Gun-a-Day 45: My Valentine Rifle, the MLR-1722 (.17HM2)

I used more than one of the projected sight pictures to target the 6-inch Shoot-n-C circle came to the conclusion that I’m going to end up changing to another sighting rig on this rifle.

The Browning red-dot is great for what it is, but after finding out how accurate this gun/ammo combination can actually be, I want to see more and see better when aiming and firing it.

I’d mistakenly thought that the red-dot’s smaller circle image would frame the target shape for better center-point consistency, but the scale isn’t quite right.

A magnified optic is going to be necessary. The aesthetics are going to be a big hurdle to jump. This sleek, light rifle deserves complementary accessories.

Until then, I can keep practicing two-eyed sighting. And, boy, do I need the practice …

Starting on center-red, I checked the results after the first 10 shots and found that they were grouping on the high-left edge of the target circle. The rest of the shots were aimed at the 4 o’clock and 5 o’clock positions on the lower right edge. The grouping is nothing special, but it does confirm again that the rifle works (and the sight is good enough for what it is but not quite suited to the .17HM2’s potential).

That’s good to know after all this frustration with accuracy and aiming.

What a beautiful morning (the whole day)! The crisp air and raking breeze blusters made the light dance along the firing line, and the temperature brought out the best of the post-downpour, pre-spring smells of earth and moss and pines and dead oak leaves.

My shot o’the day is a tangible sign that I receive much more grace and mercy and plain-ol’lovingkindness than I deserve.

While waiting for a time-lapse upload to finish today, I decided to warm up with a few shots at a high-caliber spinner target of thick steel. It did not at all occur to me that its location and angle in relation to the angle and location of my time-lapse rig put my phone in harm’s way from fragmentation and ricochet.

But it did.

And I found that out when I came back to the target line and found that my screen protector had taken two hits. Of course, on first glance it looked like the glass itself had been smashed.

What a relief to see that even the scuffs wiped off!

Like I say: I’m a regular target of God’s grace, and I get hit with it very often– always a bull’s eye.

Happy Valentine’s to me, for sure.

Gun-a-Day 43: Minimums from the Magnum (.17HM2, MLR-1722)

“The inherently accurate .17HM2.”

Not just accurate … inherently accurate. That’s the way I’ve seen this cartridge described in article after article and advertisement after advertisement.

Alright already! I get it!

And yet.

Evidently, I don’t. Not really.

Not today anyway.

I’m in a serious state of “I believe, but help me in my unbelief”-ism as far as things have been going with these Hornady Vmax .17-caliber bullets with Eley primers.

Today’s mission was to put 20 rounds on each of three 2-inch Shoot-n-C targets from 50 yards away.  I really should have remembered to take the binoculars out with me …

By the time 80 (eighty!) shots had been fired (and at least 15 stovepipes had been cleared), I had one (yes, 1!) hit on one of the targets.  That’s, for lack of anything close to better, the shot o’the day, but I didn’t even have the energy to take a separate picture of it, so it’s just in the time-lapse …

Good grief!

And this is from the gun I thought I’d sighted in yesterday.

Today’s main lesson is to more carefully avoid over-estimating my prospects of success on the second day of practice with any gun, especially this Ruger 10/22 adaptation.

Now, all I can do is hope that tomorrow’s target practice will be the today I was hoping for yesterday. Or something like that …

And the moral of today’s story is, to paraphrase an old, hunter’s proverb: Sometimes you shoot the heart out of a target, and sometimes the target tears the heart right out of you.

I had a hard time even getting the pictures together, but there are gonna be days like this. I tried to do my best, and my best didn’t turn out too great.

And that’s the way it was: February 12th, 2011. Good night.

Gun-a-Day 41: Seeing a Sweet 16 w/My G19C

On a whim, I decided to make it a one magazine day — plus one in the chamber. With 16 shots to spend, I set up a sheet of Birchwood-Casey paper and my time-lapse rig and went to work from my increasingly well-worn and cartridge-covered position out beyond the 20-foot line.

