New Sights For My Remington 870

Although I'm not sure I like them.....
First, I had to take off my Side-Saddle, and if there's ONE thing they really drilled into us during Tactical Shotgun I & II, it's that you GOTTA keep the thing FED!
Shotguns have a devastating amount of power and speed, but they go through ammo like nobody's business. Even though I wore cargo pants during the drills, and had my pockets stuffed full of shells, there were still times I needed the extra six shells the Side-Saddle provided. And it was a good place to keep slugs so that when we did the "Select-A-Slug" drills, they were right there, separate from the other ammo I had on me.
The rail device I added is a UTG "M87 Shotgun Tactical Mount", and it's made very well. It's notched along the top of the rail, supposedly so you can use your existing front sight, but I think at any distance beyond across-the-room, it would throw your aim point off. I'll try it at the range with the sight removed to see if I'm right.
And it sticks up far enough that I can look under it, and use the flat on top of the receiver, and the front bead sight, just like I'm used to using.
The first sight I put on it was a another UTG product, their SCP-DS3039W Red/Green Dot sight. I'm not sure if this is a "proper" sight for a shotgun, as it seems to have a more restricted field-of-view, but it was a good price, about $50.
The next sight I put on it was an "NcStar D4B 4 Reticle Reflex Sight" that I got on eBay for about $50.
This is more to my liking, as it's more "open", and I think target acquisition would be faster.
The problem as I see it now is that BOTH of these sights stick up really far compared to using the flat on the receiver and the front bead sight, and when I bring the gun to my shoulder and get a good plant on it, I've got to really look up to use them.
I won't know how badly this messes up the way I've been trained to use the gun, and I hope I can relearn sighting it properly, as I think almost anything is better than the "sights" the 870 comes with!
If I don't like / can't adjust to using these, I'll pull them off, drill and tap the top of the receiver, and get some ghost ring sights for it.
And yes, that poor guy *is* rusty! I had no idea it had that much surface rust on it until I looked at the flash pictures.
I'm embarrassed that I let it get that bad. I guess that what happens when I keep it in the bedroom, and the window is open at night.
Guess I'll get to learn about rebluing "Real Soon Now"!

New Toy On Order.....

Well, the last time my son and I went to the rifle range, we met a very interesting guy. He was at the position next to us, and was shooting a beautiful M1 Garand. I asked him where he got it, and it turns out it was one of the CMP "Select Grade" rifles. It was originally made in 1940, but had been completely Arsenal Refurbished, with all select grade parts, new wood, and looked like it just came out-of-the-box.
It was beautiful!
I told him I was interesting in getting into the CMP program, and he gave me a bunch of flyers, explained the entire program to me, and then told me about the Appleseed Project.
Since they go through so much ammo during the two day program, he said they strongly encourage people to use a 22, although you can use a different rifle if you have one.
Since this is basic training, I figured I go with a low-recoil 22 auto-loader, and hopefully "unlearn" any bad habits I may have picked up over the years. I've had a LOT of pistol training over the last 5 years or so, but getting proper rifle training is something I just haven't done....YET!
So, I ordered a little Marlin 60, which should be here in a few days. It'll be delivered to the indoor range I buy all my guns through, so even though I have to wait the 10-day period, I can at least fondle it a bit, and shoot it if I want.

Happy New Year!

Staying home tonight. We stopped going out on New Year's Eve a couple of years ago after we came *this close* to being in THREE traffic accidents (not our fault) on our way home.
One avoided accident is good for a pretty exciting adrenaline rush, but three had me pretty freaked out by the time we got home....

So, hope everybody has a Happy New Year, and only 11 more months to go before we can rid ourselves of The Obamanation and his ilk!

Be safe out there tonight! I'm cleaning my firearmas today, and tomorrow I'll be installing a new screen door and garage side door.

