Been busy but little gun stuff

Posted on May 16, 2012 by Fusilier

Well it has been a week but I haven’t gotten to do much with my firearms. I’ve been helping my family with some stuff including spending 4 and a half days in Sydney.

I did get to visit two new gun stores. New to me that is.

Mooshoo Outdoors Limited is located on (in?) the Membertou First Nation and is located in a brand new strip mall. Nice little store. Lots of hunting clothing and accessories. Some ammunition. Some accessories (Vector scopes and others). Lots of archery and fishing stuff. No guns on display. Helpful and courteous staff.  I picked up a plastic target block, just to spread a little of my hard earned cash around.

On the way back from Sydney I stopped at Leaves and Limbs Outpost on the Trans Canada Highway at Antigonish. A small gun rack with a few new Rugers (no sign of the 10/22 Take Down that I’m looking for) and a fair spread of hunting stuff. I picked up a cleaning cloth to help pamper my Python.

Last week I downloaded and watched two very good (two parts of one video) videos on the detailed strip and assembly of the Colt Python. It gave me the confidence to take the side plate off, clean up the insides a little, and more importantly swap the side plate screws to the correct place. Someone prior to me owning the revolver had switched the two side plate screws. The problem is that the rear screw is a touch longer than the front screw and since they were switched incorrectly, the cylinder rubbed just a touch on the longer screw. The result is I have a scratch all the way around the cylinder. Now that I’ve fixed the screws, I’ll have to touch up the little scratch. Now that I know how to take the gun apart (a little at least), I feel more comfortable working on it. I think I’ll toss the cylinder into the ultrasonic cleaner this weekend.

That’s it for now. Keep an eye on the news and watch for changes to the requirement for retailers to log personal information in paper ledgers when purchasing non-restricted firearms from a retailer.

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Old Faithful Holsters – A worthwhile DIY project

Posted on May 9, 2012 by Fusilier

I have that gene that allows me to happily, excitedly start lots and lots of projects but finish a dismally small portion of those. We’ll I got another project half finished.

Several weeks ago on Tom Gresham’s Gun Talk Podcast, he talked with Thomas Tedder, owner and founder of Old Faithful Holsters. Old Faithful Holsters manufacturers and sells a line of Inside the Waistband (IWB) Holsters made of top grade leather and Kydex. They also make IWB mag pouches and belts. These are the sorts of tools one needs if one is going to carry a firearm and spare ammo on a daily basis for personal protection – where permitted by law of course. Now the cool thing – OFH also makes and sells all the parts you need to mould your own Kydex parts and assembly your own custom IWB holster. You save money and you get a great product that is truly custom fitted for your handgun.

I hopped onto the OFH website after listening to the podcast and promptly found out their online commerce site won’t sell/ship to Canada. No problem. A quick e-mail and a short phone call with Mr. Tedder, owner and founder, etc. etc., and my order for a full size DIY kit with the double large piece of Kydex (having never worked with Kydex before I was hedging my bets that I might just screw it up enough that I might need additional material) plus their new kit for making a IWB double mag pouch.

My Para Ordinance P16-40 is my IPSC Standard Division gun. I shoot it out of a race belt rig using a Ghost Holster. My intent was not to use this new kit for my competition .40 S&W pistol. I had in mind making a custom holster for my STI GP6C 9mm. It is a gun I purchased a couple of years back with the intention of getting into the very popular Production Division of IPSC shooting but to tell the truth, I’ll be sticking around in Standard Div for some time to come. So I have a relatively uncommon pistol (the GP6), with a low expectation of finding a holster for it so what the hell, I’ll make one.

OFH honoured their on air offer of a discount for Tom Gresham listeners. I then found out that it is the same ongoing discount they offer for military and LEO which they would also offer to me as a Canadian Army reservist. The kits arrived within a week and a half if I recall.

Now, like every red blooded North American Male faced with a new kit, the first thing I did was open up the bags and pull all the parts out. The leather back is heavy and very nicely finished. I opted for the standard leather but they offer several possible upgrades for a couple of  dollars more. Likewise I went with the standard black Kevlar but they offer a mind boggling array of options for the Kevlar if you’re feeling adventurous. Trust me I’d wear a hot pink holster if it meant I could carry it legally here in Canada. Unfortunately no so I stuck with the black.

