1-6-09:  Range Day:  So I go out to the range today with the intent of firing up a few mag-fulls through my SIG 556 and zero the HS Precision rifle, and compare that with the XCR compact tactical rifle. Didn't happen.

Oh, I fired the SIG. (Ran FLAWLESSLY) and Gavin fired the SIG too. That took about 3 minutes after getting out of the truck.  As you can see in the photo, the Desert Camo Duracoat looks smashing.

So after being out there for about 3 minutes, I started loading the HS rifle's magazine. My fingers started to hurt from the cold. It was so bloody cold that by the time I pushed the magazine back into the gun... ouch. I was about done with shooting for the day. I was going to zero the HS at 200 yards. So I aimed and fired... no idea where the round went. 4 shots... No evidence they even left the barrel – they didn't hit anything. Another 4 rounds and I found the gun was hitting low. Very very low. I'm going to have to take this back to square one.
Unfortunately, it was too cold to continue. I suffered some pretty good Frost Bite once, and ever since the cold really gets to me. Cold and stiffness turn into flat out pain.

We bailed and hit Taco Time for some Nachos... the Cold air helped Gavin's lungs, and the Father-Son time helped me....

1-5-09:  Pontiac Problems: Last week the Pontiac Montana went to the shop... we got it out Friday. It broke down again Sunday night... throwing off a pulley at midnight. Mrs Ogre was able to nurse it back home. So again – it gets to go back to the shop on the back of a flatbed tow truck. I swear this damned contraption gets carried into town more than it drives in under it's own power.
Reason for the Midnight Run - was that our son Gavin was having an Asthma Attack again... So he was enroute to the ER. And the Pontiac broke down on the way there.  Mrs. Ogre had to come back and swap out for my truck. She barely nursed the can back!  I'm very angered. What if she was left stranded out there?  What if Gavin when critical then?  He could have died because of this stupid fucking POS Pontiac Montana.  And I can't be mad at the mechanic that worked on it last week.  Really, he did a great job.  Unfortunately this breakdown had nothing to do with last week's. Completely unrelated.  This Pontiac is a friggin lemon, and I'm going to squeeze lemonade from the asshole that sold it to us.

Yes, another Asthma Attack. The only attack that scares me, as I can't fight it off... I have to watch helpless as my son struggles for air. First one in over a year... Not even a hint at a problem.... and bam. There it is. The Docs at the Roosevelt Hospital did well. They had to give him double treatments... of the strongest stuff they had. This was a very bad one. Very bad. In fact, it was worst one ever. Nothing scares me more than shit like this. Nothing. I would rather make an airborne jump into Faluja armed with just a rolled up newspaper than face this sort of thing again.

Charles Daly is now making AR-15 rifles: They are reported to be good guns, and according to one former Marine who owns several AR rifles, these are the best things going. Well, the gauntlet was thrown and accepted and Charles Daly is sending me out an AR for T&E. I've got to see this for myself. Of course my test and review will be completely honest and fair and unbiased. Objectivity is my SOP. As soon as they are available, I'll be getting a new all steel 1911 from them too. What's especially cool about this is that these are the new Israeli made 1911's and not the Philippine made 1911's. CD has dropped them and is now concentrating and Good instead of Cheap. This is excellent news. Whole new company restructure and direction change. Very good news indeed.

On WTA it was mentioned that Chicks with Guns is a tradition that goes back to WWII Bomber Nose Art. This is something any Red Blooded American Male (and some females) appreciate... so I found it ironic that shortly after, I get an email about Mil-Bogs that contain a link to this project – Pin Up Calendars For Vets. Hubba Hubba! That Gina gal is a real 1-2 knockout! Good job, Girl! I might be going out on a limb here... but we need more girls like this doing this sort of thing. Ahem. For the troops of course.

It's COLD out here. 14 Below. I hate the cold... even more than I hate the Pontiac Montana... I hate the cold. Inside it's warming back up. We ran out of propane all the sudden and even before I could call the company that delivers it (Ogre Ranch has a Gas Tank for natural gas) they had a truck out here. I was in the middle of googling for the company's phone number when I looked outside and there was the truck, pulling up to a stop. Awesome. Something went right today. Sure, the fill up cost more than the repair for the van – but we gotta have heat in here. We have some wood, but the gas heats all the rooms. Now that things are warming up – I'm getting sleepy.  Since I got ZERO sleep from the hell last night put us through – I'm knackered.

