with the beam scales and calibrated them, so now I know how!
And when the doorbell rang earlier, there was an awesome package from my net friend Rhody...
I opened it to find some very important Shoot N' C stickers for those expensive designer targets I make...


And under the stickers, there were zillions of shiny tumbled brass that smelled like sawdust...a smell I really LIKE!
(OK, maybe not "zillions", but they WERE shiny and we all know how I like SHINY! :)

RELOAD!!

I've met some of the most outstanding people online.
When discussing my desire to eventually try my hand at reloading, a net friend approached me with a pay-it-forward deal.
He had in his possession an RCBS single stage reloading press that was gifted to him.
He had long since moved on to bigger and better units and had it to spare.
He sent it to me all the way from Minnesota, free of charge (including no shipping)on the condition that when I moved on to bigger and better units, I was to do the same...and pass it on to the next person in the same fashion.
(I love that pay-it-forward stuff!)

I was so excited when it showed up!

Then I realized it had been shipped with a powder measure

And all the funnels and tools (like primer pocket cleaners and a de-burring tool)

I didn't know what other things I'd need besides a good scale and dies (which I've yet to procure) and a bullet puller hammer.

I took the press down to Jay's so he could show me the ropes and even though his press was a much larger progressive press, we used it in single stage mode for the purpose of teaching me the functions.
Turns out, his friend John has the exact same RCBS press set up in his garage, so we went over there so I could get a feel for what this one should do and how I should set things up.

Here is my very first reloaded cartridge, displayed on a shelf in my gun cabinet...I'll never ever shoot it. But I sure shot some of the others I made!

The Shoot

Had a great meet-up/range time with some old friends and made some new.
Shot a couple things that I hadn't before, including an AK47. Nice.
Afterward, a few of us had a quick bite at a diner near the interstate ramp and I zipped home in time for kick-off.
I wish the Colts had won, but it was still a good game. I held out hope til the end, but the Saints just had more heart for it. So congrats, Who Dats, on your big Super Bowl win.
Mardi Gras this year will be the show of all shows.

Another Wintery Shoot

Last night we traveled to the big city to go see one of those “Legends” shows.
The spousal unit (who wishes to be known as “the spousal command”) is a hardcore Elvis fan, so we went to a Tribute show that is traveling the country.
Drove home in a freakin’ snow storm! The entire trip on the interstate, nobody was going over about 35mph tops. Cars were sliding off the road on both sides of the interstate… many flashing lights on emergency vehicles/tow trucks, etc.

That being said, the snow has stopped falling for today, but it’s windier than crap!
I hope it eases up and doesn’t cause massive drifting, because tomorrow my plans are to make a ton of coffee to thermos up, stick my range bag and SHTF gear in my van, swing by and pick up ShooterChickFriend, and roll on down to a range where some internet friends with lots of sweet pea-shooters are gonna meet up! Fun shall ensue!

Ain't it good to know?

My ShooterChick Friend

Please take a moment and welcome my ShooterChick Friend to the blogosphere.
She's new to blogging, but she has great stuff to say. She's a good photographer and loves shooting guns as well as cameras. THAT'S a great combo, huh?!
Please click over to A Little Piece of Paradise and leave a comment to say hi and make her feel at home. Your reward will be very cool gun pics and very cool writings from a very cool chick.
You can find her again by looking over on the left under Blogs of Note.
Tell her Annie sent you! :)

The Death of the Mighty Balloon

OK, so we met out there and I put down some tarps to catch the .45 & .380 brass.
I set up my little oak table that I lug out there because there's NOTHING to set stuff on but the ground...
We started cutting off the balloons from the ice, and... it started to snow!

We tossed them all at the foot of the berm and then put a dozen or so clays all over, too.
We shot her Bersa .380, her Springfield .45, my 22A, and my Remmy 870.

The shotgun just chipped and cracked the ice. The rest of them blasted them to smithereens. Even the lowly .22!

Here's before pics:


Here's a pic after a 20ga hit:


Here's an after:


We didn't think to get out her SKS until after everything was gone...
except her coffee cup from the gas station.
So we set it up on the hill in a little snow pocket and took turns being mad because neither one of us could hit it.
After we emptied on it, we ran down to see what the heck...
Then we found this:

How Are These Things Connected?

~~UPDATED~~


I'm going to fill the balloons with colored water and put them out on the deck to freeze this weekend.
On Monday, I'll cut the balloon off the ice.
ShooterChickFriend and I will set them in the snow on the berm...
and blastinate them to smithereens!
Shick-shick...BOOM!! No clean up. :)

Rest well, my little colored water friends. Sleep the sleep of the just.
For the day after tomorrow...you DIE!!