Paul Harrell: Top Ten Tips for Pandemic Firearms Buyers Part 2

Got in some shooting and ham radio today

I was able to get to the range today. My rod and gun club remains open and IMNSHO, an outdoor range is the perfect place to engage in some socially distant outdoors activity.

First up was my Uberti Bisley in .44-40. Uberti has taken to putting extra tall front sights on their single actions which is nice, because it allows you to file it to zero because it will almost certainly shoot low, as mine did.

Before leaving the house I used Dillon's online Sight Correction Calculator. First you need to measure your sight radius, then plug in how far off the point of impact is at a particular range. It will then tell you how far you need to move the sights, or in the case of my gun, how much to remove off the front sight to raise the point of impact so it coincides with the point of aim.

Whenever you're zeroing a gun's sights with a file, take it slow. It's easy to remove metal but hard to put it back.

Anyway, I filed the front sight at home and when I got to the range, found that it shot a little high at 25 yards with my handloads with an AM 43-215C 219 grain bullet on top of 7.0 grains of Universal. However, it was dead on with a 200 grain bullet on top of 7.8 grains of Unique. I'm going to leave it as-is.

Now I just need to hit the top of the front sight with some cold blue, and then the back face of it with high-viz green paint.

After shooting the Bisley I moved to the 50 yard line and shot 50 rounds through my Uberti Yellowboy in .38-40. These were black powder handloads consisting of a 180 grain RNFP from cowboybullets.com, a dental wax lube cookie, and 1.9cc (~30 grains of Swiss 3Fg), and a CCI large pistol primer in Starline brass.

Unfortunately, it's not an accurate load. At all. Groups were about 6" at 50 yards from the bench, which is terrible. I shot the final 30 shots at the steel gongs at 50 yards, hitting more than I missed. I need to bench the 7.8 grains of Unique load I tried last weekend.

On the bright side, cleanup of the black powder load was quick and easy. The bullets I used don't carry a lot of lube but the dental wax cookie seemed to keep the fouling soft. It only took about 10 wet patches until the bore was clean.

After getting home, smoking a Bacarrat Rothschild cigar and drinking a Yuengling Black & Tan, I hoisted my Hawaii EARCHI 40 - 6M end-fed antenna on my 30' Jackite pole to try and join an Arfcom 40m emergency communications drill.

The net was difficult because of the noise floor. After awhile I decided to change over to 40M JS8Call. Per PSKReporter.info, I'm getting decent propagation into the East Coast and midwest, and have even been heard as far away as Arizona, Portugal, and France.

Thoughts on Picking a .22 Handgun for the Lady of the House

Over on Bushcraft USA, the topic of picking a .22 LR handgun for a member's wife came up. The member's wife is adamant that she doesn't want anything larger than a .22. He was asking for input so I offered these thoughts:

First off, if at all possible get her to a gun store and let her handle a few different guns, to see which one is most comfortable for her. If you can rent some and shoot them, all the better.

Secondly, compact rimfire double action revolvers have hard trigger pulls which makes shooting them accurately much more difficult. This includes S&W J-Frames and Ruger LCRs in .22. (The one LCR I handled in .38 Special had a nice trigger.)
Thirdly, compact DA revolvers in general are tough to shoot well without proper training and a lot of practice. They are often recommended for women because they are small. But between the heavy triggers on the .22s and their general difficulty to shoot accurately -- which is doubly important with a .22 -- they are most often a very poor choice for the ladies, unless they have greater than normal hand strength and are willing to practice a lot.

Compact .22 autoloaders tend to have better triggers and are in general easier to shoot than .22 snubbies. They usually hold more rounds, as well. A good example is the Ruger SR22. I picked one up a couple years ago. My now-15 y/o daughter took to it immediately and shoots it well. It is a DA/SA semiautomatic pistol that uses 10 round magazines. It's very light and has a rail under the dust cover that allows easy mounting of a weapon light or a laser. Mine has been very reliable.

If relying on a .22 for defense ammo is critical for reliability. In my experience, CCI .22 LR is the most reliable. Bulk pack .22s give the most ignition problems. My choice for .22 LR defensive use would be CCI Mini Mag solids, for best reliability and penetration.
Keep the gun clean and properly lubed with particular attention to the firing pin channel, and feed it high quality ammo, and it will serve well for defense.

He also noted that she might consider a Ruger PCC Charger in 9mm, to which I replied:

If for some reason she won't go for the Charger version of the 9mm carbine, Ruger makes the 10/22 Charger. Setup as you suggested and with a Ruger BX-25, 25-round mag, that would make a formidable defensive weapon.

