Hoppe's No. 9 Air Freshener

It's been joked about by gun writers long enough that's it has become real.

Hoppe's recently rolled out a new air freshener that smells like their No. 9 solvent.

I'm not creative enough to make this up folks.  This is for real.

Now, how much longer do I have to wait for cologne with the WD40 scent?

U.N. Gun Treaty Poll

KeepAndBearArms.com Home Page

Poll is a little way down on the left-hand column.

Do you support or oppose the Obama Administration's plan for a U.N. Arms Trade Treaty?

Bushmaster ACR Recall

Bushmaster is realling all ACR rifles.  Some problem with doubling or firing multiple rounds with a single trigger pull, which is something that the BATFE does't like one bit.

Link to PDF file with details on the recall.  It is a smallish file.

Bushmaster Firearms Intentional, LLC has become aware of a possible firearms performance issue that may develop with a small number of ACR rifles and we are requesting you discontinue the use of this rifle immediately, and contact us at your earliest convenience so that we can make the necessary arrangements to have the rifle returned to us for inspection and update if necessary.

All Bushmaster produced ACR rifles are impacted by this notification.

Since the ACR has a firing pin return-spring, I don't think this is a slam-fire issue.  I imagine it is a trigger group issue.  The lower being an unserialized part, unlike an AR-15 lower, this would make things a little easier.

UPDATE:  It should make things easier, but they still want the whole rifle returned for the recall service.

Midway Coupon Codes from Glocktalk: Expire 10/24/10

New Midway coupon codes from Glocktalk:

To receive your Savings:
1.	Place regularly priced in-stock products in your shopping cart totaling: $100 or more - Use Promotion Code 131010 $200 or more - Use Promotion Code 231010 $300 or more - Use Promotion Code 331010 Enter the promotion code in the box entitled "Promotion Code" on the shopping cart page.
2.	You will see the discount on the Confirmation page before placing your order.
3.	Remember, this promotion code is valid for orders placed on MidwayUSA.com.
4.	Limited to one per Customer and one promotion code per retail order.
5.	Offer cannot be combined with Birthday, Special or Dealer Pricing.
6.	Offer not valid on MidwayUSA Gift Certificates, Nightforce, Sale and Clearance products.
7.	Offer valid on regularly priced products only.
8.	Hurry, offer ends at 11:59 PM CT October 24, 2010.

Bushmaster ACR Observations, Part 2

Other ACR Entries:
Some Bushmaster ACR Observations (Part 1)
ACR Review, Part 3

I had the ACR out for some more live fire.  I discovered that the Bushmaster-branded Flambeau case that the rifle comes in is big enough to hold the ACR with a Millet DMS scope mounted, and a WASR-10 with a Primary Arms Micro red dot sight mounted on an Ultimak gas tube.

I noticed it the first time, but confirmed it this week; there’s no change in sound when the bolt locks open on an empty magazine.

Speaking of magazines, I’ve still not had any form of malfunction.  I was switching off between one of the windowed PMags that my AR-15s don’t like, and a D&H brand aluminum G.I. magazine with an orange (Gen 1?  Gen 2?) Magpul follower.  The bolt has locked back every time when the magazines are empty.  The bolt catch seem to be breaking in a bit, and is not quite as hard to release as it used to be.

I even tried some odds-and-ends reloads, some pretty soft-shooting ammo, and still couldn’t get the rifle to choke or short-stroke.

Trigger
I pulled out the Lyman digital trigger gauge to check the trigger pull.  In the center of the trigger, I get about eight pounds.  At the tip of the trigger, it takes about six and a half.  The pull is pretty smooth, and there is minimal overtravel, but definitely some creep and slack.  For a service rifle trigger, it’s not too bad, but it’s not a target trigger by any stretch of the imagination.

Grip
I moaned when I found out that the ACR was being released with a one-size-fits-some integral pistol grip.  I have Magpul MIAD modular grips on my ARs and I like them, and I find it odd that the Magpul rifle has no modular grip.  I guess it would have made the mold for the lower more complicated, but I would have liked to have the ACR lower compatible with MIAD interchangeable backstraps.

CR123A Battery Core, Batteries Not Included

That said, I guess I can live with the lower as is.  I wear a man’s size large glove.  With a good grip, my index finger hits the trigger just past the first joint, the “power crease.”

Stock
I guess most of you have little interest in the fixed stock of the Basic model, but this may be of some interest to those of you in states with “assault weapon” bans.  I measure the length of pull, the distance between the center of the trigger and the center of the butt pad, to be 12 3/8”.  I would have probably adjusted it longer if I could have, but I never had the rear sight smack me in the face under recoil or anything, so I guess I can live with that too.  I’ve read several places that there are spacers available to increase the length of pull of the fixed stock, but I tried to find them on the Bushmaster and Magpul websites, and came up with nothing.

Basic Stock Details, Sling Mounting Points

The Basic stock has sling loops on the top and bottom.  For single point slings, there is a rectangular ring on the left side of the stock, just behind the receiver.  It looks like the single point sling loop could be moved to the right side for lefties.

