Seems Like It

There are three screws in the side plate of my Smith & Wesson 27-2. I have removed them. I have removed the grip, too. And I took out the mainspring.

The side plate will not budge. It’s like it’s welded in there.

What’s the deal?

Give my Your Opinion

It looks like I have managed to prove myself an idiot once again. HURRAH!

Last week, I was frustrated because I could not get any kind of accuracy out of my K31 rifle. I had been trying for a long time, and my .17 HMR was shooting rings around it, and I figured the gun had to be screwy.

Here are my first 20 shots from today’s session:

That’s better than last week. I held the gun more firmly this time. I don’t know anything about shooting, but it seems like you can’t use rimfire technique on a high-powered rifle. I was encouraged, so I continued.

That is 20 shots, fired from a rest. Okay, I guess it’s safe to say there is nothing wrong with the gun. It is just barely conceivable that I was wrong when I concluded that it wasn’t as accurate as the .17 HMR.

I shot 20 more rounds, and they were not quite as good. Here’s one reason. I was mad because I could not shift the scope to the center of the bullseye, so I fired at a spot to the left of the center. And it’s harder to sight in on. When you shoot at the center, you have two big yellow lines intersecting, right under your crosshairs. Still, this is not bad shooting.

I think I’ve pinpointed another problem. For some reason, I keep ending up at the range without a decent breakfast, so I have to eat things like Snickers bars. It seems like my hands shake during the sugar troughs.

Holding the rifle more firmly and adjusting the position upward made the recoil bearable. In the most natural position, the rifle drives the point on the lower end of the buttstock right into my shoulder joint.

I feel like snapping up a second K31, now that I see what they can do.

Here’s my best group from the .17 HMR. I’ve about had it with the stock. Things are tightening up. Seems like almost all of my problems relate to pulling the trigger correctly.

Conclusion: Buy yourself a K31. That about sums it up.

But Keep Your Cargo Shorts

I got an email from a reader today. She pointed me to Sermonaudio.com. I already knew about this resource; I’ve listened to preachers I like. She directed me to a Georgia preacher named John Weaver. The link above goes to the sermon I listened to today. It’s a two-part series; I’ve only heard the first part.

I picked it because the subject was something of special interest to me. The right to self-defense. The Jews believe they have an obligation to defend others, even if they have to use deadly force; I’m not sure if they believe a Jew has an obligation to defend himself. It’s a slightly different question. Jesus told his disciples to buy swords, and he meant actual swords; there were two in the room when He said it. Still, it’s a question worth researching. There is a colorable argument to be made for refusing to kill someone who, like most violent criminals, does not know God.

The sermon was good. There were a few remarks about Indians which people might consider insensitive, but they were made in reference to times when Indians were the biggest danger Americans faced. Pastor Weaver says he keeps loaded guns in his home, and that he considers himself obligated to defend himself and others. I feel a lot more comfortable about the issue after listening to him.

It may be odd to say it in this age of disposable babies, but I think we sometimes value life too much. We often behave as though every life has infinite value, but that’s not true. We put a surprisingly low value on our own lives every day. I can give examples. We are supposed to put our lives on the line for our country. Every time a huge construction project is undertaken, the people behind it know it is nearly certain at least one worker will die. We ride motorcycles. We dive. Our diets aren’t perfect. Many of us risk death by treating people who have infectious diseases. The truth is, we are willing to risk death for many reasons, and a good number of them are trivial. And that’s okay; it’s healthy. Death is part of every life. It’s like puberty or menopause. It’s difficult, but it’s wrong to treat it as though it were a catastrophe. You can’t live in a bubble.

God drowned the Egyptian army as it pursued Moses. He killed a hundred soldiers of Israel’s army with fire from heaven. He killed every person and animal in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. In the flood, all but eight people died. Samson killed a thousand people in one day, and it was actually God within him, doing the killing. And God directed us to kill home invaders on sight. He directed us to kill witches and perverts. Life is important, but it’s not really priceless.

Pastor Weaver also talked about the way the self-defense obligation, as it applies to animals. He says that the Old Testament requires Jews to rescue animals belonging to strangers. This is a subject that has always bothered me. Every so often, I see a dog wandering around on the street, and I know it’s in trouble, but I’m usually in a roadster with nice leather seats. So I keep driving, and I’m sure people have lost beloved pets because of my selfishness. I thought about it while I listened to the sermon, and I realized there was an answer. I can keep a rope in my trunk. I can tie a dog by the side of the road and call the county. Simple, right?