I keep forgetting to pause longer between shots to allow more time for the camera, but I liked the results just fine even though they went off pretty quickly. But the pictures do show that my first two shots shared part of the same hole, and I’m very glad to see that the practice IS producing improvement.

By actual width, the total spread is smaller than the 9-ring and all shots are 8s or better. The LaserMax light was plain to see today, so those old batteries are still cookin’ after all.

I may have to watch this video a few times to get the most out of the sight of one of my best ever center-of-center shots. That is definitely shot o’the day, and it may rank as shot o’the week and/or month …

This practice session was fun, fast and fulfilling. Just the right way to wrap up my Glock week and turn my attention to another “thunder-stick.”

For what it’s worth, this is the first post that I’ve developed and completed using only my iPhone and the WordPress app. The video upload didn’t take for some reason, so I grabbed the URL from my YouTube channel (onegunadayguy) and sent the whole post out into the digi-world.

Gun-a-Day 40: The Fearsome Glock’L’Max is Spotted in Broad Daylight

I guess 40 consecutive days of shooting is some kind of milestone, and I feel very blessed to have gotten this far into this project. Here’s to the hope for at least 325 more days’ worth. Dei gratia & Dei volente

My goal today was to test the laser in the light of day (albeit in a mostly shady spot), and the mission produced good intel. The first magazine was emptied with laser targeting, but when I reloaded I couldn’t relocate the red beam and spent the last 15 rounds with regular sighting. This loss of signal could be (probably is?) a function of old batteries about to go out after an impressively long tour of duty, or the sun could have just been too bright for my eyes (not as good as they used to be) to distinguish the red dot and black target field from the red light … or both.

Either way, the record now includes another 25×25 and “7’s or Better” session, and I got to try out a new set-up with the camera. I like the proximity very much, but the target hits are mostly too hard to see in the shade from the morning light. The new particle board target back worked well enough that I’ll use it every day until there’s not enough left to hold the paper.

I’m glad the time lapse caught some of the flying debris. Those cedar trunks are getting chewed up pretty heavily, but they are doing good work with no pass-throughs.

Shot o’the Day is of the gear I use to make time lapse videos with my iPhone 4.

First and foremost: the app is iTimeLapse, and if I can make it work with only user-image issues and edit-errors left over after just a couple of tries, then it can be used to good effect by almost anyone.

Also important is The Glif. My web-biz partner came across this at kickstarter.com while it was still in design/development/pre-production, and we got our orders in “on the ground floor.” We both like the simplicity and versatility, and I’ve used it like crazy with the tripod screw mount.

Lately, my stand-of-choice is this mini UltraPod rig that I got from an Eddie Bauer outlet store years ago. The position-control is very, very adaptable, and the lock-down is solid. It balances well and supports/distributes weight well.

The top section of this slide-on iPhone cover by Great Shield allows me to use the Glif and helps me pretend that I’m “protecting” my little “golden Apple-item” from possible debris and fragment damage– at least over most of the phone’s surface. The lower section doesn’t quite fit the Glif, and I don’t want to stress/stretch that little gadget out of shape.

All told, this set up costs about $35 today (that’s less than I spent), and it’s about as crucial to the Gun-a-Day blog as the guns and ammo themselves.

Gun-a-Day 39: Beware the One-Eyed Glock’L’Max!

Before buying my Glock 9mm, I decided that it needed to be equipped with a guide-rod-installed LaserMax sighting system in order to be complete.

Today’s shooting session was fresh proof of the wisdom of that decision (hey, my good choices come few and far between, so I have to celebrate the lonely little fellas on those rare occasions when they happen).

The LaserMax homepage recommends annual battery replacements, but I have to admit that I haven’t changed the batteries since the day I put it in– that’s at least eight years, and I think it’s more like 10+ (I’ll have to dig out the receipts and double-check the dates). Pretty impressive lithium-life.

