Meanwhile back in Finland...

[Texasproud]

Start testing with Mk262 Mod 1 77gr 5.56 it’s an old reliable. Black Hills has an updated round polymer tipped and improved ballistic coefficient you might want to look at.

[AK-Gunner]

Start testing with Mk262 Mod 1 77gr 5.56 it’s an old reliable. Black Hills has an updated round polymer tipped and improved ballistic coefficient you might want to look at.

An excellent suggestion Tex: 1/7" twist plus relatively short barrel = heavy (long) bullets rule, and max BC is always a friend of a long range guy. Have to load my own, I don't think I can find any factory ammo with those specs from Finland.(*)


About ranges, bought myself a while ago a new laser rangefinder to accompany (or even to replace if it won't break during the break in period, pun intented) my trusty old Nikon LRF I've been carrying with me around the globe for the last 20 + years and some of you guys saw me use last year during my visit there.



The new one is HALO Optics XLR1500 and as the name suggests it's outer limit is 1500 yards/1400 meters on a reflective material vs. Nikon's 800 meters nominal, but 998 meters actual tested by me, it is very small, almost too small to hold steady and weighs one third of the Nikon's bulk AND what is missing from the Nikon but is very important: using the angle mode, it doesn't just show you the angle, but it understands Pythagorean theorem and calculates the length of the adjacent side of the right triangle i.e. parallel to earth range when shooting with positive or negative angles. As those who are familiar with shooting in angels know, the actual up or down range is more or less useless information unless you use it to calculate the parallel to earth range which is the range you use for your firing solution.

This means, you don't have to have an angle meter attached to your rifle, nor you need to manually calculate the range correction using your cosine cheat sheet anymore. Better have those available though and know how to operate manually, this thingy runs on a CR2 lithium-ion battery, so as such a high tech equipment it may just die on you at the worst possible moment. Two is one, one is none as always...

What this product doesn't have, but the old Nikon does, is the Rain mode which turns down sensor sensitivity, very useful during rain and foggy weather so you won't get any ghost readings from between you and the actual mark and the >150m mode, i.e. any reading under 150 meters is ignored, so you can operate from inside the bush when ranging further away targets. The latter mode is extremely useful during military ops. So what did I say about two and one? Better drag along both just to be sure...


It will take a lot more testing in the field conditions until I can give my thumbs up or down, just wanted to release sort of a teaser before the actual verdict, because the product seems to be very interesting




(*) just checked: GGG brand Mk262 clone with 77gr Sierra Match King is available, one euro a pop... Still, better cook my own...

[AK-Gunner]

Next evolution will be a bipod (don't have a M-LOK adapter for it until tomorrow)...

In the end, I ended up with buying a whole new bipod, an M-LOK version of the UTG Recon 360. Pretty solid construction thus a bit on the heavy side, but I do like its tension adjustable tilt and 360 degree swivel feature.






The tension lever moves a bit too far to the side hindering the movement of a leg when the lever is fully engaged, but I'll figure out how to adjust its zero point. Other than that, the product seems to be perfect for the job.

[AK-Gunner]

Success. Everybody loves success stories. That's why the Internet is filled with real and fabricated moments of perfection. A phenomenon especially withing the shooting and even more so within the 'TactiCool' circles, filming dozens of takes and sharing that one perfect Draw the pistol and take a head shot in 100 meters moment with the world. That's fun and OK as long as you don't claim 100% repeatability..unless you really can pull it off. Most people can't, I know Jerry can.

This isn't one of them, but just a quick glimpse on my neverending path to be a better shot.


Today I was pushing the envelope with a basic drill of draw and shoot two rounds on the target at 15 meters. Why not shoot all A-sector hits the whole day, since I can do it just like anybody else with a decent time of training under their belts? That kind of training is important when periodically reminding your body of the correct movements and execution of the handling your firearm, but it doesn't really make you any faster nor efficient, it's meant to keep you on a certain level of proficiency and that's just fine as such.

Therefore instead of always just trying to shoot perfect hits, I like to break outside my comfort zone so much that I start failing to be 'perfect' and given it the time and effort, the learning curve will rise again bit by a bit. Keeping track of your results is also important, then it's science, not just mindless popping off rounds at the general direction of the target. Even with a pistol it's all about the DOPE, but on a smaller scale than with a rifle.


106 shots fired today, 100% on the target, a bit under 70% A-hits with the drill executed 'way too fast and dialing back a bit'.

Here, today's honest 'unsuccessful-looking' photo of a target perforated mostly here and there




P.S: a friend of mine who saw this photo asked me "Why is your target resting on lengths of riot control fence?" I was amazed: "Don't you have any means of crowd control at your home? For real?"

Some people just don't know how to prep...

Oh another P.S: as you might have guessed, the G-19 has been a 100% posterboy of the slogan Glock Perfection since I managed to cure its imperfections, still zero malfunctions. Me very happy!

[AK-Gunner]

Last weekend: at pistol and rifle range just a few clicks from the Soviet Russian border in the south western Finland.Even if I live "far away" from the soviet land border, the new freeways make sure the Crazy Ivan is just a three hour drive away from my house. But it was well worth the drive, an excellent session with a select group of extraordinary people.

