Category Archives: Gun Fun

Ammo for 3-D printed guns

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The plastic guns being made have been tested with conventional ammo intended to be fired in conventional guns. Why not load up some low pressure rounds specifically intended to work with the plastic guns?

Even if the bullets had muzzle velocities half that of conventional guns you aren’t going to get volunteers to be bullet backstops. Choose a common cartridge which already has a fairly low pressure then tweak the bullet weight and powder charge to get something that the plastic is much more capable of handling.

Here is a list of max pressure recommendations in PSI for various cartridges with the obvious high pressure cartridges removed:

380 Auto 21,500
25 Auto 25,000
32 S&W Long 15,000
38 Auto 26,500
38 S&W 14,500
38 Special 17,000
44 S&W Spl 15,500
45 Auto 21,000
45 Colt 14,000

Simple homemade gift

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I hadn’t done any reloading in a couple years so it felt really good to crank out a few hundred rounds. My last rife reloading was done in 2001.

The picture below is a sample of the result. It is a gift for a friend. It was simple, shiny, and you can’t buy it in stores:

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Plus it should give the anti-gun people heartburn.

See also this video:

I’m a “respected Idaho based shooter and author”

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Apparently I’m now “a respected Idaho based shooter and author.”

The background story is that I and several other bloggers were asked by the folks at AmmoForSale.com which of the three major calibers, 9mm, .40 S&W, and .45 ACP, was the best. I answered, via the blog post, and they just posted an article that incorporates some of my response.

I appreciate the kind words but I’m not sure I have all that much respect as a shooter compared to a lot of other people and I’m a “software author”, blogger, and occasional magazine article writer. I’m not really an “author” in the most common sense.

Still, I think they did a good job on their article even if they did give me more credit than I think I’m due.

Shiny

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I recently purchased some Hornady One Shot Sonic Clean Solution (currently on clearance at Midway USA). This is only for cleaning brass, not gun parts in general.

I put a bunch of dirty, deprimed, brass in the sonic cleaner with the solution diluted 40:1 with water and let it run for 30 minutes while stirring every six minutes or so. The result is quite pleasing:

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The interior of the brass and even the primer pockets are shiny clean. This is faster than using the tumbler with corncob media and gets the interior clean as well as the exterior.

Ammo by the pound

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This could be a good deal for a lot of uses. Ammo by the pound. Think of this as “shelf sweepings”.

“Black Friday” only and the limited quantities will disappear fast.

Via email from Eric the AmmoMan, who said in part:

we’re doing something kind of cool for Friday related to loose-pack ammo— lots of it. Basically, we’ve sorted out any rounds where the boxes have been damaged so we’ll have ammo for dirt-cheap (For example – 2100 rounds of .22 delivered in an ammo can for $99).

You can see all the details and calibers we’ll have in stock here:

http://www.ammoman.com/ammo-by-the-pound

If you think it’s worth sharing, the ammo will be put “in-stock” on Friday morning at midnight.  We’re limiting each caliber to one per customer since it is kind of a unique deal and we want to help as many shooters as possible.

Ignorance and bias

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The headline is “Police find 5 guns, large ammo stash in George Zimmerman’s home.” The text of the article says, “police found five guns and more than 100 rounds of ammunition in the house.”

“Large ammo stash”?

When I buy either components for reloading ammo or completed ammo I consider 100 “sample size”. When reloading, unless I’m doing load development, the smallest batch of anything is 100.

100 rounds isn’t enough for an ordinary morning pistol match. When at a match I carry close to that many (typically about 85) rounds in the magazines on my belt. I could easily burn through that in a two minutes of practice. A single ammo can holds about 1000 rounds of .40 S&W and I have several cans in my gun room. A year ago I bought 4000 rounds of .22 LR (yeah, great timing!) which I could probably have stored in my coat pockets.

If I’m down to 100 units of any type of ammo I consider that “out” and time to restock.

Ignorance or bias by the reporter? Ignorance and bias?

Gun Song- Don’t take your guns to town by Johnny Cash

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A classic.

Johnny Cash wrote and performed for a lot of songs over the years, and a lot have something to say. In spite of the title the moral in this one seems to be as much “avoid strong drink” as it is that on any given day you might meet the one guy faster than you. Leaving it behind means that it’s an option you don’t have.

I do like one of Heinlein’s ideas from “tunnel in the sky.” The idea of going unarmed means you think “hide!” and “run!” rather than “I’m a tough SOB,” and a more cautions attitude can be a great life-saver. I think better training is a better choice that actually being unarmed, but hey, whatever gets you to the right mental place.

My HP-35 calculator died

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When I went to college in the fall of ‘73 they were teaching engineering students like me how to use slide rules. But the HP-35 scientific calculator had been introduced in 1972 and a few other students had them. It was an amazing thing. The HP web page (linked above) says:

HP asked a local market research firm to do a market study. They did and determined that the HP-35 Scientific Calculator would never sell because it was too expensive. Bill said “We’re going to go ahead anyway.” The product was so popular that HP couldn’t make them fast enough.