What if I can’t tie him? Well, if I can’t tie him, how was I supposed to put him in the car?

I don’t know why I didn’t think of this sooner. Maybe it will be of use to some of you.

Incidentally, on a related note, I have been reading about the K31 rifle. People on the web claim they’re pretty consistent, so I’m wondering if my accuracy problems are my own fault. I’m shooting about a 5″ group at 100 yards. I can’t figure it out. I don’t like the trigger; it seems like you have to pull very hard to make it go off. But surely I should be doing better than this, if the gun is okay. I’m using Swiss GP11 ammunition, which is supposed to be excellent. Maybe I should take off the stock and see if there’s any crud between it and the barrel. My .17 HMR shoots groups half as big, and it’s not nearly as easy to aim and hold as the K31.

If I could get real accuracy out of the K31, I’d buy a second one and put an aftermarket stock and maybe a 16x scope on it.

My spring set for the Smith & Wesson 27-2 arrived, so I’ll be installing it. I couldn’t get a thinner trigger from Brownell’s. Maybe someone else makes one, or maybe when the springs are fixed, the trigger won’t matter. I only shoot single-action, so the springs are important. I figure anyone can shoot a cocked revolver, so the smart thing is to shoot single-action, which is harder.

Considering buying Old Navy cargo shorts, but worried that the pockets aren’t deep enough for concealed carry? Relax. I have had no problems putting a small Glock in my pocket, with a Sidekick holster. If you have something like a Kel-Tec or a Kahr, it should be even easier. It’s actually better than a deep pocket, because you can get to the gun easier. I really like these shorts. Super comfortable, cheap, and practical.

.17 HMR Rocks

I had a nice time at the range. I took the Nylon 66 and the .17 HMR. Last time I tried to shoot the Nylon 66 with a scope, the results were pretty bad, so I thought I’d try again. Things went poorly.

It seems like the zero slides around as you shoot, which is consistent with what people told me when I bought the scope. They said the receiver was attached to plastic, or something, and that it would not hold still.

I took the scope off and shot at 25 yards, just to see what the story was. I shot as well as I could see, which is about all I can ask.

I got out the mighty .17 HMR and bipod, and I shot at pasters to see where the zero was. I was shooting at 100 yards. The zero had moved pretty badly since my last outing, so I zeroed the scope and started shooting at the bullseye. Here’s the first effort, which made me pretty happy. Things started out rough, but I could be shooting worse.

The next one didn’t have crazy fliers in it.

I was starting to get a feel for the way I should pull the trigger. I had the funny sensation that I was pulling it in my head instead of at the end of my arm. And I got some improvement. There are lots of fliers, but there are also a bunch of holes in a satisfying clump. And even with the fliers, the entire group is smaller than an apple. This is 25 rounds.

It looks like the rimfire scope for the .22 was a complete waste of money…UNLESS I get a Savage .22. Yes…that would totally justify it. I must have one.

It’s too bad the scope and the Nylon 66 don’t get along, because the gun itself seems to be nice and accurate.

Range Day Again

I woke up this morning thinking it was a perfectly ordinary day. Then I remembered…Wednesday is now RANGE DAY. So my outlook has brightened considerably. I’m going to see if I can be on the firing line by 11:00 a.m., which will be a great improvement over the old Thursday range days, which started at one p.m.

I’m considering getting a new stock for the .17 HMR. The existing stock is very small and weird. Rifle-stocks.com has about two thousand models from which to choose. I’d like a thumbhole, but I don’t want a full-blown target stock. I’m thinking their “Wildcatter” model might be good. I detest laminates, but they’re supposed to be better than solid wood. So I’m leaning in that direction.

I can’t believe what they cost. By the time you add all the crap you really need, it’s over $150.

Boyd’s has stocks that will supposedly fit with no work. They look kind of creepy, however.

We have a debate coming up. I hope you will join me in praying that John McCain and Sarah Palin will crush Obama and Biden. And that we will hear the name Franklin Raines a lot. The public needs to be aware that Raines, a current Obama advisor, is the main reason we have a financial crisis right now. His socialist policy of lending to people who couldn’t make mortgage payments is what landed us in this mess.

Obama will appoint socialist judges. He will bring back the death tax. He will increase taxes in general. He’ll be indifferent to the fate of Israel. He’ll empower a lot of anti-Semitic leftists. We don’t need this guy in the White House.

More

More happy news from Jerusalem.

