Monthly Archives: August 2012

Appleseed RBC, 8/26/2012 – 9/3/2012: Day 5

Today was a somewhat relaxed day in terms of what was planned for us. We got to try two KD AQTs, which I shot with my M1 Garand. I also had a chance to sight in my Remington 03A3 and my Ishaphore Enfield in .308, both at 25yds. Groups for both, if I remember correctly (I have the targets, but not within reach at the moment), were 1 or 1.5 inches. I’m sure I can shoot both better with a little practice. Completing the KD AQT with a Rifleman score with either of them would be a challenge, but possibly doable.

The M1 Garand is always a pleasure to shoot. I didn’t score good enough, yet, to get Rifleman, but I fell right into shooting it naturally. For some reason, it just feels right. Only 200 is required for Rifleman on the KD range due to additional factors you won’t face at short ranges like 25yds such as wind and heat. But getting knocked off NPOA (Natural Point Of Aim) due to the recoil of every shot makes it more of a challenge than the .22LR AQTs. Natural Point of Aim is one of the principles taught at Appleseed. It is simply where the rifle is pointing when you are at rest, not trying to muscle the rifle into position. You position your body, your strap, and the rifle all so when you close your eyes, take a complete breath in and out, and open your eyes, and the aim point where your sights are is your NPOA. If you are not on target, you reposition your body so the rifle naturally points where you want it to.

There were at least a couple of KD AQT Rifleman scores out of all the shooters, and I think all but one shooter, who had to leave early, scored Rifleman on the 25yd range with .22LR rifles. Even the shooter from Wisconsin who had never in his life fired a firearm, did finally get Rifleman.

Tomorrow we will be participating in a mock Appleseed, mostly for those who are interested in becoming instructors, so I think that means we will get to shoot as mock Appleseed participants, probably starting with the 25yd range again. This weekend is an actual Appleseed that we will get to actually work if we are instructors in training (IITs) or actually shoot it if we want.

I’m not sure if we will get a chance to shoot another KD AQT, so I may not get KD Rifleman, but I might plan on coming to the October Appleseed shoot to attempt that, if they have time. I think someone said that they don’t really have time to do a full KD AQT during the regular Appleseed shoots at Ramseur, due to the Sunday shooting restrictions. But it can’t hurt to come to improve on my scores, anyhow. It’s just an all around good time and hope to return and maybe consider becoming an IIT, if they’ll have me.

Stay Dangerous, My Friends.

Appleseed RBC, 8/26/2012 – 9/3/2012: Day 4

Today, all shooting was done at the KD range. We shot some sighters at 200yds, and the AQT at actual distances (100yds, 200yds, 300yds, and 400yds).

Things didn’t got so well for me beyond 200yds. No more mag disassemblies, but because I bumped my rear sight back up to 500yds for the 200yd targets (which I did actually shoot very well), I had no room on the sight adjustment to go to 300yds or 400yds. So I was mostly guessing, and not too well.

The bottom line is that I do believe the AQT and Appleseed in general is possible and possible with good scores. The biggest problem I am having right now is lack of familiarity. I’ve had this rifle for a few years, now, but haven’t really had a chance to spend time learning it and getting the tools necessary to do, for example, sight adjustments. One of the instructors who has been trying to help me is clearly not a FAL fan, and puts only above AK-47s and SKS’s, but nothing else. I am not convinced. It’s just not suitable at this time for me to use at an Appleseed.

So, I left just a little bit early today to head home and drop the SA58 off and pick up my M1 Garand. There is one shooter at this RBC who is shooting one. In fact, I was positioned between him and the one shooter we have shooting an M1A. I also picked up my Remington made 1903A3 for good measure.

We are supposed to be shooting another AQT on the KD range tomorrow. Last time I shot the M1 Garand it was sighted in for 200yds, so it should be all set for the AQT on the KD range. I’m looking forward to giving it a try and will work on getting familiar with and getting the proper tools for my SA58 for another time. I also need to have a chat with DS Arms about a possible timing problem with it. It really shouldn’t chew through magazines like that.

Stay Dangerous, My Friends.

Appleseed RBC, 8/26/2012 – 9/3/2012: Day 3

We didn’t get to do a lot of shooting today, as it was dedicated mostly to a little more advanced instruction. Target detection and identification; range estimation; and some external ballistics were the order of the day.