I was going to go shooting today. But being this cold and this tired – it would be useless... a waste of time, effort, gasoline, and bullets. I'll get to it tomorrow if tonight goes better... and by better, I mean, no runs to the ER.

1-3-09:  Lots of new bloggers listed, so go through the list and look for the new ones.   Some have been removed due to inactivity.

It's a good time to be an AK owner: There are a couple new things out for the AK that brings it up a couple notches in terms of usability. First was the LaRue Tactical “AK-IronDot”. A simple rear-sight exchange that allows the use of a small red dot that co-witnesses with the iron sights. What makes this so important is because it's one of the few simple easy solutions to mount an optical gunsight on your weapon in a secure and solid manner. The AK's dust cover that covers the whole of the upper receiver is a poor place for mounting anything, and this LaRue unit skips it completely. Brilliant. Quite honestly, this is one of those Forehead Slap things. Why has no one thought of this before? I've mentioned the LaRue Tactical unit before. One of my brothers has it for his AK. Now take this optic and combine it with the next little ditty... The Lightning Bolt. These two things resolve 2 out of the 3 main AK issues I have.... the only remaining issue is a safety switch that I can easily flip without moving my hand off the grip. And those lever extensions have been out for years... so there you go. You can now run your AK at full throttle with nothing holding you back.

SIG 556 Lightning Bolt: The Lightning Bolt for the AK is fantastic. But I would REALLY like one to be made for the SIG 556. Of course for the SIG it would be a more complicated conversion... but it would be worth it. You see – so many weapons out there have the charging handle on the right side of the receiver... Most of them in fact. Some don't. The FAL, the HK rifles and SMG's, the FNH FS2000... these have the operating handles on the left side. Which allows you to cycle the bolt while keeping your eyes and muzzle on the target. The AR can be run like that too, but you have to move your head. Being able to hold the gun with your firing hand and cycle the bolt with your off hand – that's a huge advantage. My beloved SIG 556 is a heavy gun. Taking your hand off the grip to cycle action is admittedly awkward. Luckily you don't have to do that very often thanks to it's Sun-Rise-Like-Reliability. If someone out there could make a conversion for a Left Hand Side Bolt for the SIG – I'd have to get that done on my SIG. It would be perhaps one of the greatest conversions possible for the rifle. I don't know why gun makes put the handle on the right side of the gun... most shooters are right handed and this makes it awkward for them. Sure, it's easier to make – but the gun would be so much better otherwise. I especially like the FAL/L1A1's handle, as it is not only where it should be – but it folds down out of the way when you don't need it. While some guys don't quite like that – I think its great. The only other way to do it is the way HK did it on the G36 rifle. Put it up above the barrel, centerline, with the handle that can go left or right. The only downside to that is that it could be potentially weaker. Potentially. I'm not saying it is.

HS Precision: I'm going to do a full out review on an HS Precision rifle, head to head with my XCR Tactical. The HS has a short heavy barrel like my XCR, 20 inches, fluted, great trigger... and a nice feeling thumbhole stock. HS has garnered my ire lately... but this rifle is about 6 years old with a low round count. So it's going to be a an interesting head to head test.

Further Forty Thoughts: In Richmond I used a .40 as a duty weapon, an HK USP. The .40, for some unexpected and unwanted reason has been on my mind lately. At our shop we have the top .40 choices. The Glock. The Beretta Storm. The FNH FNP40. The XDM. The HK USP. It first I was thinking I might want to get a USP 40 again, as it was a great weapon that never failed me when I called upon it. At the command of Stop, the thugs that saw that HK – they stopped instantly. But I also like the Beretta Storm. It's a good looking pistol that feels great in the hand. The XDM is accurate and has a very high capacity. The FN is perhaps the best and most precisely made of the lot... all have good arguments for and against them... one gun that is absent here is the SIG P229. As good of a weapon as it is – I don't know why it's here. I think it's because I'm for some reason wanting a Plastic Forty. This is something that I would never have said 2 weeks ago. I don't know... this is kind like saying I want to try some gay sex... it just isn't for me. Not plastic framed guns and not .40 Short and Week. So wanting a plastic 40 is just not my usual thing. Coming down to a pick – it would perhaps be a toss up between the USP and the Beretta. I like the hammer fired guns better than striker fired so those guns have the edge. Me getting a Glock is just unlikely. It's at the bottom of the list for me. And the reason for that remains the grip angle issue. Getting one that been recontoured by filling in the gap and grinding off the grip to give it the right angle... that would be something else. But you don't see those around very often. Especially not as a trade in gun.

