The Hobbit Hole XXXVIII - There and Back Again!

[300winmag]

I’ll be gettin’ an Ergo...

One of the add-ons to Murphy's Laws says, "If it looks dumb, but it works, it's not really dumb". The Ergo sure looks dumb, and I should know, since I was an early implementer. :)

[300winmag]

Sorry for the late, late, LATE Saturday Night Gun Pron, but this weekend had several minor, and one major, holiday stacked from Friday to Sunday. Friday was adopted for the unofficial commemoration of Brothers Day, where current and former military slap each other on the back, and tell improbable stories that only someone else who served could appreciate.

Friday was also a moderately-publicized Peace Officer Memorial Day. I saw no flesh-and-blood peace officers I could personally thank, so I contributed a few "likes" on Facebook instead. It's a tough job that I could no longer even attempt to do, due to the principle of "soldiers make bad police, police make bad soldiers".

Sunday, May 17, is still Armed Forces Day, even though there was no acknowledgement from the White House. Although there was an executive tweet from the White House proclaiming today to also be "National GLBT.... Appreciation Day". That one sort of snuck up on me, but I'm sure it will be at least up to the status of Cinco de Mayo by next year.

So how could I commemorate the last-minute observation of expressing thanks for our military, peace officers, and our unofficial "band of brothers"? I went shopping, of course. Based on the so-far-still-viable theory that I may never see another one, I bought one of these to celebrate:

It's a Beretta Storm PX4 Special Duty in the good ol' Murrican .45ACP. The barrel rotates 30 degrees to lock and unlock from the slide while functioning. All the usual features one now expects on an autoloader, including super-deluxe packaging.

It is showing good potential for accuracy, with my skill being the biggest limitation, as usual. These were just some break-in shots, but with a 9.5 lb long pull, and 4.5 pounds short, right out of the box, I expect good things will appear quickly. This would be a good candidate for a .45cal service pistol, if the military ever got a measly few millions to test and evaluate modern designs. If you don't have a flagship .45cal weapon in your product lineup, you aren't considered a serious contender, even if the military stays with 9mm.

[300winmag]

Just a quick announcement of an informal face-off between my antique Steyr AUG, and the newly-available (for how long?) IWI Tavor. The Tavor has been under development for 20 years, and is now Israel's official front-line rifle. Somehow, the semi-auto version has been allowed into the US, but this was the first one my EBR store has seen in two years.

The Tavor was a consignment sale by one of the oldest, richest, and oddest clients of the store. The previous owner bought it, added the nice Nikon BDC variable scope, a half-dozen more mags (standard NATO brands, just like the AUG, which has the Aussie stock for Iraq, so it can use American GI mags, and not the obscenely expensive Steyr ones. The Tavor also had 1600 rounds of ammo as part of the deal, mostly GI and CMP military stuff.

My first impression is that the AUG has turned out amazingly simple and classic with its styling, compared to newer weapons. Both feature interchangeable barrels, and calibers. The AUG could change barrel lengths, or put in a 9mm conversion unit, all done by the user. The Tavor also has barrel and adapter for the Russian 4.5x39 round, with perhaps other calibers in the future.

One "feature" of the Tavor is that if the user fiddles with the barrel for any reason, it has to go in to an armorer who can re-verify the headspacing with the proper gauges. The ol' AUG has barrels that can be swapped out with just a push on a small cam, and a 90 degree twist. Any barrel that goes back on is automatically at the proper headspace.

The Tavor continues the modern trend of providing plenty of space to hang all sorts of goodies on, including ones that haven't been invented yet. Yards of rail space, and the small rail trades places with the charging handle on the opposite side when you change handedness. The ribbed area under the barrel is a cover for some hardpoints to hang a grenade launcher, or ultra-short breeching shotgun or high-power laser designator.

The Tavor was designed for today's needs and fads, while the AUG remains the champ for elegance and post-modern design. I expect they will both perform well.

Some day I'll put a FN FS2000 through similar tests as an example of second-generation bullpups, as opposed to first and third generations.

[300winmag]

A quick progress on the IWI Tavor. It's now closer to its final configuration, with a Trijicon SRS 1x red dot sight, and a PWS super-fancy flash hider/muzzle break. I shot it just enough to get a rough zero at 25 yards, which should also provide a 100-yard zero. Once I got the rounds close enough to the black, I quit.

