Part Two Of Three, Shotgun Purchasing

Welcome to Part Two of a Three part series on Firearm Purchasing.

Shotgun Purchasing

Wants and Needs

The same goes with this post as in the last post, wants and needs. Those are your main reasoning behind your purchase. Identify your wants an needs, then weigh your choices and come up with a plan for your purchase.

Wants could be anything from brand to engraving and semi-auto to pump. Needs could be hunting to home defense.

Styles and Configurations

You can get shotguns in many different styles and configurations, I will go over the basics here but not to in depth.

Standard Pump Style, versatile gun, uses include home defense, hunting (slug and shot) and Shotgun sports(Trap mainly). Variety of barrel lengths, capacities and accessories.

Semi-Auto style, great for hunting(Shot), Shotgun sports(Trap, Skeet, Sporting Clays). Variety of barrels lengths and chokes for different hunting types(Upland game,waterfowl,turkey)

Over Under Style, great for hunting(Shot, Upland) and all shotgun sports. Very versatile shotgun if you are wanting to shoot many types of disciplines. Many upgrade parts available. Also available with one shotgun tube and one centerfire tube, Example .45 on top and 12 gauge on the bottom.

Gauges include but are not limited to 10,12,16,20,28,410. 10 being the most powerful(Waterfowl) and the 410 being the smallest more apt to squirrels and snakes

Overview

If your looking for home defense a pump shotgun will probably suit your needs the best, with many upgrades as in lights, lasers, shot types, slug types, gauges and sizes.

Hunting options will range on what types of hunting you will be doing. Waterfowl would be best suited with a semi-auto or pump, sometimes but rarely a over under. Upland game options are all the above types, Pump,Semi-auto and over under. Turkey hunting will be best suited with Pumps and Semi-auto, but also a over under. Deer most likely will be a pump slug gun, with rifles or smooth barrels.

Sporting options include all models, Trap shooting will work with all models. Skeet, Semi-Auto or Over under. Sporting Clay, Semi-Auto or Over under.

Hope this helps aid in you purchasing decisions, If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment and thanks for reading my Blog,
Rex

Firearm Purchasing..Part One Of a Three Part Series..Pistol Purchase

Hello All,

     Well its been a cold few days here locally, not much over 38F in they daytime, spent Sunday at the range for one of my Range Officer days, good thing we had the fire going inside the office, I had to make multiple trips inside when the range was cold to allow my extremities to warm up. Had a good turn out at the range for such a cold foggy day.

     This blog post will be Part one of a three part series on firearm purchasing. Part One will be on pistols, Semi Auto to keep it short. Part Two will be on Shotguns and Part Three on Rifles.

Pistol Purchase

     The two biggest items I believe are what you want, an what you need, when I purchase something I try to mix the two.For example, you want the 1911 in 45ACP but you need something for home defense or personal protection. With this post I hope to help you along with Pistol purchasing.

     Go over your wants, do you want to shoot it on the weekends? Shoot pistol Competition? Plink? Hunt? Upgrade capabilities?  There are many different brands that will cover those few things I mentioned, I believe the 1911 styled pistol has most of those covered in one package, with many different calibers available and different manufactures from inexpensive to high end.

     Now, go over your needs, did you originally start looking for pistols for home protection or personal defense? You will want a small frame, compact or sub-compact pistol for home protection or personal defense, easy to carry an conceal and easy to remove and keep in a lock box or safe in case of a home intruder.

    Let's weigh the two, with most of the larger frame pistols are made to be shot over and over, for competition, target shooting, hunting and plinking. But on the personal defense side, they are made to be shot a few times to get sighted in and familiar with then put away until the time arises when they are needed(Hopefully Never.)

    Another thing to look at now days, is ammo availability, see what your local store carries, then see what they seem to have at all times, that may influence your purchase as well. Do your reload? If so look at what reloading components are available for each caliber interests you. You may find 45ACP on the shelf all the time, but the 9mm components are just as available and cheaper.

    New or Used? You can find higher end pistols that have aftermarket parts available cheap, if you want to take the time to find them and then see a gunsmith and check the condition they are in. Or you can get a cheap low end gun new for the same price.