Now the most surprising thing. Like every red blooded North American Male, I eventually dropped, picked up and sorted out all the pieces enough times to start to look at the instructions. In short, there are none. Odd I though but a quick visit to the manufacturer’s web site told me that the instructions are all in video, on their web site and on You Tube. It would suck if I didn’t have Internet access but then again, welcome to the 21st century.

The first think you have to do is trace your firearm and cut out the mould. I used 1/2″ thick Medium Density Fibreboard (MDF), the same material they use in their online video but forget to call it MDF. I went out to Home Depot and picked up a hobby piece of 2 by 4 feet and ripped a bunch of 1 foot square pieces on my table saw. You can use similar plywood or similar thicknesses if you have it laying around I’m sure.

As per the video I traced it out and then I used my small band saw to cut out the enlarged outline to make my Kydex mould. Image 5 below shows the cut out mould. Images 4 and 6 shows the pieces of my makeshift Kydex press: a top and bottom piece, the mould piece in the middle and two pieces of foam. The video tutorials on OFH website are easy to follow. Just be sure to watch them through once or twice. It took me a week to two to gather up my parts and make my Kydex press and mould.

I used my kitchen toaster oven to soften the Kydex sheet (I cut my piece in half, as planned). I just put a small piece of aluminium foil on the grill to keep it clean, and since I had never worked with Kydex before I wasn’t so sure it wouldn’t melt through or at least to the grills. No problems in the end.

Well one problem. I managed to mould the Kydex backwards. I had the rough ‘outside’ surface against the gun and the smooth inside surface away from it. If I also had not moulded it slightly off what I wanted, I could have left it as is, called it a new fashion statement or better yet a tactical advantage, and kept going. Since I had to remould it a little to get sufficient edge distance for the fasteners, back into the oven it went. I just laid the well contoured piece upside right (or was it upside down?) and it warmed up and flattened out completely. Back into the press and this time it looked better.

In order to apply the clamping pressure on my press I simply sat on it as it cooled. I didn’t bother with a bunch of wood working clamps, or even putting ammo cans of bullets on top of it. I just sat on it for the 5 minutes or so it took. Worked great.

Back to watch the video again, back to the band saw (a couple of times), and then back to the work bench. The video says to use a 5/16″ drill for the holes in the Kydex. I think it also said to use a 5/16″ leather punch which would be a touch too small. To open up the leather holes to properly take the T-Nuts, I just worked my way up using a series of wood drill bits in my cordless drill.

I then followed the assembly instructions. Note that as you pound your T-Nuts into the leather, put a piece of wood to sacrifice underneath it. Since the T-Nuts sit a touch proud, they act like little punches all of their own. You don’t want to punch a few holes in your kitchen counter or the dining room table. Luckily I did not figure that out by trial and error.

The kit went together easy, is adjustable, holds my pistol well and is surprisingly comfortable. Not so comfortable that I’m likely to forget it is there and inadvertently wear it outside the confines of my home, but I think I could get used to it for daily carry if I had the opportunity. I think I’ll work with it a bit the next time I’m at the range for some casual practice (as opposed to a match).

Most of my time was spent getting bits and parts together. One could easily go from start to finish in the span of an afternoon if you had all the tools and toys at hand. I also have a double mag pouch kit to do as well. I’ll leave that for another date.

The kits are quite inexpensive. An important thing since I really don’t see using it much since we’re in Canada and we’re raised from birth to be victims on this side of the 49th parallel. Mind you if you’re remotely interested in trying your hand at working with Kydex, it is a great way to give it a shot. It is easy and fun and I’m very pleased with the final product. Sorry for the poor photo with the GP6 holstered, I’ll try to get a better one the next time I have the safe opened up.

You’ll even notice the last photo. I really appreciate DIY kits that leave you with extra bits. There are screws of different lengths so you can try them to see what works best. Likewise there are extra T-Nuts so you can try different heights and cants for your holster.

