Sunday, September 07, 2008

Range Thoughts...

1) When you grab a freezer bag full of 10mm moon clips and your handy de-mooner, it helps to actually put them in your range bag rather than leaving them lying in the attic. ~100 rounds of 10mm doesn't sound like much until you have to pop them in and out of your single moon clip with your fingers.

2) Georgia Arms 180gr 10mm @ 1100fps is pretty zippy stuff when fired in a Smith & Wesson revolver with no moving action bits to spread the recoil impulse over time. With a 3" barrel, and recoiling against a standing breech, there's a lot more sturm und drang than the same load fired from a 5" Colt Delta Elite. The stuff I had was actually Georgia Arms commercial reloads, rather than new-manufactured stuff. I actually encountered one round with a visible crack in the case. Luckily I caught it as I was loading the clip. I've never had a problem with Georgia Arms ammo over the fourteen or so years I've been a customer, so keep an eye on the ammo you use, no matter where you get it from; even the big companies can occasionally split a case mouth or seat a primer wrong. (Also, if shooting 10mm reloads, bear in mind that the round was, statistically at least, likely fired from a Glock, which can be a warning sign in a high-pressure round like the Big Ten.)

3) Even with Mag-Na-Porting and fairly moderate MagTech 240gr JSP ammo, a 3" S&W 629 can be a flinch-inducer. Maybe save that 'til the end of the range session...

4) Did you practice strong-hand only and weak-hand only drills today? If your gun malfed, did you practice clearing the malf rapidly and finishing the string of fire, or did you stare at the jam like a duck in thunder before clearing it?


Happy shooting!

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey, at least you didn't bend your one moon clip. Sounds like you've got good technique.

Thanks for posting about checking ammo before shooting. The Sturm und Drang of a case letting go is a real attention getter on the firing line!

By the grace of God, I've never had a gun blow up on me, but I've seen some results. When a blow up happens, everyone around knows something ain't right. The fortunate folks are the ones who just have a trip to a gunsmith, and not an emergency room!

Speaking of revolvers, I've found a hot dog does wonders to explain why folks should keep their bits away from the cylinder gap when firing. Just a thought.

Anonymous said...

You said de-mooner. That was cool. Hehe.

Somerled said...

I did that once with a S&W 25-2 and it sure can bugger up a thumb nail. I had a bruise visible under what I managed to save from clipping for a week or so.

Enjoy the fresh-as-a-mountain-spring Hoppe's aroma and cleaning the Nag-Na-Port vents. Don't forget to brush your extractors!

Less said...

I love .22 conversions kits on my glocks as the .22 usually jams in some catastrophic fashion over the course of a match requiring malf clearance on the move...

Mine likes to fail to extract resulting in double feed stoppage.

don't have to worry much about flinching though...

Tam said...

That's what I've told friends I like about my Ceiner top end for my 1911. Unless I deliberately set up malf drills in my CCW guns, I won't get to practice them. If I get the Ceiner good and dirty, I should get an FTE or FTF once a mag, which is good practice until I clean it again.

It also makes working on my trigger squeeze easier, since the recoil of the .45 will mask the actual feel of the trigger breaking, while with the .22 top end, you can actually feel the lockwork do its thing.

NotClauswitz said...

10-round ProMags from Midway in an M1 Carbine are the guar-ran-teed way to practice constant malf drills. No flinch however.

Anonymous said...

"Did you practice strong-hand only and weak-hand only drills today?"

I always end up running out of ammo when I get to that point.

Mental Note: Bring lots of ammo!

Ken said...

So is one staring at the jam the way a duck in thunder might stare at a jam, or staring at the jam as if one were staring at a duck in thunder? Do ducks in thunder do something unusual (other than stare at jammed handguns)?

This message is brought to you by the Coalition of the Annoyingly Literal-Minded (for certain values of "minded").

Will Brown said...

Quack!

Anonymous said...

I had lots of practice with clearing malfunctions this weekend.

I am so pissed at my magazines right now. So pissed.

Anonymous said...

The beauty of practicing with a .22, either top end conversion or a dedicated .22 pistol like the Ruger Mark III I use, is that you always have plenty of ammo for practicing strong-hand weak-hand only shooting. Then you only need a mag or two for recoil work.

Less said...

'Bout the ceiner - I've heard a lot of gripes about customer service/shoddy parts... Is there any credence to that?

'bout plenty ammo - I'll "second the motion" as I shot ~300 rounds yesterday! ~60 for the match and 200+ on practice!!

I'm practicing to beat Caleb on pins/plates one of these days!!

;)

Tam said...

Let's just say that service means dealing with Mr. Ceiner who is, to put it as charitably as possible, not a people person.

On the other hand, my Ceiner kit has never needed service in the five years or so that I've owned it. In that five years it has had a bazillion rounds run through it. It will be receiving its first cleaning at my hands today.

Irishdoh said...

When I first read this post, I read #3 as "til the end of the range season", and my first thought was "range season ends?"

I must slow down and take my time reading these posts. After all, I am paid by the hour. Ooops, here comes the boss...

Anonymous said...

I have the Kimber conversion, and it's flawless in operation and accuracy. I joke that now I have a .22 with a .45 conversion. Kimber's CSRs are great, though they don't cut much slack. When ordering a spring follower for the .22 her words were, I believe"You launched it didn't you!?" (Which I had, right into the ivy) She followed up with an "Alright, first one's on the house I guess." Great weapons, and a good company.

Tam said...

Kimber does have great customer service; I've never had a complaint dealing with them as a retailer or as a private shooter.

Their .22 top ends are Ceiner-like enough that I've often wondered where they were actually made. (And even if they were made by Ceiner, the extra couple of bucks for the Kimber would be worth it for not having to deal with J.A.C. if something busted.)