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21st century STEN?
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A model and a graphic artist
Originally published at VolkStudio Blog. Please leave any comments there.
My favorite new model posted her edit of one of the recent photos. I like it.
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When zombies come, I want her on my fire team
Originally published at VolkStudio Blog. Please leave any comments there.
The target was at about 20 yards when she fired on it. The zombie now has four more eyes-sockets in its skull.
Special Delivery target | Walther P22 | TAC65 can
The ear protection was against the noise made by other people’s guns.
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Horses for courses, or Canon vs. Nikon
Originally published at VolkStudio Blog. Please leave any comments there.
I have used a lot of Canon and Nikon cameras over the years. My Canon line-up was T60 (yuck!), Elan and 620 on the film side, followed by 30D, 10D, 5D and 5D2. I also used other people’s 1Dmk2, 1DSmk2 and 300D. I was not a fan of Canon manual focus line, liked their AF film cameras reasonably well, and was a big fan of the DSLRs mainly because the alternatives were all much inferior.
My Nikon line-up was F, F2, with occasional use of borrowed FM, FM2, F3, F4, N90S. In digital, I played with D1, D80, D100, D200 — none of which impressed me favorably. D200 AF was rather imprecise, and the build quality was actually worse than Canon despite better initial impression.
I have since come to really dislike Canon bodies. 5Dmk2, my current camera, is a good studio body. It is a real pain to use for action because its AF seems very poor at any kind of focus tracking, and the interface is much too menu-oriented. Vertical grip doesn’t duplicate AF selector. Newer Canon bodies, 7D and 5Dmk3 don’t seem to be much of an improvement. I have not played with D1X but it seems to have the same interface issues. I am sorely tempted to dump my whole kit and get a Nikon D800. I could actually use the extra pixels in my work. Nikon viewfinders seem sharper to me and I like the LCD overlay availability. However, the switch-over would cost at least $7000, if not more.
Since I lack recent experience with Nikon bodies and lenses, I’d like the input of those who have that. Would I be just trading one set of annoyances for another, or the current Nikon offerings actually improve on Canon? I would be looking for 24-70/2.8, 70-200/2.8VR, 100/2.8 micro, 90TSE and 45TSE initially.
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We don’t have to imagine a world without guns. Humanity already lived through it.
Originally published at VolkStudio Blog. Please leave any comments there.
For those who wish to avoid gun violence in particular can always go to Burundi or Rwanda…the locals favor machetes there. Somehow, that environment doesn’t seem nearly as safe as the more firearm-friendly America.
(Make-up by Tirzah Julius)
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Getting ready for a big weekend.
Originally published at VolkStudio Blog. Please leave any comments there.
I am planning two range days this weekend. Mostly shooting 22s, but a few larger guns are coming along. That means loading up magazines, too.
How many rounds is that? Two full boxes, kindly provided by Lucky Gunner.
The original “damned Yankee rifle that they load on Sunday and shoot all week!” held sixteen shots. This one holds a hundred and I have a feeling that it won’t take all week to fire them off. A couple of minutes, perhaps…
For those of you working in restrictive environments, here’s a SFW wallpaper. You know what it is, anti-gun co-workers probably won’t.
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Good weather makes range time that much better.
Originally published at VolkStudio Blog. Please leave any comments there.
Rimfire STG44.
Cutts compensator doing its job well.
Mike, obviously compensating for something.
(Photo by Mike Branson)
Full report on Savage mkII-SR, JRC 9mm, STG44, Henry .22 and others coming a little later.
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Chronograph and accuracy data
Originally published at VolkStudio Blog. Please leave any comments there.
Sometimes measurements confirm what we expect. For example, S&B 155 grain ball flies at 1060fps from an HK P7PSP but speeds up to 1340fps from JRC carbine. But I had no idea that 1980s vintage .22 Short fired from the tiny Hi-Standard derringer would exit at 1280fps! That’s a 29-grain load shot from a 2″ barrel and somehow keeping up with 22LR. I like having a chronograph. My friend Don didn’t like what he found out with it. A nominal 3000fps .270 load came in at 2940fps — a small difference but short of the magic number. He’s going to see if crimping the bullet would make a difference and try again.
I shot the JRC in left-hand configuration. I wanted to see how a left-handed user felt using a conventional carbine. Had to be careful prone as the empties sometimes bounced off the mat onto my left arm, but it was usable. The carbine ran through the 20 rounds I shot reliably. The main surprise was the accuracy: at 50 yards, it consistently printed 1.2″ groups with S&B ball. That load is cheap range fodder, so the result was fairly impressive. The optic used was the 3x Primary Arms prismatic. I think this covers the main calling of pistol caliber carbines: much better accuracy. 20-25% increase in muzzle velocity is not that important, but the drastic reduction in bullet dispersion is. Relative to rifle caliber carbines, 9mm is cheaper to shoot, less noisy and is allowed at more indoor ranges.
Also shot Henry .22 with 1-4x scope and that was fun. My mount put the scope too far back and a little high for prone or kneeling positions but just right for standing. With the scope at 1x, the rifle made for a very rapid pop can perforator at 10 yards. At 4x, it enabled the same trick, though slower, at 50. Illuminated reticle really helped as the targets went into the shade. I will have to re-mount it further forward for comfort and perhaps add a slight cheekpiece, as the scope can’t be lowered much without interfering with the hammer on the rifle. Also need to find a way to add slings swivels. Suggestions are welcome.
Savage mkII-SR was the usual joy, giving roughly 2/3″ clusters at 50 yards. Need a cheekpiece on this one also. I found out that the 4-16x scope has to be carefully adjusted for parallax and that I could not tell the correct setting by focus but rather by moving my eye until the reticle movement went away. Mostly, I shot it at 8x and used 16x for spotting.
