Game Photos

Finally got around to playing with some photos from the Brewers game on the 4th.  They turned out pretty well (amazing seats help) so I thought I'd share.

It only took her 23 years, but MandaFern finally got her game ball (Morgan's last foul in the bottom of the 9th... last foul ball of the game.)

I've got a bunch more to work through, but if anybody wants to see more, let me know and I'll toss them up here when they're done.

Wisconsin Carry CCW Summary

Nik just sent out a great summary of the applicable laws and information on where Wisconsin Carry stands on things.  Seeing as I've just been plain too busy to put together my own stuff, I'll toss it up here.

Greetings in Freedom.


On Friday July 8th, 2011 Governor Scott Walker signed a "shall-issue" concealed carry bill into law.

The majority of the provisions in the law take effect in Novermber. The Wisconsin Dept. of Justice will be administering the program.

The original SB93 was a constitutional carry bill. The senate committee passed a modified SB93 that had an optional permit for concealed carry within school zones. Unfortunately, that modified "constitutional carry" bill did not survive the full senate and it was amended to a "shall-issue" type system. Once the "shall-issue" legislation passed the senate it was clear that constitutional carry had no chance in the legislature this session and in a judicious consideration of our members time, we did not believe further action/legislative contact from our members was required or would have any effect on the final legislation so we did not send any action alerts during that time as we waited to see what the final bill included.

Under the new law you will continue to be able to open carry without a permit in the places you can now. You will also be able to open-carry in your vehicle provided you do not cross a school zone. You may continue to conceal carry in your home and business as you can now, but in other places you will effectively be required to get a permit in order to carry concealed. The permits cost $50 and are good for 5 years. The renewal is slated to cost $25. The Dept. of Justice is suppose to have application forms available on Sept. 1st. We will send further updates when they are.

There are a great deal of specifics to the law which I won't write a novel here to describe, but the following links provide you legislative analysis of the bill. I encourage members to read through these and if you have any questions, I encourage you to join our facebook group (from facebook search "Wisconsin Carry") and pose your questions there. Due to the volume of recipients this email goes to I will not be able to respond to individual questions in a timely manner.

http://legis.wisconsin.gov/lc/publications/im/IM2011_10.pdf

http://legis.wisconsin.gov/lfb/2011-13Bills/2011_06_09_SB93_LC.pdf

http://legis.wisconsin.gov/insession/insessiondocs/lcmemos/SB-93LCMemo.pdf

http://legis.wisconsin.gov/senate/galloway/Pages/concealed-carry.aspx

https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/2011/related/enrolled/sb93.pdf

http://legis.wisconsin.gov/senate/sen11/news/images/0930_001%20FAQ.pdf

In order to obtain a concealed carry permit you will need to have proof of training and pass a background check. There are a number of specifics with regard to the training, but in general here is what qualifies:

-The hunter education program established by the Department of Natural Resources or a substantially similar program that is established by another state, country or province and that is recognized by DNR.

-A firearms safety or training course that is conducted by a national or state organization that certifies firearms instructors.
-A firearms safety or training course that is conducted by a firearms instructor who is certified by a national or state organization that certifies firearms instructors or who is certified by the Department of Justice.
-Documentation that the individual participated in organized shooting competitions or completed military, law enforcement or security training that gave the individual experience with firearms that is substantially equivalent to a course or program described above.
-Documentation of completion of small arms training while serving in the U.S. armed forces.

Wisconsin Carry intends to develop a training course that will qualify for the requirements of the law that we will offer at no charge to members. We do not want anyone to be unable to exercise their right to carry in the manner of their choosing because they cannot afford or do not have access to training. Please keep in mind that Wisconsin Carry is a 100% volunteer non-profit corporation so the time it takes us to put together that class may not be as quick as some will desire.

Once you obtain the permit, you will be able to carry in the manner of your choosing (open or concealed) everywhere you can currently open carry IN ADDITION to within "school zones". Carry remains prohibited on school GROUNDS for everyone (permit or not).

If you are a Wisconsin resident, you will need to get the Wisconsin permit. Your non-resident permit from another state cannot be used as your permit. It is my understanding that it can be used as proof of training if it is from a state that required training to obtain their permit.

This information is just a basic overview of the shall-issue legislation that was signed into law. You should not rely on it as legal advice. As always, you should read, research and understand the law completely. The above links will allow you to do so.

