Two is one...

Well, you know how that little tidbit ends.

Had a "first" in guns for me the other morning, and just now figured out what happened.

I got up at oh-dark-early Saturday morning to try filling a nuisance tag with a friend. (Nuisance tags are officially "deer depredation permits" and allow the taking of adult anterless deer outside the regular hunting season.) I hadn't gotten all my hunting kit together the night before, having been out celebrating a night off with a friend who has a six-month-old.

My hunting kit, like many hunters, ends up sort of scattered and jumbled as the various game seasons progress. By the end of winter, there is usually a large pile of RealTree/MossyOak/jungle camo "stuff" stashed into my closet.

The alarm buzzed, I slammed it off, grumbled and rolled my way to vertical. I fumbled on my undershorts and camo pants, grabbed a t-shirt from the pile, unburied my camo jacket, and stumbled my way downstairs to the safe. I pulled out my .270, a magazine for it, and a sling. After getting the sling attached, I stuffed the rifle in a zippered case and dug out four rounds for the magazine, then slipped that in a pocket.

Next, sidearm. I reached for the 21-4 out of habit, and started digging through the pile of leather on the top shelf for its holster ... Found one for the 9mm ... one for the 242 ... retention holster for the 1911 ... yaqui slide for the 1911 ... but no holster for the N-frames. Chances are its still sitting in the pile of hunting stuff, cast off at the end of regular season as muzzleloading season started.

I muttered and decided to take the 1911. Slipped on the retention holster, grabbed a magazine of ball ammo, and slid it into the pistol... Or tried to, anyway. About halfway up it hit some firm resistance. I nudged the mag catch and it went in the rest of the way, albeit a little stiff. Worked the slide and popped the catch to drop the magazine - except it wouldn't drop.

After pulling the magazine out with my fingers, I grabbed the next full magazine of ball off the shelf and slapped that in. Same issue - first half is fine, and as soon as it hits the mag catch, it got real sticky. I decided to take a chance and go with it as-is; it's a backup gun when I'm hunting and the slide felt fine. I didn't have to use it, although I did reach for it when I saw a doe standing in the brush 15 yards distant - she ran before I had it out.

This afternoon, I finally got around to checking the pistol. I presumed some gunk or corrosion had found their way into the mag well and was slowing things down. I field-stripped the piece, and looked down the well from both sides. A bit of powder residue, but it looked clean overall.

I grabbed the mag I'd been using and tried it... sticky insertion and wouldn't drop free. Grabbed the second one, and had the same result. A third magazine, however, inserted cleanly and dropped free easily. Hmmm...

I emptied the cartridges from the first two magazines and looked closely... sure enough, the feed lips had been bent out just enough to widen the magazine at the top. In fact, the follower was just barely being retained by the lips. Looking at the third magazine - the follower was clearly in further.

Now, these were cheap magazines, I won't deny that. My sort-of-local Surplus shop had a bin full of contract overrun GI magazines, new-in-the-wrapper, at 3/$25. They are 7-rounders, and stamped "COLT 45 AUTO" on the (welded-in-place) floorplate. They've functioned 100% until now. In truth, of all the magazines I checked tonight, only these two had issues - and they are NOT the only milsurps I have. All purchased at the same time. All have been kept fully loaded. It IS possible these two have seen more rounds cycled than some; most of the others are loaded with JHPs and don't get unloaded at the range.

In any case ... the failure point was certainly not what I was expecting, and a few new 1911 mags are now on my shopping list ... and yes, I'll probably be coughing up for 8-round stainless from a known maker. When I have a moment I'll run the calipers across them to see how far out of spec they are.

Brown, Parkerizing

First and foremost, congratulations to Senator-Elect Scott Brown (MA-R). I hope he remembers this campaign and how he earned his seat. However, as Lissa says, "[W]hile Scott Brown seems very likable and intelligent, he’s still a politician."

One of the instructors I've worked with in the Appleseed Program has pointed out - at every shoot - that what every politician wants, more than anything else in the world ... is to be re-elected. When your "job" is to legislate, and you've a job interview every 2/4/6 years, the way to keep your job is to keep your employers (the voting public) happy. The way to do that is to LISTEN TO THEM. Not pork-barrel spending, not make-work jobs programs, not putting the KY by the office door for the lobbyists.