There is a single QD sling swivel socket in the top rear of the left side of the stock, which can be moved to the left side, if desired.  I’m pretty sure that the ambi socket kit for the Magpul UBR could also be used to put a second QD socket on the other side.  The Magpul and ACR swivels do not have any stops to prevent the swivel from rotating all the way around and tangling up your sling.

The cheekpiece is easy to adjust.  Just pull it back to unlock it, and then you can lift the front end and push it forward again to lock it in place.  I have it adjusted all the way up for use with the MBus sights and the DMS scope on an AR-15 mount.

There is no place to store anything in the Basic stock.

Grip
The pistol grip is textured on the sides, but not on the front or back, or on the bottom of the trigger guard.  The grip is compatible with MIAD grip cores, and comes with a core made to hold two CR123A batteries.

Handguard
I actually like the plastic Basic handguard better than the Enhanced quad-rail handguard.  I’d still like the polymer handguard to be a few inches longer, but it is a couple inches longer than the Enhanced handguard.  The Basic handguard is compatible with the rails and other accessories available to fit the Magpul MOE AR-15 handguards.  The Enhanced handguard has a forward sling swivel, but the Basic handguard does not.

Top/Inside View of Basic Polymer Handguard

I'd prefer one of the longer polymer handguard seen on the ACR designated rifleman prototype rifles.

Room For Improvement
I’d like to see magazine funnels available in a couple different sizes, a medium size for defense/duty use, and a larger one for 3-gun competition.  An ACR equivalent of the AR-15 ASAP plate, an ambidextrous single point sling loop would be an obvious accessory.  It looks like Remington is offering their ACR with an aluminum lower that accepts AR-15 pistol grips, which may add some to the already fairly heavy weight of the ACR but would allow tailoring the length of pull of the pistol grip.  I like the 12” handguards on a couple of my AR-15 uppers, and I consider both of the Bushmaster handguards currently available to be too short.  The QD sling swivel sockets should have stops to keep slings from getting tangled.

A lot of this stuff are things that Magpul has already offered for AR-type rifles.  Sort of aggravating that a $2000 Magpul rifle still needs some improvement.

Some Bushmaster ACR Observations

Other ACR Entries

Bushmaster ACR Obervations, Part 2
ACR Review, Part 3

ACR Basic, Photo Borrowed From Bushmaster ACR Manual

I’ve been fiddling with, and doing a little shooting of a Bushmaster Basic ACR. Here are some of the things that I haven’t seen mentioned in other reviews:

The Bushmaster is a modern rifle of unique design, borrowing some aspects of designs that proceeded it.

The bolt is much like an AR-15 bolt, and the trigger group is mostly AR-15 compatible, but other than that, there’s not that much in common with an AR-15. The upper and lower receivers are held together with AR-15 type captive pins; okay that’s one more thing in common.

Geissele SSA and JP AR-15 triggers have been successfully installed into ACR trigger packs.

The ACR bolt carrier rides on rails, sort of like the bolt carrier of a Kalashnikov variant rifle. The gas piston system is more like a FAL.

The ACR’s stock and handguards can be removed by pushing their own take-down pins.  Unlike a HK G3 or MP5-type firearm, the pins are captive.

Even the plastic handguard of the ACR basic model leaves the barrel free-floating.  Unlike an AK or FAL, there’s really no contact at all between the barrel and upper receivers, except where the two parts are coupled at the trunnion.  The gas piston of the ACR is shrouded by the upper receiver, but they don’t seem to touch.  The gas piston is not otherwise housed in a tube or anything.

ACR Barrel/Gas Piston Assembly (Borrowed From Bushmaster ACR Manual

Front End Details

The barrel is pretty tightly fitted to the trunnion. The barrel nut is pretty easy to remove with the attached lever, but actually getting the barrel out of the upper takes a little bit of wiggling.  The manual says to depress the barrel plunger, but doesn't show or tell you what that is.  See picture above.

The gas piston is a little hard to remove.  When you remove the gas plug, it doesn’t pop out, and there’s nothing to grab hold of.  Removing the handguard doesn’t help.  The piston has to be pushed out of the upper with a cleaning rod from the breech end. That, or you could remove the whole barrel assembly from the upper.

The ACR’s charging handle is an odd duck.  To be honest, I haven’t figured out how it works yet.  When the charging handle is locked forward, it is disconnected from the bolt carrier, and that’s what makes it non-reciprocating.  If you pull back on that charging handle, it connects with the bolt carrier.  If you pull back that charging handle, when trying to field strip the rifle, you won’t be able to remove the bolt carrier.  The two parts are connected, and you’ll have to lock the handle forward, and hook the carrier with your finger from the bottom of the upper, and then pull it out.

ACR Bolt Group

The new-production ACR that I’ve been fondling has a solid steel pin retaining the firing pin and firing pin return spring.  The ACR’s firing pin retainer is held in place with an o-ring.

The bolt cam pin is an ACR specific part that is fitted into the left side of the bolt carrier.  The cam only goes into the bolt one way, so you can’t install the bolt into the carrier the wrong way accidentally.  The cam pin does not quite pass all the way through the bolt.

