One thing I learned in the military is that equipment should be made so that it can’t be reassembled incorrectly. If there is a way do so, Private Snuffy will find it.
Imagine my surprise when one of my long range guests suffered a major jamming issue with his AR 10. It would fire one round, but the empty brass would jam in the left side of the chamber. Under great force, of course, requiring the release of both pins and complete removal of the lower, then much force on releasing the charging handle. After the brass was removed and the rifle reassembled, we tried loading a round and then ejecting it without firing. This was the result:
Another hard jam on the left side of the chamber, and the bullet now deeply seated. Light bulb goes off. Is it possible that the bolt could be installed 180 degrees out? Now, every M16/AR15 pattern rifle I have disassembled, the bolt cam pin hole is eccentric on one side and round on the other. It is physically impossible to insert the cam pin on the wrong side. We found the exception – round all the way through. So 50% chance of reassembling it bass-ackwards. Huh.
Good thing this is Mrs. Red’s car. I wouldn’t stand for it in mine.
And the detritus of destruction?
Approximately 150 freshly tumbled cases, once-fired .308 brass, with a few 6.5 Creeds in the mix. And my buds are using the good stuff- Federal Gold Match! Single digit Standard Deviation and Extreme Spread. But as our mentor says, “Yeah. Good practice ammo.
And it really wasn’t a brief break from Bangsticks for Beginners. One new shooter had never shot over 100 yards. We got him out to 876 with his .308. And the remaining shooters all got out to 1106 yards with .308 and 6.5 Creedmoor for the first time.
Many dollars were turned into smoke and noise, and there were plenty of sh*t-eating grins all around. I guess I might do a piece on Long Range Bangsticks for Beginners. But we have plenty to cover before we get there. Heck, we’re still at .22s!
I’ve got some shooting buddies up here for an annual long distance shoot. Experience level varies greatly. But they come up from NY, NJ and MA to the Free State of NH to exercise their rights to keep and bear arms. And to shoot them at long distances. So, in the meantime:
Yesterday I mentioned jumping on to semi-auto .22 rifles in our Bangsticks for Beginners discussion. Then I realized we had skipped some important things on .22 hanguns – actually shooting them! As I was remediating that condition today, I also rembered some stuff I glossed over. Spent cartridge ejection. Let’s cover that now since it has some range safety implications.
You can see the shiny ejection rod poking through the empty chamber. Once the rounds are fired, you go to half-cocked, as if loading, then push down on the spring loaded ejection rod at the front of the barrel. You need to pop out each spent round as you rotate the cylinder. Again, limited ammo and manual ejection slows down the process so beginners can grasp everything fully.
As far as the Ruger SR 22 (and all other semi-auto handguns), when the slide recoils to the rear, it first extracts the spent shell from the chamber, continues toward the rear where it is mechanically extracted and flung to the side, then cocks the trigger/hammer, moves back forward and strips a new round from the top of the magazine and seats it in the chamber. It all sounds very complex and happens fast, but is a simple complex.
Now the Range Safety Tip. Extracted Brass Is Hot! ‘mkay? As much as I appreciate women wearing low cut blouses, that’s a no-no on the range. Same same for open shoes. And an absolute necessity is eye protection (safety glasses for the slow to catch on). Finally, a brimmed hat to help deflect hot brass.
Safety nag over. Let’s shoot!
You can see a round in the cylinder, and the extractor rod tube ahead and aligned with it.
Results? OK, on paper but not very good.
Top is 5 yards, bottom is 7, two-handed grip, Weaver stance (file for future reference). I clearly was not keeping the front iron site down all the way in the rear notch, hence, shooting high. My trigger pull was poor, pushing the rounds left. Back to fundamentals, as certain people always preach. The Ruger? Also inconsistent:
Oh, we can do better than that. Sure, it’s 85 degrees, I’ve been mowing for four hours, and my socks are too tight. 7 yards, RG on the center, Ruger on the end of the right bar:
Practice, practice, practice. Maybe .22 rifles tomorrow. But, a teaser for later. See anything different?
Semi-automatic. What does that mean? A lot of politicians and leftists don’t know or pretend to not know. Simply, the firearm fires semi-automatically – one trigger pull fires one round. The slide recoils backward to recock the trigger, then forward to strip a new bullet from the magazine. That’s it. It does not continually fire as long as the trigger is pulled back. That would be “automatic “ – as in machine gun. No, AR-15s are not automatic. They are semiautomatic, requiring the trigger to be pulled for each shot. Another term for automatic is “select fire”, meaning that you have three settings you can select: Safe, Semi and Automatic. An M-16 is a select fire weapon, thus, a “machine gun”. Not generally available to the public without a lot of money, and BATFE approval/$200.00 tax stamp. And more money for ammo. The rate of fire is about 800 rounds per minute. Given that the Normal Capacity Magazine contains 30 rounds, you can empty it in less than 3 seconds. At $0.40 to $1.00 per round, you will need deep pockets. Oh, yeah. It’s a magazine, not a clip. See M-1 Garand for clips. So, rant over. But introducing a new shooter to semi automatic firearms is a great opportunity to clear up misunderstandings (or fake news) about firearms. Here is one of my favorite handguns:
Ruger SR22. A .22 caliber semi automatic handgun, with a 10 round magazine:
It is a Single Action/Double Action pistol, meaning you can choose to pull the trigger with a long stroke to cock the hammer and release it, thereby firing a round. At that point, it will recock and load a new round so that further shooting only requires a short pull. Or you can manually cock the hammer and go right to the single action of pulling the trigger. Easy peasy.