With disabled rifles (bolts removed and confirmed by instructors), one of the instructors walked up and down the 200yd, 300yd, 400yd, and 500yd lines on the KD range, while we got him in our rifle’s sights and attempted to estimate his distance based on the width of our sights and the typical width of a man.

The little bit of shooting we did was a little frustrating for me, due to issues with my FAL. First, it seems my rifle likes to eat magazines. I’ve had two of my four metal mags have their floor platea blow out for some reason. Well, when I tried one of my new Thermold mags, it actual cracked. So now I can’t trust those and will probably have to send all 12 I bought back. I switched to my two remaining metal mags, and so far so good, but I’ll have to keep a close eye on them for any swelling.

Second, I had my rear sight adjusted all the way up to the 500yd mark for a 25yd range. One of the instructors knocked it back to 200yd (sighting in for 25yds with low profile sights will sight you in for 200yds; with high profile AR-type sights, it will be the same as 300yds), and said to adjust my front sight down so I can, in a pinch, use the markings on my rear sight. Problem is, I don’t have the right tools to adjust the front sight, so I had to bump the rear sight back up to 500yds. My groups, however, are pretty good, so I’m doing better than I did in March.

Lastly, seems my arms are a little short for this rifle and my eyes are close enough to the rear sight that part of it whacks my shooting glasses leaving a mark. I don’t care with cheap glasses, but it matters a lot with my more expensive ones with a slight prescription.

So I was a little frustrated, but I’m glad to see the improvement just since March, even though I haven’t shot this rifle since then.

Tomorrow we should be shooting almost the whole day on the KD range. I’ll have a few more pictures later.

Update:
Red coat target from the morning with the SA58:

I believe two rounds went through the same top hole in the 100yd red coat, so I did at least shoot all three rounds in the 100yd simulated target. Not quite as good as the 10/22 where I got all three in the 300yd target and also got the head shot.

My first sighters with the SA58:

Decent group, and only needed slight adjustments in windage and elevation. And here’s where the problem arose where one of the instructors suggested moving the rear sight down to 200 and adjusting the front sight up. Without a tool to adjust the front sight, and without any knowledge of what is a 1 MOA adjustment on it, anyhow, I was kind of stuck with shooting it as is. I also don’t know how many turns of the screws for the rear sight constitutes 1 MOA.

Here’s after adjusting the rear sight from 500 to 200, with predictable results:

Good group, but keep in mind I was still aiming at the center square, so it’s way low and I adjust the windage much to far to the left.

I suspect there are aftermarket iron sights for the FAL. I hope, at least. I’ve come to the conclusion that I don’t like them.

Stay Dangerous, My Friends.

Appleseed RBC, 8/26/2012 – 9/3/2012: Day 2

[See update to previous post for some pictures of targets.]

The day started out with kind of dreary weather, but it didn’t take long for the sun to burn off the haze and even the humidity wasn’t too bad later in the day. It was, once again, around 75-80 with an occasional nice breeze blowing through the covered shooting area.

We started out with the red coat target again to check progress, and I was able to get three in the 400yd target, though I missed the head shot due to a failure to feed that I had to correct.

After shooting a few classifier AQT (Army Qualification Test), which is basically just practice for the AQT, we then shot AQTs for the rest of the day, seven in total, with occasional instruction early in the day. Maximum score is 250, and in order to achieve Rifleman, you need to score at least 210. I don’t have pictures of my actual targets, yet, as the instructors were hanging onto them to score them, but I was scoring right around 200, until I had a couple of failure to feed problems (more on that later). On my second attempt I scored 204, but I had under-loaded one magazine, so I only got off 39 rounds instead of the requisite 40. In all likelihood, I would have scored over 210 if I hadn’t made that silly, maddening mistake. No worries, though, as I did finally score a 219 on my fifth attempt, and even that was with three or four FTFs.