Today’s shots o’the day are seen in the time-lapse. That’s a big, ragged hole next to center-red, and that’s where the bullets went when I open-eyes-fired with the laser on the bullseye. No squinting, no long-arming, no rigid positioning– just a sideways stance and a firm hold and an effort to squeeze and not jerk the trigger.

There were no Brown Bear jams or misfeeds, and I think the four or five shots farthest from center were all due to user-aim issues. I noticed that I was pulling a bit on a few …

Just when I thought maybe my tests were becoming redundant and the the Glock was about ready to be rotated out for practice time with another gunI get this result and see that the pistol and the laser work, and they work well when I give them half a chance. There’s more to do and more to learn here, for sure.

It’s obvious that I’m going to have to get a real and reliable target support system in place. There’s been way too much jumping around in the past few days while I’ve been scrounging to scrap together backing boards.

The angle is not great on this video, so the full-screen view really helps.

With shots like these today, I am very interested to see if I can do better tomorrow … and to see how well the laser does in daylight down my shade-covered firing lane.

I’d love to find out that I can improve to the point of consistently hitting inside the 8-rings at 20+ feet away in a one-handed, right-shoulder-forward stance.

Gun-a-Day 30: TO3-78, .22LR, Bolt Action, Simmons 4×32 scope, prone at 50 yards

Today’s Mission? Prone shooting, part II (just when I thought it was safe to enjoy another perfectly mild, breezy, and sunny day).

The potential for redundant self-indulgence was pretty serious, since the plan for iron-sight shooting turned, at the last minute, into another practice round with the scope. But it turns out that I learned some very good things that I might not have otherwise. I also found from the pictures that I had some very tight shot pairs in the process (interested parties may refer to shots 12 & 13 and 14 & 15 in the time-lapse– the first two touch over another hole, and the second pair are almost single-holers at 3 o’clock on the target edge).  No doubt there’s a bit of good fortune involved in those shots, but they did happen, and this gun is taking on legendary and heroic proportions in my mind …

Today’s Documentation? The “gallery “picture” is the time-lapse video (in part ’cause I just found out that my Flickr account is getting overloaded … I’m running out of free storage space) which includes the rifle on the shooting mat at the end.

Today’s Recognition? Did I say shooting mat? Actually, in classic, Gun-a-Day cheapskate style, that black throw is a barbecue grill pad that I got on clearance. It works great, with its plasticized pad, as both a ground cloth and as an indoor gun-cleaning catch-all-base. No stains on carpets or tables …

But enough about a stupid piece of black synthetic fabric! What a hoot today’s shoot was! The rimfires were poppin’ and flyin’ with wild, blustery, ballistic abandon. How great is it to be able to post another 50 for 50 round? Pretty great.

Today’s Lesson? I do much better with smaller targets! Counter-intuitive but true. This is the tightest total group I’ve ever shot at 50 yards (or any other distance to the best of my knowledge), and I’m pretty sure I owe most of the credit to the pizza-box cardboard insert and the 2-inch Shoot-n-C target for helping me concentrate and center better than ever.

I may only use the 6-inchers for 100 yard-plus shooting from now on. This is definitely my new strategy for 50-yard targeting.

Shot o’the Day is the “one that almost got away” out where the target was held in place. I’m really happy with how compact this total group is, and the “flier” is the exception that proves the point.

Today’s Observation? Not so significant, but genuinely interesting to me: these cheapo, bent-aluminum/steel (?) yard sign holders are tough. The shot that turned the target and tore a big chunk out of it actually hit the pressure-pinch circle, and the wiry, stubborn, little widget didn’t do much more than turn in place.

In fact, it seems to have dropped the bullet dead in its path. I think I found it after the session (seen on the right in the target close-up). Sure does fit like a glove in the cardboard indentation and tear. The major deformation leaves it as a kind of “smear” of lead. It got the worst end of that confrontation.

I probably shouldn’t have been surprised to find that my collarbone was still tender from a couple of days ago. Now it’s even more so, but I just look at the target grouping, and the pain fades into the background … The wooden butt-plate may get a small recoil-reducing slip-cover sometime this year, though. Just for extra length of pull, of course!