.22 LR is far from ideal as a defensive round but it beats harsh language and provides people who for whatever reason cannot handle a larger cartridge a means of self defense.

Paul Harrell : Top Tips for Pandemic Gun Buyers Video

This video is a good list of tips for people new to gun ownership.

His first tip in particular is especially valuable: Be skeptical of anyone promoting themself as an authority and giving you advice.

NOTE: The video title says that it's a list of 10 tips. It's really 5 plus a bonus. He acknowledged this in a pinned comment.

For what it's worth, I've recently started watching Paul's videos. He is not tacticool but served 20 years in the USMC and US Army as a marksmanship instructor and light infantryman, and was involved in a defensive gun usage in which he survived and the other guy didn't.

A Simple No-Sew Facemask

I made one of these and used it yesterday when I ran out to Lowe's. I added a paper shop towel in it, since it provides much better filtration than the cotton bandana I used. I also used a couple paper clips to help keep the ends folded in.

Moved Into the Home Office

Yesterday after work I got my home office to the point where I was able to move my workstation there. The walls and trim are painted.

I removed the hutch from my daughter's old desk for more space. I'll be using it for a little while rather than spending more money right now.

Earlier this week I ordered a Steelcase Think chair arrived from Crandall Office Furniture. This is the same model that I've had at work since around 2008. For me, it's the most comfortable office chair I've ever used. The one I got is a refurb but it looks new. Some of the plastic parts even appeared to have been Armor Alled.

Tearing up the carpet and padding was a major pain. The worst part was pulling all the staples, which meant I had to be on the floor with a pair of pliers. The hardwood floor looks even worse than I remembered. It appears that the original owner of the house used different sections for trying out different stains. It looks like CRAP.

So, yesterday, I ordered an Oriental rug from Home Depot. It should arrive early next week.

Next up is to get a couple of shelves in the closet, a wall bumper for the doorknob, and some shelves for the wall. I'll also be moving a cabinet up from downstairs and eventually a bookcase or two.

In the new office I'm only about 20 feet from my Wifi router, but I don't yet have the ability to connect via Ethernet as I did downstairs. Everything else being equal, a hard connection is going to be better -- more reliable and faster -- than Wifi. I need to scrounge around in the midden to see if I have any CAT5 left and then I'll look into running an Ethernet drop.

The room is currently very sparse but it is a refreshing change from the laundry room.

More Progress on the Home Office

Today I made more progress on the home office remodel.

The first thing I tackled today was sanding the spackling. I used a 3M N95 mask that was stored with my painting stuff and my nose is still a little sore from wearing it for maybe 20 minutes. It would suck to have to wear one on the regular.

After that I got the first coat of paint on. It looks like two will be fine. I'll do the second coat tomorrow after work, and the trim on Tuesday.

I should be able to move in by the end of the week, even though it won't be complete. I.e., it will still need shelves.

Progress on the Home Office

I made it out to Lowe's today to pick up paint, etc. so I can redo my old/new home office. They had a box of shop towels and also cleaning wipes by the carts, which I availed myself of. They had sneeze guards up between cashiers and customers. Everyone seemed to maintain social distancing.

After I got home we got most of my daughter's crap cleaned out and I was able to spackle where needed and got some primer on the trim. Hopefully, the paint I got won't take more than two coats to cover the previous paint -- light blue with one wall painted orange. (I call this decor scheme "eyesore.") I'm going with a light tan.

Did I mention that I hate painting?

After I'm done painting I'll be tearing up the pink rug. There's a hardwood floor underneath but I forget what it looks like. The previous owner of my house had painted the hardwood floor in our living and dining rooms with 4 coats of white paint. Stripping that was a bitch. IIRC, in my office there's some stain on it. I'm planning on an area rug.

I've decided to keep her old desk temporarily but I'll remove the hutch on top of it for more space. I figure once we're done with the Kung Flu I can pick a more permanent solution. My main goal now is to get the room usable and get her settled into the den.

Home Office Renovation

My 15 y/o daughter asked last month if she could move from her room upstairs to our den. We live in a 3 BR, 2.5 bath split-level. The den doesn't get used too much by anyone else and being the youngest, she has the smallest bedroom. My wife and I agreed but we were planning on waiting a bit before starting the project.

Yesterday, waiting went out the window. Today is the last day of my second full week of working from home and I could really use more space.

We pulled the old sectional sofa out of the den and put it out back under a couple tarps until we can dispose of it. We also gave away her old bed (maintaining proper social distancing) My wife ordered her a loft bed for downstairs.

