Notes from the Low Country

[allen-1]

Mon 04/06/220

Yeah, about those "ghost guns"...

This is Shawn, he's a friend of mine who lives down the street. That's a not quite completed SCAR17 lower in his hand that he milled out of a block of aluminum. A "0%" firearm...

 

[allen-1]

Mon 04/06/2020

Shelter in place and social distancing means no gym for my son, and no pool for any of us. Summer in GA is hot, and we've got three grandchildren living with us.

So, this past weekend's projects:

 

[allen-1]

Guns and ammo have been in somewhat short supply down here. No personal shortage - I have all the guns I want (for right now), and I have plenty of ammo, (I'm reloading the stuff I shoot the most of) - but the shelves and walls of the local gun shops are pretty bare.

Email this morning from one of the shops I frequent:

Got an email this morning from one of my local gun shops.

Good news for those of you who qualify to purchase GLOCK handguns through the GLOCK Blue Label Program: Law Enforcement, Military, Fire and First Responders. Our Blue Label distributor has just received a shipment from GLOCK and we have contracted for 10 GLOCK 19 GEN5, 10 GLOCK 43X and 4 GLOCK 43 Handguns which should be at the store no later than Monday, and possibly by Friday this week.

If you want one of these firearms, stop by the store, call us or send an Email to {redacted}. Five of the guns in this shipment have already been sold and I expect them all to be gone shortly after they arrive. My distributor has promised to keep us supplied provided that GLOCK now follows through and supplies them regularly, which has not been the case this past month or so.

As we indicated in our last POS Email, the FBI is finally making inroads in the backlog of background checks that have been delayed over the past few weeks. The date of maximum delay has been extended to April 30th. If you completed a Form 4473 at the store for the purchase and/or transfer of a firearm, and were notified that there was a delay in processing, please do not call the store. We check the FBI NICS computer multiple times each day and we will notify you as soon as we have a decision on your background check. Again, please do not call the store - we will notify you as soon as we receive the result of your background check.

We are receiving shipments from our distributors that have been in process and we are continuing to place orders for product as it becomes available. We received several shipments today and logged over twenty guns into inventory: More Sig P365 XL's an S&W 686 DeLuxe, Ruger LCR's in three different models and a couple of Ruger 10/22 Take Down rifles among them.

While Commercial GLOCK pistols are in very short supply, we now have a good supply of SIG P365 XL's in stock with another dozen in two more orders somewhere in the supply chain. The same with S&W Shield 380's and 9 EZ's, S&W J Frame Revolvers and Ruger LCR's.

Ammunition continues in short supply and we are totally out of most popular calibers. We are expecting some ammunition ordered several weeks ago to start arriving by the end of this week. We will send out another POS Email when it arrives so that our existing customers will have the earliest and first opportunity to resupply.

 

[Salty Veteran]

Where you guys all living? I'm in Charleston, SC.

 

[allen-1]

Where you guys all living? I'm in Charleston, SC.

Bryan County, Georgia; just outside of Savannah.

 

[allen-1]

Mon 04/27/2020

With my son staying home on weekends, we're getting a lot more done around the house. A couple of weekends ago, we widened the driveway by five feet. It took (65) 80 lb bags of concrete, and somehow they've gotten a lot heavier since the last time I picked up one.

We borrowed a friend's mixer, which made it a lot easier - but before we could use it - I had to fix it. We were ready to pour the first bag into it, turned it on and it just "hummed". Motor was seized. It's nice to have tools; took it apart, greased it and put it back together.

 

[allen-1]

Mon 04/27/20

I have a couple of Browning Buckmarks. I took them to the range the other day along with a couple other guns. Good thing I took the other guns, because neither of the Buckmarks would fire. I knew I had a problem with one of them, the firing pin's been marginal - and it won't fire most of the .22 ammo I have. The other was a shock - the slide wouldn't retract.

So, I took it apart. The slide itself wasn't gunked up, the channel for the recoil spring was clear, so I took it all the way apart. Which turned out to be a little scary, there are a bunch of parts. I found a really good reference page -http://guns.dsttr.com/BuckmarkReassembly.html Cleaned everything, lubed everything that needed it, put it back together and much to my delight (and somewhat surprise), it ran fine when I took it back to the range yesterday.

