Scoping the 1894C

After shooting those milkjugs with a .357 pistol and seeing what happens, I can more understand why some jurisdictions have no regulatory problem accepting that caliber as a deer round.

And that got me thinking...

I should put a scope on my Marlin 1894C, affectionately known as Gummint Cheez (I used Nancy Pelosi's tax rebate check to buy it, because I knew that would please her). The iron sights work just great, but/and there are places for rings to attach to...

The next question is, which scope? 4X is probably more than enough power, and that would also keep its size and weight down and keep the little carbine handy. Now I can spend anywhere from $30 to $1500 on this optic, but I want something between those extremes.

Leupold has a nice 4x fixed scope for $300. Is there a variety out there almost as good for $199?

Reload Redux

I toyed with the IDEA of reloading in the past. Many things stopped me.

I’d want to do it relatively right, and I don’t need another equipment intensive hobby.

I hear nightmares about kabooms, (gun exploding in your hand), particularly with .308 semi-autos. My attention to detail isn’t that great, and you NEED good attention to detail when reloading, or you seriously risk a kaboom. I never want my own kaboom. Guns are expensive. And I like keeping all my fingers.

Re-loading shotgun shells isn’t very cost effective to buying new, but it might be the best ability to have in year 20 of a post-apocalyptic colander-helmet world. If it was cost effective I’d reload shotgun shells already.

If I reloaded, I’d want to cast my own bullets. To my head, that is a big part of the fun and advantage of rolling your own bullets. But I hear about all the issues with leaded barrels from residue the cast bullet leaves behind.

The ammo shortage of the past 2 years has also been a bit of a reloading component shortage too. Not a good time to start up the hobby. You might easily build up a lifetime supply of casings to last you through TEOTWAWKI, but a lot of primers is a hazard. And there is very little way to make your own. A person could figure out how to make a casing, the powder, and the projectile, but the primer is the hardest thing for an Omega Man to make and make safely.

But Box O Truth got me thinking again. He goes through a little bullet casting tutorial. Hmmm…

If I got JUST a setup to do .38/.357… As I have 3 firearms that shoot that, and they are on the beefy side. Would they survive a double charge? Perhaps. But maybe if I tailored the load where the powder would prevent the bullet from even seating in the press if it was a double charge, then I wouldn’t have to worry. It’s a lot easier to recapture revolver brass… Hmmmm…

It sure would be nice to develop the skill.

But even then, it sure seems complicated. You can’t just use lead wheel weights, melt them on the stove and pour into the molds. You need (need? well, maybe more of a should for this stuff) flux to get the dross out, you need other metals like antimony and tin to maybe harden the lead further, and you need lubricant. It’s making what seemed simple gets kinda complicated already…

Hey, does anyone know is the micro grooves on the Marlin 1894C will be ok with LUBRICATED home-cast lead bullets? The company warns against all-lead bullets for fear of fouling the special rifling, and to use at least semi-jacketed stuff, but maybe box-o-truth style lubricant addresses this issue?

My Gun Done Broke

What? AGAIN?! Was it the 1911 again?


No, I hinted at this yesterday. The 1894C is out of action. I gotta make an appointment with the gunsmith.



You know the gate dealie that you load rounds into the rube through? It's funky. Droops down, and out of alignment. Maybe a spring is not holding the gizmo right anymore. And this is causing some feed problems. Jams up the whole damn thing. So, how do you UNLOAD a lever action by prying cartridges back into postion to hopefully bring them out the way they came in? With a metal tipped screwdriver, or course. And too close to the primer to make me feel really comfortable, I tell you what. There was some pucker factor but I got them out. I'd hate to set off the back of a tube and then get the chain reaction of exploding death.



And there is no way I am taking this apart for some kitchen table gunsmithing. I have no idea if I could get the verschlagging thing back together, and I like the rifle too much to risk it. The few shots I got off before it jammed up permanent were very accurate. More so than I deserve to be.

Bullet Band

I need one of these. Haven't found one until now. Plenty of shotgun types at Bass Pro, but for rifle cartridges? No luck. Til I found them online after fining out they are called Bullet Bands.

Why do I want one? To put on my 1894C. The one I got from Pelosi's stimulus check. And I'm gonna embroider the gun's name on it.

What name?...

'Gummint Cheez'

Tweaking the List

I've been looking at the Master List thinking it needs adjustment for future considerations. Notice: nothing on the Primary list.

I added that SIG P229 SAS that captured my affection is now on the Secondary.

Jay G had a bit of an idea that kicked me in pants. He's looking for a lighter kicking rifle, as he realized he is rifle-poor in the functioning semi-auto department. He has plenty of heavy stuff that works, including one or 2 heavy semi-autos, but he wants something that won't push him around like he was skinny kid named Eugene in a school yard with a pocket bulging with lunch money.