A new rifle club is going to be made: I talked to a guy on the board of Parks and Recreation. They have taken over the care taking of the Buckskin Hills Shooting Complex. My Playground. The board doesn't know what to do with the money they have set aside for the rifle range. The handgun range gets attention thanks to our UDPL group. (IDPA) And the Cowboy Action guys have a club to advise the board for that side of the range. The Rifle Range has been largely ignored because there is no organized group that uses it. So I'm organizing a group. The High Uintah Rifles. We'll hold long range matches and offer training courses as required.

A couple things the rifle range needs. More targets. Some reactive targets. Swingers for examples. And targets from 100 yards to 1000. They have 20,000 bucks for improvements to the ranges. If we can have some volunteers to help me out, they can pay for the materials, and we can but the targets up we want.

Sign Ups will be at Basin Sports or contact me via Email. Membership will be free for those willing to volunteer time on improvement projects.

01-01-09:  The First Day Of 2009: This was a fantastic day for the Ogre Clan. We took the boys to the local sledding hill and let the boys thrash the snow as much as they liked. When we left, they were all tired and sweaty and ready for some relaxing and some hot chocolate. I went to the Buckskin Hills shooting complex. There and worked with a couple of my customers dialing in a CZ 750 Sniper topped with a 6.5-20 Zeiss Rapid Z 1000 scope. This kit, with a large quantity of ammunition and supplies cost just under $3400 USD. A little direction in operation is not too much to ask for. In just a few shots, this rifle system was DNO. (Dead Nuts On) Hitting at range was remarkably easy. My own rifles, especially the Remington 700 XCR Compact Tactical, topped with the RR800-1 by Pride and Fowler pleased me a great deal. I could not be happier with it. Hitting is all that matters... not how “Uber Tactical” your scope is... your rifle is... but how it hits. With my XCR/PFI rifle – If I can see it, if I can identify it, I can put a 30 caliber round through it. Only hits count. My CZ 527's are sick and wrong... rifles should not be this much fun. If rifle shooting is a meal, CZ 527's are chocolate mousse. Too sweet... too delightful. Hitting with such light rifles could be difficult, but thanks to CZ's single set triggers – Sweetness and Light my friends, sweetness and light.

Now one rifle that surprised me was a .25-06 Weatherby Vanguard topped with a Nikon Monarch. Both rifle and scope probably cost less than my XCR did toppless... And it hits precisely where I want the bullet to strike. This isn't my rifle. This rifle belongs to a SLC Attorney that wanted it dialed it. DNO doesn't get any more DNO. Light recoil, high velocity, hits with more than enough small for most North American critters.

I had a very strange thought the other day – one I can hardly even admit to having.

I thought about getting a Glock.

In .40.

The midsized Glock .40... the model 23. I know this is shocking to my readers... it's even more shocking to me, trust me. Now I'm not saying I'm going to give up my beloved 1911 .45's. That is not going to happen. And I'm going to go rush out and buy a Glock any time soon either. I just had a funny unexpected and unexplainable thought...

I did some scope swapping. The big old Nikon Monarch has been taken off the little 527 American and in it's place has been installed the Bushnell Elite 3200 2-7x32mm variable. It's a small scope, but it could have been a bigger one. But the bigger scope I had on it felt like it ruined the look at feel of the light rifle vibe. The rifle feels much better again. I like big potent scopes as much as anyone – but these 527's just feel – violated – when you put a big scope on them. Ideally I'd put a Vortex 2-7 Razor on to this one, like I have on the Carbine.

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