Posted on 01/24/2009 6:10:23 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Gun sellers have been buzzing with activity lately as people have been stocking up in anticipation of what our new president might try to do to their right to own guns. One wag even named Obama Gun salesman of the year. (Dang, I wish I had thought of that.)
Mr. Obama generated a great deal of anxiety as he tried to convince gun owners to believe what he said not what he did.
Anyway, there were a lot of new guns under the Christmas tree last year. And if you got a new rifle, or even if you've had one a while, there's a program touring the country that looks interesting. It's the Appleseed Project, and here's what their website says:
The Appleseed Program is designed to take you from being a simple rifle owner to being a true rifleman. All throughout American history, the rifleman has been defined as a marksman capable of hitting a man-sized target from 500 yards away no ifs, ands or buts about it. This 500-yard range is traditionally known as "the rifleman's quarter-mile;" a rifleman can hit just about any target he can see. This skill was particularly evident in the birth of our country, and was the difference in winning the Revolutionary War.
The program is coming to West Texas, and the first one is in just a few weeks. Here's a link to the PDF Flier for the event on February 21-22, 2009, at the Midland Shooters Association rifle range. And here's the price list. (Women, military and kids free!) More detailed information can be found here.
Actually, there are things going on at the range almost every weekend. For example, the learned and likable John Krenik puts on a High Power Rifle Match on the first Saturday of each month. Check out the photos. Many of the participants use AR-15s, and it's a great way to practice and compete with friends.
So unwrap that new gun or clean up the old one and head for the range. Don't be like me and let your shooting skills depreciate. You have to practice to get good, and you have to practice to stay good.
I can believe that. Every shop I knew of couldn't get AR15s. One store I checked with told me he was bout to get in a shipment soon and to check back with him in a week. A week later I called him, and he had got in his shipment and he had one left. I immediately went to his shop and got it. My background check was delayed, so I left to come back later. When I got back, the gun dealer said that three people showed up wanting to buy my rifle and he had to turn them away. He said that one of them hung around the shop for a few minutes in case my background check failed. lol
It’s reloaders bench in Mt Juliet, TN (I don’t believe they have a website but may take orders over the phone). They had plenty of cases on the floor last week.
Sorry, Reloaders Bench Mt Juliet, TN
intersting. those muzzle velocities are amazing. surprised that the metalurgy of the day would support that much pressure.
speaking of rainbows, i had a barrett 50cal for a bit. sighted at 2000m. i dont remember the ballistics exactly but i want to say the drop was like 14 feet or something. now thats a rainbow. course when it arrived it definately had something to say.
still could punch hole in 1 in steel plate.
I don't understand the NRA on that point, either, but then, neither can I fathom GOA's "research" into Fred Thompson's legislative record back during the primaries.
It probably didn't end up mattering too much, but it was the sort of hatchet job that I'd expect from Sarah Brady, not a purportedly pro-gun organization. Thompson may not have been a great candidate, but we ended up with worse. GOA did its best to run roughshod over the only candidate with the balls to actually include gun shows in his campaign stops, and for that Larry Pratt can pack sand. IMHO.
Wow! That's a tall order. And a fine one. But, most combat takes place within 100 yards. So, I say, unless you're training for sniper, just practice and, "Be one with your gun".
Actually hitting a man sized target from 500 yards is easy, doing it consistently is hard. Every Marine A Rifleman.
I'll have to find a 500 yd. range and give it a try.
Heller's own attorney argued for a narrow view. But as I read the GOA brief, they were merely trying to counter the Solicitor General's view that a decision for Heller would invalidate all current laws, while at the same time pointing out that Congress has no power to pass such laws, such as against particularly dangerous weapons, in the first place, because they do not have the general police power.
Mainly though they just argued for the Court doing what it would do anyway, rule only on the case before it, without consideration of other laws, be they federal or local.
Remember they were really long barrels. It wasn't so much high pressure as lower pressure being exerced for a longer time/distance. I think the powder was burning, at least a bit of it, as the ball exited the muzzle. Certainly they weren't called "smokepoles" for nothing. During the civil war, when they were still using muzzle loading blackpowder rifles, obscuration was a real problem, even not considering the contribution of (blackpowder) cannon to the affair.
Pretty difficult for most folks to find a 500 yard range to shoot at. Most are 100 yards, a few are 200 or 300. I suppose if you live near a National Forest you could set up your own, if the terrain allowed.
I was at the SHOT Show in Orlando last week. One example: DPMS Panther is making 10K AR’s a month, and are backordered a year.
The .308 out of the M1A (168 hpbt) comes out at 2600 fps
Shooting at a 1000 yd black disk target, the bullet actually will drop 19 ft and some inches. But guess what, it is done all the time. The speed, however, will in fact decrease tremendously, hence smaller wind drifts multiply the travel, hence the early lead balls did in fact require much more knowledge of wind patterns and effect on travel.
If you could send me a link, I'd be greatly interested. Sometimes, I teach American History. Can think of more than a few fellow history teachers who might enjoy it as well.
Amen! - The NRA is a phony elitist club, that has given its blessing to numerous gun-grabber laws.
That was SOP in the Marine Corps. We had to qualify at 200, 300 and 500 meters or yards, depending on the range.
They breaches where really heavy. Of course you couldn't get too much pressure, because of the touch hole. The "ignition" was loose powder in a pan, lit off by a flint on the lock, thus "flintlock".
And as I said, long
It does make range estimation more critical. The more "rainbow like" the trajectory is, the more sensitive the accuracy is to range estimation.
that is why the laser range finder is so cool. Don’t leave home without it.
oh, and unfortunately it is not a rainbow, but a parabola, easy at first, but drops off a cliff at the other end.
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