I will be sending another email shortly to discuss the past year's successes and failure as well as the future goals and initiatives of Wisconsin Carry.

Carry On,

Nik Clark
Chairman/President - Wisconsin Carry, Inc.
www.wisconsincarry.org
nik@wisconsincarry.org
facebook: search "Wisconsin Carry"
www.youtube.com/wisconsincarry
www.twitter.com/wisconsincarry

Project Gunwalker

Larry sums things up and makes some good points.

It's just a shame that all the talk around it is really only in gun circles and not more the general public...

SB93 To Be Signed Today

Gov. Walker is slated to sign Senate Bill 93 (Wisconsin Personal Protection Act) into law on July 8th.  Once signed, the law will go into effect November 1st, 2011, finally allowing Wisconsin residents the ability to carry concealed weapons.

The NRA has compiled a "fact sheet" covering most of what this all entails for us here.  The key things include what qualifies as "training."

A Musical Break

They Might Be Giants covers Chumbawamba

On Belay

Got called up to cover for the climbing director at camp this morning... it was fun, but sucked up all my free time before catching a minors game with the girl and heading in for the graveyard shift.

Back in a bit...

We'll call it a wash...

We may have lost, but our pitcher got a grand slam, our seats were awesome, and Manda got a game ball. Awesome-sauce.

On the way home now after spending way too much time at Cabela's.

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Burned Out...

Worked 24 of the last 48 hours as of 2300 tonight... good times.  Off to Milwaukee to catch the Brewers' game in some sweet sweet 5th row seats care of IAVA (pretty close to home plate too.)

If you watch the game you might see me!

Range Time

The 10/22 has apparently been claimed...

Although she could use a stock with a slightly higher comb than the factory one (any suggestions would be appreciated.  Also a sling-ready one would be nice.)  Fern has a small face and the TechSights are a little tall for her.

On the upside, she says she likes the iron sights better than the red-dot for general plinking.  I like the red-dot for first time shooters, as it's simple, but if they show more interest, then I'd rather they master irons before getting much into optics.  This'll work great with Fern, her archery background has her more interested in bullseye-style target shooting more than tactical stuff, so it suits her fine.

I fully stripped down the little Ruger before the range session as well, and noted the new finish they're using seems a bit thick on the inside of the receiver, and was actually chipping off inside.  I think this may have been part of the reliability issues I've been having with this gun.  I scrapped off as much as I could inside, and am contemplating just polishing out as much as I can in the not so distant future.  Yesterday it only had two failure-to-eject type malfs, much better than past sessions.

Fern also caught her first piece of shrapnel when I had her shoot the SigPro at the steel target... tiny bit of bullet jacket came back and smacked her in the forehead.  Thankfully it only left the tiniest of cuts, and didn't even bleed.  She immediately took her finger off the trigger and kept it pointed in a safe direction, even though the slide was locked open (last round) but decided that was enough 9mm for the day.  Eye pro is important when shooting steel!

MHA Reminder

Monster Hunter Alpha (Earl's story) is up for preorder and will be shipping in a couple weeks.  Larry's pushing to try and boost sales as much as possible (seems there's some stiff competition in the "urban fiction" genre around the release time.)

Just a reminder, if you use one of the above Amazon links, I gets me a cut, which is cool and helps me get some cool gear to review for you guys (like a chronograph... I need one of those) but if you want the ultimate cool, autographed copies are available here.  If you're cool like me though, you get one from each and that way you have a "loaner copy" to get your friends hooked on the goodness without beating up your signed one.

Speaking of Quick-load Mag Options

Speed-loader to load AR mags straight from a 20 round box...



Cool concept.  Lately I've been using 100 round "value packs" of American Eagle... they're $30 at Fleet, but wouldn't work with that concept.

Quiet Around Here...

Decided to catch up on some reading and go for a bike ride today, and will be heading to the range momentarily (the girl's been dropping hints that she wants to go again... hooray!)  Hopefully I'll be back in earnest tomorrow.

Front Sight!

It having been a while since I did any precision iron sight work, I kept having to yell at my self (in my head) to focus on the front sight.  I think it's a sign I need to get the old 10/22 with the Tech-SIGHTS cleaned up and back out for some quality fundamentals time.

Red-dots are sweet, but it just goes to show that skills do suffer when ignored.

Beeeeeeeeeeeeep....