I'm looking forward to getting her moved downstairs because it means that I can reclaim her bedroom, which used to be my home office. For the past several years I've been using a corner desk in our laundry room. It lacks surface area, so I can use only one monitor. I'm looking at buying or building an L-shaped desk with enough space for me to use my 27" monitor, have my laptop open next to it, and still have room for a ham radio or two.

Speaking of which, I'll have to reroute the feed lines to two antennas that are up on the roof, but it will be worth it because they will be significantly shorter. Ergo, less loss.

Aside from more desk space it will get me out of the coldest corner in the house, which will be a relief when next Fall rolls around.

Overall, this is a good project to undertake while we wait for COVID-19 to peter out.

Report on Coronavirus Treatment by a Respiratory Therapist in New Orleans

This is really not good. Link.

Some Observations From My First Week Working From Home Due to the Coronapocalypse

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/some-observations-from-my-first-week-working-home-due-david-markowitz

Yellowboy Range Report

I took some time off today and got the chance to shoot my new Yellowboy rifle this afternoon.

Function was 100% with cowboy action shooting loads from Black Hills and Ultramax. Accuracy with them was poor. I expected this based on my prior experience with factory CAS .44 WCF ammo in my Henry and 1873.

The Ultramax actually shot a little better than the Black Hills loads.

I'm not sure if the commercial manufacturers use bullets that are too hard for optimum accuracy, or if they dont' shoot all that well since they are downloaded. In the case of .44-40, Black Hills uses bullets that are too small to shoot well in modern Uberti barrels (.427 vs. .429). Anyway, I get groups with BH .44 WCF like the one shown above, but the same rifle with group into 2" with my handloads.

On the other hand, function was very rough using some black powder handloads I had put together using an original 19th Century Ideal tong tool, with bullets cast in that tool's integrated mold. I loaded these a couple years ago intending to shoot them in my Winchester 1892, but never got the chance to before that rifle was stolen.

Anyway, the cartridge OAL wasn't correct on all of them so several times the action bound up, requiring excessive force to function. If I don't pull the remainder of them I'll load them singly. However, accuracy flat out sucked with those rounds so they'll probably just get pulled, rather than wasting components.

I'm planning to break in the Accurate 40-180E mold this weekend. I expect the rifle to shoot well with bullets cast in it.

The other thing hurting accuracy today was the rifle's trigger pull. While crisp, it's far too heavy, probably around 10 lbs. I'm going to look into some careful work with some slip stones to see if I can't get that down to an acceptable level (4 to 5 lbs. would be ideal).

Finally, I wanted to post this picture of a fired case next to a complete .38-40 cartridge. As you can see, the fired case is very much blown out. This is typical with guns chambered in .38-40. For some reason the specs for unfired cases are much smaller than the chambers. This results in a situation much like that seen with Lee-Enfields in .303 British.

In the case of the Lee-Enfield it was designed to allow military rifles to function with dirty or corroded ammo on a battlefield, but nobody seems to know why it's the case with .38-40.

New Uberti 1866 Yellowboy Sporting Rifle

After work on Wednesday I stopped at my local FFL and picked up an Uberti Model 1866 "Winchester" Sporting Rifle that I'd ordered from Dixie Gun Works.

The original 1866 was the first rifle to bear the Winchester name. Prior to its introduction, the company had been known as the New Haven Arms Company, known for manufacturing the 1860 Henry Rifle. Like the Henry, the 1866 was chambered for the .44 Henry rimfire cartridge.

The '66 was catalogued by Winchester all the way up to 1898 or '99, long after the introduction of its successor, the 1873. It was a bit cheaper and as long as it kept selling, Winchester kept it in the catalog. For a lot of folks in the late 19th Century, the 1866 was good enough even though its .44 rimfire round was less powerful than .44-40.

During the 1860s the Model 1866 was evaluated by the Swiss military, but ultimately not adopted due primarily to "not invented here" syndrome. Six thousand were sold to France for use in the Franco-Prussian War, and they were famously used by the Ottoman Turks against the Russians at the Siege of Plevna in 1877.

The .44 Henry cartridge pushed a 200 grain bullet to around 1100 feet per second, which is nothing to sneeze at for a defensive cartridge. It also worked ok for deer hunting at close range with careful shot placement.

Incidentally, modern Winchester Super-X .44-40 ammo is loaded to .44 Henry ballistics. Several years ago I chronographed Black Hills .44-40 cowboy action shooting ammo from my 1873 Sporting Rifle's 24.25" barrel at about the same velocity. (My full power .44-40 black powder handloads average over 1300 FPS.)

