by Gunguy
You don’t need a Kindle to read the free books. You will need an Amazon.com account and one of the Free Reading Apps. The apps work on MAC’s and PC’s and all smart phones.
The Prepper’s Emergency First Aid & Survival Medicine Handbook
World’s Suburban Survival Guide How to be prepared for any Man Made or Natural Disaster
Repairing Hot Water Heating Systems
The Prepper’s ‘Lights Out’ Guide to Surviving with the Grid Down
by Gunguy
My Sig P238 has been a decent shooter, but never a 100% reliable. I kept it cleaned and lubed it according to Sig specs (not too much oil), hoping that one day after the initial break-in period a miracle would occur and my little Sig will be problem free. Well, that didn’t happen, instead I got a problem I’ve never experienced with any gun I’ve shot.
I was finishing a box of .380Auto Sellier & Bellot. I inserted a new loaded mag (6 cartridges) and fired the first shot. The slide moved back about a quarter of an inch and the gun got stuck with an empty shell still in the chamber. After dropping the mag, I made sure the gun was safe and tried to clear the chamber by pulling the slide back with no success. It got stuck so badly that no matter how much force I used it wouldn’t even move a millimeter in any direction.
.
I called our experienced range master who inspected the gun, making sure it’s safe and brought it back to his office. He put some oil on the gun (the excess oil is seen on the pictures above), and after several attempts to clear the pistol he plainly said : you need an experienced gunsmith, and recommended one.
I’ve purchased my Sig a little while ago, and still have the original manufacturer’s warranty. I hope this problem could be resolved without wasting too much time. I will be updating this post on how the whole ordeal goes down.
– update
I’ve inspected the barrel more thoroughly and found a bulge about 1 inch from the muzzle. It looks like a bad Sellier & Ballot ammo caused the problem. Called a gun shop where I bought the Sig, and they nicely offered to look at it by their gunsmith… Hope new barrel will do it.
by Gunguy
In my efforts to impart my hobbies on my better half I signed my girlfriend and I up for the Sig Sauer Academy Handgun Orientation (Handgun 101) class a couple of weeks ago. My significant other has never had any formal training before and I was worried that the formal education would be difficult to digest. Luckily instructors Ken Allen and Taki Okuno at the Sig Sauer Academy in New Hampshire made the class a joy to attend.
The class was about 14 people, half men and half women. We started off the class with an introduction and an overview of the class. Everyone had a instruction booklet, a Sig Sauer sticker and a Sig Sauer hat waiting for them in the class room. Ken and Taki went over the following in the class room before we broke for lunch.
After lunch we had a quick overview of the mornings instruction and then we went to the indoor range. Ken and Taki started by having us raise our hands and while they sized them up they picked the appropriate sized pistols for us to fire. We were separated into two groups and we were given very specific instruction on how to pick the pistol off the table in front of us, load the magazine and prepare to fire. We started off by firing one round, then two and then four depending on the drill. After finishing the first magazine we made sure everyone had their hands off the guns, the guns on the table and the range was clear. Ken walked down the line explaining to each student what they were doing wrong and how to fix the problem.
The great part about Ken and Taki was that they not only did they tell us how to improve our shooting but they also praised everyone on how well they did.
Everyone was pretty excited and amped up after the live firing portion of the class. We went to the classroom and did an after action report in the class room and everyone got a certificate of completion. Ken and Taki took questions from the class and I asked them to recommend an ammo loader and the company that manufactured Taki’s magazine pouch. Taki recommended the LULA Magazine Loader that he tested and recommends whole heartedly.
The magazine and flashlight pouches that Taki wore on his belt were molded plastic and very low profile. The company that makes the magazine pouches was Comp Tac.
After the live fire brain dump we went to the back and went over how to disassemble our guns and perform maintenance. Ken and Taki took the time to explain the importance of cleaning our handguns and what lubricants to use to keep the guns running flawlessly. Ken and Taki recommend TW25B grease and Ballistol Sportsmans Oil. Both of these products are used exclusively by Sig Sauer on all of their weapons.
I recommend this class for all of those people who have not had formal training before. Even if you have been using guns half your life like I have you can still pick up some excellent tips that will improve your abilities. I’ve added some pics of the class below.
Sig Sauer P250
His Target
Her Target
LULA Magazine Loader
Comp Tac Magazine Pouches and Holsters
Ballistol Sportsmans Oil
TW25B Grease
by Gunguy
I purchased a Remington 870 Express Tactical Shotgun several months ago. The shotgun was very accurate using the iron sights and I was shooting excellent groups with slugs at a 100 feet with out any trouble. After zeroing the shotgun I wanted to make some improvements. The default stock on the Remington 870 Tactical Express was pretty awful. The shotgun kicked like a mule and I started to flinch after less than a dozen rounds. I was very happy with a Speed Feed stock that I purchased for my Mossberg 590 over 10 years ago so I decided to get one for my Remington 870 as well.