The rimfire STG44 was an interesting beast. It duplicated the centerfire original very closely. Keep in mind that mine is one of the prototypes with about 60,000 rounds on it, and the production version will differ in some details.
Pluses:
- Reliable and robust, looks and feels like the 1944 original.
- Comfortable to hold, points very well.
- Magazine easy to load.
- Easily adjustable sights.
- Easy to take apart for cleaning.
- Good balance, not front heavy.
Minuses:
- Heavy trigger.
- At 25 yards, shoots 4-5″ low with sights at on “100″. That’s more than the sight offset over bore. Rear sight had to be raised to “500″ mark to get on target at 25. I expect that has been fixed in the production version.
The verdict: it’s fun and it was the most shot carbine of the day. We probably put 300 rounds through it and the only malfunctions was the one I induced by interfering with the follower button (not rececssed) on the magazine, and one misfire with bulk ammo. An odd feature: safety lever seems backwards from what was expected, up for fire, down for safe. I will shoot it for accuracy today.
My Walther P22 came back from repair with a new slide and some replaced internals. It’s back to being accurate with a suppressor, doing about 1″ groups at seven yards. The slide doesn’t lock back at all though, so I will have to find out about that.
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Ready on the right?
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Anderson AR15 checks out
Originally published at VolkStudio Blog. Please leave any comments there.
I replaced the solid forend on the Anderson Mfg. 20″ rifle with a lighter ventilated Midewest Industries part. Today, I re-zeroed the rifle with the new Primary Arms 4-14x FFP scope. All four shooters took turns with this rifle.
Today, I managed to forget the box containing almost all the ammo, the spotting scope and the chronograph. So no range report with SSG69 or Henry Big Boy. I did have 75 rounds of 32CP, enough to discover that Star S “mini 1911″ shoots amazingly well. I borrowed .22 ammo to zero a few new rifles and shot what little .223 I had on hand. When I say “forgot all 223 ammo” that means “except for one 30rd magazine I had in the car and eight 20rd boxed stowed with the rifle, plus one 20 rd magazine Mike had in his range bag”. So forgetting to bring ammo yielded 210 rounds. A lot of it came from Remington rep (thanks, Robert!)
I am not a great rifleman, so this 75-yard target is fairly good for me. This was shot with Remington 69-grain match. I did a few better groups but always pulled at least one shot far to the side.
My friend Glenn left several of these targets with me and I am a fan.
The PA scope is sharp and clear. Zoom and parallax rings are a bit too tight, but that’s ok. The mount is exactly the right height for an AR15. Close focus is excellent. It’s a little less bright than the Nightforce 3.5-15x and lacks reticle illumination. The eyebox is fairly small. I am not used to working with FFP scopes, but given my preference for hold-overs vs. adjusting turrets, it should work better than RFP versions. For the 1/8 of the Nightforce price, it looks like a pretty good buy.
The rifle ran 100% with all ammo except Tula. I had to cycle 24 of 30 rounds of that manually. Tula 45ACP and 308Win ran fine for me, but their 223 seems pretty weak. Remington match ammo (62/69/75gr) and Mike’s 77gr handloads gave groups about half as big as 55gr ball.
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She rocks.
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The reason for Desert Eagle grips size
Originally published at VolkStudio Blog. Please leave any comments there.
Ever wondered who has hands big enough to shoot Desert Eagles comfortably? I bet he carries enough of them to do New York reloads…or at least his book characters could.
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Danica smiles. Again.
Originally published at VolkStudio Blog. Please leave any comments there.
Homebuilt FAL on a Coonan receiver, Magpul PRS2 stock, Burris 1.5-6×40 scope.
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Keltec SU16C
Originally published at VolkStudio Blog. Please leave any comments there.
Unconventional but functional.
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Single shot rifle. Double-barrel stare.
Originally published at VolkStudio Blog. Please leave any comments there.
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Not coming to Dragoncon this year.
Originally published at VolkStudio Blog. Please leave any comments there.
Too much work to do at home. I will be canceling hotel reservations unless somebody wants it transferred to them instead ($180/night rate at Sheraton). I think that’s lower than their current rates.
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Ways to relax
Originally published at VolkStudio Blog. Please leave any comments there.
One of my friends recently wrote about her reaction to the news: “I’d take up flower-arranging to try and calm down, but I’d probably just wind up turning out lovely arrangements of dead roses and barbed wire…”
I suspect that part reason for my own generally cheery attitude is the absence of television and newspapers at my home.
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Today’s range trip.
Originally published at VolkStudio Blog. Please leave any comments there.
Grace wanted more trigger time with her laser-equipped LCR. Ended up trying that, S&W 317 and 63 rimfire revolvers, a quiet Walther P22, Kel-tec PF9-22, Star S (.32ACP quasi-1911), HK P7, Kahr P9 and the SU22 shown here. Star S was definitely the winner.
After firing pistol from ranges of four steps and all the way out to fifty (Grace’s effective range with S&W63 turned out to be about 30 yards), we went to rifle. Red dot sight on a suppressed rifle is definitely like cheating compared to handguns.
Fun.
PS: Ear muffs were used because were were also firing unsuppressed pistols.
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Fence rider (nsfw)
Originally published at VolkStudio Blog. Please leave any comments there.
A good, soft saddle is essential for a comfortable ride.
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So, you’d like to date my daughter…
Originally published at VolkStudio Blog. Please leave any comments there.
This young lady can fend for herself just fine, but you have to admit that the first impression made by the dad also counts.
I also recommend a sensible comment by my friend Dave.
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