Decor at its Best

Remember me writing about all the crap I got done on Saturday? Feast your eyes on THIS:

The picture is bad. I can’t even guess how you’re supposed to get a good photo of an object shaped like that.

Men, you need one of these on your wall. The instant it goes up, you’ll have the pleasant, illusory sensation that testosterone is coursing through your veins.

Playing Hooky

Today I did something I had absolutely no business doing. I went to the gun range for a SECOND time, in one week.

I could not help myself. I’ve been so lax about shooting lately, I could not fill the need with a single Wednesday outing.

I blame Jim from Smoke on the Water. His house in Galveston nearly got washed away, and he’s living in someone’s spare room, and he felt he had to call…to give me tips on rifle shooting.

He told me about a weird technique. You grasp the pistol grip of the gun lightly, and you put your left fist under the butt of the gun to manage elevation. You don’t touch the foregrip. It rests on your bipod or whatever. I’ve seen people doing this, but I always figured they were insane.

I loaded up the .17 HMR and the K31, and off I went.

I’m sorry to say, the technique doesn’t work too well with the tiny Savage stock. It’s just a matter of geometry. But it still gave me an excuse to shoot.

Before I could start shooting, the guy to my left apologized to me; he had just fired two rounds into my target. I told him to make sure he made me look good. He and his buddy were shooting two very odd-looking rifles. They had composite target stocks and muzzle brakes. They were bolt actions. I had no idea what they were. Every time either of them fired, the shock wave hit me with the force of Michael Moore’s breath. And they were shooting exactly the way Jim told me to shoot.

It worked well for them. The guy who hit my target put 30 .308 rounds into an area smaller than a lemon. He said shooting that gun at 100 yards was boring.

It turned out to be a Remington 700, with some crap added. I may have to get me a Savage .270 with an Accutrigger and see what I can do.

The Savage shot well today. For rifle shooting, I use 5″ Shoot-N-C targets. Each comes with 4 black pasters about 1 1/4″ in diameter. I put the target in the middle of the paper, with the pasters around it. The scope’s zero was a little off for some reason, so I got it sighted in and started shooting.

I find that a typical 5-shot group is smaller than a golf ball. I can’t reliably keep five shots on a paster; it seems impossible to sight the scope in at 100 yards so it reliably hits the point of aim. I settled for shooting slightly low and to the left. I used the pasters to warm up, and then I shot a couple of targets. I did better than last time. The groups were only a little smaller, but there were fewer flyers. The bulk of the shots concentrated in a smaller area. Here’s an example:

Any animal bigger than a tennis ball and small enough to be killed by a .17-caliber round will have a very limited life expectancy within 100 yards of this gun. I consistently shoot a little worse than 2 MOA, and I am still not a great rifle shot.

Here’s a typical paster:

I got out the K31 and my weird Swiss ammunition. I noticed a few things. First of all, it’s much more steady than the Savage. It probably weighs twice as much, and that reduces the movement. That tells me I should look for a heavier stock for the Savage. Or maybe there is some way to weight the existing stock. Second thing: the trigger is crap. It breaks cleanly, but the pull is very heavy compared to the 2-pound factory setting of the Accutrigger. Third, the person who designed the gun’s butt was a sadist. It has two points on it. After a couple of dozen rounds, you get tired of having them jabbed into your shoulder. In all likelihood, it was designed for underfed Europeans with 36-inch chests. Europeans used to be spindly and feeble compared to Americans. My grandfather was about 6’3″ tall, and when my family made a trip to Europe in 1972, he was almost always easy to find in a crowd, because people there were so short. That isn’t true any more. Another thing: I lost my luggage on that trip, and my mother had to buy me pants and a shirt in Luxembourg. The shirtsleeves were so narrow they fit like spandex.

I shot thirty rounds with the K31, and I felt like it just was not as accurate as the Savage. It was easier to aim, and I believe I pulled the trigger well. But the shots covered an area the size of a grapefruit. I don’t think all of that error can be attributed to me. And it’s not acceptable. I want to learn to shoot, and I can’t do it with guns that hide my errors within their own. I know people swear by K31s, but it’s a used rifle, so there is no guarantee that every barrel is good.

I learned something interesting about the K31. I mounted the scope with something called an Accu-mount. It’s machined out of aluminum, and you attach it to the receiver. It has an Allen screw on top, which the literature calls a “recoil stop.” I have no idea what that means. Anyway, I must have overtightened this screw, because a bulge formed under it, projecting down from the mount and against the receiver. This raised the front end of the mount slightly, which raised the scope. I believe this explains why I have had problems getting the rifle sighted in. Today I ground the bump off, and I was able to get the crosshairs more or less over to the point of impact.