Bolt Comparison

The head of the ACR bolt is almost identical to an AR-15 bolt.  I didn’t leave the AR-15 bolt to make any kind of point, I just haven’t gotten around to cleaning it yet.

Currently, ACRs are only available with a rifling twist of 1 turn in 9 inches.  “Common knowledge” says that a 1:9” twist will not stabilize 75 and 77 grain bullets, however I’ve heard from several ACR owners that these heavier bullets print decent groups.  Jeff Quinn got a sub-MOA group from Buffalo Bore 77 grain Sniper HP ammo with the ACR he tested for GunBlast.  I intend to find out myself, but haven’t gotten that far yet.

There have been some complaints that ACRs won’t lock back after the last round with certain types of magazines.  I’ve tried a D&H aluminum GI mag, a Lancer L5 30-round magazine, one of those Israeli countdown mags, and a 20-round PMag.  I even tried a new-revision PMag with windows that won’t reliably lock back the bolt carrier of either of my AR-15s.  I tried the stubborn PMag two or three times.  I’ve not yet had any problems at all, although the round count is still pretty low.

The safety (selector) easily snicks on and off.  The bolt catch however, gives no leverage assist, and is still stiff on the new rifle I’ve been working with.

There have been complaints that the support-side safety (selector) lever hits the trigger finger of some users when switching the safety off.  It really doesn’t bother me that much.  I trimmed the support-side lever of the ambi safety on my AR (not shown in picture linked below), but the ACR safety I would leave alone.  The ACR safety levers are pretty small, and made of plastic, and I’m not sure how much you can do with them anyway.  I’ve seen military ACRs with no safety lever on the right-side.  I expect there to be a cap or smaller lever available to replace the right-side lever available from Bushmaster or Magpul at some time in the future.

There’s been some comments on the relative recoil of the ACR.  I went from shooting my LMT/Stag AR-15 to the Basic ACR.  My AR has a 16” M4 barrel with carbine length gas system, standard M-16 bolt carrier, an A2 flash hider, and an H buffer.  I can’t say that I noticed any significant difference in recoil.  I do know that a 7.62x39mm AK has more recoil that my AR, and a 5.45x39mm AK has less recoil, but there’s just not that much difference between my AR and the ACR.  I expected the piston-op ACR to have a little more recoil, but that doesn’t seem to be.

Official Bushmaster ACR Home Page

YHM Lightweight Railed Float Tube Review

YHM Rifle-Length Lightweight Tube on my RRA 16" 9mm Upper w/YHM wrench

Lots of holes, and the rails are milled out to cut weight.

I wanted another rifle-length quad-rail free-float tube to install on my 9mm upper, so that I could use the 9mm upper as a stand-in for training purposes. I wasn’t entirely satisfied with the Midwest Industries T-12 tube, because the rails didn’t seem to be true Picatinny-spec. I have to use a piece of a soda can as a shim to get the Vltor light mount to work with the MI handguard. I was told that YHM handguards are better in this respect, so I bought a YHM rifle-length tube to try out.

I tried the Vltor light mount on the YHM handguard, and it does indeed work properly without the silly shim. Everything else seems to fit fine on the YHM also.

I was afraid that the indexing/recoil lug on Larue mounts would not work with the milled-out rails, but the lug does still engage some of the rails on the lightweight tube. In .233Rem/5.56mm, there’s not enough recoil for the lug of the Larue mounts to really be necessary as a recoil lug.

Larue mount lugs just barely engages the milled-out rails

Along with the handguard, I ordered the YHM wrench. The YHM wrench has a spanner for the lock-ring at one end, and a barrel wrench at the other end. I would not count on using the YHM wrench to disassemble your upper, as you can’t apply much torque with it, although it may be enough to install the new barrel nut. I broke pins off my PRI barrel wrench trying to get the RRA upper apart (related post, PRI barrel nut wrench). When I got a new wrench back from PRI, it took a 3 foot length of pipe over my breaker bar before I finally got the barrel nut to come loose with a crack. The Model 1 Sales upper that I had taken apart before was almost as difficult to disassemble. The torque-spec for the barrel nut is more that 30 foot-pounds, but not more than 80 foot-pounds in order to get the hole or notch to line up properly with the hole in the upper for the gas tube. The RRA and Model 1 barrel nuts were likely overtorqued, the RRA in particular grossly overtorqued.

The YHM tool can not be used with a torque wrench, and would require a very large diameter pipe to use as a cheater bar for more leverage.

The YHM wrench works fine on the Midwest Industries lock-ring also, by the way.

Once I got the barrel nut/delta ring assembly, and front sight tower off the RRA upper, installing the new handguard was simple. It installs just like the MI handguard, except that it has two indexing screws, at 3 and 9 o’clock, instead of just one at 6 o’clock like the MI handguard. The barrel nuts of the YHM lightweight and MI T-Series handguards are nearly identical. The indexing screws for the YHM are slotted, where the MI handguard has allen-head socket screws. There were no tools or threadlocker included with the YHM handguard. The rail covers shown in some of my pictures were not included either.

