We went shooting today. Since we have been arranging for our new Arizona home, we have been remiss in going to the range. When we came home, it was time to get out the gun cleaning toolbox and scrub off all the crud.

I took this picture of my Warthog after I got her all cleaned up. The .38 special rounds are for my other gun. Click on the image to enlarge.

We shot our .38 special S&W 442, our .357 magnum S&W 686, our .45 ACP Glock 30, this gun and our Remington 870 12 gauge security shotgun. We were a little out of practice but we both felt better about shooting.

We had a lot of fun but today was our last trip to Sharpshooter.

While we were visiting Wickenburg, we stopped in the small town’s only gun store, The Gun Trader. List of services:

• BUY—SELL—TRADE
• Shotguns
• New and Used
• Good variety of Accessories
• Rifles
• Handguns
• A large selection of AMMUNITION
• We sell Hunting & Fishing Licenses

I introduced myself to “Roger,” the proprietor, and took a look around the shop. There were a lot of long guns, both rifles and shotguns. The ammo shelves were very well stocked.

There are a couple of photos of the interior of the shop here.

The Gun Trader isn’t the only store in town that carries ammo. We found some for sale in the local hardware store although the selection was sparse - sort of like it is everywhere.

We are glad that there is a local outlet for firearms. We will be making the occasional trip down to Cabela’s in Glendale, about 45 miles, but we’re happy they aren’t the closest dealer to our new place.

 
The Science Behind AGW

The well-known terrorist group, Greenpeace, is urging “mass civil disobedience” to intimidate those who are skeptical about global warming:

If you’re one of those who believe that this is not just necessary but also possible, speak to us. Let’s talk about what that mass civil disobedience is going to look like.

If you’re one of those who have spent their lives undermining progressive climate legislation, bankrolling junk science, fueling spurious debates around false solutions, and cattle-prodding democratically-elected governments into submission, then hear this:

We know who you are. We know where you live. We know where you work.

Bring it on, Asswipes . . .

I took this shot at the Gun Blogger Rendezvous last September. Mike is familiarizing Damsel with the competition pistol he uses. We recently saw him in a sequence on Downrange TV using this gun. To the left you can see Kevin and Chuck enjoying the outing. We’re expecting to attend again this year and join bloggers like Kevin, Mike and Chuck in an excursion to the shooting range. Click on the image to enlarge.

For some GBR nostalgia, go here.

We often discuss the topic of parenting, or the lack of it these days. We look around our neighborhood and see a mixed bag of the products of modern parenting. Some families seem to have their act together, with well-disciplined and polite children and teens. Others, most of them in fact, are rude, inconsiderate and irresponsible. I have no idea whether they are ‘victims’ of California public education or not, but the schooling here doesn’t help matters any.

We like it when we’re at the range and see gun-owning parents teaching their children about guns and shooting them. Occasionally, we see a group of scouts and their mentors at the range. That’s a good thing too. Learning about shooting and guns is a much better investment than developing a skill set only suitable for X-Games like skateboarding down a stair rail or something.

I saw this cute poster on a forum yesterday and it got me thinking how parents and schools are letting kids down these days.

Click on the poster for a larger view.

Last week, we contacted the proprietor of Ballseye’s Boomers, Glenn B. to see if we could arrange a get together, since we were going to be in the same area. We threw a couple of ideas back and forth, and settled on a pizza place near the RV park where we’re camping.

I found the pizza place on Google and assumed it would have an informal eating area, where we could sit to enjoy the pizza and conversation. When we got there, it turned out to be a take-out only place. Luckily, there was a little Mexican food place just across The Apache Trail. We went on over and ordered food and sat down to eat and talk.

We chatted about our Arizona adventures and various other topics. Firearms got into the discussion, but didn’t dominate. We had a nice visit. Like most of our like-minded bloggers, it was a pleasure meeting Glenn B. and we look forward to possibly meeting again.

My Canon A710IS took this image of the three of us just after coming out of the café. Click on the image for the big picture.