I may as well get a new stock for the Savage. I don’t like creepy laminate stocks, but it looks like that’s what’s available. I guess I’ll get a thumbhole model that isn’t so odd you can’t use it for hunting. I need the extra weight, and I need something I can feel in my hands.

The .308 guy said my bipod was too tall, and he was right. My rest is too low for the Savage, and the bipod I bought is a little too high. Guess I better head back to Bass.

I’m glad I got the Savage. In a month or two, I may actually be able to shoot well.

Before Barack and the AHSA Repeal the Second Amendment

Time to blog my latest range trip.

My rifle rest was bumming me out. It was too low. It was hard to get in position behind it. So I bought a Caldwell swiveling bipod at Bass Pro. It’s taller than a rest. Yesterday I took it to the range:

I put up a 5″ bullseye and a few small black pasters, and I sighted the rifle in on one of the pasters. Then I shot these rounds:

I felt pretty good about that. I shot a few more pasters, but I am too lazy to put them all up. Here are 5 shots that went well:

The impression the gun gives me is that it will stay inside the paster all day, if I shoot it right. I believe the shots that are off the black were wrecked by bad trigger pulls. Still, the results are good. I could hunt rats with this thing at a hundred yards.

Final bullseye:

That’s a whole lot better than I did with my other rifles.

It’s hard to get a consistent grip on the stock of this gun, behind the trigger. That part of the stock is very horizontal, and it’s thin, and the bumps and depressions don’t match up well with my hand. It’s a little frustrating. A target grip would be better, but I would prefer not to go with a stock that isn’t practical for hunting and carrying.

I’m not sure where my left hand is supposed to grab the stock; the only clear area is behind the bipod.

It seems like struggling with a rifle’s trigger pull makes for good pistol shooting. I took out the SW1911 and shot this group of 25 rounds at 7 yards:

I went back to 50 feet, and things kind of went to hell, but I stayed in the black.

I have no problem holding the scope’s crosshairs on the center of the target, so I assume my problems are in the way I pull the trigger. Nonetheless, this is much better than my previous efforts. It’s great to have an accurate rifle I can shoot cheaply, with so little recoil I don’t mind shooting a hundred rounds in a day.

There was a guy to my left, shooting a Savage in a bigger caliber. It seemed like he was putting his shots very nearly through the same hole, over and over. But he had some sort of a sled under his gun, with the stock supported at both ends.

It’s too bad the .17 HMR doesn’t have open sights. I guess if I want to learn to shoot with open sights, I’ll need another Savage.

Tips on consistency will be welcomed.

It’s a bummer, seeing Obama bounce in the polls. He’s a gun-grabber from way back. He thought the DC gun ban was just great, and he is endorsed by a fraudulent organization that supports gun control, yet masquerades as a gun rights outfit. I’m referring to the American Hunters and Shooters Organization (AHSA). If you’ve sent money to these people, and you thought they were going to fight for your rights, you got ripped off. It’s a disgusting and deceptive front for far-left gun-haters. It’s as if the Nazis launched an organization and pretended it was dedicated to the protection of Jews. Don’t fall for it.

I’m enjoying my civil right to firearm ownership now; next year, it may be dismantled. If you’ve been thinking about taking up shooting, but you’re dragging your feet, let the polls be a warning to you. Get a move on.

Like Having a Private Range

I just got back from the range. Wednesdays RULE. There were like three people there, and I managed steal a pile of .45 brass. I take it right out of the dustpan things they use to sweep it up. They owe it to me. I pay their bills, and I’ve left lots of brass on previous outings.

I am too pooped to edit photos right now. Maybe I’ll write it up tomorrow.

The bipod was a great idea. I’m not in love with the gun’s stock, though. The pistol-grip part of it is too horizontal, so it’s hard to get a consistent position on it. I much prefer the weird PSL grip.

I had the humiliating experience of shooting my SW1911 next to a guy who shot nearly as well at 75 feet as I do at 50. Thank God he left.

Unfortunately, while I was shooting, our financial institutions all disintegrated. That was bad.

Now I Can Miss the Bullseye at a More Convenient Time

I can never figure out what the hours are at the local gun range, because they change them all the time, and they never update their signs or website. You pretty much have to drive out there and hope it’s open.