The only minor issue I had was aligning the barrel nut so that the top rail of the handguard matched up with the rail on the upper. The 9mm upper is blow-back operated, and had no gas tube hole to use to align with the hole the barrel nut. If you are picky, it may take 2 or 3 tries to get the rails to line up just right, but the same is really true of most railed handguards.

The lightweight YHM does not give the full-length top rail effect. Although, as you can see in the photo below, the MI T-Series handguards don’t have a slot over the lockring anyway, so it really doesn’t make that much difference.

YHM Lightweight on Top, MI T-12 on Bottom

You may also note that the slots in the rails on the YHM lightweight tube are not marked ("T-Markings"). The center of the rails are milled out to save weight. This may be a problem for some.

The YHM lightweight handguards have holes at the front end for screwing in YHM’s sling mount. These holes are NOT QD sling swivel sockets for the swivels that release with a push-button. I believe that the top and bottom holes are for the YHM endcaps, and the holes on either side are for the YHM screw-in sling swivel studs, but don’t use either an endcap or a sling swivels, so I’m not really sure. Sling mounts and endcaps are sold separately.

I’m quite happy with the YHM Lightweight handguard. Depending on how the Spike’s Tactical slim handguard turns out, there’s a good chance that I may buy another YHM lightweight for my LMT 10.5” upper. I have no plans to buy another MI handguard until they start cutting the rails to proper Picatinny specifications.

EDIT 1/13/12:  I liked the 1st one so much, I got another for my Spike's 5.45mm upper.  When I decided to put a free-float, railed handguard on my SBR/pistol upper, I bought a mid-length lightweight handguard for that.  Yes, the Daniel Defense Lite handguard is slimmer, but I have not found the width of the YHM handguards to be a problem, and the YHM tubes are about a third the price of the DD Lite.  For me, it's an easy win for YHM.  Have not found anything yet that won't fit the YHM rails.

The Spike's slim handguard that I mentioned, comes with rail covers, and I think has QD sling sockets and an included sling swivel, but costs nearly what the DD Lite does.  I was tempted, but ultimately decided to skip it.

The free-float tubes with bolt-on rails have started to become popular.  My issue with these, is that when you start to bolt on more rail sections, they start to become heavier and more expensive than a quad rail handguard, while still lacking the versatility.  I also think they usually look sort of goofy, but maybe that's just me.

If you are looking for a YHM Lightweight handguard, Primary Arms has the cheapest prices that I have seen, so far, and service from them has been excellent.

Related Links:
Yankee Hill Machine Home Page

Admiral Massad Ayoob?

Yeah, really.

Read the post on his blog. It's pretty funny.

Beretta Neos Recall

Beretta U.S.A. Corp. has discovered a potential condition with Beretta .22 caliber NEOS semiautomatic pistols in which the pistol will fire even if the safety is activated and, in some cases, the pistols may fire if the safety is moved from the OFF to the ON position. Chances of either of these situations occurring is extremely remote and no injuries have occurred because of this condition, however, because of safety concerns relating to this situation, Beretta U.S.A. Corp. is immediately implementing a recall of Beretta .22 caliber NEOS semiautomatic pistols. For more information, download a pdf copy of the Recall Notice.

Emphasis Beretta's

Link to Beretta Neos Recall page. Check to see if your Neos may be effected.

Bulkammo.com Grand Opening Coupon

If you're like me, the idea of buying ammo 20 or 50, or even 100 at a time is pretty laughable. When I buy ammo, it usually 500 or more rounds at a time.

Well, there's a new bulk ammo website, and they have some decent prices, and they are running a grand opening coupon promotion.

The website is bulkammo.com.

Use coupon code "GrandOpening" to get $25 off your first order over $200.

The have some decent prices on buckshot, slugs, Tula and Federal .223, and they Winchester Ranger hollowpoints in .40S&W and 9mm (115gr). There may be some other good deals, but those are just some of the items I've priced recently. They even have some oddball stuff like 158gr 9mm Subsonic, and lead-free ammo. If you want to try out a single box, you can do that too, it's not all 500 and 1000 round cases.

I'm seriously considering putting in an order for buckshot, slugs, and some .38Spl FMJ reloads. And maybe some Tula .223 to put away, and .22s, and . . .

Movie Review: El Mariachi

Since Robert Rodriguez' Machette just opened (I think), and I just rewatched his first feature length film, I guess this is a good time to post a review of this movie that few have even heard of.

El Mariachi is the first film in the Rodriguez Mariachi trilogy, with Desperado being the 2nd, and Once Upon A Time In Mexico the third. It doesn't look like there's a Mariachi character in Machette, though I haven't seen it yet. The Wikipedia entry says El Mariachi was intended for the Mexican video market (it was filmed in Spanish), and never shown in theaters in the U.S., as far as I can tell.

El Mariachi was filmed in Mexico, with unknown actors, for only $7000, which I didn't know until doing a little research for the review. There's not a lot in the way of special effects, aside from some blank guns and the singing scenes being overdubbed, but I didn't notice any bad acting from the cast. I would not have guessed that the movie only cost $7000 to make.

