With All Due Respect, GRNC Gets It Wrong, Re: Johnston County Commissioner Devan Barbour

jocoboco, rinos, statists

GRNC put out an alert, yesterday, updating members on the results of the meeting I described two days ago here. GRNC seems to think we should thank Devan Barbour for proposing the removal of the portion of the ordinance mentioning firearms. I have to respectfully disagree. The decision had already been made. Word is that one of the commissioners even called into the Morning Rush on WRDU to talk about the ordinance and said that they did decide to remove the firearms portion. Having Devan Barbour, the only one up for re-election, propose removing that section during the meeting was a cynical move to try to placate gun owners so that we would go away.

As I said a year and half ago:

And just so you understand where we stand in this negotiation, let me say this. We have come here because, metaphorically speaking, someone has threatened to cut off our right leg. We have to wonder if the hope was that we would settle for, oh, say, just giving up our left foot. Let me straighten out this potential misperception. We were threatened, metaphorically speaking, with amputation. Our position is that we are changing the starting point of this negotiation. We’ve come, metaphorically speaking, for both legs of those who are proposing this ordinance. And our hope is that everyone leaves with all of their limbs in tact. Metaphorically.

The same applies this time. And as I shouted out during one absurd comment from Attorney David Mills that this was “not about guns,” “Do you think we are stupid?!”

This alert was posted to the NC Gun Owners forum. My response, copied here for convenience:

As has been discussed here, I think, but definitely elsewhere, we owe no such thanks at all to Devan Barbour. He voted in lock step with the other five present commissioners in August on the unmodified ordinance. And the ordinance that passed is still egregious as it is still far too vague and will likely snare residents safely shooting on their own property. What’s ‘unreasonably loud’ for a gunshot? To a d*mn-yankee (I is one, but an *assimilated* one) who is anti-gun, *any* gunshot is unreasonably loud, because, gosh darn it, he shouldn’t be shootin’ guns on his property! It’s scares him due to his lack of familiarity with *American* tradition. And that’s what this is about. These complainers (regardless of what you think of Whitlock) would complain if Whitlock had safe bullet containment and used a suppressor (which, of course, is an extra $500+ for a trust, since our illustrious Sheriff refuses to sign off on the required ATF form). This entire ordinance should have been nixed, period. Barbour made his proposal because he is up for re-election.

It boggles my mind that Mills had the audacity to suggest that there were only a few narrow types of shooting (self-defense, varmint dispatching, etc.) that are covered by the 2nd Amendment. Who the h*ll does he think he is? What makes anyone think that making marksmanship training harder for those who don’t have the money join a range and travel to a range on a regular basis isn’t a violation of the 2nd Amendment. And I don’t even hear any gun rights groups harping on that. It’s not only an infringement, it’s just plain dumb to acknowledge the right to keep and bear arms, but make it potentially criminal to practice without spending a lot of money. It’s a city-boy mentality that thinks you just buy a gun, throw it in your closet or sock drawer and not use it for target practice in your safe, private, backyard range, but only for self defense or varmint dispatching. Where is Mills from, anyhow? Did he grow up in JoCo, or is he from some big city? I’m bettin’ the later. It would also be interesting to see if any remuneration he gets comes from Bloomy’s Mayors Against Illegal Guns, like the staff member in the Mayor’s office in Orlando, FL.

The only real victory we had here, and it is a significant one, is that we got their attention, and if my perception was correct, Barbour, Mims, and Attorney Mills all had tremors in their voices. We scared them, I think. And that is a good and valuable thing. Evidence of a properly functioning government. Almost, anyhow, as they still display stark arrogance (particularly Mims and Mills).

Now, we need to keep the pressure on and a few JoCo gun owners need to attend, EVERY SINGLE MEETING, maybe taking the open comments period at the beginning to propose repealing the noise ordinance altogether. Let them know we are watching them closely. We need to go on the offensive, here, because what do you think will happen when this almost-bill-of-attainder doesn’t work and they can’t get Whitlock to stop under the ordinance? They will come back for more. *Unless* we are constantly badgering them in the other direction. Otherwise we are in react mode which is always imperfect, as we can see from this result.

And in 2014, give them a re-election battle they’ll never forget. We need a plan to have as many people as possible run against them. I don’t know what it takes, but surely we’ve got people on this forum and elsewhere who could help with that.

And now there is word from an anonymous source within the county government that JoCoBoCo “have talked with the community college about forming a public shooting range to ward off the drama that is now before us.” Well, I have a message for the Board: too little, too late. Oh, and the drama? You brought this on yourselves. You think this will make us go away and leave you alone to rule over us the way you see fit? You’ve got another thing coming.

As Knitebane says the response we are now getting wind of is exactly what we should be seeing. The commissioners should be trembling in their boots whenever they even think about mentioning firearm rules.

Elsewhere, I added:

Right now, they need to be babysat. I suggest several of us go to the October meeting with, as a starter issue, a proposal to move all Board of Commissioners and other public board meetings (such as the planning board) to a location where carrying a concealed handgun is not prohibited and/or a proposal to repeal the ban on carrying concealed handguns in county buildings *and* a prohibition on any county agency from instituting their own ban.