I sat down with coffee and attempted to find something to write about, but today's my first day off in about two and a half weeks.  I'm going to go to the range and do some rifle shooting (100 yards... sadly that's the furthest my mediocre range goes) and then turn into a geek later today (Warhammer 40k and Dark Heresy!)

GunUp and Twitter

Tomorrow (June 28) Dan from GunUp will be giving a presentation to industry reps at the NSSF Marketing Symposium in Dallas.

Dan has one simple request for blog readers, mainly those of you who use Twitter-

"I want to utterly and demonstrably show the industry how powerful bloggers can be. I will be setting up a live twitter feed to run in concert with my presentation on June 28th between 1045 and 1115 central time. Would you be willing to rally your readers to tweet a 'I support my gun blogger and want new media events during #SHOT 2012' (or some variation with a #SHOT hash tag) tweet during my presentation? A continuous stream of tweets would be absolutely amazing."

I never got the whole Twitter thing, but if those of you who do could do this, it'd be pretty cool.

Little Magnetic Dudes

We all know that dry fire practice is a good thing.  One of the things you need for effective practice is an aiming point.  Not content with a thumbtack or something stuck in the wall (and sure the landlord wouldn't be a fan either,) I pulled out a pack of magnetic paper I picked up a while back and a black Sharpie, and stuck these guys one the front of my oven.

I've got a good 15 foot or so lane from the living room area carpet.  Not bad for a small apartment, and I can switch them over to the fridge door if I want to stand up and work on handguns.  Of course you can draw whatever shapes you like, and the sheets are 8"x11" and work with ink jet printers, so your target options are quite limitless.

As with all dry fire practice, safety is paramount.  Ensure your firearm is unloaded, and that all ammunition is triple locked in a box in the other side of the building, if not in another building a county away (common sense people...) and do your best to ensure you're directing your gun in as safe a direction as possible (in my building I'm going through a large appliance, utility room, and towards the next apt.'s oven... not the best, but as good as I'm going to get in my building.)

Down the road, it would be nice to add a LaserLyte training laser to the mix. In the mean time, it should help me get back in decent target form.  Cro's been mentioning hitting up some service rifle competitions when he gets back, and I just happen to have an A2 style AR rifle...

G&C at the Front! Commenga Easymag

Cro sent this in from Afghanistan-

So I entered the Connex where my M4 had been stored while I was away and as I always do when entering an arms room, casually glanced around to see what kind of fun toys might be laying around that could make my job a little easier.  The Specialist who had opened the door asked me what I was looking for, and I answered with “just browsing”  We had a short exchange of my enthusiasm for the shooting sports and he reached into a shelf and handed me a small white box saying “ here you will probably like this then, we still have a few left.”  I opened the box and inside was a Commenga easy Mag.   I had seen the magazine advertised in shotgun news for a while and was happy to be able to try one out without having to buy it.  I put it in my ruck sack and began my journey back to my FOB.

After arriving at my tent I was able to examine the EasyMag more closely.  It is an all steel construction, coated black.  The mag is noticeably heavier than the issue GI aluminum mags, and the slot for the magazine catch is milled out of the side wall, but does not create a hole like the Issue mags do.  The magazine is a little longer than the standard issue GI mags, but still fits inside of the standard 2 mag ammo pouch. 

The sliding front section of the magazine can be released by gently but firmly pulling down on the magazine.  When the front section is down it compresses the spring and follower with it, leaving a open tray for the rounds.  The front portion stays in the open position without having to do anything special.  This does make cleaning the interior sidewalls of the magazine easier than the old mags as I was able to take a piece of rag and run it inside instead of swabbing back and forth with a cleaning rod. 

Loading the mag was pretty simple.  I had an ammo can of loose 556 laying around so I just grabbed a bunch of rounds and started tossing them inside of the mag body.  Every 10 or so I gave the back spine of the mag a firm tap with the palm of my hand and the rounds aligned themselves properly allowing me to feed a full 30 inside of the mag.  Once 30 were loaded I grabbed the front part of the magazine and slid It back into position.  It went into place with little resistance until just about fully closed where the spring must have a disconnect because I could feel it releasing and putting the pressure onto the rounds.  