Great value in the kits or you can buy the complete holsters for your gun, presuming you have one more common than mine.

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It’s been two weeks. What have I done?

Posted on May 7, 2012 by Fusilier

Hi folks. Regret the delay in getting a post up. I’ve been busy both on and off the range. This one will still be a bit quick but that’s better than nothing.

I’ve been collecting bits for my NEA-15 rifle. The Brownells’ trigger parts seem to have cleanly taken care of the doubling problem and the reduced spring set really make for a nice, more than workable trigger pull. I can’t wait to get it to the range live.

Before I can do that I have to change out the lower receiver extension (aka the buffer tube). I’m still waiting on a replacement from NEA but at least I now have the proper AR armourer’s tool (I suppose that would be armorer’s tool since it originated in the US) to properly torque on/off the tube. Now to get my hands on the tube.

I shot the AMA invitational 3 gun shoot at our outdoor range last weekend. I shot in the Open Division because I have optics on both my rifle (my venerable Colt HBAR with a 4 power Elcan scope) and on my shotgun (a tricked up Winchester defender with a SPARC red dot). If I had irons on the shotgun I would have been in the Tactical Division like most of the shooters but optics on two guns put me in Open Division. There was only one other shooter in Open so my competition was clear.

I had fun and I learned that I have to sort out some of my kit. I’ve since purchased magazine couplers for my 10 round LAR ‘pistol’ magazines for the AR. This allows them to be easily pulled out of a standard 30 round mag pouch and puts the next loaded magazine under the rifle. Now I’ll have to figure out a quick way to handle flipping the second mag around for the reload on the range.

In the end I had a lot of fun, I didn’t DQ, I learned a lot and I won my division. Mind you the only other Open Div shooter left after two of the four stages but I’m pretty sure I would have taken him even if he did stick around. I have to admit is it a lot of fun to put the AR through its paces on a moving, multi-target range. Those clay pigeons are a bitch though at 100 yards (+/-) when I don’t have a real good zero or ballistic tables sorted out for this rifle/ammo combination. I hit one of them and then the steels at 180 yards were easier.

I really liked the scoring system used. It was declared as an Outlaw match, meaning it wasn’t bound by IPSC multi-gun rules. So your score was based on time alone. Every target that was not neutralized (one A zone hit or two hits anywhere on the target, or one 12 Ga hit anywhere on the target, neutralizes the target) added 5 seconds to your time/score. Any target not engaged (a paper target with no holes), added 10 seconds to your time/score. Any plate or popper left standing cost you 15 more seconds. If you shot the stage clean, your time stood without any additional penalties. Your overall score for the match was just the total of your resulting times for each of the four stages. It was easy to see how you were shooting against everyone else, both those in your Division and everyone overall. Quick and easy to score. Works great for three gun where each stage included handgun, rifle and shotgun problems to be solved.

Since then I’ve been doing a little bit of workbench stuff. I now have my 10 round LAR mags coupled and a new shotgun ammo pouch on my vest. I’m, still partway through putting together an inside the waistband holster from Old Faithful Holsters. I have a pile of .40 S&W, .308 Win and .223 Rem brass in a variety of stages of prep and I have a new Dillon Super Swage 600 waiting to be mounted, adjusted and put through its paces.

And on top of that, this morning I learned that I won a raffle put on by Canadian Reload Radio, top prize being a Hornady Lock-N-Load Case Prep Assistant. It is a motorized unit for bench use for any tool like a case mouth deburring, primer pocket uniforming, etc. The unit had been donated to CGN by the Practical, Tactical and Fantastical Podcast who had reviewed it last summer. Made my day. Hornady’s new version of this unit has three heads, allowing the inside and outside deburring tools at the same time but I’m certainly not going to say no to the original version. I’m man enough to recognize that a power tool is always better than a manual tool.

Have a good one all.

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Bit of stuff in the basement

Posted on April 23, 2012 by Fusilier

Well it has been over a week since I last posted which means I’m late. I’ve been trying to get a post up at lease weekly. Those of you out there reading, I appreciate the audience and I’ll try to keep this if not useful, then interesting.