If we get the predictable reaction of arrogance from Mims and company, we remind them that this will affect the decisions of many Johnston County citizens on November 6th.

To the Johnston County Board of Commissioners, and Alan Mims and Devan Barbour in particular, I say this: We are not going away. Deal.

Stay Dangerous, My Friends.

Appleseed RBC, 8/26/2012 – 9/3/2012: Summary and an Application – Johnston County, NC Board of Commissioners

appleseed, rinos, statists

I was a bit worn out after the RBC, so I only stayed for one day of the regular Appleseed event on the weekend. I haven’t yet consistently reproduced my Rifleman score, but it’s just going to be some amount of practice to get better at it.

As I said at the start of the RBC, these boot camps are somewhat geared toward those who wish to become instructors. I haven’t made a decision on that, but I was glad to get an inside look into some of the philosophy of Project Appleseed.

One of the main criticisms I’ve heard of Appleseed is the focus on the use of the sling. One thing that few consider that should anything “happen” in this country, there’s a good chance that many of us will be using equipment that are battlefield pickups. There’s probably a better than 75/25 chance of these rifles having slings. On the other hand, a scope might not be standard equipment on a number of them.

One criticism about the sling, however, is probably valid. It’s not that it’s not covered, it’s just that there is not a lot of emphasis on it. They cover three ways of using the sling in the standing position. There’s the loop, the hasty, and the hasty-hasty. If you are transitioning from standing to prone, or standing to sitting, the loop sling is probably the easiest, since it’s the same in all three positions. However, it can take time to set the sling up for the loop. But in a situation where you must take a quick shot, the hasty makes the most sense. So, though the most critical type of situation you could be in is the need to sling up quickly and take a shot, it’s not the easiest to train for that when you are transitioning. I used the loop sling because that’s easiest for transition, especially when you have the quick-release swivels, but what I should have done is practiced more with the hasty sling. Because in stressful situations, we typically fall back to our training.

In addition to the shooting and the shooting instruction, there is also the American heritage that they cover, however briefly, since it is only a week, and only two days for the regular Appleseed shoots. These are rather stark, but inspiring stories of the American Revolution that you might not have been taught in the public schools. I know that I wasn’t, at least. They make a good springboard to do more research yourself. A good start might be David Hackett Fischer’s Paul Revere’s Ride.

They also tell some Dangerous Old Men stories (though it’s not limited to men, but also includes women). One of those events is the difference made by one of General Daniel Morgan’s Riflemen, Timothy Murphy, who (I think after two ranging shots) took an amazing 300 yard shot that felled British General Simon Fraser, affecting the morale of the regulars under his command, having a significant impact on the outcome of the war.

This and a few other stories were told to drive home the point that, yes, sometimes one person can make a difference. You will never know whether what you do will or will not have that kind of effect. It is for that reason, that we should all, if we value our beleaguered republic, do everything we can to preserve it.

Bringing this right home to my back yard is something I’ve kept quiet about (at least here on this blog) up to this point.

A little over year ago, the Johnston County, NC Board of Commissioners tried to do something about those dastardly gun owners shooting on their own property by banning spitballs. The end result of the Orwellian named Good Neighbor Firearms Ordinance was a convoluted, stupidly worded, and unenforceable attempt to solve a non-problem. Or at least a problem that should have been bounced back to the individuals complaining to take civil action, and submit themselves to some discovery that probably would have revealed little evidence that there was any problem other than that they were scared of gunfire due to not being sufficiently accustomed to American traditions. We’ll never know, now, since they decided to badger complicit statists in the Sheriff’s office and on the Board of Commissioners to impose their hoplophobic wills on the entire county.

Well, a few months ago, the Board started making noises (pardon the pun) that they wanted to make some changes, again. This time, they were going to throw out every single protection for people shooting safely on their own property that we had negotiated a year and a half ago. Despite their protestations, they tried to sneak this one by, hoping that gun owners wouldn’t take notice. They almost succeeded. Well, what they passed is still sufficiently vague that it could snag people shooting safely on their own property, but we got the attention of the Board, that’s for sure.

I said they almost succeeded. But why didn’t they get everything they wanted? It was little bit of luck, but also the actions of one man, a friend of mine, Fran, who contacted me when he saw this article in the local paper indicating that the Board had already taken a non-binding (due to one absence) vote on a noise ordinance that would have effectively banned shooting, despite the dishonest lecturing from county attorney David Mills during the Board meeting last night.

When Fran called me, I was a bit discouraged and wondered if it even mattered if we registered our opposition to this ordinance due to the Board’s distinct lack of respect for the citizens of Johnston County. Alan Mims, the chairman, has made it clear that he doesn’t put any stock in those who cut and paste messages from GNRC alerts and send them. As if simply registering our opposition is not enough. And yet he had the gall to claim that there was a silent majority who were for the Good Neighbor Firearms Ordinance in the last kerfuffle.

