Shooting mat on a budget

I had been looking at the shooting mats offered online, but no way was I going to pay $80 to get one.  Instead I found a camo moving blanket on EBay for $20.  It is 72x80 inches, doubled over it's pretty soft.  Does the trick, and multi-tasks as a moving blanket!

Something to think about

According to the US Census, the US Population for April 1, 2010 was 308,745,538 people (that is men, women, children, elderly, everyone).  The NRA states the number of gun owners in the US is 80,000,000 people. 

Therefore:

25.9% of the people in the US are gun owners.

1 in 4 people own a firearm.  These people by and large are responsible gun owners.  They spend money on firearms and related items; thus supporting the people who are in the business of providing those items...this is good for the economy.  They stand up to protect their family and neighbors, and if the need arises, their country.  I will do so myself, should the need arise.


Those who wish to ban guns need to remember these points:

*Making firearms illegal will not disarm criminals.  Marijuana is still available in every city of this country, and it's illegal.
*Murder is illegal, yet people still kill.
*Banning firearms will result in: a loss of US jobs (a blow which should never be willingly brought upon a people), and a loss in the ability for people to defend themselves and their family.
*When 1 in 4 people own a firearm, surely this is something that is important to many people, if your not one of them, fine, but don't tell other people how to live.

Improving Accuracy - The 1/2 second after you pull the trigger analysis

I ride motorcycles, and something I say a lot, is that I'm not capable of using that machine to it's fullest potential.  Every time I ride, is a learning experience, and I do get better year over year.  I see this is the case with my rifles as well.  Before I purchased my first rifle, I figured shooting single hole groups would be a breeze.  Little did I know, that in reality, there are so many factors that go into precision shooting, that I would become obsessed with the one thing I thought would be so easy.  We are misguided by TV and movies into thinking shooting is easy and accurate.

I suspect a lot of people try to downplay their role in shooting accurately, especially when I hear things like "it's cheap ammo, it's the wind, that [insert firearm in question] is for hunting not target shooting, or it's a cheap rifle."  I'd be willing to argue that for the vast majority of us, it is in fact our technique that is the cause of our lack of precision.

On my last outing to the range, I focused on body positioning, and it's effects.  Just a simple change to the location of my elbow on the bench had an effect on my groups.  Something I have neglected to pay attention to (and I suspect most of us do the same), is to examine how our rifle has moved AFTER the shot has been fired.  Is the rifle always moving the same way?  I think this analysis is the key to improving our groupings.

I noticed that placing my elbow further outward on the bench resulted in less sideways motion of the rifle after the shot.  I believe that this change in position allowed the rifle to move more directly rearward, as opposed to being pivoted to the side, as my arm/elbow acted as a lever.

I often hear people blaming stray shots to the right (I am right handed) as being a trigger control issue (ie jerking the trigger), but I know in my case this is not the cause.  I'm extremely careful to use pressure to gently squeeze the trigger back, and during dry firing, my rifle does not move a peep during this process.  Examining the effect of recoil (even the small recoil of the 22LR) I began to see how my arm pivoting at the elbow would absolutely cause the movement in the barrel that cause these 'off to the right' shots.  I feel like I learned something very important this last time out to the range.

I'd like to thank Germán Salazar over at 'The Rifleman's Journal' for his advice recently.  http://riflemansjournal.blogspot.com/  His advice prompted me to examine my body and it's effect on the rifle, beyond the trigger control and controlled breathing techniques.

Sons of Guns

If you haven't checked out 'Sons of Guns' on the Discovery Channel, I highly recommend it!  It's enjoyable, the people on the show have an interesting set of personalities, and there is plenty of shooting! 

I'm particularly happy with the success this show has been having.  It's nice to see shooting and firearms portrayed in a positive light, and given the popularity of the show, it's encouraging that the general public has taken an interest.  Perhaps this will bring more understanding, and even positive interest from the non-gun community.