     It is all about you and what you want or need. I like to tinker and build stuff, so I would go for a used 1911 and build it up to my liking. Something I could go out and shoot on the weekends an maybe shoot competition if I wanted as well. On the other end for Home defense, personally I would look at what the local law enforcement are using, they are using there pistols for self defense, protecting the innocent and can't have a bulky side arm on there person. I think a lot of agencys use Glocks, Taurus and Sigs.

     Ad-ons, accesories and aftermarket parts are other things to look at, do you want the capability to add a Laser sight, Red dot sight or scope? Do you want to put a Picatinney rail on the side with a flashlight? Do you want to put on different grips, trigger upgrades, barrels and slides? Those are all items needing consideration when purchasing your pistol.

  I hope this helps you with your decision on your pistol purchase in the future, I will add more information if I can think of anything else to add. Here are a few of the many manufactures of quality pistols. Glock, Taurus, Beretta, Smith & Wesson, Ruger, Sig Sauer, Kimber, Springfield Armory, Colt and many more. And don't forget about foreign brands, they are readily available and some are of great quality.

Thanks For Reading,
Rex

Just Remembered this after I posted the blog, Keep in mind the layout of your house and materials it is made out of when choosing ammo, you don't want a bullet going through a wall hitting something you don't want hit. 

Youth Shooting Sports and Activities

Hello Everyone,

As I sit here at the laptop in the garage with the hum of my brass tumbler going in the corner, I noticed my son's special targets and figured I would write about youth shooting sports and activities.

His special targets are the 8" Birchwood Casey Dirty Bird Multi-Color Splattering,  he picked them out at the Local Wal-Mart(He is 5). Always going for tight groups I always steer towards the standard paper targets and never get the splatter style. But since he is young and in the world of technology, I try to get items that interests him and make him want to shoot good, specially since he is young an his mind wonders.

In this day of age with all the school shootings, terrorism and gun control advocates to name a few, I believe it is more important than ever to teach our youth PROPER gun safety, For as long as I can remember I was shooting BB guns and 22's and never once had a accident or even thought about using a gun to harm someone. One of the basic things I remember from my dad, Keep your finger off the trigger until your ready to shoot. Then I see Gun control advocates on TV holding up "Assault Rifles" telling the crowd how dangerous they are and low and behold they always have there fingers on the triggers. End of Rant!

Back to the topic, I know different parts of the country have different types of activities, so I follow different types of shooting sports on twitter, I see the US Rifle and pistol team, indoor teams and outdoor competitions. I like seeing youth being involved in various disciplines of shooting.

I think shooting aluminum cans is a great way for youth shooters to get started, start close and then keep moving them out farther and farther. Also for a little older youth, shotgun sports like trap and sporting clays would catch there attention and help them get started in the sport.

Indoor events range from air rifles/pistols to smallbore rifles/pistols and if your lucky enough to have them around you are a great way to shoot year around.

If you have a youth interested in shooting, get them involved in it, teach them safety first, safety safety safety. Then find something that attracts there attention and build off of that. If they like shooting cans, let them shoot them, if they like shooting targets, let them shoot them, if they want to shoot shotguns, let them shoot them. Get involved with your local range and get shooting.

Thanks for reading,
Rex  

Basic Shotgun Shell Selections

Hello All,

This post was a request from a fellow friend/shooter who is getting started into firearms and wanted some info on shotshell selections, lead only no steel. We will start out with upland bird, turkey, varmint, larger game and clay target shooting(Sorry no waterfowl yet.) I will try to stay with just the basics of off the shelf rounds, but this topic can open up a whole can of worms with off the shelf rounds and reloaded rounds. Don't forget about choke selections as well while reading this post.

Upland Bird Rounds

As stated above this is all of the shelf ammo, most manufactures offer the same shot as all the others. These will be all 2 3/4" Shell Length.

Let's start with Dove and Quail, your basic shot sizes you will be using in 7 1/2 and 8, depending on distance and bird size you may use 7 shot as well. Also shotshell shot will depend on gauge size as well for smaller birds you can go with a 20 gauge which will save on the destruction of smaller birds.

Pheasants, probably only be using a 12 gauge for these larger upland game birds. Basic shot size will be 6, you could go to a 5 if they are wild birds in open fields where your shots will be farther. If your shooting farmed birds in close cover, you could go down to a 7 shot if they are all close shots. Some people have different opinions on ammo in the the gun, some guys will load two 6 shots and a 5 for the last for the longer distance, and some will load two 6's and a 7. 