And THAT turns my mind to carbines. I have light rifles. A pump .22LR Taurus Model 62, a lever action .357 Marlin 1894C, but no semi-auto's. I'd like a rifle sized weapon, lighter, handier, with a lighter, less expensive cartridge. Maybe something I could promote to the Primary list.

So, what is out there?

Of the .45s:

The discontinued Marlin Camp Carbine .45 ACP is always in the back of my mind. It hits all my criteria, with ammo inventory simplification, and the added bonus of MAGAZINE inventory simplification, as it takes the same 1911 mags as the pistol. But there is something missing about it. That certain something. What I need is a couple of manufacturers to come out with similar ones with different bells and whistles or something else to tempt me and push each other on to greater quality. But that's not going to happen.

KRISS Carbine is tres cool, and available now. Tres pricey too.

A deLisle repro has the magazine commonality bonus with a 1911, but the bolt action minus. Plus even the repros are rare as hen's teeth.

Kel Tec and Highpoint are budget makers of something in the right vein. But the budget aspect has a drawback too.

Then there is this:

The Beretta CX4 Storm has proprietary mags, but it has an appeal. For goodness sake it is used on Battlestar Galactica as a prop gun because it looks so futuristic. It might be too freaky Disney-future. I'd have RobertaX make me a Steampunk Discombobulating Disintegrator Ray-Gun in her lab and tote that and feel less out of place. (Something in a 40 watt range) I'm pretty sure Roberta is doing piece work for Dr Grordborts.

For non .45 caliber carbines...

Some of the AR platforms could fit the bill, but that's a bit of a leap for me. Might make the jump to AR ownership some day. But my loyal readers, both of them, know I am not a fan, generally. The ammo is cheapish, but it's a bit robust. The Para Carbine the gunbloggers at Blackwater training sampled has some uber-nifty features. Have to wait for the price of that to come down.

There is the venerable M-1 Carbine. That gun appeals to the Milsurp Monkey that rides on back and smacks my head whenever it sees WWII guns (little bastage!) The round is light enough on the kicking, but relatively expensive. And I'd eventually want to match it up with revolver that fired the same cartridge, just because. So it'd get expensive, eventually. It'd certainly be fun, and I know the action. Heck, the full-auto version M-2 is a pussycat to fire.

Update: I forgot the other futuristic carbine to go with the KRISS and CX4. The FN PS-90, civilian version of the P-90. Frank James at Corn Beans and Spent Brass had a great field test of his at his blog. It's a nifty gun with a new, and a bit expensive, cartridge. People tend to hate it for that tiny 5.7x28mm cartridge, but they forget that this gun isn't to replace .223 sized NATO stuff, it's to replace the 9mm popular in subguns that police like to use now. I'm looking at YOU HK.

Hmmm.

That moves me to some ideas for some purchase even farther in the future. I've been toying with the idea of getting one of each. Just to have. Of US Military long arms. I have 3 now, why not more. Now I have the M14 equivalent, the Garand, the Springfield '03. I kinda lean to the M1 Carbine. Adding an Enfield M1917 (or just a garden variety No. 4 Mk1 would be close enough for me) and a Krag and maybe some kind of single shot 1873 Trapdoor Springfield .45-70 would be simple enough. And fun. Maybe a Swiss K31 for fun, too. I'd have to research the subject more.

But that could be a slippery slope to a BAD collector jones. One that would suck all the money out of my wallet from now to the end of time. It would add to the ammo inventory extensively. And I'd have to figure out how to store and secure multiple more rifles. Hmph. I dunno. I'll add some to the Tertiary list and see how it feels.

Update: WWTD? What would Tam do? Heck, it's what has Tam DONE. I'm sure Tam is not lacking for a carbine she likes and has been known to possess some esoteric milsurp rifles...

Hap Baker Rifle Range

There is a rifle range in Westminster Maryland. It's called Hap Baker and it is the Carrol County public range. It's nestled into the back of the county dump. They call 'dumps' landfills now and there are fewer rats to shoot at night, but the vibe is similar. At the dump. The range is very nice.

Took a brand new shooter. It's my girlfriend. Or she let me call her that after I picked her up down by the waterfront and made certain financial arrangements. Let's call her 'Saucy Trollop' until she fins this blog, yells at me, and make me change it. What are the chances a Baltimore street walker check the internet that often? Anyway, she is a vegetarian and she has never shot before. But based on her performance at the range, if she WANTED to eat meat she could harvest just about anything.