it also has a manual safety on both sides. But remember, the only true safety on a gun is between the ears. Small, lightweight, easily packed, and has virtually the same manual of arms of most semi automatic pistols. Fun to shoot, and trains you with a light recoil, on most aspects of shooting. And .22 range ammo is inexpensive. Many .22s are picky about what they will feed; I have never had an FTF (failure to fire) with this gun.
Interestingly, Ruger makes a bigger 9 mm version of this – The SR 9 and a compact SR 9 C. Yes, I’m a bit of a Ruger fanboi, but they know what they are doing. Train on the SR 22 and then move up.
Tomorrow we’ll take a look at .22 caliber semi automatic rifles!
Fully intending to shoot some .22 handguns. Of course, I left them on the inside garage steps, being distracted by putting all my range stuff back in the car following vacation – sorry, secret mission.
I’ll probably remember them tomorrow, but let’s take a look at the next step for beginners – the .22 revolver. Why, an obsolete firearm design that can only hold six rounds? Because it teaches Single Action, Double Action, Double Action Only, all concepts carried over to semi auto hand guns. It also forces slow fire, gun fundamentals, and sight alignment. It also teaches about changing grip – the gas escaping around the forcing cone will definitely hurt, so be aware.
Let’s take a look:
I bought this just south of Fort Campbell on 41 A at a local hardware/convenience store in 1975 for less than 20 bucks. It’s a German-made “RG”. RG had an abysmal reputation – some parts made of pot metal, etc. It was said that there were only two types of RGs – complete junk, or OK. I evidently got the latter. It is still reliable a half century later.
There are three hammer positions – quarter cock, safe like a 1911 cocked and locked; half cocked, for spinning the cylinder and loading; and full cock, for shooting (and where does the phrase, “Going off half-cocked” come from?).
Half-cocked, and loading gate open. I find that having new shooters have a limited amount of ammo makes them concentrate more on fundamentals. There is a time and place for semi autos, but not for a beginner.
“Safe”, so you can carry six rounds, without worrying about having the hammer riding on an empty cylinder.
Ready to go. And understanding that Single Action means manual cocking, and that the only action of the trigger is to release the hammer to fire the round.
Later, instruction on modern revolvers where Double Action means that the trigger first cocks the hammer, then releases it to fire. And then later instruction about SA/DA where you have the choice of either. Finally, Double Action Only, where the trigger pull is required to cock the hammer and release it in order to fire.
So what kind of trigger action is a 1911? Or a Glock?
Earlier I gave my two cents and preached a single shot bolt action .22 as a great BFB. After all, that’s what I started with and I turned out ok. Christmas, 1964 was the happiest day of my life (I thought at the time), when the very last present I opened was a Sears Roebuck Ted Williams .22 rifle. It shot .22 Short, Long and Long Rifle cartridges, and, boy, did I go through boxes of the stuff. I had done a complete research project on .22s (at the school library!) to show my folks that I was serious and safe. I still have that rifle today.
You have to hand load a single round in the chamber, close the bolt, and then pull back the cocking knob.
Yes, you get pretty good at fundamentals when it’s a single shot rifle. Of course, the next year I got a little 4 power scope and was off to the races.
And, once I got into rifle accurizing, some fifty years later, I glass- bedded the receiver, free-floated the barrel, added a decent scope and a bipod.
I’ve started several people off shooting with this rifle (including Mrs. Red and Junior). It always starts with The Four Rules, a discussion of the parts of a cartridge and what they do, and then the basics of stance, sight alignment, breathing and trigger pull.
Tomorrow, we’ll take a look at the .22 revolver as a BFB.
Yup, just returned from another secret mission. Now I can get back to dispensing wit and wisdom. Right. Anyway, tomorrow I will get back to Bangsticks for Beginners. Until then, enjoy.
M-4gery. Still no? Well, yeah. Let’s start with the ubiquitous .22 Long Rifle, a cartridge that’s been around since 1887. It’s the perfect caliber for beginners – no recoil, not too noisy, and inexpensive, but with all the same functionality as larger calibers. I think that starting beginners off with a .22 bolt action rifle is best. Iron sights, a long sight radius, a stable platform, will all get a newcomer started off on the fundamentals. Emphasis on “fun”. After getting comfortable with the rifle, a .22 revolver is probably the next best step. Learn the difference between single and double action. Get used to the less stable platform of a handgun.
Tomorrow, I’ll do some pix on good beginner candidates. And, by the way, shooting .22 in any platform is just plain fun. It will get new shooters hooked on enjoying the skill and pastime of shooting.
KatNap Fever! 