Hey, It's Monday Gunday
Sometimes it's just about the fun...
So, after half a dozen tries, I was finally able to find the shooting range nearest my house. Why so difficult? It's in a state Fish and Wildlife preserve, and for some reason the state blocked off the main road to it - ostensibly to preserve the wildlife.
There were cryptic instructions on the web site about "coming in from the north instead of Hupp Road, and elsewhere, "take S. Hupp Road instead."
Google was entirely confused, and either tried to route me via the road that has been blocked (in fact, Google Street View even shows the "Road Closed" sign, but apparently that hasn't filtered over to the Gig Boogle AI that runs the actual mapping. Of course, it's only been a year or two, so...
At any rate, I finally figured it out by painstakingly tracing all the back roads in the general area until I got what looked like a viable path. Even so, at the end, Google tried to route me down a narrow road that deadended in a barren patch of scrub woodland, nowhere near the actual range itself.
Never mind. I found it, and it's pretty nice. The two female range officers were pleasant and helpful, and the place is well kept up with lots of capacity, with shooting from five yards out to 100, depending on your lane.
When I finally got there, I only had an hour of range time left, so I didn't try to shoot anything other than my new Smith & Wesson SD9 2.0:
Helpful hint: If you have not fired a pistol at all in several years, and are using a brand new pistol, it is not the best idea to make your first mag the high-powered +P ammo you use for everyday carry.
Damn!
I have been known to shoot Steel Challenge with a J-Frame .357 snubby, single-handed, and still the recoil took me so much by surprise I just about lost control and smacked myself right between the eyes with the butt of the grip. Also, I missed the target entirely.
In fact, due to the immediate enormous flinch I developed, I think I only got one or two of that original mag on the target at all. Humiliating.
I reloaded with standard cheapo Magtech 9mm, and burned off four more mags, (19+1) just trying to get the flinch under control. I noticed that the green dot seemed to be jumping all over the place, but mostly from right to left, but I marked that down to the flinch. I shoot with both eyes wide open, by the way. Only after running that first 100 rounds, while reloading my one single mag (two more ordered, not here yet), did I notice that my dot sight was literally wobbling back and forth, with about a quarter inch of play either way.
Sigh. I'd brought my tool kit, of course, so I screwed it down tight, decided to worry about a formal zero later, and ran one final magazine through it. The results, if not ideal, were at least encouraging.
Two different views of the target. The first is circled to indicate the placement of that last magazine.
This next one shows how much of this grouping was covered by the palm of my hand:
This was all at 15 yards. Certainly not great, but at least tolerable. Since range fees are five bucks per day, I'm basically out ammo. Luckily I still have a good deal of 9mm left, and I'll be buying more as soon as I see my financial way clear to do so. Two or three trips a week to the range should smooth things out fairly rapidly.
Report on the Smith: I like it. As you can see, I added a dot (green, for my astigmatism), and after taking it home and re-mounting it, this time with LocTite Blue (didn't use it before because the batttery compartment is on the bottom, and you have to take the whole thing off to change the battery), but it is what it is. I re-zeroed it at 10 yards using a bore laser, and I'll be looking to see how well it holds that.
The standard mag on this firearm is 16 rounds, but I added a three round extension, giving me a total of 19+1 bang-packages. I figure if I need more than twenty, I'm either running, or reaching for my rifle, whichever strategy seems most useful.
I still have to get that rifle out to the range and see how functional all the mods I've made to it have turned out. I'm especially interested in seeing how the optics perform. I've got a laser on it, and I'll check that out as well.
The next project is already sitting in various web-site order carts. A PSA lower:
Complete with a SBA-4 pistol brace for about $190 with tax and shipping, plus another $20 for FFL fees.
BC-15 | .300 Blackout Right Side Charging Upper | 7.5" Parkerized Heavy Barrel | 1:8 Twist | Pistol Length Gas System | 6.5" MLOK | with BCG & Charging Handle
I got a ten percent "Welcome New Customer" discount on this, so final total, with tax and shipping, was $190 dollars.
A Sylvan Arms folding stock/brace adapter:
It's a blem but fully guaranteed, and I got a $32 discount, bringing the total with shipping and tax to $128.
Which means my bare-bones .300 Blackout bag AR-15 will cost me just a hair over $500. I've got a large field green dot I can stick on it until/unless I decide to get something better, but I'd rather save my money for a silencer. .300 Blackout through a 7.5" barrel will blow out your ear drums in anything like an enclosed space, not to mention the fireball will probably burn all the hair off your face and scalp.
Okay, enough gun talk.
If you would like to contribute to the BUY BILL QUICK A NEW RIFLE FUND, click on the "Buy Me A Cup of Coffee" button, or…