I brought the bolt action .22, the .357 lever gun, and the Garand, and since my buddy Frozen was there she got to try SKS, AR-15, and a Mosin M44 in 7.62x54. I stepped Saucy Trollop up through the calibers, telling her what to expect. She did fine with all of them until the Garand and I double checked with her because of the kick. Like a trooper, she tried it. And loved it. The Garand is her favorite. I was SO proud.

She liked the Garand so much partly because it is semi-auto and there was less to do to fire the next bullet. No bolt or lever to deal with. And my Garand has a Scout scope from Leupold on it, and shooting with a decent glass is a joy.

Anyway, here is her 100 yard target with the Garand:

She shoots better than me. Sorry for the picture quality. Here is her shots at the 25 yard target with the .22 and .357 lever gun:




That hole dead center? Her first shot ever, I believe. I half expected that.

I can make excuses that I was distracted by teaching her, and had to break up my shooting session some to instruct her, but those would be just excuses. She is just pretty durn good. I need to take her pistol shooting. If I find her on her 'corner' again.

Frozen's Mosin kicks like a mule. It was fun just experiencing that. It fell like it was MORE than the .30-06, but it's been a while since I shot that.

Frozen had issues with the iron sights on his DPMS AR-15. It was shooting to the side and with the rear windage sights cranked all the over it didn't get better. It was only after that he realized he was correcting the wrong way, and kicked himself for the mistake. Ooops. That won't help. He'll run up there and try it again real soon I am sure.

Near the end of the session, I relaxed a bit more and tried to boost my confidence shooting at the 25 yard target with the .22 and 1894c. THAT felt good. I was shooting tuna can size groups or smaller. Rabbit or woodchuck head size groups. The .22 makes me hanker for a pump .22 for more plinking goodness. My .22 even did ok at 100 yards. Here is the 25 yard confidence boosters from later in the day:

And a couple 100 yard ones.




Notice the .22 even made it out that far.

I noticed that regular milsurp ammo in the Garand shot better for me than the match grade stuff. Though Frozen's work with the good ammo showed it was probably my fault.

A spotter scope is critical for self critique at 100 yards. Hap Baker provides one at each shooting station, which is nice. I need to do something about rectifying that lack of gear. The one there was a cheap model, but it did the job quite well enough.

And next time I hit the rifle range I am going to have to adopt the same regimen as pistol shooting: Maybe go alone, and only bring one or two rifles.

My usual flaws applied. Go SLOW. Be patient. Squeeze the trigger. I need to work on ALL of that. When I DID settle and methodically breathed and squeezed that shots were much better. I want to have a few 100 yard targets I can be proud of.

Armed Canadian has offered to take me shooting, and he is an NRA instructor. Are you reading my Canadian friend? Any weekend in June would be great except for the weekend of the 21st. And all but the last weekend of June. I need to get more ammo for that session as I blasted through my spares down to the minimum inventory level.

The fun with that .22 at the 25 yard target, hitting rabbit-head sized targets makes me itchy for another .22 rifle. I might have to promote something to the Secondary want list.


So now I have recruited and taught, as best I can, a brand new shooter. Before this, I've rekindled the interests of other shooters than had been away from the hobby, and I got at least one to renew his dues to an organization that directly supports the 2nd Amendment. I've done the minimum requirement for gun enthusiasts. If we all did this, things like Heller would never be in doubt and zombies would be scared to come to this country.

BAG Gun Review

Why did I select this rifle?

Well you know my ammo simplification philosophy. I try to keep commonality to the calibers so you have as few varieties as possible. And this is the companion piece to the S&W 686 .357 revolver.





It's a carbine. I don't have much in the way of short rifles and I wanted to correct that.

Alphecca likes them and gave a glowing review and that put the bug in my head. I FOUND Kim DuToit's site researching the 1894c and he gave them a glowing review, too.

If I ever take a girlfriend shooting, or a youngster, or just a n00bie, it's a good step up from a .22 and not as intimidating as a Garand.

It's classic olde-timey styling is less scary to the great unwashed legions of hoplphobes. Wood stock, looks like the guns seen in westerns. So it can't be dangerous if favorite old actors used it. Like Roy Rogers! (I miss the Double-R burger at his fine eating establishments...) If the SHTF and Katrina style flooding hit Silver Spring, folks might panic less to see me carrying this gun around compared to carrying around a black scary rifle. See? Not scary is it?:


And walnut is pretty.

Ash, from Army of Darkness was able to beat back an undead horde and a Super-Witch with something similar, and the gun showed it's ability to knock undead assailants 20 feet backward on impact. (well it certainly was a lever gun of some type. it might have been like the lever action shotgun the Terminator used in T2 Judgement Day) That HAS to be true, and that is DEFINITELY good. (What?) Anyhoo, a proven zombie slayer.


(Clattoo Verata Nicto, baby.)