.44 Henry rimfire hasn't been manufactured since the 1930s, so modern reproductions of the Henry and 1866 are chambered for other rounds. Most commonly, these a .44-40, .45 Colt, .38 Special, and .22 LR. Some are made in .44 Special or .32-20, while the one I got is chambered for .38-40 Winchester.

At first, 1866 was known as the "Improved Henry", and like the earlier rifle had a receiver made from bronze. The replicas use brass. Bronze is stronger but brass will work fine with black powder pressure loads.

Like the Henry and later Winchester 1873 and 1876, the 1866 uses a toggle locking system. Compared with the Winchester 1886 or 1892 it isn't as strong, but it is strong enough for the cartridges for which it's chambered.

I generally prefer the toggle locked rifles over the stronger, 1886 and '92 for a few reasons:

• They are smoother and can be run faster. The top shooters in cowboy action shooting all use tuned up 1866s or 1873.
• They are simpler and easier to work on.
• They have a controlled round feed, due to the cartridge being enclosed within the carrier block before it's fed into the chamber.

The downsides are that as mentioned above, they aren't as strong, and also that they are bulkier and heavier.

So why did I get this 1866 in .38-40 instead of .44-40 like I already shoot in my Henry or 1873? Mainly for something different. I was already setup for .38-40 from the Winchester 1892 that I had that was stolen. I had a bunch of brass, some ammo and components, and reloading dies laying around with no use for them until I got this rifle.

The Uberti 1866 is beautifully finished and due to the smaller bore, a bit heavier than my 1873.

After I ordered the rifle, I ordered a 40-180E bullet mold from Accurate Molds. It arrived yesterday and I hope to break it in this weekend. AM builds these to order and it took only 11 days from the time I placed the order until it arrived. Not bad at all!

I am hoping that will a full load of Swiss 3Fg it will drive the ~180 grain slug to about 1200 FPS from the Yellowboy's 24.25" barrel.

Range report to follow.

Winchester 1873 and M1911 at 2020 Desert Brutality 2-Gun Match

InRangeTV has a couple videos up showing Karl Kasarda's use of an Uberti 1873 Winchester Sporting Rifle and a 1911 in the 2020 Desert Brutality 2-gun match. They are fun, interesting videos which demonstrate what these old guns (especially the '73) can do.

Day 1: https://youtu.be/c23ViNFqi6k

Day 2: https://youtu.be/Q-vv2OOLS7M

Observations:

The videos do a good job of how to run a levergun in a fight. If you're not shooting, make sure your gun is topped off.

Karl's rifle is chambered for .45 Colt, which is not authentic for original Winchesters but he does address that. He makes sure to note that his cartridges are loaded to duplicate original .44 WCF ballistics at the muzzle.

In the first video he mentioned that he secured the sling to the butt with hobnails. I have the same sling and used in when deer hunting 2018 with my Cimarron 1873. It wasn't all that secure, but it's a Leatherman sling intended for use on muzzleloaders. Last year I found a better option in a universal sling from October Country, which is securely laced to the stock and more easily adjustable.

Karl also mentions more than once the problems he had with powder fouling in the bore hurting accuracy. His handloads used a lead bullet on top of Black Horn 209 BP substitute. How much fouling BH209 generates in comparison to real black powder I can't say.

Based on my experience shooting my .44 WCF black powder handloads, he would have been better off with a different bullet that carries more lube. I've fired up to 100 rounds through my Cimarron/Uberti 1873 Sporting Rifle in one session with no loss of accuracy, because I was shooting bullets cast in an Accurate Molds 43-15C mold. That bullet carries a lot of lube; John Kort designed it to prevent 24" barreled rifles from fouling out when using Goex black powder. After that long shooting session it only needed about 9 or 10 wet patches to get the bore clean.

As an aside, Goex black powder is pretty darn filthy. Swiss BP is a lot more expensive but is much cleaner burning and more energetic. Goex Olde Eynsford is cheaper than Swiss but almost as good.

My rifle launches the 219 grain 43-215C bullet at over 1300 FPS when loaded on 2.2cc (~35 grains) of Swiss 3Fg, measured with a chronograph.

For my environment -- SE PA -- my Cimarron 1873 in .44-40 WCF is powerful enough to handle anything that needs shooting. It's not legal to hunt big game with a semiauto rifle in PA. The rifle fits me perfectly, almost as if it was designed for me. It's the absolute last rifle I'd ever sell.

COVID-19 Coronavirus Heat Map Dashboard

Johns Hopkins put out this heat map dashboard tracking the global outbreak. It's worth a look.