I initially was going to go with the pistol grip Speed Feed III stock but after reading reviews stating that the grip was better suited for larger hands I decided to go with the Speed Feed I stock which holds four shells, two on each side.
In addition to the stock I added a six shell TacStar Sidesaddle shot shell holder and your average run of the mill sling. The only thing missing on the shotgun was a flashlight. I’ve tried the Elzetta Tactical flashlight mount that I used on my Mossberg 590 but it pinched the magazine tube and bound up the spring and prevented proper loading of the shells. I considered one of the Sure Fire fore grips but the battery life on the flash lights is abysmal. The short battery life span plus the price tag on the Sure Fire fore grip, around $400, made me look for another solution.
I’m considering several different options but I have not made up my mind just yet.
After I installed the stock and shot shell holder I took the shotgun to the range and put about 50 rounds of slug and 00 buck shot through it. The Speed Feed stock reduced the felt recoil of the shotgun noticeably. The stock 870 was pretty light weight with 6 shells in the magazine tube. After putting on the after market accessories I could keep 16 shells on/in the gun. The additional weight was noticeable but because of the placement the shotgun was still well balanced.
The 870 Tactical came with a factory installed 2 round magazine extension, picatinny rail and an intimidating tactical choke tube. The tactical choke kept coming loose through out my time at the range. I found myself constantly tightening it and checking to see if it was in tight enough.
I could put a drop of blue loctite on the threads but for a defense weapon and the occasional trip to the range I’m not going to bother. With my sparse additions I could store the shotgun with 16 rounds at the ready in case of an emergency. I have the shotgun loaded with Winchester 12-gauge Supreme Elite PDX1 shells and in case a home defense situation arose I believe it would more than suffice.
See the pictures below of the groups, the stock shotgun and the shotgun after the accessories were put on.
Stock Remington 870 Tactical Express
Remington 870 Tactical Express with Accessories Left Side
Remington 870 Tactical Express with Accessories Right Side
Remington 870 Tactical 15 Meter / 45 Foot Target
Remington 870 Tactical 33 Meter / 100 Foot Target
by Woodsbum
How long are people going to argue about the viability of using a knife for fire preparation? It makes NO sense to me why this is still an argument……..
Let me being with the back story before my rant:
I was down in Texas for the better part of last week. My plane landed a little after 1800 (6 pm) and I got home around 1900 (7 pm). The son, the daughter and the daughter’s boyfriend were outside. A fire in our fire pit was in the works. Like usual, my son was out there with his Primitive Edge bushcraft knife batoning and feathersticking away. Some jerk had stopped to give him hell about using his knife in such a “disrespectful” manner. This guy then felt the need to start in on me about how ill taught my son was and how I should have put him in the Boy Scouts so that expert outdoorsmen such as himself could have taught my son correctly……….
Again, I ask why people argue about the use of knives in fire preparation. When you go online and do a search for using a knife to baton wood, you will get tons of results where anyone that batons is called names. These same people will quickly turn around and use the same knife they won’t baton with for making a feather or fuzz stick, however. This makes no sense. If you can use one knife for cutting and stripping wood, why can’t you use it to make smaller strips of wood by batoning? Better yet is when they pound the wood onto the ground or a rock with the knife being used as a splitting maul. When the wood splits, they quite effectively slam their knife into the rock. Again-again, I wonder why that is a fine use of a knife when careful batoning is not.
For those of you who do not know what batoning is, please let me explain. Instead of using an axe to split wood, a knife is used and another piece of wood is used to hammer the far end of the knife so that the blade travels down the length to split it. This is most commonly used in split wood fires to make very small pieces of wood for kindling. Once the small pieces are done, you use the same knife to make feather/fuzz sticks.
Many of these self proclaimed “experts” in outdoors “survival” have a tendency to use military survival training as the basis for everything that they know about living in the bush. They will buy those mylar emergency blankets and expect that to keep them warm if a situation crops up where they get stranded. They will also carry some Rambo knife that is not even full tang and think that this fighting knife is a survival knife. What really needs to happen is that they need to understand that “survival” and “bushcraft” are two completely different things. If you can thrive in the woods, you don’t need to “survive” in the woods. You can carry less and be comfortable for the wild will provide.
Maybe they need to research this guy:
Mors Kochanski
Here are some links to an interview with Mors.
As you can see from the interview, he is considered the modern “Grandfather of Bushcraft.”
Why do I mention him? He teaches and preaches the importance of being able to baton with your knife. It is one of the many lessons that he harps on as a basic skill for outdoorsmen.
If you are not as well versed in bushcraft and believe people like Dave Canterbury more, even he batons his knife.
If you don’t believe them, then how about this?
The reality is quite simple. People use tools to complete tasks. A good bushcraft knife is simply a tool. Just make up your mind as to which tool you like best. Whether you use a knife, hatchet, machete, cleaver, axe, or any other tool you choose, the final result is really the only true way to evaluate the effectiveness or value of the tool. In the case of a skilled woodsman using any of the previously mentioned tools, they are all effective.
