Cats, Guns, and more. What’s not to love?
The 150 and 200 yard Know Your Limits steel targets were harder. Who knew that a heavy downpour of rain would drop tiny little .22 bullets enough to miss the smallest target? But 7, 8, 6, and 7 still adds up to 28, for the win.
The best part was I was using my backup rifle, the Ruger Precision Rimfire, and Eley Tenex ammo that I hadn’t touched in at least two years.
And, the 10 year old kid from last month was not there.
So, Boolets for Bangsticks Beginners. Let’s start with the lowly, but ubiquitous (I love that word!), .22. Take note:
Left is a CCI Mini-Mag Hollow Point, center is a Mini-Mag copper plated Round Nose, and right is a CCI standard. See the differences? The HP is meant to hit a varmint and expand (make bigger hole), the center is a target round, and the right is a slower moving target round. Check out the advertised muzzle velocities:
High accuracy .22 tends to be made of lead, and slower than 1100 fps. Why? The speed of sound is about 1100 fps. If a .22 goes faster than that, then slows down, it gets less stable in the trans-sonic range before it gets down to subsonic. If it starts out subsonic, it stays more stable. Also, the lead gets a better grip on the rifling than copper-coated, making it spin better and therefore more stable.
Pretty complex stuff for the lowly, yet ubiquitous.22, huh?
No, I’m not talking about the Big Beautiful Bill. I’m talking Back to Bangsticks for Beginners!
Our story to date has covered .22 caliber firearms, starting with the single shot, bolt action rifle, the 6-shot revolver, and the 10-shot semi-automatic pistol. We now head to the .22 caliber semi-automatic rifle in various magazine capacities.
Surely you know that I’m coming back to the Ruger 10-22. But not just yet! Believe it or not, there are other rifles available. In 1972, the first firearm I bought on my own was a used Mossberg Model 352 KC, built between 1967 and 1969 according to the inter tubes.
Originally it had a crappy 1×4 (?) scope where the crosshairs would travel toward 7 o’clock when you increased the magnification. But it was accurate, both with the scope and with the iron sights. And it had a 7 round magazine, quite a step up from my old single shot. The magazine allowed Short, Long, and Long Rifle cartridges with a moveable tab to get the feed angle right.
A Thompson Center Arms on special scope mounts that clamp on to grooves in the sides of the receiver has replaced the original chinesium.
But even better, it has a thing that goes down!
Yes, the fore-end rotated down 90 degrees to make it a truly awesome Assault Rifle (TM).
So what does this step up for beginners get us? A much more stable platform than a handgun, where you have the ability to make follow-up shots without having to lose your sight picture or your grip. Since repeatability is a key factor in accuracy, keeping the rifle in the exact same position relative to your body is critical. And now you can do it 7 times in a row!
There are a ton of semi-auto .22s out there from which to choose (the Ruger 10-22 is ubiquitous, with a huge aftermarket for accessories, making it probably the most successful .22 rifle ever made). But there are other great manufacturers and options: Box magazines, tubular magazines, rotary magazines, drum magazines, they all are available to increase your ammo capacity. Find a rifle that fits your body and your length of trigger pull. It should feel natural and comfortable – you should not have to contort yourself to get a good sight picture and a comfortable trigger finger position.
OK, I think we can go on to a new class of Bangsticks for Beginners – shotguns!
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?
Think hearing protection.
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.
How about these?
AR-15, M1 Garand, Savage .30-‘06.
No, how about this?
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.
Aspirin Shoots! In the rain! 39 degrees! North wind 13 gusting 29! But ya do what ya gotta do.
If you squint real hard, you can just barely see the Know Your Limits steel at 150, just to the right of the yellowish 200 yard target board.
Only 4 brave shooters today, but it does help the odds.
Of taking the W.
And 26 MOA rings steel at 200.
But it is a little embarrassing. Two years ago I took a first with 32 out of 40. Today, a 23. I’ll still take the win and the .50 BMG brass first prize.
And the range was busy today. A Tuesday. Some people airing out their .22s in preparation for Sunday’s match. A couple of guys with two guests were airing out their ARs. Probably went through 4-5 hundred bucks of ammo. I think the drought is officially over.
KatNap Fever! 