It wasn't too expensive.

I can shoot it at indoor gun ranges that only take pistol calibers.

I can mount a scope on it, as it has the holes tapped for that already. Even an EOTech Red-Dot scope. On a lever gun. That would look wonderful.

It's a John Moses Browning design, and I like the man's work.

Not bad.

And luckily, the one I got shoots like a dream, here at 50 yards:



I am pleased.

April Rifle Range Report

The weather was glorious, dry and in the low 80's, and we couldn't have picked a nicer day to head out to Clark Brothers.

We did this on Saturday the 19th. A prestigious anniversary I was unaware of until Tam enlightened me.

And I got to put a bunch of new stuff through their paces.

My Garand was up first. It has the new Scout cope from Luepold to zero, and it needed it. But adjusting it was simple and soon it was right where I wanted it. A little high and centered at 100 yards. You can see me walking the scope in at 50 yards:

Then I took the scope off, and tried the iron sight. They were still good, naturally. 7 clicks up to get what I wanted there. Same as always. I put the scope back on to see if it would return to zero. I bought decent Leupold rings just for this, figuring I'd have repeatability with something other than budget rings. And the zero was still where I wanted it, so I'm happy. I'd only rarely take it off from this point forward. 'I' stands for iron, or ARN if you prefer, at 25 yards:

Here it is at 100 after reattaching the scope:

And at 100 with correction. We had My Buddy the Gun Enthusiast's astronomical telescope for spotting holes at this range:

And a little more correction and we are good, or good for me:

The Garand did slam fire once. I'm pretty sure it's the ammo I have to buy from Clark Bros. It's American Eagle, and the primers are just too thin. According tot he internet, American Eagle is the budget Federal brand, and I've seen reports that Federal does use such primers

One BAD thing about the Garand. Once in a blue moon after leaving it in the cabinet for a while the bolt just won't open. I can jiggle the operating rod all day long and it won't come loose. It's never done this during a firing session, just when cold, out of the cabinet or sleeve. If it DID, I bet it'd bend up the operating rod, with my luck. Well it did it this time as I broke it out for the first shoot. I took it to the gunsmith to unstick it and see what he thought. He had no long term solution. The next time it does it, I'm going to take the time to comb over every part to see where it is sticking, stem to stern. It could be up at the gas cylinder, or the back of the bolt, though originally I always thought it was the fore end of the bolt. The area around the firing pin could be it. Maybe if I dry fired it, it would loosen up. Hmmm.

Other than that I was happy with it.

Speaking of slamfire... A guy there had a brand new, to him, SKS. His first clip of 10 the thing slam fired 4 in a row after a few singles. Needless to say, he was done with it for the day until he could do something about it. His 7.62x39 ammo was the same brand that I used with the Garand, so the same light primer applied to his problem. There is an aftermarket firing pin with a spring that can be applied to his problem.

My BAG, "Gummint Cheez" gun was tried out. Marlin 1894 in .357. Sweet. The first two trying rounds were very nice. And the others aren't so bad either.

And it shot well every round. I am so happy Nancy Pelosi is sending me money to pay for this. Thanks Nancy! You're the greatest. Don't look so surprised that I gave you a complement! What? You ALWAYS look surprised? Oh. Anyway, these are the last 4 rounds I shot with it:

All deer killers, even in that 6 ring.

MBtGE had some guns to try out. A Savage .22 with that accu-trigger, a Henry AR-7 survival rifle, and his AR-10

The .22 holes on this one are from the Savage, and the Henry a bit low and left:

The first round I shot with the savage was the bulls eye. I've been doing that a lot. Shooting very well with the first round. Great for hunting if that is a habit. I am not convinced I like that accu-trigger on the Savage, but I can't fault the gun for it's accuracy. The Henry's trigger is a little funky, and that may explain why it shoots down there. But I always seem to shoot left with .22s, pistols and rifles, so I must be blamed for some of that. You can see some .357 holes on there as well. Did I mention I was pleased with the Marlin 1894?

I don't have a target to show how I shot with the AR, but that thing is ACCURATE. I was pleasantly surprised. I will have to bad mouth ARs less in the future. Of course it WAS chambered in a manly .308. MBtGE got a good deal on it, and it is in its original Armalite factory configuration and he has shot less than 200 rounds through it. He wants to customize it and was thinking of selling it to fund a different AR-10, like the one from Panther DPMS. But this guns shoots too good. You can't sell a good shooter. People always regret it. So I guess another AR is in his future.

That star gazer telesope we used as a spotter has a video-out feed. Our next trick with it is to set it up with a lap top or even a projection system so we can keep track of where the rounds strike like keeping score at a bowling alley. This thing can see .17 caliber holes at 100 yards, no problem.