Since everybody there were more or even more camera shy, here's the FN-SCAR just about to do what it does the best: be reliably accurate.



....just remember when shooting multiple targets: reeeeee-set the trigger between the shots to avoid embarrassing failures to send the bullet.

I had my XM177E1 clone with me just to demonstrate the potential of a PDW weapon by plinking 6" plates at 100 meters with those A1 irons only. "The bullet knows how to fly pretty darn far even if it's shot out of a short carbine. All you have to do is to point the weapon at the target the moment the bullet exits the barrel..."



The After Range facilities by a lake were nice and comfy and I was the chef of the evening: sautéed reindeer with bacon and red onion fried in unhealthy quantity of butter, cooked until tender in cranberry flavoured gin long drink, consommé and some red wine, seasoned with salt, pepper, smoked paprika powder and my secret recipe of dried herbs with creamy potatoes on the side. And I thought I made way too much food, nope...






As you may have noticed, I like to do things myself, like fixing things that need to be fixed. Like my bakkie's daytime running light relay. Use of some kind of headlights is mandatory in cars regardless of the time of day here in Finland, thus practically every car here has got some kind of a mysterious DRL circuit making sure the lights are turned on when you start the car. And Nissans are infamously one-eyed when you see them in the daytime traffic.

And so was my bakkie when I bought it, the passenger side light didn't turn on automatically, but when you turned the light switch all the way to the full-on, both headlights were working normally. So it's got to be the DRL relay box. I did check its price just to make sure if it's not worth the effort of fixing the thing myself, but the cheapest price was just under 500 Euros. Just a bit under R10k. A bit stiff... How about second hand parts? Still 100 Euros, R2k with no guarantee. No deal, better open up the thing and check what's in there anyways. But first I had to find the bloody thing, took me a while to identify which box I should break open...

...and here it is freshly removed from the engine room. This little plastic box with a few relays R10k? That's the price of a second hand AK plus a .38 revolver combined back here...




So I broke it open and noticed heat marks on the PCB. I soldered the overheated relay off the board and checked its function: works like a charm. The culprit must be a broken solder joint. The same problem was with the speedometer which I already disassembled and re-soldered before this fix.




After re-soldering the whole circuit I installed the relay box back in its place, connected the harness and what do you know, R10k saved.






Mission accomplished



An old vehicle is usually full of extra wiring, broken connectors, mystery switches and relays doing nothing and Nostromo hasn't been an exception. I had to change the broken tail light assemblies and I did discover something reminding me of an IED with a confusing array of wires going back and forth most of which don't really do anything purposeful but are there just to make the whole thing more less incomprehensible.

Before taking this photo I had already removed a fistful of wiring. the one connector not connected to anywhere was live with 12V. A burned up bakkie incident waiting to happen...



Now this looks much better:




With these extra connections there are naturally extra holes here and there, so one has to first cover the old ones, then drill new ones so you could install your switches like for the extra high beams and fog lights. Don't have the fog lights yet, but better install all the wiring and switches so you don't have to rip everything apart over and over again...








Now this is all done, wiring and switches and relays ready, just bolt on LED beams all over the bakkie for 360 degrees of artificial daylight:




Oh, almost forgot my Sound-Like-A-Broken-Record routine: still zero malfunctions with my G19

[AK-Gunner]

OK, I admit: I'm a sucker for old school vintage guns and accessories. There, now you know it if it wasn't obvious from my previous posts

I've been looking for the original Tyler T-Grip for my S&W Model 19-3 Combat magnum so I could use the small printing Magna stocks I've had for years in my drawer. I very much dislike the feel of rubber on a handgun and it has proved to be quite challenging to find proper carry gun stocks for a K-frame square butt revolver, hence the Tyler T-Grip is a viable option, not less for the aesthetic's sake... alas after they went out of fashion, the Tyler has become more or less a moon rock here in Finland.

Until a few months ago. I did spy a post on a certain classifieds site and started the bargain. It was a hard bargain since the seller knows the facts on demand and supply with this particular product and this exact one is in NIB condition, from the original manufacturer, thus the quality is impeccable. In the end I got the price down about a fourth and now it's mine, all mine........





Yes. I know, but I needed it... Really...

[Katlagter]

There's something about a revolver ... :) A grip filler makes all the difference with compact stocks. Years ago I could not find a Tyler T-Grip for my Charter Arms snubby and settled for the Pachmayr version. Not quite the same, but it works well and made all the difference in controllability. I often carry the Charter Arms in a pocket, where sticky rubber grips would be a problem. Tyler T-Grips are still being made, but it's a hassle to get in South Africa, so I'm planning to make a grip filler from blackwood for a S&W Victory .38S&W that I recently bought at an auction.

[StanCT]

Although I can appreciate the beauty of a revolver, the rollie bug has never seemed to have bitten me ... and who knows, maybe that's a good thing.

[Tayls]

Nice job with the light on the bakkie.

Please keep us posted re the G19 (I am a lover of this weapon myself, although the Gen 4 version!)

[Texasproud]

That is a sweet looking S&W 19. My 4” .357 is a S&W 686 L frame, the only K frame .357 I have is a 3” Model 65 with Eagle grips. S.L.Varient speed loaders for all of them. Probably the best ever made.