Summary

The mariachi (who's never named) walks into town with nothing more than the clothes on his back and a guitar. He stops into a bar, looking for work, and orders a soda, but this bar already has a musician. The bar's musician is dozing in the corner. With a whistle from the bartender, the house musician quickly sets up a synthesizer and plays for El Mariachi, flashes a smug look at the wandering musician, and then just as quickly goes back to dozing.

Our mariachi pays for his soda and moves on to the next bar in town.

The man, who you see at the very beginning of the move breaking out of jail, walks into the bar just as the mariachi is walking out. He asks if the men sitting around in the bar are Moco’s men, which they are, and proceeds to wipe out everyone in the bar, except for the bartender.

The movie cuts back to out mariachi sitting down at bar #2, and he orders another soda. The bartender, a woman, gives him a hard time about ordering a soft drink. The mariachi explains that he’s a singer and that he doesn’t want to harm his voice, and tells her that he’s looking for work. She explains that she can’t afford to pay him, and he more or less storms out, depressed and upset, having struck out again.

The mariachi continues on to a cheap motel. The hotel manager tips off the local drug dealer (Maurice, a.k.a. Moco), that a man dressed in black, carrying a guitar case has just checked it. The man Moco is looking for is Azul, the one who broke out of jail and killed 6 of his men in the bar.

The mariachi, caught up in a case of mistaken identity, runs out of the motel, into the streets of town, and manages to evade the hit squad, and kills four of them in the process. I'm not sure how the musician learned how to handle a MAC-10 so well, but whatever.

Not knowing where else to go, I suppose, not knowing anyone else in town, he ducks into bar #2, and explains what just happened. The bartender, who identifies herself as Domino, takes pity on him, and has him hide out in her room upstairs. It’s not long before one of Moco’s men comes in and asks about a man in black, with a guitar case full of weapons. Domino tells the man that she doesn’t know anything about the guy in black, and he leaves. So then, she goes upstairs and gets the mariachi by the balls, literally, until she discovers that what he has in the guitar case is. . . really a guitar.

Domino explains to the mariachi that the bar was a given to her by Moco. Moco’s been trying to buy her love for quite a while.

So now everybody’s on the same page. . . except for Moco’s men, who don’t really know what Azul looks like. Only Moco himself has seen Azul. Between the 6 men killed by Azul in the bar shooting, and the 4 that the mariachi killed in self-defense in the streets of town, Moco is now down 10 men. Moco doesn't know know the mariachi is in town, and assumes that it's Azul who killed all 10.

There’s another run in, between Moco’s men and the mariachi in the town. Azul grabs Domino, who the mariachi has fallen in love with, and takes her at gunpoint to Moco’s hacienda, trying to get the money he’s owed. I’m not going to spoil the movie for you and spell out the 2nd half of the plot.

Desperado and Once Upon A Time In Mexico do refer back to parts of El Mariachi.

Conclusion

If you like super-happy fairy tale endings, you will be disappointed. Personally, I like the ending.

So, for a very-low-budget made-for-video movie, it's definitely not bad. If you really liked Desperado and/or Once Upon A Time In Mexcio, this movie will give you the backstory on the main character.

The action is mostly limited to a couple of scenes, and they're not anything like the lobby scenes of The Matrix or Terminator 2. It's a lot more like No Country For Old Men.

There are a few sort of silly moments. The hotel manager and the synthesizer musician move in fast-motion for comic effect, sort of like a scene out of a episode of The Benny Hill Show.

With the exception of the musician's uncanny knack for self-defense, it's a good movie and worth picking up. The version I watched was dubbed in English, but the ones I see for sale now are only in Spanish with English subtitles, which I know some will argue is actually better. Either way, if you can find a copy of the movie on DVD for less than $10 (there's many showing in Amazon's Marketplace), I'd say it's worth buying. You can also buy the Mariachi trilogy as a set.

Thank You Precision Reflex, Inc. (PRI)

A couple weekends ago I broke a couple pins off the PRI AR-15 barrel nut wrench I was using. It's about as tough a tool as the application allows, but the barrel nut of the 9mm RRA upper was being really stubborn. I used the e-mail form on the PRI website, asking for a couple replacement pins, and the next day I had an e-mail from Tony Holdren at PRI. I sent him a few pictures of the broken wrench and he said to send it in, and they'd replace it. So I sent it Priority Mail last Tuesday, and had a new one back via UPS this Wednesday. I've had the barrel nut soaking with Kroil for a while. Wish me luck.

Novel Review: Steven Hunter’s Point Of Impact

Okay, so I’m a bit late to the Steven Hunter party. It looks like Point Of Impact was first published in 1993. I realize now that I’ve got some catching up to do.

You may have seen the movie Shooter (2007). Mark Wahlberg (a.k.a. Marky Mark, I’m sure he’d love the reference) is a sniper who gets framed for taking a shot at the U.S. president. I had seen the movie, but pretty much had forgotten all about it.

The high point of the movie, I vaguely remember. The main character, Bob Lee Swagger, the sniper, cuts down the man who really took the shot at the president, and then mows down a squad of shooters sent by the organization that framed him, aided somewhat by the FBI agent that believes he’s innocent. It’s maybe 12 minutes of shoot-em-up without much in the way of catch-phrases or billion dollar special effects, and it wasn’t enough to make a big impact at the box office. I don’t want to say that this is a minor part of the book, but the kicker in the novel is the surprise ending, which they did put into the movie. In the movie it only fizzles, and falls flat.