Bill remembered, “We figured, in the first year, if we could sell 10,000 calculators, we’d break even. We sold 100,000.”

I played with one for a little bit and then went to the University Book Store and bought one. It cost $300. That was a lot of money then. An entire year of school with books, tuition, room, and board was on the order of $2000.

I brought it back to my dorm room and the engineer across the hall from me came over and we played with it until dawn. It was absolutely amazing.

I eventually owned several different HP calculators. I programmed them and spent a lot of time “crunching numbers” for my electrical engineering problems.

I had gotten at least two different battery packs in the late seventies for my ‘35 when the old NiCads died and then ran it on the charger for years. The power switch got a little flakey and some of the keys got some bounce in them and I would have to sometimes fiddle with it to get it to work right. But it always would come through for me.

My HP-35 sat on the shelf a lot after I got newer calculators but when I set up my reloading bench back in the mid ‘90s I got it out and left it there. I would use it for estimating how many rounds I could get from a pound of powder or muzzle velocities and “power factors” from alternate powder charges or bullet weights.

As I was unpacking my gun room today I plugged it in and it would not turn on. I don’t know if it is the power supply, the power switch, or something else. It doesn’t really matter at this point. As of last month I have had it for 40 years.

I have another HP calculator I’ll put on my bench. If it lasts 40 years from when I bought it then it should last for at least another 10.

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Win prizes and meet “The Gunny”

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Optics Planet is giving away a free trip to Las Vegas plus a bunch of knives and a meeting with “The Gunny”. The knives include:

  • One (1) AU03-N Aura SEAL Knife (X0-KN-SLSL-AU03-N) (Value: $60.00)
  • One (1) TF-1 Trident, Partially Serrated Black TiNi Folding Knife (X0-KN-TR23IO-TF-1) (Value: $114.00)
  • One (1) F18-N Voodoo Hawk, Black, Black F18-N (X0-A2-F18-N) (Value: $75.00)
  • One (1) F06PN-CP FastHawk Tactical Tomahawk with Nylon Sheath, Polished Finish, Black F06PN-CP (X0-A2-F06PN-CP) (value: $50.00)
  • One (1) DarkEnergy 247 Lumen Tactical Handheld LED Flashlight with Belt Clip, Large (DE-02-X0-FL-DE-02) (value: $130.00)
  • One (1) M37-N SEAL Pup Powder Coated Knife, Nylon Sheath (X0-KN-SLPOP-M37-N) (value: $98.50)
  • One (1) MC02-N SOGFari Black Machete, 18in Blade w/ Sheath & Pouch (X0-KN-SJH76TS-MC02-N) (value: $33.00)
  • One (1) PowerAssist Multiool w/ Nylon Sheath, 15ools Combined, BLK Oxide Finish, Black (B66N-CP X0-M3-GAS8U-B66N-CP) (value: $126.50)
  • One (1) Gunny Folding Knife – Limited Edition (X0-KN-SOG-GFL01-L) (value: $520.00)
  • One (1) VL02 VULCAN MINI Folding VG-10 Kn (X0-KN-HSG12-VL-04) (value: $188.50)
  • One (1) Bowie 2.0 Knife (X0-KN-S1T-L) (value: $248.50)
Sweepstakes info.

The odds of winning depend on how many people enter so please don’t enter as it decreases my odds.

Rifle cartridge pens

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I use paper only infrequently and when I do it is almost always with a pencil so pens are of very little interest to me. But having a pen with obvious rifle cartridge components does make a good statement. And I’m sure there are people for whom it would make a good gift so I give you this:

Quote of the day—Jeff Soyer

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A drone from PETA? Think of it as another trap shooting opportunity.

Jeff Soyer
October 24, 2013
PETA Now Using Drones to Spy on Hunters
[I wonder what the legality of shooting down a drone is. Shooting it down over the owner of the drones property almost for certain is illegal. Shooting it down over public property probably is is illegal. But shooting it down over your own property or the property of someone who gave you permission? That might be legal.

To do this right I think you should do it in one of two ways, neither of which is that suggested by Jeff:

  1. Radio controlled fighter plane with working gun(s).
  2. Explosives filled clay pigeon. It launched as close as possible to the drone then shoot it to detonate it.

I’d give you bonus points if instead of the clay pigeon you launch a milk jug filled with gasoline in combination with the explosives such that the detonation of the explosives disperses the gasoline and ignites it. It would sort of be like using a tactical nuke to remove a stump in the back 40 or an artillery shell loaded with sarin gas to take out the wasp nest. It would be more expensive than necessary but with PETA “making a statement” and “sending a message” is probably more important than the loss of the drone.—Joe]