Today I NAILED them. I called up, and it turns out they open at 9 a.m. on Wednesdays. That’s way better than what I’m used to. I’ve been going on Thursdays, and on that day, they open at 1 p.m.

Guess where I’m going right now? No more Thursdays for me.

Apologies to Paul Harvey

I have done what I needed to do. I hit Bass Pro and got me a bipod.

I hope I got the right one. They had three that were more or less interchangeable. Two from Shooters Ridge, and one from Caldwell. The Caldwell pivots vertically and horizontally, and the equivalent Shooters Ridge bipod was thirty bucks more, so I took a chance. My other Caldwell stuff is okay, so why not?

I stuck it on the Savage. It was so easy, I had it on the gun before I could bother to look for instructions. You clamp it onto the forward sling stud. There’s another stud on the bipod itself. That’s where you reattach your sling. The legs telescope, and they lock in place with thingamigs that tighten. Looks good.

I set it up on a table and looked through the scope. Man, what a difference. The position is much more natural.

I remain utterly confused by the exceedingly low height of most gun rests. I think you would have to be about five feet tall in order to get behind one comfortably.

Will it be as accurate as the rest? Yes. I’m pretty sure. The rest may be more solid, but that advantage is cancelled by the inevitable shaking you get when you strain to get low enough to put your sights on target.

I extended the legs to their maximum length. Felt fine. I contracted them to their shortest length. Still fine. Apparently anything more than two inches taller than my rest will work. Someone help me understand why gun rests are so short. I raise the little shafty thing as high as it will go. I put the pointy spikes on it, so that raises it another half-inch. Something is screwy. I should fasten it to an inch-thick plywood base and attach the spikes to that.

There is no way I can avoid moving my weekly range trip to Wednesday. I can’t stand the suspense.

I Have my Priorities

I am a degenerate. Our financial institutions are hurtling down the toilet, we have a pivotal election in about seven weeks, and all I can think about is my next trip to the gun range. I missed several outings in a row. Then I showed up with my new .17 HMR rifle, and finally, rifle shooting was nearly everything it was supposed to be. How long have I been trying to learn to shoot rifles? Almost three years? Finally, I have my chance. I was so stupid, not taking this route in the first place. Learn from my mistake. If you want to learn how to use a rifle, buy a shiny new Savage in a tame caliber, put a scope on it, and head for the range. You can buy milsurps and black rifles later, when you know what you’re doing.

With the strap, scope, and rings, this thing cost about what a Glock costs. Maybe less. That’s a deal, no matter how you look at it.

The one thing that still bothers me is the height of the rest. It makes it impossible to hold the gun on target without straining. I have to spread my elbows way out, to get low enough. I have to bend my neck back. Difficult. Maybe I’ll try a bipod this week. I don’t understand how anyone can be comfortable with a rest that short, but they seem standard at the range. I feel like a clown at the circus, riding a bike with three-inch wheels. To shoot in comfort, I’ll need a bipod maybe a foot high. I think the local Bass has one.

I don’t know why I shot so badly with the 27-2 last week. I’m going to look into a weaker spring. I don’t know why the spring that came with the gun is so stiff. Must be a safety feature, to keep cops from shooting themselves in the leg. The extra-wide trigger is odd, too. I wonder if that throws things off.

Last night, I wrote about my cunning plan: I want to use a Sonicare toothbrush to clean guns. A reader outdid me, saying they should make barrel brushes to fit Sonicare handles. That’s genius. I doubt it would work for a rifle, but most pistols have barrels under five inches long. I think a Sonicare has the horsepower to handle that.

I checked the web to see if anyone had already tried it, but I couldn’t find anything.

I guess there is no reason why I couldn’t cut up a Sonicare head and mate it to the end of a cleaning rod, so brushes would fit it. It would probably only work with plastic bristles, since metal brushes are so hard to move inside a barrel.

For me, most of the real suffering comes when it’s time to clean around the chamber. I end up using Q-Tips, which don’t work all that well. A tiny toothbrush head would get in there real good.

I must be the only person on earth who would search Ebay for used electric toothbrushes. I suppose I could use my own toothbrush handle, replacing the head when I clean guns.

My father thinks that in the long view, the US is slowly headed for pure socialism. I hope that’s not true. Socialism inevitably brings about totalitarianism. When that happens, forget about all the little pleasures that make American life enjoyable. Forget fun vehicles. Forget second homes and boats. Forget private planes. And most of all, forget your guns. The Mommy Dearest state won’t want you to hurt yourself or anyone else with a mean old gun. She’ll take them away and melt them down and make something useful out of them. Like a statue of Bill Ayres.