Let’s not get hung up on the mediocre movie though.

The novel starts out with Bob Lee waiting for a monster buck, near his home in the Oichita mountains in Arkansas. Bob Lee lives alone in the woods with his dozen or so rifles, a 1911, and a few thousand rounds of ammo, and has very little contact with anyone. He goes into town to pick up his mail, and to buy food now and then, but for the most part he just keeps to himself up in the mountains with his dog.

A few chapters in, you’re introduced to the villain, Col. William A. Bruce (retired), a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, who is played by Danny Glover in the movie. Col. Bruce needs a shooter, a real killer. He kicks some names around with his cronies. He rejects the suggestion of Carl Hitchcock (an obvious reference to Carlos Hathcock), because he’s made too much money selling books, and giving speeches at Soldier of Fortune conventions and whatever. Bruce wants “Bob the Nailer.” Bob Lee racked up 80-something confirmed kills as a Marine Sniper in Vietnam, with a few dozen more that couldn’t be confirmed. Pardon me, make that “The ‘Nam.”

Bruce goes up the Bob Lee’s place, along with Jack “Payne-O” Payne. Payne does the dirty work for Bruce, and he comes along to Bob’s place as a bodyguard. . . with a short barreled shotgun under his coat.

Bruce gets Bob Lee to come out to Maryland to do some shooting. He’s conviced Bob that he’s representing an ammo brand called Accutech. He gives some cock-and-bull story about using lasers to make the world’s best rifle ammo. Really what they are doing is laying the framework of a frame-up. They boost Bob’s ego, and then reveal that they’re tied up with Secret Service, and they have information that the Russian that shot Bob in the hip, and killed his spotter, has been hired by terrorists, and is planning on taking a shot at the President of the United States.

So Bob scouts some of the locations that the President will be visiting, and it seems that there is only one obvious choice. Col. Bruce talks Bob into sitting behind a spotting scope the day of the President’s speech, the day that the assassination is to take place. The trap is sprung, and Bob gets shot a couple times, but escapes. They set it up like Bob took the shot, and was shot by a police officer as he was making his escape. As Bob crashes out of the house, he practically lands on Nick Memphis, FBI agent, working with Secret Service. Bob takes Nick's Smith & Wesson 1076 10mm, and his government-owned car.

Nick had been in charge of going through the “Charlies,” random whackos, people who wrote letters to the government with too many exclamation points, people who just barely made it onto the radar of the Secret Service. Allegedly, Bob Lee had sent such a letter, and made it into the “Charlies.” Having been a former FBI sniper, Nick knew of “Bob the Nailer,” and didn’t consider him a real threat, and decided not to bump him up into the “Bravo” or “Alpha” groups.

So now it looks like Bob took a shot at the President, and took Nick’s service piece and car in the process. Nick is in hell, career-wise.


I may have gotten some of the details a little wrong, but that's mostly how it goes.  If I tell you the rest, it will spoil the book for you, so I’m going to end the summary there.

I highly recommend this book. I wasn’t real sure if I would enjoy it at the start. I guess I’m kind of out of my “sniper phase,” but there is a lot of “gun culture” written into the book, besides the sniper stuff. After the shooting, you get to read the newspaper articles as Bob Lee reads them. I got a kick out the inane comments about the “telescopic-powered assault rifle.” Real pro-gun-ban newspaper articles are sometimes that bad.

The book is about 500 pages, and they’re pretty long pages too, but I never thought, “oh, just get on with it already, dammit.” Although I guess I really knew how it would end about half way through, you don’t find out how it happens until like the last 30 pages. There’s a big hint near the beginning, but after a few hundred pages I had pretty much forgotten about it.

If you’re a reader, and you have the time, pick up a copy. I don’t think you’ll regret it.

Making Kydex Holsters

This is my first posting to come out of a request.

This is a follow-up on the Custom Pocket Holster post.

I guess the first thing I should do is start with a disclaimer.  If you are going to be forming a holster around an actual firearm, check to make sure it's unloaded three times before you start doing anything.  Be really really sure it's unloaded, and periodically check to make sure it's still unloaded.  We don't want anyone getting shot by an allegedly unloaded pistol.

If you have a blue gun, or a red gun, a resin movie prop gun, or a metal stand-in of the type typically used for making holsters, obviously use that instead of a real firearm.  However, I expect that most who read this, are just normal shooters, who aren't going to go and spend $50 for a solid plastic gun to make one or two holsters.  In case I haven't made it perfectly clear yet, if you are going to be using a real firearm to form a holster around, make sure it's completely unloaded first.


Kydex is a pretty forgiving material to work with.  If you make a mistake, you can heat it back up and reshape it.  One of the only ways you can really go wrong is to cut a piece too small, although you may be able to use that piece later for something else.  If you get too agressive with a heat gun you might manage to scorch or really melt the material.