The Long Gun Registry (LGR) has been dead in all but Quebec for several weeks now and the blood is still not running in the streets. I’m sure someone out there is very very disappointed. We law abiding shooters are not and except for the tenacity of the Quebec Government, and the stupidity of the judges in the Quebec justice system, we are seeing absolutely nothing that surprises us.

I’m still waiting on parts to get my NEA-15 live. The hammer and disconnector from NEA didn’t solve the problem. They are sending another (I hope) and I also have a trigger group on its way from Brownells. Which ever one arrives first and fixes the problem wins. I still might put a Geissele trigger into it but I’m holding off on that purchase until after tax season (i.e. refund season) is complete. A new NEA lower receiver extension (i.e. buffer tube for the less informed) is on its way as well.

In the mean time I’ve been putting together a Old Faithful inside the waistband (IWB) holster kit for my STI GP6 9mm (just for the fun of it of course), swapping my Para’s speed holster and mag pouches over to a new belt system for IPSC shooting, planning out kitting up my new (new to me) Tactical Vest for 3 gun shooting (match this coming weekend), and basically making a mess in my workshop.

I really should bring my camera with me to my workshop more often. I’ll try to post more photos if anyone is interested.

That’s it for now. Thank your MP (or correct them if you need to) for their support (or lack thereof) C-19. If you haven’t done it yet, send in a donation to the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) or the NFA or the CSSA as well. No government is going to give us our rights back unless we yell for it and reward them when they are on the right track.

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AR bits and pieces

Posted on April 13, 2012 by Fusilier

NEA came through with a replacement hammer and disconnector for my NEA-15. It was a busy night last night though so I didn’t get to put it into the rifle. I’ll get it assembled on Sunday and with luck, I’ll get it to the range for a quick shoot some evening next week. That is as long as the receiver extension tube is the right size. I’ll check that out when I have it apart to change out the trigger group.

I’m really looking forward to making empty cases with this rifle. I just keep saying to myself, “Soon grasshopper”.

Have a great weekend. That is unless you’re in Quebec which you can’t have a great weekend because they just extended the LGR data destruction injuction. Again, “Soon grasshopper”.

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Freedom (a bit anyway) at last

Posted on April 8, 2012 by Fusilier

Well it happened. I can’t say I didn’t believe it but I can say I am very pleasently surprised that in the end it was put down very quickly. Royal Assent happened less than 24 hours after clearing 3rd reading in the Senate and then the government announced it would come into effect less than 24 hours later again.

So now we Canadians (less Quebec, at least for the time being) no longer have to register our long guns. So half of my safe is no longer registered and as soon as practical the government’s records of those firearms will be purged. Somehow I don’t feel like going on a murderous rampage. I don’t feel like supplying black market firearms to people without licenses. I don’t feel like threatening and abusing other people. Funny about that.

The demise of the long gun registry means absolutely squat to the vast majority of Canadians. The only people affected fall into three distinct categories:
1. law abiding gun owners (we achieve some freedom from the state)
2. the folks who work at the Canadian Firearms Centre in New Brunswick (some may be out of a job but to tell the truth, I’m certainly not willing to give up one tiny bit my freedom and my tax dollars to keep this make work project going)
3. the anti-gunners (they will have to find some other stupid made up statistic to quote every day instead of the ever increasing number of times the registry is ‘queried’ every day as if that was ever a good reason to keep it in the first place)

Canada, in an extremely rare event, actually reversed bad law and returned to her citizens a bit of freedom that had been taken from us years ago as a monument to the atrocities perpetrated by one deranged individual. Once in a while I can actually be proud of my country. I look forward to more such occasions before I die.

So to celebrate the demise of the LGR a friend and I went to the range on Friday. I broke a bunch of defenceless clay pigeons, and shot about 500 rounds through one of the 10/22s. I didn’t work up any loads, work on zeroing any scope, practice any drills. I just went out to have fun and that is what I did. For a while on the clays range I was actually getting into that ‘zone’ where I just mounted the shotgun, looked at the clay and pulled the trigger. No real sighing. Not even a recollection of seeing the front sight. But the birds still came apart at my touch. If I can get more practice at that, I’ll be a lot happier.