Back From The Range

And egads, was it crowded!
The staff said it's been like this all week, with lots of new shooters. We saw several dozen people bringing in new rifles, obviously new because they were in the cardboard box, and still in the plastic when they took them out of the box.
SO...we waited about an hour for my son's cousin to show up, all the while watching to see if any shooting stations opened up.
Finally, about 2pm, we were able to get a stall at the skeet part of the range. I've never shoot skeet before, but using cousin Bryan's 20 gauge Ithaca pump, I scored 10 for 10.
I was astounded.....
And it was fun. I can see why people enjoy shooting skeet.
Then we finally got a shooting bench around 2:45. We were on the long range this time, and although I'm still a "100 yard" shooter, there were people there who were shooting targets at 200, 300, 400, and 500 yards.
And hitting them.....
Only fired my Marlin 30-30 about 10 times, and I was shooting 2" or better groups at 100 yards, so I'm going to consider the scope zeroed for the 150 gr ammo I shoot. I was a lot more anxious to try the new Nikon scope (yes, I mounted it the right way!) on my slug gun. With the previous learning experience, and all my notes from Old_NFO, I was able to get it zeroed at 50 yards with 5 rounds. Then I moved the target out to 100 yards, and all I had to do was use the correct dot on the BDC, and I was on the money.
I was having so much fun with the slug gun, I shot that most of the day.
And I was getting ~2" groups at 100 yards from the Lead Sled, not bad for me!
Then, my son's cousin (ex-brother-in-law's son) opened his other rifle case, and brought out a 1940 Mosin-Nagant in wonderful condition. This was the first time I actually got to shoot one, and Bryan shot the pants off me with it. He was 9-ring or better at 100 yards with the iron sights, and I was "in the black", but no where as good as him or my son.
Oh, to have 26 year old eyes again!
Plus he's shot it a lot, and I haven't, so I'm sure I could get better by turning ammo into skill.
The high point of the day for me was meeting the guy at the next bench. He was shooting an M1 Garand, and when I asked him about it, he told me it was a CMP "Select" grade rifle. Turns out he's an Appleseed instructor, and he gave me an entire package of information on how to get into the CMP so I can get my very own M1.
AND...they have Appleseed instruction up at the range twice a month.
So, I'm going to borrow a 22 rifle, sign up, take the course, join an affiliated club, and get myself an M1!
All in all we had an excellent time, I learned a lot, and my son and his cousin had a ball.
And my right shoulder will be screaming at me tomorrow for shooting 20 or so rounds from the slug gun out of the lead sled!

Range Day!

Off to Angeles Shooting Ranges this morning with my son and his cousin.
I'll post some more after we get back this afternoon.

FEMA Billing Katrina Victims?!?

I just got this link in an email from one of the (many) mailing lists I subscribe to.
Abso-frickin-lutely disgusting!

From the Charlotte Observer

Busy, Busy!

Well, I got the new scope mounted and "pre-zeroed" on my Remington 1100, and had to take the side-saddle off the 870 to put the mount and 'red-dot' sight on it. Guess I'll get a butt-cuff to hold extra shells, or tinker something up to put the side-saddle back on.
The new doors were delivered today (they wouldn't fit in my Jeep, and I don't like strapping big stuff on the roof!), so tomorrow I'll tackle those.
And I've transferred about 12 record albums to my PC. It's a time-intensive process, as you can only record them as fast as they play. The brand-new LP's I recorded sound great, but a couple of the used ones are going to need some work to clean up the ticks and pops on them. Once I get all of them recorded on my A/V machine, I'll either transfer them to a portable hard disk, or burn them to a data DVD and them clean them up on this PC.
I'm using my Technics SL-1210 turntable, a TCC TC-750 phono preamp, M-Audio Delta 44 sound card, and Audacity to do the recording. I also have Adobe Audition, but it's on the Windoze box I'm using to record, and as my dear wife would like her dining room table back, I don't think I'll be able to leave things set up to do the post-processing using that PC.

Merry CHRISTmas, Everyone!

Just in case I get busy on the Honey Dew list and don't have time to post.
I have a new back screen door to put on.
I have a new side entrance door for the garage to put on.
I have two new light fixtures to install in the kitchen.
I have an interface board to build to put one of my radios on the Internet for remote control.
I have to get the new Nikon scope mounted on my Remington 1100.
I have a mount and "Red Dot" site to install on my Remington 870.
AND....I'm going to record all my vinyl records to my Audio/Video PC so I can burn some CD's of the them.

So....an early MERRY CHRISTMAS to everyone who stops by!

Unhappy Muslims....

The conclusion: The Muslims are not happy!!!

· They are not happy in Gaza .
· They are not happy in the West Bank .
· They are not happy in Jerusalem .
· They are not happy in Israel . (There is no equality)
· They are not happy in Egypt .
· They are not happy in Libya
· They are not happy in Algeria .
·They are not happy in Tunis .
· They are not happy in Morocco .
· They are not happy in Yemen .
· They are not happy in Iraq
· They are not happy in Afghanistan .
· They are not happy in Syria .
· They are not happy in Lebanon .
· They are not happy in Sudan .
·They are not happy in Jordan .
· They are not happy in Iran ..

Where are the Muslims happy?

They are happy in England.
They are happy in France.
They are happy in Italy.
They are happy in Germany.
They are happy in Sweden.
They are happy in Holland.
They are happy in Denmark.
They are happy in Belgium.
They are happy in Norway.
They are happy in the U.S.
They are happy in Canada.

They are happy in Romania.
They are happy in Hungary.

They are happy in Australia.
They are happy in New Zealand.

They are happy in any other country in the world that is not under Muslim dictatorial rule.

And whom do they blame?

· Not Islam.
· Not their leadership.
· Not themselves.

But the same countries in which they are happy to live.

In a democracy they can live comfortably,
enjoy the high quality of life which they did not build and work for,
they don't have to be productive and earn a living,
they can be wild,
and break the law,
exploit the social services,

wear Burkhas and make a mockery

of our Police and Courts
and generally bite the hand that feeds them.

My question is why do they always try to bring their failed system with them, why do they want to turn every Western democracy into the country they left ....?

4th Best "President" Evah!

Courtesy of my buddy The Wandering Minstrel.

Christmas Wrapping

One of my favorite Christmas songs.