New Hornady Products

One thing I do like about this time of year is first hearing about new shooting-related products that will debut at the SHOT Show. Today I received an e-mail from the good folks in Grand Island, Nebraska, Hornady Manufacturing, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2009.

My atavistic eyes were first attracted to the .338 Marlin Express. The .33 Winchester has always fascinated me since first reading about it in old Elmer Keith articles. It was a .45-70 necked down to .338 by Winchester for the 1886 Winchester. I first assumed the new Hornady release was simply a necked-up .308 Marlin Express. However, the .338 Marlin Express actually stems from the .376 Steyr. Hornady claims it will match the ballistics of a .30-06 with 180-grain bullets out to 400 yards.

The .338 Marlin Express offers nearly the same velocity and muzzle energy at 200 yards as Elmer's .33 Winchester put out at the muzzle. And the 200 gr. FTX™ boat tail will only be 1.2" low at 200 yards when zeroed 3 inches high at 100 yards. The Marlin ain't Great Grandpappy's 1886 Winchester or Grandma's .348 Winchester Model 71.

Hopefully neither the .308 nor .338 Marlin Express rounds will go the way of the .307 and .356 Winchester cartridges. With the release of FTX™ bullets to reloaders, Hornady has taken a huge step in fostering their survival.

I'd say those who use a .45 Colt revolver for self-defense will like the new 45 Colt LEVERevolution® round. Us cold-weather pistol packers will benefit from Critical Defense™ ammunition for the .380, 9mm and .38 Special, which also utilizes FTX™ bullets, that "will expand reliably EVERY SINGLE TIME!" The bullets are advertised as being able to penetrate heavy clothing, even leather, unlike many conventional hollow points. If these puppies test out, Hornady will certainly grab a larger chunk of the civilian self-defense and law enforcement ammunition market it gained through TAP®.

A Gun Hugger's Christmas List

It's Black Friday, and so far I've only heard of one death and one injury caused by greedheads swooping down on stacks of Chinese imports at a Long Island, NY, Wal-Mart.

One shouldn't confuse Black Friday with Black Monday, Tuesday or Thursday, which have been part of the national lexicon since the 1929 Wall Street Crash. But there may be traders jumping out windows next Monday and Tuesday if the Black Friday sales results aren't good.

Since I don't venture out on Black Friday, I've been shopping online for stuff on the kids' Christmas lists. Then my inner child kicked in. I compiled a shooting-related Christmas list for Santa, which probably won't do any good cause I've been bad this year.

Santa, here it is:

An EOTech 512 or 516 Holographic Weapon Sight
Para-Ordnance PXT 1911 LTC 9mm pistol
An AR-15 stripped lower
Bulk Winchester or Remington 9mm bullets, 115-grain JHP
Badger Ordnance Gen II tactical latch
Safariland Rapid Light System (RLS)
Stevens Model 200 bolt-action rifle in .243 Winchester

Seven items for a whole week of black days, Santa. Travel safe. Don't drink and drive the reindeer.

It Is Finished! 9mm AR-15 Carbine

Dear Barry,

I am clinging onto a 9mm carbine, possess several charged high-capacity ammunition feeding devices, love God, and can't say I'm bitter about it.

Now, you might be bitter. Check your shorts. Maybe Mrs. Obama starched them too much to the point of serious irritation. I read a couple of days ago that you've never fired a gun. Have the Secret Service take you to the range. You need a hobby. Shooting is good exercise, relieves stress, and is fun. Also, you might gain an edge in negotiations with manly heads of state such as Hugo Chavez and Vladimir Putin. Let's face it, Barry. You're a bit of a girly man. Even Joe, your gun-banning VP choice, has a shotgun for election-year photo ops.

Barry, I have to hang up now. Enjoy those last few days in Hyde Park. No, I won't accept that ambassadorship in Angola. Send the Rev. Jesse. Goodbye. ...

Yes, the UPS guy delivered the Rock River Arms 9mm top end plus a 9mm hammer. I had already installed the dedicated Hahn Precision magazine block in a Bushmaster lower receiver equipped with a Magpul CTR stock, 9mm carbine buffer and spring. The Hahn fit into the Bushmaster lower perfectly.

I cleaned rust preservative out of the top end and applied a bit of Tetra Gun oil and grease, put a spring on the 9mm hammer, installed it in the lower, mounted the top on the lower, and ventured out into a sunny, but extremely muddy, day.

I sighted in the carbine with some 115-grain JHPS at 50 yards. I didn't need to adjust elevation. The ARMS #40 rear required two clicks to the right. Then I tried a few 147-grain Hornady XTPs on top of 4.2 grains of Unique. Six rounds went into 1 1/8". The 115-grain Winchester USA ball ammo grouped between 3 to 4 inches as well as some reloads using 115-grain Remington JHPs and Winchester 231.

I ran 163 rounds through the carbine. There were four malfunctions during the first three magazines. The first round chambered would not eject once fired. Two of these malfunctions happened with some reloads using 88-grain JHPS I had left over after trading off a Walther PPK in .380. They haven't worked well in any 9mm pistol I've tried them in except for a Browning Hi-Power.