Turkey

Turkeys, these will be heavy loads to knock down these tough old birds. These will be 12 gauge 3" length shells. Basic shot size will be 5 and 6, some state have shot rules for turkey hunting. Not much to say about turkeys shotshell, a lot depends on barrel length, choke size and stealthiness. I will be talking a little about chokes at the end of this post.

Varmints

Let's  start with coyotes. These will be 12 gauge with choices from 2 3/4" to 3 1/2" length shells. Available options will be buck shot and slugs.

Buck shot used will be size, 1,4,00 and 000, slugs will be smaller less than 1oz rifled slugs for smooth barrels.

Squirrels have a few options to fit your need, these will be 12 gauge 2 3/4" shells, shot sizes will range from 4-6 depending on your need, food or just for pest eradication.

Deer

Buck shot and slugs will be your only choice for taking down deer or other larger game animals, these will be 12 gauge 2 3/4" to 3 1/2".

Buckshot will be sizes from 00 to 000. Slugs will be 1oz, rifled for smooth bore and sabots.

Target

This section will cover just a general overview of target shooting, I will not go into depth on each of the disciplines(trap,skeet,sporting clays) all will be 12 gauge 2 3/4" shells.

Shot size will be between 7-9 shot, 7 1/2 is widely popular for recreational shooters both for targets and some smaller upland bird, that size is most common in stores. I'd say over 95% who shoot target disciplines locally or professionally, reload, due to the fact they can tune the shotshell to there needs.

Chokes

Your choke will depend on a few things, game type, ranges, shot size/type and what you like. There are many different options fitting each and every combo of what you are shooting. Listed from the widest to the tightest group: Cylinder, Improved, Modified and Full. There many different variants of each one I listed.

Conclusion

Hope this helps anybody just starting out into the shotgunning world. Below I will ad a few links to in store shotshell brands, shot size charts and choke information below.

So long and thanks for reading.

Informative Links

Let me know if there are any links or brands you would like added to the list below.

Shotshell Brands

http://www.winchester.com/Products/shotshell-ammunition/Pages/default.aspx
http://www.remington.com/product-categories/ammunition.aspx?panel=1
https://www.federalpremium.com/products/shotshell.aspx
http://www.estatecartridge.com/
http://www.rstshells.com/
http://www.rioammo.com/
http://fiocchi.gunsamerica.com/ammunition/target-shotshell/

Shot Size Information

http://www.shotgunworld.com/amm.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shotgun_shell

Choke Tube Information

http://www.shotgunsportsmagazine.com/archive/jan10/story0110.html
http://www.briley.com/understandingshotgunchokesabriefexplanationbybriley.aspx

  
 

Weekend Match Results, Routines and Talk

Hello All,

This weekend I participated in another Mini-Palma Match, with a better show than last time and I will expand on that later in this blog.

This match I shot a score of 430-14x out of a max 450-45x, which was better than my first showing of a 173-1x. Range conditions made for a nice day of shooting, other than the heat towards the second relay. First relay shot with a temp of 80F and climbed to 95F throughout the rest of the match, it broke 100F later in the day. The winds were anywhere from 1-7 Mph, blowing from the left to right then switching right to left across the range throughout the match, just as you would get dialed in on the wind it would switch directions on you and cause you to second guess your setup. I think next time I will have my own wind flags in front of me to help.

Between last match and this match I changed scopes, I took my rifle to the range to get the new scope dialed in, I got it on the paper then walked it into the bulls eye an got it there but ran out of "up" adjustment lucky me. So I made some shims to go under the rear scope mount due to the fact I didn't think I could a 20 MOA scope mount delivered in time. Me the procrastinator waited till the morning of the match to get sighted in. I had good 3 shot group under 1/2"  in the bulls eye after 10 shots, figured I was good to go and I didn't want to waste anymore 22 rimfire than needed.

After I was all sighted in, I ran a dry patch through the bore and I saw the flags where up at the high power range so I headed up there. Helped set up targets in there frames and get prepped for the match. All the guys at the matches have been a great help and fun to shoot with. Good times Bs'ing in the pits and in the ready area too.

Onto the next topic, what is your post match routine?