Tomorrow (or perhaps later today), I’ll start posting some of the details on my range bags.

Have a great Easter (as you may be inclined).

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Little more of this, touch of that

Posted on April 2, 2012 by Fusilier

Had a long weekend as I took Friday off to be with the boys. Drove to Sydney to see my mom and dad and bring my sister back so I didn’t get anywhere near a range this weekend. Still good. Got to see about a half dozen bald eagles, most in pairs, while on the road. Time to spend with the boys and to visit my parents. A very good weekend, even without shooting something.

Got to visit a new outdoor (hunting, fishing, shooting) store in Dartmouth. Better Buy Sports just opened up and it is great to see a store with an actual gun rack and even handguns on display. Their stock is still coming in so they don’t have a lot but I did pick up some 12 ga shells and a pack of clay pigeons. I’m looking forward to them getting more reloading supplies in.

Still waiting on my replacement trigger group for the NEA-15. With luck it will come in this week and I’ll get the rifle to the range this long weekend to start breaking it in. Should be lots of fun.

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A bit of a slow week

Posted on March 30, 2012 by Fusilier

I’ve been tinkering with the NEA-15 in the workshop while waiting for replacement trigger group parts. NEA should have them in the mail by now so perhaps I can get it all together and to the range over the Easter weekend. In the mean time I’ve staked the Gas Key to the Bolt Carrier Group (BCG) myself. Not pretty but it should work. I’ve also decided on the forward sling mount I think I’ll be buying from Brownells as soon as I can figure out how to make their military discount work for me. I think I have all the other goodies ready: red dot, Magpul BUIS, fore grip, hand grip, lots (could use more) Slipstream lubricant on the BCG, sufficient magazines (as sufficient as one can get in a country where centre fire semiauto rifles need their magazines pinned to 5 rounds to keep the uninvolved feeling they are safer in their own homes), and lots of ammo.

Bill C-19 which will finally put that expensive waste of time, money, resources and freedom called the Long Gun Registry (LGR) to its inevitable end has passed the committee stage in the Canadian Senate without amendment. So now it should be a matter of third reading in the Senate (another clause by clause review, just like second reading), a final vote and then it is onto the Governor General for Royal Assent. That still leaves the implementation to happen (i.e. how and when will it be rolled out) and the also inevitable whining and lawsuits from those that just can’t get the concept that the LGR has never solved a crime, is incredibly unlikely to ever solve or prevent a crime, and most importantly is a completely unnecessary offence to freedom we have in this fair country. One tippy toe step at a time towards freedom is better than the giant leaps we’ve taken in the past, and if certain minorities in this country get their way, will happen again in the future.

Ruger has announced yet another new firearm that I really want. The venerable 10/22 is now available in a takedown version. The barrel and fore end come off with a latch and a twist. Sounds like a really great car gun. One to have in the trunk for the occasional target, plinking or hunting opportunity or just to have there for emergency purposes. Now to find one (a take down 10/22, not an emergency purpose) in time for Mini-14 Day. That’d be a sweet way to celebrate.

Anyway, I’m off to Cape Breton for an overnight to visit my mom and dad and to drive my sister back to Halifax. Next week I plan on starting to document my individual gun range bag system.

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Bit of this, bit of that

Posted on March 26, 2012 by Fusilier

My new rifle arrived on Friday after Canada Post first tried to deliver it to some other address on Thursday. The NEA-15 is a sweet little rifle. I couldn’t get over how little it weights but then again it only has a  10.5″ barrel. Down to the basement workshop for sights (Mag-Pul BUIS and a Sparc red dot), replacement hand grip and addition of a fore grip. I’ve never fired an AR with a vertical grip but I figure it will help keep my fingers aft of the muzzle on this short little puppy so I’ll try one for a while.