The loaded mag did seem to exhibit a bit more noise than the GI Mags when shaken.  The mag seated with no problems in my M4, and dropped free when the magazine release was pressed.  I was not able to do a range review yet.  It’s a lot harder to schedule a range trip here than back at home, but the mag in my vest and I will run it through the M4 when I get a chance

Did the mag save me time in loading it?  To be honest I don’t know.  I have been loading mags for so long that it’s just kind of second nature to me.  Now did it make it easier to ul-load the mags?  Yes!  I just had to pull the front down and tilt the mag to drop all the rounds into a box.  Now If My ammo is issued on strippers why wouldn’t I just load all my mags on stripper clips?  Well I don’t empty my mags by shooting them all.  Routine maintenance has me un-loading them and cleaning and lightly oiling them along with each round before re-loading the mags.  Believe it or not it’s pretty dusty here.  Now I have never found disassembly of GI mags difficult, but this is definitely easier.  Can the EasyMag be fully disassembled?  I do not know, I didn’t try. 

Would I want them to replace my GI Issue mags?  No.  they are heavier, and they are a little noisier.  But then again I have not completely drank the cool-aid yet and I still use the standard aluminum mags instead of buying p-mags like many of the other guys here.  Why would I stick with GI mags?  Well I have brand new mags in the wrapper that I got at the beginning of the deployment, and I have rarely had issues with Issue mags that I was able to inspect beforehand.  Also I have access to more magazines than I would ever use here,  If I have to leave a mag its not a big deal.  All of the extra ammo I have in my truck is in loaded mags, and it’s a lot of loaded mags. 

Now for a day at the range I think this is a good system if you just have a couple mags and a bunch of boxes of ammo like I often do.  You will save your thumbs a lot of stress with these magazines, and especially if you shoot in sub zero weather in Wisconsin.  The loss of dexterity will not be as greatly affected by this style of magazine.  I personally would not drop this mag  onto a hard surface a lot, but that’s just me.  At $15 dollars a pieces, which is what I found on cheaper than dirt, it’s the same as a p-mag.  Also they do have a NSN for those of you that want the taxpayers to get you yours for trying out before you buy it yourself.

Tales of the Gun

Just a heads up for those interested, one of the classic History Channel shows is available from Amazon for a whole $25... The entire "Tales of the Gun" series, all 27 hours worth.  I just ordered myself a copy.

I have returned!

AT 2011 is now a thing of the past, so things should liven up a bit around here again.  I've got a few things lined up, including Cro's review of the Commenga Easymag from far off Afghanistan, as well as some more photos from AT (like the beagle we saved.)

I wish I could say I'm at home enjoying a beer, but that'll come later.  I guess they missed me at work too much.

WI CCW PASSES

The state legislature passed it today, and unlike the last two times, the Governor says he will sign it.

Unfortunately it wasn't quite what most of us wanted, there is a training requirement and a licensing fee/process; but it is one step forward in the right direction, and I can see a continual push for constitutional carry from the die hards.

Anyway, back in the pup tent for another night in the field. Not too many days to go before my next (and quite needed) shower. More on CCW stuff next week.

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Machine Guns

M249s and M240s. Good times. Hopefully the video works.

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Mk19

40mm of high explosive full-auto love.

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SB-93

Wisconsin CCW passed the state Senate 25-8 today.

Back to pushing dirt.

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Caffeinated Mints

Best thing found in an MRE possibly ever (at least on the day you missed coffee.)

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Two Weeks...

One weekend a month, and two weeks a year... That two weeks is upon me, so I'll be quite seldom over the next 15 days or so.

Expletive!

Glad to see my elected officials are taking care of the important things before moving on to such trivial legislation as the state budget and self defense measures...

So Much Awesome

Small girl, small machine gun, all sorts of awesome.

Henry Rifles Mare's Leg

Don't know how this one slipped out unoticed, but Henry Repeating Arms is producing Mare's Leg type guns in .45 Colt and .22s/l/lr.

The .45 Colt gun sports a brass frame, and the .22 version is simply a trimmed down H001, however both sport a saddle ring on the left side of the receiver (a feature not normally present on the H001 rifle.)  The .45 version is a bit pricy (msrp $950) and the .22 is listed at $360.

New Shooter vs. Mosquitoes!

So, as mentioned, I finally was able to get Fern out to the range.  Up until today, the biggest thing she'd ever shot was a paintball gun (although she does have an archery background.)