Today’s Resolution? The scope issue is completely settled in my mind. This rifle deserves the best glass I can put it. It won’t be the best there is (can’t afford that, I’m sure), but I do intend to upgrade the optics on this pretty-doggone-near-to-a-tack-driving firearm. I feel like I’m obliged to ol’Tozzy …

Tomorrow: iron sights … no, really!

Gun-a-Day 28: TO3-78, .22LR, 4×32 Simmons scope, prone position at 50 yards

Lay-flat shooting is new for me, and it gave the perfect excuse for another session spent with this little Russian beauty. I’m not sure exactly why I haven’t done much of it (other than the need to think through what I might use for a ground mat and how to avoid getting myself and my gear all grungy, but I was happy to realize that this rifle and this breezy-cool, sunny-sky-warm day was the perfect combination for a Gun-a-Day exercise. At first, I found some unexpected challenges with “shouldering” the rifle from flat out on my stomach. I must have very pronounced collarbones or something, because I couldn’t find a spot for the wooden butt-plate to stabilize without it bothering me. I probably didn’t have a quality hold on the gun, but that is another good reason for continued practice. Maybe an elbows-to-knees seated position would be a good mission for tomorrow. Just about any excuse will do to keep me operating this piece of equipment.

That relatively small discomfort in no way minimized my enjoyment of another opportunity to test this gun and to be tested by it. I was getting tired and a bit stiff by the end. My admiration is deep and wide for battlefield soldiers who have had to ignore such aches and pains while fighting for their lives and my/our freedom. Respect.

My fascination and infatuation with this rifle continue to deepen with every multi-magazine target session. The time-lapse video shows that my first three shots were a nice little group, and the rest of the shots were spread a bit, but the overall results were very encouraging for a first-time, ground-pounding lead-toss. Today’s session was also about learning more about doing time-lapse photography. I positioned my iPhone closer than ever on the Owle Bubo rig, and the results are much more satisfying than the previous attempts. So far, there has been no problem of any kind with debris or bullet deflection. I don’t yet have the confidence to put it this close with anything but .22-caliber rounds in play.

I need to take a moment in the middle of all this to express my gratitude to God for His blessing in my life and on my family. We are so, so grateful for the privilege of owning this property. We’ve worked very hard, and some people have much more to show after 25+ years, but we love our little wedge of acreage, and we feel God’s mercy, favor, and kindness every day we are here.

Like no other place we’ve ever been, our home and woods and meadow and pond and gardens provide such a sense of peace and satisfaction that we have an almost unlimited source of inspiration each day for living out the wisdom of Psalm 92:2, which advocates the practicality and propriety of “declaring His love in the morning and His faithfulness at night.” What a humbling, exciting, fulfilling thing it is to be the undeserving recipients of God’s overflowing generosity.

Shot o’the day is, once again, the one that got away. Down below the 5 o’clock spot, a single, small hole is left from the shot which went downrange just as my throat caught in mid-swallow and caused me to shift my position to head off a cough. I’d let a bit too much creep into the trigger, and I said, “Oh, that’s not good,” as soon as the firing pin did its duty. It’s disappointing to not reach my goal of three straight “50 out of 50” days, but I should just be glad it’s on the board at all. All of this has me in a bit of a dilemma– caught between two ideas which both make good sense to me. The first is that I should never do anything to mess this system up by messing with the optics or anything else. If it is this accurate, I should leave well enough alone. The second idea is very compelling, though. I’m really wondering what 3-9×40 glass would make possible on this rifle. I’m beginning to think that similar accuracy at 100 yards is very possible, and my eyes just aren’t clear enough to see the center ring from that distance on just 4x magnification. I’m not going to rush into anything, but there’s a chance that a few days of Gun-a-Day work, later in the year, may be spent sighting in a different scope. It already sounds like great gun-fun.