As fun and exciting and thrilled as I was to get my rifle in time to shoot it on Saturday, my sprits were quickly dashed when I went over the rifle in detail. The Bolt Carrier Group (BCG) Gas Key screws are not staked to keep them tight. The biggest problem however is the trigger group, once I oiled the rifle up well, is not safe. There is a great amount of discussion on Canadian Gun Nutz (CGN) regarding the build standard on the earlier NEA rifles. Mine certainly falls into this category and I’m working through NEA’s service department to get it all resolved. Everything I’ve seen tells me this will all work itself out and I’ll let you all know how it ends.

I had pre-arranged a range trip for Saturday in anticipation of the NEA arriving. Without the NEA it wasn’t the same but, damn it, a bad day at the range still beats a good day at work. So off to the range with my shooting friend Rod for a little shotgun and a little M14. I got to blast a hundred rounds of bird shot at clays first off. I use the full choke these days since we have a fixed stand for the trap and the clays are all presented heading out and away from the shooter. I’ve found the modified choke to be a little too easy and the full choke really makes some powder when I connect well. Mind you it was a windy day and some of those little orange suckers did some seriously up and down dips. Lots of shooting fun.

Then off to range 1 which is our 50 yard range. My friend Rod wanted to work on his bolt action .22 and I got to put 90 rounds through my M14. It was kind of weak using a .308 with a 10x scope at 50 yards but it still was fun, lots and lots of fun. I am so glad I don’t golf.

Also managed to help clean up the range a little – and by that I mean we picked up about a thousand .223/.556 cases for reloading. I’ve been trying to buy a Dillon Super Swage 600 since I bought a case of 1,600 chinese 5.56 rounds that’ll need the mil crimp removed before I reload them. So far I can’t find anyone in Canada that has one in stock and Dillon hasn’t gotten back to me with an international shipping quote yet.

But I did get some serious reloading down. Since yesterday noon I’ve managed to load, check and mark (I use a red cross on the case base to ID my brass at the range) over a thousand rounds of .40 S&W. That’ll bring my stock up to something I can live with and hopefully compete with and it also used up every last .40 projectile I have in the house. I’ll have to contact Freedom Ventures to see what Sean has in stock or can bring in for me now.

So this week will include some gun maintenance, some reloading (brass prep mostly) and hopefully I can find my 9mm conversion parts for my Dillon Square Deal B. No shooting next weekend as I’m off to visit my mom and dad in Sydney and I’m driving my sister back so she can fly back home to Calgary. Well, perhaps Sunday afternoon might be free?

Keep an eye open for what’s up with Bill C-19. If all goes really well, it should be out of Senate Committee by Friday and perhaps even get third reading by the end of the following week. Canada, beyond my wildest hopes and dreams, might actually stumble an inch towards freedom. Certainly about time.

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Another week, a bunch of gun stuff

Posted on March 17, 2012 by Fusilier

This week has been March Break for my two kids and I took the week off to burn off some of the vacation days I still have at the end of the fiscal year. True to form, I haven’t gotten 1/2 of the stuff I planned on doing done but that’s life I guess.

Monday I did get out for some later afternoon (after 5:00PM) shooting to enjoy the change to Daylight Savings Time. I still hold the opinion that the summer should be standard time and they could call the winter months: daylight waisting time. Or better still, leave the damn clocks alone.

Anyway, got to test fire the AR with the new trigger with no hitches at all. Nice and crisp with no take up at all. I also got to practice some target transitions with the AR. Great fun before the sun went down.

Also got confirmation that transfer of my new AR has been approved, the new rifle has been added to my Long Term Authorization To Transport (LTATT), and the rifle has been shipped by the vendor.

And then today I got to shoot the first half of IPSC NS’s annual Spring Bang match. I shot 3 speed shoots, 2 medium courses and 2 field courses. My shooting is sloppier than it should be and I’m not missing fast enough. Lots of fun though and we’ll be back to finish the match tomorrow afternoon.

On top of all that, Bill C-19 is wending its way through the Senate as it is now in committee review. No one can say for sure when it will be passed and then receive Royal Assent but we’re all hoping it will be before the end of the month. No guarantees but when it gets there, it won’t be soon enough.

Have a great St. Patrick’s Day. Say safe and shoot often.

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