Given the issues I did have with my earlier attempts, I knew that I would be able to do this. So I was actually quite relaxed and not stressed about achieving Rifleman. The 10/22 is funny design. One fellow gunny has joked with me that the 10/22 is a fine rifle to take to an Appleseed because you get to practice malfunction drills real good. This turned out to be more true than joke. I got pretty good at detecting the stove pipes. You can’t see the brass sticking out because the bolt handle is in the way, but you also don’t see it getting flung out of the ejection port. At those times, I was able to simply pull the bolt forward and let the empty brass casing fall out and let go of the bolt handle and be good to go. If I didn’t catch it and pulled the trigger, it would go click, and I’d have cycle the bolt fully to re-cock the hammer, which would eject a good round. That meant time lost reloading that round in a magazine and doing another magazine change in order to complete the course of fire.

The Ruger 10/22 is one of those designs where you can get one that works flawlessly, every time, with every type of ammo, dirty or clean. But you can also run into one that, no matter what you do, it just won’t run consistently. I have one of the later. This one is about 35 years old, though the previous owner said he only shot it once and then put it in the closet. I’ve replaced a number of parts with Volquartsen replacements, and tried various adjustments with no luck. I will probably keep this rifle and when I have spare time, make some more tweaks to see if I get it to be reliable, but I don’t plan on spending a lot of money on it.

The upside of this, is that now that I know I can score Rifleman, with at least three FTFs, I’m sure that if pick up something reliable, I’ll be able to score even closer to 250. I don’t yet have a reliable .22LR semi-auto rifle, so I am in the market for one, and will possibly be looking at the Remington 597. I do have a Marlin-60 that is nice other than the fact it fires out of battery when the chamber gets gunked up, so I’m not going to be shooting that again until I have a gunsmith look at it. Plus, being a tube fed magazine, it’s a bit more effort to reload. Fine for hunting, but not so much for target shooting or events like Appleseed (though some shooters have, in fact, done that successfully).

Tomorrow we will be working on sighting in and shooting AQTs with centerfire rifles for those who took them (all of us, I think). I will be shooting my FN-FAL clone from DS Arms, the SA58 carbine. I also brought my Ishapore (Enfield 2A1 in 7.62x51mm NATO). I only brought Tula .308 ammo, so I’m going to check with range officers and read up on it a little before fire more than a few rounds through it. The Tula is supposedly a lighter load, so it should be okay, but I do want to be safe. I also just found this warning about steel cased Russian ammo in the SA58. Frankly, I get the impression that many rifle vendors recommend against it the way some recommend against any reloads at all. It’s a measured risk. The Enfield is an entirely different story, though, since it is a much older rifle.

So, even though I’ve shot this Tula through both my SA58 and my Ishapore, if you are reading this, please say a gunner’s prayer for me? Something to the effect of, “please don’t let this gun blow up in my face.” 😉

Thanks.

Stay Dangerous, My Friends.

Appleseed RBC, 8/26/2012 – 9/3/2012: Day 1

This morning at the Appleseed RBC, we started the day off with the basics of signing in and setting up our shooting positions and then plunged into the first strike of the match, the second strike of the match, and the third strike of the match the last of which the Revolutionary War might never have happened without. Those events are the shooting of seven colonial militiamen (five of them one or the other of father and son) by the British regulars; the battle at North Bridge in Concord, where the regulars were quite surprised by the expert marksmanship of the colonialists; and the battle starting at Miriam’s Corner as the regulars retreated back to Charlestown, respectively.

One of the first things anyone interested in becoming an Appleseed instructor typically does is to pick up a copy of David Hacket Fischer’s Paul Revere’s Ride, where much of the historical information they teach Appleseed is taken from. I haven’t picked up my copy, yet, but I do intend to.

After lunch, we were able to commence with shooting, after a minimum amount of instruction. This is mostly to gauge where you are before they start teaching. We have a good mix of people who have been shooting all their lives, at least one service rifle competitor, some who have been to Appleseed shoots, others not, and even one from Wisconsin who just recently shot for the first time and bought his first firearm for this RBC. I suspect that in some cases, the guy with no shooting experience is going to do better than others in that he has no bad habits to break. I thanked the guy from WI for Scott Walker and for finally isolating Illinois by getting conceal carry passed in WI.

The first target we shoot is a “red coat” target, with four identical red shapes (the shape is roughly what you would see if someone was in the prone position shooting at you) in successively smaller sizes to mimic 100yds, 200yds, 300yds, and 400yds when placed at 25yds, which is the range most of the course of fire is at. There is also a small, one inch shingle of sorts that is supposed to mimic a 250yd head shot.

