Posted on 09/23/2009 6:19:16 AM PDT by HairOfTheDog
Welcome to The Hobbit Hole!
Oh, no, I hope you didn't either. Cash for clunker appliances doesn't start until March....
I had to drive up to The Store in Raytown for turkey legs, and they were out of turkey legs, so I bought turkey wings instead. Got 15.4 oz of meat out of two wings, but what a mess!
We looked out this morning to see that the snowplows had been by and piled more snow on our corner. It's a good six feet high here, but close to seven feet high one block up the street. It's going to be really interesting when it all starts to melt. LSA
Well, so long as they tried their level best, that’s all anyone can ask.
“Never been a horse that couldn’t rode,
Never been a cowboy that couldn’t throwed”
The weatherguy is showing pictures of ‘frozen bubbles’. That might be something for the young ‘uns to try.
Lee factory crimp die is a well worth addition to the tool kit.
The Gorebal Warming situation in central Florida is getting intense. To celebrate the start of the second straight week of temperatures getting below freezing nearly every night, we had snow flurries this am. Not why folks live here.
First, a new wrinkle for carrying and using a rifle, something to compete with the now-popular "gangsta grip". It's the Magpul AFG Angled Fore Grip, and I bought one for evaluation.
It's intended to mount on the bottom rail of a tactical rifle, or a shotgun, if it has a rail. Magpul claims all sorts of ergonomic advantages by keeping the arm and hand in a more normal position, and they may be right. And before Squantos asks, BATFE has already ruled that this, and the FAB "potato grip", or even a tiny handstop is a "vertical grip" when attached to a handgun.
Here's one illustration of how it can be installed, and used.
Unless they're using some new tactical fad that I'm unaware of, having my left arm fully extended and my right arm pulled up to my chest doesn't look to cool or comfortable. So this is how I'm trying it out on my Sig 556:
I have noticed that my left hand is less stressed and things seem to feel better. I also don't clench up my muscles are much as when I'd take a death-grip on the vertical grip. The vertical grip was handy for carrying, however. With the butt tucked under my shoulder, and the muzzle pointing towards the ground, the vertical handgrip made a good "T-handle" for carrying. For shooting, though, I thing this angled grip will beat both the vertical, and the "bare" forend for comfort.
Here's a closer view, with the flashlight repositioned so I can work it with my left forefinger.
Based on my initial results, I've ordered three more angled grips, so I have a number of GG&G gangsta grips that I probably won't be needing. I modified a couple of them by grinding off the front and back a bit to take up only as much room as the Magpul XTM rail cover. Plus, I have a few unmodified extra ones I bought when they were on sale, for future use. Anybody is welcome to them, just by asking.
This week I finally got around to replacing the temporary Eotech holograph sight with a scope more suited for a .22 plinker than thinks it's an MP5. I found that the Leupold AR 1.5-4x20 scope is vey nice, and quite "tacticool" on these .22s. I also have one on the Colt M4-22, and another waiting for the Sig 522, if one ever shows up for sale.
There's so much eye relief at low power that I found I had to mount the scope further forward on the GSG5 than I first intended. And it seemed like every mount I had placed the scope so high it was uncomfortable to use, or so low I'd have to remove the rear sight for it to fit. Finally, I scrounged some parts from my stash, and put together the perfect mount without spending an extra cent. From left to right is my "hybrid" mount, the GG&G mount, and a genuine H&K mount designed for weapons like this.
My setup consists of Leupold 1" rings on an ARMS QD riser (which was last used with that chicom cheapie scope). It raises the scope enough that it clears the rear sight, and yet is low enough for it to be practical to see through. And I was able to mount it one "notch" further forward so I got the eye relief situation straightened out. With an Urban-ERT sling, this is the final (I think) product:
Tomorrow": unplanned gunsmithing on the CZ75, and a neat new gadget.
Good Morning Win-Mag, I can really see the advantage of the Magpull AFG on a pump shotgun. It would likely put the wrist at a more comfortable angle. How well it would work is up to others to try, can’t see adding it to the Wingmaster impressed checkered forearm. :-)
Very interesting Win-Mag - the battery is looking great, espcially the ‘MP-5’ GSG. Very nice glass you used, very nice indeed.
BTW - there was one fella with a table of Class III stuff at the MVACA show, the HK et al and the it was usually two deep in front of the table. He had the a couple of M-14s that produced ohs and ahs from those in attendance. He said he could likely get a BAR as well. Very nice shootin’ irons.
Clare flew back to S. Florida today. I think the high there wasn’t going to much higher than what WE had today!
For Battlestar Galactica fans at 9 to 11 pm tonight on SyFy the special movie Battlestar Galactica -- The Plan will be shown. It tells the story of the war from the Cylon viewpoint, featuring Dean Stockwell {Number One).