After I gather all my spent casings an put everything away I head to my house, more importantly to the garage. I always wash my hands after the match or anytime I go shooting. Every time I am done shooting it is near lunch or dinner, so I figured the best thing to do is to wash as soon as I get home.

After chilling out for a while I will start my gun cleaning process. Depending on the last time I ran a wet patch through I normally just run dry patches. Before this last match I ran some JB's Bore paste through the bore. Between that and the CCI Standard Velocity I have been shooting I am happy with the amount of fouling I am seeing. Ran three dry patches last night through my rifle for my  Mini Palma match.

 These are my patches from last night, one trip through on each, top is the first. I really like that JB's bore paste I used this last time in the bore.

This is a 20 or a 12 gauge cotton cleaning brush that I use after taking the bolt out of my Savage 22, it really cleans out the black contaminated lube left over after shooting a bunch of rounds, that way I know I always have fresh clean lube in my action and on my bolt.





This weekend I shot CCI Standard velocity, I found it at the local supply store, the guy behind the counter keeps a few behind for the guys who shoot matches with it. It velocity is 1070 FPS, so far I am impressed on how it shoots out of my rifle and its only $9 for a 100 round box. I haven't tried any match ammo yet, I may experiment with that this winter when I have more time.

Well that's all I have for this week to chat about, thanks again and feel free to comment with questions or comments.

Rex

Match Preparation

Hello all,

What do you do for match preparation? To be more precise, at home preparation.

Today I would like to talk about match preparation and more importantly, shooting position preparations. I know everyone gets there ammo, gun, etc., etc., ready, but what about your shooting position for your style of matches.

I shoot mostly prone in the matches I am involved in. The night before the match after I get all my goodies, range bag and accessories put together, I like to get the firearm I will be using out and get in the prone position on the floor with the scope cranked way down. From there I like to focus on a spot on the wall with my prone position closest to what I think I will be at when at the range. I just hold there and keep as steady as I can, I try different breathing techniques to see what the steadiest is for me, body position to see what is steadiest and rear rest position. I like to hold my position for a few minutes and study each one and find the best.

Dry firing. I don't do it, I like to just squeeze the trigger of a uncocked firearm, I know that I don't get the feel of the trigger letting loose and sending the firing pin towards the cartridge, to me it helps me know and control my trigger a little better and then when I am at the range I fire live ammo an pick up on the trigger control where I left off before. Probably only helps me in my mind.

So off of the firearms and onto the accessories. I pack everything the night before and have it ready. I like to group my ammo up if I know how many shots are in the match, keeps me a little more organized an prepared, especially if it's a timed match.

What are some things you like to do? Feel free to comment.

Just Another Windy Day

Good day all,

Well I got a Mini-Palma match under my belt now, but what a terrible performance.

 If it ain't one thing its another. From a post earlier in the year my first Mini-Palma match got rained out, so I  made it to the next one, lucky me the wind was only blowing around 20-25 mph, we went ahead and shot the match, I shot a 173-1x which is terrible, with that being said on top of the wind I found out my scope was garbage as well.

After the wind died down, I went back to the range to zero my scope back in. I walked the shots back into about 2" from right of center, went another 8 clicks(1/4" @ 100 yard clicks) the next few shots went left 1/2 inch and not right. So with the wind and a junk scope no wonder I shot like crap.

Well this weekend we had another Mini-Palma but as my luck goes the winds were even worse 27+ mph, so the match was cancelled.

Seems like I have switched gears again, from centerfire to rimfire. The rifle I am using is a Savage BTVLSS with a Nikon 6-24x scope(now) and a 6"-9" bi-pod, the palma matches are shot prone position at 100 yards with 22 rimfire. I need to purchase some higher end target ammo for my matches but keep procrastinating on that, I have found a local gun store who seems to have a good supply of CCI LR standard velocity, I have been having pretty good luck with that.

Some other things I have done to the savage was lap the bolt to make it a little smoother an lap the bore to help with any minor imperfections. I did adjust the trigger to the lowest it can be set with the factory accutrigger. Some other Mods that may be coming up would be a trigger, putting a 11 degree crown in and a larger bolt knob. I do need to order a 20 MOA rail for my scope. I ran out of adjustment on the "up" rotation of the scope.

I did complete my RSO training and now I am a certified RSO at my local range. I would like to become more involved out there in the future as well.

Rex