Today, I surprised myself and actually got the head shot on my first red coat target of the day and also managed to get all three shots in the 300yd red coat.

We then worked on the sighting squares (pictures will follow, tomorrow), and then went over the sighting in process (Minutes/Inches/Clicks, MOA, etc.). I did not have to sight Ruger 10/22 in, as I hadn’t shot but 50 rounds through it since the March Appleseed and it was still on target. Again, I surprised myself with more than one ragged hole in the five sets of five shots.

Well, at least the one on the bottom left looked like a ragged hole before I pulled it and laid it flat on the bedspread. Nevertheless, this is the best shooting I’ve done, yet.

Overall, it was a great start of the week. The weather was a perfect 75 degrees, which is going to be important early in the week as Isaac approaches later in the week. We hope to get plenty of time on the KD (Known Distance) range where we’ll get to shoot out to as far as 500yds.

Stay Dangerous, My Friends.

Update: Pictures added.

Appleseed Rifleman Boot Camp, August 26, 2012 – September 3, 2012: Day 0

Back in March of this year, I attended a two day Appleseed shoot with 10 other bloggers, but I was probably the only one who didn’t write about it afterwards. I don’t really have a good excuse for that. Even though I didn’t make Rifleman and earn my Rifleman patch, I wasn’t the only one, as about half of us didn’t make it. It’s not uncommon to not make it the first time.

Anyhow, what I gained from those two short days can be measured in actual scores in the Vintage Military Rifle (VMR) match I compete in at Crosse Creek Rifle and Pistol Club nearly every month. I used to average maybe about 140-160, occasionally hitting 180, and I think in one rare instance I eked out a 202 (or somewhere around there). Since that Appleseed, I’ve been consistently scoring 200 or over, although that last match I shot exactly 200, but it was a day when everybody scored lower than usual due to the scorching heat.

Given my marked improvement, I figured that if two days could do that, eight days of Appleseed would be even better, right? Well, I guess I’m going to find out. Saturday, August 25, I arrived in Siler City, NC at the Country Hearth Inn, about 12 miles from the RWVA home range in Ramseur, NC. I am signed up for the Rifleman Boot Camp (RBC) starting Sunday, August 26. I’ll try to post daily on my experiences, but one way or another I’ll cover the events of the week.

The RBC is geared more toward teaching Rifleman how to teach others and make Rifleman out of them. It’s not solely for those destined to be Appleseed instructors, as they have boot camps for that purpose called Instructor Boot Camps (IBC). There is, however, plenty of opportunity to earn your Rifleman patch. Also, the schedule is a bit more relaxed since we do have eight days (well, seven and a half, due to an agreement with a local church that they won’t shoot before noon on Sundays, but Sunday morning can always be used for some of the instruction and history portions that are spread out through the week at other ranges). We will be slightly more rushed to get as much done as possible this particular week due to the impending doom of tropical storm Isaac, but we should have enough time to cover the things we need to.

Stay Dangerous, My Friends.

A Gun Is Not An Argument

While reading a few entries from Kevin over the past few days, I happened across an entry from 2004 where he lays out some history of arms in general and how the appearance of firearms changed everything. It was the first time in history where any individual right could be enforced by the individual himself.

More recently, Kevin also points to an episode of Bill Whittle’s “Stratosphere Lounge” where he talks about gun control and brings up the same point about history, that before guns, it was a brutal world for those who didn’t train, in pretty much all cases, all of their lives for combat. The gun, in essence, leveled the playing field.

Bill makes an excellent point that I had heard from a former coworker several years ago, but on the topic of the freedom to fly (as in actually piloting, as he had his pilot’s license). Both Bill and my former coworker made the point that we can argue until we are blue in the face about the benefits of private gun ownership, and hem and haw when our anti-liberty / pro-next-Holocaust enemies say things like “the sole purpose of a [evil gun of choice today] is to kill large numbers of people.” Why do we wimp out of the conversation and try to say, “no, no, guns have many other uses…”? Yeah, you can say, a) intent is not transferable, b) guns have many other uses, c) the intent is to stop the attack, but that unfortunately is most often not possible without killing the attacker, or d) any other myriad arguments about how, oh, no, guns really aren’t for killing.