9pm July 13th (Wednesday) is the first episode of the new season, check it out!

Operation "Fast and Furious" - our response as outraged citizens

Please read this information provided by the NRA.  https://www.nra.org/fireholder/Background.aspx

Also, if you are not a member of the NRA, or if you know someone who believes in our 2nd amendment rights, but is not an NRA member, please join!  http://membership.nrahq.org/

The NRA fights for our rights every day, and I support their efforts through my membership, and by spreading the word about responsible gun ownership!

I also think it's important to keep in mind that the media loves bad news, and gun related violence makes for big headlines. However, they don't report on the good news...all of the situations where responsible gun owners were able to defend themselves, instead of becoming victims / injured victims / dead victims.  Every month I read in American Rifleman stories about people who are alive today because of the legal guns they had to defend themselves.

The .308 Winchester kicks like a mule

So anticipating what amounts to someone kicking me in the shoulder every time I pull the trigger, shooting the .308 Winchester gets me down....cause it makes me look like a bad shot.  :(

(This is a composite of 3 separate days of shooting the 308, the shots in yellow are from today...easily a dead dear...but nowhere near competition shooting)

The funny thing is (and probably quite revealing), back during the winter, my 308 groups were substantially better...probably due to all the padding I had with the winter jacket, and sweater.

Time to man up, and shoot that bad boy until I'm not skittish about pulling the trigger...and maybe I'll start shooting the 308 like I do the 17.


Now my shooting with the 17HMR....pretty good today.

At 100 yards, 4 of the 5 shots in this group were smaller than my thumbnail....I can't argue with that.  Even this group was pretty good...

Another new target

Sometimes 4 targets per page isn't enough...so here are 9!  Enjoy!

The target may be downloaded in PDF form from here: TargetV4d.pdf

Don't shoot me, but I want an AK47

There is a guy at the range who shoots an AK47 all the time, and the more I see and hear that rifle, the more I like it.  I like the wood, and I like the way the front end of the rifle looks.  It's growing on me...time to save up some pennies....

17HMR Shooting and Split Cases

I spent some extended time at the range yesterday with the Savage 17HMR.  It was nice to have some extra time to chat with the other guys at the range, and to take my time working on aim and breathing. This was my best group of the day (50 yards 5 rounds, white circle is 1" across):

 I also noticed while picking up my brass, that I had quite a few split where the case necks-down.  Being a bolt action rifle I'm not worried about it, but if I had a semiauto it would be concerning. 8 rounds out of 50 had split, with this one being the worst.

I did some searching online about this issue, and this was the response one individual had received from Hornady (the ammo I use) "The 17 HMR cases may crack because of the annealing process when they are made. The annealing process is what makes the material brittle or flexible depending on the length of time and degree of the process. This is a precise procedure with any other case that can be reloaded, as we want the case to be hard enough to do the job but soft enough to stand up to several reloads. The 17 HMR case is dispensable and can not be reloaded, therefore the annealing procedure isn't quite as strict as with other cases. When the case cracks, it's because the neck was annealed a little harder than it needed to be, making it more brittle. This does not affect the accuracy or performance of the ammunition. Normally, the fired case will eject the same as any other, and unless they are picked up later, the shooter may never even know they had a case with a split neck. We would prefer that none of the cases split, (and the majority of them don't), but it seems redundant to spend the time and money on perfecting the case when it isn't practical or necessary. Our lab has evaluated cases with cracked necks, and the powder is fine, the case necks are just more brittle."

AR15 range time (testing the extended stock length)

The extra 1.25 inches of length fixed my eye relief problem with the scope, and today's shooting was quite good...for me. (See this post regarding the stock length http://ar15shooter.blogspot.com/2011/06/additional-eye-relief.html )  Shooting was at 50 Yards with a front rest.  Overall it was an enjoyable time out...and more relaxing than usual, thanks to the tighter groups.