It’s been about a year now, that ammunition has been scarce here in California, and, indeed, the entire nation. In particular, handgun calibers are not only difficult to find, but when you do find them, they’re expensive.

We have tried to stockpile enough ammo to be able to take any of our guns to the range. We’re not hoarding the ammo, but keep enough on hand that when a particular caliber is unavailable, we can still shoot some, and restock the pile when the caliber again becomes a available.

The last few months, there has been a greater availability, mostly at our shooting range, but not so much at retail outdoor and sporting stores in the area. Again, the range has some but you pay about 50% more than over a year ago.

In the image (click to enlarge), top left shelf, we have handgun calibers .45 ACP, .357 magnum, .38 special and 9mm. Below that, we store magazines and holsters. The bottom two shelves are where we keep the shotgun ammo, 12 and 20 gauge.

We decided to take the 9mm pistols to the range today. We brought a hundred rounds of 9×19 ammo. I brought my Glock 26 subcompact and Damsel brought her S&W 908s. The latter being a little workhorse with a single-stack 8 round magazine. This nice little gun has been one of our most reliable guns but seldom sees much praise when we post about shooting.

Image: Damsels 908s after clean-up. Click to enlarge.

We actually have two of these, a ‘his’ (in black) and ‘hers’ - this one - the ’s’ after 908 indicates ’silver’ finish. As I said before, these guns have been pretty reliable. We have had them for several years, shoot them regularly, and have only replaced the slide springs and spring guides in them after one of the two was showing some wear.

We also took two shotguns today - the 12 gauge Remington 870 Security Shotgun and Damsel’s 20 gauge shotgun. As usual we took 25 rounds for each gun. You can read more about shooting them here.

We took our .38 and .357 shooters to the range today. We scored some .38 special “wad cutters” reloaded ammo last week and wanted to send a box of those downrange. The wad cutters, also known by the rather descriptive term “The Devil’s Suppository,” make a nice distinct hole in paper targets. A while back, Damsel posted an image in “I shot Mickey Mouse,” where you can see the clean holes in the target.

Image: wad cutters - click to enlarge.

We were able to see the holes appear in the target quite well, even though we had taped it to some scrap cardboard an eighth of an inch thick, or so. I would have bought another fifty rounds of wad cutters at the range today, but, unfortunately, they were all sold out. We still have 150 rounds of wad cutters which we will use with discretion.

Speaking of scoring ammo, we found some UMC .357 magnum at our Big 5 store for $31/box of 50. I got a couple of boxes. Expensive, but you never know when the well is going to dry up - again.

Other than a few anachronisms, this is pretty much how Allen Street looked in the days when Doc Holliday Wyatt, Virgil and Morgan Earp got into it at the OK Corral, seen on the left. Click on the panorama below for a closer look.

WikiPedia says:

Wyatt Earp, Morgan Earp, Virgil Earp, and Doc Holliday fought Frank McLaury, Tom McLaury, Billy Claiborne, Ike Clanton, and Billy Clanton. Ike Clanton and Billy Claiborne (who later claimed that he had been unarmed, though some reports credit him with shooting one or more times) ran away from the fight, unharmed. Both McLaurys and Billy Clanton were killed; Morgan Earp, Virgil Earp, and Doc Holliday were wounded.

When the shooting range where we have a membership refurbished the range, they replaced the conventional heavy target holders with a flimsy coat-hanger and Boston clip kluge. Last Sunday, our regular day to shoot, I forgot to bring the lightweight cardboard backing for the silhouette targets. As a result, I got a heavier duty cardboard target backing at the range.

When Damsel was shooting with her 20 gauge, I noticed that the target was ‘dancing’ less as a result. In the video, compare a lightweight target backing with the heavier one from this time. It makes me think that we need a heavier backing still to help stabilize the target.

It’s too bad that we have to compensate for the cheapness in the target holders, but we have little choice since this range is both convenient and (relatively) inexpensive. We plan to continue experimenting with this.

Yesterday, we put 100 rounds of .38 special through this S&W 686. After cleaning and reloading with Speer 158 grain .357 magnum HP ammo, this is how it looked to my camera. Click for the magnum view.