I learned enough to order a Timney target trigger for the rifle, and some ambidextrous selector switches to replace the slippery plastic ones currently on the rifle. The trigger pull was stiff but consistent, and felt more like a stock S&W M&P handgun than a strand of spaghetti, which so many bullpups have due to the long control rod that stretches from the trigger to the sear, which is a bit behind the magazine. I have have high hopes that the Timney (which ain't cheap) will improve things even more.

I played a hunch that the factory flash hider was less than optimal, so I put on the PWS brake/hider on before firing the first shot. The AUG retained its factory-stock four-slot flash hider with a closed front right. The PWS has four fins, and an open muzzle, in front.

Using GI XM193AF ammo in both, the AUG had a pretty loud bark, and a muzzle flash with about four feet of visible flame. The Tavor had no visible flame from the muzzle, and about a 2" diffuse fireball from the left and right side vents. The side noise was a bit more noticeable if you were close by, but I think shooters in general would appreciate the vastly reduced visual signature.

To close on a weird note, I found the instruction manual, printed and illustrated in English, to be one of the most useless pieces of documentation short of IBM internals manuals. I gave up trying to find and operate the bolt hold-open latch using the manual, but was able to master it after two hours of trial-end-error. It's simple and intuitive after finally figuring it out. I still haven't figured out how to remove the bolt from the carrier, although I've found the large pin that needs to be "merely" pushed out. I suspect there is an undocumented extra step involved, but I'm not ready to take a hammer to it, yet. :)

[Squantos]

That’s a 25 yard group ???

Not good..... Noooot gooood ! For a supposed quality battle rifle..... Dang, ya shouldn’t have to tweek such a rig to get at the very least a 1 moa group from a bench.

[osagebowman]

Afternoon Win Mag - cool; a test on the Tavor. Haven’t seen one in the flesh yet; there are the odd Augs around but Tavor is a just a picture at my local lgs.

We have a plethora of AR clones, a couple of AK clones and a few odds and ends but no Tavors a-tall.

I would have thought you would have kept the Nikon on the Tavor, that looks like a sweet scope and mount.

I am finding I like the Red/Green Dots (either tube or reflex) more and more as time goes by.

Thanks for the test-fire session and product review.

[B4Ranch]

I can’t see myself shooting this weapon even if the ammo was free. The primary reason is I don’t believe 22 caliber weapons are battlefield equipment. For close in work I’ll take a 12 gauge, thank you. They are easy to operate and effective

[300winmag]

Dang, ya shouldn’t have to tweek such a rig to get at the very least a 1 moa group from a bench.

I agree completely, which is why I just had a quickie offhand shootoff with the AUG, which also has a 1x optic. They were very equal in most respects, with the chief objective being to compare two weapons with user-friendly optics designed for quick dominance out to the critical distance of 100m.

I've tweaked box-stock AR15 clones to shoot 1 MOA just for the satisfaction of knowing how to do it. Due to old eyeballs, I need a 6x-or-better scope to find that little black dot. Then I go back to a wide-field "fast" 1x form of sight, knowing the rifle itself can easily outshoot the sight I chose for it. Except for the mountains of Afghanistan, most combat ranges still average a max of about 100m. Unless you carry an AK, where thoughts tend towards a battlefield about 25m deep. This gives me a 50-75m "cushion" to engage the enemy before he even thinks about getting his head screwed on straight.

I can go with a proven weapon for ranges beyond 100m, but just as hunting deer in Michigan, a good field of fire beyond 200m is really hard to find around here. So I want to study "all my tools in the toolbox", including my own skills, to shape the battlefield before a crisis occurs to my personal benefit. I've discovered that if I personally rebuild and tweak a weapon, I shoot it better, and with more confidence. As it says in the Marine "rifleman's creed", it becomes a part of me, and I understand our combined strengths and weaknesses better. That's a big load off my brain, which will be busy with other tasks in a crisis.

Second, I plan for a defensive fight on my own, known, turf. That means known distances to key features, deception, multiple firing points, and inviting-looking locations for the bad guy, which is really a kill sack.

Finally, continual practice so I can reach out reliably to the outermost range of my defensive position. I want a high probability of making consistent hits at ranges that seem to the bad guy that the fire is coming from another zip code.

