A New Emporium of Delight

One of the forums I frequent is the S&W Forum. Good folks who enjoy great guns. One of them posted a tip a few nights ago about a shop in his area with a new haul of used S&Ws, along with a few highlights from that list.

One of them was a grail-shaped-beacon-gun. (You know, it kinda looks like a grail but it isn't. My official grail is a matched US Property Ithaca 1911.) This was high on my list of desires: a Smith & Wesson 647. The 647 was a very low-production model, produced from 2003-2004 and removed from the catalog in 2005 (according to SCSW 3rd Edition). There was also a 647-1 which was a Performance Center variation.

So what's so spiffy about the 647? It's a stainless, K-frame round-butt, 8-3/8" full-lug barrel ... in .17HMR. A gun of these dimensions is more typically seen around a cylinder full of .38s or even .357 (S&W Model 19). Empty weight is 52oz - roughly the same as my 21-4 .44Spl which I stoke with 240gr Keith loads. Recoil from this should be essentially zero.

Why? Because I wanted a small-game-capable revolver. I have a .17HMR rifle that is wonderful for squirrels, crows, and woodchucks... now I'll have the appropriate pistol to go with it.

I've made a deposit on the gun and the receipt is with my local sheriff's office awaiting a judge's signature. When it comes home (probably in 1-2 weeks) I'll have pictures.

(And for what it's worth, the last two to sell on Gunbroker went for $740 and $750. I paid significantly less. I can likely flip it for a profit if need be.)

A shooty evening...

I took yesterday off of work. It was nice out, I had things I wanted to get done around the house, and maybe just maybe spend some time with MrsZ. I finished my various projects, showered off, and we debated evening plans. Called a few friends, and none of them were available.

MrsZ finally said, "Well, how about going shooting? I still haven't tried your new pistols, and the new trigger is in my rifle."

I liked this idea. I threw together range gear while she made sandwiches. Headed out and plinked away for nearly two hours... MrsZ was mostly shooting her 10/22, which I had just installed a Volquartsen hammer in. It's now an insanely-light trigger, if a hair soft. I didn't feel like bothering with a sling, so I slapped the bipod on my Savage MkII and burned some ammo with that.

MrsZ had yet to try my Thunder380, S&W 21-4, and my 22/45. It was starting to get dark, so we switched to pistols at 7yd. A couple magazines through the 22/45, then a magazine though the Bersa. She did quite well with both. Didn't get around to the 21-4, sadly. The fireball from a 22/45 at dusk is pretty cool; the fireball from the Bersa is downright nifty... should've brought the AR for sampling. *g*

I also had the opportunity to try the .22CB Shorts in my Savage and the 22/45. It was absolutely eerie shooting them in the rifle. I pulled the trigger on the first one, heard *click*, and then saw the puff of dirt. No report. I asked MrsZ if it had actually gone "bang". She said yes, so I cycled the action and pulled out one of my earplugs ... sure enough, it went bang, with about as much zip as the little plastic-ring cap guns I used to play with. Nifty! Tried in the 22/45 and they're a fair bit louder, but still much quieter than any .22LR I've used. Not enough oomph to cycle the action.

I should see if I can find some of the Aguila 60gr subsonics, and some .22CB Longs as well. I'm intrigued by quiet!

Side note: the 22/45 is a hell of a nice gun to shoot. Mine has a great trigger, which seems to be abnormal, and while the sights aren't great, they're tolerable. Nice plinker. It's manual of arms is very similar to the 1911 I shoot competition with, so it's good for practice in that regard. However - there is a big difference. When the slide lock backs on an empty mag, my usual practice with the 1911 is to drop the mag, then gently lower the slide by hand. I tried to do that with the 22/45 last night. It doesn't have a slide, only the rear bolt... so I promptly dropped the extractor at full speed into the fleshy part of my left-hand middle finger. It bled. I cursed. I won't make that mistake again. :)

I'm A Bad Man

CNN has one of their user-submitted "news" stories on the site right now.

Beached Pilot Whales Euthanized

It's got a few pictures of people trying to "return the whales to the water".

"About 35 whales that had stranded themselves on Kommetjie beach have been euthanized after efforts to rescue them failed.
[...]
As we were walking away, we heard the shots - a sound that will stay with me for a long time."


So ... what's an appropriate caliber for whales? (According to Wikipedia, adult males are up to 20ft and 3 tons.)

I'm thinking rifle caliber starting with .3 or higher...

Search term round-up

Aside from a brief Tamalanche early after installing Sitemeter, a normal day here has been ... slow. That's likely due to not updating daily. I do get a fairly regular stream of hits from google searches, though, and a la the Munchkin Wrangler, I'll post a few highlights.


small rifle primers

The little round thing in the back of a centerfire cartridge that's struck by the firing pin and ignites your gunpowder. There are at least eight different sizes - small and large rifle and pistol, and magnum/non-magnum variants of each. Small rifle primers are used, in particular, in .223Rem/5.56NATO, which is pretty rare these days. If you have primers, count yourself lucky. PowderValley claims they have backorders for 50,000,000 primers, and they're not the only ones.


kns hooded front sight match approved

I'd suggest checking the rules of the particular match you are entering, as NRA Highpower has different rules from Benchrest and Smallbore and so on.


a2 rear sight jpg 0-2

I don't have pictures of them, but try the Google image search. Or look at an AR - the flip-up rear aperture with the larger hole (0.200" diameter) is the 0-2, and is conveniently labeled as such. It's not a precision aperture, but is designed for limited visibility and moving targets. It also has a different zero from the small aperture.


wolf 223 stuck

A frequent issue, particularly with tight chambers. Older Wolf ammo, along with some of the various "Bear" ammo, is lacquer-coated. At higher rates of fire, the chamber gets hot enough to melt this lacquer and effectively glue a round in place. Clear your rifle, remove the bolt if possible, and CAREFULLY tap the round out with a brass rod from the muzzle end. Use acetone to clean your chamber and dissolve the lacquer, then a chamber brush and normal cleaning procedures... and then stop shooting crap ammo in a good rifle. Save the Wolf for the Mini14 and .223 AKs.


hooded cross hair front sight for 22 rifle

Swap your crap Ruger factory sights for a set of Tech-Sights, and the front sight tower accepts all standard AR front posts, including the KNS hooded crosshair.


walmart pistol primers

Walmart doesn't have store-branded gun anything. Not ammo, not primers, not nothing. Some Walmarts apparently do sell reloading components, but I've never seen it.


kns with rra 2 stage trigger

Well, KNS doesn't make lowers. If you mean KNS anti-rotational pins with a RRA trigger, it should work fine. The pins are standard diameter, as are the triggers. The pins just look fancy and mean you need one more tool in order to disassemble your rifle if something breaks.


5.56 a2 rifle insert notes lesson 6

I see you're in the UK. Naughty, naughty! I'm not sure where you're inserting that A2, or why you need notes, but apparently you've made it to lesson 6, and that takes some dedication. Keep practicing and you'll get there!


And that concludes the highlights of this set of search terms...

Book Bleg

I blame LawDog for this. I discovered the "Sten" series after he mentioned it in his blog, and began with book 1. Since then, most of the books have gone out of print.

I received book 2 (Wolf Worlds) for Christmas. I just ordered books 4 (Fleet of the Damned), 6 (Return of the Emperor), and 7 (Vortex) through Amazon. (Two used, one new.)

If anyone out there has books 3, 5, and 8 (Court of a Thousand Suns, Revenge of the Damned, Empire's End) and would be willing to part with them ... well, let me know. Please. :)