2013 Inland Empire Sectional Championships

Drove three hours over to the Tri-Cities area to shoot the 2013 Inland Empire Sectional Championships hosted by the Eastern Washington Practical Shooters Association. (http://ewpsa.org) We carpooled with a bunch of fun friends to attend this fabulous match. The stages are highly regarded by shooters who’ve shot this match in previous years.

I came in 7th place, lots of screw-ups here and there, one no-shoot and three mikes. I was consistently 4-5 seconds slower than the top Open shooter. I think I need to lose some weight so I can move around faster.

I’ll definitely have this match on my calendar next year.

Awesome IPSC stages @ Moscow Open 2012

Just watch, it’s so different from the types of stages we shoot in USPSA. Have to save up money to get there one day.

Amazing what good ammo does to your shooting v. USPSA

After a dismal performance last month, I loaded up 200 rounds of good ammo using proper bullets and headed out for this awesome match. This month Marysville setup 7 stages featuring a Rhodesian wall and Bianchi style movers. It was a fun match to shoot. I came in 2nd Overall with two stage wins. I’m still not consistent enough, swaying from stages wins to 6th and 7th places.

 

Flipping A Round

Look at Sean Penn flip a round from his gun at timeindex 0:20.

Like a “mafia” boss…

Testing Rainier Ballistics plated bullets

Recently picked up Rainier Ballistics as a sponsor and got a load of 124gr RN plated bullets to try out in my Open Gun. Brought it out to the range today to test and I was very disappointed. They didn’t perform as expected but found out the problem later when I went home.

here’s the two groups of 5 shots that I made comparing Rainier 124gr RNs to Montana Gold 124gr CMJ Jacketed bullets. These are shot with 8.2gr Hodgdon HS-6, Winchester SRP, Various once fired brass at 20 yards.

as you can see, the Montana Gold bullets group really nicely whereas the Rainier’s are all over the place, if they actually hit. I only managed to get 3 out of 5 shots on paper.

I’ve also measured the sizes of the plated bullets vs jacketed and the MG Jacketed bullets (out of ten) come in at .355 consistently while Rainer’s come in mostly at .3545.

I consulted my panel of experts and was asked to pull the bullet to see if I’ve over crimped the bullets. Jacketed bullets have a harder shell and are more resistant to crimping, while plated is a soft coating and very easy to dent.

here’s how the bullet looks like after pulling it, as you can see, severe dent from over crimping.

I readjusted my crimp die and now manage to crimp the bullet without marring the bullet.

I’m now looking forward to testing this new batch of ammo to see if I can get as good a group as the Montana Gold jacketed bullets. I’ll be a happy camper if it works!

A Quick Look at the Smith & Wesson Model 29-2 8-3/8" barrel, .44 Magnum

A quick look at a recent acquisition, the venerable S&W Model 29 .44 Magnum. I’ve always wanted to own one and finally got a special deal with someone locally. It shoots well, although the sights were off for the magnum loads. Has to sight it in on the fly.

The 29-2 model features the Pinned barrel and Recessed Cylinders which is the hallmark of the older, higher quality Model 29s which are more sought after by collectors.

Here are some pics :

 

 

Barrel looks great.

Was pretty dirty inside, I can imagine that it hasn’t been clean for 10 years or so.

And the video of me shooting it with .44 special and .44 magnum loads:

Polished Ruger 10/22 Bolt

When I took apart my Ruger 10/22 Takedown that I showed in the last post, and looked at the internals, not only were they filthy, the bolt and receiver was not polished and had a very rough metal finish.

So I took my polishing stone to the bolt, firing pin and receiver to make them shiny and smooth. Seen here, the bolt on an india stone.

forgot to take pics of the polished receiver but here are the bolt and firing pin.

Should make the action much smoother now.