Kydex is also a very inexpensive material.  At present, you can get a 12x24” sheet of black Kydex for about $15 shipped, which should be enough to make two dropped and offset race holsters for full-size pistols, possibly 3, 4, or maybe even more concealment holsters, depending on the design.

I bought my Kydex and Concealex from Knifekits.com.  They have expanded their line of sheath and holster supplies to include metal belt clips, snaps and setting tools, a wider selection of rivets and setting tools, leather material and supplies, new colors and camo pattern Kydex, and a whole bunch of other stuff.

.060” thick Kydex is easier to shape, but Kydex is pretty brittle, and all the holsters and belt loops I’ve ever had, made of .06” Kydex have broken or cracked.  The pocket holster for the Kahr is made of .09” thick sheet, and has been beaten pretty badly, but it's still intact.  I made belt loops for the SuperTuck from .09” sheet folded over, and they’ve been hanging in for a couple years now.  I don't have any experience with .08" Concealex or Kydex, or .125" Kydex.  The 1/8" Kydex might do the trick for belt loops, but wasn't available when I ordered material.

There are a few different ways to form Kydex.  I just use a heat gun to soften the sheet, and then I bend and form it as necessary.  You may have seen vacuum forming on Mythbusters, that works with Kydex too, but I haven't bothered with making a vacuum forming set-up myself.  I've heard of people using the oven, or a toaster oven to warm up the Kydex, and then they quickly try to form it before it cools down and sets.  I have not tried the oven method yet, but I can see how it might have some advantages.

If you use the heat gun or oven methods, you'll need some kind of "Kydex press."  You can order a nice, photo-friendly press from knifekits.com or elsewhere for about $85, but I made mine from some MDF I had left over from another project, and a couple layers of foam cut from a sleeping pad.

The top layer of foam is a little scorched, and the cut of the MDF isn't pretty, but it gets the job done.

You may have no choice but to hand-form sometimes.  The Kydex press doesn't really do curves, unless you make some kind of buck to insert into the press with the hot material.

You'll need something to use as a heat sheild to just work small areas of your holster.  I used a piece of aluminum flashing, but a scrap of plywood or something would work too.

I think I had cut the notch in the heat shield to rework the channel necessary for the slide lock lever.

I have used popsicle sticks taped to the pistol to form slots in the Kydex for the slide lock lever, and other controls.  If you don't have any handy, you can find them labeled as craft sticks at Michael's or maybe WalMart.  The wood slats, purchased from the hobby section of WalMart, I cut to make a stand-in belt to make belt loops.  It's not pictured here, because I threw it away, but I once use the handle of a plastic spoon at one point for forming Kydex.  Use your imagination.

Here is some hardware used to make the tension adjustment on the pocket holster for the Kahr.  On top is a tee-nut (may alse be called a t-nut).  On the bottom is a finish washer.  On the right is a rubber bushing, which goes between the layers of the holster.  On the left is a flathead Phillips 8-32 machine screw.

Except for the rubber bushing, this is the same type of hardware used to secure the belt loops to a Crossbreed SuperTuck holster.  Crossbreed seems to have used a rubber washer cut from rubber sheeting to use as a spacer between the leather backing, and the belt loop.

The finish washers I was able to find at Home Depot.  The tee-nuts and screws I ordered from MSC Direct, but they may be cheaper from McMaster Carr, although, if you need a heat gun, it's probably cheaper at MSC.  If you are buying a heat gun, try to get one with the attachments for focusing the flow of hot air.  It you can't get a heat gun with the attachments for a resonable price, you can get them from WalMart in the paint section for under $25 probably, or maybe from PepBoys.


More Holster-Making Links, in no particular order:
FreeIdaho - Scroll down the index on the left until you get to "Holster 1".
Engnath.com Sheath Page - It's about making knife and sword sheaths, but there's some useful information that can be applied to making holsters.
F1Design.us, Vacuum Forming an IWB Holster - Alternate method of making Kydex Holsters.

Update, 8/1/2010

I found the website for the self-defense shows on Spike.  So I updated that post.  I also added descriptions of the shows.

Uploaded pictures of Heinie sights and LPA adjustable sights for Glock, and added them to my update post from July 18th.

August free shipping (for orders over $199) promotion code for DSG Arms = AUGSHIP

Custom Pocket Holster

I had been carrying my Kahr PM9 in an Uncle Mike's pocket holster with an old Blue Cross card epoxied on at the bottom to give it some ridgity.  Well the card broke into several pieces and the holster returned to a floppy, and now very ugly mess.  So I made my own Kydex pocket holster from Kydex.  Here it is:

I made it so that the Kydex covers the mag release, sights, and, of course, the trigger.  The muzzle end is folded over, to try to protect the pistol from pocket lint as much as possible.

I sized it specifically to fit Wrangler jeans pockets, but it seems to fit in most anything else.  Some pocket holsters are made too small, and the pistol ends up sideways, or eventually upside down.  I didn't leave it any room to rotate.

I've been using this holster for a few months and it's working out well.  It took a few tries to get it just right, but the Kydex can be reshaped without any negative effects, and it wasn't that hard.  All in, with the heat gun, materials, foam and MDF to make the Kydex press, I still have less money in the holster than what it would have cost me to have someone else make it.