I chatted with Knitebane about this and he did some digging. After gathering as much info as he could, he contacted Paul Valone of GRNC and from there it was like a brush fire. Valone was on fire and determined that we needed to stop this or it would spread to other counties like a cancer. This nimbys needed to be stopped. Between Knitebane and two others from GRNC, they did their fact checking and crafted the alert that went out. Eventually, the NRA-ILA picked up the story. There was even a Facebook page that led to a petition that garnered 1,700 signatures which was presented to the Board.

At the meeting last night, Alan Mims, Devan Barbour, and county attorney David Mills repeatedly tried to tell us this wasn’t about guns, but only about unreasonable noise. In other words, they were pissing down our backs and telling us it was raining. They lied. Every damn-yankee immigrant to Johnston County, NC (of which I is one, but an assimilated one) who hates guns would complain about guns being unreasonably loud because, dammit, neighbors shouldn’t be shootin’ guns, cuz it scares them. Every single American* I’ve spoken with about this does not have a problem with gunfire precisely because it is core to the very definition of American Liberty.

Another thing on attorney David Mills. He’s a &^#(@)! (Sorry, had to edit that out due to a mixed reading audience ;-)). How dare he presume to explain to us plebes that this would not infringe on our rights, due to a few extremely limited situations where shooting would not be considered a violation. After all, as he said at least twice, he’s trained to analyze these legal matters. What arrogance for him to assume that a few limited situations are all the right to keep and bear arms encompasses. Do any of these so-called pro-gun politicians ever consider that you’d be an idiot to make it harder for people to engage in target practice? Mims tried to imply that 3000 rounds over the course of a few months was excessive. Most who understand the RKBA would say that that’s some slow shootin’, there. And, no, I am not kidding about that. Why would you not want people to practice good marksmanship? This isn’t just about recreation. This is about continuously keeping up our marksmanship skills. One of the number one priorities of the Appleseed Project, by the way.

As Bubba notes, this story is not over. In his post he lays out one of the biggest problems is the Sheriff’s office. Sheriff Bizzell is one of those butheads. “I’m am all for the second amendment, BUT…,” and you can fill in the blank. Always an exception, the elist knows what’s best for you. He refuses to sign off on NFA forms, which are required by the ATF for the acquisition of machine guns, suppressors, and a few other items restricted by the National Firearms Act of 1934. So many other things are required by law to have mufflers, but, yet, our government(s) make in damn near impossible to shoot without making noise.

If our Sheriff, the Commissioners, and their subversive attorney were really not anti-gun, a) the Sheriff would sign off on anyone eligible to get suppressors, and lobby the NC Sheriff’s Association to, in turn, lobby our state legislators and our US Representatives and Senators to make it easier for anyone to get them and b) the Commissioners would either change the venue of their meetings to a place where we can carry our guns, or repeal the ordinance that prohibits carry in county buildings. But they’re nimbys. I.e.: fakers. The gig is up, though, and we’ve got their number. Devan Barbour is up for re-election and he’s the one who proposed striking the section specifically mentioning firearms. Gee, I wonder why.

All three who spoke, Alan Mims, David Mills, and Devan Barbour had very distinct tremors in their voices. As you can sorta see from Bubba’s pictures, there were probably three hundred of us overflowing the meeting room. Between that, the national attention, the petition, the email, the phone calls, the GRNC and NRA involvement, I think we scared them. As well they should be scared. The more, the better. That’s one indication of a properly functioning government:

“When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.” — Thomas Jefferson

Government officials do not fear the people, enough. If we are to agree with Mr. Jefferson, that needs to change.

The Johnston County, NC Board of Commissioners is now on notice. We will be watching you. There is a plan afoot to keep much closer tabs on any tyranny you may try to impose on us in the future. And watch out in 2014. A sea change is what you might see. We’re all-in for some house cleaning.

So if wasn’t for my friend Fran contacting me, and then me chatting with Knitebane, Knitebane involving GRNC, and the NRA-ILA chiming in, and Dustin Holloman starting the petition, this might have been snuck by unnoticed. One man likely started this brush fire. Thanks, Fran!

Stay Dangerous, My Friends

*By American, I, of course, mean what I describe at the end of this post.

Update: Fixed a few spelling errors. Sorry, Knitebane. 😉

Update 2: Wow, not 17,000 signatures. That would have been awesome. Still 1,700 is pretty dang good. Corrected.

Appleseed RBC, 8/26/2012 – 9/3/2012: Day 6

appleseed

We spent the morning having the IITs do some of the instruction that is taught at the regular Appleseed events. I participated as a student, sometimes intentionally messing something up for the IITs to catch, and they all seem to do well. I didn’t get a full count, but it looked like there were about four or five IITs participating.

The afternoon was a time for us to relax and shoot whatever we wanted. I stayed at the 25yd range to try to beat my Rifleman score, but with no success, yet. I’ll get consistent with practice.

This weekend is a regular Appleseed shoot, which RBC attendees can participate in. Most have left, but there are a few of us left. It sounds like this is going to be a rather small Appleseed, so it will be a chance for me to get in more practice.

Stay Dangerous, My Friends.

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

appleseed

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

appleseed

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

appleseed

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

appleseed

[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

appleseed

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

appleseed

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.