Slow Sunday

Spinning up for a hectic week, but I wanted to answer a couple of the comments on the previous post.

On the Lucid, longterm my HD7 has proven to be an excellent sight. Everyone who has tried it has liked it (and that includes some very picky people). It's been bounced around a lot in travel and keeps on ticking. The Lucid is still on the Tavor…the only thing I've changed other than the trigger is swapping out the factory top rail for a Gear Head raised rail which brings the Lucid up to AR height. For a little under $250 I think it's a truly great value, plus I was very impressed with the Lucid guys when I met them at SHOT. I generally use the "dot in a donut" reticle, BTW, because I'm used to it from the Leupold CQ/T 3x I've used for about 100 years.

I'd hoped to have a chance to go to their long-distance training event in Wyoming, but the filming schedule didn't allow it. I note they now have a retrofit QD mounting kit for the HD7 and a low cost riser mount for their M7 red dot.

I'm interested in their scopes as well, although I'm trying to swear off any non-Mil Dot reticles…I'm not sure I have the available RAM to learn a new scope reticle, although their the Lucid L5 reticle looks pretty nice.

Jumping topics just a little, I shot a cowboy match Saturday, and boy, did I suck! I swear, shooting skills are like the Little Dutch Boy and that damn dike…just when you get one leak stopped, another opens up! Honestly, I've neglected my cowboy shooting, largely because of my travel schedule precluded any matches for the last quarter and my limited training and shooting on the road focused on rifles. As a consequence, my Saturday match was a collection of one unforced error after the other. I bobbled a shotgun load, which I haven't done in ages, then bobbled the next load. I sat down and picked up guns with the wrong hands, took ages to get on the first target for both my pistols and my rifle, skated a pistol round over a target because I wasn't "locked down" on the bank of targets, blah blah blah.

Well, this just won't do! I've got a big national match coming up in a couple of months, Winter Range, and I need to be a lot more on my game. It's dry-fire time! And on-shot draws. And try to keep focused, something of a challenge when you have the attention span of a gnat on crack.

Meanwhile, back to responding to comments. The Troy PAR, the pump-action AR, is indeed a fascinating firearm, especially for people trapped in anti-2A states like New York and California. The big advantage is the ability to take advantage of all the AR accessories out there. Another gun in that category would be the Ares Defense SCR, a semi auto AR, but in a "traditional" package. Gary Paul Johnson speaks very highly of Ares Defense, and they were impressive when I talked to them at SHOT. OTOH, I've tried to obtain or buy one of the SCRs with no luck. Kinda reminds me of my ill-fated attempt to buy one of the then-new Ithaca Featherlight 20 gauges…couldn't even get a return email, call or directions to a dealer! LOL!

Overload, the longer length of a rifle is always an issue when using it in a self-defense context. We've discussed on THE BEST DEFENSE and next season on SHOOTING GALLERY I smack a lever action into a wall in a demo to "hammer home" understanding how to move, and how not to move, with a long gun. That's one of the reasons for my increasing infatuation with bull pups like the Tavor (my choice), the Steyr AUG (my producing partner Tim Cremin's dream gun, which, BTW, are being blown out by CDNN for $1500 or so this weekend), my "almost" gun, the FS2000 and, oddly enough, the AR pistol platform…I say "platform" to mostly irritate military fanbois who insist a "platform" must be rolling.

Because I live in a rural setting, I have ready access to long guns. My bedside gun has for years and years been a Sig 226 9mm. However, I've been experimenting with my Spike's Tactical 9mm AR pistol as the "handgun to get me to the rifles," and I'm liking how that is working. The Spike's pistol uses a foam covered buffer tube, which quit honestly works as well as the Sig SB15 brace. The Spike's 9mm uses standard Colt 32 round magazines, of which I have…many. Spike makes a great version of the Colt mag.

I've shot the pistol at 25 yards a few years back, and if I recall it was 4-5 inches with me just screwing around with an Aimpoint Mini and ball. I plan to check at at 25 yards off my bench rest set-up with Corbon DPX before I draft it into service. I'll add a single-point sling, I think.

My Sweetie, Newt the beagle and I did a long hike today on some of the more rugged acreage on the SHB-II Ranch (so to speak). Some of the land is pretty rugged…steep, rocks, cactus, etc….and we had a pretty good scramble while we were working our way around a big rock outcropping. Newt is so cute  climbing rocks! FWIW, I was carrying my Taurus Public Defender with 3 Federal buckshot loads and 2 .45 Colt SilverTips. Yes, I know from the Internet that the Taurus Judge series is hopeless, worthless, brainless, and a bunch of other '…lesses,"and I don't really understand how worthless the gun is. LOL! Aside from the ballistic jello and penetration I've done, the one animal I shot with the Federal buckshot was DRT. And then some. Blade-Tech holster. Six extra .45 Colts in a Tuff Strip.

And thank you all for the kind thoughts on Asta, our kitten. We were pretty scared Thursday and Friday, but today he was finally better. He yowled at us and started eating. One more test tomorrow AM, but my Sweetie and I are hopeful.