But there's a second half to that. It's not just the politicians. If they're going to listen to you, you have to SAY SOMETHING. Anything! Make your voice heard, and not just in November. Every single politician I know of has a web site, and those all have either an e-mail address or a comment form readily available. Those are good, and will likely be read by a staffer and a notation will be made somewhere. Mailing a letter costs $0.44 and will fall into the same bin as an email. Phone calls are cheap and quick.

Right here is a list of all 100 senators with their office address and phone number. It's a simple call. "Hi, my name is ZerCool, and I'm a constituent of $SENATOR. I'm calling to let you know that I oppose/support bill number ____." A staffer will take your name, address, and phone number, and someday you may or may not get a form-letter response... but if you're not talking, they sure as hell aren't listening. Even if you didn't vote for 'em, they're still your designated representative. Use that fact. They work for you. Don't ever let them forget it.

(A list of representatives is at www.house.gov with appropriate contact info.)



OK, off politics and back to the guns!

As mentioned a couple entries ago, MrsZ and I went to the range and re-familiarized her with most of the pistols, including the 1911. It was malfunctioning on nearly every shot - failing to go all the way into battery. Ejected fine, picked up and fed the next round fine, but the slide would stop about 1/4" from being closed. This is, as I'm sure you can imagine, a Bad Thing. It won't fire out of battery, but having to push the slide closed each shot isn't something to inspire confidence.

Last night I took the time to field-strip and scrub it, and found just what I'd expected - waxy build-up on the slide rails and internals. This has happened before, but never to this extent. It's a by-product of the cast-lead loads I use, which are lubricated with a wax mixture. The wax heats up and vaporizes when the gun is fired, and condenses all over the internals. The rails, feed ramp, extractor, slide, firing pin channel, slide-lock pin, etc, all had varying levels of coating, but it was everywhere. Some very careful (and tedious) work with q-tips, Hoppes 9, and rags removed it all, and the gun now seems to be fine - a range trip sometime soon will verify.

This happened once over the summer during an IDPA match, and was caused by the same thing - wax buildup. It wasn't as pronounced during the match because (A) it was summer and therefore hot, and (B) during a match, so the gun was being run rapidly and therefore hot - and those factor combined to keep the wax thin and less sticky. Now that it's winter, a bit of wax or over-zealous greasing will gum up the works right quick. Re-lubed with Remington dri-lube (teflon based) on the rails and in the appropriate internals and hopefully that helps.

I also noticed a little bit of very light freckling on the slide. Now, my 1911 is parkerized - a manganese phosphate coating which is rough-textured and rust-resistant. Not rust-proof, as clearly evidenced by my 870, but pretty durable. Unfortunately, I had left my 1911 sitting in a foam-lined vault for a bit too long, and it made some trips in and out of the truck and house in all kinds of weather. A bit of moisture must have been retained in the foam, and some freckling/discoloration started. I nabbed it in time (rub the snot out of it with a terry washcloth), but it's something to be aware of.

Lesson, gunnies: MAINTAIN YOUR FIREARMS.

An Appleseed Weekend

As I mentioned in Friday's post, we were doing the Appleseed thing this weekend. We made it out the door roughly on schedule and had things set up in good time when we arrived. The range was already set up and ready to go, so we simply popped up the canopy near the firing line and then set our tent up near our host's house. Other instructors were arriving at the same time along with a couple shooters, so there was chatter and some planning, and just good times.

Sleeping in a tent puts you back in touch with the world. I tend to forget how insulated we are living in a house. We fell asleep to the sound of peepers, bullfrogs, and the occasional quiet moo from the pasture across the road.

We woke up at early-dark-thirty to the distinctive screaming whine of a pack of rice rockets tearing up the highway nearby. In a valley, so the noise started early and lasted a long time. Rolled over and went back to sleep...