The remaining 88-grain stubbies fed through the carbine flawlessly. I blew up a couple of dozen hedge apples with them and some 115-grain JHPs in honor of Barry. All of the 20 and 32-round CProducts magazines locked the bolt and dropped free without fail.

9mm AR-15 Carbine update

I received an e-mail from Steve at Adco Firearms today. He finally received some complete 9mm Rock River Arms CAR A4 uppers. I ordered one through him in September. He shipped it to me Friday along with a RRA 9mm hammer.

So next week, I should be able to assemble the carbine and give it a whirl. I have a ARMS #40 rear sight to mount on the flattop. I'm going to keep it simple for now. The shelves are loaded with 9mm ammunition, and it doesn't cost near as much to replace as .223 Remington.

I'm glad I ordered the parts, top end and CProducts magazines before Nov. 4. The NRA-ILA offers this note of explanation. Of course, the original page referred by the NRA-ILA, http://change.gov/agenda/urbanpolicy, "is not available right now."

Reloading, dreaming

This weekend I loaded some .223 Remington ammo with 55-grain Sierra GameKing BTHPs on top of Hodgdon Varget. I'm curious to see if they'll group nearly as well as the Sierra 52-grain MatchKing BTHPs, which I have been using until it took two to finish off a monster woodchuck who had been undermining the fence along the creek. The MatchKings group from .6 to .75 in. at 100 yards.

But paper isn't a gnarled, grayed whistle pig. He put most Butterball Thanksgiving turkeys to shame. Both of the match bullets plowed through but didn't open up. Many .224 bullets such as Sierra's BlitzKings are geared toward small varmints. They break up too easily on larger animals with a thick rind of fat and muscle. Hopefully the 55-grain GameKing will expand well but hold together. I'm the type who likes to use one load for all purposes. Perhaps it can't be done in this case.

Rain is coming this way. I might be able to get some range work done tomorrow afternoon. If not, the sun's supposed to be back Thursday.

This upper assembly has a 16" DPMS, 1-9" twist, free-floated, bull barrel. Some day I'd like to get a skinnier 18", 1-8" barrel paired with the JP/VTAC modular handguard. I think the extra length would allow for more velocity and enhanced bullet performance. The slightly faster twist would stablize longer bullets better.

Canyons and Caprock

One night I explored an unknown place. I sensed the different hues of red in the towering walls, the scant trickle of water through eroded channels, the cries of hawks, ages-old campsites out of the elements, greyed and twisted wood, dust-laden sagebrush and dried grasses, and ankle-wearing rocks.

Most dreams vanish once morning light hits. This dream stuck. It was a real place. I just lacked physical evidence.

Nearly two years later I visited relatives in Guymon, Okla. One morning I decided to take a day trip south into the Texas Panhandle to visit Amarillo and the Panhandle-Plains Museum in Canyon. After buying some pre-Clinton-Biden-Brady-ban AR-15 magazines at a gun show in Amarillo's Civic Center and consuming a tolerable, but not Kansas-quality, steak, I visited "Texas' Largest History Museum" on the West Texas A&M University campus. With more than 3 million artifacts, some also call it the state's Smithsonian Institution.

After two hours, I had seen only a speck of the place. Part of the museum was off-limits because of remodeling work. Some of the main exhibits featured Palo Duro Canyon, 12 miles east of Canyon.

Amarillo and Canyon sit atop what Francisco Coronado named the Llano Estacado, a mesa larger than all of New England, in 1541. Like much of of the plains, even yet referred to as the Great American Desert, the Llano Estacado looks flatter than unleavened bread. At least until one looks closer. Widening and deepening cracks proved the first theory wrong as I drove east. Eventually the cracks grew so wide the highway could not skirt them. The road relented to the variformed, segmented depths of Palo Duro Canyon.

Just that initial drop from caprock reminded me of Georgia O'Keeffe's description of the canyon captured in a display of her work at the museum. "It is a burning, seething cauldron, filled with dramatic light and color."

As I spent the rest of the light experiencing an iota of the 120-mile-long rift, I knew the place from my dream is somewhere along the Texas Panhandle's Caprock Escarpment. If it can't be found in Palo Duro Canyon, once home to the Comanche and Charles Goodnight's JA Ranch, there are the Tule and Caprock Canyons.

I suspect I'll go back if only in a dream.

Building a 9mm AR-15

I sent off orders for a Rock River Arms 9mm upper assembly and 9mm hammer from Steve at Adco Firearms today. Brownells is sending a Hahn Precision dedicated magazine block.

I've also ordered some CProducts 9mm magazines from 44mag.com at the "pre-election price" of $16.99 each. Hopefully they will work with the Hahn block. I've not had any hands-on experience with either nor have talked face-to-face with anyone who has. I gather CProducts has been changing follower designs. I don't pay too much attention to what I read on forums.

"Product XYZ is crap, the customer service is terrible, and I'll never buy anything from them again." For some reason, those complaints reminds me of guys who over-adjust and break rear sights when they have trouble hitting gigantic B-27 targets at 10 yards.

So it is a leap into the semi-unknown. I will not yield to the dark side of the farce and use a Dremel tool. I promise. I save that for precision dental work. ;)