Evening LCS - Well, we haven’t seen Avatar yet but the LOTR in 3-D would be impressive. Thanks for the newz. OB & LSA
I hope it works out better than "colorization" did. This will be non-trivial if it is to work right. I hope PJ exercises more directorial integrity than George Lucas does.
My light is a combo grip and light....The Surefire M900. Works well for me ......I will have to peek at the magpul item !
http://www.johnnyego.com/firearms/ars/morears/gsbr12.jpg
Let me know how the SIG works with it closer to the mag well.
Have you tried a SIG416 yet ?
Among other goodies that arrived last week was the Kadet .22lr conversion unit for the CZ75 family of handguns. I got it from a vendor on amazon.com, and it took about three days to arrive. I mailed in my coupon for the .40S&W conversion from Sig, and the card said, "allow 6-8 weeks (months?) for delivery." I'm noticing that in an age of internet shopping, anything longer than one week for delivery seems like ages. They get their money faster, I expect to get my goodies faster.
Here's the CZ75, along with the conversion kit. Looking at it, it's definitely "old school" now, with no plastic parts except the grips. Everything else is steel. The tiny ejection port is also old school, compared to what we expect to see today.
Here it is, ready for installation. The conversion unit is all-steel, too, except for the recoil spring guide. A bit jarring to find that little piece of plastic there.
The other thing that was a bit jarring was that the barrel and main part of the slide, one fixed unit that is stationary when assembled to the frame, wouldn't fit. The arrow point to where the barrel lug was too wide to fit in the frame. I spent about 15 minutes carefully filing it down until it fit. Now I can say I have a hand-fitted Kadet conversion unit for the CZ75.
Here's the CZ75 with the Sig P229 as a comparison. Note that the Sig uses the entire aluminum slide as a recoil mass for the blowback action, while the CZ, with its all-steel construction, keeps most of the slide fixed, and uses only a "sub-slide" for recoil mass and action functioning. It looks a bit weird, but it works, at least when I cycled some dummy rounds through it.
![](http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs141.snc3/16857_269576872526_554747526_4909053_7236661_n.jpg")
However, I wasn't quite finished with the CZ75. I tried to take it apart, to put it back to 9mm, and the .22 conversion magazine wouldn't come out. I was finally able to stick a screwdriver blade between the magazine bottom and the frame, and pry it out. It came out without much effort once I had it halfway out.
I tried the 9mm magazines, and they were a bit "stiff". The other .22 mag was almost a problem, but it looks like I chose the worst magazine to work with. I took off the grips, and found a surprise inside.
The back of the magazine well is open, and has a piece of spring steel there with two creases in it to apply pressure to the back of the magazine. The one oversize mag was jammed in so tight by the spring that I almost couldn't get it out.
Then I remembered that this was part of the European philosophy that magazines should never drop free, even when empty. You have to be made to save them, no matter how hot the firefight. The spring was held in by two pins, which were easily removed thanks to my collection of punches.
Now even empty 9mm mags drop freely, while the .22s, being a bit oversize, still need to be pulled out, but with nowhere near the effort I had before. I guess this can all be chalked up to "cultural differences" that I never experienced before. I need to check the current CZ product line, and see if they still do this. My guess is no, because this is not a big positive for the American market.
This supplement ran on longer than I expected, so I'll save the rest for next week. I have a new gunsmithing gizmo, and I look forward to getting another 500 rounds of .40S&W and .357Sig, although the UPS driver won't be too pleased.
If you mean Sig 516, no, I just read the cover story in this month's American Rifleman. Lots of new gas-piston M16 clones in that issue, I think I saw four different ads for other brands, too.
If I was starting out with an M4-type weapon for the first time, that Sig 516 would get a good looking at. But by now I qualify as "old school" as far as M16-type weapons go.
I know it's heresy (like dissing John M. Browning), but one thing I like about the old gas-tube M16 is there is a smaller parts count, and you don't have all those large moving parts above or below the barrel. All movement is concentric with the centerline of the bore.
I've had no problems with magazines using the Magpul angled hand guard. They even say it won't interfere with AK47-types, where you have to rock that big banana mag back into place to seat it. The drop-down pistol type mag mechanism of the M16 has its advantages, IMHO.
No luck with the washer above freezing. Time to call the Maytag Repairman.
Enjoying those reports very much... :-)
I am not familiar with Cameron’’s technology, so don’t know how easily retrofitting old films would work.
Dang, that's too bad. Who would have thunk it?
Time to call the Maytag Repairman.
At least, you'll make someone's day less lonesome.
LSA
It’s not dead yet...it’s getting better.
Apparently it takes more than 2 days to thaw out.
Super news!
Did you happen to see the weather report that our highs are 19+ degrees below normal highs, and our lows are 15+ degrees below normal lows? I'm gonna hate to see our gas bill.
How did your plants do in the sunroom during the great freeze?
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