So I want to engage with my built-to-spec rifle at a long enough range that I don't have to be too concerned about falling back to a shotgun or pistol-caliber carbine. It's like the old, "train like you fight, and fight like you train", with the added advantage of knowing my own 'hood.

[300winmag]

While continuing my futile quest for .22lr ammo, I got word of another model of handgun now discontinued, and never really sold in large quantities when it was in production. The last one at my favorite EBR store sat in the case for six months, and I didn't want to press my luck any further. Luckily, I snaiged it a few days before someone else had the same idea. The Heckler & Koch .45ACP Mark 23 SOCOM, shown with a Walther PPK for size comparison.

This civilian version differs from the official "agency" model is the lack of "SOCOM" marking on the slide, a separate range of serial numbers, and a "US Property" barcode on the serial number plate. It was designed and built from the ground up with special features for the ultimate in silencing, and shooter-friendly accuracy and handling. My first 12-shot magazine tends to confirm this.

While the barrel is threaded for a wide variety of suppressors, the H&K wet-and-dry suppressor, designed specifically for the Mark 23, is a special favorite with Marine room-clearing teams. Besides using water to enhance thermal efficiency, it disables semi-auto fire, requiring the shooter to manually cycle the slide for the next shot. A vertical foregrip is added for better handling.

In actual use, Marines claim this setup works better than any other handgun, SMG, shotgun, or rifle they tried. The only noise when firing is the hammer hitting the firing pin, which is about as loud as an office stapler. The slide being cycled makes a modest "zip-zing" reciprocating sound. The bullet hitting the target is usually very loud, but by then the target has stopped caring.

The Mark 23 can fire almost any kind of ammo that can safely make it down the barrel, including high-power oddities like 45Magnum. I mixed in some red-hot Double Tap .45 (200fps faster than standard), with no noticeable change in admirable shooting qualities.

It's like one of those Mercedes super touring cars you see at an important car show (or commercial), something one-of-a-kind with 4000 horsepower, top speed of 280mph, zero-to-sixty in 2.1 seconds, and more electronics than a next-generation manned spacecraft.

The Mark23 is real steel-and-plastic, was made in "reasonable" quantities, and is zealously maintained and used by civilians and federal agencies alike.

[Squantos]

A place for everything and everything in its place ..... That beast was entering service as I retired . Never have laid hands on it. My current hush puppy is an old Hk P9S in 45 with a Ops Inc Can purchased in early, mid 80’s..... Damn 30 year old technology .....:o)

Wonder how these quiet professionals compared in on the noise meter with the De Lisle Enfield Carbine of WWII fame.... Size aside....?

Stay safe !

[300winmag]

Wonder how these quiet professionals compared in on the noise meter with the De Lisle Enfield Carbine of WWII fame.... Size aside....?

I have no idea if there are any surviving DeLisles left. But one old report mentioned that the firing was virtually silent, but the action clattered like an old jalopy when worked. Depending on the situation, that might not have been a problem.

[ExGeeEye]

Wandering through a ghost town, I came across a dilapidated relic of a building. It had stood vacant for over two years, and nearly so for several more. Its foundations seemed solid, the walls unholed, the windows intact; there was even a flicker in one of the lamps.

The tables and chairs were arranged in a familiar way. A few scattered personal items-- a pen, a coffee mug from an insurance agency, a towel embroidered with a small "42"-- told me that the ones who had been here might return.

But the dust lay heavily everywhere.

A chalked message on the wall read "We'll be back". This cheered me, until I realized....

...it was in my own hand.

Be well, Hobbit Holers, wherever you are.

[ExGeeEye]

I passed through the round door again. It creaked, but I was prepared; a squirt of WD-40, and all was well.

I saw that a .300 WinMag shell casing had rolled into a corner. I picked it up and set it on the hall table, in case the owner showed up.

Some accumulated junk mail to take care of... horse show brochures, Marine recruitment materials, and what’s this? Be a surrogate mother?? Fie. Into the recycling bin.

I lit a candle for Professor Tolkien’s 128th birthday. A few moments in thought over the pleasures of days past, and I went back out the door, dropping the key in its accustomed plant pot.

Remember. Rejoin, even.

[ExGeeEye]

IN MEMORIAM

G’NAD

[ExGeeEye]

Spy Report: 20 new details emerge from Amazon’s Lord of the Rings