Justin Buist

Remember the August 28th Buy Ammo Day thing? Well, I held up my end.

I hit up Silver Bullet Firearms for 1050 rounds of .22LR. When did the 525 round Remington bulk packs start costing $19 a box? Yikes!

Next up was Al & Bob’s. I didn’t see any of the 12 gauge Remington 100 round value packs in #7.5, but they did have Winchester “Super Target” for $4.49 a box. I know I’ve been told to stay away from Winchester, but I couldn’t help myself. I snagged 200 rounds of that stuff.

While I was at it, and thinking shotguns, I picked up a shotshell pouch and belt combo. The old guys on the trap line always look at me funny when I set the box of shells at my feet, grab five for the station, and jam them into my pocket. Should come in handy if I ever go out and do sporting clays with a coworker of mine too.

Finally got some rifle rests too. These will be quite handy as I start forcing myself to shoot from a bench with a scope.

I didn’t see a single anti-gun protester out and about, but that didn’t surprise me in the least.

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I finally got around to brining my Thunderbolt in .45 Colt to the range this Sunday. During the move I seem to have lost the tang screws to secure the stock but figured it’d be OK to shoot without them. I’m not proud of it, but I did it.

I only threw 10 rounds of Winchester Cowboy loads (250 grain lead flat nose) through it. I experienced a fair amount of powder coming back and hitting me in the face and became a bit worried early on. On top of that there was a pattern of soot on the spent cartridges that I hadn’t seen in any other firearm before:

Cartridges rotated to show soot pattern.

I asked the friendly folks at THR about this and it was explained as perfectly normal. Makes perfect sense now that I think about it. Given that the .45 Colt has a very sturdy case and a fairly low pressure the case doesn’t expand in the chamber, gases seep around it, out of the action, and blow right back into my face.

Not optimal, but hey, at least I know what I’m dealing with. Suggestions on how to fix this involve selecting, or rolling my own, rounds that’ll create higher chamber pressures than the Cowboy loads I was shooting. Fair enough.

Recoil was negligible, it handled very nicely, but the sights could use some work.

More to come.

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So, how about an update on Casa de la Buist? I’m not so arrogant that I think you actually care, I’m just a little bored right now.

About 3 weeks ago we gave Chuck a stuffed Teddy Bear as a toy. We figured we’d be picking up fluffy bits within a couple of days. Nope! It’s his best buddy now. We named the bear Fred. Considering that we’ve seen this critter tear branches off trees, split 1″x2″ pieces of wood with his jaw, and destroy toys made spefically for dogs I’m guessing he realizes that the thing represents an animal. So much for the viscous pit bull gene theory, eh?

Critter sure does like following me around. I think I mentioned that we’ve see him climb over a 5′6″ high fence before, but if not, well, he has. All because the woman and I were on the other side of it.

A few minutes ago he teamed up with one of the cats and killed a fly in the living room. He ate it. He ate a moth last night too.

This passes for excitement in my life.

Range report coming up.

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Michael Bane reports on a S&W gun lock failure.

This is why internal locks on guns are a bad idea. It’s rare, but they can engage without the user keying the lock.

That’s not a “feature” when you’re talking about a defensive firearm.

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On August 28th the Brady Groups are planning a national protest. In response David Codrea is calling for gun owners to run out and buy some ammo. Or components, or holsters, whatever. Anything.

Sounds easy to me. I’m there.

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Damn.

See Bill St. Clair’s place for more.

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Over at Babalu’s place and elsewhere.

UPDATE: FUCK! Babalu’s blog just went down because it was sucking up too much traffic.

UPDATE 2: Val will post updates here if his main site is down.

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Marko writes about the psychology behind those attending sporting events.

Sports teams are a perfect way for some people to claim allegiance to a tribe. It’s basically stylized tribal warfare. You have face paint, tribal colors/clothing, flags, fighting songs, and a great herd of people all dressed exactly like you…

Give it a read.

Now, replace sporting teams with political parties. Things really aren’t much different, are they?

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I’d feel bad about my score, but hell: Tamara got a 50%. There’s some rather esoteric questions in that there quiz.

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At a local Dick’s Sporting Goods store today I saw their 115 gr. 9mm UMC ammo was on sale.

Price: $6.98 a box if you bought 10 or more.

I couldn’t pass that one up! So, I snagged another 1,000 rounds of 9mm.

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