Sigh

I want something designed to kill large numbers of people, to use as I see fit. Oh, does that sound monsterous to you? What, pray tell, makes you think that what “I see fit” isn’t going to be morally correct? The authors of our founding documents believed I could be trusted with the power of life and death in my hands. And I’m not just talking about the 2nd Amendment. Read the Federalist Papers. And this from Tenche Cox: “The militia of these free commonwealths, entitled and accustomed to their arms, when compared to any possible army must be tremendous and irresistible. Who are these militia? [A]re they not ourselves. Is it feared, then, that we shall turn our arms each against his own bosom. Congress have no power to disarm the militia. Their swords, and every other terrible implement of the soldier, are the birthright of an American. . . . [T]he unlimited power of the sword is not in the hands of either the federal or state governments, but, where I trust in God it will ever remain, in the hands of the people.”

When the EBT cards don’t poop cash anymore; when the flat screen TVs don’t get fixed in Section 8 housing; and when the marauding mobs of moochers gather and start invading formerly quiet neighborhoods and throwing Molotov cocktails because they are not getting what’s due them in their 75 IQ brains, I want to be able to stop them before they burn my house down and my neighbors’ houses because I’m one of the 1% (and, no, I’m not, but you think that will matter when they see my reasonably medium sized house and nice, (if not 12 year old), car?) at the entrance to my street before they make it to my house. That would be legitimate self-defense, my friends. And the most efficient machine possible is my moral right in that, or any other situation where I would be in mortal danger.

Why do we wimp out so? Face it: what the invention of firearms did was forceably remove the monopoly of violence from the state. It didn’t not ask the state’s consent. It did not assuage the state official or the thug trained in a lifetime of violence (but I repeat myself) by saying, “oh, don’t worry, we won’t use our guns to kill you, even if you decide our proper fate is to be inserted into gas chambers or brick ovens.” It WRENCHED control of armed combat from a select few and placed into the hands of every individual with only a small amount of training. In relative terms, the firearm is easy to make, easy to learn to shoot accurately, and easy to deploy. There was no putting that genie back in the bottle. No matter what legislation was passed nor decrees issued. And before the firearm’s appearance, life was Hell on earth for anyone who did not train constantly for combat. The gun forced anyone who wanted someone else to do his bidding to reason with him.

We can engage in all the arguments we want. And, yes, many are useful to prevent the jack booted thugs who would like to disarm us from making life difficult for us by passing their new law of the day that somehow morally legitimatizes their murderous actions when we dare commit acts of freedom in defiance of those laws.

But the bottom line is that theories of rights, though interesting, do not matter here. The benefits of gun ownership do not matter either. Nor do constitutional matters and the history surrounding the construction of the Declaration of Independence, US Constitution, Bill of Rights, and other documents of our founding generation.

All that matters is that our answer is, “No.”

No.

Now it is for the anti-liberty / pro-next-Holocaust army to decide what that means. Take it to heart. Don’t do anything stupid. Because we mean it.

It is not a criminal threat to tell someone to stop the violence they are doing or planning or there will be violent resistance. How much blood do you want on your own hands? Because you will have to kill us, or try, because we can shoot back, in order to disarm us or even make it even the slightest bit more difficult to acquire the means of resistance to force.

No.

Think on that for a while.

In the words of Ayn Rand, “A gun is not argument.”

Stay Dangerous, My Friends.

Taking Back What Was Stolen

Like I said, we, those in the fight of our lives for liberty, are taking back what was taken from us.

After this election, these will not be considered “Paul” delegates. And they, coupled even with the tea party leaning newly elected local committee members who were not Paul supporters, will be a force to be reckoned with. The GOP of today, is not what it was in Reagan’s time. And even that version of the party did not go far enough. A few more election cycles and we may just be closer to taking one party back from the personified putrefaction that has controlled it for so long.

We don’t care so much about any particular party in name. It’s just that the power structure in place makes it nearly impossible to have anything more than a two party system in this country. I hate it, and it’s not how it should be, but there it is. The biggest concern is that that power structure is, in fact, there, and can be a tempting draw for anyone who kicks the current scumbags out to take over themselves and forget that the point is to break that power structure down and return the power back to its proper place, into the hands of individuals and of the states.