On another note: if there is a person out in the big wide world who is more of a cheapskate shooter than I am, I would definitely like to meet him or her, because I’d like to learn a few tricks from them that I could put to use. Until then, though, there is no one in my circle of life who even comes close to operating on the shoe-string budget and scrap-management target-design “plan” that I follow, and I’d be glad to know if there are ways to cut the budget even more to the bone. I don’t even have the decency to be embarrassed by my fun-with-stickers target for the day.

As an example, I’m glad I finally realized that I don’t have to just throw away the target borders from the Shoot-n-C sheets. Not only can the unused pasters become target pieces on their own, it’s nice when they’re  surrounded by the yellow sheet-edge on a target sheet. I’m out of the 6-inch targets now, but I think these leftovers will do just fine for a while. After that, I might just start pulling out those plastic Pepsi bottles I’ve been saving up. The logo make a great little center ring …

There’s no risk of my work being mistaken for a professional endeavor, though, that’s for sure, but I am just as surely enjoying it all as great educational fun …

Gun-a-Day 22: Kimber Ultra RCP II, .45ACP, slide-top groove-rail sight, Episode VI (Return of the Wannabe-Dead-Eye)

The good news is that the total group is much more tightly bunched this time, and there’s even hit on that snobby little center-red dot (that’ll teach ‘im), and there are at least 11 shots on the target. I guess that means that there’s not any real bad news, but I sure would like to see all of the holes on the target sometime …

That 7 + 1 start was instructive. Having developed the habit of starting empty, I pulled the first slide after counting seven shots. As it dawned on me that a round was chambered, I realized that this could be a good idea in a competition (or, more significantly, threat-to-life) situation. If  I remember to pull the clip after 7, then there is no re-racking needed for the new magazine. The eighth round keeps the semi-auto action going. 

I “loves me” some target practice, and I got to wondering today about the Luvs diaper box I’ve been shooting at all week. I’ve just about used up all of the usefully-sized scrap and storage boxes around the house, so I set out to see how many days I could get from this one. Seemingly, it’s got a long history already? How many years has that thing “been in the family,” I wonder? Both of our daughters are in college, so if we bought in bulk and used the cube for storage (“FINANCES” is what is says on the flap), then it might be 15 or 16 years old … maybe we just got it from a store’s pitch pile for our last big move. That would still be almost eight.

Never let it be said that we don’t like being environmentally-conscious here at the Gun-a-Day Show. In addition to collecting about half a pound of spent lead after firing and photographing was done, this box still has puposes to serve. By the time this now-heavily-perforated container ends up as fire-starter down in the bonfire pit below the pond, it will have been “recycled” for multiple uses at least eight or nine times and will have lasted for a good 15 years or more. Not bad for a stretch of corrugated pulp and binding agents which may have started out in the first place being made from recovered materials.

Shot o’the Day 22: my “don’t try this at home, even though I’m no expert, so why should I have tried it or be presuming to tell anyone else not to” picture. I have not been satisfied with the time-lapse shots I’ve attempted so far, so, in the spirit of “No Try, Only Do-ism,” I chose to put my iPhone 4 just outside the line of fire and up-close-and-personal to the target. With a small section of railroad tie as a guard for the camera set-up, I pretended that everything would be fine and any deflections or shrapnel or wood chunks would not damage it as long as I wrapped a padded belt-bag around the smartphone’s body and left only the lens exposed. This “Bubo” rig by Owle for my iPhone 4 includes a macro lens for full depth of view pictures and video, and I want to learn how to use it to shoot better pictures at least as much as I want to learn how to use the Kimber to shoot better target groups.

As it turns out, everything was fine. There were lots of wood chunks flying though. If I’ve done things right, the video should also be embedded here. If not, then please just take my word that it wasn’t just a “Try.” I “Do’ed” it, but it didn’t turn out well enough to use … (looks like the video [really a time-lapsed string of photos] works).

Wow. So it turns out that my one center-hit was the first shot. That seems like a very good thing, but it also feels to me like that makes the rest of the shots a bit more disappointing … the “dead-eye” thing may be right, but the rest of the body may not be in sync …