LINK.

AR-15 in 7.62x39

Today I finished building my first AR-15 that isn't chambered for 5.56x45mm. It was time for something different.

While I find the 6.5 Grendel to be very interesting, I didn't want to get into a new caliber at this time, so this one is in 7.62x39. I've maintained a good stash of that caliber since before I got into ARs, starting when I bought a Chinese SKS in 1988.

I used the following parts:

• AR-Stoner complete parts kit from MidwayUSA, which I got on sale last month for $399.
• AR-STONER ambidextrous selector from MidwayUSA.
• UTG rear sight from MidwayUSA.
• 7.62x39 Enhanced Firing Pin from Black Rifle Arms.
• 7.62x39 Melonite bolt from BRA.
• C-Products Duramag 20 round magazines from AIM Surplus.
• Anderson Manufacturing AM-15 lower receiver, purchased locally.

The enhanced firing pin is to improve reliability with foreign ammo with hard primers, while the bolt from BRA is supposedly higher quality. One thing 7.62x39 ARs have the reputation for is breaking bolts. I'm hoping to avoid that but in case it happens, I'll have a spare ready to go.

First impressions of the AR-STONER kit were good, except for the poor staking of the carrier key to the bolt carrier, so I restaked the screws.

Here's the assembled carbine on my messy workbench:

And a close up of the receiver. It's my first AR with a graphic on it:

I would have finished it last weekend but managed to shoot a detent spring into the unknown. To complete the rifle I had to wait for an order containing spare detents and springs to arrive from Brownells.

It will be interesting to see what the recoil impulse of an AR-15 in 7.62x39 feels like compared with an SKS, AK, or VZ-2008.

I really hope that eventually Pennsylvania will legalize semiauto rifles for big game hunting. We got semiautos legalized for small game and varmints so hopefully after another year or two the PA Game Commission will realize that it hasn't caused the sky to fall and they'll let us use them for deer. This would make a fine rifle for the ranges encountered in most of PA.

I should be able to put a few rounds through it tomorrow, after which I'll post a follow up report.

Video: Guns Rights Supporters Must Speak Up

Pennsylvania Second Amendment Rally 8 June 2020

Range Day, and Presbyopia Sucks

I was off today and went to the range with three wheelguns:

• H&R Model 733 in .32 S&W Long, with a 2.5" barrel
• Ruger GP100 in .38 Special, with a 4" barrel
• Uberti Bisley in .44 WCF, with a 5.5" barrel

Under the florescent lighting, I had a hard time seeing the front sight of the H&R and even the Ruger. When shooting both outside I had better luck being able to see their front sights but today, the H&R's was all but invisible. I have the H&R's front sight painted white but it just disappeared in the range lighting today. I'm going to try hitting both with some hi-viz green to see if that helps.

One of the reasons I ordered the Uberti with a 5.5" barrel was because I thought it might be easier to see the front sight compared with a 4.75" barrel. It was the one gun I shot today with which I didn't have difficulties.

Yay, middle-age.

In other news, I shot some more rounds from the box of .44 WCF handloads I'd put together with 7.0 grains of Hodgdon Universal under a 200 grain RNFP Desperado Cowboy Bullets. Grouping was OK but I had two squibs that blooped the bullet out of the barrel but were definitely underpowered. In both cases the barrel had a lot of unburned powder left in the bore. I'm going to pull down the rest of those rounds.

The only possible causes I can think of are (a) bad primers, or (b) contamination of the powder charge by my case lube. I degreased the cases after resizing but I'm wondering if I didn't do good enough of a job, and the powder was damaged in those rounds.

Even with the aggravation it beat going to work!

Loaded some .44-40 for the Bisley

This afternoon I took advantage of unseasonably warm weather to spend some time out in my shop and load up another box of ammo to try in the Uberti Bisley. I used once-fired Starline brass from last night with the same powder charge, 7.0 grains of Hodgdon Universal. However, this time I used my home-cast bullets from the Accurate 43-215C mold.

It will be interesting to see if the heavier bullet affects the point of impact. I'm expecting it to be a bit higher. (At close range, handguns tend to have a lower POI with lighter projectiles, because they recoil less and thus the muzzle flip is less when the bullet leaves the barrel.)

Another thing that will be of interest is how well my homebrewed lube of 50/50 beeswax/mutton tallow works with smokeless powder. It works very well with black powder.

I also want to try this bullet with 8.0 grains of Universal, and 8.0 grains of Unique. I recently bought an 8 pound jug of Unique so I am hoping that it'll work well in the Bisley.