The Romneybots should give it up. It’s over. You may take the White House. This time. But though I could argue with some of the conclusions, someone said in January that it could be the last time. And we, the anti progressive coalition, are taking the party back, with a view toward turning our country back to its founding principles.

If only it can be done before it careens off the financial cliff.

Stay Dangerous, My Friends.

Congratulations to Rep. Allen West; Liberty’s Not Dead, But We Have A Long Way To Go

Because I don’t live in Florida, I wasn’t following the primary today that closely, but I was aware that Allen West was being challenged, probably partly due to redistricting. I didn’t know who, but now I do. And he sounds like a certifiable DIABLO, a term I believe was coined by Mark Steyn during the 2009 fiasco where the Stupid Party, including the RNC and Newt Gingrinch and a few other traitors, backed Dede Scozzafava, who, on the last day before the election when it was clear she wasn’t going to win, withdrew from the race and backed…Bob Owens, the Demonrat. (No, not that Bob Owens!)

So I dug around a little and found this article from back in February where you can see this gem of a caption underneath the photo with West’s challenger Sheriff Robert Crowder and his wife:

Longtime Martin sheriff: Robert Crowder celebrates with his wife, Debbie, on election night in August 2008. Crowder, elected five times, says Allen West ‘caters’ to people ‘ruining our party.’

Mr. Scozzafava uh, Crowder, IT’S NOT YOUR PARTY. From the sounds of things, it never was. You, and several generations of petrified octogenarians infiltrated my party and rotted it from within with your personified putrefaction. GET OUT. Stop your crossdressing, go sulk in your closet and come out with your Democratic Socialist clothing that you seem so comfortable in. It is our party, the tea party leaning fiscal conservatives who believe in the smallest government possible without leaving a vacuum for tyrants to try to fill, and we are taking the party back that you stole from us.

Traitor Crowder also pulled a Scozzafava by backing Alex Sink for governor of Florida in 2010 against Rick Scott, who was the tea party favorite.
Here’s what he thinks of liberty minded folks:

Crowder added: “There’s a certain element in our party that’s ruining our party. Look at our presidential primaries. This real hard, scorched-earth type political activists, the ultra-right political element of the party. There comes a time when you have to try to work together, and we’ve gotten things so polarized now because of partisan politics that it’s just hurting the people.”

Working together, with the Marxists across the aisle, likely for at least the past 100 years, since at least Woodrow Wilson *spit*, is what got us in this mess in the first place. There was a time, possibly, when too many liberty minded folks ceded far too much control over their own lives to politicians like you, and we weren’t properly represented in Washington. That time — to work together — is past. A sleeping giant has awoken. It’s time to crush our opponents, politically. And you are clearly not the man for the job. Thank God Mr. West gave you the Southern Fried Wuppin’ you deserved.

According to this more recent article from June, the Sheriff even pulled a Dick Lugar, DIABLO writ large by asking Democrats to vote in the Republican primaries:

At the NAACP forum, Crowder said, “Although I love my Republicans, the ones who are going to make the difference this election are the Democrats. Because you could be a Democrat, and become a Republican in the primary, and still vote for your Democrats in the general election.”

You sleazy … [well, the word I wanted to put here isn’t suitable for my small, but mixed readership]. There was a lot of he said / she said in the article about what went on in the St. Lucie County Republican Executive Committee meeting to decide who to endorse in the primary, but in the end, Crowder said this:

“That’s not true, and (Edson) knows that,” Crowder said. “I took responsibility for that, and I certainly would appreciate those (Democratic) votes.”

There are complaints about West’s treatment of Crowder and his unwillingness to shake Crowder’s hand and that “…that Sheriff Crowder deserves a lot more respect than Allen West is giving him”.

Uh, no, respect is something you need to work to earn and I applaud Congressman West for refusing to give on a show of faux respect for someone who deserves no such respect. You do not deserve respect just due to your position or prior service to the citizens of your county.

The best quote between the two articles is this:

“There will be plenty of time to debate Democrats after the primary,” said Edson, who attended the meeting.

Zing! Well deserved.

Thank you for staying in the fight, Congressman West. We’ve got your six.

Stay Dangerous, My Friends.