RIA Question

I received an email asking about my daily carry piece that I posted for my Light A Candle post:

"I happened by your post for gunlight vigil day, and was wondering what your experience has been with the compact 1911 from Rock Island Armory."

It was a long road to get the RIA 1911 to the point where is was reliable enough to be my daily carry.

When I first got the gun it would jam once every 5 rounds or so.  Massive amounts of part polishing, a couple trips to the gunsmith, high quality magazines and about 1000 rounds to break it in and finally it's worked all the kinks out. I also had the hammer bobbed so the damn thing would not bite me and draw blood every time I shot it.


Once it began to shoot reliably I got some nice slim VZ Gator Back Grips for it and an excellent Crossbreed Supertuck Deluxe holster.

I will probably have some trigger work done on it. The trigger is not the worst I own but it's not close to the best either. I have been shooting some sweet 1911's, lately at blog shoots, with triggers like butter. 

Now I have a compact frame, reliable, durable, single stack .45acp, that is slim AND powerful. Plus I only have about $700 into it including the smithing, holster and mags.

The negatives are that the fixed sights are very basic, trigger is not great and it weighs a lot.

Email me if you have any more questions! Or better yet, let's go to the range!! 

--All and all, it took some time but it's good (but not great).

Read This

A Girl and Her Gun

If you have not read this yet go read it now:

   A Girl and Her Gun

Thanks for saying it better than I could have.

--I have had the same experience.

WANT: JR Carbine

At my local gun shop I finally got to handle a JR Carbine.

This guy has now officially  elbowed it's way to the top of my want list. Tricked out properly it will be a super Zombie Killer!!

The quality of the construction seems to be very good. That was what I was worried about the most for the price tag of $530.

The stock and pistol grip are standard AR and it has a good quadrail right out of the box. It comes with two standard Glock mags. With the flat to there is a lot of Magpul love can be added.

The one I handled was in 9mm. I was originally going to go with the .45 but this one has me thinking 9mm again. I already have three 33 round Glock 9mm mags.

--Gotta save some more pennies!

2nd Annual NRA HQ Blog Shoot

Planning has begun for the second annual NRA HQ Blogshoot!

Once again will meet there on a Saturday morning, shoot for an hour and then take a tour of the Firearms Museum at the NRA HQ in Fairfax Virginia.

Then we will all go out to lunch.

Currently we are looking at February18th for this event.

Let me know if you are planning to attend. In the comments or via email: miller.jbx at gmail dot com.

--More later!

Light A Candle To Stop Violence

January 8th is Light A Candle To Stop Violence Day. 

Weer'd Proposed it. I love the idea.

"So the Brady Bunch are planning Candle-light vigils on January 8th to “Stop Gun Violence”. Now many have pointed out what a stupid and pointless gesture that is, also many are noting the dwindling numbers of people willing to come out in the cold with a candle for the sake of their lost cause."

 

My 1911 Daily Carr

We who are actually are doing something real to stop the violence are lighting a candle, spreading the word and teaching people to be safe AND empowered.

The Four Rules:

• TREAT ALL GUNS AS IF THEY ARE ALWAYS LOADED.
• NEVER POINT A GUN AT ANYTHING YOU ARE NOT WILLING TO DESTROY.
• KEEP YOUR FINGER OFF THE TRIGGER UNTIL YOUR SIGHTS ARE ON THE TARGET.
• BE SURE OF YOUR TARGET AND WHAT'S BEYOND IT AND AROUND IT.

The Two Disciplines:

• MUZZLE:  Watch where you are pointing that thing!
• TRIGGER: Keep your bugger hook of the bang switch!

--Keep spreading this word!

In Other News, Gun Sales Reach Record Highs

Quotes of the Week

"Carry your gun - it's a lighter burden than regret."

--Breda

"I figure a sucking chest wound is a pretty damned good warning."

--Phlegmfatale

"Without the First Amendment, you are a slave. Without the Second, you are a child."

--Doctor Zero

"Gun control is like trying to reduce drunk driving by making it tougher for sober people to own cars."

--amballtrip 

"If we all did the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves."

--Thomas Edison

Experiments

I was looking at some of my old, low end firearms and was wondering what I should do with them. I never shoot them anymore. They collect dust. Here are some of my options:

• Sell them: Use the money to buy optics
• Mothball them: Grease them up for ling term storage
• Cache them: Greased, packed in a PVC Tube and stashed
• Experiment: Hmmmmm...

So I decided to order a DuraCoat Shake ’N Spray kit. I saw this at the NRA Convention this year. The kit includes 4 ounces of DuraCoat, a LCW TruStrip Cleaner/Degreaser and a Preval Aerosol Sprayer. All you have to do is degrease the gun with the enclosed TruStrip and scrubbing pad, mix the DuraCoat finish in the provided jar, and apply using the sprayer.

The kit retails for $30 and available colors include matte black, OD green, woodland tan, woodland green, woodland brown, gun blue, Magpul flat dark earth, and DuraCoat parker. 

--I will let you know how it turns out!!

2012: The year of Upgrades

I think this year will be the year of upgrades. I have got plenty of guns I need to upgrade them in several ways. I have been shooting some quality stuff this year. OldNFOs Scopes are so awesome. TBolts Scout scope has super eye relief. I might even restore a few back to pure iron sights, like one of my Mini-14s.