A couple weeks ago we spent some quality time in her kitchen covering the basics.  She quickly picked up on the big four, and after a bit was very comfortable dry firing the little Walther P22.  Since then I'd quiz her on the Mr. Cooper's rules and get her used to handling various types of firearms whenever she was over at my place.

Today I felt a strong need to get out to the range and sling some lead, so after she finished work for the day, we headed out.

Unfortunately I forgot the range is surrounded by swamp on all four sides.


We got to the range, set up the new steel target, and did some more dry firing with the little Walther, swatting mosquitoes the whole time.  After a bit I racked one into the chamber, and we got things properly started.  Before too long, the steel was ringing more often than not.

(Left-eye dominance... not blinking)

I really need to find a better .22lr pistol option though, the sites on the Walther won't hold a zero in a mild breeze.

After a bit she was willing to give a rifle a try, so I brought out the M&P15-22, and Fern went 20 for 25.

Before too long we decided the mosquitoes won, and headed into town for some Benedryl and dinner, but in her own words;

The pain from the 27 mosquito bites is slowly fading away and will most likely be replaced by the realization that the "mythical" range is no longer a myth but a very real, very addictive place. Oh, and the smell of burnt gunpowder is good.

On the upside, the supply of DEET has been restocked in the Mayhemobile, and hopefully we won't get out there so late in the day and there'll still be enough of a breeze to keep the skeeters from swarming.

Hi-Point Carbine Facelift

Years ago I purchased a Hi-Point 995 carbine. This was right when ATI announced they were going to produce an aftermarket stock for the ugliest carbine known to exist.  I forget exactly how much I paid for the thing, but I think it may have been under $200 for the gun.

Now don't get me wrong, the Hi-point product line is known far and wide to be, quite possibly, the ugliest guns in regular production.  I have never even been able to bring myself to handle one of their handguns, let alone fire one, but the carbine was cheap, and I like the idea of a pistol caliber long gun. 

The little carbine is nothing to write home about, parts seem to be taken from the spare parts bin at an agricultural machine repair shop (the cocking handle is an honest-to-God hex-head bolt...) and the operating system is just a simple unlocked blow-back using a ridiculously heavy bolt assembly (for lack of a better word) and a rather stout spring.  Disassembly is a pain in the @$$, and the ergonomics are less than ideal.  You're also limited to 10 round mags (the 995 was a product of the '93 AWB.)  On the up side, they are cheap, easy to shoot, and Hi-point does have a 100% guarantee.  The 995 does make for a decent "truck gun" or budget home defense carbine with the addition of a white light.

The factory stock, at the time that I bought mine, has been described as feeling reminiscent of mashed potatoes, especially on a warm day, and as stated earlier, freakin' ugly.  There is nothing good looking about this gun.  So I ordered an ATI stock as soon as they were available on their site.  This started the concept in my head of the "Hi-Point Facelift Project."  I'd take this ugly chick and turn her into a prom queen yet.

At this time, the owner of a certain gun forum I frequented (eventually it evolved into MilitaryFirearm.com) had gotten a lathe, and was looking to try his hand at threading a barrel.  I figured the little Hi-point could use a not-so-naked barrel sticking out of the stock, so I removed my barrel, and shipped it off to Nevada, along with a spare CETME flash hider I just happened to have laying around.  A couple weeks later, the .308 CETME hider was bored out to clear a 9mm bullet, and the formerly ugly little carbine was starting to look better.

Recently Holescreek, another member over at Military Firearm, started making and selling aftermarket CETME parts, including a few new flash hider designs.  I saw his short 4 prong design, thought it'd look pretty good on the Hi-point, and asked him if he could bore one out for 9mm and hook a brother up.  He was game, and I was able to screw on a new flash hider when I woke up this morning.

I know it doesn't change it much, but I think the 4 prong flows better than the old birdcage did with the stock.

The fit and finish on the hider are fantastic, a good, dark, parkerizing.  The new hider also fits much tighter than the surplus CETME hider did, so no more worries of the hider taking an unscheduled downrange flight (the hider needs to be removed to disassemble the gun...)

The prongs are short enough that it doesn't sing too much (if I didn't use electronic ear pro I'd have never noticed.)

I see that ATI's got a 17" top rail for them now... that may be the next surgury for this little thing, along with a new finish perhaps and better optics.

Oh yeah, the ugly little gun does shoot well though, despite the crap-tastic trigger.