Firearms

I gotta say that this last batch of Winchester 230 grain .45 ACP ball ammo seems to be way dirtier than the last PMC rounds we bought. After today’s session at the range I took this before and after cleaning photo of the muzzle of my Warthog. The Glock 30 was also very dirty.

We’re also having some problems with Winchester both 12 and 20 gauge shotgun shells in our Remington 870s. We bought the shells in July and thought that our shotguns were due some maintenance because of the sudden tendency for shells jamming on the ejection cycle. When we switched to either Remington or Estate shells we had no problems.

Winchester .45s and shotgun shells are off our list for target shooting. In fairness to Winchester we have never had problems with their 9mm Luger ammo.

At last – Damsel’s Utah Concealed Firearm Permit arrived in the mail today. It takes about sixty days for the Utah Department of Public Safety to process the paperwork and do a background and fingerprint check.

We hoped to get the permit prior to our recent vacation but due to my procrastination and other work-related complications we started about six weeks later than what it would take to get the permits in time. On our vacation we traveled in several states that honor the Utah carry permit – Utah (of course), Nevada and Arizona – the only one where we went that doesn’t recognize the Utah CCW, sadly for us since we live here, is California. Click the map above to enlarge.

A couple of months ago, I posted about a man suing our police chief and mayor to get a CCW here in our town. I tried finding how that’s going and couldn’t find anything about it. I’m hoping that it resolves our town’s attitude about CCW but I’m not holding my breath.

Where is my Utah CCW? Not here, not yet. I hope it’s on the way. There was a little foul-up on the part of the USPS in getting my application to the Utah Bureau; we sent our applications in separate envelopes on the same day via certified mail. Hers arrived four days before mine did. Even with all of the computerized automation, the denizens of the USPS manage to screw things up without even trying.

I know that the guys and gals that participated in the Para Bloggers event at Blackwater had a lot of fun. We’re jealous that we didn’t have that opportunity, but we made do with our weekly trip to the range.

We always have a lot of fun when we go to our local indoor range. We generally start out with the handgun selection, usually 5 guns, one revolver – a .357 magnum or .38 special – and four pistols – two each of 9mm and .45 ACP. We put about fifty rounds – sometimes more – through the 9’s and 45’s and somewhat less through the revolver. At the end of the session, we break out the shotguns and put about 25 rounds through each of those – one 12 and one 20 gauge.

Here Damsel demonstrates her skills with her little S&W 442 .38 special, then with the Para Warthog .45 ACP semi-auto and finally with her 20 gauge Remington 870 express shotgun.

This is my current collection of hand guns. I took the picture after cleaning them up from the trip to the range. Clockwise from the top: S&W 908s 9mm, S&W 686 .357 magnum, S&W 442 .38 special and my Para Warthog .45 ACP. Not shown is my Remington 870 20 gauge shotgun.

I say my ‘current collection’ because that may change soon. Stay tuned.

Last Week I reported on the return of my Para Ordinance Warthog subcompact .45 ACP pistol from factory service. The pistol had feed problems which we could not seem to remedy, so it went to the Para facility in Tennessee for a thorough going-over. In the last report, I tentatively gave the pistol a good to very good performance rating. Today, I’m happy to say that the gun had absolutely NO misfeeds in about 90 rounds.

I took this picture of my little pistol after I cleaned her up following our weekly trip to the range. She’s aways photogenic, but today she behaved as she should, in my opinion, and I’m proud of her.

I did have one stovepipe, but my feeling is that I might have flinched or squeezed off the round before I completely braced my grip on the pistol. This photo shows the spent brass stuck in the port with another round positioned to feed more or less properly. I racked the slide and the spent brass fell out while the next round went in the chamber. After that, it operated normally until we exhausted all the ammo we brought.

Another benefit is that without worrying about misfeeds and having that bug you, the pistol pretty much hit the target where I pointed it. Bob shot ten rounds through her and had the same observation that the rounds hit where he pointed the gun.

I owe the Para PR folks and Michael Bane a heartfelt thank you for getting me on track with this delightful little pistol.