Upgrade List Beginning:

• Suppressors: AR-15, Glock 17, .22LR
• Optics: EOTechs, Quality Scopes
• Slings: For all rifles, shotguns, carbines
• New Safe: Current one is sort of crowded
• Grips: More slim grips
• Stocks: Upgrades for a few select guns
• Range bag: A big one
• Holsters: Quality ones for several guns
• Tools: Cleaning, smithing
• Ammo: Stockpiles
• Mags: Never have enough
• SBR: The Cx4 Storm
• Steel plate targets

Any suggestions to add to the list. I might also start to try my hand at reloading an get myself a press. Might renovate my shop as well. I want to really turn it into a gun smith shop. Plus a new stereo, TV, DVD and a fridge wouldn't hurt!

--What else should I add?

My First Time

I told this story this weekend. It is worth repeating. 

 

The first time I fired a gun was when I was about nine years old. I'll never forget that day.

We always had guns in the house where I grew up. They were not locked up and they were stored with ammo. In fact, the one that I shot that day was typically stored, in the kitchen, on hooks, over the doorway to the "kids play room"! Every house in the county kept their guns that way. That still cracks me up. How the world has changed...

I have three older brothers and on that auspicious day I was out playing in the back yard when two of them were coming back from rabbit hunting. We had 250 acres in farm country of Western New York where my parents owned a shade tree farm. A Nursery. Rabbits wreaked havoc on the plants my father grew, so we had a permit to hunt them year round.

It was a beautiful day. Sunny and breezy and perfect.

My brothers were in an excellent mood because the day was so sweet. I remember the younger of the brothers was drinking an orange soda from a pop-top can. The kind with the pop-tops you hated to step on bare foot. It was empty. I remember that he was shaking it because he had slipped the pop-top into the can after he had pulled it off.

 

He tossed the can about ten yards away and said, "JB, come here and see if you can shoot that can!" Without ceremony, he handed my the double barrel, 20 gauge shotgun and all he said as instructions was, "Just aim and make sure you pull both triggers at the same time..."

 

That asshat.

I gave that can both barrels and landed flat on my back.

My brothers laughed so hard they nearly pissed themselves . Even though it felt like I had been smashed on the shoulder with a baseball bat I couldn't help laughing too.

We never told my parents and I had a hell of a time hiding that bruise, that badge of courage.

--I became a man that day. What's your story?

Farms

Went shooting with some friends this weekend on a private farm that is close to where I live.

This is my favorite kind of shoot trip.

It was a beautiful day. We met there at about 8am and drove out through cow pastures to the huge field where we set up our firing line. We set up steel targets at 10, 25, 50, 100 and 250 yards.

Ruger Mark II: We started in close so the dew could burn off a bit before we walked a quarter mile through wet grass. We began with my suppressed Ruger Mark II. I really like not having to wear ear protection. It is so funny to have the bullet impact be the loudest part. It's funny when the bullet gets enough air time to cause that sonic crack. Then you can hear the echo of the crack that is louder than the gun and originates about 100 yards away. We also experimented with some sub sonic ammo. That stuff is super quiet! It did fail to cycle the action a couple times but it's still awesome. We ended up burning 500 rounds through it before the day was done.

Armalite AR-10B: We burned 100 rounds through my AR-10. I picked it up and rang the 50 yard target once, then the 100 twice, then on the very next shot I hit the 8" round 250 yard target. All with the iron sights. Then the 250 fell over! Well was knocked over. Even though it had a bucket of cement.

DPMS AR-15: I took the AR-15 aka Alice. It was ringing the 250 steel easily with the new scope. I never hit it standing though. Bummer. I also bought a clip of cheap Wolf steel case ammo to try. The second round jammed in the chamber hard. Not buying any more of that!

Savage 110FP: The 250 was easy with Fred, a bolt action .308. It is set at 2 inches high at 100 yards. It is about dead on at 250 yards. Could not tell really even with the spotting scope.

Saiga 12: Ran another box of 2.75 bird shot through Jerry Lee. Adjusted the gas a bit for a tune up. It still jammed 3 times out of 25. 

--I need some land, dammit!! Thanks again Andy!

Henderson Shooting 911 Call Released

This is why I have loaded firearms in my house. There are those that would rather these people died at the hand of evil men.

911 call from the Henderson shooting.

That 14 year old stayed cool and kept his sister safe. 

--Hat tip to Sean

Girls and Guns!

Another Chicks with Guns related post: I seem to be focusing a lot on women and firearms. I love Penn and Teller. I got to help them on stage in Vegas with their double bullet catch trick.



--I love video and this idea. Thanks Laura and Uncle!

Happy New Year!!

We sent 2011 out with a bang, literally, Yesterday!! I went with some friends for a farm shoot. We set up a 250 yard range and had several steel targets. I aired out a couple of my .308s and a few other things. More on that later. We also had a couple Saiga 12 gauge shotguns!

We had fun with fruit!




--It was a beautiful sunny warm day to close out the year! Thanks, Andy!

Quotes of the Week

"God dwells in me, as me."

 --Unknown

“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.”

--Plato

"It's the Indian, not the arrow."

--Unknown