I don’t want to be poor and live in a cramped, state-funded apartment and shop at a grocery store that never has what I want. I don’t want to wait in line for shoes and toilet paper. I don’t want to be told I can’t have medical procedures because they’re too expensive. And I don’t want to be threatened with jail when I complain about the government. Socialism? You can have it. If it’s really in our future, the lucky people are the ones who are already old. They got to enjoy fast cars, big houses, sane gun laws, freedom of religion, and freedom of speech for decades. Regardless of what happens now, there is a limit to the overall damage a socialist state can do to their lives.

Life in America is so beautiful. We are so blessed. The mere thought that true socialism could be on the way only makes me appreciate our way of life more. It makes me conscious that I have to savor every second. Some day the political descendants of Barack Obama and Al Franken may be putting us in camps or shooting us as we stand in ditches. If a time like that comes, I’ll want to know I enjoyed life when I could.

Thursday is Range Day, but I may lose control and go on Wednesday. Wonder if I can find a way to transport a rifle on a Harley.

More Power!

My dentist keeps giving me toothbrushes. I don’t use them. I have a Sonicare. So I dedicated the toothbrushes to gun cleaning.

Yesterday I got a weird idea. What if I dedicated my ancient Sonicare to gun cleaning? I’ll bet it would make short work of powder deposits! Has anyone tried this?

Also posted at the forum.

Savage Rocks

I just got back from the range. I shot 100 rounds from the .17 HMR, 50 from the S&W 27-2 with new Pachmayr grips, and 50 from the SW1911. What a day.

I started with the target at 50 yards, and the first shot hit the paper. From then on, it was a simple matter of adjusting the scope. This is about 15 shots, I think:

The first shot is below the frame. You can already see how easy this gun is to shoot. Here’s the second 50-yard group:

The bullets started going through the same hole. It was clear that shooting at 50 yards was a complete waste of time, so I stopped and moved back. Here’s what happened as I sighted the scope in and tried to figure out what I was doing:

I had some trouble getting comfortable and finding the right place to put my right hand. When I grip the gun naturally, my finger contacts the trigger up by the stock, which is no good, so I had to keep moving it down. And I had problems figuring out where to put my cheek; it made the optics seem all wobbly. Finally I developed a little bit of a routine, but not before this happened:

Am I complaining? No. That’s a small target. The group is smaller than a tennis ball. By my standards, that is good shooting.

I started to get it together on the third group. You can see the shots glomming into several distinct areas. The central area, which is where they went when I did things right, and then the other areas, where they went when I did stupid things:

I still feel uncomfortable with my shooting rest. It’s too damned low. I don’t understand how anyone can be comfortable with a rest less than ten inches high. Maybe I should get a tall bipod. And I see what Chris Byrne was talking about, when he said target stocks make for better geometry. But I think this one will be okay once I get used to it. I think the scope is too far back; he mentioned that, too. When my eye is too close to the rear lens, the optical sweet spot gets small and wanders around, making it hard to center the target.

I ordered Pachmayr grips for my Smith & Wesson 27-2, so I decided to shoot it today. The results were horrendous. I think the heavy spring may be part of the problem. Also, after my long layoff, I just plain forgot how to hold the grip:

That was humiliating. So I took out the SW1911 to see if my problem extended to all pistols. I shot considerably better, so I didn’t feel the need to seek therapy.

Here’s the rifle on the rest:

I highly recommend the Savage Mark II .17 HMR rifles. This thing shoots itself, and it was cheap. The 14 power Burris Fullfield II scope is great. I’m glad I didn’t go smaller. At a hundred yards, I can see the holes without a spotting scope.

Fantastic day.

Wonder How it Would Taste on Toast

Based on advice from gun people, I took the Savage apart, blasted the metal parts with carb cleaner, and applied Eezox. And I cleaned the barrel with a Boresnake, while the barrel was wet with Eezox. We’ll see if it does anything.

I think I goofed by hosing the trigger mechanism with carb cleaner. It has some kind of thick grease on the spring. But since the carb cleaner didn’t do much to remove it, I suppose I’m okay.

I was not sure how much Eezox to apply. I sprayed the gun liberally and then wiped it until there was only a thin film. Now I’m letting everything dry.

Sound good?

Success

I only have one part left over! Doesn’t look too important.