Thursday, September 01, 2011

Slacker!

That's me! I totally admit to slacking on the blog this summer. I know "work" sounds like the lame excuse it is, but it's the best I can offer. I also made a commitment to turning myself into a better competitor instad of a "parachute shooter" — one who just drops in occasionally and pulls the trigger — and that has worked out pretty well. I'm pleased with my cowboy season; less than pleased with my finish in the Ruger Rimfire Worlds, but it wasn't totally awful. I'm actually excited about the IDPA Worlds, which we'll be filming for SG, but I have maybe 1 range day between then and now. As per Tom Yost's strict instructions, I am religiously dry-firing each day.

I'm less pleased with the get back in shape initiative, but it is working...slowly slowly, damn it! The road and 12 hour days are nightmares to such commitments. Still, I tend to be stubborn.

BTW, here's a picture of rifle I'm shooting at the Colorado State RRS Championships:


It's basically a $179 10/22 big box store version with the Volquartsen trigger group from my 10/22 Target. I had the Boyd "Evolution" stock in the shop from another project, so I decided to bolt it on as well. I like the way the Evolution sits in my hands (I'm able to get a hard grip on that spikey forearm), but that comb is clearly for optics rather than irons...if I decide to leave the gun in this configuration I'll take a wood plane to that comb! Otherwise, receiver, bolt, sights and barrel are Ruger bone stock, and it's faster for me to get on that open sight than the AR post on my 10/22 Target...all that cowboy shooting with a brass dot front, no doubt...

I took it to the range yesterday to make sure it was sighted in and run some 20-yard drills, and all things considered it worked extremely well...that is, I can run it more like a pistol than my heavy-barreled target. I'll let you know how it works!

BTW BTW, heard from Tactical Solutions yesterday that they're "cooking up" something for me in the 10/22 Limited arena...I'll bet you see that baby at the SHOT Show!

BTW BTW BTW, Blackwolfe over at the DRTV Forums turned me onto a really interesting forum over at Rimfire Central, the "Super Stock" forum —  10/22s that look stock, but are strictly trick inside. Cool...thanks, Blackwolfe!

Ruger SR556E

Am also launched on a Ruger SR556E AR platform gun project that will, hopefully, lead to a pretty spectacular giveaway. And in the AR department, we now have a natty Daniel Defense gun in house, with one of the new Stag Arms competition rifles on the way! Not to mention a really nice lightweight Commander length 1911 .45 from Para USA, plus, pause for drum roll, one of the long-awaited LTC Tactical .45s! I saw this gun at SHOT and asked for one ASAP.

Strongly recommend Sipsey Street Irregulars to keep up on the evolving "Fast & Furious" ATF disaster...definitely read this post on the newest WikiLeaks...dot.gov knew as early as October 2009 that the "90% of the guns recovered in Mexico come from the U.S." meme was not true, Yet Hilary Clinton and BHo stood before the American people and continued to push the narrative.

10 comments:

Pete said...

If you're building a super stock 10/22 you ought to take a look at CMP Rimfire Sporter competition.

The national match at Camp Perry next July might make a good Shooting Gallery episode.

Steve Bratten said...

Can you post a build sheet for your 10/22. I know you have Tech-sights. What barrel are you using. I am building an Appleseed training rifle and I am trying to keep the cost reasonable/

DamDoc said...

that's all right.. we've been slacking off to.. tis the season to get serious again! The pod casts have been great...

Nik said...

Michael,

I have question unrelated to this particular blog topic, but I do not know of another effective way to contact you.

I own both "The Best Defense - Season One" and "Best Defense Survival - 2009" DVDs; however, I am curious as to when the more recent past seasons will be available for sale so I can keep my collection complete?

I look forward to your answer.

Thanks!

Michael Bane said...

Pete...good idea! Steve, I have 3 10/22s (actually 1 is my Sweetie's competition gun). All my 10/22s are fitted with the Volquartsen trigger group and the replacement poly buffer...metal to metal on the bolt stop is bad. The Volquartsen unit is expensive ($200+), but you can buy Volquartsen parts and do it yourself to save some bucks.

The 10/22 Target uses Ruger's hammer-forged heavy barrel..it's crazy accurate, but heavy. I have it fitted with a set of Tech Sights. I would say this would be the set-up for Appleseed...I found it heavy for Ruger Rimfire Series matches, but Ken Jorgensen finished 30th at the World Championships using a 10/22 Target fitted with a Burris red dot.

The Tech Sights are fine, but I would STRONGLY recommend adding a fiber optic front...the one I have now is from Hi-Viz. Unless you shoot the AR post a lot, it can be hard to pick up,

My current iron-sight "match" rifle is also dead stock except for the trigger group and stock. As I mentioned, it's a cheapie and when I get the time I will do some internal polishing (which it badly needs) and probably replace the bolt with one from CPC:

http://community-2.webtv.net/RandyAtCPC/CPC1022BoltRework/index.html

Inexpensive, and I'd rather let him do the polishing than have me do it! LOL!

My Sweetie's rifle, with which she beat me like a rented mule in New Mexico, is a stock 10/22 Sporter model (an upgrade over the big box store models) with a Volquartsen trigger group and buffer.

All our stocks have been cut down to accomdate our style of shooting (derived from GUNSITE and cowboy action shooting). My stocks are about 2 inches shorter than the factory stock (the Boyd aftermarket stock on the match rifle is already a bit shorter than stock).

Note that they are ALL ammo-sensitive, and the only way to find out what yours likes is to shoot it. I have GENERALLY found that Federal Gold Medal Target is superbly accurate and will run a 10/22 close to 100%. Unfortunately, .22 ammo is also case-lot specific. I bought 5K white box Federal Gold Metal and they were just about perfect. I should bought 50K, since the new Federal Gold Medal are as accurate, but prone to an ammo-related jam every now and then. I never had a jam with the white box stuff...

Nik, darn it, dude, I wish I knew! Last time I talked to OC about this, they told me there were np lans at this point to make the next set of DVDs...we'll keep you posted on DRTV...

mb

Anonymous said...

M.B., talk HARD to OC. The Best Defense series is vital life saving info. I've been waiting for it to com out as a set. the mushroom. To withhold them borders on criminal.

Anonymous said...

Jesus, any of you guys hear of VHS?

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Nik said...

I appreciate the answer...just wished it was a better one. Hopefully they plan to release more DVDs in the future. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Sorry for the late reply, but I am catching up on reading the blog.

OK, so no DVDs. Why, who knows. But OK.

How about iTunes? We'll pay. You get money. Or did you not get rights to sell your work if Outdoor Channel won't?