... and woke up around 6:30 as it really got light out. Rolled out, dressed, joined our hosts and other instructors for breakfast and coffee, then moved up the hill to the range to greet the shooters and get things rolling. A good mix of new and repeat Appleseeders, along with at least a few very new shooters. (One step past, "Wait, which end goes bang?") Nice mix of equipment as well; mostly 10/22s of various flavors, a few ARs, and one fellow (a repeat from last year) shooting a Remington 700 in .270.

Saturday, all work was at 25m, and we ground the basics into our shooters. Six steps, NPOA, getting sights and scopes zeroed, and a good dose of history from 4/19/1775. Managed to squeeze in a couple AQTs before the end of the day, and punched out two Riflemen with them. Weather was perfect all day even though storms had been forecast - and just as we closed things down, the skies darkened, the wind picked up, and it started to sprinkle on and off. A pretty good storm moved down the valley with some impressive fireworks as the instructors enjoyed dinner courtesy of our host (an instructor) and his wife. MrsZ and I moved out to the tent around 9:30 or 10:00 and listened to the rain patter gently and watched the sky flash as the valley rumbled. Something about storms in a tent...

Woke up Sunday around 5 for natural reasons. Took care of that and noted that the entire valley was in thick fog. Went back to sleep for another hour and a half, and when I woke up, it was still a soft gray world of ghostly shapes. Our tent was perhaps 200yd from the firing line and canopies - and those were invisible. An apple tree 100yd up the field from us was a mere suggestion of shape. Not ideal shooting weather... but we went in for breakfast and coffee, and ignored the weather.

It cleared as we ate, and ended up being another beautiful sunny day. Fewer shooters, but all motivated, and cranked out three more Riflemen. Following that, we went to full-distance shooting. Stretched out the .22 shooters to 100yd, and the centerfires to 200, 275, and 500yd. The .22 shooters were turning in respectable groups on the 100m target, scaled equivalent to shooting 400m. A few were making good shots on the (scaled) 800m and 1200m targets. Impressive, to say the least.

Centerfires were playing with a 6" popper at 200yd, a full-size Army "D" target at 275, and a steel copy of an IDPA silhouette at 500yd. I watched one of our IITs, an outstanding young man at 14yo, get prone behind his father's CMP Garand and start making solid hits - consistently - on the 500yd target. Prone, unsupported, iron sights, with surplus ball ammo. The M1 Garand: The finest battle implement ever devised. (Gen. George Patton) MrsZ slung up with my AR and got it dialed in for the 275yd D-target and made some good hits; a few other shooters ran a half-mag through and did OK with it.

We made the official end of the day at that point, but there was more fun to be had... two folks had brought out .50BMG single-shots, and there was a small supply of Tannerite. The Tannerite was mixed and put out at about 100yd in three .5L water bottles. The centerfire shooters were split into three fire teams and given one minute to hit their assigned bottle. I claimed privilege on this and jumped on a fire team instead of watching. Slung up sitting so I could see over the grass, loaded a mag, and the third shot connected perfectly. Yeah, that was cool... the sound effect was *crack* pause *crack* pause *craBOOM!* "BOOOYAHHHHH!" (with fist-pump for effect)

After we finished the Tannerite, the .50s came into play. The owners did a simultaneous volley on the 500yd target (with two good hits), then let those who wanted to have a go at it. I had shot one last year so declined - they're cool but I don't want to burn someone else's money and generosity for no reason. MrsZ took a turn at one though - and the look on her face after was freaking priceless.

Took down the range, packed the truck, and headed home - sore, sunburned, dehydrated, hoarse, and happy. This morning we slept in a little bit, then after showers we got around to cleaning rifles. Her 10/22 was desperate for it, and now MrsZ knows how to strip and clean her rifle. We did this outside because it was nice out. I cleaned my AR at the same time. While cleaning the barrel and chamber, I had set the BCG on a towel on the sidewalk. In the sun. After cleaning the barrel/chamber/receiver to my minimum standard, I picked up the BCG to start cleaning that... and promptly burned my finger. Not much, just enough to turn red and hurt a little. I don't know how our men and women in the sandbox deal with that - I presume they must wear gloves.