Took the other one apart, and yeah - the firing pin's definitely the issue. Unfortunately, it's a Pre-2001 model and the spare firing pin I have is for Post-2000 models. I tried my usual sources, Numrich and Brownells - and neither of them have the older pin in stock. Did some googling and turns out that almost nobody carries the older firing pin - except for Striplin Custom GunWorks. They make the firing pin - so I ordered (3) of them. One for the gun, two for the spare parts box.

 

[Wrench75]

Where you guys all living? I'm in Charleston, SC.

Clover SC. Just south of King's Mtn. ~40 min from Charlotte.

Howland is further west out near Greenville IIRC.

 

[allen-1]

Mon 05/04/20

I took the Buckmark to the range this weekend, wanted to see if it was still okay after sitting for a week - and it was. I put about 50 rounds through it, which was fun. I haven't really shot much .22 in a while - and I forget how much fun it is. Which is the good news.

Of course there's bad news. The firing pin came in for the other Buckmark so I reassembled it. Well - "tried to reassemble it" would be more accurate. Since I don't have three hands, I put the slide in the vice. Put the spring in, put the firing pin in, went to tap in the rollpin that secures the pin - and SPROING.

I found the firing pin. The firing pin spring was nowhere to be found. And NOBODY sells them any more. Ended up talking to Browning tech support - and the best they could do was sell me an upgraded slide - for 1/2 price - which is actually nice.

So I've got a slide coming. This one uses the new firing pin and has an insert. So the old one goes into the parts box...

 

[allen-1]

Tue 05/05/2020

I've got an upgraded slide for the Browning Buckmark on its way, should be here next week. So the Buckmark's sitting on the benches in pieces.

I took one of my AR's apart so that I could swap out the lower. I engraved a lower and I had it cerakoted a while ago, it's been sitting in my safe. So I disassembled the lower for my 3gun AR, and started assembling this one.

And that fcking spring for the rear takedown pin went SPROING. Just like the Buckmark firing pin spring.

The difference is that I have spare parts for my AR's - including the springs and those stupid little pins that fly everywhere.

Before I dug into the spares box - I figured I'd take a look for it. I didn't find it; but I did find the Buckmark firing pin spring.

So, I took a spring for the AR out of the parts box, finished assembling it. Then assembled the Buckmark.

Took both of them to the range this morning and they both run fine.

 

[allen-1]

Went to the range yesterday, needed some "live fire" instead of "dry fire".




This is a variant of a Steve Anderson drill. Using my Glock 34, I put four mags on my belt and a fifth in the gun, each loaded with five rounds. Started to the right of the left barrel, drew, fired at the steel on the right. If I hit it, I moved to the left of the right barrel, fairly quickly, then fired at the steel on the left. If I hit it, I moved again.

So, I was moving back and forth between the barrels, firing at the steel on the diagonal. Each time I hit, I moved. When I missed I stopped, re-holstered and tried again. The best I managed to do yesterday was 22 hits in a row. The worst was zero - I drew, fired and missed.

It's a good drill for USPSA. It forces you to move, re-acquire and shoot accurately. The standard drill is run with full magazines. I changed that yesterday so that I could practice reloads also.

It's easy to set up, all you need is two steels and either two barrels, boxes or sticks to set your shooting positions. And it's a lot harder than it looks.

 

[allen-1]

Fri 05/15/20

Took this picture the other morning. Richard and David making more tactical bays for us.

We have five existing, they're putting two more next to them. These are the bays we use for our matches, and are used by the rest of the membership when we're not running a match.

Then we have five new ones up at the other end of the range, they're hydroseeded, not quite ready for use yet. They're primarily so that club members will have tactical pits while we're running matches.

 

[allen-1]

Fri 05/15/20

Took my extra killy AR-22 to the range the other morning - because - because I haven't shot it in probably a year. It just sits in the back of the gun safe.

Extra killy because it's a GHOST GUN. Oh nooos... Boo!


22's are FUN.

 

[allen-1]

05/15/20 Friday

And in the spirit of 22's - I took my Buckmarks to the range this morning. Dogs woke me up at 4AM, so I worked for a while, took my morning walk, and still had time to go to the range before everyone else was at their desk and looking for me.

Beautiful sunrise and plinking - life can be good, even in a pandemic.

(crappy picture of the sunrise, I have no skill as a photographer).