.223 Remington to .22 Pellet Conversion

Here's something I haven't seen before.  The Sportsman's Guide has a .223 Remington to .22 pellet conversion shell.  It looks like a brass shell casing, but you put a 209 shotshell primer in one end, and a .22 pellet in the other, turning your .223 Remington rifle into a pellet gun.

Pretty neat.

Midway Coupon Codes From AR-15.com

From AR15.com e-mail newsletter

To receive your Savings:

1. Place in-stock products in your shopping cart totaling:
   $50 for $10 off - Use Promotion Code 171510
   $500 for $50 off - Use Promotion Code 271510
   $1000 for $100 off - Use Promotion Code 371510
   Enter the promotion code in the box entitled "Promotion Code" on the shopping cart page.
2. You will see the discount on the Confirmation page before placing your order.
3. Remember, this promotion code is valid for orders placed on MidwayUSA.com.
4. Limited to in-stock products, one per Customer and one promotion code per retail order.
5. Excludes Gift Certificates and Nightforce products, Sale priced products and Clearance products.
6. Offer valid for retail Customers only.
7. Offer cannot be combined with Birthday or Special Pricing.
8. Hurry, offer starts at 12:00 AM CT July 15, 2010
   and ends at 11:59 PM CT July 31, 2010.

What I've Been Up To

I got some sights in from Richard Heinie on, er, Wednesday or Thursday, I think.  I got a tall front sight for my Glock 21, which was shooting high.  I also ordered a Ledge rear sight with tritium for the Glock 19, which I bought a couple years ago, but have mostly ignored, except for shooting 1200 odd rounds through it.  The old front sight from the 21 went onto the 19.  The 21 is now shooting to point of aim, and I'm ready to carry the 19.  The 19 will also likely go along for a carbine training class at some point in the future.

I also ordered a tritium sight set for the Kahr PM9, hoping it would fix my problem of hitting high with that pistol.  It didn't.  The pistol still shot 9 inches high (!) at 50 feet.  I can bring it down a bit by filing the rear sight, but probably not enough.

Heinie night sights for Kahr pistols

My Kahr With New Heinie Sights, and Custom Pocket Holster

I shot a Ruger Rimfire Match earlier today at Delaware County Field & Stream.  Although I didn't shoot all that well with the AA Glock conversion pistol, I did pretty good with the 10/22, and it was fun.  The same range is running rimfire pistol plate shoots on Wednesday nights, but I work nights and haven't been able to go.  I now have a legitimate purpose for the 10/22 that I've used to burn through 25-round mags of cheap bulk ammo.  See. . . I can shoot a rifle offhand. . . I just need 40 M.O.A. targets!   :-P 

UPDATE, 8/1/2010:  Looks like I took second in unlimited class somehow, placing just behind the gentleman who set up the shoot.  Don't quite know how that happened.

Oh, and my AA Glock conversion upper is now sporting LPA adjustable sights.  The rear sight holds a zero pretty well.  Although the front sight is much taller than the Glock front sight, and may cause holster clearance issues, I like these a lot better than the plastic Glock sights.  I can now see light between the edges of the rear notch and the sides of the front sight now.  Another issue may be the hinge pin of the rear sight, which is a cheap roll pin.  I've heard several stories of broken hinge pins in Bomar-type sights, and I don't imagine that roll pin will hold up to very many major .40S&W loads.  I'll post more on these sometime later.

LPA adjustable Glock sight set


AA Rimfire Slide with LPA Sights

LPA Adjustable Glock Sight

UPDATE, 11/20/11: The LPA sights are still doing well.  I don't recall ever adjusting the sights, after the initial adjustment just after installing them.  I'm quite impressed, and would buy another set in a heartbeat, if I needed them.

A quick shopping note:  DSG Arms is selling 5 PMags with 150 rounds of Fiocchi 62gr ammo for $109.  I've got lots of AR mags, and I'm reloading .223.  If not for that, I'd probably jump on this deal.  Scroll a bit down this page for a free shipping code I posted recently if you're buying.

I updated the Spike Network shooting/self-defense show post.

Tapco U.S.-Made SKS Bolt

I just discovered this item in the Midway Gunsmithing catalog.  Tapco is making, or at least contracting, replacement SKS bolts.  The bolts are cut so that detachable magazines can be removed with the bolt in battery, which you can't do with origional equipment bolts.  The bolt also has a spring-loaded firing pin to prevent slam fires.  Even better, the bolt is made in the U.S., and counts as a compliance part if you need that, due to a "non-sporting" configuration.

Although my Chinese SKS is a pre-ban, I'd like to get one for use with the detachable Tapco mags, and for the spring-loaded firing pin.  I'll probably pick one up from Midway at some point in the future.  Cutting away the ridges for removing magazines isn't that hard, but I don't want to modify the Chinese bolt, because the rifle is worth decent money in ulaltered condition.  New communist bolts are nearly as expensive from Numrich.

EDIT: Er, on second thought, the reviews on the Midway product page are not completely good.  The price of a Chinese SKS bolt seems to have gone down significantly since the last time I checked also.