 

[allen-1]

05/15/20 Friday

My wife's sitting on the couch in the screen room, trying to work.
Our pups have other plans.

 

[allen-1]

Sun 05/17/20




We had our USPSA Go Fast Don't Suck postal match yesterday. 7 stages plus 2 quick burner stages added in to keep those stages from advancing too quickly and creating a bottleneck.

7 Squads, 10 shooters per squad. We filled up and waitlisted a couple of people.

I had all three types of stages yesterday, Go Fast No Suck, Kinda Slow Some Suck and No Fast All Suck. I sucked the worst at my distance shots - really need to do some more practicing. I tanked two stages with misses at distance.

My best stages were the burners, because they're most like the dryfire practice I've doing. Virginia stages, short distance. Nailed them.

And my mediocre stages show that after almost three months of no competitions I still have the same issues - getting my gun to the target fast enough so that my overall time is lower.

It was great shooting with my friends again - and had an awesome squad. No newbies, and six other ROs on the squad - so plenty of people to run nooks, timers and have discussions if any questions. Had an eye opening moment on one stage watching a friend of mine shoot it before me. I had my stage plan set. He's a ranked Master shooter and his stage plan was way different than mine - a lot better. After watching him, I modified my plan. That's the real difference between IDPA and USPSA - the whole "shoot the targets from within the defined shooting area(s)" rather than "from P1 engage blah, then advance to P2 and engage blah...". I like both disciplines, but USPSA requires a lot more thinking - it's more challenging in that respect.

 

[allen-1]

Fri 05/20/20

From the list of "Things you're not really sure you heard":
"Tell your boss that Bubba wants his box of butts".

Yeah. Wife and I went out to dinner at the local steakhouse. Bar is horseshoe shaped, and we were on one side of it. A guy that I've seen in there a couple of times, had conversation with, said just that to one of the bartenders.

"Tell your boss that Bubba wants his box of butts".
I looked at him across the bar, caught his eye and said "Well, all right then" and laughed.

Now Bubba, in the way of all Southern Bubbas is a pretty good sized guy, and he'd had just enough alcohol to make him deadly serious about this.

He looks at me - and says "Boston Butts" and they better be ready.

Apparently he helped lay in the floor and the owner promised him a box of Boston Butts as payment - and Bubba wanted his payment. Bartender went and got the owner, owner laughed, slapped Bubba on the back and brought out his box of butts.

I don't even have to make this shit up. LIfe down here is pretty funny sometimes.

 

[allen-1]

Fri 07/03/20 - GunShops/Castlenut/G43X/Primers

I needed a castlenut for an AR-15 I'm working on, so I swung by Ortiz's this morning, (gun shop in Savannah). Haven't been there in a while, and was shocked when I pulled up. They had cones and tape blocking off the front door and sidewalk. Signs posted saying that no customers allowed inside, staff will come outside. I watched as one of the guys working there brought out a handgun for a customer to look at, then handed him the 4473 form to fill out.

Waited my turn, then told Victor that I needed the castlenut, and wondered if he had a G43X in stock. He came back out with the castlenut, no G43X's in stock. Okay.

Drove over to Bass Pro to see if they had primers and possibly a G43X. Couple thou primers on the shelf, but no small pistol primers. Asked about a G43X, clerk told me that he'd gotten one in this morning, and just sold it - paperwork was being filled out as we spoke. They usually have a couple hundred pistols in their case - there were maybe 20 there, of which probably 15 were revolvers.

Took a ride over to ThunderBolt Guns. Walked in and Shane was working the counter, (I shoot with him fairly regularly). Asked him if he had a G43X - and he laughed - said he got one in about an hour ago, it wasn't even on the shelf yet. Shane said they were selling everything that came in, he doesn't remember a run on guns like this. That 43X never made it to his shelf - it went home with me.

If you're not familiar with it, the 43X is a 43 slide on a 48 frame. So, the frame is somewhere between a G43 and a G19. It's staggered, holds 10 rounds in the magazine. I like the 43, I don't like the 19. This is a really nice compromise.

Checked my primers when I got home - I have about 8K on hand - so not critical, but looks like I'd better get an order in. Everything I'm reading in the forums about guns and primers being scarce just checked out with my visits to three separate gun shops. (Yeah, I know Bass Pro isn't a "gun shop" - but they sell guns, powder and primers).